Реферат на тему Basic features of minor types of lexical oppositions

Содержание:

Content
Introduction 3
The Main Part 4
1. The definition of opposition 4
2. Types of oppositions 6
2. Minor types of lexical oppositions. Sound interchange 9
Conclusion 13
Bibliography 14

Введение:

This paper attempts to substantiate the applicability of the principle of binary oppositions to the analysis of both lexical systems and text structures. Since the concept of opposition is Central to our work, it seems necessary to say a few words about its use in the linguistic literature. The term «opposition» is found in the works of F. de Saussure: «The whole mechanism of language rests on… oppositions» [3, p. 118] — and N. S. Trubetskoy, and for the latter it is the Central concept in the system of oppositions developed by him. «The concept of difference presupposes the concept of opposition. Two things can differ from each other only in so far as they are opposed to each other» [4, p.36-37]. The concept of «opposition» is closely related to the concept of «opposition». Thus, it is quite possible to say that binary oppositions are a manifestation of the category of opposites. Fully aware of the breadth of coverage of this category by different schools and directions, in this article we will focus only on the question: the opposite as a linguistic category; the main attention will be paid to the analysis of various types of oppositions in English morphology.
Based on the relevance of the topic, we can formulate the goals of our work.
— To give general characteristics of minor types of lexical oppositions.
— To characterize all the ways of forming of lexical oppositions in English.
-To describe the rules of formation, historical development of lexical oppositions, their grammatical functions.
The object of research is the contractive description of lexical oppositions in English.
The subject of this work is to consider the formation of minor types of lexical oppositions.
Concerning the content, the first chapter focuses on definition of binary opposition in English. The second part includes questions on type’s opposition.
In the conclusion of my paper I tried to draw some results from the investigations made within the main part of my work.

Заключение:

Oppositions can be classified according to two criteria — quantitative and qualitative. Binary, trinar, and polynomial oppositions are distinguished by quantitative criteria.
Binary oppositions are those that are represented by only two members. These are the oppositions by the category of the number of the English noun, by the category of the pledge of the verb.
Trinary opposition are realized by the opposition of three members. This is the morphological and syntactic grammatical category of mood in English.
Polynomial oppositions consist of more than three members. These include, for example, the tense category of an English verb.
On qualitative grounds, all of the opposition are divided into equipollent, privative and gradable. Members of the equipollent opposition are characterized by the fact that they show the same strong sign of the grammatical category within which they are opposed.
A special type of opposition is represented in grammar by graded oppositions. Their specificity is shown in the fact that, first, they are always more than binomial, and secondly — in the fact that oppositions within the opposition are based not on the ability/inability of members of the opposition to express a particular grammatical category equally strongly (as in the case of equipolent and privative oppositions), but on the intensity of expression of this content feature. Typical graded oppositions include oppositions within the grammatical category of degrees of comparison of English adjectives and adverbs.

Фрагмент текста работы:

The Main Part
1. The definition of opposition

All words in the lexical system of the language are united by two types of relations – paradigmatic and syntagmatic. Paradigmatic relations characterize the structure of any verbal groupings or classes, “distinguished in the language on the principle of formal or semantic generality of their members and at the same time opposed to each other on one of these grounds”. In other words, such relations are based on the concept of opposition [3].
The basis of a lexical opposition: common features of two contrasted words. Lexical distinctive features and the basis of opposition:
doubt : doubtful (morphological distinctive features);
skilled: unskilled;
unable: unaccountable: unaffected;
man: boy(age);
Lad: boy(semantic distinctive feature –stylistic colouring) .
Polydimentional opposition: comprises many elements of the system:
Skilled: unskilled;
Able: unable;
Accountable : unaccountable;
Affected: unaffected;
Armed: unarmed;
Man:boy (age –distinctive feature).
Boy: lad (stylistic colouring).
One of the first attempts to describe the language problems of the relation of opposition was the book by C. K. Ogden «Opposition» [5], written in 1932. C. Ogden gives a list of 25 pairs of English words that are most often found in works on lexicography, psychology and logic as examples of opposites:
1. Black and white 2. Hot and cold 3. Open and shut 4. Ruler and ruled 5. Hard and soft 6. Right and left 7. Man and brute 8. Up and down 9. Acid and alkali 10. Pleasure and pain 11. Visible and invisible 12. Town and country 13. Learned and ignorant 14. Possible and impossible 15. Kind and unkind 16. Good and bad 17.Work and play 18. Ill and well 19. Easy and difficult 20. Before and after 21. Male and female 22. Love and hate 23. British and alien 24. Red and green 25. Normal and abnormal [6].
To analyze the meanings of opposite words CH. Ogden suggests using the concepts «scale»and»cut». The opposite words can be either the two ends of the scale (white and black), or the two halves resulting from the cut (inside — outside). The cut line is a neutral point that lacks both of the features that underlie the contrast. The important thing is that the juxtaposition begins as soon as the line crosses. Another factor to consider, according to CH. Ogden’s is direction. Examples of vector opposites are «right» and «left» [7, p. 56-59].
Lexicology analyzes almost «similar words» in terms of etymology, word formation processes, and structural connectedness, while semantics and linguistic stylistics focus on their contextual relevance. The similarity may be random, as in verbs affect и effect. The first means «to influence», the second — «to produce».
There are words that belong to the same part of speech, containing identical bases and synonymous affixes, but do not allow free variation. They provoke mistakes even in native speakers. A few examples will suffice to illustrate this point. The adjectives luxurious and luxuriant are synonymous when they mean «luxury». Otherwise, luxuriant is limited to the expression of abundance (used in relation to hair, leaves, flowers).
Luxurious is an adjective that expresses human luxury and condescension (used in relation to tastes, habits, food, mansions).