motivationandsemanticchange.pptVIP

MOTIVATION AND SEMANTIC CHANGE LECTURE 4 MOTIVATION SEMANTIC CHANGE I. WORD-MEANING AND MOTIVATION. TYPES OF MOTIVATION II. SEMANTIC CHANGE: 1. CAUSES OF SEMANTIC CHANGE 2. NATURE OF SEMANTIC CHANGE 3. RESULTS OF SEMANTIC CHANGE I. WORD-MEANING AND MOTIVATION The inner form is pivotal point in the lexical meaning which helps to get an insight into the features chosen as the basis for nomination. Motivation is used to denote the relationship between the phonetic or morphemic composition and structural pattern of the word on the one hand, and its meaning on the other. TYPES OF MOTIVATION 1. Phonetical motivation implies a direct connection between the phonetic structure of the word and its meaning, e.g. cuckoo denotes a bird whose call is like its name. Other words: moo, mew, buzz, hiss. 2. Morphological motivation implies a direct connection between the lexical meaning of the component morphemes, the pattern of their arrangement and the meaning of the word. e.g. the derived word to rethink is motivated through its morphological structure which suggests the idea of ‘thinking again’. 3. Semantic motivation implies a direct connection between the central and marginal meanings of the word, e.g. the compound noun eyewash has two meanings: a lotion for the eyes (примочка) – morphological motivation; something said or done to deceive a person so that he thinks what he sees is good though in fact it is not (очковтирательство) – semantic motivation. II. SEMANTIC CHANGE Semantic change – change in the meaning of words in the course of their development. Every word in its development has undergone many semantic changes. There are distinguished causes of semantic change, nature and results of the process of change of meaning. 2.1. CAUSES OF SEMANTIC CHANGE Extra-linguistic causes are various changes in the life of speech community, i.e. changes in economic and social structure or scientific concepts. E.g. changes in the way of life of the British broug