English Word Morphology: Inflections, Derivations, Blending, Coimage, Eponymy, Abbreviatio, Appunti di Lingua Inglese

Scarica English Word Morphology: Inflections, Derivations, Blending, Coimage, Eponymy, Abbreviatio e più Appunti in PDF di Lingua Inglese solo su Docsity! INTRODUCTION. WHAT IS MORPHOLOGY? Μορϕή, shape, Λόγος, speech, Morphology /mɔːˈfɒl.ə.dʒi/ is the study of the internal structure/form of words and the way words are coined or are varied depending on how they’re used in context. Based on the study of words, morphology can be divided into two branches: 1. LEXICAL MORPHOLOGY → the way by which existing words had been constructed and by which neologisms might be constructed. 2. INFLECTIONAL MORPHOLOGY → the way words are adapted to fit different grammatical contexts. Morphology studies different aspects of words: • the structure of a word; • how to form it from a single base (lexeme); • productivity; • how parts of a word relate to meanings. Linguists study morphology for different reasons, with the first one being the attempt of analysis of the world’s languages. The second one is understanding those languages’ morphological phenomena, which requires some tools of trade (analytic ideas). With those ideas in mind, it’s possible to draw analogies and differences between other languages and to investigate the nature of a linguistic system, gain a better grasp of linguistics rule and structure of language grammar. A LINGUIST’S TOOLS OF TRADE → René de Saussure was a theorist, mathematician, and creator of “Esperanto II”, while Ferdinand de Saussure was a linguist, semiotician and a philosopher. Franz Boaz wrote a book in 1910 called “Race, Language and Culture” in which he expressed his ideas in grammar [number, tense, and gender] and the grammatical processes such as prefix and roots etc.; thanks to them, we can summarize the linguist’s tools of trade in: morphs, allomorphs, symbols, morphemes, syllables, etc. A descriptive approach to morphology focuses on analyzing and categorizing the forms and structures of words based on their observable features. In contrast, the structural approach delves into the internal organization and relationships within words, examining their morphemes and how they combine. Languages can be classified into different morphological types based on how they form words and convey meaning through morphemes. The main morphological types are: ▪ ISOLATING LANGUAGES → words are composed of relatively few morphemes, and each morpheme typically carries a single, clear meaning. There is minimal inflection, and word order plays a crucial role in conveying grammatical relationships. ▪ AGGLUTINATIVE LANGUAGES → morphemes are added to the root words in a straightforward and consistent manner, each conveying a specific meaning. Agglutinative languages often have a high degree of morphological transparency. ▪ ANALYTIC LANGUAGES → low degree of inflectional morphology, grammatical relationships and meanings are often expressed through word order, prepositions, and auxiliary words rather than by adding affixes (prefixes, suffixes) to words; English: walk, walk-s, walk-ing. ▪ INFLECTING LANGUAGES → morphemes are added to a root word to indicate various grammatical features such as tense, number, gender, and case. These morphemes may be fused with the root, resulting in changes to the original word form. ▪ POLYSYNTHETIC LANGUAGES → words in polysynthetic languages are often complex and can incorporate multiple morphemes, including both roots and various affixes, to convey intricate meanings. These languages often allow the creation of long, expressive words. The morphological type of a language influences how it structures words and expresses grammatical relationships. LESSON 1. MORPHEMES: FREE & BOUND. When discussing the beginning of a word, we can say that an element is word-initial and, by contrast, an element at the end of a word is word-final. Very occasionally, we may wish to refer to an element positioned within the word and we would refer to this as word-medial. A WORD is the smallest unit of language that carries meaning and can stand alone or be combined with other words to create a meaningful expression. It consists of one or more morphemes. A MORPHEME is the smallest morphologic unit which has meaning or grammatic function and can’t be divided into smaller units; it’s not the same thing as a syllable [“table”: one morpheme, two syllables]. The number of morphemes contributes to the definition of simple or complex words. a. simple words are made of one morpheme and cannot be analyzed into smaller units of meaning; e.g. child. b. complex words can be subdivided into smaller units of meaning, they’re made of a root morpheme [bound or free] and at least a bound morpheme; e.g. childish. c. compound words, constructed from two free morphemes; e.g. sketchbook. readable — hearing — enlarge — performance — whiteness — darken — seeker — legible — audience — magnify — rendition — clarity — obfuscate — applicant Complex words usually present a morpheme which is more important than the other(s) and contributes to the meaning of the word: that is called CORE MORPHEME; or root, e.g. child-ish. A base morpheme it’s a unit to which other morphemes may be added to create new word(s). languages which have influenced English. These include Latin, Greek, French and many more, probably over a hundred. b. CLOSED CLASSES [ GRAMMATICAL – or function – words ] → these classes are considered closed because they tend to have a stable set of words, and new additions are rare. Closed classes include pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, and determiners. Most grammatical words are of either Old English or Old Norse origin. 1. Determiners: the, my, which book?, some, this, that, these, a/an 2. Pronouns: I, me, they, anyone, all, some, many, who, which, what 3. Prepositions: of, in, to, for, with, on, by, at, from, as 4. Conjunctions: subordinating conjunctions → that, as, if, when, that, because, while, where, although. Coordinating conjunctions → and, but, or, not 5. Auxiliaries: modal auxiliaries → can, will, may, shall, could, would might, should, must. Primary auxiliaries → be, have, do 6. Numerals: cardinal numbers: one, two (…). Ordinal numbers: first, second (…) 7. Discourse markers: right, ok Lexical words may be monosyllabic, but they are more often likely to consist of two, three or even more syllables. Grammatical words, on the other hand, typically contain just one or two syllables. Nouns inflexion depends on: ✓ GENDER (GENERE) → Italian nouns are categorized as either masculine (maschile) or feminine (femminile). The gender of a noun often determines the forms of associated adjectives and articles. ✓ NUMBER (NUMERO) → Italian nouns can be singular (singolare) or plural (plurale). Plural nouns are formed by adding specific endings to the singular form. ✓ DEFINITENESS (DEFINITO/INDEFINITO) → Nouns can be definite (definito) or indefinite (indefinito). This is indicated by the presence or absence of definite (the) and indefinite (a, an) articles. ✓ CASE (CASO) → Italian nouns don't have a separate case system like some other languages (e.g., Latin, Finnish), but they can have different forms depending on their syntax. ✓ COUNTABILITY (CONTA) → nouns can be countable or uncountable (mass nouns). Countable nouns have both singular and plural forms, while uncountable nouns only have a singular form. ✓ ANIMACY (ANIMATO/INANIMATO) → in Italian, some nouns are categorized as animate (animato) if they refer to living beings or people, while others are inanimate (inanimato) for non-living things. ✓ AUGMENTATIVE AND DIMINUTIVE FORMS → in Italian allows for the creation of augmentative (expressing a larger size or greater intensity) and diminutive (expressing a smaller size or reduced intensity) forms of nouns. These forms are not categories per se but variations of nouns. The act of transforming a core morpheme to adjust it to different contexts is called a MORPHOLOGICAL PROCESS, which can be derivational or inflectional. A derivational process is used to create new words modifying the core; it often focuses on the way bound morphemes can be used to modify a word and can convey a: a. semantic change [meaning] → e.g. to place > to displace, faithful > unfaithful. b. change of word class → e.g. child > childish, in this case a noun becomes an adjective. An inflectional process modifies the core morpheme to assign certain grammatical functions, in this way the word can fit in a certain syntactic slot. It’s the study of the grammatical function of bound morphemes. Generally, verbs inflect for mood, tense, person and number, while nouns and adjectives inflect for number and gender: ▪ English is inflected through the addition of bound morphemes to indicate grammatical information regarding plurality, third person singular, past and present tense. An inflectional morpheme is a suffix that assign a particular grammatical property to a word: ✓ the plural of English nouns has at least two realization: “s”/”es” or “zero morph”. ✓ -’s, -s’ for the possessive. ✓ -er for the comparative. ✓ -est for the superlative. ✓ -s for the 3rd person singular. ✓ -ed for the past tense. ✓ -ed / -en for the past participle. ✓ -ing for the present participle. A ZERO MORPH is a null inflectional morpheme having neither phonetic nor ortographic realization → e.g. “a sheep”, “twenty sheep”. Sheep is not physically marked for the plural; e.g. “don’t hurt her feelings”, “I hurt myself on a bicycle”. The verb hurt is not physically marked for the past tense and the past participle. Inflectional processes. INTERNAL CHANGE → process of changing the vowel in the middle of the word; e.g. mouse – mice; foot – feet. EXPONENCE → “sweets” (s: plural, one piece of information) vs “she cooks beautifully”; s could mean third person, present tense, singular; it conveys three pieces of information. SYNCRETISM → one morphological form corresponds to two or more morphosyntactic descriptions; e.g. walked could convey both past simple or past participle, so its ambiguity proves syncretism; in the same way, you could both mean “Tu”, or “Voi”. SUPPLETION → a morphological phenomenon in which an irregular form of a word replaces a regular form. In other words, instead of following a typical pattern of inflection or derivation, a completely different form is used. This irregularity often occurs in specific grammatical categories, such as comparative and superlative forms of adjectives or the conjugation of irregular verbs. e.g. verb “to be”, with different forms “am”, “is”, “are”, that don't follow a consistent pattern of inflection, representing a case of suppletion. Sometimes it’s just a PARTIAL SUPPLETION → only some forms of a word exhibit suppletion, while others follow regular patterns of inflection or derivation. Certain grammatical forms of a word have irregular, unpredictable variations, while others adhere to regular morphological rules. e.g. the adjective “good” has a partially suppletive comparative form, “better”, but the superlative form “best"” follows a regular pattern by simply adding the suffix “-est”. In this case, the irregularity is partial, as only one of the forms shows suppletion. Words in various grammatical categories—nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs—can be formed through different morphological processes: 1. Noun Formation: Suffixation: Adding suffixes to verbs or adjectives. - Example: "act" (verb) → "actor" (noun). - Example: "bright" (adjective) → "brightness" (noun). 2. Verb Formation: Suffixation: Adding suffixes to nouns or adjectives. - Example: "friend" (noun) → "befriend" (verb). - Example: "strong" (adjective) → "strengthen" (verb). 3. Adjective Formation: Suffixation: Adding suffixes to nouns or verbs. - Example: "nation" (noun) → "national" (adjective). - Example: "create" (verb) → "creative" (adjective). Prefixation: Adding prefixes to nouns or verbs. - Example: "happy" (adjective) → "unhappy" (adjective). - Example: "usual" (adjective) → "unusual" (adjective). 4. Adverb Formation: Suffixation: Adding suffixes to adjectives. - Example: "quick" (adjective) → "quickly" (adverb). CONVERSION involves a change in the grammatical category of a word without adding affixes: ✓ NOUN TO VERB → “she will chair the meeting” [meaning, to direct] ✓ VERB TO NOUN → “the jump was impressive”. ✓ NOUN TO ADJECTIVE → “the gold ring.” ✓ ADJECTIVE TO NOUN → “the poor deserve assistance.” ✓ VERB TO ADJECTIVE → “the darkened room.” ✓ ADJECTIVE TO ADVERB → “she spoke loud.” PRODUCTIVITY Productivity in morphology refers to the degree to which a language actively and regularly creates new words using existing morphological rules. Languages with a high level of productivity can easily generate new words that speakers can understand based on their knowledge of the language’s morphological rules. On the other hand, less productive languages may rely more on fixed, established vocabulary and show limited capacity for creating new words. For example, in English, adding the suffix “-ize” to a noun often creates a verb (e.g., “hospital” becomes “hospitalize”). This process is productive because speakers can apply it to form new words. The concept of productivity is essential in understanding how languages evolve and adapt to express new concepts or ideas. The more general a word-formation process is, the more productive it will be assumed to be. Some basic processes involved in word formation are: o bound morpheme + free morpheme (guitarist, happiness, dissatisfaction). DERIVATIONAL MORPHOLOGY. BACK-FORMATION → the act of creating a new lexeme by removing actual or supposed affixes. ▪ babysitter → to babysit ▪ editor → to edit ▪ beggar → to beg ▪ resurrection → to resurrect ▪ donation → to donate ▪ creation → to create ▪ commuter → to commute ▪ television → to televise ▪ housekeeper → to housekeep BLENDING → two existing words are blended together to form a new lexem. ▪ smog → smoke + fog ▪ staycation → stay at home + vacation ▪ hi-tech → high technology ▪ voluntourism → volunteer + tourism ▪ workaholic → work + alcoholic ▪ brexit → britain + exit technology ▪ sitcom → situation + comedy ▪ docudrama → documentary + drama ▪ biopic → biographical picture ▪ bollywood → bombay + hollywood ▪ camcorder → camera + recorder ▪ muppets → marionette + puppets ▪ stagflation → stagnation + inflation COINAGE & EPONYMY → coinage refers to the creation of new words, often through a combination of existing elements. brands or entirely new formations. Eponymy, on the other hand, involves naming something (such as a discovery, invention, or place) after a person, typically the one who is associated with its origin or prominence. In short, coinage is about creating new words, while eponymy is about naming things after people. ▪ teflon → after Polytetrafluoroethylene → coinage ▪ nylon, aspirin, kleenex [fazzoletti], to google, vaseline → coinage ▪ fahrenheit → from Gabriel Fahrenheit → eponymy ▪ jeans → after Genoa, where the cloth was first used → eponymy ▪ boeing → from William E. Boeing → eponymy ▪ Adidas → blending of Adolf+Dassler → blending + eponymy ▪ pasteurisation → /ˌpɑːs.tʃər.aɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/ from Louis Pasteur → eponymy ▪ volt → from Alessandro Volta → eponymy ABBREVIATIONS → phenomenon that involves shortening a word: o acronyms : abbreviations formed from the initial letters of a set of words, pronounced as words themselves. ▪ NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) ▪ AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) ▪ NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) ▪ LASER (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) ▪ RADAR (Radio Detector and Ranging) ▪ SCUBA [diving] (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) o initialism : also abbreviations formed from the initial letters of a set of words, but in this case, the letters are pronounced separately, letter by letter. ▪ BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) ▪ HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) ▪ FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) ▪ CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) ▪ BA (Bachelor of Arts) ▪ VIP (Very Important Person) ▪ UN (United Nations) ▪ EU (European Union) o clipping : creating a new word by shortening an existing one. - fore-clipping ▪ plane → aeroplane ▪ phone → telephone - back-clipping ▪ photo → photograph ▪ bike → bicycle ▪ doc → doctor ▪ mic/mike → microphone ▪ brassiere → bra ▪ coke → carbonated drink with extract from kola nuts [coca cola] ▪ memo → memorandum ▪ vet → veterinary ▪ gas → gasoline ▪ lab → laboratory ▪ ad → advertisement ▪ exam → examination ▪ disco → discotheque - middle-clipping ▪ flu → influenza ▪ bike → bicycle ▪ fridge → refridgerator Clipping may interact with compounding. ✓ public house → pub ✓ science fiction → sci-fi HYPOCORISM → the phenomenon involved in words formed by suffixing a vowel ( -ie, or -y ) after clipping a word. ▪ Johnnie → John ▪ Liz → Elizabeth ▪ telly → television ▪ veggie → vegetable ▪ toastie → toast COMPOUNDING → creating a new word by combining two or more existing words. An example is “toothpaste” where “tooth” + “paste” is combined. It’s the most frequent word-formation used to generate a new word. The English language is most prone to compounds, in fact many compounds are created every year and still used nowadays. ▪ break-out → start suddenly, escape ▪ outbreak → eruption, epidemic, beginning ▪ intake → amount of substance taken, people taken into an organization ▪ outlook → point of view ▪ outcry → shout, protest, public disapproval ▪ downfall → loss of power or status ▪ bypass → go past or round ▪ upkeep → keeping something in good condition ▪ look-over → to inspect or examine ▪ outcome → result, the way a thing turns out ▪ write-off → to dismiss someone or something as insignificant, to cancel, to disregard ▪ drawback → disadvantage, a feature that makes something less acceptable How do we distinguish compounds from syntactic phrases containing the same words? Most compounds are compositional, their meaning can be inferred from the meaning of the words they contain; therefore, there’s no need to list them as separate lexemes or to memorize them. a. ENDOCENTRIC when the compound is compositional and the semantic head is inside the compound. The word on the left serves as a modifier of the head-word on the right. ▪ frying pan ▪ dancing shoes b. EXOCENTRIC when the compound isn’t compositional and has an obscure meaning or tend to acquire a specialized meaning, their semantic head is outside the compound. They need to be listed in the lexicon and memorized. ▪ greentax → taxes on energy, transport, pollution and resources ▪ ladybird → small, red beetle that is round and has black spot [coccinella] ▪ head hunter → person who approaches suitable candidates employed elsewhere to fill business positions. ▪ turncoat → a person who changes their allegiance or loyalty, especially in politics or in a conflict [voltagabbana]. ▪ castle builder → a person who tends to daydream or make grand plans that are unlikely to come to fruition. ▪ skinhead → originally, a skinhead referred to a member of a British working-class youth subculture that emerged in the 1960s, however, the term has also been associated with various subcultures and movements, including some that promote racism or extremism. ▪ blockhead → someone who is perceived as foolish, stupid, or slow-witted. ▪ space cadet → a person who seems out of touch with reality, often due to being absent-minded, eccentric, or preoccupied with their own thoughts. ▪ white-collar → professional or office-based work and workers. It contrasts with "blue-collar," which typically refers to manual or industrial work. REDUPLICATION → the repeated use of, essentially, the same syllables with or without accompanying consonant or vowel change. It is usually found in the common colloquial expression. It can involve: o a FULL repetition: ▪ bye-bye ▪ go-go o a PARTIAL repetition: ▪ ship-shape → neat and tidy, well-organized; refers to something being in good order, often used in relation to cleanliness or organization. ▪ mesh-mash → a confused mixture or jumble, something that is disorderly and lacks coherence. ▪ wishy-washy → lacking in strength, character, or decisiveness. Used to describe something weak or feeble, often opinions or decisions. LESSONS 8-9. COLLOCATION AND PHRASES. There are five types of phrases: 1. noun phrase abbreviated as NP 2. verb phrase abbreviated as VP 3. adjective phrase abbreviated as AdjP 4. adverb phrase abbreviated as AdvP 5. prepositional phrase abbreviated as PP The occurrence of one linguistic unit within another is sometimes referred to as EMBEDDING. When we say that one linguistic item is embedded within another, we are also implying that the embedded item is in some way subordinate to or dependent on the item in which it is embedded. If we took our earlier noun phrase a nice invitation as an example, we might describe the adjective “nice” as being embedded within the noun phrase, as the adjective is less central than the head noun invitation. Syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations are concepts in structuralist and linguistic theory that describe different ways in which words and linguistic elements relate to each other. SYNTAGMATIC RELATIONS. ▪ definition → syntagmatic relations refer to the linear arrangement or combination of linguistic elements in a sequence, such as words in a sentence or phonemes in a word. ▪ e.g. → in a sentence like “the cat is sleeping”, the syntagmatic relations involve the order and arrangement of the words to create a meaningful structure. Changing the order, such as “sleeping is the cat” alters the syntagmatic relations and may result in a sentence that is grammatically incorrect or conveys a different meaning. PARADIGMATIC RELATIONS. ▪ definition → paradigmatic relations involve the selection of one linguistic element over others in a set. It's the relationship between elements that could potentially replace each other in a given context. ▪ e.g. → in the sentence “I have a cat” the word “cat” has paradigmatic relations with other words that could potentially occupy the same slot, like “dog” or “bird”. These words form a paradigm, and the choice of one over the others affects the meaning of the sentence. ▪ sense relations on the paradigmatic axis: ✓ HYPONYMY AND HYPERONYMY: a hierarchical generality/specificity relation (general meaning vs. specific meaning → animal – cat/dog/horse → cat/dog/horse are hyponyms of animal and animal is the hypernym of cat/dog/horse. Hyponymy is a kind of something → table is a kind of furniture, but hyperonymy is not → a piece of furniture is not a kind of table. ✓ MERONYMY: it’s a part of relation → hand -finger. ✓ SYNONYMY: some lexemes have an almost or totally identical meaning and can be often used interchangeably. ✓ ANTONYMY: words that have an opposite meaning though not necessarily in all their senses → hot/cold, fast/slow, big/small, high/low. PHRASEOLOGY refers to the study of phrases or the way in which words combine to form phrases and sentences in a particular language or within a specific field of discourse. It encompasses the study of fixed expressions, idioms, collocations, and other multi-word combinations that have specific meanings and are used by speakers of a language. In linguistics, phraseology involves the analysis of the structure, meaning, and usage of multi-word units beyond individual words. This can include examining how certain combinations of words become established and idiomatic in a language community. Multi-word units are called phraseological units or PHRASEMES. Phraseology acts upon: o Fixedness: the extent to which it's possible to replace words o Transparency: the degree to which it's possible to infer the meaning of a word combination (metaphoricity) o Predictability: the degree to which it's possible, given a word, to predict the associated one(s) TO BLOW AIR both lexical words keep their original meaning TO BLOW A FUSE TO BLOW A CHANCE both bases (fuse & chance) are taken in their literal acceptations, while the verb blow undergoes a metaphorical shift. We may interpret the expression to blow a fuse in an incorrect way, but the contest makes us understand which one is the right interpretation of the expression. As an idiom, to blow a fuse has to be taken in its entirety. Native speakers of Italian instinctively know which combinations of words they should choose to write a comprehensible text. Such combinations are of an arbitrary nature – there is no compelling reason that accounts for the choice of one word over another – and therefore are unpredictable. Combinations that are institutionalized and frequent in a language are called COLLOCATIONS. Due to their geographical and historical proximity, English and Italian share some collocations; however, most collocations cannot be literally translated from one language into the other: EN vs IT collocations ✓ vivid imagination → vivida immaginazione ✓ make money → fare soldi ✓ take an exam → fare un esame ✓ run a business → gestire un’attività ✓ heavy rain → pioggia battente Endocentric collocations: a central word (a nucleus, a key word) around which all the other words go around. A collocation consists of a base (underlined), a lexical unit chosen freely by the speaker which attracts the other word, and of a collocate, a lexical unit chosen as a function of the base, which means it’s chosen accordingly by the base. o sound Asleep ‘asleep such that one is hard to awaken’ o Armed to the teeth ‘armed with many or with powerful weapons’ o leap Year ‘year in which February has 29 days’ Exocentric collocations: have no central component; the distribution of the whole word-group is different from either of its members. In free combinations one can easily replace each elements with any of their synonyms without affecting their meaning of grammaticality, while phrasemes are linguistically constrained phrases. There are two different types of collocations: 1) LEXICAL: o two lexical words ✓ adverb + verb → forbid strictly, discuss calmy ✓ adjective + noun → substantial meal, rich dessert, devoted wife, heavy smoker, golden opportunity, great admiration ✓ adverb + adjective → bitterly disappointed o two lexical words and a preposition ✓ verb + (prep) + noun → break into tears, swell with pride ✓ noun + of + noun → piece of advice 2) GRAMMATICAL: o one lexical word + preposition ✓ adjective + preposition → afraid of ✓ verb + preposition PHRASAL VERB → verb + particle go together but the meaning doesn’t arise from the combination of their respective meanings. 1. Look after: • Meaning: To take care of or watch over someone or something. • Example: She looks after her younger brother after school. 2. Break down: • Meaning: To stop functioning or fail; to have a breakdown. • Example: The car broke down on the highway. 3. Call off: • Meaning: To cancel or abandon plans or events. • Example: They had to call off the picnic due to rain. 4. Come across: • Meaning: To find or meet by chance. • Example: I came across an interesting book at the library. 5. Bring up: • Meaning: To mention or introduce a topic in conversation. • Example: She brought up the idea of a team-building exercise. 6. Take up: • Meaning: To start a new activity or hobby. • Example: He decided to take up painting in his free time. 7. Put off: • Meaning: To postpone or delay. • Example: We had to put off the meeting until next week. 8. Put up: • Meaning: To provide a bed for someone. • Example: Can you put me up tonight? 9. Listen up: • Meaning: Pay attention • Example: Now listen up! in a language; these are combinations of words that commonly and naturally occur together due to linguistic convention. ▪ agree with ▪ take a nap ▪ take a shower ▪ commit a crime ▪ pay attention ▪ keep a promise ▪ give an answer ▪ make a mistake ▪ miss an opportunity 1. accept, act on, follow, ask, solicit, take ADVICE • Verb that does NOT collocate: ignore 2. come up with, get, tell, require, provide, submit ANSWERS • Verb that does NOT collocate: expect 3. build up, close down, set up, wind down, build down, take over, wind up A BUSINESS • Verb that does NOT collocate: build down 4. deal with, answer to, examine, reject, respond to, file A COMPLAINT • Verb that does NOT collocate: ignore 5. accept, answer, come in for, give rise to, make, reject CRITICISM • Verb that does NOT collocate: come in for 6. endure, do, enjoy, have, share, undergo, live, benefit from AN EXPERIENCE • Verb that does NOT collocate: do 7. seek, be sacked from, give up, lose, search for, take on, work A JOB • Verb that does NOT collocate: be sacked from 8. approve, draw up, finalise, project, implement, propose, develop, outline A PLAN • Verb that does NOT collocate: project 9. let down, make, put in, reject, put forward, submit, turn down AN APPLICATION • Verb that does NOT collocate: make 10. apply, bring down, expect, rise, improve, lower, meet, comply with STANDARDS • Verb that does NOT collocate: bring down FIXED PHRASES → combinations of words that commonly occur together and have a specific meaning; they are not typically flexible or open to modification. ▪ by the way → used to introduce a new topic in a conversation. ▪ all of a sudden → quickly and unexpectedly, without warning. ▪ in the meantime → during the time between two events. ▪ ladies and gentlemen → polite and formal way of addressing a group or audience. ▪ step by step → gradually and methodically, proceeding one step at a time. ▪ to and fro → back and forth in a repeated or oscillating motion. ▪ back and forth → in both directions, moving to and from a particular place. ▪ ready, willing and able → fully prepared, eager, and capable of doing something. ▪ morning, noon and night → throughout the entire day, from morning until night. Another aspect of word meanings which has some relevance to what we have already discussed, both in terms of range of meanings and in terms of context and formality, is the contrast between denotation and connotation. A word’s DENOTATIVE MEANING is normally the person, object, quality, idea, action or state to which a word refers. This is known as its referent. So the referent or denotative meaning of pig is a particular farm animal. This is also the meaning you would expect to find first and foremost in a dictionary. However, many words also have CONNOTATIVE MEANINGS and these refer to the emotions or attitudes which a particular word may evoke. LESSON 10. IDIOMATIC LANGUAGE. Idiomatic language consists of expressions or phrases that have a meaning different from the literal interpretation of the individual words. These expressions often carry cultural or contextual significance and are widely used in everyday language. Idioms can add color, nuance, and figurative language to communication: LITERAL IDIOMS: meaning that can be inferred directly from the words used → kick the bucket (to die). NON-LITERAL IDIOMS: meaning that is not readily apparent from the individual words → break a leg. IDIOMS → expressions with non-motivated figurative meanings that are different from the literal meanings of the individual words; they often convey cultural or contextual meanings. ▪ to bite more than you can chew → to take on a task that is way too big or to undertake more responsibilities than one can handle. ▪ take a shortcut → to choose a quicker or more direct route to a destination or a faster method to achieve a goal. ▪ small talk → casual and light conversation about general topics, often used in social situations to break the ice. ▪ a bone of contention → an issue or subject of disagreement or dispute between people or groups. ▪ as dry as a bone → extremely dry; often used to describe weather or a lack of moisture. ▪ bite the bullet → to endure a painful experience or face a difficult situation. ▪ cost an arm and a leg → very expensive. ▪ elbow grease → hard physical effort; manual labor. ▪ smell a rat → to sense that something is not right; to suspect deceit or trickery. ▪ the icing on the cake → something that enhances the positive qualities of a situation; an additional benefit or enhancement. ▪ break a leg → a way to wish someone good luck, especially before a performance or presentation. ▪ spill the beans → to disclose a secret or reveal something that was meant to be kept confidential. ▪ straight from the horse’s mouth → info or news that comes directly from the original or authoritative source. ▪ the apple of someone’s eye → someone's favorite person; someone cherished or loved above all others. ▪ pay through the nose → to pay an excessive or exorbitant amount of money for something. ▪ to live off the hog → to have a lot of money and a very comfortable lifestyle. ▪ make ends meet → find it difficult to pay for your everyday needs because you have very little money. ▪ champagne taste on a beer budget → someone who likes expensive things that they cannot afford. ▪ the steamy side of life → the most unpleasant, disreputable or sordid aspects of life that we normally do not see. ▪ have a bun in the oven → to be pregnant ▪ hit the books → to study intensively ▪ push up daisies → to be dead, buried in the ground. ▪ scratch someone’s back → to do a favor for someone with the expectation that they will do a favor for you in return. ▪ when pigs fly → something that’s never gonna happen, something highly unlikely ▪ a piece of cake → something really easy ▪ weal and woe → the good and bad times, the joys and sorrows, or prosperity and misfortune. ▪ live from hand to mouth → not having any money to save because whatever you earn is spent on food and other essentials. ▪ to be a crashing bore → to be extremely dull, uninteresting, or tedious. ▪ keep up with the joneses → have the same possessions or social achievements as someone else. ▪ let the cat out of the bag → to reveal or say something that is supposed to be a secret. ▪ hit the nail on the head → to describe exactly what is causing a situation or problem. COLOR-CODED IDIOMS: ▪ aristocrat → blue-blooded ▪ bureaucracy → red tape ▪ naive and inexperienced: green ▪ rhetorical passage → purple passage ▪ royal → born to the purple ▪ almost never → once in a blue moon ▪ to celebrate → to paint the town red ▪ to get angry → to see red ▪ go-ahead → green light ▪ envious → to be green with envy ▪ to cover up → to white-wash ▪ to be acutely drunk → to see pink elephants ▪ evergreen record → golden oldie ▪ in debt → in the red ANIMAL-CODED IDIOMS: ▪ chicken out → to decide not to do something out of fear ▪ clam up → to suddenly become quiet ▪ copy cat → a person who does the same thing as someone ▪ ants in one's pants → unable to sit still or remain calm out of nervousness or excitement ▪ cat nap → a short sleep PROVERBS → short, traditional sayings that express a general truth or piece of advice; they often convey wisdom or common-sense observations. out of sight, out of mind → ▪ stitch in time saves nine → taking timely action can prevent larger problems. ▪ don't put all your eggs in one basket → don’t risk everything on a single venture. ▪ where there's smoke, there's fire → if there are signs of a problem, there is likely a real issue. ▪ even a broken clock is right twice a day → someone who is usually unreliable can happen to provide correct information sometimes. ▪ when in Rome, do as the Romans do → follow the customs or behavior of the place you are in. ▪ you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs → achieving something worthwhile often involves some sacrifice or difficulty. ▪ too many cooks spoil the broth → when too many people are involved in a task, it is likely to end badly. ▪ every cloud has a silver lining → even in difficult situations, there is something positive or hopeful to be found. ▪ don’t put all your eggs in one basket → don’t risk everything on a single venture; diversify to reduce risk. ▪ a penny for your thoughts → a way of asking someone their opinion, what they’re thinking. ▪ actions speak louder than words → what one does is more important than what one says. ▪ don’t count your chickens before they hatch → don’t make plans based on something that hasn't happened yet; be cautious about the future. A cliché, on the other hand, is an expression that was once innovative but has lost its novelty due to overuse. It was first used to describe a stereotype → literally, a metal plate used for printing an