Pre-Roman Britain

Semantic Structure of the Word and Its Changes

Lecture 3

Plan:

1. Semantics / semasiology. Different approaches to word-meaning.

2. Types of word-meaning.

3. Polysemy. Semantic structure of words. Meaning and context.

4. Change of word-meaning: the causes, nature and results.

List of Literature:

1. Антрушина, Г.Б. Лексикология английского языка: учебник для студ. пед. ин-тов по спец. № 2103 "Иностр. яз." / Г.Б. Антрушина, О.В. Афанасьева, Н.Н. Морозова; под ред. Г.Б. Антрушиной. – М.: Высш. школа, 1985. – С. 129–142, 147–160.

2. Воробей, А.Н. Глоссарий лингвистических терминов / А.Н. Воробей, Е.Г. Карапетова. – Барановичи: УО "БарГУ", 2004. – 108 с.

3. Дубенец, Э.М. Современный английский язык. Лексикология: пособие для студ. гуманит. вузов / Э.М. Дубенец. – М. / СПб.: ГЛОССА / КАРО, 2004. – С. 74–82, 123–127.

4. Лексикология английского языка: учебник для ин-тов и фак-тов иностр. яз. / Р.З. Гинзбург [и др.]; под общ. ред. Р.З. Гинзбург. – 2-е изд., испр. и доп. – М.: Высш. школа, 1979. – С. 13–23, 28–39, 47–51.

5. Лещева, Л.М. Слова в английском языке. Курс лексикологии современного английского языка: учебник для студ. фак-в и отдел. английского языка (на англ. яз.) / Л.М. Лещева. – Минск: Академия управления при Президенте Республики Беларусь, 2001. – С. 36–56. (Электронный ресурс).

List of Terms:

Semantics

referent

functional meaning

grammatical meaning

lexical meaning

denotational meaning

connotational meaning

polysemanticword

polysemy

a model of polysemy

lexical-semantic variants

basic meaning

peripheral meaning

primary meaning

secondary meaning

radiation

concatenation

lexical context

grammatical context

thematic context

ellipsis

differentiation of synonyms

linguistic analogy

metaphor

metonymy

restriction of meaning

extension of meaning

ameliorative development of meaning

pejorative development of meaning.

Throughout its long ancient history Britain was invaded and inhabited by numerous different tribes. The first known of those were the Iberians, who came from the Pyrenean peninsulain the 3^rd millennium BC.

The British Isles lay on their trade route to the amber-bearing North. Though little is known about the Iberians, a good deal may be guessed with reasonable safety, since they have left their mark upon the face of the land. There are numerous monuments around Britain left from the Late Stone Age(c. 3750-2000 BC) in Cornwall, along the coast of Wales,in Ireland and on off-shore islands, such as Orkney Islands, and from the Early Bronze Age(c.2000-1500 BC).

Among them are great earthworks (long barrows, or round burial mounds), stone dwellings, like those in the Neolithic village of Scara Brae (Orkney Islands), stone burials (e.g. Newgrange in Ireland) and the great Megalithic structures – stone circles (of some ritual or astronomical purpose), of which Avebury is the largest and Stonehenge (both in Wiltshire, England) the best known.

The scale of these monuments speaks of a numerous and well-organised race. Thousands of labourers must have worked together to raise the great earth mounds, to haul and set up enormous stones or to build track ways which linked settlement to settlement in an orderly fashion.

The long (up to 60 m) burial barrows prove the existence of clearly marked class divisions: on the one hand there must have been chiefs, people important enough to be entitled to such grand funeral arrangements, on the other – an abundance of men whose cheap labour was available for such works.

Archaeological finds of that period show that quite a busy tradewent on along the track ways and by sea between Britain and the Pyrenean peninsula and even the Mediterranean states.

Soon after 2000 BC, a new race of Alpine stock entered the land, this time from the south east and east. From their characteristic pottery found in many burials, they are known as the Beaker people (a beaker – a type of vessel). This race was certainly familiar with the use and working of bronze. The Iberians and the Beaker peoplewere closely related in culture (both came from the southern parts of the European Continent), and while the newcomers mainly settled on the East coast and in what later became known as East Anglia, the area where they met and mingled was the Wiltshire area, which became the centreof pre-Celtic civilisationin Britain. During that period, tin, copper and lead were mined in Cornwalland Wales, and probably even exported.

Although the level of civilisation in the Early and Middle Bronze Ageswas considerable, it affected only a small part of Britain. The mountain areas of the West and the North still had very thin if any population, and much of the lowland, covered by thick forests, was untouched. Stone or bronze instruments could not help people of the Bronze Ageto penetrate woodland. Therefore it was not until men learnt how to work and use iron (in the Iron Age c.1200–400 BC)) that the thickly forested lowlands were conquered.

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