The logical classification of semantic change.

The psychological classification of semantic change.

The socio-linguistic classification of semantic change.

Semantic change in English and Ukrainian.

CHANGE OF MEANING IN THE ENGLISH AND UKRAINIAN LANGUAGES

A WORD AND ITS MEANING.

1. The semantic structure of English and Ukrainian words.

1. The semantic structure of English and Ukrainian words

Word-meaning is not homogeneous but is made up of various components, or types of meaning. They are as follows.

The g r a m m a t i c a l meaning is the component of meaning in identical sets of individual forms of different words, as e.g., the tense meaning in the word-forms of verbs (asked, thought walked, etc. or in Ukrainian - їхав, йшов, говорив) or the meaning of plurality (books, intentions, phenomena, столи, вікна, etc.).

The l e x i c o – g r a m m a t i c a l meaning (part-of-speech meaning) is the common meaning of words belonging to a lexico-grammatical class of words, it is the feature according to which they are grouped together. The interrelation of the lexical and the grammatical meaning varies in different word-classes. In some parts of speech the prevailing component is the grammatical type of meaning (e.g., in prepositions), in others – the lexical (e.g., in nouns, verbs, etc.).

The l e x i c a l meaning is the component of meaning proper to the given linguistic unit in all its forms and distributions. E.g., in the forms go, goes, went, gone (читає, читав, читатиме) we find one and the same semantic component denoting the process of movement.

Both the lexical and the grammatical meanings make up the word-meaning as neither can exist without the other.

Lexical meaning is not homogeneous either; it includes denotative and connotative components.

The d e n o t a t i v e component of lexical meaning expresses the conceptual content of a word. Fulfilling the nominative and the communicative functions of the word, it is present in every word and may be regarded as the central factor in the functioning of the language.

The c o n n o t a t i v e component of lexical meaning expresses the pragmatic communicative value the word receives depending on where, when, how, by whom, for what purpose and in what contexts it is used. Unlike the denotative component, the connotative component is optional. There are four main types of connotation. They are stylistic, emotive, evaluative and expressive, or intensifying.

When associations concern the situation in which the word is uttered (formal, familiar, etc.), the social relationships between the interlocutors (polite, rough), the purpose of communication (poetic, official), the connotation is s t y l i s t i c. E.g., parent (bookish) – father (neutral) – dad (colloquial); чоло (poetical) – лоб (neutral) – макітра (low colloquial)

An e m o t i v e connotation is acquired by the word because the referent named in the denotative meaning is associated with emotions. In the synonyms, e.g., large, big, tremendous and like, love, worship (подобатися, любити, обожнювати) the emotive charge of the words tremendous and worship is heavier than that of the other words. Cf. голівонька, серденько, матуся.

An e v a l u a t i v e connotation expresses approval or disapproval, e.g., clique – group, magic – witchcraft (вітер – вітрюга; козак – козаченько).

A fourth type of connotation is the i n t e n s i f y i n g connotation (also expressive, emphatic). Thus, magnificent, splendid, superb (вітер – вітерець – вітрище – вітрюга) are all used colloquially as terms of exaggeration.

Words may be monosemantic or polysemantic. Monosemantic words are sometimes represented by a whole lexico-grammatical class, as it is in case of all pronouns, numerals, conjunctions and various nomenclature words (terms). E.g.: we, she, nobody, ten, thirty, and, or, atom, oxygen, sugar, today; він, вони, десять, перший, і/та, чи, кисень, цукор, сьогодні, торік, etc.

The semantic structure of the bulk of English polysemantic nouns, e.g., is richer than that of the Ukrainian nouns. Thus, the English noun boat can mean човен, судно/корабель, шлюпка; the noun coat in English can mean верхній одяг, пальто, піджак, кітель, хутро (тварин), захисний шар фарби на предметі. Ukrainian words may sometimes have a complicated semantic structure as well. E.g., the noun подорож may mean cruise, journey, travel, trip, tour, voyage; or the word ще may mean still, yet, as yet, more, any more, again, else, but.

2. Semantic Change in English and Ukrainian

The meaning of the word does not remain stable. Different changes of word meaning can be classified according to the social causes that bring about change of meaning (socio-linguistic classification), the nature of these changes (psychological classification), and the results of semantic changes (logical classification). Causes, nature and results of semantic changes should be viewed as three essentially different but inseparable aspects of one and the same linguistic phenomenon as any change of meaning may be investigated from the point of view of its cause, nature and its consequences (results).

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