1. FREE-WORD COMBINATIONS Lecture # 11
Grigoryeva M.

2. Word-groups Definition of a word-group and its basic features
Structure of word-groups
Meaning of word-groups
Motivation in word-groups

3. Word-Group the largest two-facet language unit
consists of more than one word
studied in the syntagmatic level of analysis

4. Word-Group the degree of structural and semantic cohesion may vary
at least, by means of, take place – semantically and structurally inseparable
a week ago, kind to people – have greater semantic and structural independence

5. Free-Word Combination
word-groups that have a greater semantic and structural independence
freely composed by the speaker in his speech according to his purpose

6. Features of Word-groups
Lexical Valency
Grammatical Valency

7. Lexical Valency (Collocability)
The ability of a word to appear in various combinations with other words, or lexical contexts
question – pressing / urgent/etc.,
question at issue, to raise a question, a question
on the agenda

8. Lexical Valency (Collocability)
words habitually collocated in speech make a cliché
to put forward a question

9. Lexical Valency (Collocability)
lexical valency of correlated words in different languages is different
flower цветок
garden flowers
садовые цветы
hot-house flowers
оранжерейные цветы
pot flowers
комнатные цветы

10. Lexical valency acquires special importance in case of polysemy as through the lexical valency different meanings of a polysemantic word can be distinguished heavy table, book heavy snow, rain heavy drinker, eater heavy sorrow, sleep heavy industry

11. The range of the lexical valency of words is linguistically restricted by the inner structure of the English word-stock Lift synonyms Raise Lift a question Raise a question

12. Grammatical Valency
The ability of a word to appear in specific grammatical structures, or grammatical contexts
the minimal grammatical context in which the words are used when brought together to form a word-group is called the pattern of the word-group

13. Grammatical Valency restricted by the part of speech
an adjective + noun, infinitive, prepositional group
a kind man, kind to people, heavy to lift
limited by the inner structure of the language
to propose a plan – to suggest a plan
to propose to do smth -

14. Grammatical Valency
grammatical valency of correlated words in different languages is different
Enter the room войти в комнату
To influence __a person - влиять на человека

15. Classifications of word-groups
according to the distribution
according to the head-word
according to the syntactic pattern

16. Word-groups according to distribution
endocentric – central member functionally equivalent to the whole word-group
red flower
( I saw a red flower –
I saw a flower)
exocentric – the distribution of the whole word-group is different from either of its components
side by side,
grow smaller,
John runs

17. Word-groups according to the head word
nominal groups
red flower
adjectival groups
kind to people
verbal groups
to speak well

18. Word-groups according to the syntactic pattern
predicative –
have a syntactic
structure similar to that
of a sentence
John went,
he works
non-predicative –
do not have a structure
similar to a sentence
red flower,
running John

19. Non-predicative and endocentric word-groups
coordinative – elements of a word-group are coordinated with each other
day and night,
do or die
subordinative – one member of a word-group is subordinated to the central element
red flower,
a man of wisdom

20. Meaning of Word-Groups
lexical meaning
structural meaning

21. Lexical meaning the combined lexical meaning of the component words
BUT
the meaning of the word-group predominates over
the lexical meanings of its components
atomic weight,
atomic warfare

22. Lexical meaning
polysemantic words are used only in one of their meanings
man and wife, blind man
stylistic reference of a word-group may be different from that of its components
old, boy, bags, fun –
old boy (дружище), bags of fun

23. Structural meaning
meaning conveyed by the arrangement of components of a word-group
school grammar – grammar school

24. Structural meaning
structural and lexical meanings are interdependent and inseparable
all the sun long – all the night long, all the week long
(a unit of time)

25. Motivation in Word-groups
lexically motivated
The meaning of the group is
deducible from the meaning of its
components
red flower = “red+flower”
Apple sauce = “a sauce
made of apple”
lexically non-motivated
red tape –
‘official bureaucratic
methods’
Apple sauce = nonsence

26. Motivation in Word-groups
Non-motivated word-groups are called phraseological units or idioms

27. Ex: Gay bird-beautiful bird, blackbird
Arrange word groups according to the degree of their motivation, starting with the highest
Ex: Gay bird-beautiful bird, blackbird
beautiful bird, blackbird, gay bird (весельчак)
Cold wind, cold feet, cold war
Light hand, light supper, light artillery
Blue funk, blue skirt, blue fox
Big cheese, Swiss cheese, white cheese
Big boy, big money, big talk
Angry tone, high tone, mental tone