Морфологические особенности современной английской лексики

     Словосложение – одно из важнейших средств языка. Оно является одним из древних способов словообразования, сохранившим в английском языке продуктивность и на современном этапе его развития. Благодаря ему, язык пополняет свой словарный состав и совершенствует свой строй. Сложные  слова в английском языке образуются по определенным моделям. Эти модели значительно отличаются друг от друга по многим характеристикам. В работе были представлены некоторые наиболее продуктивные модели словосложения в системе английского имени существительного.

     Результаты  нашей практической работы подтверждают данные, приведенные О.Д. Мешковым, П.М. Каращук о степени продуктивности словообразовательных способов, а именно суффиксации и словосложения.

     Список  использованной литературы

     1 Ахманова О.С. «Словарь лингвистических  терминов» - М., 1966. – С. 75

     2 Василевская Е.А. «Словосложение  в русском языке» – М., 1962. – С. 37

     3 Каращук П.М. «Словообразование английского языка» – М., 1977. – 302 c.

     4 Мешков О.Д. «Словообразование  современного английского языка»  – М., 1976. - 248 c.

     5 Смирницкий А. И. «Лексикология  английского языка» - М., 1956. – С. 33

     6 Смирницкий А.И. «Древнеанглийский  язык» - М., 1955. – С. 117

     7 Уфимцева А.А. «Слово в лексико-семантической  системе языка». – М., 1968. – С. 122

     8 Ginzburg R. S., Khidekel S. S., Knyazeva G. Y., Sankin A.A. «A course in modern English lexicology. – M., 1979. – С. 197

     9   http://www.homeenglish.ru/Articles.htm

     10 http://www.classes.ru/grammar/138.Zabotkina/worddocuments/_3.htm

     11 Англо-русский русско-английский словарь. http://multilex.mail.ru/ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

     Приложение

     Russian language

     Russian is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages. Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages and is one of three (or, according to some authorities, four) living members of the East Slavic languages, the others being Belarusian and Ukrainian (and possibly Rusyn, often considered a dialect of Ukrainian).

     Written examples of Old East Slavonic are attested from the 10th century onwards, and while Russian preserves much of East Slavonic grammar and a Common Slavonic word base, modern Russian exhibits a large stock of borrowed international vocabulary for politics, science, and technology. Due to the status of the Soviet Union as a superpower, Russian had great political importance in the 20th century, and is still one of the official languages of the United Nations.

     Russian has palatal secondary articulation of consonants, the so-called soft and hard sounds. This distinction is found in almost all consonant phonemes and is one of the most distinguishing features of the language. Another important aspect is the reduction, or drawling, of unstressed vowels, not entirely unlike a similar process present in most forms of English. Stress in Russian is generally quite unpredictable and can be placed on almost any syllable, one of the most difficult aspects for foreign language learners.

     Classification

     Russian is a Slavic language in the Indo-European family. From the point of view of the spoken language, its closest relatives are Ukrainian and Belarusian, the other two national languages in the East Slavic group. Some academics also consider Rusyn an East Slavic language; others consider Rusyn just a dialect of Ukrainian.

     The basic vocabulary, principles of word formation, and, to some extent, inflections and literary style of Russian have been also influenced by Church Slavonic, a developed and partly adopted form of the South Slavic Old Church Slavonic language used by the Russian Orthodox Church. Upon annexion of the Novgorod by Muscovy in 1478, Old-Novgorod dialect although vanished during 15–16 century, played a significant role in formation of the modern Russian language. The literary Russian has also a noticeable similarity with the modern Bulgarian language sharing about 60% vocabulary in fiction literature and up to 80% of the words used in journalistic genre while having notable differences in grammar.

     However, the East Slavic forms have tended to remain in the various dialects that are experiencing a rapid decline. In some cases, both the East Slavic and the Church Slavonic forms are in use, with slightly different meanings. For details, see Russian phonology and History of the Russian language.

     Russian phonology and syntax (especially in northern dialects) have also been influenced to some extent by the numerous Finnic languages of the Finno-Ugric subfamily: Merya, Moksha, Muromian, the language of the Meshchera, Veps etc. These languages, some of them now extinct, used to be spoken right in the center and in the north of what is now the European part of Russia. They came in contact with Eastern Slavic as far back as the early Middle Ages and eventually served as substratum for the modern Russian language. The Russian dialects spoken north, north-east and north-west of Moscow have a considerable number of words of Finno-Ugric origin.[1][2] The vocabulary and literary style of Russian have also been greatly influenced by Greek, Latin, French, German, and English. Modern Russian also has a considerable number of words adopted from Bulgarian, Tatar and some other Turkic languages.

     According to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, Russian is classified as a level III language in terms of learning difficulty for native English speakers,[3] requiring approximately 780 hours of immersion instruction to achieve intermediate fluency. It is also regarded by the United States Intelligence Community as a "hard target" language, due to both its difficulty to master for English speakers as well as due to its critical role in American foreign policy.

     Geographic distribution

     Russian is primarily spoken in Russia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics of the USSR. Until 1917, it was the sole official language of the Russian Empire. During the Soviet period, the policy toward the languages of the various other ethnic groups fluctuated in practice. Though each of the constituent republics had its own official language, the unifying role and superior status was reserved for Russian. Following the break-up of 1991, several of the newly independent states have encouraged their native languages, which has partly reversed the privileged status of Russian, though its role as the language of post-Soviet national intercourse throughout the region has continued.

     In Latvia, notably, its official recognition and legality in the classroom have been a topic of considerable debate in a country where more than one-third of the population is Russian-speaking, consisting mostly of post-World War II immigrants from Russia and other parts of the former USSR (Belarus, Ukraine). Similarly, in Estonia, the Soviet-era immigrants and their Russian-speaking descendants constitute about one quarter of the country's current population.

     A much smaller Russian-speaking minority in Lithuania has largely been assimilated during the decade of independence and currently represent less than 1/10 of the country's overall population. Nevertheless, around 80% of the population of the Baltic states are able to hold a conversation in Russian and almost all have at least some familiarity with the most basic spoken and written phrases. The Russian occupation of Finland in 1809–1918, however, has left few Russian speakers to Finland. There are 33,400 Russian speakers in Finland, amounting to 0.6% of the population. 5000 (0.1%) of them are late 19th century and 20th century immigrants, and the rest are recent immigrants, who have arrived in the 90's and later.

     In the twentieth century, Russian was widely taught in the schools of the members of the old Warsaw Pact and in other countries that used to be satellites of the USSR. In particular, these countries include Poland, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Albania. However, younger generations are usually not fluent in it, because Russian is no longer mandatory in the school system. It was, and to a lesser extent still is, widely taught in Asian countries such as Laos, Vietnam, and Mongolia due to Soviet influence. Russian is still used as a lingua franca in Afghanistan by a few tribes. It was also taught as the mandatory foreign language requisite in the People's Republic of China before the Sino-Soviet Split.

     Russian is also spoken in Israel by at least 750,000 ethnic Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union (1999 census). The Israeli press and websites regularly publish material in Russian.

     Sizable Russian-speaking communities also exist in North America, especially in large urban centers of the U.S. and Canada such as New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, Baltimore, Miami, Chicago, and the Cleveland suburb of Richmond Heights. In the former two Russian-speaking groups total over half a million. In a number of locations they issue their own newspapers, and live in their self-sufficient neighborhoods (especially the generation of immigrants who started arriving in the early sixties). It is important to note, however, that only about a quarter of them are ethnic Russians. Before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the overwhelming majority of Russophones in North America were Russian-speaking Jews. Afterwards the influx from the countries of the former Soviet Union changed the statistics somewhat. According to the United States 2000 Census, Russian is the primary language spoken in the homes of over 700,000 individuals living in the United States.

     Significant Russian-speaking groups also exist in Western Europe. These have been fed by several waves of immigrants since the beginning of the twentieth century, each with its own flavor of language. Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Italy, Belgium, Greece, Brazil and Turkey have significant Russian-speaking communities totaling 3 million people.

     Two thirds of them are actually Russian-speaking descendants of Germans, Greeks, Jews, Armenians, or Ukrainians who either repatriated after the USSR collapsed or are just looking for temporary employment.

     Earlier, the descendants of the Russian emigres tended to lose the tongue of their ancestors by the third generation. Now, because the border is more open, Russian is likely to survive longer, especially because many of the emigrants visit their homelands at least once a year and also have access to Russian websites and TV channels.

     Official status

     Russian is the official language of Russia, and an official language of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and the unrecognized Transnistria, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. It is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Education in Russian is still a popular choice for many of the both native and RSL (Russian as a second language) speakers in Russia and many of the former Soviet republics.

     97% of the public school students of Russia, 75% in Belarus, 41% in Kazakhstan, 25% in Ukraine, 23% in Kyrgyzstan, 21% in Moldova, 7% in Azerbaijan, 5% in Georgia and 2% in Armenia and Tajikistan receive their education only or mostly in Russian, although the corresponding percentage of ethnic Russians is 78% in Russia, 10% in Belarus, 26% in Kazakhstan, 17% in Ukraine, 9% in Kyrgyzstan, 6% in Moldova, 2% in Azerbaijan, 1.5% in Georgia and less than 1% in both Armenia and Tajikistan.

     Russian-language schooling is also available in Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, despite the government attempts to reduce the number of subjects taught in Russian.

     Russian has co-official status alongside Romanian in seven Romanian communes in Tulcea and Constanta counties. In these localities, Russian-speaking Lipovans, who are a recognized ethnic minority, make up more than 20% of the population. Thus, according to Romania's minority rights law, education, signage and access to public administration and the justice system are provided in Russian, alongside Romanian.

New York City

     New York City is an ethnic melting pot where the most dramatic cultural contrasts are commonplace. It is among the most geographically and demographically complex of world cities, its economy one of the most diverse, and its cultural scene among the richest and most variegated.

     A brief treatment of New York City follows. For full treatment, see New York City.

     The city consists of five boroughs (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island [formerly Richmond]), which correspond to five counties of New York state (New York, Kings, Queens, Bronx, and Richmond, respectively). All are located near the point where the Hudson River empties into Upper New York Bay of the Atlantic Ocean. The city's only land boundaries are Westchester county on the north and Nassau county on Long Island to the east. The city's waterfront is used for shipping and recreation.

     The city may be described as a collection of many neighborhoods, each with its own character and life-style. Manhattan is the economic and cultural heart of

     the city and is often considered to be "the city." Administration and services, however, have become increasingly decentralized as community planning boards have assumed more power in areas such as education, health, housing, and public works. Manhattan, the magnet for tourists and businessmen, is at first glance a city of skyscrapers, glaring lights, and frenetic pace. The shopping promenade of Fifth Avenue, the financial institutions of Wall Street, the residential mansions of Park Avenue, or the bohemian life in the East Village and SoHo give typical impressions. Only Brooklyn of the other boroughs has a similar ethnic heterogeneity and a similar range of social life, with commercial and industrial districts and residential areas ranging from the wealth of Brooklyn Heights to the most abject poverty of parts of Bedford-Stuyvesant. Queens is mainly residential and middle class, and Staten Island is partly suburban but still rural in some areas. In the Bronx luxurious residences and solid middle-class apartments prevail in some sections, but other areas, especially the South Bronx, are the scene of severe urban blight.

     Ethnic pockets abound throughout Manhattan, from black and Spanish Harlem in the north, to the various enclaves of the Lower East Side such as Little Italy and Chinatown. New York City also has large numbers of Italians, Irish, Puerto Ricans, and West Indians, as well as the largest Jewish population of any city in the world. This ethnic and racial mix is the result of the waves of immigration that the city has absorbed during its history. The Statue of Liberty, located on Liberty Island off Manhattan, has long stood as a symbol of refuge and opportunity.

     New York City is a centre of world trade and finance, communications, art and entertainment, and fashion. The city is the financial capital of the United States and holds the headquarters of many of the world's largest corporations. Wall Street in Manhattan is home to the nation's largest stock exchange and is the headquarters of the country's largest brokerage firms. With the headquarters of the nation's television and radio networks and the main offices of the largest advertising agencies, New York City is the heart of the mass media in the United States. Printing and publishing are also of great importance, and most of the nation's major publishing houses are based in midtown Manhattan. The city's economic life also depends on the great diversity of its numerous small businesses and manufacturing establishments.

     Wearing apparel, symbolized by its famous garment district, continues to be New York City's major manufacturing industry. White-collar jobs, however, are far more numerous. The main nonmanufacturing employers include service businesses; wholesale and retail trades; finance, insurance, and real estate; transport and public utilities; government; and construction.

     Automation and mergers have resulted in the loss of many jobs in the city. In addition, escalating rents and taxes and high crime rates have caused many firms to leave. Steps have been taken by the city government, however, to alleviate these problems and to provide incentives for remaining.

     The artists of New York City exhibit in a wide variety of forms, ranging from traditional crafts to the most work, flavoured by complex blends of ethnic and national influences. Theatrical arts and entertainment are also widespread: Broadway is the synonym for musical comedies and legitimate drama; Carnegie Hall is one of the most famous concert halls in the world; and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is the home of the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Opera, the New York Philharmonic, and the New York City Ballet. Though the importance of Broadway has declined, theatre is very much alive in the more venturesome Off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions. The city has numerous motion-picture theatres, among which are many revival and foreign-film houses.

     The New York Public Library is one of the best research libraries in the world. Most famous among the city's many museums are the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the American Museum of Natural History. Many lesser known museums house special collections. The city's extensive system of public parks includes Central Park in Manhattan.

     New York City has an extensive public university system. Outstanding private colleges and universities in the city include Columbia, New York, Rockefeller, and Fordham universities, numerous medical schools, the New School for Social Research, and the Juilliard School.

     New York City's subway system carries more than one-third of all mass-transit passengers in the metropolitan area, with the balance provided by commuter rail lines and buses. The once-famous docks of Hell's Kitchen along the Hudson River in Manhattan have disappeared, and considerable shipping has shifted to the New Jersey side of the harbour. Rail lines radiate in all directions. International and domestic air service is provided by Kennedy, La Guardia, and Newark (New Jersey) international airports. Area city, 304 square miles (787 square km); metropolitan area, 1,384 square miles (3,585 square km). Pop. (1990) city, 7,322,564; New York PMSA, 8,546,846; New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island CMSA, 18,087,251

     St. Valentine's Day

     St. Valentine's Day falls on February 14, and is the traditional day on which lovers in certain cultures let each other know about their love, commonly by sending Valentine's cards, which are often anonymous. The history of Valentine's Day can be traced back to an obscure Catholic Church feast day, said to be in honor of Saint Valentine. The day's associations with romantic love arrived after the High Middle Ages, during which the concept of romantic love was formulated.

     The day is now most closely associated with the mutual exchange of love notes in the form of "valentines." Modern Valentine symbols include the heart-shaped outline and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, the practice of hand writing notes has largely given way to the exchange of mass-produced greeting cards. The Greeting Card Association estimates that, world-wide, approximately one billion valentine cards are sent each year, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year behind Christmas. The association also estimates that women purchase approximately 85 percent of all valentines.

     History of Valentine's Day