English Lexemes Research Articles

Differences in codeswitching patterns between immigrant and heritage speakers of US American Danish

This paper addresses intrasentential code-switching in US American Danish spoken by 1st generation immigrants from Denmark, who migrated to the US around 1900 as part as the transatlantic European mass emigration and their descendants (2nd and 3rd generation). The analysis is based on the Corpus of American Danish, specifically a dataset of 173 speakers producing 46 hours of speech. In this dataset, we observe significantly different patterns of intrasentential code-switching in the speech of the immigrant speakers (1st generation) and US-born heritage speakers (2nd and 3rd generation): The code-switching patterns of the heritage speakers show a preference for English lexemes that are integrated morphologically into Danish or which are part of Danish-English bilingual compounds. In contrast, the immigrant speakers prefer non-integrated English words for code-switching. This result taken per se shows that code-switching patterns show variation across generations just as other linguistic variables. Taking the result further, we have connected it to a previous study of representations of linguistic proficiency in immigrant Danish in the Americas. By this, we are able to show that the morphologically or lexically integrated code-switching of the heritage speakers correlate with features representing fluent speech, while the non-integrated code-switching of the immigrant speakers rather seems to correlate with features showing a low activation of Danish in a situation of language shift. Thus, the heritage speakers seem to have developed a way of speaking US American Danish where English word stems are an integrated part of speaking fluently and lexically varied.

English Lexical Borrowing in Filipino: Morphophonological Adaptation of English Lexemes and Loanwords

English has profoundly influenced the Philippine language through the assimilation of source language words into the recipient language. This linguistic exchange, influenced by historical and cultural contacts, has resulted in a notable transformation of linguistic aspects in the Philippines. Over time, English has seamlessly been incorporated into the Filipino language, highlighting a notable process of linguistic exchange. This study specifically delved into the morphological and phonological adaptations of English loanwords in Filipino, examining nuances and shifts in linguistic structure and meaning during the borrowing process through purposive sampling. Qualitative research methods and content analysis were employed, focusing on loanwords extracted from Bob Ong’s novels as a linguistic corpus, delving into the process of incorporating English loanwords into the Filipino language, exploring how this integration instigates a transformation to align with the grammatical and linguistic structure of the target language, and revealing notable morphophonological adaptations and semantic shifts that occur during the borrowing process. Inflections of English lexemes, complemented with Filipino morphemes, were observed, along with modifications to phonological rules, phonotactic constraints, morphemes, and shifts in semantic meaning. The analysis revealed an overall change in the morphophonological structure of phrases and sentences within the corpus. This research underscores the impact of cultural and contextual factors on the adaptation of English loanwords into Filipino, emphasizing specific patterns or structures in the vocabulary borrowing process tailored to the target language. This study contributes valuable insights for linguistic researchers, educators, and language enthusiasts interested in tracing language development and evolution through borrowing and adaptation.

THE THEME OF NEGATION IN THE VERBALIZED FIELD OF THE CONCEPT OF LAZINESS

The article is focused on the peculiarities of the verbalization of LAZINESS concept. The relevance of the paper is determined by the fact that the priority direction of linguistic cognitivism is currently the study of verbalized concepts. Conceptualization as one of the main processes of human cognitive activity is aimed at understanding information in the person’s mind in order to reveal the content of concepts. The purpose of the article is an exhaustive definition of the verbal means of actualizing the theme of negation, compiling a list of defining features that actualize this negation in the verbalized field of the LAZINESS concept. In the paper, semes are considered to be the smallest components of the nominative field, it is emphasized that with the help of splitting the seme into its components, the detailed seme composition of a concept is formed and described. 456 definitions of 21 adjectives in 8 dictionaries have been analyzed. The data were subjected to further definitional analysis, which has demonstated the leading role of the semantic component of the denial of something, the absence of something. In the course of the research, a synonymous series of English lexemes, mainly adjectives united by the theme of lazy, was formed, luding the adjective lazy, as well as words that dictionaries define as its synonyms. The article analyzes the definitions of the lexical unit lazy in English-language specialized dictionaries; the seme analysis of the semantic parcel of negation as part of the nominative field of the verbalized concept of LAZINESS has been carried out. It has turned out that half of the analyzed dictionary definitions have in their composition the negation of a certain quality, state, action. This negation is verbalized by the particle not, the noun lack or participle lacking, the particle no, the preposition without, the prefixes in- and un-, the suffix -less, the prefix dis-, the adjective averse, the prefix ir-, the adverb less, the prefix non-, and the pronoun nothing. The article offers the quantitative representation of the negation seme in the definitions of adjectives-synonyms of the seme LAZY.

Особенности функционирования англоязычной лексемы “fashion” как доминирующей единицы дискурса моды (на материале русского языкового цифрового пространства сети Интернет)

The aim of the work is to determine the peculiarities of the functioning of the English lexeme “fashion” and its combinations as a dominant unit of fashion discourse in the Russian linguistic digital space of the Internet. The paper considers the functioning of the English lexeme “fashion” and its combinations in the receiving (Russian) language, its multilevel entry, describes the structural characteristics, suggests a thematic description. The scientific novelty of the work lies in taking a comprehensive approach to the study of the peculiarities of the English lexeme “fashion” in the modern Russian language based on the linguistic digital material of the Internet. As a result of the research, 144 English-language borrowed units with the key component “fashion” were detected, 14 thematic subgroups of the English borrowings were identified; such thematic subgroups as “Education”, “Business”, “Professions and positions”, “Professional products of activity” were highlighted. These subgroups contain the largest number of combinations with the key component “fashion” and are attributable to the scientific and technological progress, the complication of production processes, digitalisation, globalisation and other processes.

Актуализация англоязычной лексемы “food” как ключевой когнитивной единицы гастрономического дискурса в русском языковом цифровом пространстве интернет-коммуникации

The aim of the work is to discover the peculiarities of the English lexeme “food” and its combinations as a key unit of a gastronomic discourse in the linguistic digital space of Internet communication in the modern Russian language. The article considers the multilevel entry of the English lexeme “food” and its combinations in the receiving language, describes the structural and word-formation aspect, suggests a thematic description and provides linguo-pragmatic functions. The scientific novelty of the work is expressed in a comprehensive study of the peculiarities of the English lexeme “food” based on the Russian linguistic digital mаtеrial of Internet communication. As a result of the study, 128 English-language borrowed units with the key component “food” or “фуд” were detected, 13 thematic subgroups of the English borrowings were identified; such thematic subgroups as “Tools, objects, means”, “Professions and positions”, “Premises”, “Names of organizations”, “Internet”, “Business”, “Miscellanea” contain the largest number of combinations with the key component “food” and reflect the cognitive complication of the world and production processes, changes in the way of people’s life on a global scale.

“Kolori, Sirkuli”: Semantic Relations of the Indigenized English Lexemes in Cebuano

This study investigated the use of indigenized English lexemes (IELs) in Cebuano, specifically focusing on the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Language Education (MTB-MLE) Sinugbuanong Binisaya textbooks. These IELs have been prevalent despite the existence of the equivalent words and language policy being enforced. Specifically, this study sought to: identify the linguistic features of the IELs; determine the semantic relations associated with the IELs; and explore how Cebuano IELs reflect the cultural norms of its users. A qualitative research design was employed, utilizing textual analysis and thematic analysis. The findings reveal notable phonological and morphological features in the IELs. Phonologically, insertion, deletion, and substitution processes were observed, while morphologically, changes in the inflectional affixes of verbs were highlighted, specifically through the use of the common affixes gi, i-, -i, and nag-. Furthermore, the IELs exhibit various semantic relations that include contrasts, similarities, class inclusion, case relations, and part-whole relationships. Finally, emergent themes demonstrate how IELs in Cebuano reflect the cultural norms of its users, encompassing preferences in teaching styles, classroom observations involving IELs, teaching goals and intentions, thoughts and attitudes, and challenges encountered with the MTB-MLE program. The study concludes that language borrowing offers functional advantages and remains essential even in the teaching of a mother tongue such as Cebuano. Future studies could explore IELs in informal contexts such as magazines, advertisements, and social media, investigate the semantic changes of IELs in Cebuano, and conduct longitudinal studies on the effects of the MTB-MLE program on its learners.

An Analysis of Lexico-Semantic Variations in Pakistani English Newspaper Corpus

The present study focuses on the corpus-based lexico-semantic analysis of Pakistani English to identify the variations in the language of newspapers. It also investigates how Pakistani English newspapers consider their readers' cultural and social ideals for intelligible contact while selecting language posts. As a result, they often deviate from the native norms of the language adopting many indigenous linguistic features and emerging new varieties of New English to define their tasks easier in order not only to facilitate but to attract people’s attention. Therefore, Moag’s model on New Englishes, Boas’s theory of cultural relativism, and Kachru’s Theory of Nativisation and Acculturation with the conception of the Outer Circle (1986) mainly connected to institutionalize Second Varieties of English have been used for the theoretical analysis within Pakistani context dependent socio-cultural scenario. The usage of these lexical items shows that Pakistani English is derived from the source, namely, Standard British English, for example, shadi hall, Jihadi outfits, etc. These lexical item categories followed in coinage, borrowing, idiomatic collocations, and semantic shift. This study also attempts to create lexicographical entries to represent the diverse Pakistani English and become available to society's educational and global communication. The study purposively compiled the 2 million corpora from the websites of two major Pakistani English Newspapers, The Nation and The News, and then analyzed it by using corpus software tools Antconc 3.5.8w to search for the key terms and to identify these elements of the stance. The study's finding highlights the New English variety of Pakistani English Newspapers and the adapted lexemes used in the local sociolinguistics context. One of the study's most significant findings shows that the New Englishes lexemes are infused with Islamic, historical, and social culture, highlighting the diverse local colours adapted to the Pakistani setting. The New Englishes in Pakistan comprises the amalgamation of Arabic, Urdu, Punjabi, and English lexemes. The study also broadens the horizon of society's educational and communicational usage while maintaining the endonormative standard.

Early Medieval English Life Courses: Cultural-Historical Perspectives ed. by Thijs Porck and Harriet Soper

Reviewed by: Early Medieval English Life Courses: Cultural-Historical Perspectives ed. by Thijs Porck and Harriet Soper Timothy D. Arner thijs porck and harriet soper, eds., Early Medieval English Life Courses: Cultural-Historical Perspectives. Leiden: Brill, 2022. Pp. xii, 369. isbn: 978–90–04–49929–4. $194. Early Medieval English Life Courses: Cultural-Historical Perspectives literally considers some age-old questions: how does the human body change throughout its lifetime? What is the relationship between physical, emotional, and intellectual maturity? How is the biological process of aging conditioned by one’s social environment? The essays in this volume look for answers in a range of sources from pre-Conquest England, and, in so doing, provide a rich account of perspectives on the stages of human development. The collection helpfully groups the essays into four sections with three essays in each. Part I is dedicated to ‘Defining and Dividing the Life Course,’ with the first two essays examining how stages of the human life course were classified in early medieval English texts. Thijs Porck’s ‘The Ages of Man and the Ages of Woman in Early Medieval England: From Bede to Byrhtferth of Ramsey and the Tractatus de quaternario’ describes different approaches to categorizing life stages in Old English [End Page 102] and Anglo-Norman manuscripts. Tracing aging schemata as represented through three key works, Porck demonstrates that ‘early medieval English authors stuck to a flexible but uniform definition of the human life course’ (p. 45), and he identifies a significant shift in this paradigm during the twelfth century. Daria Izdebska’s essay surveys vocabulary for describing the stages of life throughout the Old English corpus, linking the various words used to describe infancy, youth, maturity, and old age to their Latin equivalents and to the Old English lexemes associated with these phases. These essays are followed by a discussion of an individual’s particular and influential understanding of aging and maturity, as Darren Barber’s ‘Alcuin and the Student Life Cycle’ highlights Alcuin’s writings about how one’s development through the stages of youth allows greater possibilities for moral and spiritual education. The second set of essays on ‘The Life Course and the Human Body’ considers the discourse around significant bodily changes or events. Jacqueline Fay’s ‘Treating Age in Medical Texts from Early Medieval England’ offers the field’s first look at ‘how, or even if, Old English medieval remedies are inflected by age’ (p. 118) and how these texts define normative and non-normative bodies with regard to age, gender, and bodily strength. Caroline R. Batten examines Old English obstetric remedies, demonstrating how the pregnant female body is more consistently associated with death than the creation and nurturing of life. In ‘The Theology of Puberty in Early Medieval England,’ Elaine Flowers shows how ‘the biological process of puberty in pre-Conquest England . . . generated theological consequences associated with leaving an age of spiritual innocence behind’ (p. 160). Focusing almost exclusively on the male body as a pubescent subject, theological discourse describes sexual temptation as both a challenge and opportunity for young men to demonstrate moral understanding and self-control. The essays in ‘Part III: Intergenerational Dynamics’ concern how names, knowledge, and goods are passed down to create a sense of individual identity within a community. James Chetwood’s essay on naming and renaming demonstrates how names were bestowed not only at birth but throughout one’s life to signal familial and social bonds. Just as Flowers’ essay in Part II considers the theological discourse regarding bodily processes, Katherine Cross examines how eighth- and ninth-century ecclesiastical texts refer to the weaning of infants as both a natural life process and a metaphor for spiritual instruction. Amy Faulkner’s essay on treasure describes how Genesis A presents an ideal model for aristocratic inheritance that Beowulf shows to be prone to disruption. The volume’s final section considers ‘Life Beyond the Human.’ Gale R. Owen-Crocker demonstrates how object biography can reveal ‘The Life Course of Artefacts’ as she examines the Orkney Hood, the Bayeux Tapestry, the Sutton Hoo Hanging Bowl and Shield, and early English manuscripts. The final essay places the linear life course of human development alongside the...

OLD ENGLISH LEXEME ÆÐELING IN THE GLOSSARIES AND IN THE TEXT OF THE POEM BEOWULF

Background. The Old English poem Beowulf is one of the samples of the Anglo-Saxon poetic tradition and the culture. This work keeps secrets that attract attention of culture experts, historians, linguists, including lexicographers. The 19th century became a starting point for making dictionaries to this poem. Both dictionaries as the text can be a valuable source of information about semantic scope of lexical items.
 Purpose. The article considers the semantic scope and the shades of the meaning of the Old English æðeling.
 Materials and methods. The research material comprises the text of the Old English poem Beowulf, unindependent glossaries by J. Kemble 1837, B. Thorpe 1855, W.J. Sedgefield 1913, F. Klaeber 1950, A. Wyatt 1898, the glossaries to online projects Beowulf on Steorarume, Gutenberg. The continuous sampling, contextual analysis, dictionary criticism methods were used.
 Results. The article considers the etymology of the Old English lexeme æðeling, and its etymological parallel lines. On the basis of the text examples the meaning of the noun and the shades of the meaning were determined. They are “king”, “noble man”, “warrior”, “descendants of noble and glorious”, “weak man”, “bold man”, “noble kinsman”. The analysis of the dictionary entries proves the wide semantic meaning and the shades of the meaning of the noun. The dynamics of the development of the definition in the dictionaries of the 19-21th centuries is also fixed.
 Practical implications. The results of the research can be used in teaching students History of the English Language. Also, they can be used for replenishing the dictionaries to the Old English poem Beowulf.

The Use and Features of Malaysian English Lexemes as Social Media Hashtags

Social media has changed the way societies all over the world communicate in this modern age. Studies on this research area have shown that of the various forms available, hashtags (#) have a higher means of attraction, as they often produce social media trends and innovative linguistic items that are developed through several approaches, including the use of non-native English varieties. This interesting trend is the motivation for the current study, which explores how features of Malaysian English (ME) lexemes, are used as social media hashtags. To date, linguistic research on social media in the Malaysian context has focused on identifying the use of Malay and English slang words in general. There is relatively little research on the use of localised ME lexemes as hashtags in social media. The current study addresses this gap by employing a cross-sectional survey of the use and practice of a list of 30 ME lexemes by Malaysian speakers and a content analysis of the morpho-syntactic features of these lexemes as social media hashtags based on valid hashtag taxonomies from previous research. The study found that popular ME hashtags used in social media posts are mostly composed of short strings in the form of the # + two words and # + code-switching variation. Interestingly, the analysis of the morpho-syntactic features of one particular ME lexeme with distinct characteristics led to the development of a new category, namely “# + discourse particle”.

TERM CONCEPTS FOR DISABILITY: SPECIFICS OF NOMINATION, FUNCTIONING AND TRANSLATION (BASED ON MATERIALS OF TURKISH)

Background. In linguistics only few works are dedicated to the study of the vocabulary to denote people with disabilities in the Turkish language (Y. Şişman, M. Öztürk, Z. Baykan, A. Demir, A. Efe), just as there are few specialized works in this filed in Ukrainian linguistics, who describe in their studies the problem of terminological irregularity and the lack of terms approved at the state level to denote disability. The relevance of this study is due to the need to popularize the principles of barrier-free society and inclusiveness, the large request for the translation of texts of rehabilitation and treatment, as well as the revitalization of relations between Ukraine and Turkey in these spheres. Methods. During the course of the study over two hundred term concepts used to denote disability and rehabilitation terms functioning from the end of the 19th to the beginning of the 21th century were analyzed with the complex methodology including methods of cognitive linguistics and sociolinguistic approach, the method of contextual analysis and the method of dictionary definitions analysis. Results. The terminology on disabilities in modern Turkish has disorganization that can be explained by such factors as: simultaneous usage of Turkish and foreign lexemes (Arabic Persian, English, French, Latin), euphemization of terms, orientation to international standards and agreements and, as a result, use of English lexemes etc. The vocabulary of international agreements and national legislation was found to differ in some cases. Quick formation of negative connotation is the main influencing factor on the terminology formation process and results in creation of a new replacing term without negative meaning. Conclusions. Summarizing the main difficult issues in translation we suggest to use the complex of methods and approaches, translation tactics and strategies to help for choosing an equivalent according to the type of discourse, such as using WHO classification for translation of medical documentation, taking into account the requirements of the legislation in force and amendments to it for official documents, being careful using periphrastic explanations, making the person as the main concept but not their characteristic. Adaptation for correctness is essential when translating social texts, advertising, fiction, excessive euphemization of concepts should be avoided when working with any type of text and terms for disability.

Key Problems of English Lexicology in Higher Education Institution

The article is devoted to the main problems faced by students of philology in the study of English lexicology. In the university course lexicology is considered as a branch of linguistics that has its own goals and methods of research, main tasks and systematic description of vocabulary according to its origin, development and current use. The paper emphasizes the importance of studying lexicology in the course of higher education institution, because knowledge of lexical units is the basis for the formation of communicative competence and for mastering a foreign language in general. The study of lexicology plays an important role in all types of speech activity (reading, speaking, writing and listening). A sufficient number of programs and textbooks on English lexicology served the material of the article. After analyzing the research material, we can identify the main thematic blocks that are traditionally studied in the course of English lexicology in higher education institution: word formation, semasiology and etymology of the word. The main problems in studying word formation are the distinction between "morpheme" - "allomorph" - "morph", recognizing different affixes, knowledge of which promotes better understanding of texts and the ability to speak succinctly orally and in writing, defining different ways of word formation. In the thematic block "Semasiology" the most problematic issues are the meaning of the word, as well as synonymy and polysemy, due to which a large number of new meanings of words appear in the English language. Studying the problems of the thematic block "Etymology of the word", including the classification of native and borrowed vocabulary, the presence in English of such concepts as etymological doublets, triplets and hybrids, etc., will allow students of philology not only to distinguish English lexemes from borrowed ones, but it will also show them the richness of the English language, its development, dynamics and improvement, it will cultivate respect for the history and language of the English people. Lexicology should be considered the basic of the English language course in the higher education institution, as the formation of lexical competence is an important component in the formation of foreign language communicative competence. In the process of studying the course, students learn new words, phrases, phraseological units that they need to develop skills of their usage in various types of productive (speaking, writing) and receptive (reading, listening) activities.

MOTIVATIONAL FEATURES OF THE LINGUOCULTURAL CONCEPT TEXTILE IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

The article is dedicated to the investigation of the motivational features of the linguocultural concept TEXTILE in the English language. The investigation has been done within the framework of the cognitive scientific paradigm, namely, linguoconceptology and linguoculturology. Despite the large number of researches devoted to the study of motivational features of concepts in the English language, it should be admitted that the concept of TEXTILE still has not been properly investigated. According to the fact that the motivational features are understood as the internal form of the word, etymological analysis based on the comparative-historical method was used to identify them. The research was based on etymological dictionaries, general explanatory dictionaries of the English language and dictionaries of textile terminology. An etymological study of the English lexeme ‘textile’ revealed that its original form was a derivative from a Pre-Indo-European root meaning “to weave”. As a result of the study of the etymological dictionaries entries of the English language, 7 main motivational features of the studied concept were identified, namely: ‘canvas’, ‘cloth’, ‘fabric’, ‘texture’, ‘tissue', ‘web’ and ‘woven’. The source of the aforementioned English lexemes was both Germanic and Romance languages. Three of these lexemes come from Old French, namely ‘canvas’, ‘fabric’ and ‘tissue’; English lexemes ‘cloth’, ‘web’ and ‘weave (woven)’ come from Proto-Germanic; and the lexeme ‘texture’ is derived from Middle French. There is also a gradual increase in the volume of the concept structure due to the emergence of new components that reflect the current understanding of the concept under study. The prospect of the research is seen in further investigation of the verbalised concept of TEXTILE in the English language.

LEXICAL EXPLICATION OF THE CONCEPT «POWER» IN OLD ENGLISH (LEXICAL AND-SEMANTIC STUDIES)

The paper deals with a group of Old English lexemes with the meaning ʻpowerʼ, namely: wald/weald, mund, rīki/rīce, dōm. The use of wald/weald, mund, rīki/rīce, dōm in genre-variegated original texts gives grounds for referring them to the semantic field «Law», i.e., to a very important cluster of the vocabulary of the ancient Angles and Saxons. Working with words expressing the concept of «power», the authors set the goal of analyzing the semantic nuances that differentiate the use of OE wald, mund, etc., for which they solve several research tasks: 1) find out the sources of the semantics of ʻpowerʼ; 2) determine the conditions in which the sememe ʻpowerʼ developed on the basis of other meanings (contexts and, in one case, possibly the result of the influence of Latin as the language of law). The analysis of the material gives reason to assume that the Old English contexts, where actual connections of the meanings of a single word are traced, do not always prove the fact that the sememe ʻpowerʼ appeared precisely in the Old English period, because in other ancient Germanic languages etymological analogues with a close semantic relationship are known. This fact indicates the probability of the Proto-Germanic age of the semantic shift.

INFLUENCE OF GUJARI ON LEARNING OF ENGLISH LEXEMES: THE SEMANTIC AND CONCEPTUAL PERSPECTIVE

The purpose of this study is to determine whether or not Gujari learners tend to make a connection between L2 forms and their L1 equivalents. They accomplish this by transmitting all semantic and conceptual knowledge from L1 to L2. This trend can be observed even when L2 lexemes share a single L1 translation. Consequently, second language learners may demonstrate usages distinct from those of native speakers and/or be less capable of discerning the nuances of word pairs that share the same L1 translation. For example, the word pairs ‘give’ and ‘donation’ are translated into deo (دیو) in Gujari and the Gujari learners are liable to commit an error and use the word pairs interchangeably. The present study investigates the influence of Gujari on learning English lexemes by using group-guided conversation. Five-word pairs are used in the context of education to know the semantic and conceptual influence of an already learned language. The results which were validated by the retrospective process show that Gujari learners have a poor understanding of English word pairs and they were found using them interchangeably and mapping the already learned concepts in their native Gujari equivalent(s). They tend to transfer the already learned concepts in a single lexeme into English word pairs that have distinctive concepts and different nuances of meanings for the native speakers as in the aforementioned example of ‘give’ and ‘donation’ both having one Gujari equivalent which is ‘deo’ (دیو) and this word ‘deo’ was found encompassing two distinctive concepts of English word pairs ‘give’ and 'donation’. Keywords: Gujari, Lexical influence, Conceptual restructuring, Word pairs, Lexemes, Gujari

The sociopragmatic parameters steering the reported selection of Anglicisms or their Dutch alternatives

AbstractResearchers studying language variation and change induced by contact with English initially focused on the linguistic integration of English source language (SL) material in the morphophonological structure of the receptor language (RL). Shifting the attention toward the sociopragmatic localization of English lexical material, researchers now foreground both the social identity work conducted with English material and the pragmatic functions of English lexemes and heritage alternatives. So far, however, most of these studies rely on production data, paying less attention to language users’ perception and evaluation of English lexemes. Therefore, integrating insights from language production and evaluation, this study asks the questions (i) which lexical preference speakers express when asked to choose between an English and a heritage form; and (ii) which sociopragmatic parameters help to explain this preference. To answer these questions, a forced-choice experiment was conducted in which over 1,500 Dutch-speaking participants were asked to select their preferred expression when provided with a loanword and a heritage alternative. Each participant was offered 12 target trials and 10 filler trials. The target trials, drawn from a corpus-based study, include a balanced set of loans from three semantic fields with various frequencies in usage data. Pragmatic variation was included by randomly presenting the trials in speech contexts of communicative immediacy and communicative distance. Mixed-effects logistic regression analyses show a significant impact of community-based usage statistics, the age and self-reported attitude of the participant, as well as the speech context in which the concepts were offered.

Inter-individual differences in Hindi–English code-switching: A quantitative approach

Aims and objectives: Variationist studies on code-switching (CS) have focused on community-level differences driven by variables such as age, ethnicity, and socio-economic status. Studies on inter-individual variation that make use of naturalistic speech need to be prioritised, especially in countries with large, diverse populations, such as India. This article presents a quantitative analysis of the Hindi–English CS (HECS) patterns among speakers of comparable socio-economic status and clusters them based on similarities in their CS strategies. Methodology: Television interviews of Hindi movie (Bollywood) personalities were transcribed and coded for Hindi and English lexemes. Bespoke software in Python was used to calculate five numerical indices to describe each speaker’s CS pattern. Data and analysis: The interviews from 28 speakers ranged between 20 and 40 minutes each. Cluster analysis was carried out in SPSS to produce a typology of CS strategies. Findings/conclusions: A total of six CS strategies were identified, with five being employed by both older and younger speakers and only one being used only by a single age group. Most CS strategies are therefore not age-specific. A number of hypothetical scenarios are presented, to demonstrate how individual CS strategies might change with time. Originality: This is the first study to systematically and quantitatively investigate inter-individual differences in HECS, using naturalistic speech in semi-controlled conditions. It is also the first to propose a typology of HECS strategies. Implications: There was significant variation in CS strategy even within the relatively homogeneous group of speakers investigated in this study. The overall variation in the whole of Hindi-speaking India must therefore be far greater. This suggests that certain predictions regarding the predictability of CS patterns from the contact situation (e.g., that postcolonial contexts result in insertional CS) may need to be refined.

Lexical semantics of the nouns denoting “honour” in English and Ukrainian

The article aims at analysing the lexical semantics of English and Ukrainian lexemes denoting “honour”. The analysed samples are divided into the groups of polysemantic lexemes, lexical units with the middle degree of polysemy and monosemantic units. The common features of the polysemantic lexical units denoting “honour” in English and Ukrainian are the indication to respect, esteem, reverence, attention, heed or consideration given to a thing or a person, adoration, praise, thoughtfulness for other people, kindness, care or concern for something, etc. The lexical semantics of Ukrainian polysemantic words is characterized by distinctive features that define “honour” as consent, permission, baptizing someone by saying a prayer; glory, glorification, gift, etc. English polysemantic words manifest the individual traits that define the actualized phenomenon as a pleasure to recognize positive qualities of a person, the feeling of being grateful for something, etc. The lexemes with the middle degree of polysemy reveal the following common semantic features: polite behaviour that shows respect for other people, public praise and reward for somebody’s work or actions, etc. The individual semantic features of English lexemes describe “honour” as a nonverbal means of an indication of approval or recognition; a positive opinion of somebody. The Ukrainian lexemes reveal the following differentiating semantic feature defining “honour” as exaggerated praise, flattery, etc. The monosemantic lexemes manifest the following common semantic features: great respect and admiration; a good opinion of somebody, the act of showing a lot of respect for a person, honour and praise given to somebody because of their achievements, insincere praise. The individual semantic features of English lexemes include the words interpreting “honour” as a speech or piece of writing praising somebody, an extravagantly approving appraisal or review, while Ukrainian language units reveal the following differentiating semantic feature defining “honour” as a prize or other mark of recognition given in honour of achievement and a person who likes paying compliments.

English Lexemes Nominating Nobility Semantics and Evolution under Different Socio-cultural Context

The relevance of the work is determined by the fact that, although the interaction of history, culture and language is constantly in the field of view of linguists, historians, linguoculturologists, as well as all those who study the evolution of a particular language, it has not yet received a complete analysis in detail, in particular, when describing the language pictures of different countries. The aim of the work is to prove that the semantics of the words of nominating titles of the English nobility of the Victorian era has not changed. The materials for the work were modern and classical, starting from the XIX century, word usage from the English language, contained in modern media texts from Internet sources, as well as the texts of novels by English writers of the late XIX century. At least 2000 such word usages were analyzed using the method of etymological analysis, the method of semantic analysis and the method of functional analysis, which allowed us to obtain a reliable picture of their functioning. The triple union of history, culture and language in the approach to the study of linguistic pictures of different countries is at the center of research in recent years. The interaction of these phenomena has become the subject of close attention in many articles and dissertations of linguists, historians, linguoculturologists, as well as all those who study the evolution of a particular language. Lexemes denoting the noble status of a person are important concepts of the British national linguistic picture of the world and culture. The semantics of lexemes was studied according to lexicographic sources. The sources of examples of contextual use were the texts of novels by English writers of the late XIX century and modern English-language texts of the Internet: online versions of newspapers, advertising texts, blogs. To achieve the goal of our research, the article uses such methods as the method of continuous sampling, the method of lexicographic description, the comparative method, the statistical method, and a number of others.

‘An Eye for an Aye’: linguistic and political backlash and conformity in eighteenth-century Scots

AbstractThis study examines the effect of political change on the use of written Scots during the eighteenth century. In particular, it compares a cross-section of texts from literate Scottish society, with works from certain politically-active authors, who identified strongly as pro- or anti-Union following the creation of the British state in 1707. The proportion of Scots to English lexemes in their writing is explored using conditional inference trees and random forests, in a small, purpose-built corpus. Use of Scots is shown to differ between the two groups, with specific extralinguistic factors encouraging or suppressing the presence of written Scots. Frequency of Scots is also found to be influenced by the political ideology of the politicised authors. These results are linked to the Scottish political scene during the eighteenth century, as well as general processes of change over time.