FREE-WORD
COMBINATIONS
Lecture # 11
Grigoryeva M.
Word-groups
Definition of a word-group and its basic
features
Structure of word-groups
Meaning of word-groups
Motivation in word-groups
Word-Group
the largest two-facet language unit
consists of more than one word
studied in the syntagmatic level of analysis
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
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
Features of Word-groups
Lexical Valency
Grammatical Valency
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
Lexical Valency (Collocability)
words habitually collocated in speech make a
cliché
to put forward a question
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
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
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
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
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 -
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
Classifications of word-groups
according to the distribution
according to the head-word
according to the syntactic pattern
Word-groups according to distribution
endocentric – central exocentric – the
member functionally distribution of the whole
equivalent to the whole word-group is different
word-group from either of its
components
red flower
( I saw a red flower – side by side,
I saw a flower) grow smaller,
John runs
Word-groups according to the head word
nominal groups
red flower
adjectival groups
kind to people
verbal groups
to speak well
Word-groups according to the syntactic
pattern
predicative – non-predicative –
have a syntactic do not have a structure
structure similar to that similar to a sentence
of a sentence
John went, red flower,
he works running John
Non-predicative and endocentric word-
groups
coordinative – elements subordinative – one
of a word-group are member of a word-group
coordinated with each is subordinated to the
other central element
day and night, red flower,
do or die a man of wisdom
Meaning of Word-Groups
lexical meaning
structural meaning
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
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
Structural meaning
meaning conveyed by the arrangement of
components of a word-group
school grammar – grammar school
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)
Motivation in Word-groups
lexically motivated lexically non-
The meaning of the group is motivated
deducible from the meaning of its
components
red tape –
red flower = “red+flower”
‘official bureaucratic
methods’
Apple sauce = “a sauce
made of apple” Apple sauce = nonsence
Motivation in Word-groups
Non-motivated word-groups are called
phraseological units or idioms
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
