37. The stem of a word. The difference between a simple word, a stem and a root.

‘Root’, ‘stem’ and ‘base’ are all terms used in the literature to designate that part of a word that remains when all affixes have been removed. A root is a form which is not further analysable, either in terms of derivational or inflectional morphology. It is that part of word-form that remains when all inflectional and derivational affixes have been removed. A root is the basic part always present in a lexeme. In the form ‘untouchables’ the root is ‘touch’, to which first the suffix ‘-able’, then the prefix ‘un-‘ and finally the suffix ‘-s’ have been added. In a compound word like ‘wheelchair’ there are two roots, ‘wheel’ and ‘chair’. A stem is of concern only when dealing with inflectional morphology. In the form ‘untouchables’ the stem is ‘untouchable’, although in the form ‘touched’ the stem is ‘touch’; in the form ‘wheelchairs’ the stem is ‘wheelchair’, even though the stem contains two roots. A base is any form to which affixes of any kind can be added. This means that any root or any stem can be termed a base, but the set of bases is not exhausted by the union of the set of roots and the set of stems: a derivationally analysable form to which derivational affixes are added can only be referred to as a base. That is, ‘touchable’ can act as a base for prefixation to give ‘untouchable’, but in this process ‘touchable’ could not be referred to as a root because it is analysable in terms of derivational morphology, nor as a stem since it is not the adding of inflectional affixes which is in question.

38.The word and its meaning. Denotational, connotational components.

Meaning and concept are very closely associated but not identical. Meaning is a linguistic category. Concept is a logical and psychological category, a unit of thinking. Meaning and concept coincide only in scientific terms that have no general meanings (morpheme, phoneme, amoeba) and in terminilogical meanings of polysemantic words, e.g. legal, medical or grammatical usages of the word case.

The content plane of words includes denotative and connotative meanings. Denotative or referential meaning, the basic type of lexical meaning, is the word‘s reference to the object. This reference may be individual (The dog is trained) or general (It‘s not a dog). That is why denotative meaning is subdivided into demonstrative and significative. The type of denotative meaning varies in different groups of words. The meaning of situational words is relative – it depends on the situation and context: here, son, my, this, now. Pronominal words do not name the referent, they only point to it: he, she, they. Their meaning in isolation is very general: he – any male. but in speech their reference is always individual: he – this particular male. The referent of proper names is always an individual object or person. They refer to each member of a particular class: London, Paris (cities), John, Bob (men). Specific and generic terms differ in the size of the referent group: rose – flower; flower – plant. General terms have a wider meaning and can substitute for any specific term: dog – English bulldog, French poodle, cocker spaniel. The referent of abstract words can be perceived by the mind and not by the senses: miracle, polite, to manage. Connotative meaning includes various additional meanings: emotional, evaluative intensifying and expressive, e.g. hillock, to devour. As a rule, connotation co-exists with denotation. However, sometimes it comes to the fore and weakens the word‘s denotative meaning. Words also may have a certain stylistic value. It means that they refer to this or that situation or functional style: science, everyday life, business: get – obtain – procure; child – kid – infant.