INTRODUCTION
The English language like any other language is a set of symbols or signs made up of two types of substances- sound and marks. The sounds we make and the marks we produce have meanings in particular languages depending on which language(s) we speak. The sounds can be recognised in the speech media while the marks can be recognised in writing. Both sounds and marks are organised differently to give meanings. To produce a message, both sounds and marks are patterned in form of words, sentences and the paragraph. The word is the smallest of the three and it is usually found between two spaces.
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3.1 Meaning of Words
You will notice that some of us just use words without knowing how they came to be. We see a book and call it a book. We see a chair and call it a chair. It is important to note that there is no logical link between words and what they stand for. This means, there is no reason why a book should be called a book or a chair being called a chair. Each of them could be called by another name and they are indeed being called by other names in other languages. For example, a chair is called aga in Yoruba language while a table is called tabili. The same language may refer to the same object by different names at different times of the history of its speakers.
All words and their meanings are arrived at through a sort of common agreement among the people speaking a particular language. The agreement is not a conscious one, all people just accept what others, fathers, mothers, brothers sisters, uncles say. It is conventional and the convention is not based on the inherent nature of the objects or things being referred to. For example, a pig is not called a pig because it is dirty. If it had been called a goat at inception that would have been its name. In fact animal scientists have informed us that a pig is not even as dirty as we all think. It tends to stay very close to where there is water because it does not have pores on the skin where it can easily let out heat and that is why it has to rollin the water or muddy places to cool itself down. We are equally informed that it does not urinate in the pond or water in which it cools itself. If pressed, it comes out of the water to urinate on the ground. So you can now see that even a pig can be discreet when it comes to toileting.
If you take yourself as an example, you will discover that you just grew up to know that there is a figure in the household where you were born whom every body calls daddy and you joined the others in calling him daddy too. The same thing with mummy and all other people you grew up to know. In fact, you just grew up to know that you are called Chinyere or Bola and you respond to that name whenever you are called. What happened was that some people gathered together when you were born to give you that name. If you had been named Tinu or Chukwudi you would have been bearing that name till today. You can then see that it is by a general consensus. It is conventional. There was nothing in you when you were born to suggest that the name you were given is the most appropriate for you or that if you had been given another, something terrible would have happened to you. Although, in Yoruba land, some children are named based on some circumstantial facts.
Language changes and the meaning of words therefore changes just like fashion. Meaning of words may shrink, expand or even be completely replaced.
3.2 Combination of Words
As language users, we need to be familiar with how words combine together in English for effective communication and good writing. In English, certain combination of words behaves as if they were single words this combinatory behaviour is called collocation. Collocations are of two kinds; fixed and unfixed collocations. A fixed collocation behaves like an individual word and wherever one is used, it must be treated as a unit e.g. through thick and thin. The component parts of such fixed collocations are unalterable. You cannot add other words to it and the meaning of the fixed collocation has nothing to do with the meaning of the individual words.
Fixed collocations are often referred to as idioms. Phrasal verbs such as to clean up, to look into etc., are also expressions with fixed meanings regardless of the individual meanings of the root verbs and prepositions. To look into does not mean look+ into but it means to investigate or examine.
The two kinds of collocations are not functionally the same in the language. But the habitual use of the first set should be avoided in good writing because they have been overworked and have lost their originality and force. They are therefore referred to as clichés (an expression that is no longer effective because of overuse). On the other hand, the use of phrasal verbs should be encouraged or cultivated by every good user of the language
Apart from the fixed collocations, combinations of words are also controlled by their field of reference and this is usually referred to as range of collocation. For example, butter can go rancid while fruit becomes rotten. This type of collocation is an unfixed one.
SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1
1. How do we arrive at the meanings of words in English?
2. What are clichés in English?
3.3 Formation of Words
In English, words can be formed by adding prefixes and affixes to base forms of words. Words can be made up of at most three principal parts.
The core part remains in the middle if all the three parts are present. When the three parts are not present, the core part can then be at the beginning or end. The core part is the base form while the other parts are called affixes. Those that come before the base form are called prefixes and those that come after are called suffixes. Below are examples:
un/beat/able
. un - prefix
. beat - base
. able - affix
An English word may be made up of just the base form e.g. Clean, big, choice, dirt, the, sell etc
Examples of words with prefixes only are: intake, resit, inborn etc.
Examples of words with suffixes only are: education, educates, deliberately, mistakes,functional etc.
In English too, we can have words with more than one base form. This usually happens with compound words e.g. blackboard, headmaster, Whitehouse etc.
The function and meanings of words should be learnt to avoid making mistakes or giving wrong interpretation to words. For example, the suffix –less always suggest the absence of what the base form means as in meaningless, useless, careless, etc which means without meaning, use, care, but this is not the same with a word like priceless where the suffix -less means the opposite of what it means in the word- meaningless. A priceless thing is something that is so valuable that you can not put any price on it. When you come across words like this and you want to use them in your write-ups, make sure you check your dictionary for their correct usage or else you may find yourself misusing them.
Since you will be doing a lot of writing in this course and some other courses, you need to pay attention to words and the way to use them. That is why we have taken time to go through this section and the next two sections carefully to show you that even in compositions, as much as possible, errors of spellings, grammar and punctuation should be avoided. This is one of the ways by which we form words in English. You will learn more as we go through the other courses or units.
SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 2
Mention one of the ways by which words are formed in English. The examples you give should be different from the ones already given above.
3.4 Origin of some English words
It is interesting to note that many of us use words while speaking and writing and we think they are all English words. The English language has borrowed a lot of words from many places and other countries and that is why at times you find it difficult to find adequate parts of speech for some of them. In this section, I will briefly take you through some words with interesting origins in English.
3.4.1 Words that have originated from the names of people
. Biro (ballpoint pen) named after Laslo Biro, its Hungarian inventor.
. Boycott (refuse to deal with) after a landlord in Ireland who made himself unpopular by his treatment of his tenants and was socially isolated.
. Braille (name of a raised writing system used by blind people) from the name of its French inventor- Louis Braille.
. Saxophone (musical instrument) invented by the Belgian- Adolphe Sax.
. Watt (unit of power) from the 18th century Scottish inventor- James Watt.
. Hooligan (a rough lawless youth) from the Irish family name- Hooligan.
. etc
3.4.2 English words that come from place names
. Bedlam (chaos) from the name of a famous London mental hospital once situated where Liverpool street station now stands.
. Spartan (severely simple) from the ancient Greek city of Sparta, famed for its austerity.
. Canter (movement of a horse, faster than a trot but slower than a gallop) a shortening of Canterbury, a town in South-east England.
. Gypsy (member of a particular group of travelling people). These people were once thought to have come from Egypt, hence the name.
3.4.3 Names of Different Kinds of Cloth that Originate from Place Names
. Angora (Ankara)
. Satin (China)
. Gauze (Gaza)
. Suede (Sweden)
. Damask (Damascus)
. etc
3.4.4 Words Borrowed from Other Countries
. Turkey - yoghurt, jackal, kiosk, caftan, tulip
. Holland - yacht, tattoo, cruise
. Arabic - mattress, cipher, algebra, harem, mufti,
. Germany - kindergarten, hamburger, blitz, waltz, poodle, snorkel, wanderlust, seminar, dachshund
. Italy - ghetto, piano, soprano, ballerina, confetti, fiasco, spaghetti, bandit, casino, vendetta
. Greece - dogma, drama, psychology, hippopotamus, pseudonym,
synonym
. France - cuisine, gateau, chauffeur, boutique, crèche duvet coup, elite, sauté avant-garde, cul-de-sac, biget
The words are much more than these. You can find more of these words and their meanings of the ones you do not know in the dictionary or the encyclopaedia. We may not be able to do all of that in this unit. Apart from this, it is part of your training as a language student that you get used to using your dictionary.
3.4.5 Words that Only Occur in Plural
Scissors, pliers, binoculars, scales, handcuffs, glasses/spectacles, Tweezers, shears, pincers (instruments for removing sharp objects)
Clothes, tights, pyjamas, leggings, shorts, jeans, trousers Lodgings (e.g. a room)
–(alrotoods arrive?
English has also borrowed words from countries like Portugal, Spain, Russia Japan, Eskimo, Norway, Farsi. English has taken over words from most of the other languages with which it has had contact. It has taken many expressions from the ancient languages such as Latin and Greek and these borrowings usually have academic or literary associations. The words that are taken from French have a lot to do with cooking, the Arts and a more sophisticated lifestyle in general. The words taken from Italy are words connected with music and the plastic arts. German expressions in English have been coined by tourists bringing back new words for new things they saw or by philosophers or Historians describing German concepts or experiences. These borrowings usually relate to things which English speakers experienced for the first time abroad.
4.0 CONCLUSION
In this unit we have tried to go through how words are formed, origin of some words, combination of words all in an attempt to get you ready for the serious business of writing good compositions. It is assumed that henceforth, you will pay more attention to the words you use, their spellings and use.
5.0 SUMMARY
In this unit you have learnt that:
. sounds and marks in a language have meaning and can make up meaningful words,
. there is no logical link between words and what they stand for,
. there are certain words whose sounds are suggestive of their meanings,
. for almost every rule in English, there are exceptions,
. in English, words can be made up of at most three parts,
. in English, there are words with interesting origins.
6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT
Below are some commonly misspelt words which have been detected in students’ writings over the years. Correct the spellings of the following words if necessary.
. Medecine
. Authentic
. Refrigirator
. Enviroment
. Argument
. Opportunity
. Illiterate
. Hypotesis
. Priviledge
. Unforeseen
. Industralization
. Architecture
The best way to go through this exercise is to take up your biro and your paper and try the spelling yourself. You know you are working on the net and you could easily set your computer to spell check for you. That method will not help you. Try to do it first before asking the computer to help you. With that method, you can be sure that if you come across the words anywhere you will be able to spell them correctly even where access to the computer is difficult either because of power failure or non-availability of a computer system.
7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING
Aremo, B (2001). (ed.). Advanced English Compositions. Lagos, Nigeria: Scribo Educational Books.
Aremo, B. (1995). An Introduction to English Sentences (1). Ibadan, Nigeria: Caltop Publications Nigeria Ltd.
Aremo, B. (1997). An Introduction to English Sentences (2). Ibadan, Nigeria: Caltop Publications Nigeria Ltd.
Asiyanbola, A.A. (2005). Sentence Connective Devices as Linguistic Tools for English Reading Tasks in a Nigerian ESL in Moji
Olateju & Lekan Oyeleye (Eds) Perspectives on Language
and Literature. Ile- Ife, Nigeria: Obafemi Awolowo University. pp 187-184.
Babalola, E.T. (2005). The Grammar of Paragraphs and the Mechanics of Good written English in Moji Olateju & Lekan Oyeleye (eds.). Perspectives on Language and Literature. Ile- Ife, Nigeria:
Obafemi Awolowo University. pp 269-284.
Department of English, The Use of English A Text- 2005.
Nash, W. & Stacey, D. (1997). Creating Texts: An Introduction to the Study of Composition. London: Longman
Zandvoort, R.W. (1967). A Handbook of English Grammar. London: Longman Group Limited.
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