The examples below illustrate changes of the meaning of the verb mean when it is followed by an infinitive and gerund.ġ. Word-meaning in English is more syntactically conditioned than it is in Ukrainian or Russian due to the analytical character of the English language. Lexical and grammatical meaning in a word is usually revealed at the syntactic level. The lexical component of a word-meaning reflects the concept the given word expresses and the basic properties of the entity this word refers to. In English, grammatical meaning if often revealed through context. For example, nouns possess the grammatical meaning of substantivity, adjectives have the grammatical meaning of quality, and verbs possess the grammatical meaning of action, process or state. The grammatical component is the meaning of the formal membership of the word expressed by its grammatical forms. Nevertheless, according to universally accepted semantic theory, a word-meaning structure can be analyzed at two levels.Īt the first level, it is possible to identify the lexical and the grammatical component in the structure of a word-meaning. There exist several concepts of a word-meaning structure, neither of which, however, can fully describe it, and the problem remains the subject of debate in present-day linguistics. The results of the studies could be used in teaching English-Ukrainian translation, in lectures on English lexicology, and in the English language teaching in technical institutions of higher education. The methods employed included lexicographic, structural, semantic, and contextual analysis. We also used the ABBYY Lingvo 11 dictionary (2005) and the Encarta World English Dictionary (2003). The material for the studies was drawn from texts of such periodicals as «Newsweek» (2007) and «Scientific American» (2006-2007). The aim of our studies was to analyze the present-day semantic development of the adjective green, to identify the factors that contributed to this event, and determine new components in the semantic structure of the adjective green. The object of our studies was the adjective green in new linguistic environments. Students often misinterpret these expressions because they focus on the denotative meaning of the adjective green and are unaware of recent changes in its semantic structure. These collocations usually occur in texts relating to energy problems, economic and environmental issues, advanced automotive technologies, and advertising.
Such combinations as green designs, green driving, green technology, green power, which are widely used in present-day texts, would have been considered semantically incompatible and meaningless several years ago.
The adjective green has now come to be used in new and often unusual linguistic environments. Key words: denotative meaning, connotative meaning, collocation, contextual meaning, extra-linguistic context, linguistic context, grammatical meaning, lexical meaning, primary meaning, loss of meaning, secondary meaning, development of a word-meaning. New components in the semantic structure of the adjective «green» have been identified. New linguistic environments of the adjective «green» and factors conditioned their occurrence have been analyzed. CHANGES IN THE SEMANTIC STRUCTURE OF THE ADJECTIVE «GREEN»Ībstract.
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