Lesson 1. Morphology

THE EARTH IS GETTING HOTTER

Global warming has officially been declared a reality. 1995 was the world's warmest year since records began in 1856.

Two and a half thousand scientists from over 100 countries concluded in December 1995 that humans are responsible for at least part of the rise in global temperatures witnessed this century. Figures from the British Meteorological Office showed that the period 1991 to 1995 was warmer than any five-year period to date, the first half of the 1990s being even hotter than the same period of the 1980s, which is the warmest decade on record.

By the year 2100, global temperatures are expected to rise by between o.8 and 3.5 degrees Celsius. That may not seem like much, but such an increase in temperature would cause a rise in sea levels large enough to put the lives of up to 100 million people at risk. (This number will rise as the global population increases.) Flooding, as well as droughts in other areas, could spark off mass migrations as areas become uninhabitable. Tropical diseases would almost certainly spread northwards, causing "adverse impacts on human health, with significant loss of life".

For the first time in the scientific community, there is total agreement that the activity of humans is at least partly responsible for the problem - specifically the emission of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, which is released by the burning of wood, coal and petroleum products. This is significant departure from the position of many scientists who previously maintained that warming could be a result of natural climatic changes.

However, not all scientists are convinced that human-influenced warming actually affects the climate. Some maintain that higher temperatures, which increase evaporation and lead to heavier rainfall, might produce more clouds, which have a cooling effect. And, oceans might absorb most of the increased heat, leaving little to change the climate.

Reducing harmful emissions is just one area in which the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is decidedly optimistic. For one thing, in the short term it might not prove that difficult. Efficiency improvements alone could cut energy needs by as much as 30 per cent at virtually no extra cost. In the longer term, harmful emissions will be reduced as the world changes over to cheaper, less environmentally damaging energy sources.

So, if it economically and technically feasible to reduce harmful emissions, why is almost nothing being done? There are two main reasons. The first stems from the uncertainty about how hot the planet is going to get. The current estimate is extremely broad - between 0.8 and 3.5 degrees Celsius by 2100. If the former prediction is accurate, it may be that we can adapt to it without difficulty. If, on the other hand, the latter is closer to reality, a complete rethink of the world's energy supplies is already long overdue.

This leads directly to the second problem - the time scale involved. It is difficult to get people to act when predictions may take between 50 and 100 years to materialize. For politicians, who face elections every half decade or so, preventative action against a future threat carries heavy political risks.

This is by no means the end of the problem. Even if politicians in the developed world were to be galvanized into action, what of the developing world, which is economically dependent on fossil fuels? Should it reduce emissions, and suffer the consequences, because of mistakes made by the developed world?

One suggestion is that developing countries be given allowances above the current emission standards. This would enable them to meet their industrialized needs and ultimately help them to finance environmentally sound technologies.

From "BBC English"

EXERCISES

I. Find in the text the Russian for:

to be responsible for smth.; the rise in global temperature; to put the lives of people at risk; carbon dioxide; for one thing; on the other hand; to cut energy needs; to change over smth.; accurate predictions; to be long over­due; to get smb. to act; fossil fuels; to meet the needs

II. Find in the text the English for:

III. Read the figures and dates. Recollect in what connection they are used:

2,500; between 50 and 100 years; 1991 to 1995 period; 2100; 0.8°; 3.5°; 1980s; 100 mln; 1990s; 30%.

IV. Arrange the pairs of synonyms:

to cause, to increase, an impact, to maintain, to affect, feasible, to stem, accurate,- to change, a prediction, a disease, to influence, to arise, an illness, to alter, a prophecy, to spark off, to affirm, an influence, to rise, possible, right.

V. Arrange the pairs of antonyms:

to reduce, warming, the former, sound, difficult, the first, a drought, to rise, an agreement, the last, cooling, the latter, harmful, to increase, a flooding, to drop, easy, a discord.

VI. Form adverbs of the following adjectives and translate them into Russian.

certain, specific, previous, decided, official, virtual, economical,

technical, extreme, ultimate.

VII. Recall the facts to make the choice:

1. 1995 was the world's coldest/warmest year since records began in 1856.

2. The increase in global temperatures is only caused by human activity/natural climate changes.

3. The temperature rise by between 0.8° and 3.5° Celsius may cause a rise/lowering in sea levels.

4. As a result of flooding and droughts tropical diseases can spread southwards/northwards.

5. Carbon monoxide/dioxide is released by the burning fossil fuels: wood, coal, petroleum products.

6. All the scientists in the world/not all scientists are convinced that human-influenced wanning actually affects the climate.

7. Efficiency improvements alone could cut energy needs by 30%/50% at virtually no extra cost.

8. The climate problem can be solved because the world changes over to more expensive/cheaper energy sources.

9. Now scientists are certain/uncertain about how hot the planet is going to get.

10. If the global temperature rises by 3.570.8° people will be able to adapt to it without difficulty.

11. It's difficult/easy to get people to act when predictions may take between 50 and 100 years to materialize.

12. The developing world is economically dependent on atomic energy/fossil fuels.

13. The allowances given to developing countries would enable them to meet their cultural/industrialized needs.

VIII. Divide the text into several logical parts and give headings to

each of them.

IX. Make up an annotation to the article.

X. Look at the pictures and study the information for further discussion during the seminar.

Lesson 1. Morphology

1. Write the following words

Written form	Transcription
	1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17.

2. What is defined by the following?

… the study of word formation, of the structure of words.

3. a) Read some observations about words and their structure:

1. Some words can be divided into parts which still have meaning.

2. Some of the parts into which words can be divided can stand alone as words. But others cannot.

3. Those parts of the words that cannot stand alone influence the meaning of the word differently: some of them change the form of the word; others lead to the creation of an entirely new word.

4. These word-parts that can occur only in combination must be combined in the correct way.

5. Languages create new words systematically.

6. Many words have meaning by themselves. But some words have meaning

only when used with other words.

b) Match the observations and what linguists infer from these

a) Processes of word-formation can be described.

b) When there is a derivational suffix and an inflectional suffix in the word, they always appear in that order; first the derivational then the inflectional one, e.g., teach-er-s.

c) Bound grammatical morphemes can be further divided into two types: inflectional morphemes (e.g., -s, -est, -ing) and derivational morphemes (e.g., - ful, -like, -ly, un-, dis-).

d) Those morphemes that can stand alone as words are called free morphemes (e.g., boy, food, in, on). The morphemes that occur only in combination are called bound morphemes (e.g., -ed, -s, -ing).

e) The meaningful parts into which words can be divided—e.g., boldest can be divided into bold+est--are called the morphemes of the language. These are considered the basic units of meaning in a particular language.

f) Words that have meaning by themselves—boy, food, door—are called lexical

morphemes. Those words that function to specify the relationship between one

lexical morpheme and another—words like at, in, on—are called

grammatical morphemes. Parts of the words that change the form of the word to fit it into the grammar context – as -ed, -s - are also called grammatical morphemes.

4. Draw a chart showing relationship between different types of morphemes using the terms (some words may be used more ones)

Affixes

Adjectives

Articles

Bound

Conjunctions

Derivational

Free

Grammatical

Inflectional

Lexical

Morphemes

Nouns

Prepositions

Verbs

5. Read the text and fill in the gaps to make the text meaningful (consult the chart)

… …¹ are those that having meaning by themselves (more accurately, they have sense).

… …² specify a relationship between other morphemes. But the distinction is not all that well defined.

…³, …⁴, …⁵ ({boy}, {buy}, {big}) are typical lexical morphemes.

…⁶, …⁷, …⁸ ({of}, {the}, {but}) are grammatical morphemes.

… …⁹ are those that can stand alone as words. They may be lexical morphemes ({serve}, {press}), or grammatical morphemes ({at}, {and}).

… …¹⁰ can occur only in combination—they are parts of a word. They may be lexical morphemes (such as {clude} as in include, exclude, preclude) or they may be grammatical (such as {PLU} as in boys, girls, and cats).

We can make a further distinction within the set of morphemes that are both bound and grammatical. Bound grammatical morphemes (those that don’t have a sense by themselves and, additionally, always occur in combinations) are commonly known as ….¹¹. They can be further divided into derivational and …¹² affixes.

6. Match the description with the headings

Here is some of the evidence for the distinction between inflectional and derivational affixes in the English language:

1. May be either suffixes or prefixes

2. All are suffixes

3. Many were adopted from Latin, Greek, or other languages. (Though others, especially the suffixes, are native, including {ful}, {like}, {ly}, and {AG})

4. All native to English (since Old English was spoken around 500-1000 AD)

5. Have a wide range of application. E.g. most English nouns can be made plural, with {PLU}

6. May have a wide or narrow range

7. Give the full forms for the abbreviations in brackets

Inflectional Affixes

English has only eight inflectional affixes:

{PLU} = … Noun -s boys

{POSS} = … Noun -’s boy’s

{COMP} = … Adj -er older

{SUP} = … Adj -est oldest

{PRES} = … Verb -s walks

{PAST} = … Verb -ed walked

{PAST PART} = … … Verb -en driven

{PRES PART} = … … Verb -ing driving

8. Fill in the gaps with the parts of speech to describe the derivational processes

Derivational Affixes

There is an indefinite number of derivational morphemes.

For example, the following are some derivational suffixes:

{ize} attaches to a/an … and turns it into a verb: rubberize

{ize} also attaches to a/an … and turns it into a verb: normalize

{ful} attaches to a/an … and turns it into an adjective: playful, helpful

{ly} attaches to a/an … and turns it into an adverb: grandly, proudly

A different {ly} attaches to a/an … and changes it into an adjective: manly, friendly

English also has derivational prefixes, such as:{un}, {dis}, {a}, {anti}, all of which indicate some kind of negation: unhappy, dislike, atypical, anti-aircraft.

9. True/ false statements

1. Word is the smallest meaningful unit of the language.

2. Free morphemes can stand alone as words.

3. Bound morphemes always attach to other morphemes, never existing as words themselves.

4. Many inflectional affixes are adopted from Latin, Greek or other languages.

5. Inflectional affixes are only suffixes.

6. Inflectional affixes have a wide range of application.

7. Derivational affixes are all native to English.

Date: 2014-12-22; view: 1490