Assignments for Seminars

1. a) Orientation b) Quizz

2. Etymology

a) *Crystal, pp. 136-137; 139 (in our library; on the Internet)

b) McCarthy, O’Dell: Live and Learn; Phrasal Verbs; New Employment

c) Study and enjoy https://www.fun-with-words.com/etym_example.html

d) Read, be ready to discuss the contents, and check the word-stories (10) of your choice: Tender Photos Unearthed from a Turbulent Time

https://shine.yahoo.com/love-sex/tender-photos-unearthed-turbulent-time-235100316.html

3. Borrowing

a) Durkin, pp. 132-154

b) McCarthy, O’Dell: Thoughts and ideas; Student life

c) Exercise I

d) Find out about the abbreviations at: https://news.yahoo.com/who-knew/m-m-s-history-how-did-they-and-other-brands-get-their-names-27964742.html

4. Motivation

a) Ološtiak, pp. 11-52

b) McCarthy, O’Dell: Writing essays...; References

c) Exercise II

d) Watch and enjoy the video on Page 1: https://www.wordorigins.org/

5. Basic Lexis

a) *Crystal, pp. 124-125

b) McCarthy, O’Dell: Eat, drink and be merry; Travel and adventure

c) Check in a text of 100 words the claim that English has a tendency at monosyllabism and give your interpretation of the results

d) Text: https://music.yahoo.com/news/whitney-houston-superstar-records-films-dies-005927033.html

6. Varieties of Lexis

a) *Crystal, pp. 170-175; pp. 364-384

b) McCarthy, O’Dell: Social English; Social life; Celebrities and heroes

c) Text analysis: Speech As a Social-Class Indicator

7. Dynamism of Lexis

a) *Crystal, pp. 138-139

b) **Szymanek, pp. 429-446

c) McCarthy, O’Dell: Criticising people; Plans and decisions

d) Collect and analyze the word-formation of 20 recent words in English

8. Neologisms

a) Štekauer, pp. 97-112

b) Ayto, pp. 1-10

c) McCarthy, O’Dell: Language isn't just speaking; Communicating; Talking

d) Do in class: Lexical Quizz 3 MWOD

9. Neologisms, Literary Coinages and Lexical Play

a) *Crystal, pp. 132-135

b) McCarthy, O’Dell: News; Current Affairs; War and peace; Discussing issues

c) Select and report on 10 words from a particular year (read also the

intro) https://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/P20/

2nd Year – Test on April 20th

10. Corpus Linguistics

a) *Crystal, pp. 438-441

b) ***Böhmerová, (2009), pp. 33-45

c) Check and analyze (WF, meaning, etc.) of 50 subsequent postings from MWOD New Entries or another source and compare the results with those in b) above

11. Phraseology

a) **Kvetko, pp. 7-68

b) The Phrase Finder: https://www.phrases.org.uk/

Biblical Phrases, Sayings and Expressions; Phrases from Shakespeare

c) Quizz: https://www.bbc.englishlearning.com/en/z_quiz.html

12. Test – Analysis on May 18th

Assignment: Write in very good English a text (of 500-600 words, to be submitted before the accreditation week) on one of the following themes:

- An Impressive Cultural Event

- Topical Social Issues and Their Personal Impact

- Interpersonal Communication – A Challenge for Mutual Understanding (from your own perspective)

Notes: 

* in our library; on the Internet

** www.uloz.to/soubory/lexikologia/lexa2

*** in our library