Chapter: lexicology and its object subject matter of Lexicology

4.Distributional analysis
Distributional analysis in its various forms is commonly used nowadays. By the term "distribution" we understand the occurrence of a lexical unit relative to another lexical units of the same levels : words to words , morpheme to morphemes . In other words , by this term we understand the position which lexical unit occupies or may occupy in the text or in the flow of speech . It is observed that a certain component of the word-meaning is described when the word is identified distributionally . For example. In the sentence The boy_____ home . the missing word is easily identified as a verb . It may be "came , ran , went, goes", but not as an adverb or a noun , or an adjective .
Thus , we see that the component of meaning that is distributionally identified is actually the part-of-speech meaning . It is also observed that in a number of cases words have different lexical meanings in different distributional patterns .
For example. The verb "to treat" has different lexical meanings in "to treat smb kindly " and "to treat smb to ice-cream " .
The interdependence of distribution and meaning can be also observed at the level of word-groups .
For example. It is only the distribution of completely identical lexical units but arranged on the reverse that differentiates the meaning — water tap and tap water.
This method is widely used in lexicological analysis. Thus, distribution is the occurence of words relatively to other words. It is the position which words occupy or may occur in the text.
The words have different lexical meanings in different distributional patterns. In different distributional structures the word «ill» has different meaning: ill look, ill luck, ill health — плохой , fall ill, be ill— больной ( касал )
The place of a morpheme is relative to other morphemes For example. singer *ersing is impossible. A different pattern of arrangement of the same morphemes changes the whole into the meaningless. If we have different distribution we have different meanings.
For example, to get to London , to get angry, to get rid of. to take care of, to take off, to take in, take on, take place, take a taxi, take tea.
As was said above, different distribution of components of compound words may change the meaning of the word. For example, bird-cage and cage-bird, fruit-market, market-fruit, lifeboat, boat-life.
So the meaning of the word depends on its distribution. It should be pointed out that the meaning of the word is dependent on what class of words it is combined with.
Thus, nouns may be subdivided into

For example. If we use after the verb «move» the nouns denoting inanimate objects (move + inanimate N) it has the meaning: ??????? (For example. He moved a table).
But when it is followed by the noun denoting animate human being (move +animate N) it has another meaning: He moved a man " ?? ????? ???????? ". The meaning of words also different if they are combined with different le-xico- semantic groups. By lexico-semantic group we understand the group of words
joined together by a common concept or the words which have a common semantic component. For example, verbs denoting sense perception: to think, to imagine, to write, or adjectives denoting colour: red, black, yellow, etc.
For example, blind + any N denoting a living being, animate cjienofi (Kyp) without the power to see: a blind man, a blind woman, a blind cat. blind + N denoting inanimate objects or abstract concept may have different meanings depending on the lexico — semantic group of the noun, it belongs to. So it has the meaning «6e3paccyflm>iH» (thoughtless) when it is combined with nouns denoting emotions. For example, blind love, blind fury.
With nouns denoting written or typed signs it has the meaning «hard to see», For example, blind handwriting, blind type.
Distributional analysis is widely used in wordform tion. The analysis of the derivational pattern N + ish->-adj. shows that the suffix-«ish» is never combined with noun stems denoting time, space. It is impossible to say hourish, mileish. Many adjectives in — «ish» are formed from noun + stem denoting living beings, For example, wolfish, boyish, girlish.
So the distribution may be viewed as the place of words in relation to other words on the level of semantic classes and subclasses. The distributional meanings by co-occurrence may be extra-linguistic or linguistic components of meaning. Good doctor — who treats well Good mother — who takes care of her children well.
Here the meaning of the adjective «good» is different and it is the extra-linguistic factors that account for the difference in meaning. The linguistic components of distributional meaning can be found when we compare correlated words in different languages.
For example. In English the verb «to seize» may be combined with nouns denoting different kinds of emotions (I was seized with joy, greif, etc.) but in Russian we may say — ?? ???? ?????? ???????? ; but the collocations — ?????? ??????? , ??????? are impossible, so the Russian verb cannot be combined with nouns denoting pleasurable emotions.
It must be said that the different semantic pecularities of the words may be found in the distributional analysis. The verb «to giggle» refers to a type of laughter. It means «to laugh in a nervous manner* but the analysis showed that «to giggle» is often connected with the laugh of a woman (women giggle) man may giggle drunkenly or nervously but not happily or politely. Different words make different patterns.
For example, to feel one's way, to feel bad, to feel tired, to feel for something.
What is a pattern? A pattern is combination of a symbolic representation of the class of words with it may be combined. For example, see a boy, see a place, see a book.
On the basis of these words we can draw a pattern see + N
This is called a distributional formular. The distributional formular is a symbolic representation. For example, make + (a) + N — make a coat, a machine make + (the) + N + V — make the machine go make + (A) — make sure make + (a) + A + N make a good wife. In each of these examples the meaning of «make» is different. We can divide the meaning of the verbs «to giggle», «to laugh», «to smile» into animate, person, because only a human-being can laugh:
However the laughter is not connected with sex (male/ female.). But a thorough investigation of the meaning of these verbs, and co-occurrence analysis showed that the verb «to giggle has the hidden semantic component «female». The verb «to giggle is connected with nouns expressing the female. The occurrence of this verb with nouns, denoting «male» can be seen when it is used with the adverbs drunkenly and nervously. But when the subject of the sentence is expressed by a noun denoting «female» the verb «giggle» can be used with different adverbs: to giggle happily (politely) with obvious pleasure etc.
For example. It is possible to say «The man is giggling drunkenly and nervously» but it is impossible. The man is giggling ' happily. However it is possible to say. The girl is giggling nervously
— — happily
— — — drunkenly
— — — politely
— — — with obvious pleasure
We can see that the semantic component «age» and «sex» may be a hidden component in some adjectives.
The adjective «pretty» has the hidden semantic component «age». For example, a pretty child, a pretty girl but it is impossible to say a pretty old woman. This component is not given in dictionaries.
The adjectives «shabby» and «buxom» have also the hidden component «age». «a shabby child» is possible but «a shabby old mam is impossible «a buxom woman» is possible but «a buxom old woman» is impossible. Learning the hidden components of meaning is very important for us in order to master the lan­ guage. For the establishment of the hidden component we must have a dictionary of frequency value of collocations. (GinzburgR. S.)