Vocabulary focus

ª 2.1. Stratification of the Scientific Text Vocabulary

1. Identify special physical terms expressed by individual lexemes and sort them out according to their part-of-speech belonging. Classify them thematically into the groups of terms: a) denoting and characterizing physical processes and notions; b) denoting physical magnitudes, states and parametres; c) mathematical notions; d) others.

2. What word-building means underlie the formation of special terminological lexemes in the text?

3. Provide examples of derivational series of words comprising different parts of speech with the same root-morpheme. State to which lexical layer they refer.

4. What word-combinations can be regarded as terms of physical science?

5. Select general scientific terms used in the present text.

6. Find instances of consubstantial terms and provide your explanations why you refer them to this group of terms.

7. What individual lexemes represent the general scientific layer and what communicative-pragmatic functions do they perform in the present text?

8. Identify general scientific units with the structure of a word-combination and sort them out according to their structure.

9. Are there any general scientific units in the text expressed by predicative segments? If so, comment on their functions in the present text.

10. Comment on the meanings of the verbs come, say, obtain and meet in general literary language and compare them with the general scientific meanings they acquire in the text. You may make use of any explanatory dictionary and dictionaries of scientific terminology, e.g. Longman Dictionary of Scientific Usage by A. Godman and E.M.F. Payne.

11. What means of quantitative expressivity is the present text characterised by? Comment on the instances of their use.

12. Pick out those special terms and general scientific units whose meanings are based on metaphorical transference. Does their imagery increase the expressivity of the present text?

2.2. Vocabulary Practice