现代英语词汇学概论最强版复习资料chapter9

Chapter 9 Changes in Word Meaning

⏹9.1 Causes of Changes in Word Meaning

⏹9.2 Four Tendencies in Semantic Change

⏹9.3 Semantic Development or Change Resulting from the Figurative Use of Words

Definition: Change of meaning refers to the alteration of the meaning of existing words, as well as the addition of new meaning to established words.

9.1 Causes of Changes in Word Meaning

A.Historical cause 历史原因

It often happens that though a word retains its original form ,its meaning has changed because the object which it denotes has changed .

*Changes of meaning because of increased knowledge of the object described are common in the history of science.

Eg.

pencil ==is from a Latin word meaning “a little tail” or “a fine brush”, like our Chinese “pen”毛笔.Later, when it was made of wood and graphite ,it was still called a “pencil”.

atom ==It was borrowed though Latin and French from Greek arouos ,invisible. Thus atom meant originally “an particle too small to be divided”. This meaning is now out-of-date, because scientist have found out that atom can be split.

B.Social cause 社会原因

Change in word meaning resulting from a constant verbal traffic between common words and various technical words is referred to as social cause of semantic change.

Some technical words have lost their specialized meaning and have come to be used in more general senses.

Eg.

feedback (Electr.) =means “response” in common use ,as in “The teacher likes to have feedback from his students”;

allergic (Med.)=means “being unusually sensitive to the action of particular foods, pollens, insect-bites ,etc.”

*A specific environment may add a fresh and highly technical sense to a word of general use .

Eg.

energy =(Phys.) ability of matter or radiation to do work

decline =(Gram.) inflect, state the case-forms of

C.Foreign influences 外来文化影响

A particularly important cause .

eg.

-pig ,sheep ,ox(cow)denote the names of both the animals and their meat in the Old English period ,but since the meat was called pork ,mutton and beef respectively among the Norman conquerors, the original terms are now used only as the names of the animals.

-dream meant “joy” in OE, it gets its modern sense from the related Scandinavian word draumr.

D.Linguistic cause 语言上的原因

*Two tendencies: towards ellipsis省略and towards analogy类推.

-Ellipsis as a cause of semantic change often occurs in habitual collocations, such as adj.+n.,or attributive n.+n.,in which the noun is often deleted and only the first element (the attributive )is left ,but retaining the sense of the whole phrase .

eg.

a general –a general officer 一位将军

an editorial –an editorial article一篇社论bugle –bugle horn 号角

gold–gold medal ,as in the Olympic Games金牌uniform –uniform dress 制服transistor –transistor radio 收音机daily –daily newspaper 日报duplicate –duplicate copy 副本

-Analogical tendency: New meanings developed in one part of speech are passed on to other parts of speech from the same lexical base.

eg.

diplomatic (外交的，外交上的)which had earlier meant only “skillful in managing international relations,” had by 1826 developed the sense of “tactful in the management of relations of any kind ;artful management it dealing with others.” By 1848，this new meaning had been passed on to the noun diplomacy. （外交；外交手腕；交际手段）

E.Psychological cause 心理学上的原因

*Three forms

a)Euphemism委婉

People have a tendency to use mild, agreeable language when speaking of an unpleasant or embarrassing fact (such as death, disease, unfortunate events or crime), and of taboo subjects as sex and the excretive processes of the body.

eg. hence death and things related to death

-to pass away

-to breathe one’s last -to cease to think

-to fall asleep -to go west

-to kick the bucket -to be no more

b)Grandiloquence 夸张

Grandiloquence refers to the use of long, important-sounding words for effort .The desire to upgrade or raise the social status of a position, occupation, or institution by changing its common name to one felt to confer greater dignity or importance is another psychological factor in the change of word meaning.

eg.

janitor看门人；守卫；门警–custodian管理人；监护人；保管人

gardener园丁；花匠；园艺家–landscape architect造园技师；环境美化设计家

reform school教养院；少年犯管教所–community home少年感化院；

c)Cynicism 嘲讽

Cynicism: the desire to sneer and to be sarcastic.

eg .

pious虔诚的；敬神的；可嘉的；尽责的--hypocritically virtuous 伪善地善良

fanatic狂热的；盲信的—unreasonably enthusiastic ,almost approaching to madness