古希腊神话对英语语言的影响英文

古希腊神话对英语语言的影响英文

来源：英语毕业论文 https://www.360docs.net/doc/637555117.html,/

词汇;单词;学习方法;希腊神话;载体

Introduction“In the last years,the field of second language acquisitio n has seen t he reemergence of interest in o ne of language st udy,vocabulary,andt he appearance of a newly reco gnized aspectlearnerst rategieshas attracted a noticeable lack of attentio n”(Meare).The research,which hasbeen do ne o n vocabulary learning st rategies,hastended to deal wit h individual o r small number s ofst rategies,wit h very limited loo king at t he gro upas a whole.However,wit h my perso nal experience,so mewo rds do give me intense imp ressio ns and occupiedmy memo ry permanently even if I have seen t hemo nce.Here I want to indicate t hat mo st of t hesewo rds are read f ro m sto ries,t ypically f ro m GreekMyt holo gy,which is co nsidered to be t he o rigin ofEnglish literat ure.I wo uld like to call t he lo ng o rsho rt myt hs f ro m which I mastered wo rds firmly“carriers”.This article will fir st overview so me generalco nclusio ns abo ut vocabulary learning st rategies,which can be made p rio r to st rategy research.Then,carrier s in fo reign language vocabularylearning will be p ropo sed and t he mnemo nic met ho ds enlightened by wo rds f ro m Greek Myt holo gydiscussed in mo re detail.Finally,t heo retical aspect s of carrier s used will be analyzed.Mnemonic methods enlightened by words fromGreek MythologyGreek mythology and its linguistic influenceEverybo dy knows t

hat t he myt hs told by t heGreeks and Ro mans are as impo rtant as histo ry fo ro ur under standing of what t ho se peoples,ancesto r s of o ur own civilizatio n,believed and t ho ughtand felt,and exp ressed in writing and in visualart.Fo r t heir myt holo gies were inext ricably interwoven,wit h t he whole fabric of t heir p ublic andp rivate lives.A nd t hen wit ho ut t hese myt hs,itwo uld be hard fo r us to under stand t he art s and literat ure and ways of t hinking of t he west,and ofmany ot her part s of t he wo rld as well,during t hecent uries t hat have passed since t he classical wo rldcame to an end.Time after time t hese p ro duct s ofancient imaginatio n have been used to inspire f reshcreative effo rt s,which amo unt to a substantial partof o ur whole cult ural inheritance.Such renewal sand adap tatio ns have of ten seemed far removed,f ro m t he o riginal t raditio n in character and spirit,yet t hey stem directly f ro m it,and are unimaginable wit ho ut it.Each myt h means so met hing different to everybo dy who reads and st udies it.The sto ries arehard to fo rget,feelings abo ut t hem co me unp redictably.Their underlying qualities do not easilyyield to definitio n o r classificatio n and still less toweird searches.Above all,Myt holo gy’s influenceis evident in o ur language.It is hard to imaginereading o r writing wit ho ut drawing upo n myt horiented adjectives o r idio ms.Therefo re,wo rds f ro mGreek myt holo gy enlightened me wit h so me met ho ds to st rengt hen vocabulary learning,such as pict ure o r imagery and gro uping.Categories of mnemonic methodsPict u re/I m a ge ry This is a way of remembering so me wo rds,which many st udent s find effective.Occasio nally t here is a wo rd t hat yo u havemet befo re which

is o n t he tip of yo ur to ngue butyo u just cannot remember it.It may be a wo rd t hatseems difficult to remember,o r o ne,which yo uhave seen many times but still cannot remember att he right time.Think of a wo rd in yo ur own language t hat so unds similar,o r if t he English wo rd islo ng in spelling,choo se a wo rd in yo ur own language t hat so unds t he same as t he fir st part of t heEnglish o ne.Yo u sho uld t hen fo rm a pict ure inwhich t he t wo wo rds interact.Imagine,fo r example:TantalizePerhap s yo u have known t he wo rd“tantalize”befo re.However,if it is a new wo rd to yo u,howdo yo u acquire it s meaning?See what will be different after reading t he following sto ry.In GreekMyt holo gy,Zeus p unished Tantalus,a mo rtalking,who had co mmit ted t wo crimes.“Now hehangs,perennially co nsumed by t hir st and hunger, f ro m t he bo ugh of f ruitf ree which leans over amarshy lake.It s waves lap against his waist,andso metimes reach his chin,yet whenever he bendsdown to drink,t hey slip away,and not hing rmains but t he black mud at his feet.The t rees areladen wit h pear s,shinning apples,sweet figs,ripeolives and po megranates,which dangle against hissho ulder s,but whenever he reaches fo r t he luscio us f ruit,a gust of wind whirl s t hem o ut of hisreach.”This sto ry not o nly show s us t he o rigin ofTantalize,which means“to make(so meo ne)wantso met hing even mo re st ro ngly by keeping it justo ut of reach,”but al so gives us a carrier of vividpict ure.Imagery is o ne of t he carrier s t hat gives usa deep imp ressio n and has mo re effective reactio nst han learning t he wo rd wit h t heir dictio nary meaning.ArachnidThere was a co ntest in which a mo rtal dared toco me in co mpetitio

n wit h Minerva,t he go ddess ofwisdo m.“That mo rtal was Arachne,a maidenwho had attained such skill in t he art s of weavingand embroidery t hat t he nymp hs t hemselves wo uldleave t heir gro ves and fo untains to co me and gazeupo n her wo rk.One wo uld have said t hat Minervaherself had taught a p upil even of a go ddess.‘L etMinerva t ry her skill wit h mine,’said she,

‘ifbeaten,I will pay t he penalt y.’...“Arachne filled her canvas with similar subject s,wo nderf ully well do ne,but st ro ngly markingher p resump tio n and impiet y.Minerva co uld notfo rbear to admire,yet felt indignant at t he insult.She st ruck t he web wit h her shut tle and rent it inpieces;she t hen to uched t he fo rehead of Arachneand made her fell guilt and shame.She sp rinkledher wit h t he juices of aco nite,and immediately herhair came off,and her no se and ear s likewise.Herfo rm shrank up,and her head grew smaller yet;her finger s cleaved to her side and serves fo r legs.All t he rest of her is bo dy,o ut of which she spinsher t hread,of ten hanging suspended by it,in t hesame at tit ude as when Minerva to uched her andt ransfo rmed her into a spider.”So,arachnid is t hesyno nym of spider.New wo rds can be learned by st udying t hemwit h pict ures of t heir meaning instead of definitio ns.Alternatively,learners can create t heir ownmental images of a wo rd’s meaning.Imagery hasbeen shown to be mo re effective t han mere repetitio n fo r reading passages(Steingart and Glock)and sentences(Saltz and Do nnenwert h Nolan)suggesting it co uld well be mo re effec2tive fo r vocabulary too.Here are ot her two

sto2ries:Sisyphean labor“Sisyphus,son of Aeolus,married Atlas’sdaughter Merope,o ne of t he Pleiades,and owneda

fine herd of cat tle o n t he Ist hmus of Co rint h...Itmay have been because he had bet rayed Zeus’s secret,o r because he had always lived by ro bberyand often murdered unsuspecting t raveler s;at anyrate,Sisyp hus was given an exemplary p unishment.The J udges of t he Dead showed him a hugeblock of sto ne and o rdered him to roll it up t hebrow of a hill and topple it down t he fart her slope.He has never yet succeeded in doing so.A s soo n ashe has almo st reached t he summit,he is fo rcedback by t he weight of t he shameless sto ne,whichbo unces to t he very botto m o nce mo re;where hewearily ret rieves it and must begin all over again.”Achilles’HeelAchilles now ro uted t he Trojans and p ur suedt hem towards t he cit y,but his co ur se,too,wasrun.Po seido n and Apollo,pledged to p unish certain insolent boast s t hat Achilles had ut tered overHecto r’s co rp se,too k co unsel to get her.Veiledwit h clo ud and standing by t he Scaean Gate,Apollo so ught o ut Paris in t he t hick of bat tle,t urnedhis bow and guided t he fatal shaf t.It st ruck t heo ne vulnerable part of Achilles’bo dy,t he rightheel.(Fo r Thetis his mot her had dipped him whenan infant in t he River St yx,which made every partof him invulnerable excep t t he heel by which sheheld him.),and he died in ago ny.So Sisyp hean labo r means hard and endlesswo rk and Achilles’heel means a small but impo rtant weakness,usually fatal.In t his way,newwo rds can be associated wit h a particular vivid story of t he underlying co ncep t.These are just examples.If yo u t ry to fo rm amental image of each wo rd interactingly,it mightbe so met hing very difficult.The essential point sare t hat it must be yo ur own image and t hat t heimage shows a relatio nship bet

ween t he twowo rds.Yo u may decide t hat yo u like making mental images and t hat it help s yo u learn vocabulary,but if yo u t ry to learn every new wo rd in t his way,yo u will soo n be disappointed.Obvio usly yo usho uld use t he met ho ds yo u find usef ul and enjo y,but t ry different t hing:variet y is impo rtant.Grou pi n g Gro uping is an impo rtant way toaid recall and people seem to o rganize wo rds intogro up nat urally wit ho ut any aid to recall,and people seem to o rganize wo rds into gro up s nat urallywit ho ut p ro mp ting.In f reerecall st udies,subject swere given list s of wo rds to st udy and t hen recallin any o rder.Typically,wo rds belo nging to eachmeaning catego ry are recalled to get her,fo r example,wo rds f ro m Greek myt holo gy catego rized intot hree gro up s:wo rds of go ds’names,wo rds of co nstellatio ns and wo rds of mo nster s.Words of gods’namesCeres:go ddess of grains and harvest s and itco mes into t he wo rd cereal:which means a plantgrown to p ro duce grain fo r foo d.Chao s:t he oldest go d in t he universe,whenhe was bo rn,t he wo rld was in dark and diso rder sochao s al so means a state of co mplete and t ho ro ughdiso rder and co nf usio n.Hercules:t he great hero,who finished unbelievable difficult tasks and herculean means needing o r using very great st rengt h o r determinatio n.Iris:go ddess of rainbow and iridescencemeans showing changing colo r s as light fall s o n it.Nemesis:go ddess of revenge so nemesismeans unavoidable p unishment co nsidered as ago ddess.Words of constellationsAndro meda:co mes f ro m t he daughter of Cas2siopeia who married Per seusCentaurus:co mes f ro m t he of mo nster CentaurCep heus:co mes f ro m t he name of king Ce2p heusHercules:co mes f ro m HerculesPegasus:co

mes f ro m t he ho r se Pegasus t hathas a pair of wingsPleiades:co mes f ro m t he names of Atlas’seven daughter sWords of monstersAtlas:A myt hical giant who suppo rted t heheavens o n his sho ulders.(The boo k of map sknown as an atlas is named after a legendary Af rican king,so metimes t ho ught to be descended f ro mt he Atlas of Greek myt h.)Chimera:an imaginary terrible female creat ure.(Chimerical means imaginary,fancif

ul.)Pan:Shep herd go d,so n of Hermes,wit h legsand ho rns of a goat.(Pan was co nsidered to be t hecause of t he sudden fear t hat so metimes co mes fo rno reaso

n,especially in lo nely places.That’s whyit’s called “panic”.)Procrustes:Man who offered his“o nesizefit sall”bed to passing travelers,adjusting hisguest s to t he bed by st retching o r chopping t hemas app rop riate.(Procrustean means ask to be t hesame by fo rce into)Titans:An ancient race of giant s who were overco me by Zeus in a st ruggle t hat shoo k t hewo rld.(titanic)Wo rds can be gro uped to get her in a very nat ural way by using t he key wo rds in sentences.Similarly,wo rds can be gro uped to get her in a sto ry.The narrative chain met ho d has been shown to bemuch mo re effective wit h t his met ho d t han rotememo rizatio n.Carriers used methodIn o rder to search fo r a effective st rategy o nvocabulary learning,we co uld use carrier s tost rengt hen o ur memo ry.Enlightened by wo rds ofGreek myt holo gy,we can co nsider t he imagery o rpict ure as a carrier,t he root s and affixes are t ypical carrier s,t he gro uping can al so be regarded asanot her kind of carrier t hat cluster related wo rds.Acco rding to t he co nventio nal fo rmulatio n of t hecarrier s used met ho d,o ne sho uld t

ry to find a carrier wit h a co ncrete meaning;t hat is,t he carriersho uld refer to o bject s in t he real wo rld t hat o necan see,feel o r imagine.This reco mmendatio nrest s o n t he claim t hat o ne can better rememberco ncrete co ncep t s t han abst ract co ncep t s.“In t hep sycholinguistic literat ure,it has been co nsistentlyfo und t hat subject s perfo rm bet ter o n co ncretewo rds t han abst ract wo rds,in labo rato ry taskssuch as paired associate learning,wo rd reco gnitio n,f ree recall of wo rds,lexical decisio n and p ronunciatio n(Nel so n and Schreiber).Summary and conclusionThe aim of t his article is to int ro duce mnemo nic techniques in vocabulary learning.To quotef ro m t he co ncluding paragrap h of Co hen’s reviewarticle:“At a time when t raining oflearners in languagelearning strategies is gainingmo ment um...it may be particularly fit ting to determine whet her st rategies fo r remembering wo rdshave a role wit hin such t raining.Such memo rytechniques wo uld not be intended to replace t heot her app roaches to vocabulary learning,but rat her co mplement t hem by p ro viding a link fo r facilitating ret rieval of a fo reign language wo rd o r it s native language meaning.”The carrier s used met ho d is not at variancewit h mo dern insight s in t he bilingual mental lexico n no r wit h t he co ntext ual met ho d in languagepedago gy.The carriers used and ot her mnemo nictechniques sho uld not replace t he mo re nat ural,co ntext ual met ho ds fo stering incidental learning.Instead,mnemo nics,fo stering intentio nal learning,sho uld be used fo r wo rds t hat,fo r whateverreaso n,have not been successf ully acquired.Alt ho ugh t he applicatio ns of mnemo nic techniques

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