英语词汇学-第五章 词义的变化
词义的变化
(2)联想意义/关联意义associative meaning 词的关联意义又叫联想意义，是词的附带 意义，包括词的感情色彩，文体意义等，这 种意义不稳定，变化大。 Woman一词，让我们联想到“妈妈”， “养儿育女”，“温柔”，“持家”“脆 弱”。
词的关联意义可分为: 内涵意义 connotative meaning 社会意义 social meaning 情感意义 affective meaning 反映意义 reflected meaning 搭配意义 collocated meaning
小结 1.概念意义 2.内涵意义 3.社会意义 4.情感意义 5.反映意义
6.搭配意义
7.主题意义
逻辑、认知或外延的内容 通过语言所指事物来传递的意义 关于语言运用的社会环境意义 关于言者/作者的感情和态度意义 通过同一个词语的另一意义的联想 来传递的意义。 通过与倾向于出现在另一个词的环境 中出现的词的联想来传递的意义 通过组织信息的方式（语序、强调） 所传递的意义。
词义变化的基础
词义的变化（change of meaning）指的是词 义的改变和新义的产生。由于有的事物之间 在功能、形状、动作等特征方面存在着某些 相似之处，词可从一种事物、现象、行为的 名称转指另一种事物、现象、行为的名称， 如隐喻、借代、提喻等。这是词义的改变和 新义产生的基础。
I.词义的组成 (语法意义和词汇意义)
Hale Waihona Puke (2.2)社会意义social meaning 指关于语言运用的社会环境的意义，主要代表是 “文体/风格”意义stylistic meaning. 一类词的概念意义相同,风格意义不一定相同. 如： a. horse 一般用语, steed 诗歌用语, nag 俚语, geegee 儿语 b. father 中性, male parent 书卷气，专业术语, daddy 口语，儿语
英语词义的变化
英语词义的变化作者：贾红光来源：《文化研究》2015年第01期【摘要】本文简要介绍了英语词义的变化，即词义的外延和内涵的变化。
词义外延的变化包括词义的扩展，词义的缩小和词义的转化，词义内涵的变化包括词义的升格和词义的降格。
【关键词】扩展；缩小；升格；降格英语词义的变化是指词义的改变和新义的产生，是所有语言共同的一种现象，虽无法预料.但归根到底词义的变化不外乎词义的外延和内涵的变化。
1.词义外延的变化：词义外延的变化包括词义的扩展，词义的缩小和词义的转化。
1.1词义的扩展：词义的扩展（generalization又称extension）是指从原先表达外延较狭窄的概念扩大至表达外延较宽广的概念，也就是从表示个别意义扩大到表示一般意义。
比如“mill” 原指“磨坊”，例如十九世纪著名女小说家乔治·爱略特（George Eliot）的自传性小说The Mill on the Floss River（《弗洛斯河上的磨坊》）。
1.2词义的缩小词义的缩小（specialization又称narrowing）与词义扩展相反他它指词义从原先表达外延较宽的概念缩小到表达外延较狭窄的概念，即从范指转为特指。
古英语“deer”的意思是“动物”，现在词义缩小为“鹿”。
“meat”曾一度指“食物”，这一意思仍保留在“sweetmeat”（甜食）及詹姆斯王钦定《圣经》中，如meat for the belly（食物），meat and drink（食物和酒）。
古英语“starve”的意思是“死”，“饿死”，“冻死”的表达方式分别是“starve of hunger”，“starve of cold”。
而现代英语中“starve”的词义缩小为“饿死”。
某些日常生活用语转为技术术语，从而使词义缩小，如“pill” 原义“药丸”，词义缩小后的特指“避孕药丸”；“link up” 原义“联接”，词义缩小后特指“对接（飞船在外空）”1.3 词义的转化：词义的转化是指通过暗喻，借代提喻，通感等修辞手段而产生新的词义，以及抽象意义与具体意义互相转化、主观意义与客观意义互相转化所产生新的含义。
第五章 词义的变化
二、词义变化的形式
1. Expansion (extension/generalization) 词义的扩展 2. Narrowing(restriction/specialization) 词义的缩小 3. Elevation (amelioration) of meaning 词义的升格 4. Degradation/degeneration/deterioration词义的降格 5. 词义的转移
his father, who saw the fire, told my mother who told me.
2. 中心意义与次要意义之连锁联结
连锁链接：concatenation:
从一个词义中衍生处第二个词义，第二个词义有衍生处第三 个词义，如此下去。
1
2
3
4
2. 中心意义与次要意义之连锁联结
Handwriting Control Help
hand
A pointer on a clock
A practiser of a skill When experienced directly
Xinjiang Agricultural University
2. 中心意义与次要意义
1. A workman: He is a machine hand. 2. A sailor on a ship: All hands are on deck. 3. Handwriting: He writes a clear hand. 4. Help: he gave a hand to me. 5. A pointer on the clock: On the clock there are three hands:
从特指到泛指
英语词汇学--词义的变化
Narcissus 水仙花
Munchausen
说大话的人
He was a German s o l d i e r. A f t e r h i s retirement from his service in the Russian Army against the Turks, he told exaggerated stories of his c a m p a i g n i n g adventures,thus the meaning:a person who boasts;exaggerated .
Sandwich: It now denotes a popular fast food. It originates from John Montague, Fourth earl of Sandwich in 18th -century England. He was so fond of gambling that he often forgot his meals. He often ordered slices of bread with thick pieces of roast beef stuffed between them be brought to him so he could eat while playing. Later, people used his name to refer to all similar food.
专有名词普通化与特定的历史事件有关： “Watergate”源指美国华盛顿特区综合大 厦。1972年6月17日夜间，共和党争取 总统连任委员会有关人员潜入大厦内 民主党全国委员会总部而被捕，暴露 了共和党政府在总统竞选中的非法活 动，导致美国历史上首次总统辞职， 现泛指“丑闻”。
英语词汇的语义演变
英语词汇的语义演变
英语词汇的语义演变
英语词汇的语义演变是指单词的词义随着时间的推移而发生变化的过程。
这种变化可能是缓慢而渐进的，也可能是突然而剧烈的。
这种语义演变通常是由于社会、文化、科技等方面的变化引起的。
例如，一些词汇可能会因为技术进步而出现新的意义，或者因为社会观念的变化而失去原有的含义。
举个例子，英语单词"gay"最初的意思是"快乐的"，但随着时间的推移，这个词的含义逐渐演变，变成了指代同性恋者的术语。
这种转变是由于同性恋者的权利运动和社会观念的变化所引起的。
另外一个例子是英语单词"nice"。
最初的含义是"愚蠢的"，但后来这个词的含义发生了转变，变成了"友好的"或"令人愉悦的"。
这种变化可能是由于词语在使用过程中受到了赞赏而逐渐演变成了褒义词。
总之，英语单词的语义演变是一个复杂的过程，需要考虑到多种社会、文化和历史因素。
了解这些演变过程有助于我们更好地理解英语词汇的含义和使用。
英语词汇学论文---词义的变化
英语词汇学论文---词义的变化The Causes of Changes in Word Meaning Abstract:Key words: historical; social; psychological; linguistic; semanticDo you know when Juliet tells Romeo, “I am too fond”, she is not claiming she likes Romeo too much? She means “I am too foolish” Do you know when Horatio says to Hamlet, “Season your admiration for a while…”, he is not telling Hamlet “to increase his respect( the current meaning of admiration) for something”?In fact, he means “ to moderate his astonishment.”Don?t be surprised, because, as Quirk asserts, almost every word we use today has slightly different meaning from the one is had a century ago; and a century ago it had a slight different meaning from the one it had a century before that. When a word loses its old meaning and comes to refer to something altogether different, the result is a change of word meaning.As nonnative English learners, learning the causes of changes in word meaning can help us deepen the understanding of the meaning of lexicology, vocabulary, semantic field and culture background. By learning this, we can use vocabulary in a more precise way and avoid mistake or embarrassment when communicating with native speakers.The causes of changes in word meaning can be divided into linguistic cause and extra-linguistic cause. Extra-linguistic cause can also divide into historical cause, social cause and psychology cause.Linguistic causeChange of meaning is frequently brought about by two tendencies in a linguistic system: towards ellipsis and towardsanalogy. Some linguists think foreign influence should subordinate linguistic cause.Ellipsis occurs when a phrase is shortened to one word which retains the meaning of the whole, so it often occurs in habitual collocations, such as adjective + noun or attributive noun + noun. Private, daily, duplicate are all adjectives, but they are used as nouns. Private means a soldier of the lowest rank, daily means daily newspaper, and duplicate means duplicate copy. Under such circumstances, whatever is left, whether a noun or an adjective, is all used as a noun assuming the original meaning. Naturally, the association became so close that the first element could alone carry the meaning of the whole phrase.Besides, there is a change of grammatical function as well, as when adjectives assumethe roles of nouns. Unlike the above examples, whose sense of one word has been transferred to another simple because the two occur together habitually, in some cases, it is the second or “headword”of the phrase that remains. For example, (stream) engine, (coal) gas and (light) bulb.The analogical tendency means new meanings developed in one part of speech are passed on to other parts of speech from the same lexical bas e. Fortuitous formerly denoted …happening by chance?, …accidental?, and later took on the meaning …fortunate?probably by analogy because the two words look similar in shape. Another interesting example is fruition, originally from a Latin word fruitio meaning enjoyment. But now, its meaning is given as “fulfillment of (plans, desired results, aims, etc.),”possibly from connection with the word fruit.Foreign influencesA particularly important cause of change of meaning inwords has been the influence of foreign words. For example, the native word stool originally meant any kind of seat for one person, and could even be used for a king?s seat. It got its humble meaning because the French word chair was adopted to denote a more comfortable piece of furniture. Other example is dream. Dream meant “joy” in OE; it gets its modern sense from the related Scandinavian word draumr.Historical causeIt often happens that though a word retains its original form, its meaning has changed because the object which it denotes has changed. This is the historical cause of semantic change.The well-known semanticist Ullmann notes, “It often happens that language is more conservative than civilization, material as well as moral. Objects, institutions, ideas, scientific concepts change in the course of time; yet in many cases the name is retained and thus helps to ensure a sense of tradition and continuity.”(Ullmann 1997:198)Indeed, it often happens that a word is retained for a name though the meaning has changed because the referent has changed. Take pen for example, it donated …feather?, which was used in the West as pen in old times. Now, the time when …feather? served as pen is long gone, and people are using hall-point pens and fountain pens, yet the name is still kept. This change has also occurred to computer, which designated a …person who computes? in the past. At present, when we talk about computer, people, people would think of an …electronic machine? rather than a person.There are also many scientific concepts which have retained their original forms, although their meanings have changed as a result of new scientific discoveries and increased knowledge. Forinstance, before Copernicus, the sun was thought to be …the luminous celestial body that in the Plolemaic system is one of the seven planets revolving around the earth? and this meaning is retained in “The sun rises and sets.”The Copernician theory tried to change the historical point of view and now everyone knows that the sun is a …star around which the earth a nd other planets revolve…?Social causeWe are going to discuss social cause of the changes of words?meanings in five aspects.A. Social developmentChange in word meaning resulting from a constant verbal traffic between common word and various technical words is referred to as social cause of semantic change. (Ullmann 1997:199-200) As a result, some technical words have lost their specialized meanings and have come to be used in more general senses, which connect with electricity, physics, chemistry, medicine, mathematics, etc. For instance, feedback means “response” in common use, as in “The teacher likes to have feedback from his students.”Dimension: as a common word, it means “extent in a particular aspect”, as in “This problem has a new dimension.”B. Social environmentBig events in society will change the meaning of some words. The simple words cold and hot have changed their meanings in the field of politics, as in “cold war” and “hot war”. In England, Abdication can mean King Edward VIII abdicated for marrying a divorced American woman, Ms Simpson. In these cases, nonnative speakers should try to memorize.C. Social classVillain means bad people, but its original meaning is villager.Because the aristocrat looks down upon the low social status villagers, the meaning of villain changed. It is a kind of degeneration of meaning. More examples are clown, boor, knave, and churl. Thus, if a word has something to do with low social status, it will have derogatory sense, vice versa.D National sentimentNational sentiment influences the meaning of word deeply. In English, some bad things will have connection with other nations. For instance, to take French leave means leaving without saying goodbye. Italian hand means interfere. Spanish athlete means a person who says nonsense.The most obvious nation, to which English shows great prejudice, is Netherlands, because these two countries always fought each other in 17century. Dutch act means commit suicide. Dutch comfort means comfort of no help. Dutch widow means prostitute. Dutch uncle means strict critic. Dutch treat means a party that you should pay for yourself. Dutch bargain means a deal made when you are drunk. I amDutched means I am cheated. Double Dutch means words that are rather baffling. I’m a Dutch man if …E. SexismThere are some words with sexism in English, but the number is minor. For example, “Man is a rational animal; men are born equal.”The man in there refers to human being. Recent years, thanks to feminist movement, more and more words are created to refer to women, such as businessperson, draftsperson, poetess, heroine, spokeswoman etc.Psychological causePsychological cause is also constantly at work in bringing about changes in word meaning. Psychological factors play abasic part in meaning change, which leads to the elevation or degradation of word meanings. It takes three forms: euphemism, grandiloquence and cynicism.A.EuphemismPeople change word-meaning owing to various psychological motives: love, respect, courtesy, suspicion, pessimism, irony, contempt, hatred, etc. People tend to use mild, agreeable language when speaking of an unpleasant or embarrassing fact and taboo subjects.Death and things related to death are one of the most common objects of euphemism. “To pass away,”“to brea the one?s last,”“to cease to think,”“to fall asleep,”“to kick the bucket,”“to be no more,”“to go west,” all refer to death.Toilet is another example. Rest room, lounge, convenience, comfort station and powder room are just some of its euphemism. Pregnant can be said “big,”“big with child,”“expectant,”“heavy with child,”“laden,”“anticipating,”“in the family way,”and “in an interesting condition.”B.GrandiloquenceGrandiloquence refers to the use of long, important-sounding words for effect. 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.In American English, there are so many words of grandiloquence used in unpopular jobs. Garbage collector is sanitation engineer, servant is domestic engineer, mortician is funeral director and gardener is landscape architect.In a sense, grandiloquence is a form of euphemism, too. So some linguists consider grandiloquence subordinate the Euphemism.C.CynicismCynicism is the desire to sneer and to be sarcastic. For instance, the word pious may mean “hypocritically virtuous” in addition to its primary meaning, “having, showing deep devotion to religion.” The present meaning of sanctimonious is “pretending to be very holy or pious”, while it once meant “devout, holy or sacred”. Fanatic, a Latin synonym for enthusiastic, means “unreasonably enthusiastic, almost approaching to madness.”ConclusionChange in word meaning is commonplace and fundamental in a living language, for it is one of the simplest and most convenient ways of meeting peoples? need for new manes to refer to new things, ideas, processes, etc. Broadly speaking, change of meaning refers to the alteration of the meaning of existing words, as well as the addiction of new meaning to established words.The causes of semantic change are historical, social, psychological or purely linguistic. As nonnative English learners, we need to pay more attention to the changes of word meanings, for we are not familiar with their own history, their culture background and psychological situation. Only by learning these causes can we get a better understanding of lexicology, vocabulary, semantic field and context. Only by learning these causes can we know which words should be used and which words should be avoided, so that we can express our meaning more specific in communication with others.Bibliography:Jackson Howard (2000), Words, Meaning and V ocabulary, Trowbridge: The Cromwell PressJavier E Diaz Verd (2004), Lexicography, Semantics and Lexicology in English Historical Linguistics, Netherlands: Rodopi 汪榕培（2000），《英语词汇学研究》，上海：上海外语教育出版社汪榕培& 卢晓娟（2006），《英语词汇学教程》，上海：上海外语教育出版社杨艳华& 张树凡（2007），《现代英语词汇学》，：冶金工业出版社张维友（1997），《英语词汇学教程》，武汉：华中师范大学出版社张韵斐（2012），《现代英语词汇学概论》，北京：北京师范大学出版社。
英语词汇学-第五章 词义的变化
综上所述
语义理据为理论基础
原始意义
通过隐喻、借代、提喻等
派生意义
词义变化Biblioteka 词的理据丧失中心意义和次要意义
如下图
强国 Power 放大率 控制权
能力
权限 体力
乘方
机械能
普遍意义和特殊意义
由于词义范围在历史演变中的扩大或小， 有 些词既可以指一类事物，也可以指这类事 物中 的一个。
例如： fire泛指各类 “火” ，在 the fire in the sitting room中特指 “炉火”。
比喻意义 不热情的，冷冰冰的 a cool reception 冷漠的接待
• 词具备两个或两个以上的意义便成为多义词。
一词多义分析
• 普遍意义和特殊意义
• 原始意义和派生意义
• 抽象意义和具体意义
• 中心意义和次要意义
• 字面意义和比喻意义
原始意义和派生意义
原始意义，即本义。 派生意义：词在发展过程中形成的，称转义。
e.g. Harvest 原义
转义
秋天
收割；收成
有的原始意义与派生意义同时在现代英语中
一词多义
• 一词多义的形成 • 一词多义分析
何晓非
一词多义的形成
一个词刚出现的时候只是用作一定的事物、
现象、 性质或者行为的名称，因而总是单 义的，继而在语言发展过程中逐渐获得新
义， 这样便形成了一词多义。
例如
• 原义
Albatross
• 引申义
信天翁
Manuscript 手稿
忧虑之源
底稿
• 一词多义是词义变化的结果。
等改变词义。
例如：copper 原指铜，可用来指铜币(coin)。
【英语】自考论文论英语词义的变化
文档来源为:从网络收集整理.word版本可编辑.欢迎下载支持. 【关键字】英语毕业论文题目：论英语词义的变化准考证号：学生姓名：指导老师：武汉大学外语学院制On the Meaning Change of English Words文档来源为:从网络收集整理.word版本可编辑.欢迎下载支持.论文摘要语义学是关于意义的学问，它旨在研究语言单位，特别是单词和句子的意义。
词是语言中具有意义的，最小的能够独立运用的单位，所以关于词的意义（即词汇语义学）在语言学中占用重要的位置。
单词一直处在不断的变化过程当中，形式上的或是内容上的，常常是后者发生变化。
正像Quirk在1963年指出的那样，“…几乎我们现在使用的每一个词与其在一个世纪以前的意义稍有不同,而一个世纪以前的单词又和它在一个世纪之前的意义稍有差别” 。
广泛的讲，意义的变化指的是现行词义的变化，或是对现行词语添加新的义项。
这种变化随着时间的流逝而产生。
本论文探究了英语词义变化的方式、类型及原因。
希望本论文可以帮助英语专业的学生更好地学习英语词义。
关键词：词义; 变化; 方式; 类型; 原因文档来源为:从网络收集整理.word版本可编辑.欢迎下载支持.AbstractThe subject concerning the study of meaning is called semantics, which targets at the study of the meanings of linguistics units, such as words and sentences. A word is the minimum free form with certain meaning, thus the study of word meaning (lexical semantics) occupies an important position in linguistics study. Word has been constantly undergoing the process of changes，either in forms or in meanings, with the latter being more frequent. Just as Quirk said in 1963, “… almost every word we use today has a different meaning from the one it had a century ago, and a century ago it had a slight different meaning from the one it had a century bef ore that”. Broadly speaking, meaning change refers to the alternation of the meaning of existing words, as well as the addition of new meaning to established words. This change occurs along with time. This thesis explores the approaches, modes, causes of word meaning change. Hopefully, it may help us English majors study English word meaning better.Keywords: meaning；change；approach; mode; cause文档来源为:从网络收集整理.word版本可编辑.欢迎下载支持.ContentsI. Introduction (1)II. Approaches to meaning change of English words (2)2.1 extension approach (2)2.2 figurative approach (3)2.3 merger approach (3)III. Modes of meaning change of English words (4)3.1generalization (5)3.2 specialization (6)3.3 elevation (7)3.4 degradation (7)IV. Causes of meaning change of English words (8)4.1 extra –linguistics factors (8)4.2 linguistics factors (10)V. Conclusion (11)Bibliography (12)On the Meaning Change of English WordsI. IntroductionAs a branch of semantic study, the lexical semantics has been long regarded as the focal point. And the question as to what is the meaning of word becomes the first inquiry for language leaners. The objective matters, which exclude human mind, including all the living creatures, unanimated objects, events and their behavior, state and characteristics, etc. are reflected, thus sensation, perception, representation are produced first. Human mind then will generate the abstract preliminary products into concepts. Then man fixes the concepts in the vehicle of language, enabling us human beings to exchange our thoughts through these signs with certain meaning individually. Thus, words come into being. In other words, the meaning of words is endowed by men. As British linguist Eric Partridge once pointed out, “words have no meanings, p eople have meaning for them”. This process is generally agreed upon by all linguists. However, different people may hold different opinions on the sub-structure of word meaning.One difficulty in the study of meaning is that the word “meaning” itself has different meanings. In their book The meaning of meaning written in 1923, C.K Odgen and I.A Richards presented “a representative list of the main definition which reputable students of meaning have favored” (Odgen & Richards, 2003: 186). There are 16 majo r categories of them, with sub-categories totaling up to 22.The edifice of any language could be observed as a grand project composed of three elements: sound, lexicon, and grammar, among which sound is the physical shell of a language; lexicon serves as the “brick” and “concrete”; while grammar functions as the ways and principles by which linguistic elements are organized and oprate. So word meaning above all can be divided into two big categories: grammatical meaning and lexical meaning.Grammatical meaning corresponding with grammar signifies the grammatical aspect of a word. For example, “girl” is a single form, while “girls” represents the plural form in meaning.Lexical meaning, on the other hand, is the study of word meaning at its content level. For example, in the group of words “go, goes, gone, went, going”, each word has different grammatical meaning obviously, but their lexical meaning is the same, namely “to move or travel from one place to another” (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 1998:746). Foreign linguists have different classifications on word meaning. Geoffrey Leech, a world famous Britishlinguist, categorizes seven types of meaning, as follows: conceptual meaning, connotative meaning, social meaning, affective meaning, reflected meaning, collocative meaning, thematic meaning, with conceptual meaning being the center of word meaning. And connotative meaning, social meaning, affective meaning, reflected meaning, and collocative meaning and thematic meaning can be brought together under the heading associative meaning(Leech.,1981).In the following sections, we are going to explore the approaches to meaning change, the modes of meaning change and the causes accounting for the meaning change. And with some basic knowledge of word meaning change in the thesis, it may cast light on how to gasp word meaning and help us English majors study English language better.II. Approaches to meaning change of English wordsThe change of word meaning refers to the process in which the existing word has some changes either in number of its meaning items or its content in its application or development. In this section we will take a glimpse at the trace of changes in word meaning. There are mainly three types as follows：2.1 Extension approachExtension refers to a way a word derived from a new through certain connections based on its original meaning, or its existing meaning items. For example, the word “hoe”（noun）meant “ a garden tool with a handle and a blade ,used for breaking up soil and re moving weds” and then a related meaning was produced , “to break up soil, remove plants, etc, with a hoe”, such as in the phrase “ to hoe a flowers”(Oxford Advanced Learner’ s English-Chinese Dictionary, 1997: 838), so “hoe” here is used as a verb. Howev er, we can easily see the close connection in meaning between the noun “hoe” and the verb “hoe”. Some words can create new meaning through extending or narrowing the scope of reference, which is also very common. For example, the word “journal” originally meant “a written record that you make of the things that happen to you each day (diary) (Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary, 1997: 775). Let us look at another example, the word “wedge” (noun) originally meant “a piece of wood, robber, me tal, etc, with one thick end and a thin pointed end that you use to keep a door open, to keep two things apart, or to split wood or rock”, then its verbal meaning came into being, namely “ to put or squeeze something tightly into a narrow space, so that it can not move easily”(ibid).2.2 Figurative approachWhether the scope of reference extends or narrows, the type of object a word denotes has not changed. However, when a word has changed its literal meaning to its figurative meaning, the type of object is utterly different, and then semantic shift has occurred in word meaning. This is also a very important style of meaning changes.Abundant examples can serve as the illustrations of the figurative approach. For example, the word “burden” originally meant“a heavy load that is difficult to carry” and then people tended to use it for referring to “ a duty ,responsibility ,etc, that causes worry, difficulty or hard work”, for example, in the sentence “The main burden of caring for old people falls on the state”. This abstract sense of “burden” is very vivid and concise in the effect of expression, which will certainly leave a deep impression on the listener’s mind.2.3 Merger approachThis way of change in word meaning refers to another way of change in word meaning, reflecting the relationship between two words under certain circumstances. When one word’s scope of reference expands into that of another related word, meaning may then be annexed, making the latter one lose its status of independence. Comparatively speaking, this approach is less in frequency in word meaning change than the previous two approaches, which however should not be ignored by us English learners. In the study of antonyms, we come to know the concept of “gradable antonyms” first, the co mmonest type of antonyms. That is, the members of a pair differ in terms of degree. The denial of one is not necessarily the assertion of the other, and there is no absolute criterion of judgments by which we may say something is good or bad, long or short, big or small. Usually, the term of the higher degree serves as the “cover term”. For example, we ask somebody “how old are you?” and the person asked may not be old in any sense. He may be as young as twenty or three. The word “old” is used here to cover both old and young. The sentence above means the same as “what is your age?”. Technically, the “cover term” is called “unmarked”, i.e. usual; and the covered “marked”, or unusual. That means, in general, it is the “cover term” that is more often used. If the covered is used, then it suggests that is something odd, unusual here. The speaker may already know that something or somebody is young, small, near, and he wants to know the extent in greater detail. This characteristic is also reflected in the corresponding nouns, such as length, height, width, and depth.Because of the differences, a lot of word meanings are different. For example, in CambridgeInternational Dictionary of English, the word ‘individual’ is defined as ‘the idea that freedom of thought and action for each person is the most important quality of a society, rather than shared effort and responsibility’. It is positive. However, in The English-Chinese Dictionary, there is a sentence ‘These poets were individualists, wanting to explore their own thoughts and feelings, not content with the general truth’. Obviously, the meaning of ‘individualists’ is negative.III. Modes of meaning change of English wordsGenerally speaking, the development and change of word meaning is ever-increasing in number of meaning items almost in every language system, due to social development and word meaning development itself. However it becomes complicated as each individual word is concerned. For some, the number of meaning item may increase, and for others, just the reverse. And some words’ meaning may disappear, or reduce to morphemic meaning, etc.3.1 GeneralizationThe generalization of meaning is a process by which a word originally having a specialized meaning has now extended to cover a broader and often less definite concept.A large proportion of polysemic words of modern English have their meaning extended sometime in the course of development. Let us refer to some example as illustrations. The word “manuscript” today means “an author’s writing whether by hand or typed with a type writer or a word-procession”. But its old meaning referred to “handwriting”(written by hand)only. The word “fabulous” originally meant “resembling a fable” or “based on a fable”, but then it meant “incredible” or “marvelous”, since as we all knew that something incredible or marvelous often only existsd in fables, not in reality. Another example is the word “barn”. It meant “a place for stor ing only barley”, but now its meaning extends to “storeroom”. More examples are available here to cast light on the generalization of meaning.Word Old meaning Extended meaningbutcher one who kills goats one who kills animalsbonfire fire on bones a fire in the open madeby burning anything What is more, “thing” is often associated with “any”, “some”, and “no”, namely “anything”, “something”, and “nothing” respec tively. The frequency of these three words is high in both written and spoken form, the latter one especially. I have oncecounted and amazed at the high frequency one tend to employ “something” when he or she tries to introduce or explain a certain object, event, idea, etc. Other words like business, concern, matter, article, and circumstance have undergone similar process of meaning generalization.3.2 SpecializationSpecialization of language is a process by which a word which is used to have a more general sense becomes restricted in its application and conveys a special concept in present-day English. A typical example is the word “ deer”, which was used to refer to all kinds of animals, for example in Shakespeare’s sentence “ rats a nd mice and such small dear”; i n British English, “corn” was once used as “grain”, but in present-day American English, it only refers to “maize”; w hen “garage” was first borrowed from French, it meant more other than “any safe place”, but at present “garage” narrows down to “ a place for storing cars”—a shelter for cars only. Here are more examples:Word Old meaning Specialized meaning girl young person of either sex female young person wife woman married womanaccident event unfortunate eventChange of meaning is frequently brought about by two tendencies in a language system: toward ellipsis and toward analogy. Ellipse as a cause of semantic change often occurs in habitual collocations, such as adj + n. or attributive + 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.For example, “a gener al” comes f ro m “ a general officer”, “bugle” from “ bugle horn”, “gold” from “gold me t al”, “uniform” f ro m “uniform dress”, “ transistor” f rom “transistor radio”, “daily” f ro m “ daily newspaper”, etc.Another case of specialization occurs when a common noun changes into a proper one, and its meaning specializes correspondingly. For example, the City refers to “London business center”; The Peninsula refers to “Iberian Peninsula” only; and the word “Prophet” refers to Muhammad, who founded the religion of Islam.3.3 ElevationElevation of meaning is a process by which words rise from humble beginning to a position of importance. In other words, some words in their early history signified something low or humble, but as time goes by, the meaning changed to designate something agreeable or pleasant. A typical case in point is the word “nice”. It originally meant “ignorant”, then “foolish”, but later it was dramatically eleva ted to“delightful, pleasant”;Marshal(high—ranking army officer) and Constable(police man) were both once referred to “keeper of horses”. More relevant examples are also provided here：Word Old meaning Elevated meaningknight servant rank below baronetangel messenger messenger of Godminister servant head of ministryNobody nowadays is reluctant to be described as “shrewd” perhaps, or “nimble”. However, for some time these two words are rather derogatory in meaning.A shrewd man was once often associated with “evil” or “wickedness”, while a nimble man is considered as someone taking something without certain permission; and the word “success”, a desirabl e destination for anyone to reach, was once only a simply neutral “result”.3.4 DegradationContrary to elevation, degradation of word meaning is a process whereby words of good origin or affective neutrality fall into ill reputation or come to be used in a derogatory sense. An interesting fact is that many addresses for common people have taken on derogatory color. For example, “churl”which used to refer to “peasant” or “free man” has changed into “uncultivated or mean person”;“wench” once referred to “country girl”, but now it has degraded into “prostitute”;“villain”once referring to “person who worked in a villa”has now changed into “evil or wi cked person or scoundrel”. The following words have also undergone similar changes: Word Old meaning Degraded meaningknave boy dishonest personlust pleasure sexual desirelewd ignorant lecherousAs statistics shows that it is much more common for word meaning to change in denotation from neutral to pejorative than it is for them to go to the other way.The above-mentioned four types are the main types of word meaning changes, excluding transference, comparatively taking a small percentage in word meaning change, which thus is not within the framework of the present thesis discussion. IV. Causes of meaning change of English wordsWith the ever-changing human society, language as the vehicle of communication is also in the process of change and development. Both linguistic and extra-linguistic factors are exerting influence on word meaning changes. We can find out certain rules beneath the surface of meaning variations, which will deeper our understanding of word meaning.4.1Extra-linguistic factorsMeaning has always been a centre topic in human scholarship, though the term “semantics” has only a history of a little over a hundred years, let alone lexical semantics. There were discussions of meaning in the works of the Greek philosopher Plato as early as in the fifth century before Christ. In China, Lao Zi had discussed similar question even earlier. The fact that over the years numerous dictionaries have been produced with a view to explaining the meaning of words also bears witness to its long tradition. The research on word meaning has been drawing attention from linguists, philosophers and anthropologists, psychologists, and so on. This also exemplifies the fact that many extra-linguistic factors contribute to the change of word meaning.1.Historical reason. It often happens that a word is retained for a name though the meaning has changed because the referent has changed. The famous linguist Ullman once said “language should be more conservative than either material or spiritual civilization. Objects, styles, points of view and scientific concept have all changed in the course of time. But in many cases, the names were retained which helpto ensure that the tradition and continuity of a language.”(Zhou, 2007: 198). Take “pen” as a example. “Pen” in the beginning refer red to “feather”, since people in the West used feather to make a “pen”. Nowadays, we have already said farewell to the age of using a feather pen, and we prefer to use ball pen or fountain pen. But we still stick to employ the name “pen”; “car”once referred to “two-wheel cart drawn by horses and used in war”. With the development of modern automobile technology, “car” has changed to refer to “automobile”; similarly, “computer” originally mean t “person who computes”, but now it is another case. When we talk about computer, the first image jumping into our minds is definitely “a electric machine” instead of“a person”.Increased scientific knowledge and discovery are also important factors that account for the change of word meaning. For example, people believed in ancient times that the sun was one of the seven planets revolving the earth. And this meaning could still be seen in the sentence “The sun rises and sets”, although people nowadays have alread y accepted Copernicus’ theory that “sun is a star around which the earth and other planets revolve”.2.Class reason. Language is a mirror perfectly, reflecting everything in the human society, which records speeches and attitudes of people from all walks of life. And various social variants have then come into being. The attitudes of different classes have also made inroads into lexical meaning in the case of elevation or degradation. The so-called “King’s English”is a typical example. There are a considerable number of words of different professions, which often have derogatory meaning. Since in the eyes of the aristocrats, the working people are ignorant, stupid, and rude in behavior. For example, words “churl, hussy, wench, and villain” have all degrade d from neutral sense into “ill-mannered or bad people”. What is more, words like “democracy, revolution, liberation, human rights and communism” have quite different meanings to different people or in different society.3. Psychological reason. The associated transfers of meaning and euphemistic use of words are often due to psychological factors. For example, in American Civil War, Copperhead (a kind of poisonous snake) was used to refer to someone whosupported the Southerners secretly. As to the latter usage above (euphemistic), many humble and despised occupations often taking more appealing names is all due to psychological reasons. Americans are especially fond of using euphemistic expressions. For example, “garbage collector”is called “sanitation engineer”in America and “disposal” in Britain; “g ardener” changes into “landscape architect”; and “servant” changes into “domestic engineer”. As statistics shows, the so-called “engineer” is more than two hundred among respectful addresses in English.Besides, religious influence is another kind of psychological reason. As Cardinal Trench once said, “ange l”, “martyr” and “paradise” have their meanings elevated due to the influence of the Christianity.4.2 Linguistic factorsThere are exterior reasons for the change of word meaning, and also the interior reason, i.e. the development of language itself. Here as the follows.Firstly, a phrase is often be shortened to a word without losing the original entire meaning. For example, “gold” is used for “gold medal”, “gas” for “ coal gas”, “bulb” for “light bulb”, and “private” for “private soldier”. Under these circumstances, whatever is left, a noun or an adjective, is used as a noun to be the equivalent of the original expression.Secondly, the influx of borrowing words in great number has also resulted in the change of word meaning. For example, “deer” once referred to all kinds of animals. With the coming of Latin word “animal” and the French word “beast”, these three words were forced to re-identify their status as they all have the same denotation. As a result, “animal” kept its original sense, and “deer” shortened its meaning reference scope, while “beast” changed its semantic color into derogatory.At last, analogy can also bring about meaning changes. For example, the word “fortuitous” once meant “happening by chance, accidental”. But later it extend ed to have the meaning of “fortunate”. Is there a logical explanation for that? Perhaps, this is a process of the demonstration of “analogy”. “Fru ition” originally meant “a pleasure we obtain from using or possessing something” and ha d no relationship in meaning with “fruit”. However, one of its meaning items “the bearing of fruit” isprobably the result of association based on “fruit”.Besides, cultural psychology is the study of the way cultural traditions and social practices regulate, express, and transform the human psyche, resulting less in psychic unity for humankind than in ethnic divergences in mind, self, and emotion. When one learns a language, it is important to learn its cultural psychology. For example, when Chinese people observe a thing, they will start from the whole, but the westerners will start from the part.V. ConclusionThis thesis explores the approaches, modes, causes of word meaning change. Semantic change plays a very important role in widening the vocabulary of a language. Since language is symbolic, each word serves as a symbol in relation to a specific meaning. In this sense, we need infinite number of word or symbols to code the physical entities and our experiences, which will be ultimately proved impossible and obstruct the smooth operation of communication. So an old form is given a new concept, thus the meaning of a form is multiplied.The approaches in which word meaning changes represent the main types of changes and indicate both linguistic and extra-linguistic causes. After acquiring some basic knowledge of word meaning changes, one may could not help asking such a question “What measures can be adopted in daily study?”. Hopefully this thesis could cast new light on the study of English word meaning for us English majors and help us lay a solid foundation for the exploration of the wonders of the English language.BibliographyCambridge International Dictionary of English [D], Shanghai: ShanghaiForeign Language Education Press, 2008Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English [Z], Beijing: The CommercialPress, 1998Leech, G, A, Semantics: the study of meaning, 2nd edition, Harmondsworth:Penguin, 1981Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary[Z]. Beijing: TheCommercial Press, Oxford University Press, 1997Odgen,C,K,& Richards,I,A, The meaning of meaning, London: Routledge &Keganpaul, 2003The English-Chinese Dictionary[D], Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2005Zhou, Ruiying, A study of teaching English word meaning[M], Changsha:Hunan Normal University, 2007池昌海, <<现代语言学导论>>, 浙江: 浙江大学出版社，2004胡壮麟主编, <<语言学教程>>(修订版), 北京: 北京大学出版社，2001胡壮麟、姜望琪主编, <<语言学高级教程>>, 北京: 北京大学出版社，2004 李赋宁, <<英语史>>, 北京: 商务印书馆，2008汪榕培、卢晓娟, <<英语词汇学教程>>, 上海: 上海外语教育出版社，2007 此文档是由网络收集并进行重新排版整理.word可编辑版本！。
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例如：copper 原指铜，可用来指铜币(coin)。
词义随着社会的发展会出现分化的现象。有 的词的原始意义可能丧失，为派生意义所 代替。
由此可联系第三章中词义的变化使词的理据
丧失，导致有的词的本义与转义联系不密
切或判若两个词。
例如： pupil 原指 监视者；学者
现指 学生，弟子
但仍可指瞳孔，由“反映在某人眼睛中的一 种人影或物影”演变而来。
综上所述
语义理据为理论基础
原始意义
通过隐喻、借代、提喻等
派生意义
词义变化
词的理据丧失
中心意义和次要意义
如下图
强国 Power 放大率 控制权
能力
权限 体力
乘方
机械能
普遍意义和特殊意义
由于词义范围在历史演变中的扩大或小， 有 些词既可以指一类事物，也可以指这类事 物中 的一个。
例如： fire泛指各类 “火” ，在 the fire in the sitting room中特指 “炉火”。
比喻意义 不热情的，冷冰冰的 a cool reception 冷漠的接待
• 词具备两个或两个以上的意义便成为多义词。
一词多义分析
• 普遍意义和特殊意义
• 原始意义和派生意义
• 抽象意义和具体意义
• 中心意义和次要意义
• 字面意义和比喻意义
原始意义和派生ቤተ መጻሕፍቲ ባይዱ义
原始意义，即本义。 派生意义：词在发展过程中形成的，称转义。
e.g. Harvest 原义
转义
秋天
收割；收成
有的原始意义与派生意义同时在现代英语中
保存下来，但前者多半出现在固定词组或
成语中，而后者用得比较自由和广泛。
例如 Pain 原义 惩罚 pains and penalties 译作 刑罚
而作“痛苦”解则用得广泛的多。
原始意义与派生意义关系
可以联系到第三章中的语义理据
语义理据是一种心理联想，指词义的引申和
比喻。以此为基础通过隐喻、借代、提喻
一词多义
• 一词多义的形成 • 一词多义分析
何晓非
一词多义的形成
一个词刚出现的时候只是用作一定的事物、
现象、 性质或者行为的名称，因而总是单 义的，继而在语言发展过程中逐渐获得新
义， 这样便形成了一词多义。
例如
• 原义
Albatross
• 引申义
信天翁
Manuscript 手稿
忧虑之源
底稿
• 一词多义是词义变化的结果。
抽象意义和具体意义
这两个意义也是词义范围变化的结果。英语 词汇中很多抽象名词都可用来指具体事物， 反之亦然。 例如：
Government eye nerve 政府----治理国家 眼----眼光 神经----勇气，力量
字面意义和比喻意义
Cool
字面意义 a cool breeze 凉的 一阵凉风