1第一章-(词汇学序言)

—Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
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When we talk about a word, we tend to think in visual terms. In this line a word can be defined as a meaningful group of letters, printed or written horizontally across a piece of paper. As defined in terms of spoken language, a word is viewed as a sound or combination of sounds which are made voluntarily with human vocal equipment. According to semanticists, a word is a unit of meaning. Grammarians, however, insist that a word be a free form that can function in a sentence, etc.
automatically suggest the animal in question. The relationship between them is conventional because people of the same speech community have agreed to refer to the animal with this cluster of sounds. Just as Shakespeare says “What’s in the name? That which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet.” ( 'Romeo and Juliet, ActⅡ, Scene 2) In different languages the same concept can be represented by different sounds. For example, the English word house refers to a building for people to live in. In Chinese it is called fangzi in French maison, in Russian dom, in Spanish casa.
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To sum up, the definition of a word comprises the following points: a minimal free form of a language; a sound unit; a unit of meaning; a form that can function alone in a sentence Therefore, we can say that a word is a minimal free form of a language that has a given sound and meaning and syntactic function.
All these symbols ( either spoken or written ) are totally different from one another, yet they all signify “house” in their respective languages, because people have accustomed from early childhood to use them as a conventional and generally accepted symbol for “house”. (中国古代哲学家荀卿在其《正名篇》中说：
“ ´Careful with fire,´ is good advice, we know; ´Careful with words,´ is ten times doubly so.”
— Will Carleton, The First Settler´s Story
“´ When I use a word,´ Humpty-Dumpty said,´ it means just what I choose it to mean---neither more nor less.´”
else in the world. Each of the world’s cultures has come to agree that certain sounds will represent certain persons, things, places, properties, processes and activities outside the language system. This symbolic connection is almost always arbitrary, and there is “no logical relationship between the sound which stands for a thing or an idea and the actual thing and the idea itself” (Lodwig and Barrett 1973). A dog is called a dog not because the sound and the three letters that make up the word just
The wonder of language is beyond description! “But words are things, and a small drop of ink. Falling like dew upon a thought, produces that which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.” ____ George Gordon Byron, Don Juan “Words are what hold society together.” ____ Stuart Chase, Power of Words
Words can be simple and complex, yet all must comply with these criteria. Man and fine are simple, but they each have sound, meaning and syntactic function, and each can be used alone in a sentence. Naturally they are words. There are words which are complex such as mis·forּtune. It is a polysyllabic word and can function as “subject”, “object” and “predictive” in a sentence. Though misfortune can be further divided as mis- and fortune, the former cannot stand alone as a word. Blackmail can be separated into black and mail, and both can work as
Here is an example for illustration. The word-forms “go, goes, went, gone, going” possess different grammatical meanings of tenses, persons and so on.. In each of these forms we find the same lexical meaning expressing the process of movement. • 3) Contextual meaning: • The context generally shows in what sense the word is used, in its primary sense or its figurative sense. When used literally, words have their original meaning; when used figuratively, words have symbolic meaning. The meaning of the word is defined by the context.
现代英语词汇学
Modern English Lexicology
Compiled by Tan Jianchu
Chapter 1 A General Survey of a Word
• 1.1 Definition of a word • What is a word ? • This question has occupied the attention s definitions have been suggested, none of them seem to be perfect. Scholars still do not agree on the definition of the word.
independent units in a sentence, the meaning of each, however, is by no means the combination of the two. Black is a colour, opposite to “white”, and mail denotes “something sent by post”, yet when they are put together, the combined form means “compel, compulsion, to make payment or action in return for concealment of discreditable secrets etc.” Hence blackmail is a different word. 1.2 Sound and Meaning A word is a symbol that stands for something