英语词汇学复习

缩略词是字母挨个发音的词。象是 A.D。（anno domini）b.c.和 c.o.d（delivery）货到付款，字母被句点分开，但是大多数没有句点在字母之间。

1.字母代表所有词。

美国之音

英国广播公司

转交

明信片

不明飞行物

2.字母代表复合词或者只是一个词的几部分的成分。

电视身份证

肺结核

总部

Tuberculosis 肺结核

Headquarter 总部

Rang

Appoint指定

Voluntary义务的

Emergency紧急情况

Treaty条约

Immune免疫的

Syndrome 综合征

Symbolic象征性的

Instruction指示

Racial种族的

Equality平等

Lightwave光波

Amplification扩张

Stimulate刺激

Emission排放物

Decimalization十进制

Justify证明

Remain残余物

Contemporary同代的人

Constituent成分

Period句点

4.6.2Acronyms首字母缩写词

首字母缩写词是从首字母构成，但是发音是正常词，例如“雷达”（无线电探测和响铃）“义务女工”“艾滋病”（免疫匮乏综合征）“basic”（初学者多功能象征性指示码）“种族平等进程”“通过刺激辐射物排放导致的光波扩张”（激光）“英语教学”

一些首字母缩写词是由第一词的首字母加上第二个整词构成，例如

“核弹”

“防御提示”

“公务员”

“十进制的日子”

“胜利日”

两种首字母缩写词在第二次世界大战以来已经变得非常流行并且因此极具活力。这在

etcrowley的缩写词字典中搜集的那样词的数量来证明。在1961年出现的第一版包含了12000 词条；第二版在1965 年出版，罗列了45000 词条，1970 年出版的第三版搜集了80000 词条，

几乎是第二版的2倍。随着时间的推移，一些词可能不再使用，然而更多的词将出现。缩写

词将对同期的英语词汇产生重要的作用。

4.7 逆构法逆构法被认为是后缀法的相反过程。如我们所知，后缀法是通过加后缀到基础的构词方式，

逆构法因此就是通过消除假想的后缀的方法来构词的方式。这是因为许多被移除的后缀不是真正的后缀，而是单词不能分隔的一部分。例如，通常的做法是加er or ar到基础上来构成人类名词。合理的，人们通过剪掉结尾构词象是editor 中的or，butler 中的er。这就是我们

如何您能够派生edit和butle的原因。逆构法通常牵涉下面几种类型词。

1.抽象名词

“诊断”

“捐赠”

“热心”

“过火”

2.人类名词

“面包”

“雕刻”

“偷窃”

“乞讨”

3.复合名词和其他

偷听

结婚

看护

4.形容词

1. Word --- A word is a minimal free form of a language that has a given sound and meaning and syntactic funtion.

2. Morpheme --- A morpheme is the minimal significant element in the composition of words.

3. Free morphemes or Content morphemes (Free root) --- They are morphemes that may constitute words by themselves : cat, walk.

4. Bound Morphemes or Grammatical morphemes --- They are morphemes that must appear with at least one other morpheme, either bound or free : Catts, walk+ing.

5. Bound root --- A bound root is that part of the word that carries the fundamental meaning just like a free root. Unlike a free root, it is a bound form and has to combine with other morphemes to make words. Take -dict- for example: it conveys the meaning of "say or speak" as a Latin root, but not as a word. With the prefix pre-(=before) we obtain the verb predict meaning "tell beforehand".

6. Affixes --- Affixes are forms that are attached to words or word elements to modify meaning or funtion.

7. Inflectional morphemes or Inflectional affixes --- Affixes attaches to the end of words to indicate grammatical relationships are inflectional ,thus known as inflectional morphemes. There is the regular plural suffix -s(-es) which is added to nouns such as machines, desks.

8. Derivational morphemes or Derivational affixes --- Derivational affixes are affixes added to other morphemes to create new words.

9. Prefixes --- Prefixes are affixes that come before the word, such as, pre+war.

10. Suffixes --- suffixes are affixes that come after the word, for instance, blood+y.

Derivational morphemes/ derivational affixes --- A process of forming new words by the addition of a word element. Such as prefix, suffix, combing form to an already existing word.

Prefixation ---- is the formation of new words by adding prefix or combing form to the base. (It modify the lexical meaning of the base)

Suffixation--- is the formation of a new word by adding a suffix or combing form to the base and usually changing the word-class of the base. Such as boy. Boyish (noun- adjective)

11. Root --- A root is the basic form of a word which cannot be further analysed without total loss of identity.

下面我画了个图，把上面的定义形象的表达出来：

12. Opaque Words--Words that are formed by one content morpheme only and cannot be analysed into parts are called opaque words, such as axe, glove.

13. Transparent Words--Words that consist of more than one morphemes and can be segmented into parts are called transparent words: workable(work+able), door-man(door+man).

14. Morphs--Morphemes are abstract units, which are realized in speech by discrete units known as morphs. They are actual spoken, minimal carriers of meaning.

15. Allomorps--Some morphemes are realized by more than one morph according to their position in a word. Such alternative morphs are known as allomorphs. For instance, the morpheme of plurality {-s} has a number of allomorphs in different sound context, e.g. in cats /s/, in bags /z/, in match /iz/.

16. Derivation or Affixation--Affixation is generally defined as the formation of words by adding word-forming or derivational affixes to stems. This process is also known as derivation.

17. Prefixation--Prefixation is the formation of new words by adding prefixes to stems.

18. Suffixation--Suffixation is the formation of new words by adding suffixes to stems.

19. Compounding（Compositon）--Compounding is a process of word-formation by which two independent words are put together to make one word. E.g. hen-packed; short-sighted.

20. Conversion--Conversion is the formation of new words by converting words of one class to another class. This process of creating new words without adding any affixes is also called

zero-derivation. E.g. dry (a.)-->to dry.

21. Back-formation-- is a process of word-formation by which a word is created by the deletion of

a supposed affix. E.g. editor entered the language before edit.

22. Abbreviation ( shortening )-- is a process of word-formation by which the syllables of words are abbreviated or shortened.

23. Abbreviation includes four types : I. Clipped words II. Initialisms III. Acronyms IV. Blends.

I. Clipped words--are those created by clipping part of a word, leaving only a piece of the old word.

E.g. telephone-->phone, professional-->pro.

II. Initialisms--are words formed from the initial letters of words and pronounced as letters. E.g. IMF/ai em ef/=International Monetary Fund.

III. Acronyms--are words formed from the initial letters of word and pronounced as words. E.g. NATO/'neito/=North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

IV. Blends--are words that are combined by parts of other words. E.g. smoke+fog=smog.

24. Polysemy--The same word may have two or more different meanings. This is known as "polysemy". The word "flight", for example, may mean "passing through the air", "power of flying", "air of journey", etc.

Two approaches to polysemy: Diachronic and Synchronic

Diachronically, we study the growth or change in the semantic structure of a word , or how the semantic structure of a word has developed from primary meaning to the present polysemic state .

Synchronically, we are interested in the comparative value of individual meanings and the interrelation between the central meaning and the secondary meanings.

Two processes leading to polysemy: Radiation and concatenation

Radiation : Semantically, radiation is the process in which the primary or central meaning stands at the center while secondary meanings radiate from it in every direction like rays.

Concatenation : is a semantic process in which the meaning of a word moves gradually away from its first sense by successive shifts, like the links of a chain, untill there is no connection between the sense that is finally developed and the primary meaning.

25. Homonyms--are generally defined as words different in meaning but either identical both in sound and spelling or identical『a.同一的，完全相同的』only in sound or spelling.

26. Perfect Homonyms--are words identical both in sound and spelling,but different in meaning。

E.g. bear n. a large heavy animal;

bear v. to put up with

27. Homographs--are words identical only in spelling but different in sound and meaning. E.g.

sow /s3u/ v. to scatter seeds

sow /sau/ n. female adult pig

28. Homophones--are words identical only insound but different in spelling and meaning. E.g.

dear /di3/ n. a loved person

deer /di3/ n. a kind of animal

29. Synonyms--can be defined as words different in sound and spelling but most nearly alike or exactly the same in meaning. E.g.

maid / girl They are the same meaning of "a young female".

30. Absolute(Complete, Perfect)Synonyms--are words which are identical in meaning in all its aspects, i.e. both in grammatical meaning and lexical meaning, including conceptual and associative meanings. For instance, composition / compounding They have the perfect same meaning in Lexicology.

31. Relative (near,partial) synonyms--are similar or nearly the same in denotation ,but embrace different shades of meaning or different degrees of a given quality.

Take stagger/reel/totter for example. Stagger implies unsteady movement characterized by a loss of balance and failure to maintain a fixed course. E.g. stagger under a heavy load; Reel suggests a swaying or lurching so as to appear on the verge of falling. E.g. The drunken man reeled down the hall; Totter indicates the uncertain, faltering steps of a feeble old person or of an infant learning to walk.

32. Sources of Synonyms

I. Borrowing : Native (ask)--French (question)--Latin (interrogate)

II. Dialects and regional English: railway (BrE)--railroad (AmE)

III. Figurative『a. 比喻的，象征的』and euphemistic 『a.委婉的』use of words: occupation--walk of life (fig.)

lie--distort the fact (euph.)

IV. Coincidence with idiomatic expressions:

win--gain the upper hand

hesitate--be in two minds

33. Discrimination of Synonyms

I. Difference in denotation : differ in the range and intensity of meaning.

E.g. extend--increase--expand (range)

want--wish--desire (intensity)

II. Difference in connotation『n.涵义，含蓄』: differ in the stylistic and emotive colouring. E.g. ask (neutral); beg (colloquial); request (formal)

III. Difference in application: in usage. E.g.

empty box ; vacant seat

34. Antonymy--is concerned with semantic opposition.

35. Antonyms--are words which are opposite in meaning.

36. Types of Antonyms

I. Contradictory terms: mutually opposed; true oppositeness of meaning; no possibility between them; E.g. alive--dead; present--absent

II. Contrary terms: gradable

E.g. rich--(well-to-do)--poor;

hot--(warm,cool)--cold

III. Relative terms: relational oppositeness

E.g. parent--child; husband--wife; sell--buy

IV. Semantic incompatibles: contrastingness.

E.g. north,south,east,west;

spring,summer,autumn,winter.

37. Hyponymy--deals with the relationship of semantic inclusion. That is , the meaning of a more specific word is included in that of another more general word. These specific words are known as hyponyms. For instance, tulip and rose are hyponyms of flower. The general word flower is the superordinate term and the specific ones tulip and rose are the subordinate terms.

38. Extension of meaning (generalization)--is a term referring to the widening of meaning. It is a process by which a word which originally had a specialized meaning has now become generalized. "Picture", for example, originally denoted mere "painting", but now has come to include "drawings" and even "photographs".

39. Narrowing of meaning(specialization)--is a term referring to the shrinking of meaning. It is a process by which a word of wide meaning acquires a narrower or specialized sense.

E.g. When garage was first borrowed from French, it meant simply "any safe place" but now "a place for storing cars".

40. Elevation or amelioration『n.改善，改良』--refers to the process by which words rise from humble beginnings to positions of importance.

E.g. Marshal and constable meant a "keeper of horses", but now have risen to a "high-ranking army officer" and "policeman" respectively.

41. Degradation or pejoration of meaning--It is a process whereby words of good origin fall into ill reputation or non-affective words come to be used in derogatory sense.

E.g. A wench was a "country girl" and now means "prostitute".

42. Metaphor『n.隐喻』--is a figure of speech containing an implied comparison, in which a word or phase ordinarily and primarily used of one thing is applied to another.

E.g. the teeth of a comb; blood bank; He has a heart of stone; The curtain of night has fallen.

43. Metonymy『n.借代』--is the device in which we name something by one of its attributes, as in crown for king, the White House for the President. The kettle is boiling. (kettle for water in the kettle)

44. Synecdoche『n.提喻法』--means using a part for a whole, an individual for a class, a material for

a thing or the reverse of any of these.

For example, bread for food, the army for a soldier.

He is a poor creature. --creature for man

45. Analogy『n.类似，相似』--is a process whereby words are created in imitation of other words. For example, telethon an talkathon are created on the model of marathon.

46. Idiom--Strictly speaking, idioms are expressions that are not readily understandable from their literal meanings of individual elements. For example, fly off the handle (become excessively angry) and put up with (tolerate). In a broad sense, idioms may include colloquialisms, catchphrases, slang expressions ,proverbs,etc.

47. Characteristics of Idioms:

I. Long use

II. Unitary meaning; semantic unity.

III. Syntactic frozenness; structural stability.

48. Figurative idioms--are idioms that include metaphor. Strictly speaking, they are true idioms.

E.g. a dog in the manger.

49. Sources of Figurative idioms:

I. Coloquialisms: big wheel (an influential or important person)

II. Literary expressions: to kill the fatted calf

III. Slang: in the soup(in serious trouble)

IV. Foreign idioms: sour grapes.

50. Motivation--accounts for the connection between the linguistic symbol and its meaning.

51. Onomatopoeic Motivation--These words were created by imitating the natural sounds or noises. For example, bang, ping-pang, crow by cocks, etc.

52. Morphological Motivation--Compounds and derived words are multi-morphemic words and the meaning of many are the sum total of the morphemes combined. For instance, airmail means to "mail by air", miniskirt is "a small skirt".

53. Semantic Motivation--refers to the mental associations suggested by the conceptual meaning of a word.

E.g. When we say the mouth of a river, we associate the opening part of the river with the mouth of a human being or an animal.

54. Etymological Motivation--The history of the word explains the meaning of the word.

55. 最后再给大家一个图表.(附件)

祝大家考试成功!

第二章

Indo-European language family （Europe，the Near East，India）

Balto –Slavic Indo-Iranian Italic Germanic

Prussian Persian Portuguese Norwegian

Lithuanian Hindi Spanish Icelandie

Polish Italian Danish

Bulgarian Roumanian Swedish

Slovenian French English

Russian German

Albanian Armenian Celtic Hellenic

Irish Greek

Breton

Scottish

2. History （时间，历史事件，特征）

1）Old English （450-1150）totally 50，000-60，000 words

The 1st people known to inhabit England were Celts，the language was Celtic.

The second language was the Latin of the Roman Legions.

The Germanic tribes called angles，Saxons and Jutes and their language，Anglo-Saxon dominated and blotted out the Celtic. Now people refer to

Anglo-Saxon as old English.

At the end of 6th century，the introduction of Christianity has a great impact on

the English vocabulary.

The common practice was to create new words by combining two native words.

In the 9th century，many Scandinavian words came into English. At least 900 words of Scandinavian are in modern English，our daily life and speech.

特点：highly inflected language

complex endings or vowel changes （full ending）

2）Middle English （1150-1500）English，Latin，French

Until 1066，although there were borrowings from Latin，the influence on English was mainly Germanic. But the Norman Conquest started a continual flow of

French words into English.

By the end of the 13th century，English gradually come back into public areas.

Between 1250 and 150 about 9000 words of French origin come into English.

75% of them are till in use today.

As many as 2500 words of Dutch origin come into English.

特点：fewer inflections

leveled ending

3）Modern English （1500-up to now）early modern English （1500-1700）

late modern English（1700-up to now）

The Renaissance，Latin and Greek were recognized as the languages of the

Western world’s great literary heritage.

The Industrial Revolution was in the mid-17 century. With the growth of colonization，British tentacles began a stretching out of to every corner of the globe，thus enabling English to absorb words from all major languages of the

world.

After World War II，many new words have been created to express new ideas，

inventions and scientific achievements.

More words are created by means of word-formation.

thousands and thousands of new words have been entered to express new ideas inventions，and scientific achievements.

more words are created by means of word-formation.

in modern English，word endings were mostly lost with just a few exceptions English has evolved from a synthetic language to the present analytic language.

science and technology terms make up about 45% of new words. words associated with life-style constitute of 24% and social and economic terms amount

to over 10% .

mention should be made of an opposite process of development i.e. old words

falling out if use.

特点：ending are almost lost.

3. Three main sources new words

1.The rapid development of modern science and technology

2.Social，economic and political changes

3.The influence of other cultures and languages

4. Three modes of vocabulary development

1. Creation – the formation of new words by using the existing materials，namely roots，affixes and other elements. （This is the most important way of

vocabulary expansion.）

2. Semantic change - an old form which take on a new meaning to meet the new

need.

3. Borrowing – to take in words from other languages.（particularly in earlier

time）

4. （Reviving archaic or obsolete）

French 30%，Latin 8%，Japanese Italian 7%，Spanish 6%，German Greek

5%，Russian Yiddish 4%

以下是我整理的英语词汇学的资料。我在考的时候主要就是靠这个东东。希望对还没有过的人有所帮助。

大家请注意：笔记中大多数是以名词解释的形式出现的，这些是绝对的基础，应该一字不漏的背下来。其实不少简答题也就是几个定义的汇总，再加上个例子就可以拿满分了。区分两个词的区别，主要还是指

明其各自的定义。

第一章

1. Word —— A word is a minimal free form of a language that has a given sound

and meaning and syntactic function.

2. There is no logical relationship between sound and meaning as the symbolic

connection between them is arbitrary and conventional. E.g. ―woman‖ means ’Frau’ in German，’Femme’ in French and ’Funv ’in Chinese. On the other hand，the same sound /rait/ can mean right，rite and write，though denoting different things，yet have the same sound.

3. The difference between sound and form result from 4 major factors.

（At least 80%of the English words fit consistent spelling patterns）

a）. the internal reason is English alphabet does not have a separate letter to

represent each sound in the language.

b）. Pronunciation has changed more rapidly than spelling

c）. Influence of the work of scribes/printing freezes the spelling of words in

1500

d）. Borrowing of foreign language

4. Vocabulary —— Vocabulary is most commonly used to refer to the sum total of all the words of a language. It can also refer to all the words of a given dialect，a given book，a given subject and all the words possessed by an individual person

as well as all the words current in a particular period of time in history.

The general estimate of the present day English vocabulary is over 1 million

words.

5.Classification of Words—by use frequency，by notion，by origin

1）. Basic word stock – the foundation of the vocabulary.

1. all national character （most important）– natural phenomena

most common things and phenomena of the human body and relations

world around us names of plants and animals

action，size，domain，state

numerals，pronouns，prep. ，conj.

2. stability – they donate the commonest thing necessary to life，they are like to remain unchanged. Only relative，some are undergoing some changes. But the

change is slow.

e.g. arrow，bow，chariot，knight – past

electricity，machine，car，plane —— now

3. productivity – they are mostly root words or monosyllabic words，they can

form new words with other roots and affixes.

e.g. foot – football，footage，footpath，footer

4. polysemy – often possess more than one meaning. Become polysemous.

e.g. take to move or carry from one place to another

to remove

5. collocability – quite a number of set expressions，idiomatic usages，

proverbial saying and others

e.g. heart – a change of heart， a heart of gold

Non-basic vocabulary ——

1. terminology – technical terms

photoscanning，hepatitis，indigestion，penicillin，algebra，trigonometry，

calculus

2. jargon – specialized vocabulary in certain professions.

Bottom line，ballpark figures，bargaining chips，hold him back，hold him in，

paranoid

3. slang —— substandard words often used in informal occasions

dough and bread，grass and pot，beaver，smoky，bear，catch，holler，Roger，

X-rays，

Certain words are labeled slang because of their usage.

4. argot – words used by sub-cultured groups

can-opener，dip，persuader

cant，jargon ，argot are associated with，or most available to，specific groups

of the population.

5. dialectal words – only by speakers of the dialect

beauty，chook，cocky，station，auld，build，coo，hame，lough，bog

6. archaisms – words no longer in common use or restricted in use. In older

poems，legal document and religious writing or speech.

7. neologism – newly created words with new meaning e.g. microelectronics，

futurology，AIDS，internet，E-mail

old meaning acquired new meaning e.g. mouse，monitor

2）. Content word （notional word）– denote clear notions.

Functional word （empty word，form word）– do not have notions of their own，express the relation between notions，words and sentences.

a. Content words constitute the main body of the English vocabulary are

numerous.

Functional words are in a small number.

b. Content words are growing.

Functional words remain stable.

c. Functional words do far more work of expression than content words.

3）. Native words – are words brought to Britain in the 15 century by the German tribes. Ango-Saxon Words，50，000-60，000

What is true of the basic word stock is also true of native world. More are

1. neutral in style （not stylistical specific ）

2. 2.frequent in use （in academic fields and science French，Latin or Greek are

used）（usage 70-90%）

Borrowed words （loan words，borrowing）– words taken over from foreign

language. 80%

According to the degree of assimilation and manner of borrowing，we can bring

the loan words under 4 classes.

1.Denizens – words borrowed early and now are well assimilated into English

language.

e.g. port from portus（L）shift，change，shirt，pork

cup from cuppa（L）

2.Aliens – retained their original pronunciation and spelling

e.g. décor（F）blitzkreeg（G）emir，intermez，rowtow，bazaar，rajar，status

quo

3.translation loans – formed from the existing material in the English language

but modeled on the patterns taken from another language.

1）. Word translated according to the meaning

e.g. mother tough from lingua maternal（L）

black humor from humor noir

long time no see，surplus value，master piece

2）. Words translated according to the sound

e.g. kulak from kyrak（Russ）

lama from lama（Tib）

ketchup

tea

4. Semantic loans – their meaning are borrowed from another language

e.g. stupid old dump

new sassy

dream old joy and peace

pioneer old explorer/person doing pioneering work

new a member of the young pioneer

fresh old impertinent，sassy，cheeky

第三章

1. Morpheme —— A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of a language.

（The smallest functional unit in the composition of words.）

2.Morph—— A morpheme must be realized by discrete units. These actual

spoken minimal carriers of meaning are morphs.

3.Monomorphenic words – morphemes are realized by single morphs.

4.Allomorph——Some morphemes are realized by more than one morph according to their position. Such alternative morphs are allomorphemes. E.g. the morpheme of plurality （-s）has a number if allomorphemes in different sound context，e.g. in cats/s/，in bags/z/，in matches/iz/.

5. Free morphemes or Free root —— The morphemes have complete meaning and van be used as free grammatical units in sentences，e.g. cat，walk. They are identical with root words. morphemes which are independent of other morphemes

are considered to be free.

6. Bound Morphemes —— The morphemes cannot occur as separate words.

They are bound to other morphemes to form words，e.g. recollection

（re+collect+ion）collect – free morpheme re-and –ion are bound morphemes. （include bound root and affix）Bound morphemes are found in derived words.

7. Bound root —— A bound root is that part of the word that carries the fundamental meaning just like a free root. Unlike a free root，it is a bound form and has to combine with other morphemes to make words. Take -dict- for example：it conveys the meaning of ―say or speak‖ as a Latin root，but not as a word. With the prefix pre-（=before）we obtain the verb predict meaning ―tell beforehand‖。

Contradict ― speak against‖。Bound roots are either Latin or Greek.

Although they are limited in number，their productive power is amazing.

8. Affixes —— Affixes are forms that are attached to words or word elements to

modify meaning or function. Almost affixes are bound morphemes.

9. Inflectional morphemes or Inflectional affixes —— Affixes attaches to the end of words to indicate grammatical relationships are inflectional，thus known as inflectional morphemes. The number of inflectional affixes is small and stable.

a. There is the regular plural suffix -s（-es）which is added to nouns such as

machines，desks.

b. Simple present for the third person singular. –s（-es）

c. The possessive case of nouns. ’s

d. –er and –est to show comparative and superlative degree

e. The past tense marker –ed

f. –ing to form present participles or gerunds.

10. Derivational morphemes or Derivational affixes —— Derivational affixes are

affixes added to other morphemes to create new words.

11. Prefixes —— Prefixes are affixes that come before the word，such as，

pre+war，sub+sea

12. Suffixes —— suffixes are affixes that come after the word，for instance，

blood+y.

13. Root —— A root is the basic form of a word，which cannot be further analyzed without total loss of identity. （What remains of a word after the removal of all affixes.）.e.g. ―internationalists‖ removing inter-，-al-，-ist，-s，leaves the

root nation.

14. Stem —— a form to which affixes of any kind can be added. E.g.

―internationalists‖，nation is a root and a stem as well.

a stem may consist of a single root or two roots and a root plus a affix.

a stem can be a root or a form bigger than a root.

第四章

The expansion of vocabulary in modern English depends chiefly on

word-formation.

Not all the words that are produced by applying the rules are acceptable.

Rules only provide a constant set of models from which new words are created

from day to day.

Rules themselves are not fixed but undergo changes.

affixation 30%-40% compounding 28%-30% conversion 26% shortening 8%-10% （clipping and acronymy）blending and others 1%-5%

1. Affixation （Derivation）—— the formation of words by adding word forming

or derivational affixes to stems. （derivative派生词）

According to their position，affixation falls into：prefixation and suffixation.

1）. Prefixation —— the formation of new words by adding prefixes to stems. It does not change the word-class of the stem but change its meaning.

1. Negative prefixes – a- （abnormal），dis- （disobey），in- （il-，ir-，im-）（injustice），non- （non-smoker），un- （unwilling）un- are the most productive and can usually replace in- or dis- with adj.

2. Reversative prefixes – de- （decentralize），dis- （disunite），un- （unwrap）

3. Pejorative prefixes – mal- （maltreat），mis- （mistrust），pseudo-

（pseudo-science）

4. Prefixes of degree or size – arch- （archbishop），extra-（extra-strong），hyper-（hyperactive），macro- （macrocosm），micro- （microcomputer），mini- （mini-election），out- （outlive），over- （overweigh），sub- （subheading），super- （superfreeze），sur- （surtax），ultra- （ultra-conservative），under-

（underdeveloped）

5. Prefixes of orientation and attitude – anti- （anti-nuclear），contra-

（contraflow），counter-，pro-（pro-student）

6. Locative prefixes – extra- （extraordinary），fore- （forehead），inter-

（inter-city），intra- （intra-party），tele-，trans-

7. Prefixes of time and order – ex- （ex-wife），fore- （foretell），pre-，re-

（reconsider）

8. Number Prefixes – bi-，multi- （poly-）（multi-purpose），semi- （hemi-），

tri- （tricycle），uni-（mono-）（uniform）

9. Miscellaneous prefixes – auto-，neo- （neo-Nazi），pan- （pan-European），

vice-

2）. Suffixation ——Suffixation is the formation of new words by adding suffixes to stems. Change the grammatical function of stems （the word class）. Suffixes can

be grouped on a grammatical basis.

Noun suffixes

Denominal nouns （名词+suffix ——名词）

a. Concrete —— -eer （engineer），-er （teenager），-ess （hostess），-ette

（cigarette），-let （booklet）

b. Abstract —— -age （wastage），-dom （处于…状态）（officialdom），-ery （slavery），-ery （-ry），-hood （childhood），-ing （farming），- ism（…主义）（terrorism），-ship（状态）（sportsmanship）

Deverbal nouns （动词+suffix——名词）

a. Denoting people —— -ant （assistant），-ee （trainee），-ent （respondent），

-er（-or）

b. Denoting action，result，process，state，ect. —— -age （linkage），-al （dismissal），-ance （attendance），-ation（-ition，-tion，-sion，-ion），-ence （existence），-ing （savings），-ment （statement）

De-adjective nouns （形容词+suffix——名词）—— -ity （popularity），-ness

（happiness）

Nouns and adjectives suffixes —— -ese （Chinese），-an （Australian），-ist （主

义）（socialist）

Adjective suffixes

Denominal suffixes —— -ed （wooded），-ful （successful），-ish （foolish），-less （priceless），-like （lady-like），-ly （friendly），-y （smoky）

-al（-ial，-ical）（cultural，residential），-esque （picturesque），-ic （economic），

-ous（-eous，-ious）（coutageous）

-ic and –ical can be affixed to the stem in some cases，but differ in meaning.

Historic （important in history）historical （of history）

Classic （great，memorable）classical （of Latin or Greek）

Comic （of comedy）comical （funny）

Economic （in the economy）economical （money-saving）

Electric （powered by electricity）electrical （of electricity）

Deverbal suffixes —— -able （-ible）（washable），-ive（-ative，-sive）（active，

decisive）

Adverb suffixes —— -ly （calmly），-ward（s）（homewards），-wise （clockwise）

Verb suffixes —— -ate（originate），-en （darken），-（i）fy （beautify），-ize

（ise）（modernize）

Nik most of them are considered slang.

2. Compounding （Composition）——Compounding is a process of

word-formation by joining two or more stems.

Compounds- a lexical unit consisting of more than one stem and functioning both grammatically and semantically as a single word.

三种形式solid，hyphenated，open

1）. Characteristics （differ from free phrases）

Phonetic features

Compound （not absolute）Free phrase

Stress on the first element Stress on the second element

Semantic features

Compounds are different from free phrases in semantic unity.

Every compound should express a single idea just as one word.

A lot of compounds are transparent and the meaning can be inferred from the

separate elements of compounds.

Grammatical features

A compound plays a single grammatical role in a sentence.

In adjective-noun compounds，the adjective element cannot take inflectional

suffixes.

Compound Free phrase

fine art finer art

Formation

Most compounds consist of 2 stems，but are formed on a rich variety of patterns and the internal grammatical relationship within the words is considered

complex.

Noun compounds

Adjective compounds

Verb compounds （through conversion and back formation）

Back formed verb compounds are formed mainly by dropping the suffixes，-er，

-ing，-ion，-etc.

3.Conversion （zero-derivation，functional shift）——Conversion is the formation of new words by converting words of one class to another class. These words are new only in a grammatical sense. The most productive is between nouns

and verbs.

A change of grammatical function

The different range of meaning

Conversion to noun

Verb to noun-almost all monomorphemic verbs can be used as nouns.

1. State （of mind or sensation）

2. Event or activity

3. Result of the action

4. Doer of the action

5. Tool or instrument

6. Place of the action

Adjective to noun （full conversion，partial conversion）

1. Words fully converted-a noun converted from an adjective has all the

characteristics of nouns. It can take an identical article or –e（s）.

2. Words partially converted – do not possess all the qualities a noun does. They must be used together with definite articles. They retain some of the adjective features. Words of this class generally refer to a group of the kind.

3. Miscellaneous conversion

Conversion to verbs

1. Noun to verb-verbs of this kind are all transitive.

2. Adjective to verb

3. Miscellaneous conversion

4.Blending—is the word formation by combining parts of two words or a word

plus a part of another word.

Head + tail autocide / motel/ slurb / cremains / chunnel

Head + head comsat / telex / Amerind / sitcom / FORTRAM

Head + word medicare / Eurasia / telequiz / atuocamp

Word + tail lunarnaut / bookmobile / workfare / tourmobile

The overwhelming majority of blends are nouns，very few are verbs and

adjectives are even fewer.

5.Clipping – shorten a longer word by cutting a part of the origin and using what remains instead. People tend to ve economical in writing and speech to keep up the

tempo of new life style.

Front clipping

Quake （earthquake）/ Copter（helicopter）/ scope （telescope）/ phone

（telephone）

Back clipping

Dorm（dormitory）/ momo（）/stereo（）/gent（）/fan（）/disco（）

Front and back clipping

Phrase clipping

Pub（）/pop（）/zoo（）/perm（）

6.Acronymy – joining the initial letters of names of social and political

organizations or special phrases and technical terms

Initialisms

are words formed from the initial letters of words and pronounced as letters.

It’s one of the word formations of acronymy.

E.g. IMF/ai em ef/=International Monetary Fund.

Acronyms

are words formed from the initial letters of word and pronounced as words. .

It’s one of the word formations of acronymy.

E.g. NATO/'neito/=North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

7.Back-formation—— is a process of word-formation by which a word is created by the deletion of a supposed affix. It is considered to be the opposite process of

suffixation.

8.Words from proper names modern English has a large number of words which

come from proper nouns. They include

1. Names of people

Words of this group are from names of scientists，investors，etc. these terms

are used as measurements.

Some words are from characters in mythology.

Some are from historical figures.

Some words are from characters in literary books.

https://www.360docs.net/doc/8f12358262.html,s of places

Many words denoting products，objects or materials come from the names of

places where they were first produced.

https://www.360docs.net/doc/8f12358262.html,s of books

4.Tradenames

When proper nouns are communized，many of them have lost their original identity. They can be converted to other classes. These words can also take

suffixes.

Words that are communized from proper nouns have rich culture associations and thus stylistically vivid，impressive and though-provoking.

自考《英语词汇学》复习资料第八章

2006-09-14 18:26 【大中小】【我要纠错】

Chapter 8

Context is very important for the understanding of word-meaning because the meaning is influenced immediately by the linguistic context，and in many cases by

the whole speech situation as well.

Types of context

In a narrow sense，it refers to the words，clauses，sentences in which a word

appears.

This is known as languished context with may cover a paragraph， a whole

chapter and even the entire book.

In a broad sense，it includes the physical situation as whole. this is called extra-linguistic or non-linguistic context，which embrace the people，place，and

even the whole culture background.

The extra-linguistic context may extend to embrace the entire culture

background.

trade union in western countries/in China

Landlord in Chinese/in western country weekend

Linguistic context can be subdivided into lexical context and grammatical

context

Lexical Context – refers to the words occur together with the word in question. The meaning of the word is often affected and defined by the neighboring word.

Grammatical context – The meanings of a word may be inflected by the

structure in which it occurs.

Generally speaking，the immediate verbal context，either lexical or grammatical，will suffice for interpreting meaning of a word

As indicated. however，there are cases where the meaning of a word may remain a puzzle until a whole paragraph，a chapter or even a whole book covered.

the role of context content has three major function

elimination of ambiguity

Ambiguity often arises due to polysemy and homonymy. When a word with multiple meanings used in inadequate context，it creates ambiguity.

He is a hard businessman.

Jone ran the egg and spoon race.

John ran the egg and spoon race and won second place.

Homonymy is another cause of ambiguity as tow separate words share the

same form.

Grammatical structure can also lead to ambiguity.

indication of referents

English has a large number of words used to refer directly to people，time，place，etc. without clear context，the reference can be very confusing

provision of clues for inferring word meaning

1. definition

2. explanation

3. example

4. synonym

5. antonym

6. hyponym

7. relevant details

8. word structure

Chapter 9

1.Idiom—idioms consist of set phrases and short sentences，which are peculiar to the language in question and loaded with the native cultures and ideas. Strictly speaking，idioms are expressions that are not readily understandable from their literal meanings of individual elements. In a broad sense，idioms may include colloquialisms，catchphrases，slang expressions，proverbs，etc.

2.Characteristics of idioms

a. Semantic unity - Idioms each consist of more than one word，but each is a semantic unity. Though the various words which make up the idiom have their respective literal meanings，in the idiom they have lost their individual meaning. Their meanings are not often recognizable in the meaning of the whole idiom. The part of speech of each element in no longer important. Quite often the idiom

functions as one word.

E.g. till the cows come home forever

The relationship between the literal meaning of each word and the meaning of the idiom is illogical. Many idioms are semantically inexplicable.

E.g. How do you do

Wear one’s heart upon one’s sleeve show one’s feeling plainly

Rain cats and dogs

b. Structural Stability – the structure of an idiom is to a large extent

unchangeable.

1.The constituents of idioms cannot be replaced. The structure is fixed.

E.g. in a brown study deep in thought

lip service support only in words，not in fact

kick the bucket die

bury the hatched （come to friendly or peaceful terms）

2.The word order cannot be inverted or changed.

E.g. by two and threes 三三两两

tit for tat 针锋相对

the lion’s share 最大的分额

3.The constituents of idioms cannot be deleted or added to，not even an article.

E.g. out of the question impossible

out of question no question

in question being considered

4.Many idioms are grammatically unanalysable.

e.g. diamond cut diamond two parties are equally matched

like cures like 以毒攻毒

（as）sure as eggs is eggs quite certain

the idomaticity of idioms is gradable and may best be thought in terms of scale.

True idioms – the meaning of the idiom cannot be deduced from those of the

individual constituents.

E.g. step up improve or enhance

In the raw naked

Regular combination – the speaker of the regular collocations，the meaning of the idiom can be understood from the literal meaning of the constitute.

E.g. make friends with

break silence

Semi-idioms – the meanings are in a way related to the meanings of the constitute but are not themselves explicit.

E.g. turn over anew leaf begin a new life

as cool as a cucumber 泰然自若

draw the curtain end or conceal

The fixity （固定性）of idioms depends on the idiomaticity （习用性）.

The more idiomatic the idioms，the more fixed the structure.

Classification of idioms

The criterion of ’grammatical function’

1. Idioms nominal in nature （名词性）– have a noun as the key word and function

as a noun.

E.g. white elephant sth. useless and unwanted but big and costly

brain trust a group of people with special knowledge who answer questions or

give advice

flesh and blood relatives or family

an apple of discord cause of disagreement or argument

Jack of all trades a person who can so many different kinds of work but may not

good at any of them

fly in the ointment sth. that spoils the perfection of sth.

2.Idioms adjective in nature （形容词性）- function as adjectives but the

constituents are not necessary adjectives.

E.g. cut and dried already settles and unlikely to be changed

as poor as a church mouse having，or earning，barely enough money for one’s

needs

wide of the mark not at all suitable

beyond the pale beyond the limit of proper behavior

up in the air uncertain

3.Idioms verbal in nature（动词性）– this is the largest group.

Phrasal verbs – idioms which are composed of a verb plus a prep and/or a

particle.

E.g. look into investigate

go on continue

put off

turn on

get away with do sth. Wrong without being punished

put down to state that sth. is caused or explained by

Verb phrases – the phrases that serve as verb

make it arrive in time，succeed

follow one’s nose go straight ahead，go in the same direction

fall flat fail completely

give sb. the bag fire sb.

sing a different tune change one’s opinion

call it a day decide to stop temporarily or for good

chop and change keep changing one’s opinion

swim against the stream do the opposite of what most people want to do

come back to earth stop dreaming

make ends meet earn what it costs to live

keep the pot boiling earn enough to maintain an adequate standard of living，

keep a situation active

let the dog see the rabbit do not get the way of another who wishes to see or so

sth.

bite the hand that feeds one repay kindness with wrong

4. Idioms adverbial in nature （副词性）

E.g. tooth and nail with great violence and determination

in nothing flat soon

through thick and thin through all difficulties

5.Sentence Idioms – are mainly proverbs and sayings including colloquialisms

and catchphrases. Each function as a sentence.

The forms and functions of idioms are not necessarily identical.

E.g. pepper and salt

His hair is pepper and salt.

Use of idioms- we need to be aware of the rhetoric characteristics of idioms such as stylistic features，Rhetorical features and their occasional variations.

Stylistic features （语体色彩）