英语专业-英语词汇学-笔记

英语专业-英语词汇学-笔记1.What is polysemy?Having multiple meanings that are related.2.What are the two different ways of organising polysemous words?Explain them1)The diachronic approach begins with the primary meaning andthen arrange the other meanings (derived meanings) in the orderin which they developed.2)The synchronic approach begins with the most popular meaning(central meaning) and then arrange the other meanings(marginal meanings) in order of popularity.3.What are the two different ways in which polysemy develops? Explainthem1)Radiation. Secondary meanings are independent from oneanother and are derived directly from the primary meaning.2)Concatenation. Secondary meanings are connected and derivefrom primary meaning through successive shifts of meaning fromone secondary meaning to another.4.What is homonymy?Homonyms are works different in meaning but either identical both in sound or spelling or identical only in sound or spelling.5.Give an example of a perfect homonym, a homophone and ahomograph1)perfect homonym 同音同形date日期/date红枣2)homophone 同音异形Knew/new, meet/meat3)homograph 异音同形record(v.)/record(n.)6.Give an example of the rhetorical use of homonymyHi Jack （你好杰克）– hijack（打劫）7.What is the difference between polysemy and homonymy? Give anexample to illustrate the difference1)Polysemy is about connection of meanings. Book can mean abook as in “I read a book”, and “I book a hotel room”. Thesecond meaning is related to the first one because in the past hotel staff will write the customers’ information on a book whenreserving a room.2)homonymy is about form. Lie can mean not being honest orbeing in a horizontal position. These two meanings have the same form but no connection.8.Classify the following pairs of antonyms into complementaries(binaries), contraries (gradable) or converses (relational). Explain why1)Good/bad, contraries2)odd/even, complementaries3)above/below, converses4)clean/dirty, contraries5)remember/forget, complementaries?6)old/young, contraries7)before/after, converses9.What is hyponymy? Give an exampleThe meaning of a more specific word is included in that of a more general word.例Flower is the superordinate term, rose is the subordinate term. 10.What is synonymy?Synonyms are words different in sound and spelling but nearly or exactly alike in essential meaning.11.What is the difference between absolute and near (relative)synonyms?1)Absolute synonyms – interchangeable in every way2)Near synonyms – similar in denotation but have different shadesof meaning or different degrees of a given quality.12.What are some of the reasons why synonyms exist?1)Borrowing from other languages2)Dialects and regional English3)Figurative and euphemistic use of words4)Coincidence with idiomatic expressions13.What are some of the factors that discriminate between relativesynonyms? Use examples1)Range of meaning. “timid” is more extensive because it can beused to describe the state of mind at a time and the disposition,but “timorous” only describe the disposition.2)Degree of intensity. A “wealthy” person has much moremoney than a “rich” person.3)Differences in stylistic features. “ask” is used commonly andtend to be colloquial. “question” is more formal.14.(The development of English) What was the language spoken in theBritish Isles before English? How was English introduced?Celtic. Germanic tribe invaded and settled after Roman. They brought their own culture. It was called Anglo-saxon (the name of two tribes) and also called old English.15.What are the three phases of the English language and what weretheir time periods? What events marked the transition of one phase to another?a)Old English (450 - 1150) ——Norman conquest from France in1066, but the real development of middle English started in the12th century because the ruling class spoke Anglo French and thepeasants spoke Anglo-Saxon so it took quite a long time for themto intermix.b)Middle English (1150 - 1500) ——during Renaissance there wasan explosion of information and knowledge about Ancient Greece and Roman. People stated to read so ideas spread. Greekand Latin words started entering English. Besides, printing wasinvented, more can read and write books.c)Modern English (1500 – present)16.Over its history, English has evolved from a highly inflected languageto a nearly non-inflected language. What is the difference? Give an example of inflection in EnglishInflection means to modify a word to indicate grammatical relations.A lot of words in a highly inflected language have ending or formchanges in order to show its grammatical function. But a weaklyinflected language has fewer changes. As English developed, it has changed from a highly infected language to a weekly one.17.What are the most important languages that English has borrowedfrom? Why?1)French – Norman conquest2)Latin –Renaissance, a lot of Latin book were translated intoEnglish3)Scandinavia – Vikings (9 century) influenced old English18.What is the difference between a Content Word and a Functionalword? Give an example of each.Content words are those are about something. 例nation, earth.Functional words are those used to express relations. 例the, and. 19.Explain two properties of Basic words and give examples1)Productivity. Basic words are very productive because thet aremostly root words or monosyllabic words. They can be used alone and are often used to form now words with other roots andaffixes. 例foot-football-footprint2)Many basic words take part in a number of set expressions. 例heart- by heart –from the bottom of one’s heart- lose heart 20.What is a denizen word? Give an exampleDenizens are words that were borrowed a long time ago, they look and sound like a native word.例‘pork’ from the French ‘porc’21.What is an alien word? Give an exampleAliens are borrowed words which have kept their originalpronunciation and spelling.例café , fiancée22.What is a translation loan? Give an exampleTranslation loans are words and expressions formed from existing material in the English language but tranlate the meaning or thesound from another language.例‘black humour’ from the French ‘humour noir’例‘tea’ from the Chinese23.What is a semantic loan? Give an exampleSemantic loans are where a word already exists in native English but borrows a new meaning from another language.例‘dumb’ has come to mean ‘stupid’ because of the German word ‘dumm’24.(The structure of Words) What is a morpheme?A morpheme is the minimal meaningful unit of language.25.What is the difference between a morpheme and a morph?Morpheme is about meaning.Morph is about shape and sound.Morphemes are abstract, and are realized in speech by morphs.26.What is the difference between a bound morpheme anda freemorpheme? Give an example of each kind of morpheme1)Morphemes which cannot occur as separate words are bound. 例dis-, mis-.2)Morphemes which are independent of other morphemes are free.例man, dog.27.What is the difference between a derivational morpheme and aninflectional morpheme? Give an example of each kind of morpheme1)Derivational morphemes can derive new words. 例football,slowly2)Inflectional morphemes don’t create new words and justindicate syntactic relationships. 例-ed, -ing, -er, -est, -s28.What is the difference between a content morpheme and agrammatical morpheme? Give an example of each kind of morpheme1)Content morphemes have content and can be used to derive newwords. = derivational morphemes.2)Grammatical morphemes are grammatical markers, includingInflectional morphemes & free morphemes. 例while, where, they 29.What is an affix?An affix is a form that are attached to words to modify meaning or function.30.What is the difference between a derivational and an inflectional affix?Give an example of each1)Inflectional affix do not create new words, and indicate syntacticrelationships between words. 例–ed, talked2)Derivational affix derive new words. 例–less, careless. non-,non-smoker.31.What is a root? Give an exampleA root is a word element that contains the main component ofmeaning in a word. It is that part of a word that remains when allaffixes have been removed.例：internationalists → nation Impracticality → pratice。