《英语词汇学》复习资料

《英语词汇学》复习资料

Chapter 1

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. V ocabulary —— V ocabulary 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，

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，50000-60000 What is true of the basic word stock is also true of native world. More are

1. neutral in style （not stylistical specific ）

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

Chapter 2

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

Balto –Slavic Indo-Iranian Italic Germanic

Prussian Persian Portuguese Norwegian

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

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%

Chapter 3

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 ver

b predict meaning ―tell beforehand‖。C ontradict ― 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.

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.

Chapter 4

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）

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）

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.

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（）

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 pronoun ced 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. NA TO/'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/e47420922.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/e47420922.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.

Chapter 5

Reference （领会）– the relationship between language and the world. By means of reference， a speaker indicates which things in the world （including persons） are being talked about.

The reference of a word to a thing outside the language is arbitrary and conventional. This connection is the result of generalization and abstraction.

Although reference is abstract， yet with the help of context， it can refer to something specific.

Concept（领会）–which beyond language is the result of human cognition reflecting the objective world in the human mind. It isn’t affected by language. Meaning and concept are closely connected but not identical. Meaning belongs to language， so is restricted to language use.

A concept can have as many referring expressions as there are language in the world.

Sense （领会）– denotes the relationship inside the language. Every word that has meaning has sense.

The sense of an expression is its place in a system of semantic relationships with other expressions in the language.

It is also abstraction.

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

English does have words whose meanings can be explained to a certain extent.

Most words are non-motivated. The connection of the sign and meaning dose not have a logical explanation.

Onomatopoeic Motivation – the words whose sounds suggest their meaning. （Indicate the relationship between sound and meaning）. Knowing the sounds of the words means understanding the meaning. These words were created by imitating the natural sounds or noises. For example， bang， ping-pang， crow by cocks， etc.

Such echoic words are also conventional for the sounds we say in English may not be the same in other language.

Morphological Motivation ——Compounds and derived words are multi-morphemic words and the meaning of many words are the sum total of the morphemes combined. （Indicate the relationship between word meaning and each morpheme meaning）. For instance，airmail means to “mail by air”，miniskirt is “a small skirt”。

There are a lot of words whose structures are opaque， their meanings are not the combinations of the separate words.

Semantic Motivation——refers to the mental associations suggested by the conceptual meaning of a word. It explained the connection between literal sense and figurative sense 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.

Etymological Motivation——The history of the word explains the meaning of the word. （Indicate the relationship between word meaning and its origin）.

E.g. the word ’laconic’ meaning ’brief’ or ’short’ is derived from Laconic， a tribe of people who were known for their ’brevity of speech’ and for their habit of never using more words than necessary. Hence a laconic answer is a ’short answer’。

All the words communized from proper nouns can be interpreted in terms of their origins.

Types of meaning （领会，运用）

Word-formation is not monogamous but a composite consisting of different parts.

Grammatical meaning – refer to that part of the meaning of the word which indicates grammatical concept or relationships， such as part of speech of words， singular and plural meanings of nouns， tense meaning of verbs and their inflectional forms.

Grammatical meaning becomes important only used in actual context.

Different Lexical meaning may have different grammatical meaning.

The same word may have different grammatical meaning.

Functional words， though having little lexical meaning， posses strong grammatical meaning， content words have both meanings and lexical meaning in particular.

Lexical meaning ——is constant in all the words within or without context related to the notion that the word conveys.

It has two components conceptual meaning and associative meaning.

Lexical meaning and grammatical meaning make up the word-meaning.

Grammatical meaning surfaces only in use.

Conceptual meaning （denotative meaning）–the meaning given in the dictionary and forms the core of word-meaning.

It is constant and relative stable. Conceptual meaning forms the basis for communication.

e.g. The sun rises in the East. the “sun”

Associative meaning – the secondary meaning supplemented to the conceptual meaning.

It is open-ended and indeterminate

Connotative meaning （connotation）——the overtones or association suggested by the conceptual meaning. It is not

Home —— a dwelling place —— family， friends， warmth， safety.

It is unstable varying considerably according to situations.

Stylistic meaning – stylistic features make the words appropriate for different contexts.

（informal， formal， literary， archaic. slang） e.g. pregnant， expecting， knock up， in the club，

The stylistic difference is true of synonyms.

There are few words have both the same Conceptual meaning and Stylistic meaning.

分析：

1. they chucked a stone at the cops， and then did a bunk with the loot.

2. after costing a stone at the police， they absconded with the money.

The stylistic feature of words are obvious.

Sentence 1 could be said by 2 criminals， all the words used in italics are slangy， sentence 2 might be said by the chief inspector in making his official report and the words used are literary （cast， abscond） or neutral （police，money）.

Affective meaning –the speaker’s attitude towards the person or thing in question. Interjections are affective words as they are expression of emotions.

Words that have emotive values may fall into two categories： appreciative and pejorative. Words of positive overtones are used show appreciation or the attitude of approval. Those of negative connotations imply disapproval， contempt or criticism.

Affective meaning varies from individual to individual，from culture to culture …

e.g. revolution， democracy， imperialism，

dog loyalty， faithfulness， a close companion （western）

useful animal （Chinese）

Co locative meaning – the associations a word acquires in its collocation. It is that part of the word—meaning suggested by the word before or after the word in discussion.

There is some overlaps between the collocations of the two words.

e.g. pretty and handsome = good looking

pretty woman stress the attractiveness of facial feature.

handsome woman may not be facial beautiful， yet is attractive in other respects.

tremble/quiver = shake involuntary

tremble with fear/quiver with excitement

Function： Co locative meaning overlaps with stylistic and affective meanings because in a sense both stylistic and affective meanings are revealed by means of collocations.

Form – by form we mean both its pronunciation and spelling. A word is the combination of form and meaning. Form is the carrier of meaning.

Meaning

Chapter 6

1. Polysemy（识记）—polysemy is a common feature peculiar to all natural languages. When a words is first coined，it always monosemic， but tin the course of development ， the same word may have two or more different meanings.

e.g. The word “flight” may mean “passing through the air”，“power of flying”，“air of journey”， etc.

Two approaches（识记）

Diachronic approach –Diachronically， polysemy is assumed to be the result of growth and development of the semantic structure of one and same word. This first meaning is the primary meaning. With the advance of time and the development of language， it took on more and more meanings. These latter meanings are called derived meanings. E.g. face The primary meaning gave birth to new meaning.

The primary meaning become either absolute or disappeared altogether

E.g. harvest time of cutting reaping and gathering the crops

upon/under pain of suffering

Synchronic approach – synchronically， polysemy is viewed as the coexistent of various meaning of the same word in a certain historical period of time. The basic meaning of a word is the core of word meaning. The core of word meaning called the central meaning （secondary meaning）.

The central meaning has gradually dimished in currency with the changes and one of the derived meanings has become dominant. E.g. gay

Two process of development（领会）

Radiation – a semantic process which shows that the primary meaning stands at the center and each of the derived meanings proceed out of in every direction like rays.

The meanings are independent of one another， but can all be tracked back to the central meaning.

e.g. Neck

1） That part of a man or animal jointing the head to the body

2） That part of the garments

3） The neck of an animal used as food

4） A narrow part between the head and body or base of any object

5） The part of anything

Of the 5 meanings 1） is the primary and all the rest are derived but each of the other four is directly related to 1）. Therefore， we say neck has developed through the process of radiation.

Concatenation –meaning “linking together”， is the semantic process in which the meaning of a word moves gradually away from its first sense by successive shifts until， in many cases， there is not a sign of connection between the sense that is finally developed and that which the tern had at the begining.

e.g. candidate

1） White-robed

2） Office seeker in white gouns

3） A person who seeks an office

4） A person proposed for a place， award， etc.

Of the 4 meanings， 1） is the primary meaning and the other three are derived， but each of the derived meaning is only directly related to the preceding one and there is no direct connection between 1） and 4）. Therefore， we say candidate has developed through the process of concatenation.

Difference

Radiation is concatenation is closely related， being different stages of the development leading to polysemy.

Radiation， each of the derived meaning is directly connected to the primary meaning.

Concatenation， each of the later meaning is related only to the preceding one like chains. Though the latest sense can be tracked to the original，there’s no direct connection in between.

The two processes work together， complementing each other.

Radiation precedes concatenation.

2.Homonyms——are generally defined as words different in meaning but either identical both in sound and spelling or identical only in sound or spelling.

Perfect Homonyms——are words identical both in sound and spelling， but different in meaning.

e.g. bank/bank

bear/bear

date/date

Homographs——are words identical only in spelling but different in sound and meaning.

e.g. Bow/bow

Sow/sow

Homophones （most common）——are words identical only in sound but different in spelling and meaning.

e.g. Dear/dear

Origins of Homonyms （识记）

1. Change in sound and spelling （homonyms are native by origin， derived from different earlier forms in Old English. The change in sound and spelling gradually made then identical in modern English.）

e.g. ear/ear

long/long

2. Borrowing （many words of foreign origin coincide in sound and/or spelling with those of native origin with those of other foreign origin.）

e.g. fair/fair

ball/ball

3. Shortening （many shortened forms of words happen to be identical with other words in spelling or sound）

e.g. ad/add

rock/rock

NOW/now

Differentiation of Homonyms and polysemants （领会）

Perfect homonyms and polysemants are fully identical regard to spelling and pronunciation.

Homonyms refer to different word， which happen to share the same forms. Polysemant is the one and some word， which has several meanings.

One important criterion is to see their etymology. Homonyms are from different sources. A polysemant is from the same source， which has acquired different meaning in the course of development.

The second principle is semantic relatedness. The various meanings of a polysemant are correlated and connected to some central meaning to a greater or less degree. Meanings of different homonyms have nothing to do with one another.

Rhetoric feature

They create puns for desired effect of， say， humour， sarcasm or ridicule.

3.Synonyms—are words different in sound and spelling but most nearly alike or exactly the same in meaning. Synonyms share a likeness in denotation and in part of speech.

Types of Synonyms

1.Absolute （Complete） 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. Absolute （Complete） Synonyms are restricted to high-specialized vocabulary.

For instance， composition / compounding. They have the perfect same meaning in Lexicology.

2.Relative （Near） synonyms——are similar or nearly the same in denotation but embrace different shades of meaning or different degrees of a given quality.

e.g. Change/alter/vary

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.

Sources of Synonyms

。 Borrowing：（the most important source）

Native ForeignRoom chamberFoe enemyHelp aidLeave departWise sageBodily corporalEarthly terrestrialWarlike bellicoseBuy purchase Native French LatinAsk question interrogateFast firm secureFire flame conflagrationFear terror trepidationHoly sacred consecratedGoodness virtue probityTime age epoch

。 Dialects and regional English：

Railway （BrE） railroad （AmE）

Mother （BrE） minny （ScotE）

Job （StandE） gig （BlackE）

Jim （BlachE） mal person （StandE）

。 Figurative「a. 比喻的，象征的」 and euphemistic 「a.委婉的」use of words：

Occupation walk of life （fig.）

Dreamer star-gazer （fig.）

Drunk elevated （euph.）

Lie distort the fact （euph.）

。 Coincidence with idiomatic expressions：

Win gain the upper hand

Decide make up one’s mind

Finish get through

Hesitate be in two minds

Help lend one a hand

Discrimination of Synonyms （运用）

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

Range （some words have a wider range of meaning than others）

e.g. timid——timorous

Timid is applied to the state of minds in which a person may happen to be at the moment， ant to the habitual disposition.

Timorous is only to the disposition.

Comprehend/ understand

extend—increase—expand

The owner of the restaurant is going to extend the kitchen by ten feet this year.

The company has decided to increase its sales by ten percent next year.

The metal will expand if heated.

Extent increase expand

Differ in degree of intensity

e.g. wealth—rich

The wealth person is to posses more money and property than a rich man.

work – toil

Work is a general term having no special implications as ’light’ or ’heavy’，and ’mental’ or ’ physical’。

Toil suggests ’heavy and tiring work’， associated with more with manual than mental labor.

want—wish—desire

Want is the most general and has the widest range of meaning.

Wish and desire are much narrow in sense.

2） Difference in connotation： differ in the stylistic and emotive coloring.

Some words share the same denotation but differ in their stylistic appropriateness.

E.g.

The words borrowed from French and Latin are more formal than native words.

These borrowings are more appropriate formal and technical writing.

policeman – constable – bobby – cop

policeman（neutral）– constable（neutral）– bobby（colloquial）– cop（slangy）

ask —— beg —— request

ask （neutral）； beg （colloquial）； request （formal）

archaic and poetic， which are self-suggestive.

e.g. ire/anger， bliss/happiness，forlorn/distressed，dire/dreadful，list/listen，enow/enough，save/expect，mere/lake and such like are all synonyms， but in each the second is standard in usage whereas the first one is old-fashioned and archaic， only found in poetry， earlier writing， etc.

result（neutral ）– consequence（negative implication）

big – great

big（the bigness of size， volume and so on， without any emotive coloring）–great（suggest distinguished， eminent，outstanding）

little – small – tiny

little （attractiveness， pleasantness）– small（not big）– tiny（abnormal growth of the child）

3） Difference in application： differ in usage.

Many words are synonyms in meaning but different in usage in simple terms. They form different collocations and fit into different sentence patterns.

E.g.

allow – let

allow sb to so sth. – let sb. do sth.

answer – reply

answer（transitive v.） the letter – reply（intransitive v.） to the letter

sense – meaning

He is a man of sense.

empty —— vacant

empty box/street/room （no one or nothing inside）； vacant seat/chair/apartment（not occupied）

lump – slice – chunk – sheet –cake

a lump sugar– a slice of meat – a chunk of wood – a sheet of paper –a cake of soap

4.Antonymy——is concerned with semantic opposition.

Antonyms——are words which are opposite in meaning.

Types of Antonyms （according to the semantic opposition ）

1） Contradictory terms – these antonyms are truly represent oppositeness of meaning. They are so opposed to each other that they are mutually exclusive and admit no possibility between them. They assertion of one is the denial of the other.

E.g. alive—dead， present——absent， male –female， boy –girl， true –false， same –different， imperfect –perfect

Such antonyms are non-gradable. They can no t be used in comparative degrees and do not allow adverbs like “very” to qualify them. Single/married

特点：对立的/不可分级

2） Contrary terms —— a scale running between two poles or extremes. The two opposites are gradable and one exists in comparison with the other.

E.g. rich——（well-to-do）——poor； old –（middle-aged）—— young， open –（ajar）—close， beautiful –（good-looking）–（plain）– ugly，

hot——（warm， cool）——cold

verbs. E.g. love –（attachment）–（liking）–（indifferent）–（antipathy）—— hate

3） Relative terms –consist of relational oppositeness. The pairs of words indicate such a social relationship that one of them can not be used without suggesting the other， the type is also reverse terms. The two words of each pair interdependent.

E.g. parent——child； husband——wife； predecessor – successor， employer —— employee

sell—buy， give –receive，

方位词

difference between relative terms and contradictory terms

there is an absolute opposite between relative terms and contradictory terms. In the case of relative terms， the opposition is only relational.

contradictory terms – e.g. if the adult is not a man， then the adult must be a woman.

1）. Antonyms are classified on the basis of semantic opposition.

形容词（most）——动词–名词（least）

There are a great many more synonyms than antonyms.

Words denoting nature， quality or state of things have many antonyms. This accounts for the large number of antonyms are adjectives.

2）. A word which has more than one meaning can have more than one antonym.

e.g. fast – firm/secure loose

quick slow

pleasure-seeking/wild sober

bull —— boring interesting

She became dull and silent during the last part of the journey. lively

dull weather sunny

dull noise sharp

dull pain acute

these factors affect both intelligent and dull children. Intelligent

3） Antonyms differ in semantic inclusion.

Pairs of antonyms are seen as marked and unmarked terms. One member is more specific than the other and the meaning of the specific is included in that of the general.

e.g. man – woman

There has been no man in the island. （man signifies human being， including women， but not vice versa）.

dog ——娃哈哈

male/ female dog

tall—short

How tall is his brother？（includes the meaning of next one）

How short is his brother？（more restricted in sense）

4）. Contrary terms are gradable antonyms， differing in degree of intensity， so each has its own corresponding opposition.

e.g. hot – cold， warm – cool， rich – poor， destitute – opulent

Some words can have two different types of antonyms at the same time， one being negative and the other opposite.

e.g. happy—unhappy-sad

productive—unproductive—destructive

free——unfree-enslaved

the use of antonyms

。 Antonyms have various practical uses and have long proved helpful and valuable in defining the meanings of words.

fresh bread – stale bread， fresh air – stuff air， fresh flower – faded flower， fresh look – tired look 。 Antonyms are useful to express economically the opposition of a particular thought， often for the sake of contrast. They look neat and pleasant， and sound rhythmic.

。 Many idioms are formed with antonyms. They look neat and pleasant， and sound rhythmic.

Rain and shine无论如何Here and there到处Weal and woe祸福Friend and foe敌友 Now or never机不可失Thick and thin 不顾艰难，险阻High and low到处Give an take互让，平等

Antonyms are often used to form antithesis to achieve emphasis by putting contrasting idea together.

Easy come， easy go. 来的易，去得快。

More haste， less speed. 欲速则不达。

United we stand， divided we fall.团结则存，分裂则亡。

5.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（下义词）. For instance， tulip and rose are hyponyms of flower. The general word flower is the superordinate term（上义词） and the specific ones tulip

The sense relation of hyponymy is very helpful in both receptive and productive processing of language. In reading comprehension， coherence by hyponymy is an important key.

In production， knowing the semantic features of the hyponyms and their superordinates can help us achieve vividness，exactness， and concreteness.

The status either as superordinate and sobordinate is relative to other terms.

6. semantic field

第七章

Vocabulary is the most unstable element of a language as it is under-going constant changes both in form and content.

The content is even more unstable than the forms.

Word-meaning changes by modes if extension， narrowing， degradation， elevation and transfer. of these， extension and narrowing are by far the most common.

1.Extension （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.

Word old meaning now meaning

Manuscript handwriting any author’s writing whether written by hand or typed

with a type-writer or a word-processor

Fabulous resembling a fable incredible， marvelous

Barn a place for storing only barley storeroom

Picture paintin g include “drawings” and even “photographs”。

Mill place for grinding into flour place where things are made

Journal daily paper periodical

Butcher one who kills goats one who kills animals

Companion one who shares bread a company

。 A large proportion of polysemic words of modern English have their meanings extended sometimes in the course of development. Some words are generalized to such an extent that they can mean almost anything.

Word old meaning now meaning

Thing a public assembly or a council anything

Business， concern， condition， matter， article， circumstance

。 Technical terms

Word old meaning now meaning

Alibi （a legal term） plea that the accused is not at the place excuse

When the crime is committed

Allergic （a medical term） too sensitive to medicine averse or disinclined to

Feedback （computer term） response

。 From proper nouns

Word old meaning now meaning

Lynch the Lynch’s Law kill without lawful trial

Sandwish a gambler’s name to denote a kind of fast place or sq ueeze between

Food

Vandal a member of an East Germanic tribe malicious destruction of a thing

A person of such behaviour

V. vandalize

Adj. Vandalic/vandalistic

n. vandalization/vandalism

2. Narrowing （specialization）——is a term referring to the shrinking of meaning. It is a process by which a word

Deer animal

Corn grain maize

Garage any safe place a place for storing cars

Liquor liquid alcoholic drink

Disease discomfort illness

Poison drink poisonous drink

Wife woman a married woman

Accident event unfortunate event

Girl young person of either sex female young person

。 Turn into a proper nouns

The City business center of London

The Peninsula Iberian Peninsula

The Prophet Mohammed

。 For economy， some phrases are shortened and only one element of the original is left to retain the meaning of the whole.

e.g. a private = a private solider

a general = a general officer

an editorial = an editorial article

。 Material nouns

Word old meaning now meaning

Silver silver dollars

Glass cup-like container or mirror

Iron device for smoothing clothes

3.Elevation or amelioration——refers to the process by which words rise from humble beginnings to positions of importance.

Word old meaning now meaning

Nice ignorant —— foolish delightful， pleasant

Marshal / constable keeper of horses high-ranking army officer / policemen

Angle messenger messenger of God

Knight servant rank below baronet

Earl men count

Governor pilot head of a state

Fond foolish affectionate

Minister servant head of ministry

Shrewd evil， wickedness smart

Nimble be good at taking things without permission smart

Chamberlain servant high official of royal courts

Success result

4. 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.

Word old meaning now meaning

Boor peasant rude， ill-mannered person

Churl peasant / free man uncultivated or mean person

Wench country girl prostitute

Hussy housewife woman of low morals

Villain person who worked in a villa evil or wicked person or scoundrel

Silly happy foolish

Criticize appraise find fault with

Lust pleasure sexual desire

5. Transfer —— words which were used to designate on thing but later changed to mean something else.

Word old meaning now meaning

Paper an African plant papyrus

。 Associated transfer

E.g. the lip of a wound

The tongue of a bell

The nose of a plane

Purse for money， dish for food， glass for cup

。 Between abstract and concrete meaning

Word old meaning now meaning

Aftermath second crop of grass after mowing consequence， result

Hope e.g. Clinton is the hope of the family.

。 Between subject and objective meaning

Word old meaning now meaning

Pitiful full of pity deserving pity

Dreadful / hateful subject meaning objective meaning

Fearful/ doubtful / suspicious subject and objective meaning

。 Transfer of sensations

E.g. clear-sounding （from sight to hearing）

Loud colours （from hearing to sight）

Sweet music （from taste to hearing）

6. Extra-linguistic Factors

1. Historical reason

。 A word is retained for a name though the meaning has changed because the reference has changed.

Word old meaning now meaning

Pen feather

Car two-wheel cart drown by horses and used automobile

in war

Computer person who computes electronic machine

。 Increased scientific knowledge and discovery are also important factors

Word old meaning now meaning

Sun the luminous heavenly body-one of the star around which the earth and other planets revolve

seven planets revolving around the earth

Atom any of the indivisible particles not the smallest and can be divided into even smaller

particles

2. Class reason. Language is just like a mirror， reflecting everything that exists in human society. It records the speech and attitude of different social classes. As a result， different social varieties of language have come into being.

Word old meaning now meaning

Churl， hussy， wench， villain ill-mannered or bad people

Democracy， revolution， liberalism， human rights， communism different meaning in different societies and to different People

3. Psychological reason. The associated transfer of meaning and euphemistic use of words are often due to psychological factors. people change word-meaning owing to various psychological. Religious influence is another kind psychological need.

Word old meaning now meaning

1. Shortening

Gold for gold medal

Gas for coal gas

Bulb for light bulb

Private for private solider

2. Borrowing

Deer / animal / beast

Pig / pork， sheep / mutton， cattle / beef

Bird / fowl， dog / hound， boy / knave， chair / stool

3. Analogy

Fortuitous happening by chance， accident fortunate

Fruition a pleasure obtaining from using or possessing something

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