英语词汇学教案.doc

IntroductionObjectives：To introduce to students the nature of this course，methods to learn this course，major contents and objectives of this courseTime arrangement: 2 class hoursMajor activities: lecture, questions and answersContent: Introduction to English LexicologyI. About this courseLexicology is a course that is both theoretical and practical.Since it is theoretical, the terminologies in this field of study may pose some difficulty in learning this course.On the other hand, it is practical and thus easy to learn because much of the knowledge included in this course may not be entirely new to you. You might have studied quite a lot of it in other courses during your English learning, such as linguistics, phonetics, grammar, rhetorics, stylistics, etc. In this course you only need to systematize your knowledge; that is, you make your knowledge more systematic.Content of this course:1. Basic concept of words and vocabulary1) Definition of a word2) The relationship between sound and meaning3) The relationship between sound and form4) Vocabulary5) Classification of words2. The development of the English vocabulary3. Word formation4. Word meaning5. Sense relations and semantic field1) Polysemy(一词多义)2) Homonymy(同形同音异义关系)3) Symonymy(同义关系)4) Antonymy(反义关系)5) Hyponymy(上下义关系)6) Semantic field6. Changes in word meaning7. Meaning and context8. British English and American English9. English idioms10. English dictionariesII. How to study this courseActive participation of class discussion is expected from students, though the course is lecture-oriented.Students are expected to give examples to illustrate their understanding or interpretation of the theories under discussion.In class, students must listen attentively and take notes.After class, students are supposed to review their notes and do their assignment.There will be quiz in the middle of the semester, and a final exam at the end of the semester.III. The nature and domain of English lexicology1. Definition of lexicology Lexicology is a branch of linguistics that studies the origins and meanings of words. English lexicology aims at investigating and studying the morphological structures of English words and word equivalents(同源词), their semantic structures, relations, historical development, formation and usages.2. Its relation to other disciplinesEnglish lexicology itself is a sub-branch of linguistics. But it overlaps other academic disciplines, such as morphology, semantics, etymology, stylistics and lexicography. Each of them has been established as a discipline in its own right.1) Morphology (形态学,词法) is the branch of grammar which studies the structure or forms of words, primarily through the use of morpheme(词素) construct.This is one of the major concerns of lexicology, which embraces the studies of inflections of words and word formation and how morphemes are combined to form words and how words are combined to form sentences.2) Semantics(语义学) is the study of meanings of different levels: lexis(词汇), syntax(句法), utterance(表达), discourse(篇章), etc. But lexicology will focus on the lexical level. The scope of semantic study includes the types of meaning and sense relations such as polysemy, homonymy, synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy and semantic field.3) Etymology(词源学) is the study of the origins and history of the form and meaning of words.Modern English is derived from the languages of early Germanic tribes with a fairly small vocabulary. We shall study how this small vocabulary has grown into a huge modern English vocabulary and explain the changes that have taken place in the forms and meanings of words.4) Stylistics(文体学) is the study of style. It is concerned with the users choice of linguistic elements in a particular context for special effects.The areas of study cover lexis, phonology(音位学,音韵学), syntax, and graphology(图形学,图解学). We shall focus on lexis, exploring the stylistic values of words.5) Lexicography(辞典学) is the writing and making of dictionaries. A lexicographers task is to record the language as it is used so as to present the genuine pictures of words to the reader, providing authoritative reference, whereas the student of lexicography is to acquire the knowledge and information of lexis so as to increase their lexical awareness and capacity of language use.To sum up, the purpose of this course is to study English words in different aspects and from different angles. Thus our task in learning English lexicology is definite and consistent despite its wide coverage of academic areas.3. Methods of studyThere are generally two approaches to the study of words: synchronic and diachronic. Synchronic: From a synchronic point of view, words can be studied at one point in time, disregarding whatever changes might be taking place.For example, the word wife now means “married woman, esp. in regard to her husband”. This is the current meaning of the word. It has an obsolete meaning “ woman”, which is preserved only in midwife, housewife, etc. Diachronic: From a diachronic point of view, words can be studied historically. We can look into their origins and changes in form and meaning.For example, if we study the word wife diachronically, we would trace its origin and changes in form and meaning. Then we would find out that the word evolved from the Old English form wif, meaning “woman”, but later it became specialized in the course of development to the modern meaning “a married woman”. (a similar example in Chinese might be xiaojie /小姐)In our inquiry into the English vocabulary, though our focus is on the synchronic description of words, we need the diachronic approach as a supplement, for a knowledge of historical development of the vocabulary will definitely be of great help to us in our language study.4. Aims and significance of the courseLanguage study comprises three major parts: phonetics (the study of speech sounds), grammar and vocabulary.1) Vocabulary is the most difficult part in learning a foreign language.2) A good knowledge of morphological structure of English words and rules of word formation will help students increase their vocabulary more efficiently and memorize new words more quickly. 3) Language teachers will find lexicology even more helpful. With some knowledge of lexicology, they will be able to teach in a more effective way. For example, they can teach rules of word formation bit by bit and raise the students awareness of structures of words so as to help them learn new words more quickly and remember them. They will be able to make use of the different sense relations to group vocabulary, interpret words and explain meanings to the students.4) A working knowledge of dictionaries will improve learners skills of using reference books and raise their problem-solving ability and efficiency of individual study. In a word, the study of lexicology will ultimately improve learners receptive and productive skills in language processing as well as language production and will lay a foundation for their future studies and research of various areas of linguistics.Assignment:Questions and tasks:1. What is lexicology?2. What is the nature and scope of English lexicology?3. What subjects is English lexicology correlated with? And to what extent?4. Why should a student of English study English lexicology?Chapter 1 Basic Concepts of Words and VocabularyObjectives：To introduce to students some basic concepts of words and vocabularyTime arrangement: 4 class hoursMajor activities: lecture, questions and answersMajor contents in this chapter:The term wordThe relation between sound and meaningThe relation between sound and formThe relation between words and word and vocabularyCriteria for vocabulary classification Before we attempt any detailed discussion, it is necessary to clarify some basic concepts concerning words and vocabulary. The term word is an elusive notion, which demands careful consideration at the outset. The relationship between sound and meaning, between sound and form, and between words and vocabulary requires some discussion as well. In addition, we shall consider a few commonly recognized criteria for vocabulary classification and study each class of words to some extent in this chapter.1.1. What is a word?What is a word? This question has occupied the attention of linguists for ages. Although numerous definitions have been suggested, none of them seem to be perfect. Scholars still do not agree on the definition of the word. When we talk about a word, we tend to think in visual terms. In this sense a word can be defined as a meaningful group of letters printed or written horizontally across a piece of paper. As defined in terms of spoken language, a word is viewed as a sound or a combination of sounds which are made voluntarily with human vocal equipment. According to semanticists, a word is a unit of meaning. Grammarians, however, insist that a word be a free form that can function in a sentence, etc. To sum up, we can reach a fairly scientific definition:A word is a minimal free form of a language that has a given sound and meaning and syntactic function.(cf: morpheme)This definition comprises the following points:1) a minimal free form of a language;2) a sound unity;3) a unit of meaning;4) a form that can function independently in a sentence.Words can be simple and complex, yet all must comply with these criteria. Dog and tame are simple, but they each have sound, meaning and syntactic function, and each can be used by itself in a sentence. Naturally they are words. There are words that are complex such as .fort.able and en.gage.ment Both are polysyllabic words which can function independently in a sentence. Though uncomfortable can be further divided as un-, comfort and able, the first cannot stand alone as a word. Similarly, engagement can be broken down as engage and ment, the latter cannot be used freely, either. Cocktail can be separated into cock and tail, and both can function independently in a sentence, but the meaning of each is by no means the combination of the two. Cock is a male chicken (rooster), and tail is the rear part of an animal, yet when they are put together, the combined form means a mixed alcoholic drink. Hence cocktail is a different word.1.2 Sound and MeaningA word is a symbol that stands for something else in the world. Every culture has its unique sounds to represent certain persons, things, places, properties, processes, activities and notions/ideas outside our language system. This symbolic connection is almost always arbitrary. That is, a word is an arbitrary symbol; there is no logical relationship between the sound which stands for a thing or an idea and the actual thing or idea itself. A pig is called a “pig” not because the sound and the three letters that make up the word just automatically suggest the animal in question. It is merely symbolic. The connection between them is conventional because people of the same speech community have come to agree to refer to the animal with this cluster of sounds. Shakespeare put this succinctly in his play Romeo and Juliet: Whats in a name? That which we call a roseBy any other name would smell as sweet. Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet Act II, Scene 2In different languages the same concept can be represented by different sounds. Tree, for example, becomes shu in Chinese and arbre in French. On the other hand, words with the same sound in the same language may denote entirely different things, such as team/teem, air/heir, die/dye, etc.1.3 Sound and FormIt is generally agreed that the written form of a natural language is the written record of the oral form. Naturally, the written form should correspond with the oral form. In other words, the sound should be similar to the form. This is fairly true of English in its earliest stageOld English. The speech of that time was much more faithfully represented in written form than it is today.With the development of the language more and more differences occur between the two.The internal reason for this is that the English alphabet was adopted from the Romans, which does not have a different letter to represent each sound in the language so that some letters must be combined to represent certain sounds, such as th, ch, sh, dg, ts, ds, etc. and some letters must do double duty; that is, one letter may represent two or more different sounds, such as “u” in bus, busy, duty, and “c” in cake and face.Another reason is that the pronunciation has changed more rapidly than spelling over the years, and in some cases have drawn far apart. During the last 500 years, though the sounds of speech have changed considerably, there have been no corresponding changes in spelling.A third reason is that some of the differences were created by the early scribes(抄写员). In the early days the spelling differences did not matter very much as people were not so used to seeing words in print, and the spelling was not so fixed as it is today. As a result, no one was quite sure how some English words should be spelt. Sometimes, people deliberately changed spelling of words either to make a line even or for easier recognition. Before the printing press was brought to England, everything was written by hand. These scribes, who made a living by writing for other people often worked in haste to meet the needs of the King, Church, and merchants (and possibly to make more money). One problem was that several letters written with short vertical strokes such as i, u, v, m, w and n looked all alike. Consequently, their handwriting caused misunderstanding. To solve the problem in part, they changed the letter u to o when it came before m, n, or v. This is how sum, cum, wuman, wunder, munk came to be written as some, come, woman, wonder, monk. At some point, too, the scribes seem to have decided that no English word should end in u or v. Thus, in time, an e was added to such words as live, have, due, and true but not pronounced.In the late 1500, printing became well established. It helped to freeze the spelling of words. The standardization makes spelling sacred. Dictionaries contributed their share in stopping spelling changes. Meanwhile, sounds continued to change as usual, thus bringing more differences.The final cause of differences between sounds and spelling is borrowing, an important channel for the English vocabulary to be enriched. When English borrowed words from other languages, it borrowed spelling as well. The early borrowings were assimilated and the later ones, however, do not conform to the rules of English pronunciation and spelling, e.g. stimulus (Latin), denouement (French),fiesta (Spanish), eureka (我想出了,我找到了)(Greek), and kimono(Japanese).The written form of English, therefore, is an imperfect representation of the spoken form. From time to time in history, some British and American scholars have made efforts to reform the English spelling, but with little success. In spite of the differences, at least 80% of the English words fit consistent spelling patterns. And even those spellings that appear to be irregular may have more regularity and usefulness than we realize. In such words as solemn, condemn, hymn, bomb, for example, the last letter of each is silent. But when these are extended into longer ones, the silent letters become audible: solemnity, solemnize, condemnation, hymnal, and bombard. This is a general rule.1.4 Vocabulary The vocabulary of a language refers to all the words in the language. The term vocabulary is used in different senses.1) It can refer to the total number of words in a language.2) It can stand for all the words used in a particular historical period, e.g. Old English vocabulary, Middle English vocabulary, and Modern English vocabulary. 3) We also use it to refer to all the words of a given dialect, a given book, a given discipline and the words possessed by an individual person.English is one of the worlds highly developed languages. Naturally the vocabulary is one of the largest and richest. It is generally estimated that the present-day English vocabulary is over one million words.1.5 Classification of WordsThe English vocabulary consists of words of all kinds. They can be classified by different criteria and for different purposes.By use of frequency, words may fall into the basic word stock and nonbasic vocabulary.By notion, words can be categorized into content words and functional words.By origin, they can be classified into native words and borrowed words.1.5.1 Basic word stock and nonbasic vocabularyA. Basic word stockThe basic word stock is the foundation of the vocabulary accumulated over centuries and forms the common core of the language. Though words of the basic word stock constitute a small percentage of the English vocabulary, yet they are the most important part of it. These words have obvious characteristics.1) All national characterWords of the basic word stock denote the most common things and phenomena of the world around us, which are indispensable to all the people who speak the language. They include words relating to the following respects:(1) Natural phenomena: cloud, sun, moon, star, rain, snow, fire, water, wind, storm, hill, etc.(2) Human body parts and relations: head, forehead, wrist, finger, eye, ear, mother, father, son, brother, uncle, etc.(3) Names of animals and plants: ape, dog, cow, chicken, pigeon, mouse, horse, grass, elm, apple, oak, pine, rose, lilac, tulip, etc.(4) Action, size, domain, state: come, go, eat, drink, sit, hear, see, take, give, big, small, wide, narrow, evil, good, old, young, hot, cold, black, white, etc.(5) Numerals, pronouns, prepositions