英语词汇学系列座(英文版).doc

英语词汇学系列讲座(英文版)Chapter 1 The Place of Lexicology in Linguistics1. What is language?Language is a system of symbols based on physiology, psychology and physics. It is a specific social action and a carrier of information used for human communication in a society.2. What is linguistics?Linguistics is the scientific study of language. Basic Concepts of Words and Vocabulary 1 The definition of a word： Aristotle defined a word as the smallest significant unit of speech, A word is a minimal free form of language which has a given sound and meaning and syntactic function. 2 Sound and Meaning There is no logical or intrisinc connection between a sound and what it refers to. The relation between sound and meaning is almost always arbitrary or conventional. The same language can use the same sound to mean different things and the different languages use different sounds to refer to the same thing.3 Sound and Form The written form of English is not an acurate representation of the spoken form.There are different causes of the differences between sounds and forms in the English language.1)The English alphabet was adopted from the Romans, which does not employ the system of one single letter to stand for one sound.2)The early scribes deliberately changed spelling of words to make a line even or for easier recogniton.3) Dictionaries help to fix the spelling of words 4) English has borrowed many words from other languages, which may not have been assimilated . 4 VocabularyAll the words in a language are termed as vocabulary. However, vocabulary can also be used to refer to all the words in a book, or in a particular historical period of time, or in a dialet, or in a particular discipline, or even to all the words that a person possesses.5 Classification of Words Words can be classified into the basic word stock and nonbasic word stock by use frequence, into content words and functional words by notion and into native words and borrowed words by origin. 1)The Characteristics of the Basic Word Stock (1) All national character (2)stability (3)productivity (4)polysemy (5)collocability2)The Characteristics of borrowed words(1)Denizens: the early borrowed words which have been assimilated and conformed to the English way of pronounciation and spelling.(2)Aliens: the borrowed words which have retained the foreign way of pronounciation or spelling and have not been assimilated into the English language.(3)Translation-loans: the words and expressions which are formed from the existing English materials, but modelled on the patterns of another language.(4)Semantic loans: Words which have not been borrowed with reference to the form, but to the meanings.3) Roles Played by the native words. Native words are limited in number, but form the core of the English language. Native words are often neutral in style and frequent in useChapter 2 The Development of the English Vocabulary 1The Indo-European Language Family2A Historical Overview of the English Vocabulary1) Three Historical Periods of English Development(1) Old English (450-1150) The beginning of Old English is marked by the arrival of the Germanic tribes called Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. People generally refer to Anglo-Saxon as Old English.Old English is a highly inflected language. In this period, many latin words and Scandinavian words came into the English language.(2)Middle English (1150-1500) Middle English period began with the Norman conquest. In this period, many words of French and Dutch origins were borrowed into English. Middle English was charaterized by its losses of many inflectional endings so that it was a language of levelled endings. (3)Modern English(1500-Now) Modern English began with the establishment of printing in England. Because of the influence of the Renaissance Movement, many words of Latin and Greek origins, etc came into English. Also because of the fast development in science and technology, many new words were created. Though borrowing remained an important means of English vocabulary expansion, yet more words were created through word formation 3Growth of Present-day English Vocabulary1)Major Causes of Present-day English Vocabulary Expansion (1) the rapid development of modern science and technology(2)the social, economic and political changes (3)the influence of other cultures and languages 4Modes of Vocabulary Development 1) creation: It refers to the use of existing materials such as the word-forming stems to create new words. 2) semantic change: It means that an old form picks up a new meaning. 3)borrowing: It means borrowing words from other languages.Chapter 3 Word Formation I 1Morphemes Morphemes are the smallest meaningful units of a language.2Allomorphs Some morphemes are realized by more than one morph. Such alternative morphs of a morpheme are called allomorphs.3Types of Morphemes1) Free Morphemes Free morphemes are those which usually have complete meanings in themselves and can be used freely or independently as words. 2) Bound Morphemes Bound morphemes have to be bound with other morphemes to form words and can not be used independently as words.3) Free Roots Free roots are free morphemes. They are identical with root words.4)Bound Roots A bound root, like a free root, is that part of the word that carries the fundamental meaning of a word, but unlike a free root, it is a bound form and has to be bound with other morphemes to form words.5)Affixes Affixes are forms that are attached to stems to modify meaning or function. Almost all the affixes are bound.6)Inflectional Affixes An inflectional affix is one attached to the end of a word to convey grammatical meaning or grammatical relation, such as tense, case, number, comparative or superlative degree, etc.7)Derivational Affixes A derivational affix is one that is added to the beginning or the end of a word in order to create a new word. Derivational affixes can be divided into prefixes and suffixes.8)Prefixes Prefixes are the morphemes that occur at the beginning of a word. They modify the meaning of a stem, but usually do not change the part of speech of the original word.9)Suffixes Suffixes occur at the end of stems. Though they can modify the meanings of the original words, their chief function is to change the parts of speech of words.4Root and Stem 1) Root A root is the basic form of a word which can not be further analysed without total loss of identity. It carries the main component of the meaning of a word. It can also be defined as that part of a word which remains after all the inflectional and derivational affixes have been removed.2) Stem A stem can be defined as a any form to which an affix can be added.Chapter 4 Word Formation II 1Affixation Affixation is the process of forming words by adding derivational affixes to stems. It is also called derivation. Words formed in this way are derivatives. 1) Prefixation Prefixation is a way of forming new words by adding prefixes to stems. Usually, prefixes do not change the part of speech of a word. Their chief function is to modify its meaning, although there are exceptions. Prefixes can be divided, based on their meanings, into: negative prefixes, reversative prefixes, pejorative prefixes, prefixes of degree or size, locative prefixes, prefixes of time and order, number prefixes and miscelaneous prefixes.2)Suffixation Suffixation is the process of forming new words by adding suffixes to the end of stems. The chief role of a suffix is not to modify the meaning of a stem, rather to change the grammatical function of a stem, though there are a few exceptions. Suffixes can be divided into noun suffixes, adjective suffixes, adverb suffixes and verb suffixes.2Compounding 1) Definition Compounding is a process of word formation by which two or more stems are put together to make one word. The word formed in this way is called a compound 2) Characteristics of compounds(1)Phonetic feature The word stress of a compound usually falls on the first element, while in a free phrase, the second element is usually stressed. If a compound has two stresses, it is the first element that receives the primary stress.(2)Semantic feature The meaning of a compound is a semantic unity, which,usually, is not the total sum of all the meanings of the constituent words in a compound. (3) Grammatical feature A compound usually plays a single grammatical role in a sentence. 3Conversion 1) Definition Conversion is the formation of new words by converting words of one part of speech to the words of another part of speech, without changes in morphological structures. Words created are new only in a grammatical sense.2)Types of conversion(1)Conversion to Nouns a.verb to noun b.adjective to noun c. miscellaneous conversion (2)Conversion to Verbs a. noun to verb b. adjective to verb c. miscellaneous conversion3)Semantic features of conversion1)Verb to noun The new words obtained through conversion are usually related to the original words in the following ways:(1)state of mind or sensation(2)event or activity(3)result of the action(4)doer of the action(5)tool or instrument to do the action with(6)place of the action 2)Noun to verb (1)to put in or on N (2)to give N or to provide with N (3)to remove N from (4)to do with N (5)to be or act as n (6)to make or change into N (7)to send or go by N4Blending1) Definition Blending is the formation of new words by combining parts of two words or a word plus a part of another word2)Categories of Blending(1)the first part of the first word + the last part of the second word: botel: boat + hotel 汽艇游客旅馆(2) the whole part of the first word + last part of the second word: lunarnaut: lunar + astronaut 登月宇航员(3)the whole form of the second word + the first part of the first word: Eurasian: Europe + Asian 欧亚混血儿(4)the first part of the first word + the first part of the second word: sitcom: situation + comedy 情景喜剧5Clipping1) Definition Clipping is to shorten a long word by cutting a part off the original and use what has remained as a word.2) Types of Clipping(1)Front clipping: phone from telephone(2)Back clipping: ad from advertisement(3)Front and back clipping: flu from influenza (4)Phrase clipping: pub from public house 6Acronymy1) Definition Acronymy is the process of forming new words by joining the initial letters of phrases.2)Types of Acronymy(1)Initialisms Initialisms are words pronounced letter by letter: VOA from Voice of America(2)AcronymsAcronyms are words formed from initial letters but pronounced as a normal word. 7Backformation Back-formation is the opposite process of suffixation. It is the process of making a new word by dropping the supposed suffix: e.g. burgle from burglar.8 New Words from Proper Names1) Names of people2)Names of places 3)Names of books 4)Tradenames When proper nouns are commonized, many of them have lost their original identity;the initial letter many not be capitalized. They can be combined with other morphemes to form words of other word classes. The commonized proper nouns are rich in cultural associations. They are stylistically vivid, expressive and thought-provoking.Chapter 5 Word Meaning 1The meaning of meaning1.1 Reference Reference is the conventional or arbitrary relationship between language and the world. Part of the word meaning is the reference.1.2 ConceptThough meaning and concept are closely related, they belong to different categories: Concept is the result of human cognition while meaning is the result of language use.1.3 SenseSense denotes the intrinsic semantic relationship inside the language. it is not concerned with the connection between words and what these words indicate in the word. The sense of an expression is its place in a system of semantic relationships with other expressions in the language. 2Motivation Motivation refers to the connection between the linguistic symbol and its meaning.Most words are non-motivated.2.1 Onomatopoeic motivation The sounds of some words suggest their meanings, because they are created by imitating the natural sounds. But these onomatopoeic words are also largely conventional, because different languages may use different forms to indicate these sounds.2.2 Semantic motivation Semantic motivation explains the relationships between the literal sense and the figurative sense through associations. 2.3 Etymological motivation Etymological motivation means that the meanings of words can be explained with reference to etymological information. Very often, the history of the word can explain why a form has acquired a particular meaning.2.4 Morphological motivation Morphological motivation tries to establish the connection of meaning of the word to its form from morphological point of view. Sometimes, we can work out the meaning of a word if we know the meaning of the morphemes that constitute that word. 3Types of meaning 3.1 Grammatical meaning Grammatical meaning refers to that part of meaning which indicates grammatical relationships or functions, such as tense meaning, singular meaning, etc. Words with the similar lexical meaning can have different grammatical meanings, and words with different lexical meanings can have the same grammatical meaning. Grammatical meaning is in use.3.2 Lexical meaning Lexical meaning is composed of conceptual meaning and associative meaning. Lexical meaning is relatively stable.3.2.1 Conceptual meaning Conceptual meaning is often described as dictionary meaning or literal meaning of a word. It is the core of the meaning of a word. It is relatively constant and stable, because it is the meaning agreed upon by all the members of the same speech community.3.2.2 Associative meaning Associative meaning is that part of meaning which has been supplemented to the conceptual meaning. It is the meaning which arises of the associations a word acquires. It is open-ended, unstable and indeterminate, because it varies with culture, time, place, class, individual experiences, etc. Associative meaning includes connotative, stylistic, affective and collocative meanings. 1)Connotative meaning Connotative meaning is the communicative value an expression has by virtue of what it refers to, over and above its purely conceptual content. Connotations are apt to vary from age to age and from society to society. Talking about connotation is in fact talking about the real world experience one associates with an expression when one uses or hears it.2)Stylistic meaning Language use can be formal, neutral and casual in style. The stylistic features of words, which make words appropriate for appropriate situations, constitute stylistic meanings of words.3) Affective meaning Affective meaning refers to that part of meaning which conveys emotions and attitudes of a language user. Sometimes affective meanings are brought out only in context.4)Collocative meaning Collocative meaning consists of the associations a word acquires on account of the meanings of words which tend to occur in its environment. In other words, it is that part of the word-meaning suggested by the words that go before or come after a word in question.Chapter 6 Sense Relations and Semantic Field1Polysemy Polysemy refers to the phenomenon in which one and the same word has more than one meaning.1.1 Two approaches to polysemy1) Diachronic approach: Polysemy is described as the result of the historical development of the semantic features of one and the same word. 2) Synchronic approach: Polysemy is viewed as the co-existence of various meanings of the same word at a particular point in time.1.2 Two processes of development1) Radiation：It is the semantic process in which the primary meaning stands at the centre and the secondary meaning radiates out of it. Though the secondary meanings are independent of one another, they can all be traced back to the primary meaning.2)Concatenation: It is the semantic process in which the meaning of a word moves gradually away from its primary meaning in succession so that the present meaning seems to have no connection to the primary meaning.2.Homonymy There are many pairs or groups of words, which, though different in meaning, are pronounced alike or spelled alike, or both. Such words are called homonyms.2.1 Types of homonyms1)Perfect homonyms: They are different words identical both in sound and spelling, though different in meaning.2)Homographs: Homographs are different words identical in spelling, but dif