The Changing English Vocabulary 1.doc

Chapter 4 The Changing English Vocabulary 1. Why are neologisms products of the constant change in the English language? 2. What is a new word according to The Oxford Dictionary of New Words published in 1998? 3. What is a new word according to The Oxford Essential Dictionary of Neuu Words published in 2003? 4. Describe the definition of neologisms according to the author of this book? 5. There are two main sources of new words in the English vocabulary ,what are they? 6. In which years did the following new words appear in the English vocabulary? 1) upload 2) webcam 3) webcast 4) read-only memory ( ROM) 5) search engine 6) spam 7) space walk 8) mad cow disease 9) AIDS (an abbreviation of ) 10) SARS (an abbreviation of ) 11) SIDS (an abbreviation of ) 12) euro 13) nuclear winter 14) peace symbol 15) spokespeople 16) womens studies 17) B-school 18) homeschool 19) electronica 20) kung fu 21) e-book 22) e-commerce 23) AT M (an abbreviation of ) 24) DVD (an abbreviation of ) 25) light pollution 7. Do you know which test every student should take before the graduation of high school in the United States? 8. When did the new expression whole language appear? 9. Translate the following new words or new expressions into Chinese. 1) hypermedia 2) fax modem 3) telemarketing 4) telemedicine 5) information superhighway 6) ATM 7) digital camera 8) disco 9) Eurocurrency 10) Eurodollar 11) home page 12) bullet train 13) cell phone 14) videophone 15) picturephone 16) sports medicine 17) slimnastics 18) power walk 19) kung fu 20) game ball 21) autocross 22) aerobics 23) CAI 24) sexism 25) B-school 26) electronic publishing 27) grade point average 28) womanism 29) womens studies 30) spokesperson 31) newsperson 32) communication gap 33) credibility gap 34) culture gap 35) peace sign 36) peace symbol 37) teach-in 38) peacenik 39) call-in 40) ableism 41) Third Worlder 42) freedom-rider 43) Interpol 44) green revolution 45) cybercafe 46) cybercitizen 47) cybersurfer 48) webcam 49) webcast 50) war on terrorism 51) anti-Bush enthusiasm 52) prisoner abuse scandal 53) phase down 54) global village 55) first strike 56) ECU 57) domino theory 58) V-chip 10. Point out where the following words came from? 1) earthrise 2) e-commerce 3) picturephone 4) moonquake 5) househusband 6) G-mail 7) fourth world 8) airtel 9) air bag 10) apolune 11. What are obsolete words? 12. Obsolete words may be still used at the present time. Give ex amples for illustration. 13. Why are changes in vocabulary much faster than changes in pronunciation and grammar? 14. There are four tendencies in semantic changes. What are they? 15. Give some examples of widening of meaning. 16. Point out some examples of narrowing of meaning. 17. Which words belong to elevation of meaning? 18. Which words belong to degradation of meaning? 19. What is a metaphor? 20. How does a metaphor differ from a simile? 21. There are three major groups of metaphors according to function and character. What are they? 22. Which words can be used as metaphors? Give some examples for illustration. 23. What is metonymy? 24. Underline the following words or phrases belonging to metonymy. 1) Shakespeare (Shakespeares plays) 2) with open arms 3) It never entered his head to help me. 4) This fine picture is the pride of my collection. 5) The kettle is boiling. 6) He has 20 in notes and 5 in silver. 7) He drank a cup. 8) She is a great beauty. 25. What is synecdoche? Chapter 4 The Changing English Vocabulary 1. When a new product is made, a new conception comes into mans thought, and a new name must be found, that is, a new word appears in the language. Therefore, neologisms are products of the constant change in the English language. 2. According to The Oxford Dictionary of New Words edited by Elizabeth Knowles with Julia Elliott, published in 1998, A new word is any word, phrase, or sense that came into popular use or enjoyed a vogue in the given period. 3. According to The Ox ford Essential Dictionary of New Words edited by Erin Mickean, published in July 2003, A new word is novel arrangement of letters with a meaning not quite duplicated by any other arrangement of letters. This is the ideal form of a new word. Like most ideals, this is rarer than wed like. Real-world new words are messier. For one thing, new words are often made up of more than one wordtheyre multiword lexical units, to be technical. Often, new words are merely new senses of an existing word. . A new word must earn its place in the dictionary by showing that people are using itlots of people, in lots of places. . This is great for proving that the new word is a solid citizen of the English language. 4. When we define neologisms or new words, two aspects should be considered. The first aspect is what new words are. The second aspect is when they appear and enter into the dictionary. The criterion of time concerning the birth and use of new words is very important, within the given period of time the newly coined words and words adding new meanings are called new words. Beyond the period they will become existing words, not new words.From the above-mentioned aspects the definition of new words may be described asfollows; Neologisms are newly coined words or words that are given new meanings to fit new situations and new needs because of the social, economic, political, cultural, especially scientific and technical changes in the given period in human society. Considering that we live and work in the first years of the 21st century, the time about the appearance and use of new words should be restricted among forty years from the sixties to the late nineties last century, especially within twenty years from the eighties to the late nineties last century. This is the criterion to distinguish neologisms or new words from existing words. In short, neologisms are new words and expressions used in the given period. 5. There are two main sources of new words in the English vocabulary. The first source is the rapid development of modern science and technology. Modern science and technology bring about the addition of new words without numbers. They are the most important source of new words. Computing is a newly developing and widely used area in our modern society. Every day people including adults and children use computers to learn and know a lot of happenings in the world. So a great number of new words concerning computers appear constantly in Modern English. A few new words are given below. The new word netizen is the blend of net and citizen, which appeared in 1994. It means an active participant in the online community of the internet. The new word cybercitizen means netizen. It appeared also in 1994. The new word extranet was coined in 1995. It denotes a network (as of a company) similar to an intranet that also allows access by certain others (as customers or suppliers). The word intranet is also a new word created in 1995. It means a network operating like the world wide web but having access restricted to a limited group of authorized users (as employers of a company). The second source of new words is political, economic, and social changes. Political, economic, and social changes are another important source of new words. Their influence on the English vocabulary is as great as that of science and technology. So we shouldnt neglect the importance of this source. The new word e-commerce appeared in 1993. It refers to commerce conducted via the internet. The new expressions digital versatile disc (1995) and digital video disc (1993) are derived from the new word DVD (1993) , meaning a high-capacity optical disk format; an optical using such a format and containing especially a video recording (as a movie) or computer data. The new word SARS is an abbreviation of severe acute respiratory syndrome that appeared in 2003. It is also known as atypical pneumonia used in China in 2003. 6. 1) The new word upload used as a verb appeared in 1983. 2) The new word webcam appeared in 1995. 3) The new word webcast was coined in 1995. 4) The new expression read-only memory (ROM) appeared in 1966. ) The new expression search engine appeared in 1984. 6) The new word spam was created in 1994. 7) The new expression space walk appeared in 1965. 8) The new expression mad cow disease appeared in 1988. 9) The new word AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) appeared in 1982. 10) The new word SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) appeared in 2003. 11) The new word SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) appeared in 1970. 12) The new word euro was coined in 1981. 13) The new expression nuclear winter appeared in 1983. 14) The new expression peace symbol appeared in 1970. 15) The new word spokespeople appeared in 1972. 16) The new expression womens studies appeared in 1972. 17) The new word B-school was coined in 1967. 18) The new word homeschool was coined in 1980. 19) The new word electronica was coined in 1994. 20) The new word kung fu was created in 1966. 21) The new word e-book appeared in 1988. 22) The new word e-commerce appeared in 1993. 23) The new word ATM (automatic teller machine) appeared in 1976. 24) The new word DVD (digital versatile disc) appeared in 1995. 25) The new expression light pollution appeared in 1971. 7. Before the graduation of high school in the United States, every student should take a test, called the Scholastic Assessment Test. The short form is SAT. The SAT is a four-hour test with a perfect score of 1, 600. The top score is 800 on both the verbal and math sections. 8. The new expression -whole language appeared in 1984. 9. 1) hypermedia 大型传媒装置 2) fax modem 传真调制解调器 3) telemarketing 电话销售 4) telemedicine 远距离医学 5) information superhighway 信息高速公路 6) ATM 自动出纳机 7) digital camera 数码相机 8) disco 迪斯科 9) Eurocurrency 欧洲货币 10) Eurodollar 欧洲美元 11) home page 网页 12) bullet train 高速客车，高速列车 13) cell phone (1984) 手机 14) videophone (1950) 可视电话 15) picturephone (1956) 可视电话 16) sports medicine 体育医学，运动医学 17) slimnastics 减肥操，健美操 18) power walk 负重疾步行走 19) kung fu 功夫，拳术 20) game ball 庆功球，决定胜负的关键球 21) autocross 汽车竞技运动会，越野赛车 22) aerobics 气健术，增氧健身法 23) CAI 计箅机辅助教学 24) sexism 性别歧视，性别偏见 25) B-school 商业管理学院 26) electronic publishing电子电脑）出11. Obsolete words are called archaisms, which are not used now except for special purposes. 12. Obsolete words may be still used at the present time. The English proverb Many a little makes a mickle is a good example for illustrating this point. Here mickle, an obsolete word, means large amount. The proverb is still in common use. 13. From the sociolinguistic point of view we know that vocabulary not only changes, but also changes quickly. Changes in pronunciation and grammar are much slower, but changes in vocabulary are much faster. When people have met with new objects and new ideas, they have need of new words to express them. In the course of the development of language old words die out, new words is added and existing words change their meanings. It is obvious that the gradual change of meaning in words is a universal feature of human language. 14. Sense development of English words can be divided into four groups according to the range of their usage and the altitude towards their uses. Change in the denotative component of the lexical meaning may result in the extension of meaning and the narrowing of meaning. Change in the connotative component may bring about the elevation of meaning and the degradation of meaning. 15. The extension of meaning, or widening of meaning, refers to the extension of the range of the lexical meaning. Extension of meaning is one of the most common features in the history of English words. The example of widening is the word rubbish, which in the Early Modern English period meant rubble, but which soon developed the wider meaning of a waste thing, anything worthless. There is one more example. The word catalyst is not only a technical term used in chemistry meaning a substance which, without itself changing, causes chemical activity to quicken, but also a common word, when used figuratively, e. g. The workers demand for higher wages was a catalyst in a difficult state of affairs, and led to important social changes. 16. An example of narrowing of meaning is the verb to starve. The word originally meant simply to die. In Middle English it was specialized to mean to die of cold, but in the sixteenth century it meant to die of hunger. 17. Words often rise from a humble beginning to a positions of greater importance because of social changes. Elevation of meaning is also a special kind of narrowing of meaning. The word success has changed its meaning from result to good result. The word comrade is derived from Spanish for roommate, but now it means fellow member of a political party, etc. 18. Words with a commendatory meaning may become ones with a derogatory sense. The word -wench once meant a young woman, or girl, especially in the country, now it means a lewd woman, prostitute. The word disease once meant discomfort, now it refers to an illness. 19. A metaphor, like a simile, also makes a comparison between two unlike elements, but unlike a simile, this comparison is implied rather than stated. For example, the world is a stage. Here, a stage is a metaphor. 20. He and his brother are as like as t-wo peas. is a comparison between two unlike elements,that is, human beings and peas. So as like as t-wo peas is a simile. The simile may be expressed by the use of the connecting words-like, as, as. . as, sometimes by the use of than, as if, or as though. In a metaphor the connecting words are not used, e. g. Imperialism is a paper tiger. Here paper tiger is a metaphor. 21.There are three major groups of metaphors according to function and character. They are: 1) anthropomorphic metaphors, such as: the hand of a clock. 2) animal metaphors, such as: a black sheep 3) synaesthetic metaphors, such as; a golden opportunity. 22. Some nouns and their adjectives or verbs can be used as metaphors. Take a few sentences for example; Although hes less talented, he won by sheer dogged persis tence. Here dogged is an adjective, meaning determined; not giving up easily. On the whole, the students seemed serious and hard-working, but they confined themselves to parroting textbooks. Here parrot is a verb, meaning to repeat without thinking or understanding. 23. Metonymy is an important factor in the shift of meaning that involves substitution of the name of one thing for that of another closely associated with it. 24. 1) Shakespeare 2) arms 3) head 4) pride 5) kettle 6) silver 7) cup 8) beauty 25. Synecdoche is a figure of speech that involves the substitution of the part for the whole or the whole for the part. 26. Synecdoche may be classified into two kinds according to meaning: 1) the part for the whole: We are no longer short of hands. Here hand means worker, helper. 2) the whole for the part; The doctor cut him open and took out the appendix and stitched him up again. Here him refers to a part of his body. 27. Euphemism is the substitution of a word of more pleasant connotation for one of unpleasant connotation. In short, an euphemism is a false word substituted for the true word in order to soften the shock of reality. 28. Euphemism is often used in speaking of things that are painful and distressing to think about. Death is one of these things and the English language is full of euphemism like; to pass away (for formal use) to decease (for legal use) to kick the bucket (a slang) to go west (dated slang) An economic cri