英语专业-英语词汇学-笔记

1. What is polysemy?Having multiple meanings that are related.2. What are the two different ways of organising polysemous words? Explain them1) The diachronic approach begins with the primary meaning and then arrange the other meanings (derived meanings) in the order in which they developed.2) The synchronic approach begins with the most popular meaning (central meaning) and then arrange the other meanings (marginal meanings) in order of popularity.3. What are the two different ways in which polysemy develops? Explain them1) Radiation. Secondary meanings are independent from one another and are derived directly from the primary meaning.2) Concatenation. Secondary meanings are connected and derive from primary meaning through successive shifts of meaning from one secondary meaning to another. 4. What is homonymy?Homonyms are works different in meaning but either identical both in sound or spelling or identical only in sound or spelling.5. Give an example of a perfect homonym, a homophone and a homograph1) perfect homonym 同音同形 date日期/date红枣2) homophone 同音异形 Knew/new, meet/meat3) homograph 异音同形 record(v.)/record(n.)6. Give an example of the rhetorical use of homonymyHi Jack （你好杰克） hijack（打劫）7. What is the difference between polysemy and homonymy? Give an example to illustrate the difference1) Polysemy is about connection of meanings. Book can mean a book as in “I read a book”, and “I book a hotel room”. The second meaning is related to the first one because in the past hotel staff will write the customers information on a book when reserving a room.2) homonymy is about form. Lie can mean not being honest or being in a horizontal position. These two meanings have the same form but no connection.8. Classify the following pairs of antonyms into complementaries (binaries), contraries (gradable) or converses (relational). Explain why1) Good/bad, contraries2) odd/even, complementaries3) above/below, converses4) clean/dirty, contraries5) remember/forget, complementaries? 6) old/young, contraries7) before/after, converses9. What is hyponymy? Give an example The meaning of a more specific word is included in that of a more general word.例Flower is the superordinate term, rose is the subordinate term.10. What is synonymy?Synonyms are words different in sound and spelling but nearly or exactly alike in essential meaning.11. What is the difference between absolute and near (relative) synonyms?1) Absolute synonyms interchangeable in every way2) Near synonyms similar in denotation but have different shades of meaning or different degrees of a given quality.12. What are some of the reasons why synonyms exist?1) Borrowing from other languages2) Dialects and regional English3) Figurative and euphemistic use of words4) Coincidence with idiomatic expressions13. What are some of the factors that discriminate between relative synonyms? Use examples 1) Range of meaning. “timid” is more extensive because it can be used to describe the state of mind at a time and the disposition, but “timorous” only describe the disposition.2) Degree of intensity. A “wealthy” person has much more money than a “rich” person.3) Differences in stylistic features. “ask” is used commonly and tend to be colloquial. “question” is more formal.14. (The development of English) What was the language spoken in the British Isles before English? How was English introduced?Celtic. Germanic tribe invaded and settled after Roman. They brought their own culture. It was called Anglo-saxon (the name of two tribes) and also called old English.15. What are the three phases of the English language and what were their time periods? What events marked the transition of one phase to another?a) Old English (450 - 1150) Norman conquest from France in 1066, but the real development of middle English started in the 12th century because the ruling class spoke Anglo French and the peasants spoke Anglo-Saxon so it took quite a long time for them to intermix.b) Middle English (1150 - 1500) during Renaissance there was an explosion of information and knowledge about Ancient Greece and Roman. People stated to read so ideas spread. Greek and Latin words started entering English. Besides, printing was invented, more can read and write books.c) Modern English (1500 present) 16. Over its history, English has evolved from a highly inflected language to a nearly non-inflected language. What is the difference? Give an example of inflection in EnglishInflection means to modify a word to indicate grammatical relations. A lot of words in a highly inflected language have ending or form changes in order to show its grammatical function. But a weakly inflected language has fewer changes. As English developed, it has changed from a highly infected language to a weekly one.17. What are the most important languages that English has borrowed from? Why?1) French Norman conquest2) Latin Renaissance, a lot of Latin book were translated into English3) Scandinavia Vikings (9 century) influenced old English18. What is the difference between a Content Word and a Functional word? Give an example of each. Content words are those are about something. 例 nation, earth. Functional words are those used to express relations. 例the, and.19. Explain two properties of Basic words and give examples 1) Productivity. Basic words are very productive because thet are mostly root words or monosyllabic words. They can be used alone and are often used to form now words with other roots and affixes. 例foot-football-footprint 2) Many basic words take part in a number of set expressions. 例heart- by heart from the bottom of ones heart- lose heart20. What is a denizen word? Give an exampleDenizens are words that were borrowed a long time ago, they look and sound like a native word.例 pork from the French porc21. What is an alien word? Give an exampleAliens are borrowed words which have kept their original pronunciation and spelling. 例caf , fiance22. What is a translation loan? Give an exampleTranslation loans are words and expressions formed from existing material in the English language but tranlate the meaning or the sound from another language.例 black humour from the French humour noir例 tea from the Chinese 23. What is a semantic loan? Give an exampleSemantic loans are where a word already exists in native English but borrows a new meaning from another language.例 dumb has come to mean stupid because of the German word dumm 24. (The structure of Words) What is a morpheme?A morpheme is the minimal meaningful unit of language.25. What is the difference between a morpheme and a morph? Morpheme is about meaning. Morph is about shape and sound. Morphemes are abstract, and are realized in speech by morphs.26. What is the difference between a bound morpheme and a free morpheme? Give an example of each kind of morpheme1) Morphemes which cannot occur as separate words are bound. 例 dis-, mis-.2) Morphemes which are independent of other morphemes are free. 例man, dog.27. What is the difference between a derivational morpheme and an inflectional morpheme? Give an example of each kind of morpheme1) Derivational morphemes can derive new words. 例football, slowly2) Inflectional morphemes dont create new words and just indicate syntactic relationships. 例-ed, -ing, -er, -est, -s28. What is the difference between a content morpheme and a grammatical morpheme? Give an example of each kind of morpheme1) Content morphemes have content and can be used to derive new words. = derivational morphemes.2) Grammatical morphemes are grammatical markers, including Inflectional morphemes & free morphemes. 例while, where, they29. What is an affix?An affix is a form that are attached to words to modify meaning or function.30. What is the difference between a derivational and an inflectional affix? Give an example of each1) Inflectional affix do not create new words, and indicate syntactic relationships between words. 例 ed, talked2) Derivational affix derive new words. 例 less, careless. non-, non-smoker.31. What is a root? Give an exampleA root is a word element that contains the main component of meaning in a word. It is that part of a word that remains when all affixes have been removed.例：internationalists nation Impracticality pratice32. What is a stem? Give an exampleA stem is that part of the word form that remains when all inflectional affixes have been removed.例：internationalists nationalists Undesirables desirable33. What is a base? Give an example A base is a form to which affixes of any kind can be added.例：possible, understand34. (Word Formation) What is blending?the combination of parts of two words or a word plus a part of another word.35. Give an example of blending and explain how the word has been formedSmog=smoke+fog36. What is clipping?a part of the original word is removed.37. Give an example of clipping and explain how the word has been formedExam-examination38. What is acronymy?new words are formed by joining the initial letters of composite names or phrases39. Give an example of an initialism and explain how the word is formedInitialism pronounced letter by letter. 例：BBC,CCTV40. Give an example of a true acronym and explain how the word is formedTrue acronym pronounced as a normal word. 例：NATO, AIDS41. What is the commonization of a proper name? Give an exampleWords come from proper names. 例 “rugby” from “Rugby School”, where it was first played.42. What are the three most productive ways of forming new words in the English language?Affixation, compounding, conversion.43. What is affixation? Give an exampleThe formation of new words by adding word-forming or derivational affixes to bases.44. What is compounding? Give an exampleThe forming of new words by joining two or more bases. 例hot dog, blueprint45. Give an example of the use of a conversion prefix (a prefix that you add to something that changes word class) and explain the shift in word classCage (n.) uncage(v.)46. Give an example of the use of a noun suffix ( a suffix that you add to something to produce a noun) and explain the shift in word classDance(v.) dancer(n.)47. Give an example of the use of an adjective suffix and explain the shift in word classChild(n.) childish(adj.)48. Give an example of the use of a verb suffix and explain the shift in word classShort(adj.) shorten(v.)49. What differences typically exist between a compound and its matching free phrase? Give an example1) Phonological features. In compounds the word stress usually occur on the first constituent whereas in free phrases this generally falls on the second.例fat head复合词 fat head短语2) Semantic features. A compound expresses a single idea. 例hot dog3) Grammatical features. A compound tends to behave as single grammatical units such as a verb, noun, or adjective. 例bad-mouth used as a verb 50. (Meanings)What is a referent?The object or idea to which a word or phrase refers. It is arbitrary and conventional.51. What is a concept?Concept is the totality of real world knowledge about an item.52. What is the relation between word, concept and referent?A word symbolizes a concept, a concept refers to a referent, a word stands for a referent. 【Words are connected to their referent via a concept.】53. What is sense?The realization of a concept by a definite language system.54. How would you describe the difference between a word whose meaning is motivated and a word whose meaning is unmotivated?See if there is connection between linguistic symbol and its meaning.55. What is onomatopoeic motivation? Give an example and explain its motivationSome words are created by imitating the natural sounds. 例ha ha56. What is morphological motivation? Give an example and explain its motivationCompounds and derived words are multi-morphemic and the meanings of many of them are the meanings of the morphemes combined. 例airmail, hopeful57. What is semantic motivation? Give an example and explain its motivation The meaning is based on an associ