现代英语词汇学概论chapter7

SENSERELATIONSBETWEENWORDSChapterVII1Wordsarearbitrarysymbolsandindependentidentitiessofarastheirouterfacet---spellingandpronunciation,isconcerned.Butsemantically,allwordsarerelatedinonewayoranother.Awordwhichisrelatedtootherwordsisrelatedtotheminsense,hencesenserelations.Moreover,thediscussionwillalsocoversemanticfield,whichiscommonlyfelttobeanintegralpartofsenserelations2Adogisananimalthatthinksit'shuman;Ahumanisananimalthatthinksit'snotananimal;Therefore,adogisananimalthatthinksit'sananimalthatthinksit'snotananimal.

3SenserelationsPolysemyHomonymy(同形异义关系/同音异义关系/同音同形异义关系)Homophones Homographs PerfecthomonymsSynonymy同义关系

synonym同义词semanticsimilarityAntonymy

反义关系

antomym

反义词semanticoppositionHyponymy上下义关系

semanticinclusion4SynonymySynonymyisarelationshipof‘samenessofmeaning’thatmayholdbetweentwowords.Synonym:awordthatmeansthesameasanother.Orexactlyoneoftwoormorewordswhichhavethesameorverynearlythesameessentialmeaning.5TypesofSynonymsSynonymscanbeclassifiedintotwomajorgroups:absolute/completesynonymsandrelativesynonyms.1)absolute/completesynonyms,alsoknownascompletesynonymsarewordswhichareidenticalinmeaninginallitsaspects,i.e.bothingrammaticalmeaningandlexicalmeaning,includingconceptualandassociativemeanings.Rare,non-existentAbsolutesynonymsarerestrictedtohighlyspecializedvocabulary,suchasscarlet-fever/scarlatinainmedicine,62)Relativesynonyms,alsocallednear-synonyms,aresimilarornearlythesameindenotation,butembracedifferentshadesofmeaningordifferentdegreesofagivenquality.E.g.:change/alter/varychange:toputanotherthinginitsplacealter:tomakeitdifferentfromwhichitwasbeforevary:toalteritindifferentmannerandatdifferenttimesAmanchangeshishabits,altershisconduct,andvarieshismannerofspeaking

7Relativesynonymsmaybedifferentinthefollowingaspects:

Indegreeofagivenqualityorinshadeofmeaning;Inaffectivemeaning,andstylisticmeaning;Incollocationanddistribution;Somesetsofsynonymsbelongtodifferentdialectsofthelanguage8SourcesofSynonyms1)Borrowing“therichnessofEnglishinsynonymsislargelyduetothehappyminglingofLatin,Frenchandnativeelements.”(Baugh,1978)NativeFrenchLatinaskquestion interrogatefastfirm secure2)DialectsandregionalEnglishrailway(BrE)railroad(AmE)3)Figurativeandeuphemisticuseofwordsoccupation(profession) walkoflife(fig)4)Coincidencewithidiomaticexpressionsdecidemakeupone’smind9DiscriminationofSynonymsThedifferencesbetweensynonymsboildowntothreeareas:denotation,connotation,andapplication.1)DifferenceindenotationSynonymsmaydifferintherangeandintensityofmeaning.Somewordshaveawiderrangeofmeaningthanothers.comprehend/understandextend/increase/expandlaugh:chortle,chuckle,giggle,guffaw,snicker/snigger,titter102)Differenceinconnotation.Byconnotation,wemeanthestylisticandemotivecoloringofwords.Somewordssharethesamedenotationbutdifferintheirstylistic(emotional)appropriateness.unlike/dissimilar homely/domesticLookatthatlovelylittleboy.Lookatthatsmallboy.Lookatthattinyboy.3)Differenceinapplication.Manywordsaresynonymousinmeaningbutdifferentinusageinsimple113)DifferenceinapplicationManywordsaresynonymousinmeaningbutdifferentinusageinsimpleterms.Theyformdifferentcollocationsandfitintodifferentsentencepatterns(distribution:pre-orpost-modifier).empty(box,street,room),vacant(seat,chair,apartment),blank(check,ablanksheetofpaper)accuse….of,charge…with,rebuke…for,reproach…with/for12DiscriminationofsynonymsThelosingteamwas

fromfurthercompetition.Firefighters

abigfire.Themeetinghasbeen

becauseoftheflu.Thegovernment

thetaxonalcohol.abolish,cancel,extinguish,eliminateextinguishedeliminatedcancelledabolishedExercises13Itis

tojudgeaforeigncultureonlybyitsfood.Therewasan

ideathattheearthwasflatandmotionless.Youwerevery

totrusthim.Theboss

himstronglyforhisnegligenceThepolice

himoftheft.Thepolice

himwithmurder.absurd,ridiculous,sillyridiculousabsurdsillyaccuse,charge,rebukerebukedaccusedcharged14AntonymyAntonomyisconcernedwithsemanticopposition.Antonymscanbedefinedaswordswhichareoppositeinmeaning.Thereareavarietyof‘oppositeness’.

antonymscanbeclassifiedonthebasisof A.

semanticcontrast B.morphologicalstructure15typesofantonymsMorphologicalclassificationrootantonymsderivationalantonymsSemanticclassificationContraries/Gradable

相对反义词Complementaries

互补反义词Conversives

换位反义词16A.

antonymsclassifiedonthebasisofsemanticcontrastContrariesComplementariesCoversives

17a)Contraries/gradableantonyms(相对反义词)Antonymsofthistypearebestviewedintermsofascalerunningbetweentwopolesorextremes.Thetwooppositesaregradable.hot,warm,cool,coldbeautiful,pretty,good-looking,plain,uglyold-young,open-close,big-small,poor-rich

18b)Complementaries(绝对反义词/互补反义词)Theseantonymstrulyrepresentoppositeness.Theyaresoopposedtoeachotherthattheyaremutuallyexclusiveandadmitnopossibilitybetweenthem(non-gradable).Theassertionofoneisthedenialoftheother.dead-alive,present-absent,male-female,true-false,approval-disapproval,capable-incapablePrefixes:dis-,in-,il-,ir-,im-,un-……19ababgradablecomplementarycontrarycontradictory20c)Conversives(换位反义词/关系反义词)Thisthirdtypeconsistsofrelationalopposites.onememberoftheantonymspairpresupposestheothermember.Husband-wife,fiancé-fiancée,employer-employee,debtor-creditorAbove-below,infrontof-behind,up-downBuy-sell,give-receive,go-come,gain-lose21B.antonymsclassifiedonthebasisofthemorphologicalstructurerootantonymsclear–vague;large–smallderivationalantonymspolite–impoliteprewar-postwar22Somefeaturesofantonyms1)Markedandunmarkedmembers(有标记项和无标记项)E.g.:tiger(unmarked),tigress(marked)Theunmarkedmemberisusedmuchmorewidelythanmerelyasacontrastwiththemarkedone,whichismorespecificindenotation.MoreexamplesOld/young; “Howold/youngareyou?”big/small; “Howbig…?”wide/narrow; “Howwide…?”Heavy/lightWhichoneineachpairisunmarked?Thecovertermiscalled“unmarked”,i.e.usual;andthecovered“marked”,orunusual.232)SomewordswithoutantonymsNotallwordshaveantonyms:House,window,forest,book,coal…3)Polysemouswordscanhavemorethanoneantonymfast: secure—loose quick—slow24Stylisticpurposeoftheuseofantonyms

勤学如春起之苗，不见其增，日有所长；

辍学如磨刀之石，不见其损，日有所亏．Unitedwestand,dividedwefall.Hopeforthebestandpreparefortheworst.Heistoooldtowork,buttooyoungtodie.Onehundredyearslater，NegrolivesonalonelylslandofpovertyInthemidstofvastoeeanofmaterialProsperity.(MartinLutherKing:IHaveaDream)Educationmakespeopleeasytolead,butdifficulttodrive;easytogovern,butdifficulttoslave.

(HenryPeterBrousham,PoliticalLeadership)25HyponymyTherelationshipofsemanticinclusionbetweenwordsiscalledhyponymy,i.e.themeaningofamorespecificwordisincludedinthatofanothermoregeneralword.Examples:‘cat’isahyponym(下义词)of‘animal’,fluteofinstrument,chairoffurniture…FOODVEGETABLEMEAT26Food

isa

superordinate(上义词),meat,vegetableandfruitarehyponyms(下义词)orsubordinatesoffood,andtheyareco-hyponyms(共下义词).Buttheirstatuseitherassuperordinateorsubordinateisrelativetootherterms.27Thesetoftermswhicharehyponymsofthesamesuperordinatetermsarecalledco-hyponyms,whicharealsoknowsassemanticfields.Thewordsoflanguagecanbeclassifiedintosetswhicharerelatedtoconceptualfieldsanddivideupthesemanticspaceorthesemanticdomainincertainways.Forexample,apple,pear,dateandetc.makeupthesemanticfieldof“fruits”.TheGermanlinguistJost

Triersawvocabularyas‘anintegratedsystemoflexemesinterrelatedinsense’.Therefore,the‘wordsoflanguagecanbeclassifiedintosemanticallyrelatedsetsoffields.SemanticField语义场28语义场理论

{SemanticFieldTheory}德国Jost

Trier

20世纪30年代“场”物理原术语语义场又叫词汇场集合、聚集、组合语义的类聚共同语义特征29Vocabularyofagivenlanguageisnotsimplyalistingofindependentitems,butisorganisedintoareas,orfields,withinwhichwordsinterrelateanddefineeachotherinvariousways. ----Crystal(1980)Semanticfieldofcolours:red,orange…Semanticfieldofkinship:son,father…Thesemanticfieldofkinship:father,mother,son,daughte