词汇学第六章.ppt

1、Chapter 6 Changes in Word Meaning,I. Types of changes 1. Extension ( Generalization)词义的扩展 A. From specific to general It is through widening of meaning that a monosemic word is made polysemic. e.g. journal (a daily- any periodicals); bird (young bird - any birds) e.g. salary (salt money- fixed regul

2、ar pay each month, three months, year, or sometimes each week, for a job, especially as for workers of high skill or rank);,B. From concrete to abstract e.g. place (square - location, status, situation); e.g. thing used to mean a public assembly or a council in Anglo-Saxon times, but now can refer t

3、o any object or event. Thing, affair, business, concern, regard, article, circumstance, fact, state, condition, position, situation, way, means, matter, respect, etc. Each of them may be used in an abstract sense instead of a concrete meaning as used in the past.,C. From technical terms to general w

4、ords e.g. tangent切线, a term in mathematics, means to fly at a tangent离题; e.g. atomic in physics means great recently, as in an atomic effort巨大努力,D. From proper nouns to common nouns e.g. ampere, watt, ohm, volt, newton, joule焦耳, Sandwich ( the fourth Earl of Sandwich) boycott (an Irish landlord) cha

5、uvinism沙文主义 (Nicolas Chauvin) Shylock (The Merchant of Venice) Hitler独裁者 quisling卖国贼 adidas (sports shoes) bloomers女式灯笼裤 spencer羊毛短上衣 wellingtong惠灵顿长靴 bowler圆顶黒礼帽 mackintosh雨衣,champagne (a place in France) gin (the short form for Geneva) cashmere羊绒 (Kashmir) xerox (brandname) dacron terelene涤纶 rubic

6、 cube魔方 Kodak pingpong zipper,2. Narrowing (Specialization)词义的缩小 A. From general to specific Word Old Meaning Specialized Meaning corpse a human or animal body, living or dead a dead body, especially of a human being meat food flesh of animals wife woman a married woman poison drink poisonous drink

7、girl young person of either sex female young person deerwild animalsa specific kind of animal,B. From abstract to concrete e.g. catch(抓住-窗勾，门扣，拉手) room(空间，地方-房间),C. From common nouns to proper nouns e.g. The word city means large town, but the City refers to part of London, the business part, commer

8、cial circles; e.g. When the word peninsula is written as the Peninsula, it refers to the Iberian Peninsula in 1808-1814 e.g. cape- the Cape (the Cape of Good Hope) e.g. prophet-the Prophet (Mohammed),D. From general words to technical terms e.g. memory(记忆-储存器)； recovery(恢复-航天器的回收)； pack包裹-软片暗包 E. th

9、e narrowing of borrowings e.g. liquor (Latin) : liquid-ardent spirits烈酒 garage (French):任何储藏东西的地方-车库,III. Elevation of meaning (Amelioration) 词义的升格 Words often rise from a humble beginning to a position of greater importance because of social changes. This is called elevation of meaning, or ameliora

10、tion. e.g. marshal : a servant who looks after mares; lord: loaf giver; governor: steersman; minister: servant; ambassador: messenger; fond: foolish; paradise: garden shrewd: malicious凶狠的 a blow狠狠的一击, a wind凛冽的寒风, a pain剧痛,IV. Degradation of meaning (Deterioration) 词义的降格 Words with a commendatory me

11、aning may become ones with a derogatory sense. This is called degradation of meaning, or deterioration. e.g. silly: happy, fortunate, holy, blessed-innocent, harmless (euphemism for the retarded person)- foolish, imbecile e.g. sad: full, satisfied, contended- calm-serious-gloomy-sorrowful,V. Semanti

12、c shifts from the literal use of words to their figurative use词义的转移 Metaphor 隐喻 is a figure of speech containing an implied comparison, in which a word or phrase ordinarily and primarily used of one thing is applied to another. e.g. The world is like a stage. (simile) The world is a stage. (metaphor

13、) He has a heart of stone. (metaphor) The curtain of night has fallen. (metaphor),A. Many inanimate objects are compared to the parts of the human body e. g. head: the head of a cane, the head of an arrow, the head of a bed, the head of a hammer eye: the eye of a needle, the eye of a potato, the eye

14、 of the hurricane, the eye of an axe face: the face of a watch, the face of a building, the face of the earth mouth: the mouth of a river, the mouth of bottle, the mouth of a bag lip: the lip of a bowl, the lip of a cup, the lip of a wound teeth: the teeth of a comb, the teeth of a saw, the teeth of

15、 a leaf, the teeth of a gear齿轮 leg: the leg of a table,B. A great many inanimate objects are called for the parts of an animal or a plant. e.g. wings of an airplane, gooseneck lamp, hare lips, the root of a tooth, the root of a hair, a family tree, the stem of a glass高脚杯, the stem of a word, the ste

16、m of a pipe烟斗把,C. Another large group of animal names can be transferred into words indicating persons. e.g. ass; wolf色狼; bear粗笨的人; fox; chicken活泼的孩子; lamb柔弱的人; duck可爱的人 *Some of these nouns have their adjectives or verbs used as metaphors, e.g. mulish (adj.)-stubborn to ape, to dog, to duck潜入, to f

17、ox, to monkey, to snail, to worm, to wolf狼吞虎咽, to parrot, to pig住在肮脏的环境里,*地头蛇，母老虎，走狗，过街老鼠，狐群狗党,2. Metonymy借代/换喻/转喻 Metonymy is also 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. e.g. The kettle is boili

18、ng. (water in the kettle) He took to the bottle. (drinking) Hes listening to Beethoven. (Beethovens works) Hes nice, but he hasnt got much brain. （mind, intelligence） He ate another bowl. have a sharp eye 我们在公园里看见许多红领巾。（少先队员）,to have a keen ear to have a good nose to have a loose tongue有敏捷的口才 to hav

19、e a cool head有冷静的头脑 to apply to the sword诉诸武力 the Crown君王，王权 the thorn王位，王权 * metonymy vs. metaphor e.g. a good eye for distance (metonymy) eye of a needle (metaphor),3. Synecdoche 提喻 is a figure of speech that involves the substitution of the part for the whole or the whole for the part. 1) the part for the whole a fleet of ten sails (ships) grey hairs (old people) to count heads (people) to earn ones bread (food) Many hands provide great strength.人多力量大 The poor man had twelve mouths to feed. useless mouths只吃不做的人 hungry mouths饥饿的人们,2) the whole