英语词汇学要览.docx

英语词汇学要览.docx

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英语词汇学要览

ChapterOne:

Introduction

ØLexicologydefined

Lexicologyisabranchoflinguistics,inquiringintotheoriginsandmeaningsofwords.EnglishlexicologyaimsatinvestigatingandstudyingthemorphologicalstructuresofEnglishwordsandwordequivalents,theirsemanticstructures,relations,historicaldevelopment,formationandusages.

ØPracticalsignificanceforthelearner

deice（amorphous）

“de-”combineswithnounstoformverbswhichindicatethatthethingreferredtobythenounisremoved.

Moreexamples:

defrost;de-inking;de-feather;deforest;debug;de-color;de-fat;

Øprefix

re-:

re-cover,recover;

re-collect,recollect;

re-count,recount;

re-sound,resound;etc.

•Thebellre-sounded.

•Thehallresoundedwithapplause.

Otherexamples:

recede;reject;rebound;reflect;

Øsuffix

✓-ful

▪Abasket/basketfulofapples

Nounsformedthiswayreferstothequantityoramountofsomethingthatacontainermentionedcanhold.

▪A“spoonful”istheamountofpowderorliquidthataspoonwillhold

▪An“armful”ofsomethingisthequantityofityoucancarryinoneorbothofyourarms.

ØRoot

Freeandboundroot:

eatable;edible

-pos-:

preposition;

deposit;propose;compose;oppose;dispose;expose;interpose;transpose;superimpose

▶-tract-

attract;extract;retract;distract;protract;contract;subtract;detract;tractor

-scrib-

describe;inscribe;prescribe;subscribe;transcribe;circumscribe;（circumlocutioncircumlunarcircumnavigatecircumspect）；manuscript;postscript;scribble

-ject-

reject;project;object;subject;inject;deject

-pel-

compel;impel;propel;repel;expel;dispel

ØRelateddisciplines

GeneralLinguistics

Morphology----abranchoflinguisticsinvestigatingwordstructureandwordformationthroughtheuseofmorphemes.

Semantics----thestudyofmeaninginlanguage.Thoughitdealswithmeaningingeneral,itisoftenconfinedtothoseaspectswhicharerelativelystableandcontext-free.Italsogivesmuchemphasistothestudyoftherelationshipsofmeaningbetweenlinguisticsforms;forexample,synonyms,antonyms,andhyponyms.

Stylistics

Itisconcernedwiththelanguageuser’schoiceofproperlinguisticformsinaparticularcontextforspecialeffects.

horse;steed（literary）;courser,charger,palfrey（poetic）;plug（slang）;nag（colloquial）;gee（childEnglish）

commence----begin,start

woo,court（outdated,oldfashioned,archaic）

✓Colloquialandslangwords

✓taboowords

✓obscenewords

✓Etymology

thestudyoftheoriginandhistoryofthemeaningandformofwords.

sheep----mutton;pig,swine----pork;ox----beef;calf----veal;chicken----poultry

get;obtain;procure

Phonetics

Lexicography----theoryandpracticeofcompilingdictionaries.Lexicographyprovidestheprinciplesnecessaryfordocumentingthevocabularyofalanguageveryoftenbydrawingonthediscoveriesoflexicologists.

•Christianname

（givenname,firstname,forename）

•Eskimo---Inuit;

•negro（colored）---black;

•Oriental---Asian;

•Crippled---disabled

（differently-abled,physicallychallenged）

•Reptileswereherelongbeforemanappearedontheearth.

man---humanbeing;mankind---humankind;

•history

cf.herstory

（but‘man-made,manpower,etc.’?

）

✓native

•anativeofBoston

•Thisdanceisafavoritewiththenatives.

•NewYorkinthesummerwastoohotevenforthenatives.（referringtothelocalinhabitantsofaparticularplace）

Insomeothercontexts,ithasanold-fashionedfeeland,becauseofbeingcloselyassociatedwithacolonialEuropeanoutlookonnon-whitepeopleslivinginremoteplaces,itmaycauseoffence.

ØSomebasicideasconcerningvocabulary（p.4）

----Thevocabularyofanylanguageneverremainsstable,butisconstantlychanging,growing,anddecaying,togetherwiththedevelopmentofhumansociety.

▪Everyonehastheirownideasaboutit.

▪Haseverybodyeatenasmuchastheywant?

Modifierofabsolutewords（suchasbasic,unique,complete（ly）,perfect,full（y）,essential,excellent,thoroughly,etc.）

▪Hermostessentialqualityiskindness.（DCE1978）

▪…creatingamoreperfectunion.（AmericanConstitution）

▪Ihaveneverseenamorecompleteinvestigation.（Quirk,1973）

▪Hisviewsonthesubjectaremoreextremethanmine.（ibid）

----Thewordistheprincipalandbasicunitofthelanguage

wordsvslexemes（lexicalunits）

1.Thetermwordisusedinwaysthatobscurethestudyofmeaning.Forexample:

walk,walks,walked,andwalking.

Question1:

Aretheydifferentwords?

Orthevariantsofthesameunderlyingunit,‘walk’?

Question2:

Canwesaythat“thesefourwordsaredifferentformsofthesameword”?

2.Thetermwordisuselessforthestudyofidioms,whicharealsounitsofmeaning;e.g.putforward;kickthebucket

3.Thetermwordhasinanycasebeenappropriateforuseinelsewhereinlinguisticstudy----inthefieldofgrammar,whereitdoessterlingserviceatthejunctionbetweensyntaxandmorphology.

----Thewordisatwo-facetunitpossessingbothformandcontent

----Besideitslexicalmeaning,thewordalsohasitsgrammaticalmeaning

----Englishwordscanbeapproachedbothdiachronicallyandsynchronically

ØSizeoftheEnglishvocabulary（p.6）

a）Dr.SamuelJohnson’sdictionary（1755）contained50,000words.

b）Webster’sThirdNewInternationalDictionary（1983）contains559,000words.

c）TheOxfordEnglishDictionary（thesecondedition1989）contains616,500words.

d）CollinsCobuildEnglishDictionary（1987）hasacoverageof70,000references.

e）TheNewOxfordDictionaryofEnglish（2001）contains350,000words.（thebiggestsingle-volumedictionary）

♣Someinterestingfigures

•Shakespearemadeuseof15,000words;

•Miltonused8,000;

•APrincetonUniversitystudent（upper-classman）hadanaveragevocabularyof16,500words（in1916）;

•Asimilartesttenyearslatershowedthatthesameclassofstudentshadavocabularyof17,500;

•AnEnglishmajorisrequiredtohave12,000wordsatgraduation;

•Palmeroffersalistof3,000word-units,whichwouldcover95%ofanytextwrittenineverydayEnglish.

•

DivisionsinthehistoryofEnglish

1.TheOldEnglish（Anglo-Saxon）Period----roughly450to1150

Characteristics:

a.pronunciation:

differingsomewhatfromthatoftheirmodernequivalents;

b.vocabulary:

almostpurelyTeutonic;

c.fullinflections.

2.TheMiddleEnglishPeriod----1150to1500

Characteristics:

a.resemblingModernEnglishmorethanOldEnglish;

b.Withavastnumberofborrowedwords;

c.Gradualdisappearanceofinflections.

3.ThemodernEnglishperiod----1500tothepresent

a）TheEarlyModernEnglish（1500to1700）

b）TheLateModernEnglish（1700tothepresent）

c）ContemporaryEnglish

FeaturesofContemporaryEnglish:

•atrendofsimplicityinstructures;

•fastergrowthandchangeofvocabulary;

•wideuseofcolloquial,slang,andvoguewords.

ReviewQuestions:

1.Whatislexicology?

2.WhatwillbecoveredinthestudyofEnglishlexicology?

3.WhatsubjectsisEnglishlexicologycorrelatedwith?

4.WhyshouldthestudentsofEnglishstudyEnglishlexicology?

Andhowcouldtheybenefitfromit?

5.GiveabriefaccountofthedivisionsinthehistoryofEnglish.

ChapterTwo:

SourcesoftheEnglishVocabulary

ØIndo-EuropeanFamily

（cf.Sino-TibetanFamily）

ThefamilyoflanguagesspokenoverthegreaterpartofEuropeandAsiaasfarasnorthernIndia.

✓Similarityinvocabulary

SanskritGreekLatinItalianFrenchGermanEnglish

matametermatermadreměremuttermother

✓Germanic（sub-family）

1）EastGermanic（Group）----Gothic

2）NorthGermanic

Swedish,Danish,Icelandic,Norwegian

3）WestGermanic

English,High（Low）German,Frisian,Flemish

✓Celtic

Irish,Gaelic,Welsh

✓Latin

Latin,French,Italian,Spanish,Portuguese,Romanian

✓Slavic

Russian,Slovenian,Bulgarian,Czech,Polish,Serbian

✓Baltic---Latvian,Lithuanian

✓Indic---Hindi,Pali,Sanskrit

✓Iranian---Persian,Alfgan

✓Greek,Albanian,Armenian,Tocharian,Hittite

ØHistoryofthePeople（p.3）

•Iberians（3,000-2,000B.C.）

•Celts（the7thcenturyB.C.）

•Romanconquerors（55-54B.C.byJuliusCaesar;43B.C.byClaudius）

•Angles,Saxons,Jutes（the5thcenturyA.D.）

•Scandinavians（the8-9thcentury）

•Normans（the11thcentury）

Renaissance

ElizabethI

TheTudorMonarchy

QueenVictoria

ØElizabethIIListofRoyalHousesofBritain

HouseofNormandy（1066-1154）

WilliamI（theConqueror）;HenryI,etc.

HouseofPlantagenet（1154-1399）

HenryII-III;RichardI-II;EdwardI-III,etc.

HouseofLancaster（1399-1485）

HenryIV-VI

HouseofTudor（1485-1603）

HenryVII-VIII;EdwardVI;MaryI;ElizabethI

HouseofStuart（1603-1649）

JamesI;CharlesI

TheCommonwealth（1649-1660）

OliverCromwell（LordProtector）;RichardCromwell

HouseofStuart（1660-1714）

CharlesII;JamesII;WilliamIIIandMaryII;Anne

HouseofHanover（1714-1910）

GeorgeI-IV;WilliamIV;Victoria;EdwardVII

HouseofWidsor

GeorgeV;EdwardVIII;GeorgeVI;ElizabethII（1952-）

ØTheNativeElementinModernEnglish（p.9）

•Beforeabout450A.D.,therewasnoEnglishlanguageinBritain.

•Wordsofnativeoriginconsistforthemostpartofveryancientelements---Indo-European,GermanicandWestGermaniccognates.

•Besides,anumberofScandinavian,LatinandFrenchelementshavebecomepartoftheEnglishbasicstockofwords.

•Thenativestockofwordsisestimatedtomake25-30%oftheEnglishvocabulary.

ØSemanticfeaturesofwordsofAnglo-Saxonorigin

a.thenumeralsuptoathousand;

b.themostintimatefamilyrelation