On the Reasons of Rapid Development of English Vocabulary现代英语词汇迅速发展的原因探究.docx

On the Reasons of Rapid Development of English Vocabulary现代英语词汇迅速发展的原因探究.docx

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OntheReasonsofRapidDevelopmentofEnglishVocabulary现代英语词汇迅速发展的原因探究

现代英语词汇迅速发展的原因探究

OntheReasonsofRapidDevelopmentofEnglishVocabulary

Acknowledgements

TheexistenceofthisthesisowesmuchtoMrs.Z.Shehasgivenmethemostpatientinstructionsduringthebusiesttimeshehaseverhad,andfortheencouragementsandtrustshehasplacedonme.

What’smore,IwillextendmythankstoalloftheleadersandteacherswhohavetaughtusduringthesefouryearsinSchoolofForeignLanguagesandhavesupplieduswiththemostconvenientfaculties,whichhelpsmetofinishmyfirstEnglishthesissmoothly.

Inaddition,Iwouldliketothankallmyenthusiasticclassmateswhohavegivenmelotsofadviceandinspirations.Lastbutnotleast,myappreciationwillgototheevaluationpanelofthesesthatkeeptheircloseeyestothedevelopmentofourtheses.Thanksalot!

摘要

现代英语，尤其是现代英语词汇发展非常迅速。

据统计,目前世界上英语的词汇量最大,现代英语词汇发展迅速的原因主要是随着科学技术的飞速发展，不断产生新兴学科，带来大量新的英语词汇。

政治经济形势的千变万化、社会生活和世界局势的迅速发展和变化,需要不断的创造新的单词及词组来满足这些变化，因此英语词汇量在不断地发展扩大。

英语词汇产生和发展的途径主要有创造全新单词、利用构词法产生新词、旧词新义和外来语的借入四个方面。

学习者通过对英语词汇发展原因的了解可以进一步了解英语单词的结构,对理解记忆单词有所裨益,可以更好地掌握英语这门语言。

关键词：

词汇；本族语；外来词；构词法

Abstract

ModernEnglish,especiallymodernEnglishvocabulary,developsveryquickly.Thereasonsforsomechangesarerelativelyobvious.Forexample,therapiddevelopmentofscienceandtechnologyhasledtothecreationofmanynewwords.Inaddition,thedevelopmentofinternationaltradeandfinance,socialandpoliticalchangesandpoliticalneedshavesuppliedtheEnglishvocabularywithgreatquantitiesofnewwordsandexpressions.Furthermore,somesocialactivitieshavebroughtaboutmanynewwords.Inordertosuitthisnewsituation,peoplehavecreatednumerousnewwords.ThedevelopmentofnewEnglishwordsdependschieflyonthechannelsofwordcreation,wordformation,semanticchangesandwordborrowing.ItisgoodforEnglishlearnerstokeepupwiththedevelopmentofEnglishnewwords.

KeyWords:

Vocabulary;nativewords,borrowedwords,wordformation.

Contents

Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………………

Abstract（Chinese）………………………………………………………………………………

Abstract………………………………………………………………………………III

TableofContents………………………………………………………………………………

PartOneIntroduction…………………………………………………………………………1

1.1ResearchBackground…………………………………………………………………1

1.2MotivationsandObjectives……………………………………………………………1

PartTwoReasonsofRapidDevelopmentofEnglishVocabulary…………………………2

2.1TheInfluenceofScienceandTechnology…………………………………2

2.2TheInfluenceofPolitics………………………………………………3

2.3InternationalTradeandFinance………………………………………………4

2.4CultureFactorsandChangesofSocialFashion…………………………4

PartThreeMethodsofVocabularyDevelopment…………………………………………5

3.1WordFormation……………………………………………………………………5

3.2SemanticChanges……………………………………………………………………6

3.3WordCreation………………………………………………………………………7

3.4WordBorrowing……………………………………………………………………8

PartFourConclusion………………………………………………………………………9

Notes………………………………………………………………………………10

Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………11

PartOneIntroduction

1.1ResearchBackground

Languageisamirrorreflectingthecultureofasociety.Withthedevelopmentofthesociety,almostalllivinglanguagesareinastateofcontinuouschange.Asoneofthemaincommunicationlanguagesintheworld,Englishnotonlychanges,butalsochangesquickly.ThemostactiveandapparentchangesofEnglishcanbeseeninitsvocabulary.

TheEnglishlanguagehasavocabularyofmorethan1million.Thetermvocabularyusuallyreferstoacompleteinventoryofthewordsinalanguage.Butitmayalsorefertothewordsandphrasesusedinthevariantsofalanguage,suchasdialect,register,terminology,etc.

TheEnglishvocabularyischaracterizedbyamixtureofnativewordsandborrowedwords.

SincetheSecondWorldWar,theEnglish-speakingcountrieshaveexperiencedgreatchangesinpolitics,economy,culture,educationandotherfields.Consequently,modernEnglishhaschangedalot,especiallyitsvocabulary.

1.2MotivationsandObjectives

ThisarticleshowsthemainreasonsofdevelopmentonEnglishvocabulary.Thereasonsforsomechangesarerelativelyobvious.Forexample,therapiddevelopmentofscienceandtechnologyhasledtothecreationofmanynewwords.Inaddition,theinstabilityoftheworldsituationandpoliticsindifferentcountriesandpoliticalneedshavesuppliedtheEnglishvocabularywithgreatquantitiesofnewwordsandexpressions.Furthermore,somesocialactivitieshavebroughtaboutmanynewwords.Lastbutnottheleastimportant,thedevelopmentofinternationaltradeandfinancehavealsoaddedmanynewwordstotheEnglishvocabulary.ThisallmotivatedmetoexploremoreaboutthereasonsoftherapiddevelopmentofEnglishvocabulary.Inaddition,thewaysthatEnglishnewwordsdevelopedalsoarousemyinterest.ThedevelopmentofEnglishnewwordsdependschieflyonthechannelsofwordcreation,wordformation,semanticchangesandwordborrowing.IaimtobettermyEnglishbystudyingreasonsandwaysofthedevelopmentofnewwords.

PartTwoReasonsoftheDevelopmentofNewWords

2.1TheInfluenceofScienceandTechnology

Asscienceandtechnologydevelop,newwordsareusedtoexpressnewconcepts,newtechniquesaswellasnewinventions.Astheyhavedevelopedmorerapidlyduringthelast50years,newwordsandexpressionshavebeencoinedoneafteranother.

Spacetravel,morenovelstillthannuclearreactors50yearsago,hasmanylinguisticdiscoveriestomake.Interestingly,therehasbeenatendencytocoinnicesimplewordsandphraseslike:

spacesuit,heat-shield,splash-down,linkup,moonscape,lunar,module,rendezvous,lunarrover,mooncraft,spacestation,satellite,cosmonaut,moonquake,readout,blackhole,lunarmodule,biologicalclock.

Thedevelopmentofcomputerandinternettechnologyhasproducedanewvocabularyoftheirown.Forexample,program-whichhasbeenadoptedtodenoteasequenceofinstructionsfedintoacomputeranddesignedtosolveaproblemorattainaspecificresult.Input-whichmeansdataintroducedintoacomputerwornexternalsource.Outputmeansprocesseddataorinformationtransferredfromthecomputertoanexternaldeviceforstorageorprintingoutorpunchingout.Email-asystemofsendingwrittenmessageelectronicallyfromonecomputertoanother.Hacker-anexpertatprogrammingandsolvingproblemswithacomputer,alsoonewhoillegallygainsaccesstoandsometimestamperswithinformationinacomputersystemespeciallyusingahomecomputer.Informationhighwaymeanssystemofcommunicationlinkingcomputerbyfiber-opticcable.Internet,mouse,download,laptopcomputer,telecomhavebeenusedfrequentlyinourdailylifenowadays.

Inthelate20thcentury,scienceandtechnologyhavebeendevelopedveryquickly,therewerealotofnewcourses,suchasbehaviorscience,psycholinguistics,cybernetics,andbionics.Ecologyreferstothestudyoftherelationshipbetweenplants,animals,peopleandtheirenvironment,andthebalancesbetweentheserelationships.

Asmoreandmorepeopleareconcernedwiththepreservationoftheenvironmentandnaturalresources,quitealotofwordshaveappearedinthisregard.Forexample,eco-activist,ecocide,ecocatastrophe,ecoactivity,ecofreak,ecocrisis,visualpollution,noisepollution,graffitipollution,eco-friendly,planet-friendly,environment-friendly.

Inaddition,fax,laserprinter，walkie-lookie,LCDscreen,bullettrain,containership,hovercraft,instantcoffee,photocopier,overheadprojector,groundzero,strobelightetc,wehavenotheardofthosewords50yearsago,butnowtheyhavebecomecommonwords.

2.2TheInfluenceofPolitics

Withthehappeningofworldpoliticalaffairs,manynewwordsappeared.Fastdevelopment,simplificationandvividnessarethemaincharacteristics.PoliticalchangesandpoliticalneedshavesuppliedtheEnglishvocabularywithgreatquantitiesofnewwordsandexpressions:

shuttlediplomacy（internationalnegotiationsconductedbyamediatorwhofrequentlyfliesbackandforthbetweenthenegotiatingparties）,mini-summit,junglewar,Euro,hotline（adirecttelephonelinebetweentwoofficials）,hard-liner,kingmaker（animportantpersonwhocanbringleaderstopowerthroughtheexerciseofpoliticalinfluence）tonamejustafew.

BecausetheSovietUnionandtheUnitedStateshavelongbeenopposedtoeachother,suchwordsascoldwar,armracehadcomeintoplay.SomepresidentsoftheWesterncountrieshadcarriedouttheirspecificpolicies,whichalsoaddedtotheEnglishvocabulary.Forexample,Blairism,Bushism.

ThepoliticaldisorderandconfusionoftheUnitedStatesalsocontributedtotheEnglishvocabulary,suchassit-in（aformofcivildisobedienceinwhichdemonstratorsoccupyseatsandrefusetomove）,swim-in,teach-in（anextendedsessionasonacollegecampusforlecturesanddiscussiononanimportantandusuallycontroversialissue）.Inaddition,hundredsofeuphemismshavesprunguptocopewithpoliticallyincorrectvocabulary.Thefactoryfiredworkersbecome“downsizing”，andtheworkerswithoutworkbecome“layoff”.Apersonwhoisveryshortiscalled“verticallychallenged”,andamentallydisabledpersoniscalled“mentallychallenged”.Thosearetheso-calledpoliticallycorrectwords.

In1972,theWatergatescandalhappenedintheUnitedStates,fromthenon,peoplebegantocallscandalswiththesuffixes“gate”.Forexample,recently,afamousHongKongsuperstarEdisonChenhasbeeninvolvedintonudepicturescandal.AlotofnudepictureshavebeenspreadwidelyontheInternet.Itwaslikeastoneputintothequietlakeanditwasquitethought-provoking.Peoplecallit“Rac