词汇学论文the development of english words.docx

词汇学论文the development of english words.docx

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词汇学论文thedevelopmentofenglishwords

2011-2012学年第二学期词汇学论文

ThedevelopmentofEnglishwords

Abstract

Wordisthemostimportantpartoflanguage,andalsoistheproductandreflectionofthedevelopmentoflanguage.TheEnglishwordschangewiththedevelopmentofthesocietywhichresultsintheappearanceofalargenumberofnewEnglishwords.ThispaperliststhereasonsoftheEnglishwords’developmentandthewaysofthedevelopment.

Keywords:

Englishwords,development,change

1.Introduction

ThehistoryoftheEnglishlanguagereallystartedwiththearrivalofthreeGermanictribeswhoinvadedBritainduringthe5thcenturyAD.Thesetribes,theAngles,theSaxonsandtheJutes,crossedtheNorthSeafromwhattodayisDenmarkandnorthernGermany.AtthattimetheinhabitantsofBritainspokeaCelticlanguage.ButmostoftheCelticspeakerswerepushedwestandnorthbytheinvaders-mainlyintowhatisnowWales,ScotlandandIreland.TheAnglescamefromEnglandandtheirlanguagewascalledEnglish-fromwhichthewordsEnglandandEnglisharederived.

2.Thereasonsofthedevelopment

2.1scienceandtechnology

ThedevelopmentofthescienceandtechnologyprovidethemostabundantsourceofEnglishwords.Asthescienceandtechnologydevelop,newwordsareusedtoexpressnewconcepts,newtechniquesaswellasnewinventions.Astheyhavedevelopedrapidlyduringthelastfewyears,newwordsandexpressionshavebeencoinedoneafteranother.

Spacetravelhasmanylinguisticdiscoveriestomake.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-whichmeansdataintroducedintoacomputerwornexternaldeviceforstorageorprintingoutorinformationtransferredfromthecomputertoanexternaldeviceforstorageorprintingoutorpunchingout.E-mail–asystemofsendingwrittenmessageelectronicallyfromonecomputertoanother.Hacker-anexpertatprogrammingandsolvingproblemswithacomputer,alsoonewhoillegallygainsaccesstoandsometimestamperswithinformationinacomputersystemespeciallyusingahomecomputer.Informationhighwaymeanssystemofcommunicationlinkingcomputerbyfiber-opticcable.Internet,mouse,download,laptopcomputer,telecomhavebeenusedfrequentlyinourdailylifenowadays.

Inthelate20thcentury,scienceandtechnologyhavebeendevelopedveryquickly,therewerealotofnewcourses,suchasbehaviorscience,psycholinguistics,andbionics.Ecologyreferstothestudyoftherelationshipbetweentheserelationships.Asmoreandmorepeopleareconcernedwiththepreservationoftheenvironmentandnaturalresources,quitealotofwordshaveappearedinthisregard.Forexample,eco-activist,ecocatastrophe,coactivity,ecofreak,ecocrisis,visualpollution,noisepollution,graffitipollution,eco-friendly,planet-friendly,environment-friendly.

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

2.2politicsandeconomics

Withthehappeningofworldpoliticalaffairs,manynewwordsappeared.Fastdevelopment,simplificationandvividnessarethemaincharacteristics.PoliticalchangesandpoliticalneedshavesuppliedtheEnglishvocabularywithgreatquantitiesofnewwordsandexpressions:

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

BecausethesovietUnionandtheUnitedStateshavebeenopposedtoeachother,suchwordsascoldwar,armracehadcomeintoplay.SomepresidentsoftheWesterncountrieshadcarriedouttheirspecificpolicies,whichalsoaddedtotheEnglishvocabulary.Forexample,blairism,bushusm.ThepoliticaldisorderandconfusionoftheUnitedstatesalsocontributedtotheEnglishvocabulary,suchassit-in（aformofcivildisobedienceinwhichdemonstratorsoccupyseatsandrefusetomove）,swim-in,teach-in（anextendedsessionasonacollegecampusforlecturesanddiscussiononanimportantandusuallycontroversialissue）.Inaddition,hundredsofeuphemismshavesprunguptocopewithpoliticallyincorrectvocabulary.Thefactoryfiredworkersbecome“downsizing”,andtheworkerswithoutworkbecome“layoff”.Apersonwhoisveryshortiscalled“verticallychallenged”,andamentallydisabledpersoniscalled“mentallychallenged”.Thosearetheso-calledpoliticallycorrectwords.

In1972,theWatergatescandalhappenedintheUnitedStates,fromthenon,peoplebegantocallscandalwiththesuffixes“gate”.Forexample,afamousHongKongsuperstarEdisonChenhasbeeninvolvedintonudepicturescandal.Alotofnudepictureshavebeenspreadwidelyontheinternet.Itwaslikeastoneputintothequietlakeanditwasquitethought-provoking.Peoplecallit“RacyPhotogate”

Furthermore,asmoreandmorewomenhavetakenupactivitiesformerlyreservedformen,moreneutraljobtitleshavebeencreated.Thefollowingaresomeexamplesthatcanbeusedfor

bothgenders,especiallyintheUnitedStates.Chairman-chairperson,chairwoman,foreman-supervision,policeman-policeofficer,fireman-firefighter,juryforeman-juryforeperson.Itreflectsthefeminismtosomeextent.

2.3cultureandeducation,sportsandentertainment

IntherapiddevelopmentofEnglishvocabulary,thefactorsofculturecannotbeneglected.Therearealotofnewwordsabouteducation,suchas:

openuniversity,alternativeschool.Thechangingofteachingmethodhasalsobroughtaboutmanynewwords.Ithasbeenchangedfromteacher-centeredtostudents-centered.

Theentertainmentalsocreatedmanynewwords,call-in,hotline,talkshow,daytimesoapoperaandchannelswimmer.Therearemanynewprogramsinthefieldofsports,andhassuppliedtheEnglishvocabularywithgreatquantityofnewwordsandexpression.Rollerhockey,surf-riding,sky-riding,tonamejustafew.Byreasonofcontactwiththeoutsideworld,orconstantrepresentationinfictionandthepress,somejargonsofsportshaveriseninstatusandbecomepartofstandardspeech.Forexample,playwith（cooperate）,straightfromtheshoulder（directly）,behindtheeightball（indisadvantageousposition）.

3.Thewaysofthedevelopment

3.1Createneologisms

Neologismsarenewlycoinedwordsorwordsthataregivennewmeaningtofitnewsituationbecauseofsocial,economic,political,cultural,scientificandtechnicalchangesinhumansociety.Inshort,neologismsarenewwordsornewmeaningforestablishedword.Theyarealsocalledfashionablewords,thatis,thenewlypopularandmuchusedwords.

3.2Word-formation

（1）Derivationoraffixation

Derivationoraffixationisaword-formationprocessbytheadditionofawordelement,suchasaprefix,suffixorcombiningform,toanalreadyexistingword.Itissubdividedintoprefixationandsuffixation.Awordformedinthiswayiscalledaderivative.E.g.usestheprefixation:

micro→microwave；anti→antiparticle;super→superstar;usesthesuffixation:

-phonic---periphonic,一cide---ecocide

（2）Blending

Itisaprocessofword-formationinwhichanewwordisformedbycombiningthemeaningsandsoundsoftwowords,oneofwhichisnotinitsfullformorbothofwhicharenotintheirfullforms;awordformedinthiswayiscalledablendandmostofwhicharejournalisticcoinagesandshort-livednovelties.E.g.communication+satellite=comsat;air+hotel=airtel;Chinese＋English=Chinglish

（3）Clipping

Thedeletionofoneormoresyllablefromaword.E.g.ad=advertisement;flu=influenza;homo=homosexuality

（4）Acronymy

Usingthefirstlettersofwordstoformnewunit.E.g.WWW=WorldWideWeb;CEO=ChiefExecutiveOfficer;

（5）Compoundingorcomposition

Compoundingorcompositionisaword–formationprocessconsistingofjoiningtwoormorebasestoformanewunit,acompoundword（acompound）.E.g.moonwalk→awalkonthemoon;test-tubebaby;summertime;take-off;halfwayhouse

（6）Neoclassicalformation

Itistheword-formationprocessbywhichnewwordsareformedfromelementsderivedfromLatinandGreek.E.g.telephone

Themajorityofsuchwordsarescientificandtechnical.E.g.centisecond（n.）“ISV”…onehundredthofasecond

（7）Reduplication

Itisaprocessofwordformationbywhichacompoundwordisformedbytherepetition.E.g.go-go;tick-tick;zigzag;clever-cleve…

3.3Oldwordswithnewmeaning

Thevocabularyisthemostunstableelementofalanguageasitisundergoingconstantchangesbothinthesign-shapesandsigncontents.Comparatively,thelatterisevenmoreunstablethantheformer.Changinginwordmeaninghasneverceasedsincethebeginningoflanguageand

willcontinueinthefuture.Yetnoonehasbeenabletosystemizethewaysinwhichchangesoccur.Empiricalstudieshaveidentifiedafewpatternsthatchangesfollow.Thischapterwilldiscussinsomedetailthemajorpatterns,themechanismunderlyingthesepatternsandthecausesofchange.

（1）Extensionofmean