词汇学.docx

词汇学.docx

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词汇学

2.Whatisthefundamentaldifferencebetweentheprocessesofradiationandconcatenation?

Illustrateyourpoint.

Radiationisasemanticprocessinwhichtheprimarymeaningstandsatthecenterandthesecondmeaningproceedoutofitineverydirectionlikerays.Themeaningsareindependentofoneanother,butcanallbetracedbacktothecentralmeaning.Thewordneckaffordsagoodexample.Theprimarymeaningis

（1）thatpartofmanoranimaljoiningtheheadtothebody;fromthisarederived

（2）thatpartofthegarment;（3）theneckofananimalusedasfood;（4）anarrowpartbetweentheheadandbodyorbaseofanyobject;（5）thenarrowestpartofanything;bottle,land,straitorchannel（WNWD）.Thoughthereferentofeachofdiefivemaynotbethesame,yettheyareallrelatedtothecentralmeaning.Meaning

（2）isaninstanceoftransfer,（3）aninstanceofspecialization,and（4）and（5）areinstancesofextension.Concatenation,meaning‘linkingtogether’,isthesemanticprocessinwhichthemeaningofawordmovesgraduallyawayfromitsfirstsensebysuccessiveshiftsuntil,inmanycases,thereisnotasignofconnectionbetweenthesensethatisfinallydevelopedandthatwhichthetermhadatthebeginning.Inplaintermsthemeaningreachedbythefirstshiftmaybeshiftedasecondtime,andsoonuntilintheendtheoriginalmeaningistotallylost.Thewordtreacleisanillustrativeexample（WNWD）:

（1）wildbeast;

（2）remedyforbitesofvenomousbeasts;

（3）antidoteforpoisonorremedyforpoison;

（4）anyeffectiveremedy;

（5）（BrE）molasses.

Unlikeradiationwhereeachofthederivedmeaningsisdirectlyconnectedtotheprimarymeaning,concatenationdescribesaprocesswhereeachofthelatermeaningisrelatedonlytotheprecedingonelikechains.Thoughthelatestsensecanbetracedbacktotheoriginal,thereisnodirectconnectioninbetween.Nowconsiderthesensesoftreacle.Senses

（1）and

（2）arenowentirelylost;（3）and（4）areobsolete,andonly（5）remainscommoninuse.

Radiationandconcatenationarecloselyrelated,beingdifferentstagesofthedevelopmentleadingtopolysemy.Generally,radiationprecedesconcatenation.Inmanycases,thetwoprocessesworktogether,complementingeachother.）

3.Completethefollowingpassageaccordingtothetextwithasuitablewordforeachblank.

Polysemyisthe_____oflongsemanticdevelopmentofaword.Diachronically,apolysemantwaswhenitwasfirstcreatedanditbecame_____graduallywhenitacquiredmoreandmoremeaningslateron.Thefirstmeaningwasthe_____meaningandtherestwere______fromit.Synchronically,a_____hasanumberofmeaningsthat_____atthesametime.Amongthemthereisameaningwhichisthe_____meaning,andtherestareall_____toitinonewayoranotherandcanbe_____backtothecentralmeaning.

key

result

monosemic/monosemous

polysemic/polysemous

primary

derived

polysemant

coexist

central

primary/first

related

traced

4.Thewordboardhasanumberofmeanings,theprimarybeing‘along,broad,flatpieceofsawedwood'andoneofthederivedmeaningsbeing‘agroupofpersonswhomanageorcontrolabusiness,schoolsystem,council’.Consultagooddictionaryandexplaininwhatwaythetwomeaningsarerelatedandwhatprocessisinvolved.

key

AccordingtoLDCE,thewordboardhasthefollowingmeanings:

1）alongthinflatpieceofcutwood

2）aflatsurfacewithpatterns,usedforplayinga（stated）gameon

3）aflatpieceofhardmaterialusedforputtinga（stated）foodon

4）alsonoticeboard-aflatpieceofhardmaterialfastenedtothewallinapublicplactopinnoticeon

5）BLACKBOARD

6）meals

7）acommitteeorassociation,asofcompanydirectorsorgovernmentofficials,setupforaspecialresponsibility

Fromthesedefinitions,weknowthattheprocessisconcatenation;wecanseenosignoftheprimaryfromthederivedone.

Homonymy

1.Dedidewhetherthestatementsbelowaretrueorfalse.

a.Perfecthomonymssharethesamespellingandpronunciation.

b.Homonymscomemainlyfromborrowing,changesinsoundandspelling,anddialects.

c.Homonymsarewordswhosemeaningsarecloselyrelated.

d.Theoriginsofthewordsareakeyfactorindistinguishinghomonymsfrompolysemants.

e.Mosthomonymsarewordsthatarethesameinspelling,butdifferinsoundandmeaning.

keya.Tb.Fc.Fd.Te.F

2.Studythefollowingpassagesandexplaintherhetoricuseofhomonyms:

1）Thefollowingconversationtakesplacebetweenabutcherandacustomer.

‘Howcomeyoursausagestastelikemeatatoneend,butlikebreadattheother?

’thewomanasked.

Themanreplied:

‘Madam,intimeslikethesenobutchercanmakebothendsmeat.’

2）Oneswallowdoesn’tmakeasummer,butitsurelywarmsyouonacoldwinterday.

3）"WhyisSundaythestrongestday?

"

"Becausealltheothersareweekdays.

4）"Whatcolourwouldyoupaintthesunandthewind?

"

"Thesunroseandwindblue.

key

（1）Inthisdialogue,thecustomercriticizesthebutcherforhisnotputtingtoomuchmeatinthesausageshesells.Thebutcheristryingtobehumorousandcreatesapunbyusinghomonymsmeat-meet.Ononehand,tomakebothendsmeatmeansbothofthesausagesarefilledwithmeat;ontheotherhand,tomakebothendsmeetisanidiom,meaninglivewithinone’sincome;getjustenoughmoneyforone’sneeds.

（2）Swallowisahomograph.Hereithasgottwodifferentmeanings.Firstitcanbeabirdasintheproverb:

Oneswallowdoesn’tmakeasummer（meansoneswallowdoesnotmeanthatitisspringnow）.Second,itreferstotheactofeatingone’sfoodquickly.Herethewordswallowisapunandthesentencemaymeans:

oneswallowofhotfood（oralcohol）doesnotmakeyousohotasyoufeelinsummer,buttheveryswallowofitdoesmakeyoufeelwarmonacoldwinterday.

（3）.Weekandweakarehomophoneinthesentence.Thetwowordssharethesamepronunciation.Strongmeansoppositelywiththewordweak;andSundayiswithweek.

（4）.Rose,thepasttenseformoftheverbrise,hasthesamepronunciationasthecolourrose.Bluealsohasthesamepronunciationasblew,thepasttenseformoftheverbblow.

Synonymy

1.Howdoyouunderstandthestatementthat‘truesynonymyisnon-existent?

’

Synonymscanbedefinedaswordsdifferentinsoundandspellingbutmostnearlyalikeorexactlythesameinmeaning.Reasonableasitsounds,thisdefinitionissubjecttodisagreement.Ifonechoosesanygroupofsynonymsandanalysesthem,onewillfinddifferentshadesofmeaning.Inmyopinion,truesynonymyreferstothosewordsidenticalinmeaninginallitsaspects,i.e.bothingrammaticalmeaningandlexicalmeaning,includingconceptualandassociativemeanings.Synonymsofthistypeareinterchangeableineveryway.Itisobservedthatabsolutesynonymsarerareinnaturallanguagesandsomepeopleevenholdthatsuchsynonymsarenon-existant.Inviewoftheeconomylawoflanguage,everywordhasitsownplaceinthelanguageanditcan'tcompletelymeanthesameasanother.However,therearesome,thoughnotsomany,absolutesynonymswhicharerestrictedtohighlyspecializedvocabulary,suchasscarlet-fever/scarlatinainmedicine,andcomposition/compoundinginlexicology.

2.WhatarethemajorsourcesofEnglishsynonyms?

Therearefourprincipalsources:

1）Borrowing.Borrowingwordsoftenresultsincoupletsortripletsbetweenoramongthenativeoriginandtheborrowedwordsfromotherlanguages,forexample,foe/enemy;help/aid;ask/question/interrogate.

2）DialectsandregionalEnglishlikerailway/railroadusedreaspectivelyinBritainandAmerican.

3）Figurativeandeuphemisticuseofwordslikedreamer/star-gazer（fig）;lie/distortthefact（euph）.

4）Coincidencewithidiomaticexpressionslikewin/gaintheupperhand.）

3.Completethepassagebyfillingintheblanks,usingappropriateterms.

Synonymydealswithwordsthatarethe_____or____thesameinmeaning.Thewordswhicharefully_____inmeaningarecalled_____synonymsandalltheothersare_____synonyms._____synonymsareinterchangeablewhereas_____synonymsdifferinsuchareasas______,_____（stylisticandaffective）,and_____.

keysame,nearly,identical,absolute,relative,Absolute,relative,denotation,connotation,application

4.Findsynonymsforthewordsintheleft-handlistbychoosingthemostsuitablewordfromtheright-handlist.

avaricious:

meek,nasty,greedy,graspingly

courteously:

polite,pleasant,rude,politely

emancipate:

setfree,setoff,avoid,comefrom

customary:

usual,usually,use,habitually

width:

wide,broad,depth,breadth,length

adversary:

opposite,enemies,foes,opponent

innocent:

unusual,harmless,sinless,childish

obstacle;objection,fence,obstruction,delay

key

avaricious-greedycourteously–politely

emancipate-setfreecustomary-usual

width-breadthadversary-opponent

innocent-sinlessobstacle-obstruction

5.Arrangethefollowinggroupsofsynonymsaccordingtotheirdegreeofintensity:

a.genius,ability,talent

b.terror-stricken,frightened,alarmed

c.surprise,amaze,astonish

d.irritate,annoy,exasperate

e.pleasure,delight,rapture

f.sadness,grief,sorrow

g.pardon,forgive,excuse

h.zealous,eager,enthusiastic

i.fear,horror,panic

j.abuse,insult,slander

key

a.ability,talent,genius

b.alarmed,frightened,terror-stricken

c.surprise,astonish,amaze

d.annoy,irritate,exasperate

e.pleasure,delight,rapture

f.sadness,sorrow,grief

g.excuse,pardon,forgive

h.eager,enthusiastic,zealous

i.panic,fear,horror

i.insult,slander,abuse

Note:

Theorderisfromtheweakesttothestrongest.

6.Choosefromamongthelistawordwhichissynonymouswiththewordinboldtypeineachofthesen