自考英语词汇学学习资料.docx

1、自考英语词汇学学习资料Chapter oneThe definition of Word: (the two often quoted definitions from Bloomfield and an outstanding French linguist, Antoine Meillet. )Bloomfield: “some linguistic forms, which we call bound forms are never used as sentences. A word then, is a free form which does not consist entirely

2、 of (two or more) lesser free forms. In belief, a word is a minimum free form.”Antoine Meillet: “A word is defined by the association of a given sense with a given group of sounds capable of a given grammatical use.”In brief, a word may be defined as a fundamental unit of speech and a minimum free f

3、orm; with a unity of sound and meaning (both lexical and grammatical meaning) capable of performing a given syntactic function. .sintktik句法的All the words in a language together constitute what is known as its vocabulary. The Development of English Vocabulary1. Old English(449-1100) OEThe history of

4、the English language begins with the conquest and settlement of what is now England by the Anglo Saxon, which replaced the Celtic spoken by the former inhabitants. The next seven hundred years (449-1100) are known as the Old English (OE) or Anglo-Saxon (AS) period of the English language. The vocabu

5、lary: Fifty or Sixty thousand words, which were chiefly Anglo-Saxon with a small mixture of Old Norse words. Long before the invasion of England, Anglos-Saxon borrowed a considerable number of Latiin words and then continued to adopt words during the Old English period, especially after the introduc

6、tion of Christianity into Britain in 579.2. Middle English(1100-1500) METhe transitional period from Old English to Modern English is known as Middle English, which is characterized by the strong influence of French following the Norman Conquest in 1066. Since the French-speaking Normans were the ru

7、ling class, French was used for all state affairs and for most social and cultural matters; but the masses continued to speak English. Only toward the 15th century did English become once more the language of the whole country. 3. Modern English(1500- the present)The English language from 1500 to th

8、e present is called Modern English. In the early stage of Modern English (1500-1700) the Renaissance rinsns brought great changes to the vocabulary. The renewed study of Greek in the Renaissance not only led to the borrowing of Greek words indirectly through the medium of Latin, but also led to the

9、introduction of some Greek words directly into the English vocabulary. From the 16th century onward, English borrowed words from an increasing number of languages, the major ones being the three Romance languages, French, Spanish and Italian. French: attach, charge d affairs, caf. Italian: (music, a

10、rt and architecture) concert, duet, piano, solo, tenor; model, studio; dome, piazza. Spanish: armada, cargo, cocoa, cigar. English also adopted words from other European languages. Portuguese (caste, pagoda), German (bismuth, cobalt, nickel and zinc); Dutch (dock, freight, keel); Russian (Vodka, tro

11、ika, ruble and tsar)At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, as a result of exploration, colonization and trade, many words came in from non-European languages. Example: boomerang, kangaroo, dingo (Australian) Sugar, sultan, alcohol (Arabic)Coolie, cashmere khaki (Indian)Schmozzo, schmaltz (herbr

12、ew)As summed up in The Encyclopedia Americana: “the English language has vast debits. In any dictionary some 80% of the entries are borrowed. The majority are likely to come from Latin, and of those more than half will come through French. A considerable number will derive directly or indirectly fro

13、m Greek. A substantial contribution will come from Scandinavian languages, and a small percentage from Portuguese, Italian, Spanish and Dutch. Scattered words will be from various sources around the globe.”The Rapid growth of present-day English vocabulary (Especially after WW II) and its causesAfte

14、r WW II, neologisms swept in at a rate much faster than that of the prewar period. The main reasons for the frequent appearance of neologisms are three:1. Marked progress of science and technology. (nuclear bomb, exploration of space, computer science)2. Socio-economic, political and cultural change

15、s. 3. The influence of other cultures and languages. Classification of English words According to Different Criteria. (by origin, by level of usage, and by notion)A. By origin: native words and load words.Native words: Words of Anglo-Saxon origin or of Old English are native English.Loan Words: thos

16、e borrowed from other languages are loan words or borrowed words. Most native words in Modern English are monosyllabic. .mnusilbik单音节的 they are from the great majority of the basic word stock of the English language.The basic word stock is the foundation of the vocabulary accumulated over a number o

17、f epochs. The fundamental features of the basic word stock are:1. National character: words of the basic word stock belong to the people as a whole, not to a limited group no matter what dialect they speak ; which social class they belong. .2. Stability: As words in the basic word stock denote the c

18、ommonest things necessary to life, they are likely to remain unchanged. (However some old word had dropped out and some new words had in)3. Word-forming ability: Basic words are very active in forming new words.4. Ability to form collocation: Basic words combine readily with other words to form habi

19、tual expression and phrases. .hbitjul习惯性的B. By the level of usage1. Comment words: Common or popular words are words connected with the ordinary things or activities necessary to everyday life.The great majority of English words are common words. The core of the common words is the basic word stock.

20、 2. Literary words: Literary words are chiefly used in writing, especially in books written in a more elevated style, in official documents or in formal speeches. They are comparatively seldom used in ordinary conversation. Among the literary words, two categories are noteworthy:(a) Archaic words: A

21、rchaic words are words no longer in common use, although retained for special purpose. (They are sometimes employed in poetry, business letters, etc.) Abed-in bed; behold-see; belike-probably; natheless-nevertheless; perchance-by chance. Archaic word are marked as “arch.“, which are different from o

22、bsolete words. Obsolete words are those completely out of current use. (b) Poetical words: Poetical words are words that are traditionally used only in poetry. Array-outfit; the deep-the sea; stead-horse; morn-morning;(c) Colloquial words: In contrast with literary words, colloquial words or express

23、ions are used mainly in spoken English, as in conversation among friends and colleagues. They can also be used in informal writings. klukwil口语的,Examples:Feeling fatigued, Tom retired early. (Literary)Tom felt so dog-tired he hit the sack early. (Colloquial)John was dismissed for petty thieving. (Com

24、mon)John was fired for petty thieving. ( Colloquial )(d) Slang words: Slang is defined in the SCD as “language, words or phrases of a vigorous, colourful, facetious, or taboo nature, invented for specific occasions, or uses, or derived from the unconventional use of the standard vocabulary.” (e) Tec

25、hnical words: Technical or special words refer to those words used in various special fields. Every branch of science, every profession or trade, art, etc. 3. By notion: function words and content words:(A) Function words: Function words are often short words such as determiners, conjunctions, prepo

26、sitions, auxiliaries, and so forth. They do not have much lexical meaning and some of them have no lexical meaning of their own;They serve grammatically more than anything else. They belong to a relatively small and permanent set of words. The total number of function words is about 154. (B) Content

27、 words: They have independent lexical meaning, they are the nouns, main verbs, adjectives and adverbs of a language. Chapter TWO: Morphological Structure of English Words1. MorphemesMorpheme: The morpheme is the smallest meaningful linguistic unit of language, not divisible or analyzable into smalle

28、r forms. EXAMPLE: denationalization-de+nation+al+iz+actionA morpheme is also a two-facet language unit which possesses both sound and meaning. A morpheme is not identical (同一的) with a syllable (silbl 音节), either, since the latter has nothing to do with meaning. Allomorphs: An allomorph is any of the

29、 variant forms of a morpheme as conditioned by position or adjoining sound. alm:f: (词素变体) 2. Classification of Morphemes (Generally two main types: Free morphemes, Bound morphemes.)A. Free Morpheme: is one that can be uttered t说,讲alone with meaning. It can exist on its own without a bound morpheme.

30、A free morpheme is a word, in the traditional sense. B. Bound Morpheme: cannot stand by itself as a complete utterance; it must appear with a least one other morpheme, free or bound.EXAMPLE: un-unkind; -ly-happily; re-receive; s-dogs; exboxes; ed-worked. Alternatively, morphemes may be divided into

31、roots (or root morphemes) and affixes (or affixational morphemes)C. Roots: A root is the basic unchangeable part of a word, and it conveys the main lexical meaning of the word. Roots therefore, are the cores of English words. Historically the root is the earliest form of a word. Root are either free

32、 or bounda) Free roots: In English, many roots are free morphemes. Free roots belong to the basic word-stock, and have the fundamental features of the basic word-stock. A free roots consists one morpheme. b) Bound roots: They are not words, and so are not free morphemes; they cannot exist on their own.