词汇学.docx

1、词汇学2. What is the fundamental difference between the processes of radiation and concatenation? Illustrate your point. Radiation is a semantic process in which the primary meaning stands at the center and the second meaning proceed out of it in every direction like rays. The meanings are independent

2、of one another, but can all be traced back to the central meaning. The word neck affords a good example. The primary meaning is (1) that part of man or animal joining the head to the body; from this are derived (2) that part of the garment; (3) the neck of an animal used as food; (4) a narrow part b

3、etween the head and body or base of any object; (5) the narrowest part of anything; bottle, land, strait or channel ( WNWD). Though the referent of each of die five may not be the same, yet they are all related to the central meaning. Meaning (2) is an instance of transfer, (3) an instance of specia

4、lization, and (4) and (5) are instances of extension.Concatenation, meaning linking together, is the semantic process in which the meaning of a word moves gradually away from its first sense by successive shifts until, in many cases, there is not a sign of connection between the sense that is finall

5、y developed and that which the term had at the beginning. In plain terms the meaning reached by the first shift may be shifted a second time, and so on until in the end the original meaning is totally lost. The word treacle is an illustrative example (WNWD):(1) wild beast;(2) remedy for bites of ven

6、omous beasts;(3) antidote for poison or remedy for poison;(4) any effective remedy;(5) (BrE) molasses.Unlike radiation where each of the derived meanings is directly connected to the primary meaning, concatenation describes a process where each of the later meaning is related only to the preceding o

7、ne like chains. Though the latest sense can be traced back to the original, there is no direct connection in between. Now consider the senses of treacle. Senses (1) and (2) are now entirely lost; (3) and (4) are obsolete, and only (5) remains common in use.Radiation and concatenation are closely rel

8、ated, being different stages of the development leading to polysemy. Generally, radiation precedes concatenation. In many cases, the two processes work together, complementing each other.)3. Complete the following passage according to the text with a suitable word for each blank.Polysemy is the _ of

9、 long semantic development of a word. Diachronically, a polysemant was when it was first created and it became _ gradually when it acquired more and more meanings later on. The first meaning was the_ meaning and the rest were _ from it. Synchronically, a _ has a number of meanings that_ at the same

10、time. Among them there is a meaning which is the _ meaning, and the rest are all _ to it in one way or another and can be _ back to the central meaning. keyresultmonosemic/ monosemouspolysemic/ polysemousprimaryderivedpolysemantcoexistcentralprimary/ firstrelatedtraced4. The word board has a number

11、of meanings, the primary being a long, broad, flat piece of sawed wood and one of the derived meanings being a group of persons who manage or control a business, school system, council. Consult a good dictionary and explain in what way the two meanings are related and what process is involved. keyAc

12、cording to LDCE, the word board has the following meanings:1) a long thin flat piece of cut wood2) a flat surface with patterns, used for playing a (stated) game on3) a flat piece of hard material used for putting a (stated)food on4) also noticeboard- a flat piece of hard material fastened to the wa

13、ll in a public plac to pin noticeon5) BLACKBOARD6) meals7) a committee or association, as of company directors or government officials, set up for a special responsibilityFrom these definitions, we know that the process is concatenation; we can see no sign of the primary from the derived one.Homonym

14、y1. Dedide whether the statements below are true or false.a. Perfect homonyms share the same spelling and pronunciation. b. Homonyms come mainly from borrowing, changes in sound and spelling, and dialects. c. Homonyms are words whose meanings are closely related.d. The origins of the words are a key

15、 factor in distinguishing homonyms from polysemants.e. Most homonyms are words that are the same in spelling, but differ in sound and meaning. key a.T b.F c.F d.T e.F2. Study the following passages and explain the rhetoric use of homonyms:1) The following conversation takes place between a butcher a

16、nd a customer.How come your sausages taste like meat at one end, but like bread at the other? the woman asked.The man replied: Madam, in times like these no butcher can make both ends meat.2) One swallow doesnt make a summer, but it surely warms you on a cold winter day.3) Why is Sunday the stronges

17、t day?Because all the others are week days.4) What colour would you paint the sun and the wind?The sun rose and wind blue. key(1)In this dialogue, the customer criticizes the butcher for his not putting too much meat in the sausages he sells. The butcher is trying to be humorous and creates a pun by

18、 using homonyms meat- meet. On one hand, to make both ends meat means both of the sausages are filled with meat; on the other hand, to make both ends meet is an idiom, meaning live within ones income; get just enough money for ones needs.(2)Swallow is a homograph. Here it has got two different meani

19、ngs. First it can be a bird as in the proverb: One swallow doesnt make a summer (means one swallow does not mean that it is spring now). Second, it refers to the act of eating ones food quickly. Here the word swallow is a pun and the sentence may means: one swallow of hot food (or alcohol) does not

20、make you so hot as you feel in summer, but the very swallow of it does make you feel warm on a cold winter day.(3).Week and weak are homophone in the sentence. The two words share the same pronunciation. Strong means oppositely with the word weak; and Sunday is with week.(4).Rose, the past tense for

21、m of the verb rise, has the same pronunciation as the colour rose. Blue also has the same pronunciation as blew, the past tense form of the verb blow.Synonymy1. How do you understand the statement that true synonymy is non-existent?Synonyms can be defined as words different in sound and spelling but

22、 most nearly alike or exactly the same in meaning. Reasonable as it sounds, this definition is subject to disagreement. If one chooses any group of synonyms and analyses them, one will find different shades of meaning. In my opinion, true synonymy refers to those words identical in meaning in all it

23、s aspects, i.e. both in grammatical meaning and lexical meaning, including conceptual and associative meanings. Synonyms of this type are interchangeable in every way. It is observed that absolute synonyms are rare in natural languages and some people even hold that such synonyms are non-existant. I

24、n view of the economy law of language, every word has its own place in the language and it cant completely mean the same as another. However, there are some, though not so many, absolute synonyms which are restricted to highly specialized vocabulary, such as scarlet-fever/ scarlatina in medicine, an

25、d composition/compounding in lexicology.2. What are the major sources of English synonyms? There are four principal sources:1) Borrowing. Borrowing words often results in couplets or triplets between or among the native origin and the borrowed words from other languages,for example, foe/enemy; help/

26、aid; ask/question/interrogate.2) Dialects and regional English like railway / railroad used reaspectively in Britain and American.3) Figurative and euphemistic use of words like dreamer / star-gazer(fig); lie / distort the fact(euph).4) Coincidence with idiomatic expressions like win / gain the uppe

27、r hand.) 3. Complete the passage by filling in the blanks, using appropriate terms.Synonymy deals with words that are the _or _ the same in meaning. The words which are fully _ in meaning are called _ synonyms and all the others are _ synonyms. _ synonyms are interchangeable whereas _ synonyms diffe

28、r in such areas as _, _ (stylistic and affective), and_. key same, nearly, identical, absolute, relative, Absolute, relative, denotation, connotation, application4. Find synonyms for the words in the left-hand list by choosing the most suitable word from the right-hand list.avaricious: meek, nasty,

29、greedy, graspinglycourteously: polite, pleasant, rude, politelyemancipate: set free, set off, avoid, come fromcustomary: usual, usually, use, habituallywidth: wide, broad, depth, breadth, lengthadversary: opposite, enemies, foes, opponentinnocent: unusual, harmless, sinless, childishobstacle; object

30、ion, fence, obstruction, delay keyavaricious- greedy courteously politelyemancipate- set free customary- usualwidth- breadth adversary- opponentinnocent - sinless obstacle- obstruction5. Arrange the following groups of synonyms according to their degree of intensity:a. genius, ability, talentb. terr

31、or-stricken, frightened, alarmedc. surprise, amaze, astonishd. irritate, annoy, exasperatee. pleasure, delight, rapturef. sadness, grief, sorrowg. pardon, forgive, excuseh. zealous, eager, enthusiastici. fear, horror, panicj. abuse, insult, slander keya. ability, talent, geniusb. alarmed, frightened

32、,terror-strickenc. surprise, astonish, amazed. annoy,irritate, exasperatee. pleasure, delight, rapturef. sadness, sorrow, griefg. excuse, pardon, forgiveh. eager, enthusiastic, zealousi. panic, fear, horrori. insult, slander, abuseNote: The order is from the weakest to the strongest.6. Choose from among the list a word which is synonymous with the word in bold type in each of the sen