第四章 Chapter 4 Word Formation II

The expansion of vocabulary in modern English depends chiefly on word-formation.

Not all the words that are produced by applying the rules are acceptable.

Rules only provide a constant set of models from which new words are created from day to day.

Rules themselves are not fixed but undergo changes.

affixation 30%-40% compounding 28%-30% conversion 26% shortening 8%-10% （clipping and acronymy） blending and others 1%-5%

1. Affixation （Derivation） —— the formation of words by adding word forming or derivational affixes to stems. （derivative派生词）

According to their position， affixation falls into： prefixation and suffixation.

1）. Prefixation —— the formation of new words by adding prefixes to stems. It does not change the word-class of the stem but change its meaning.

1. Negative prefixes – a- （abnormal）， dis- （disobey）， in- （il-， ir-， im-） （injustice）， non- （non-smoker）， un- （unwilling） un- are the most productive and can usually replace in- or dis- with adj.

2. Reversative prefixes – de- （decentralize）， dis- （disunite）， un- （unwrap）

3. Pejorative prefixes – mal- （maltreat）， mis- （mistrust）， pseudo- （pseudo-science）

4. Prefixes of degree or size – arch- （archbishop）， extra-（extra-strong）， hyper-（hyperactive）， macro- （macrocosm）， micro- （microcomputer）， mini- （mini-election）， out- （outlive）， over- （overweigh）， sub- （subheading）， super- （superfreeze）， sur- （surtax）， ultra- （ultra-conservative）， under-（underdeveloped）

5. Prefixes of orientation and attitude – anti- （anti-nuclear）， contra- （contraflow）， counter-， pro-（pro-student）

6. Locative prefixes – extra- （extraordinary）， fore- （forehead）， inter- （inter-city）， intra- （intra-party）， tele-， trans-

7. Prefixes of time and order – ex- （ex-wife）， fore- （foretell）， pre-， re- （reconsider）

8. Number Prefixes – bi-， multi- （poly-） （multi-purpose）， semi- （hemi-）， tri- （tricycle）， uni-（mono-） （uniform）

9. Miscellaneous prefixes – auto-， neo- （neo-Nazi）， pan- （pan-European）， vice-

2）. Suffixation ——Suffixation is the formation of new words by adding suffixes to stems. Change the grammatical function of stems （the word class）.

Suffixes can be grouped on a grammatical basis.Noun suffixesDenominal nouns （名词+suffix ——名词）a. Concrete —— -eer （engineer）， -er （teenager）， -ess （hostess）， -ette （cigarette）， -let （booklet）b. Abstract —— -age （wastage）， -dom （处于…状态）（officialdom）， -ery （slavery）， -ery （-ry）， -hood （childhood）， -ing （farming）， - ism（…主义） （terrorism）， -ship（状态） （sportsmanship）Deverbal nouns （动词+suffix——名词）a. Denoting people —— -ant （assistant）， -ee （trainee）， -ent （respondent）， -er（-or）

b. Denoting action， result， process， state， ect. —— -age （linkage）， -al （dismissal）， -ance （attendance）， -ation（-ition， -tion， -sion， -ion）， -ence （existence）， -ing （savings）， -ment （statement）De-adjective nouns （形容词+suffix——名词） —— -ity （popularity）， -ness （happiness）Nouns and adjectives suffixes —— -ese （Chinese）， -an （Australian）， -ist （主义） （socialist）Adjective suffixesDenominal suffixes —— -ed （wooded）， -ful （successful）， -ish （foolish）， -less （priceless）， -like （lady-like）， -ly （friendly）， -y （smoky）-al（-ial， -ical） （cultural， residential）， -esque （picturesque）， -ic （economic）， -ous（-eous， -ious） （coutageous）-ic and –ical can be affixed to the stem in some cases， but differ in meaning.Historic （important in history） historical （of history）Classic （great， memorable） classical （of Latin or Greek）Comic （of comedy） comical （funny）Economic （in the economy） economical （money-saving）Electric （powered by electricity） electrical （of electricity）Deverbal suffixes —— -able （-ible） （washable）， -ive（-ative， -sive） （active， decisive）Adverb suffixes —— -ly （calmly）， -ward（s） （homewards）， -wise （clockwise）Verb suffixes —— -ate（originate）， -en （darken）， -（i）fy （beautify）， -ize （ise） （modernize）Nik most of them are considered slang.2. Compounding （Composition）——Compounding is a process of word-formation by joining two or more stems.Compounds- a lexical unit consisting of more than one stem and functioning both grammatically and semantically as a single word.三种形式solid， hyphenated， open1）. Characteristics （differ from free phrases）

Phonetic featuresCompound （not absolute） Free phrase

Stress on the first element Stress on the second elementSemantic features

Compounds are different from free phrases in semantic unity.

Every compound should express a single idea just as one word.

A lot of compounds are transparent and the meaning can be inferred from the separate elements of compounds.

Grammatical features

A compound plays a single grammatical role in a sentence.

In adjective-noun compounds， the adjective element cannot take inflectional suffixes.

Compound Free phrasefine art finer artFormation

Most compounds consist of 2 stems， but are formed on a rich variety of patterns and the internal grammatical relationship within the words is considered complex.

Noun compoundsAdjective compoundsVerb compounds （through conversion and back formation）Back formed verb compounds are formed mainly by dropping the suffixes， -er， -ing，-ion， -etc.3.Conversion （zero-derivation， functional shift） ——Conversion is the formation of new words by converting words of one class to another class.

These words are new only in a grammatical sense. The most productive is between nouns and verbs.

A change of grammatical functionThe different range of meaningConversion to noun

Verb to noun-almost all monomorphemic verbs can be used as nouns.

1. State （of mind or sensation）

2. Event or activity

3. Result of the action

4. Doer of the action

5. Tool or instrument

6. Place of the actionAdjective to noun （full conversion， partial conversion）

1. Words fully converted-a noun converted from an adjective has all the characteristics of nouns. It can take an identical article or –e（s）.

2. Words partially converted – do not possess all the qualities a noun does. They must be used together with definite articles. They retain some of the adjective features. Words of this class generally refer to a group of the kind.

3. Miscellaneous conversion

Conversion to verbs

1. Noun to verb-verbs of this kind are all transitive.

2. Adjective to verb

3. Miscellaneous conversion

4.Blending—is the word formation by combining parts of two words or a word plus a part of another word.Head + tail autocide / motel/ slurb / cremains / chunnelHead + head comsat / telex / Amerind / sitcom / FORTRAMHead + word medicare / Eurasia / telequiz / atuocampWord + tail lunarnaut / bookmobile / workfare / tourmobileThe overwhelming majority of blends are nouns， very few are verbs and adjectives are even fewer.

5.Clipping – shorten a longer word by cutting a part of the origin and using what remains instead. People tend to ve economical in writing and speech to keep up the tempo of new life style.

Front clippingQuake （earthquake） / Copter（helicopter）/ scope （telescope）/ phone （telephone）Back clippingDorm（dormitory） / momo（ ）/stereo（ ）/gent（ ）/fan（ ）/disco（ ）Front and back clippingPhrase clippingPub（ ）/pop（ ）/zoo（ ）/perm（ ）

6.Acronymy – joining the initial letters of names of social and political organizations or special phrases and technical terms

Initialisms

are words formed from the initial letters of words and pronounced as letters. It’s one of the word formations of acronymy.

E.g. IMF/ai em ef/=International Monetary Fund.

Acronymsare words formed from the initial letters of word and pronounced as words. . It’s one of the word formations of acronymy.

E.g. NATO/'neito/=North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

7.Back-formation—— is a process of word-formation by which a word is created by the deletion of a supposed affix. It is considered to be the opposite process of suffixation.

8.Words from proper names modern English has a large number of words which come from proper nouns. They include

1. Names of peopleWords of this group are from names of scientists， investors， etc. these terms are used as measurements.Some words are from characters in mythology.Some are from historical figures.Some words are from characters in literary books.

2.Names of places

Many words denoting products， objects or materials come from the names of places where they were first produced.

3.Names of books

4.TradenamesWhen proper nouns are communized， many of them have lost their original identity. They can be converted to other classes. These words can also take suffixes.Words that are communized from proper nouns have rich culture associations and thus stylistically vivid， impressive and though-provoking.

第五章 Chapter 5 Word Meaning Reference （领会） – the relationship between language and the world. By means of reference， a speaker indicates which things in the world （including persons） are being talked about.The reference of a word to a thing outside the language is arbitrary and conventional. This connection is the result of generalization and abstraction.Although reference is abstract， yet with the help of context， it can refer to something specific.

Concept（领会） – which beyond language is the result of human cognition reflecting the objective world in the human mind. I

t isn’t affected by language. Meaning and concept are closely connected but not identical. Meaning belongs to language， so is restricted to language use.A concept can have as many referring expressions as there are language in the world.

Sense （领会） – denotes the relationship inside the language. Every word that has meaning has sense.The sense of an expression is its place in a system of semantic relationships with other expressions in the language.

It is also abstraction.Motivation——accounts for the connection between the linguistic symbol and its meaning.

English does have words whose meanings can be explained to a certain extent.

Most words are non-motivated. The connection of the sign and meaning dose not have a logical explanation.

Onomatopoeic Motivation – the words whose sounds suggest their meaning. （Indicate the relationship between sound and meaning）.

Knowing the sounds of the words means understanding the meaning. These words were created by imitating the natural sounds or noises.

For example， bang， ping-pang， crow by cocks， etc.Such echoic words are also conventional for the sounds we say in English may not be the same in other language.

Morphological Motivation ——Compounds and derived words are multi-morphemic words and the meaning of many words are the sum total of the morphemes combined. （Indicate the relationship between word meaning and each morpheme meaning）.

For instance， airmail means to “mail by air”， miniskirt is “a small skirt”。There are a lot of words whose structures are opaque， their meanings are not the combinations of the separate words.

Semantic Motivation——refers to the mental associations suggested by the conceptual meaning of a word. It explained the connection between literal sense and figurative sense of a word）.

E.g. When we say the mouth of a river， we associate the opening part of the river with the mouth of a human being or an animal.

Etymological Motivation——The history of the word explains the meaning of the word. （Indicate the relationship between word meaning and its origin）.

E.g. the word ’laconic’ meaning ’brief’ or ’short’ is derived from Laconic， a tribe of people who were known for their ’brevity of speech’ and for their habit of never using more words than necessary.

Hence a laconic answer is a ’short answer’。

All the words communized from proper nouns can be interpreted in terms of their origins.Types of meaning （领会，运用）

Word-formation is not monogamous but a composite consisting of different parts.

Grammatical meaning – refer to that part of the meaning of the word which indicates grammatical concept or relationships， such as part of speech of words， singular and plural meanings of nouns， tense meaning of verbs and their inflectional forms.

Grammatical meaning becomes important only used in actual context.

Different Lexical meaning may have different grammatical meaning.

The same word may have different grammatical meaning.

Functional words， though having little lexical meaning， posses strong grammatical meaning， content words have both meanings and lexical meaning in particular.Lexical meaning —— is constant in all the words within or without context related to the notion that the word conveys.

It has two components conceptual meaning and associative meaning.

Lexical meaning and grammatical meaning make up the word-meaning.

Grammatical meaning surfaces only in use.Conceptual meaning （denotative meaning） – the meaning given in the dictionary and forms the core of word-meaning.

It is constant and relative stable. Conceptual meaning forms the basis for communication.

e.g. The sun rises in the East. the “sun”Associative meaning – the secondary meaning supplemented to the conceptual meaning.

It is open-ended and indeterminate

Connotative meaning （connotation） —— the overtones or association suggested by the conceptual meaning. It is not an essential part of the word- meaning， but associations that might occur in the mind of a particular use in the language.

e.g. Mother——a female parent —— love， care， tenderness， forgivingHome —— a dwelling place —— family， friends， warmth， safety.

It is unstable varying considerably according to situations.

Stylistic meaning – stylistic features make the words appropriate for different contexts.

（informal， formal， literary， archaic. slang）

e.g. pregnant， expecting， knock up， in the club，The stylistic difference is true of synonyms.

There are few words have both the same Conceptual meaning and Stylistic meaning.

分析：

1. they chucked a stone at the cops， and then did a bunk with the loot.

2. after costing a stone at the police， they absconded with the money.The stylistic feature of words are obvious.

Sentence 1 could be said by 2 criminals， all the words used in italics are slangy， sentence 2 might be said by the chief inspector in making his official report and the words used are literary （cast， abscond） or neutral （police， money）.

Affective meaning – the speaker’s attitude towards the person or thing in question.

Interjections are affective words as they are expression of emotions.

Words that have emotive values may fall into two categories：

appreciative and pejorative.

Words of positive overtones are used show appreciation or the attitude of approval.

Those of negative connotations imply disapproval， contempt or criticism.Affective meaning varies from individual to individual， from culture to culture …

e.g. revolution， democracy， imperialism，dog loyalty， faithfulness， a close companion （western）useful animal （Chinese）Collocative meaning – the associations a word acquires in its collocation.

It is that part of the word—meaning suggested by the word before or after the word in discussion.

There is some overlaps between the collcations of the two words.

e.g. pretty and handsome = goodlooking

pretty woman stress the attractiveness of facial feature.

handsome woman may not be facial beautiful， yet is attractive in other respects.

tremble/quiver = shake involuntary

tremble with fear/quiver with excitement

Function： Collocative meaning overlaps with stylistic and affective meanings because in a sense both stylistic and affective meanings are revealed by means of collocations.

Form – by form we mean both its pronunciation and spelling.

A word is the combination of form and meaning. Form is the carrier of meaning.

第六章Chapter 6 Sense Relations and Semantic Field

1. Polysemy（识记） —polysemy is a common feature peculiar to all natural languages.

When a words is first coined， it always monosemic， but tin the course of development ， the same word may have two or more different meanings.

e.g. The word “flight” may mean “passing through the air”， “power of flying”， “air of journey”， etc.Two approaches（识记）

Diachronic approach – Diachronically， polysemy is assumed to be the result of growth and development of the semantic structure of one and same word.

This first meaning is the primary meaning.

With the advance of time and the development of language， it took on more and more meanings. These latter meanings are called derived meanings.

E.g. faceThe primary meaning gave birth to new meaning.

The primary meaning become either absolute or disappeared altogether

E.g. harvest time of cutting reaping and gathering the crops

a season’s yield of grain or fruitPain penalty or punishment pains and penaltyupon/under pain of sufferingSynchronic approach – synchronically， polysemy is viewed as the coexistent of various meaning of the same word in a certain historical period of time.

The basic meaning of a word is the core of word meaning.

The core of word meaning called the central meaning （secondary meaning）.

The central meaning has gradually dimished in currency with the changes and one of the derived meanings has become dominant. E.g. gay

Two process of development（领会）

Radiation – a semantic process which shows that the primary meaning stands at the center and each of the derived meanings proceed out of in every direction like rays.

The meanings are independent of one another， but can all be tracked back to the central meaning.

e.g. Neck

1） That part of a man or animal jointing the head to the body

2） That part of the garments

3） The neck of an animal used as food

4） A narrow part between the head and body or base of any object

5） The part of anythingOf the 5 meanings

1） is the primary and all the rest are derived but each of the other four is directly related to 1）. Therefore， we say neck has developed through the process of radiation.

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 finally developed and that which the tern had at the begining.

e.g. candidate

1） White-robed

2） Office seeker in white gouns

3） A person who seeks an office

4） A person proposed for a place， award， etc.Of the 4 meanings，

1） is the primary meaning and the other three are derived， but each of the derived meaning is only directly related to the preceding one and there is no direct connection between

1） and 4）. Therefore， we say candidate has developed through the process of concatenation.

Difference

Radiation is concatenation is closely related， being different stages of the development leading to polysemy.

Radiation， each of the derived meaning is directly connected to the primary meaning.

Concatenation， each of the later meaning is related only to the preceding one like chains.

Though the latest sense can be tracked to the original， there’s no direct connection in between.

The two processes work together， complementing each other.Radiation precedes concatenation.2.Homonyms——are generally defined as words different in meaning but either identical both in sound and spelling or identical only in sound or spelling.

Perfect Homonyms——are words identical both in sound and spelling， but different in meaning.

e.g. bank/bankbear/beardate/dateHomographs——are words identical only in spelling but different in sound and meaning.

e.g. Bow/bowSow/sowHomophones （most common）——are words identical only in sound but different in spelling and meaning.

e.g. Dear/dearRight/riteSon/sunOrigins of Homonyms （识记）

1. Change in sound and spelling （homonyms are native by origin， derived from different earlier forms in Old English. The change in sound and spelling gradually made then identical in modern English.）e.g. ear/earlong/long

2. Borrowing （many words of foreign origin coincide in sound and/or spelling with those of native origin with those of other foreign origin.）e.g. fair/fairball/ball

3. Shortening （many shortened forms of words happen to be identical with other words in spelling or sound）e.g. ad/addrock/rockNOW/now

Differentiation of Homonyms and polysemants （领会）

Perfect homonyms and polysemants are fully identical regard to spelling and pronunciation.

Homonyms refer to different word， which happen to share the same forms. Polysemant is the one and some word， which has several meanings.

One important criterion is to see their etymology. Homonyms are from different sources. A polysemant is from the same source， which has acquired different meaning in the course of development.The second principle is semantic relatedness.

The various meanings of a polysemant are correlated and connected to some central meaning to a greater or less degree. Meanings of different homonyms have nothing to do with one another.Rhetoric featureThey create puns for desired effect of， say， humour， sarcasm or ridicule.

3.Synonyms—are words different in sound and spelling but most nearly alike or exactly the same in meaning. Synonyms share a likeness in denotation and in part of speech.Types of Synonyms

1.Absolute （Complete） Synonyms——are words， which are identical in meaning in all its aspects，

i.e. both in grammatical meaning and lexical meaning， including conceptual and associative meanings. Absolute （Complete） Synonyms are restricted to high-specialized vocabulary.

For instance， composition / compounding. They have the perfect same meaning in Lexicology.

2.Relative （Near） synonyms——are similar or nearly the same in denotation but embrace different shades of meaning or different degrees of a given quality.

e.g. Change/alter/varyTake stagger/reel/totter for example.

Stagger implies unsteady movement characterized by a loss of balance and failure to maintain a fixed course.

E.g. stagger under a heavy load；Reel suggests a swaying or lurching so as to appear on the verge of falling.

E.g. The drunken man reeled down the hall；Totter indicates the uncertain， faltering steps of a feeble old person or of an infant learning to walk.

Sources of Synonyms。

Borrowing： （the most important source）Native ForeignRoom chamberFoe enemyHelp aidLeave departWise sageBodily corporalEarthly terrestrialWarlike bellicoseBuy purchase Native French LatinAsk question interrogateFast firm secureFire flame conflagrationFear terror trepidationHoly sacred consecratedGoodness virtue probityTime age epoch。

Dialects and regional English：Railway （BrE） railroad （AmE）Mother （BrE） minny （ScotE）Charm （BrE） glamour （ScotE）Ranch （AmE） run （AusE）Job （StandE） gig （BlackE）Jim （BlachE） mal person （StandE）。

Figurative「a. 比喻的，象征的」 and euphemistic

「a.委婉的」use of words：Occupation walk of life （fig.）Dreamer star-gazer （fig.）Drunk elevated （euph.）Lie distort the fact （euph.）。

Coincidence with idiomatic expressions：Win gain the upper handDecide make up one’s mindFinish get throughHesitate be in two mindsHelp lend one a handDiscrimination of Synonyms （运用）

1） Difference in denotation： differ in the range and intensity of meaning.Range （some words have a wider range of meaning than others）

e.g. timid——timorousTimid is applied to the state of minds in which a person may happen to be at the moment， ant to the habitual disposition.

Timorous is only to the disposition.

Comprehend/ understandextend—increase—expand

The owner of the restaurant is going to extend the kitchen by ten feet this year.

The company has decided to increase its sales by ten percent next year.

The metal will expand if heated.Extent increase expandDiffer in degree of intensity

e.g. wealth—rich

The wealth person is to posses more money and property than a rich man.

work – toilWork is a general term having no special implications as ’light’ or ’heavy’， and ’mental’ or ’ physical’。Toil suggests ’heavy and tiring work’， associated with more with manual than mental labor.want—wish—desire

Want is the most general and has the widest range of meaning.

Wish and desire are much narrow in sense.

2） Difference in connotation： differ in the stylistic and emotive coloring.

Some words share the same denotation but differ in their stylistic appropriateness.

E.g.The words borrowed from French and Latin are more formal than native words.

These borrowings are more appropriate formal and technical writing.

policeman – constable – bobby – cop

policeman（neutral） – constable（neutral） – bobby（colloquial） – cop（slangy）ask —— beg —— requestask （neutral）； beg （colloquial）； request （formal）archaic and poetic， which are self-suggestive.

e.g. ire/anger， bliss/happiness，forlorn/distressed，dire/dreadful，list/listen，enow/enough，save/expect，mere/lake and such like are all synonyms， but in each the second is standard in usage whereas the first one is old-fashioned and archaic， only found in poetry， earlier writing， etc.Many synonyms have clear affective valuesresult – consequenceresult（neutral ） – consequence（negative implication）big – greatbig（the bigness of size， volume and so on， without any emotive coloring） – great（suggest distinguished， eminent， outstanding）

little – small – tinylittle （attractiveness， pleasantness）– small（not big） – tiny（abnormal growth of the child）

3） Difference in application：

differ in usage.Many words are synonyms in meaning but different in usage in simple terms. They form different collocations and fit into different sentence patterns.

E.g.allow – letallow sb to so sth. – let sb. do sth.answer – replyanswer（transitive v.） the letter – reply（intransitive v.） to the lettersense – meaningHe is a man of sense.empty —— vacant

empty box/street/room （no one or nothing inside） ； vacant seat/chair/apartment（not occupied）lump – slice – chunk – sheet –cakea lump sugar– a slice of meat – a chunk of wood – a sheet of paper –a cake of soap

4.Antonymy——is concerned with semantic opposition.Antonyms——are words which are opposite in meaning.Types of Antonyms （according to the semantic opposition ）

1） Contradictory terms – these antonyms are truly represent oppositeness of meaning. They are so opposed to each other that they are mutually exclusive and admit no possibility between them. They assertion of one is the denial of the other.

E.g. alive—dead， present——absent， male – female， boy – girl， true – false， same – different， imperfect – perfect

Such antonyms are non-gradable.

They can not be used in comparative degrees and do not allow adverbs like “very” to qualify them. Single/married特点：对立的/不可分级

2） Contrary terms —— a scale running between two poles or extremes. The two opposites are gradable and one exists in comparison with the other.

E.g. rich——（well-to-do）——poor； old – （middle-aged） —— young， open – （ajar）—close， beautiful – （good-looking） –（plain） – ugly，hot——（warm， cool）——coldverbs.

E.g. love – （attachment） – （liking） – （indifferent） – （antipathy） —— hate

3） Relative terms – consist of relational oppositeness.

The pairs of words indicate such a social relationship that one of them can not be used without suggesting the other， the type is also reverse terms.

The two words of each pair interdependent.

E.g. parent——child； husband——wife； predecessor – successor， employer —— employeesell—buy， give –receive，方位词difference between relative terms and contradictory terms

there is an absolute opposite between relative terms and contradictory terms.

In the case of relative terms， the opposition is only relational.

contradictory terms – e.g. if the adult is not a man， then the adult must be a woman.

relative terms – the opposition is relational.

the characteristics of antonyms

1）. Antonyms are classified on the basis of semantic opposition.

形容词 （most） —— 动词 – 名词（least）

There are a great many more synonyms than antonyms.

Words denoting nature， quality or state of things have many antonyms.

This accounts for the large number of antonyms are adjectives.

2）. A word which has more than one meaning can have more than one antonym.

e.g. fast – firm/secure loosequick slow

pleasure-seeking/wild sober

bull —— boring interesting

She became dull and silent during the last part of the journey.

livelydull weather sunny

dull noise sharpdull pain acutethese factors affect both intelligent and dull children.

Intelligent

3） Antonyms differ in semantic inclusion.

Pairs of antonyms are seen as marked and unmarked terms.

One member is more specific than the other and the meaning of the specific is included in that of the general.

e.g. man – womanThere has been no man in the island. （man signifies human being， including women， but not vice versa）.

dog ——娃哈哈

male/ female dog

tall—shortHow tall is his brother？ （includes the meaning of next one）How short is his brother？ （more restricted in sense）

4）. Contrary terms are gradable antonyms， differing in degree of intensity， so each has its own corresponding opposition.

e.g. hot – cold， warm – cool， rich – poor， destitute – opulent

Some words can have two different types of antonyms at the same time， one being negative and the other opposite.

e.g. happy—unhappy-sadproductive—unproductive—destructivefree——unfree-enslavedthe use of antonyms。

Antonyms have various practical uses and have long proved helpful and valuable in defining the meanings of words.

fresh bread – stale bread， fresh air – stuff air， fresh flower – faded flower， fresh look – tired look。 Antonyms are useful to express economically the opposition of a particular thought， often for the sake of contrast. They look neat and pleasant， and sound rhythmic.。 Many idioms are formed with antonyms. They look neat and pleasant， and sound rhythmic.

Rain and shine无论如何

Here and there到处

Weal and woe祸福

Friend and foe敌友

Now or never机不可失

Thick and thin不顾艰难，险阻

High and low到处

Give an take互让，平等

Antonyms are often used to form antithesis to achieve emphasis by putting contrasting idea together.

Easy come， easy go. 来的易，去得快。

More haste， less speed. 欲速则不达。

United we stand， divided we fall.团结则存，分裂则亡。

5.Hyponymy——deals with the relationship of semantic inclusion.

That is， the meaning of a more specific word is included in that of another more general word.

These specific words are known as hyponyms（下义词）.

For instance， tulip and rose are hyponyms of flower.

The general word flower is the superordinate term（上义词） and the specific ones tulip and rose are the subordinate terms（下义词）.

Hyponymy can be descried in terms of tree-like graph， with higher-order superordinates above the lower subordinates.

The sense relation of hyponymy is very helpful in both receptive and productive processing of language.

In reading comprehension， coherence by hyponymy is an important key.

In production， knowing the semantic features of the hyponyms and their superordinates can help us achieve vividness， exactness， and concreteness.

The status either as superordinate and sobordinate is relative to other terms.

6. semantic field我觉得在背名词解释的同时，不要忘了记住一些例子。考试的时候，经常会有这样的题目。

第七章 Chapter 7 Changes in Word Meaning Vocabulary is the most unstable element of a language as it is under-going constant changes both in form and content.

The content is even more unstable than the forms.

Word-meaning changes by modes if extension， narrowing， degradation， elevation and transfer.

of these， extension and narrowing are by far the most common.

1.Extension （generalization）——is a term referring to the widening of meaning. It is a process by which a word， which originally had a specialized meaning， has now become generalized.

Word old meaning now meaning

Manuscript handwriting any author’s writing whether written by hand or typed

with a type-writer or a word-processor

Fabulous resembling a fable incredible， marvelousBarn a place for storing only barley storeroom

Picture painting include “drawings” and even “photographs”。

Mill place for grinding into flour place where things are made

Journal daily paper periodical

Butcher one who kills goats one who kills animals

Companion one who shares bread a company。

A large proportion of polysemic words of modern English have their meanings extended sometimes in the course of development.

Some words are generalized to such an extent that they can mean almost anything.

Word old meaning now meaning

Thing a public assembly or a council anythingBusiness， concern， condition， matter， article， circumstance。

Technical terms

Word old meaning now meaning

Alibi （a legal term） plea that the accused is not at the place excuseWhen the crime is committedAllergic （a medical term） too sensitive to medicine averse or disinclined toFeedback （computer term） response。 From proper nounsWord old meaning now meaningLynch the Lynch’s Law kill without lawful trialSandwish a gambler’s name to denote a kind of fast place or squeeze betweenFood

Vandal a member of an East Germanic tribe malicious destruction of a thing

A person of such behaviourV. vandalizeAdj. Vandalic/vandalisticn. vandalization/vandalism

2. Narrowing （specialization） ——is a term referring to the shrinking of meaning.

It is a process by which a word of wide meaning acquires a narrower or specialized sense.

Word old meaning now meaningDeer animalCorn grain maizeGarage any safe place a place for storing carsLiquor liquid alcoholic drinkDisease discomfort illnessPoison drink poisonous drink

Wife woman a married woman

Accident event unfortunate event

Girl young person of either sex female young person。

Turn into a proper nounsThe City business center of London

The Peninsula Iberian Peninsula

The Prophet Mohammed。

For economy， some phrases are shortened and only one element of the original is left to retain the meaning of the whole.

e.g. a private = a private solidera general = a general officeran editorial = an editorial article。 Material nounsWord old meaning now meaningSilver silver dollarsGlass cup-like container or mirrorIron device for smoothing clothe

Mill place for grinding into flour place where things are made

Journal daily paper periodical

Butcher one who kills goats one who kills animals

Companion one who shares bread a company。

A large proportion of polysemic words of modern English have their meanings extended sometimes in the course of development.

Some words are generalized to such an extent that they can mean almost anything.

Word old meaning now meaning

Thing a public assembly or a council anythingBusiness， concern， condition， matter， article， circumstance。

Technical termsWord old meaning now meaningAlibi （a legal term） plea that the accused is not at the place excuseWhen the crime is committedAllergic （a medical term） too sensitive to medicine averse or disinclined toFeedback （computer term） response。

From proper nouns

Word old meaning now meaning

Lynch the Lynch’s Law kill without lawful trial

Sandwish a gambler’s name to denote a kind of fast place or squeeze betweenFoodVandal a member of an East Germanic tribe malicious destruction of a thingA person of such behaviourV. vandalizeAdj. Vandalic/vandalisticn. vandalization/vandalism

2. Narrowing （specialization） ——is a term referring to the shrinking of meaning. It is a process by which a word of wide meaning acquires a narrower or specialized sense.

Word old meaning now meaningDeer animalCorn grain maize

Garage any safe place a place for storing cars

Liquor liquid alcoholic drink

Disease discomfort illness

Poison drink poisonous drink

Wife woman a married woman

Accident event unfortunate event

Girl young person of either sex female young person。

Turn into a proper nouns

The City business center of London

The Peninsula Iberian Peninsula

The Prophet Mohammed。

For economy， some phrases are shortened and only one element of the original is left to retain the meaning of the whole.

e.g. a private = a private solidera general = a general officeran editorial = an editorial article。 Material nounsWord old meaning now meaningSilver silver dollars

Glass cup-like container or mirrorIron device for smoothing clothes

3.Elevation or amelioration——refers to the process by which words rise from humble beginnings to positions of importance.

Word old meaning now meaningNice ignorant —— foolish delightful， pleasantMarshal / constable keeper of horses high-ranking army officer / policemenAngle messenger messenger of GodKnight servant rank below baronetEarl men count

Governor pilot head of a stateFond foolish affectionateMinister servant head of ministryShrewd evil， wickedness smartNimble be good at taking things without permission smartChamberlain servant high official of royal courtsSuccess result

4. Degradation or pejoration of meaning ——It is a process whereby words of good origin fall into ill reputation or non-affective words come to be used in derogatory sense.

Word old meaning now meaningBoor peasant rude， ill-mannered personChurl peasant / free man uncultivated or mean person

Wench country girl prostituteHussy housewife woman of low moralsVillain person who worked in a villa evil or wicked person or scoundrelSilly happy foolishKnave boy dishonest personLewd ignorant lecherous

Criticize appraise find fault withLust pleasure sexual desire

5. Transfer —— words which were used to designate on thing but later changed to mean something else.Word old meaning now meaningPaper an African plant papyrus。 Associated transfer

E.g. the lip of a woundThe tongue of a bellThe nose of a planePurse for money， dish for food， glass for cup。 Between abstract and concrete meaning

Word old meaning now meaning

Aftermath second crop of grass after mowing consequence， resultHope

e.g. Clinton is the hope of the family.。

Between subject and objective meaning

Word old meaning now meaning

Pitiful full of pity deserving pityDreadful / hateful subject meaning objective meaningFearful/ doubtful / suspicious subject and objective meaning。

Transfer of sensationsE.g. clear-sounding （from sight to hearing）

Loud colours （from hearing to sight）

Sweet music （from taste to hearing）

6. Extra-linguistic Factors1. Historical reason

A word is retained for a name though the meaning has changed because the reference has changed.

Word old meaning now meaningPen featherCar two-wheel cart drown by horses and used automobilein warComputer person who computes electronic machine。

Increased scientific knowledge and discovery are also important factors

Word old meaning now meaning

Sun the luminous heavenly body-one of the star around which the earth and other planets revolve

seven planets revolving around the earthAtom any of the indivisible particles not the smallest and can be divided into even smallerparticles

2. Class reason. Language is just like a mirror， reflecting everything that exists in human society. It records the speech and attitude of different social classes.

As a result， different social varieties of language have come into being.

Word old meaning now meaningChurl， hussy， wench， villain ill-mannered or bad peopleDemocracy， revolution， liberalism， human rights， communism different meaning in different societies and to differentPeople

3. Psychological reason.

The associated transfer of meaning and euphemistic use of words are often due to psychological factors. people change word-meaning owing to various psychological.

Religious influence is another kind psychological need.

Word old meaning now meaningCopperhead a venomous snake

7. Linguistic factors

1. ShorteningGold for gold medalGas for coal gasBulb for light bulbPrivate for private solider

2. BorrowingDeer / animal / beastPig / pork， sheep / mutton， cattle / beefBird / fowl， dog / hound， boy / knave， chair / stool

3. AnalogyFortuitous happening by chance， acident fortunateFruition a pleasure obtaining from using or possessing something

词汇学并不是很难过，至少是比较死的东西，背背书就可以了。但要是想pass的话，整本书看是芍药看过三遍。否则不可能过的。看书的过程中会有新的知识点出现，千万不要漏记哦！