1、English LexicologyChapter 1 Basic concepts of words and vocabulary1AbstractvThis chapter gives a scientific definition of a word, discusses the relationship between sound and meaning, between sound and form, between words and vocabulary, puts forward the three main principles of lexical classificati
2、on and elaborates on the features of basic word stock and non-basic vocabulary, content words and functional words, native words and borrowed words.2Main pointvdefinition of a wordvsound and meaningvsound and formvvocabulary vclassification or wordsvbasic word stock and non-basic vocabularyvcontent
3、words and functional wordsvnative words and borrowed words3What is a word?vA minimal free form of a languagevA sound unityvA unit of meaningvA form that can function alone in a sentence4Definition of the wordvA word is a minimal free form of a language that has a given sound and meaning and sentence
4、 function. 5Another definition of the wordvA combination of vocal sounds, or one such sound, used in a language to express an idea (e.g. to denote a thing, attribute, or relation), and constituting an ultimate minimal element of speech having a meaning as such; a vocable（以语音、字母为单位而不以意义为单位的）词，词外壳. He
5、idi Harley, English words, blackwell Publishing, 20066One more definition of the wordvAn uninterruptible unit of structure consisting of one or more morphemes, which typically occurs in the structure of phrases. Howard Jackson, Words, meaning and vocabulary, Cassell Wellington House, 20007Lexical an
6、d grammatical wordsvLexical words: nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. vThey have fairly independent meanings and may be meaningful even in isolation or in a series.vGrammatical words are elements like propositions, articles, conjunctions, forms indicating number or tense, and so on. 8Characteris
7、tics of the wordvThe word is an uninterruptible unit.vThe word may consist one or more morphemes.vThe word occurs typically in the structure of phrases.vThe word should belong to a specific word class or part of speech.9Simple and complex wordsvSimple words word, and, if, we, thus, that, these, the,
8、 have, come, go, end, us, sum, sound, meanvComplex words development, freely, different, differently, basically, meaning, misunderstand, misunderstanding, commonly, speaker blackboard, classroom, textbook, viewpoint, go-between, sportsman, sportsmanship, sportwoman10What is a Chinese morpheme(语素) ?v
9、语素是最小的语音语义结合体，是最小的语言单位。语素是构词的单位。语素也是构成成语、熟语等固定词组的基础。v汉语语素的语音形式是音节，书面形式是汉字。 (胡裕树，现代汉语，P194-5)v词和语素都是语言单位；字是记录语言的符号，是书写单位。v语素分类v单音节语素，读出来是一个音节，写下来是一个汉字。单音节语素在汉语里活动能量大，具有很大的构词能力。v双音节语素，读出来是两个音节，写下来是两个汉字，但只表示一个意义。v多音节语素，基本上是音译的外来词。（黄伯荣，现代汉语，甘肃人民出版社，1983）11What is a Chinese morpheme(语素) ?v语素是音义相结合的最小的语言单
10、位。v一般地说，一个语素就是一个音节，书面上就是一个汉字，有时侯还是一个词。但是音节是从语音学角度分析的结果，文字是书面记录的符号，语素则是语言中构词的基本成份，词是指音义相结合的能够独立运用的最小的语言单位。这四者角度不同，并不是一回事。v1、同一个汉字，可以代表不同的语素。v汉字虽然相同，但读音不同：会议/会计v汉字和读音都相同，但是词性不同：老人/老虎/老是捣乱v汉字、读音和词性都相同，但是意义不同：公家/公牛v2、汉语的语素绝大多数是单音节的，但有时侯，一个汉字并不代表一个语素，只代表一个音节，也就是说，一个语素也可以是两个以上音节。v连绵词：磅礴；口语词：尴尬；音译词：咖啡，奥林匹克
11、v3、有时侯，一个汉字在不同场合，有的是语素，有的不是语素。v马匹（语素）/马达（非语素） （邵敬敏，现代汉通论，上海教育出版社，2001，P113-4）12What is a Chinese word?v词，是意义单纯，语音形式独立、完整、固定，而且其中没有停顿的语言建筑材料单位。（邢公畹，现代汉语教程，南开大学出版社，P119）v词是比语素高一级的语言单位。 (胡裕树，现代汉语，P198)v词是代表一定的意义、具有固定的语音形式、可以独立运用的最小的结构单位。 (胡裕树，现代汉语，P203)v词，是指一定的语音形式跟一定词汇意义相结合，并且可以独立运用的最小的语言单位。v（邵敬敏，现代汉通
12、论，上海教育出版社，2001，P115-6 ）13What is a Chinese word?v语素不等于词，它们的区别主要是两点：第一，语素的意义不太明确，也不太稳定。第二，更加重要的是语素不能独立运用，也不能自由地跟其他词语组合。但是由于古代汉语中一单音节的词为主，有些语言单位，在某些场合就很难确定了。v语素以单音节为主，词则以多音节为主。v词语有明显的双音节化趋势。v合成词的内部构造跟短语的构造大致一致。 （邵敬敏，现代汉通论，上海教育出版社，2001，P115-6 ）v词和语素都表示意义，但是词表示的意义比较明确、固定，而语素表示的意义往往不大具体，或不很固定。v现代汉语里的语素，多
13、数是从古代汉语的词演变来的。由于受现代汉语构词双音化规律的支配，古代的单音词，许多都转化为现代汉语的语素。 （黄伯荣，现代汉语，甘肃人民出版社，1983）14What is a Chinese phrase(词组)?v词组又叫“短语”，是大于词的语言单位，是由两个或两个以上的实词构成而不成为句子的语言单位。v词和词组的区别：v1、意义上，词表示简单的概念，词组复合的概念。v2、语法功能上，词是句法结构中最小的独立运用的单位，词组也是句法结构中的运用的单位，但不是最小的，可以从中再分析为词的单位。v3、概念的表达上，词所表达的概念一般是比较单纯、固定的，合成词里的语素所表示的意义是融合在一起的，
14、不是简单的相加。v4、成分之间的结合关系上，合成词的各个成分之间，结合关系是很紧密的，不容许随便拆开来，或随意加进什么成分。词组的各个成分之间，结合关系不是很紧密的，可以拆开来解释，也可以加进另一些词。 (胡裕树，现代汉语，P204-5)15What is a Chinese character(字)?v汉字基本上是一种表意文字。v汉字基本上是一种语素文字。v汉字在形体上表现为方块形。v汉字在语音上代表音节。v汉字在书面上不实行分词连写。v总之，现代汉字是一种表意性质的语素文字。这是它区别于纯粹表音的音素文字或音节文字的基本特点。 （邵敬敏，现代汉通论，上海教育出版社，2001）16What
15、is a Chinese character(字)?v汉字是表意性质的文字（字母文字是表音的）。v汉字字形记录的语音单位是音节。v汉字是平面型文字（字母是线性排列的）。v汉字记录汉语不实行分词连写（字母文字词与词是分写，词内连写）。 (胡裕树，现代汉语，P152)v字是能够独立运用的最小的语言单位（注意：汉语语法学家在此有很大分歧，不少人认为是词而不是字是最小的语言单位）。v问题：字是否等于word?17What is a Chinese character(字)?v汉字是形音义的结合体。v字不仅是语法结构基本单位，而且是个语言基本结构单位。v英语词的特点：v1、词是英语的天然单位。v2、词是
16、英语民族认识世界的基本单位。v3、词是语言各个平面研究的交汇点。v4、词在语法上处于承上启下的枢纽位置，是词法与句法的交接点。v汉语中只有字与英语的词有相同的作用。只需将各点中的词改为字即可。 （潘文国，字本位与汉字研究，华东师范大学出版社，2002）18Sound and meaningvA word is a symbol that stands for something else in the world.vEach of the worlds culture has come to agree that certain sounds will represent certain pe
17、rsons, things, places, properties, processes and activities outside the language system. 19Sound and meaningvThis symbolic connection is almost always arbitrary.vThere is no logical relationship between the sound which stands for a thing or an idea and the actual thing and idea itself. Lodwig and Ba
18、rrett, 197320Sound and meaningvBook 书vStudy 学习vPair pear v夜 叶气 汽激光 laser好(ho)吃，好(ho)吃，豪吃我是教授。/ 他会教授我们一些手艺。我们是来投诉/投宿的（西游记：孙悟空语）。 21Sound and formvThe written form of a natural language is the written record of the oral form. vThe written form should agree with the oral form. That is, the sound should
19、 be similar to the form. This is true of English in its earliest stage (Old English), and true of Spanish and Italian, and Esperanto, but always not true of Modern English.22Why the written form is not always similar to the oral form?vThe development of the languagev26 letters from Romans for 46 sou
20、nds in EnglishvThe pronunciation has changed more rapidly than spelling over the years.vSome of the differences were created by the early scribes.23Why the written form is not always similar to the oral form?vPrinting helped to freeze the spelling of words and dictionaries helped to stop spelling ch
21、anges while sounds continued to change, which brought more differences between sound and form.vWord borrowing from other languages, which has enriched English vocabulary, but led to differences between sound and form.24Vocabulary vDefinition All the words in a language All the words use in a particu
22、lar historical period All the words of a given dialect, a given book, a given discipline All the words possessed by an individual person 25Active and Passive VocabularyvActive vocabulary/ productive vocabulary: speaking vocabulary, writing vocabularyvPassive vocabulary/ receptive vocabulary: listeni
23、ng vocabulary, reading vocabulary, guessing vocabulary26Classification of wordsvBasic word stock and non-basic vocabularyvThe basic word stock: 1. the foundation of the vocabulary accumulated over centuries 2. form the common core of the language 3. constitute a small percentage of the English vocab
24、ulary, but it is the most important part of the language. 27Characteristics of basic words1. All national charactervNatuaral phenomenavHuman body and relationsvNames of plants and animalsvAction, size, domain, statevNumerals, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions28Characteristics of basic words2. Sta
25、bility in use for years3. Productivity with affixes and compounding4. Polysemy many meanings5. Collocability set expressions, idiomatic usages, proverbial sayings, etc29Nonbasic wordsvTerminology(术语) technical terms used in particular disciplines and academic arease.g. laser(激光), power(幂) 语法化，语义，释义，
26、例证，二语习得30Nonbasic wordsvJargon(行话行话) specialized vocabularies by which members of particular arts, sciences, trades and professions communicate among themselves a kind of language that is hard to understand because it is full of special words known only to the people of a certain groupe.g. corner ba
27、ll(角球角球), ESP(特殊用途英语特殊用途英语=English for special purposes), answer sheet(答卷答卷) 手球，擦边球手球，擦边球 31Nonbasic wordsvSlang(俚语) sub-standard language, a category that seems to stand between the standard general words including informal ones available to everyone and in-group words like cant, jargon, and argot,
28、 all of which are associated with, or most available to, specific groups of the population. e.g. buck(美元), go bananas(发疯) 捣浆糊，粉丝，月光族32Nonbasic wordsvArgot(隐语，黑话) jargon of criminals a kind of speech spoken and understood by a small class of people, especially criminals, such as thieves, robbers, etc
29、e.g. can-opener(万能钥匙，开罐刀具) 把他做了，趟混水 33Nonbasic wordsvDialectal words(方言词) words used only by speakers of the dialect in questione.g. hame (=home, Scottish English) 摆龙门阵，侃大山34Nonbasic wordsvArchaisms(古旧词语) words of forms that were once in common use but are now restricted only to specialized or limit
30、ed usee.g. marquis(侯爵), quean(a badly behaved woman) 太监，朝廷，朕35Nonbasic wordsvNeologisms(新词语) newly-created/coined words or expressions, or words that have taken on new meanings sometimes call vogue words, meaning they are newly popular and much usede.g. futurology(未来学), bionics(仿生学), disproduct(水货，伪
31、劣产品) 爽，酷，旧闻，超女，超男，沙发博客播客，黑客，晒客，海归海派，海漂 36Nonbasic wordsvNonce words(临时词)vNew words are being invented on introduced all the time. Sometimes a new word is produced by a single person only, in some special situations. These words are call nonce words, that is, words coined for one occasion, and never
32、occur again, also call nonce formation.e.g. yo-yo(摇摆), non-U(行为土气的，U代表upper class)保先（保持先进性），传单（传染性单核细胞增多症），德福，面的，特嫌（特务嫌疑），曌37v水门：艳照门, 短信门，偷税门（杭州女装），手机门，解说门（黄健翔），离婚门（影视明星的），点球门（孙继海没犯规却被罚的：08-3-31）罢飞门（08-4-2，东航18飞行员返航），返航门（4.6同一事件），口误门（中央台播音员播错澳大利亚首都为悉尼）38Nonbasic wordsvColloquialism(俗词)vUsed in ordin
33、ary, familiar, or informal conversationse.g. daddy, mommy, tell of(批评), brolly(伞) 打的，大巴，爹地，妈咪39Nonbasic wordsvVulgarisms(粗俗词)vWords not usually used by educated personse.g. bloody(该死的，非常的=damned), gen(先生=gentleman), shit(放屁，呸) 靠，他妈的(TMD)40Content and functional wordsvContent words denote clear notio
34、ns and thus are known as notional words: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and numerals, which denote objects, phenomena, action, quality, state, degree, quantity, etc constitute the main body of the English vocabulary numerous the number is ever growing e.g. door, chair, work, begin, active, occasi
35、onally41Content and functional wordsvFunctional words not have notions of their own also called empty words express the relation between notions, the relation between words and sentences known as form words make up a small number of the English vocabulary remain stable do far more work of expression
36、 in English on average than content wordse.g. to, the, a, this, and, will, ought to, according to, within, beneath 42Native and borrowed wordsvNative words words brought to Britain in the 5th century by the German tribes: the Anglos, the Saxons, the Jutes known as Anglo-Saxon words 5000 to 60000 for
37、m the mainstream of the basic word stock and stand at the core of the languagee.g. rise, walk, work, run, begin, do, break, fight, swim, win, help, stand, gather, follow, shall, will43Characteristics of native words1. All national character2. Stability 3. Productivity 4. Polysemy 5. Collocability Th
38、e above five characteristics are the same as basic words44Characteristics of native words6. Neutral in style denote the commonest things in human society used by all people, in all places, on all occasions, and at all times not stylistically specifice.g. bright (E) brilliant (F) force (E) compel (F)
39、 45Characteristics of native words7. Frequent in use most frequently used in everyday speech and writing the percentage of native words in use runs usually as high as 70 to 90 percent 46Characteristics of native wordsAuthor or bookNative words%Foreign words%Spenser 8614Shakespeare 9010King James Bib
40、le946Milton 8119Swift 8020Johnson 7228Gibbon 7030Tennyson 881247Borrowed words vLoan words / borrowings The English language has vast debts. In any dictionary some 80% of the entries are borrowed. Encyclopedia Americana, 1980, Vol. 10, p.42348Classifications of borrowed wordsvDenizens borrowed early
41、 in the past and now are well assimilated into English have come to conform to the English way of pronunciation and spelling e.g. pork porc (F) port portus (L)49Classifications of borrowed wordsvAliens borrowed words which have retained their original pronunciation and spelling e.g. kowtow (Chinese)
42、 bazaar (义卖会） (Persian)50Classifications of borrowed wordsvTranslation-loans words and expressions formed from the existing material in the English language but modeled on the patterns taken from another language e.g. words translated according to the meaning mother tongue lingua materna (L) black h
43、umour humour noir (F) words translated according to the sound lama (Tibetan) tzar (Russian)51Classifications of borrowed wordsvSemantic loans words not borrowed with reference to the form their meanings are borrowed that is, English has borrowed a new meaning for an existing word in the language e.g
44、. dumb (stupid) dumm (German)52Questions and tasksv5. What is vocabulary? Vocabulary is most commonly used to refer to the sum of all the words of a language. It can also refer to all the words of a given dialect, a given book, a given subject and all the words possessed by an individual person as w
45、ell as all the words current in a particular period of time in history. 53Questions and tasksvIllustrate the relationship between sound and meaning with examples.vSound is the physical aspect of a word and meaning is what the sound refer to. Sound and meaning are not intrinsically related and their
46、connection is arbitrary and conventional. For example, tree /tri:/ refers to 树 in English, because the English-speaking people have agreed to do so just as Chinese people use /shu/ to refer to the same thing. This explains why people of different languages use different sound to express the same con
47、cept. Even in the same language, the same sound can have different meaning, e.g. pear and pair. 54Questions and tasksvExplain neologisms with examples.vNeologisms are newly-created words or old words with new meanings. For example, in the fast-developing information era, a large number of new terms
48、are created in computer science, such as internet, email, data bank, cyberspace, which are brand-new words. There are also old words which have acquired new meaning, such as mouse（鼠标）, monitor（监视器）, etc.55Questions and tasksvHow do you account for the role of native words in English in relation to l
49、oan-words?vNative words are those of Anglo-Saxon origin, which are small in number. Loan-words are borrowed from other languages. It is estimated loan-words constitute 80% of the modern English vocabulary. Native words cannot compare with loan-words in number, but have a more important role in the l
50、anguage. Native words form the mainstream of the basic word stock whereas only a limited number of borrowed words belong to the common core. 56Additional Exercises vI. True or falseva. A word can be defined in different ways from different points of views.vb. Under no circumstances can sound and mea
