自考英语词汇学学习资料.docx

自考英语词汇学学习资料.docx

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自考英语词汇学学习资料

Chapterone

ThedefinitionofWord:

（thetwooftenquoteddefinitionsfromBloomfieldandanoutstandingFrenchlinguist,AntoineMeillet.）

Bloomfield:

“somelinguisticforms,whichwecallboundformsareneverusedassentences.Awordthen,isafreeformwhichdoesnotconsistentirelyof（twoormore）lesserfreeforms.Inbelief,awordisaminimumfreeform.”

AntoineMeillet:

“Awordisdefinedbytheassociationofagivensensewithagivengroupofsoundscapableofagivengrammaticaluse.”

Inbrief,awordmaybedefinedasafundamentalunitofspeechandaminimumfreeform;withaunityofsoundandmeaning（bothlexicalandgrammaticalmeaning）capableofperformingagivensyntacticfunction..[sinˈtæktik] 句法的

Allthewordsinalanguagetogetherconstitutewhatisknownasitsvocabulary.

TheDevelopmentofEnglishVocabulary

1.OldEnglish（449-1100）OE

ThehistoryoftheEnglishlanguagebeginswiththeconquestandsettlementofwhatisnowEnglandbytheAngloSaxon,whichreplacedtheCelticspokenbytheformerinhabitants.

Thenextsevenhundredyears（449-1100）areknownastheOldEnglish（OE）orAnglo-Saxon（AS）periodoftheEnglishlanguage.

Thevocabulary:

FiftyorSixtythousandwords,whichwerechieflyAnglo-SaxonwithasmallmixtureofOldNorsewords.

LongbeforetheinvasionofEngland,Anglos-SaxonborrowedaconsiderablenumberofLatiinwordsandthencontinuedtoadoptwordsduringtheOldEnglishperiod,especiallyaftertheintroductionofChristianityintoBritainin579.

2.MiddleEnglish（1100-1500）ME

ThetransitionalperiodfromOldEnglishtoModernEnglishisknownasMiddleEnglish,whichischaracterizedbythestronginfluenceofFrenchfollowingtheNormanConquestin1066.

SincetheFrench-speakingNormansweretherulingclass,Frenchwasusedforallstateaffairsandformostsocialandculturalmatters;butthemassescontinuedtospeakEnglish.Onlytowardthe15thcenturydidEnglishbecomeoncemorethelanguageofthewholecountry.

3.ModernEnglish（1500-thepresent）

TheEnglishlanguagefrom1500tothepresentiscalledModernEnglish.

IntheearlystageofModernEnglish（1500-1700）theRenaissance[riˈnæsns] broughtgreatchangestothevocabulary.

TherenewedstudyofGreekintheRenaissancenotonlyledtotheborrowingofGreekwordsindirectlythroughthemediumofLatin,butalsoledtotheintroductionofsomeGreekwordsdirectlyintotheEnglishvocabulary.

Fromthe16thcenturyonward,Englishborrowedwordsfromanincreasingnumberoflanguages,themajoronesbeingthethreeRomancelanguages,French,SpanishandItalian.

French:

attaché,charged’affairs,café.

Italian:

（music,artandarchitecture）concert,duet,piano,solo,tenor;model,studio;dome,piazza.

Spanish:

armada,cargo,cocoa,cigar.

EnglishalsoadoptedwordsfromotherEuropeanlanguages.Portuguese（caste,pagoda）,German（bismuth,cobalt,nickelandzinc）;Dutch（dock,freight,keel）;Russian（Vodka,troika,rubleandtsar）

Attheturnofthe19thand20thcenturies,asaresultofexploration,colonizationandtrade,manywordscameinfromnon-Europeanlanguages.

Example:

boomerang,kangaroo,dingo（Australian）

Sugar,sultan,alcohol（Arabic）

Coolie,cashmerekhaki（Indian）

Schmozzo,schmaltz（herbrew）

AssummedupinTheEncyclopediaAmericana:

“theEnglishlanguagehasvastdebits.Inanydictionarysome80%oftheentriesareborrowed.ThemajorityarelikelytocomefromLatin,andofthosemorethanhalfwillcomethroughFrench.AconsiderablenumberwillderivedirectlyorindirectlyfromGreek.AsubstantialcontributionwillcomefromScandinavianlanguages,andasmallpercentagefromPortuguese,Italian,SpanishandDutch.Scatteredwordswillbefromvarioussourcesaroundtheglobe.”

TheRapidgrowthofpresent-dayEnglishvocabulary（EspeciallyafterWWII）anditscauses

AfterWWII,neologismssweptinataratemuchfasterthanthatoftheprewarperiod.Themainreasonsforthefrequentappearanceofneologismsarethree:

1.Markedprogressofscienceandtechnology.（nuclearbomb,explorationofspace,computerscience）

2.Socio-economic,politicalandculturalchanges.

3.Theinfluenceofotherculturesandlanguages.

ClassificationofEnglishwordsAccordingtoDifferentCriteria.（byorigin,bylevelofusage,andbynotion）

A.Byorigin:

nativewordsandloadwords.

Nativewords:

WordsofAnglo-SaxonoriginorofOldEnglisharenativeEnglish.

LoanWords:

thoseborrowedfromotherlanguagesareloanwordsorborrowedwords.

MostnativewordsinModernEnglisharemonosyllabic..[ˈmɔnəusiˈlæbik] 单音节的theyarefromthegreatmajorityofthebasicwordstockoftheEnglishlanguage.

Thebasicwordstockisthefoundationofthevocabularyaccumulatedoveranumberofepochs.

Thefundamentalfeaturesofthebasicwordstockare:

1.Nationalcharacter:

wordsofthebasicwordstockbelongtothepeopleasawhole,nottoalimitedgroupnomatterwhatdialecttheyspeak;whichsocialclasstheybelong..

2.Stability:

Aswordsinthebasicwordstockdenotethecommonestthingsnecessarytolife,theyarelikelytoremainunchanged.（Howeversomeoldwordhaddroppedoutandsomenewwordshadin）

3.Word-formingability:

Basicwordsareveryactiveinformingnewwords.

4.Abilitytoformcollocation:

Basicwordscombinereadilywithotherwordstoformhabitualexpressionandphrases..[həˈbitjuəl] 习惯性的

B.Bythelevelofusage

1.Commentwords:

Commonorpopularwordsarewordsconnectedwiththeordinarythingsoractivitiesnecessarytoeverydaylife.

ThegreatmajorityofEnglishwordsarecommonwords.Thecoreofthecommonwordsisthebasicwordstock.

2.Literarywords:

Literarywordsarechieflyusedinwriting,especiallyinbookswritteninamoreelevatedstyle,inofficialdocumentsorinformalspeeches.Theyarecomparativelyseldomusedinordinaryconversation.

Amongtheliterarywords,twocategoriesarenoteworthy:

（a）Archaicwords:

Archaicwordsarewordsnolongerincommonuse,althoughretainedforspecialpurpose.（Theyaresometimesemployedinpoetry,businessletters,etc.）

Abed---inbed;behold---see;belike---probably;natheless---nevertheless;perchance---bychance.

Archaicwordaremarkedas“arch.“,whicharedifferentfromobsoletewords.Obsoletewordsarethosecompletelyoutofcurrentuse.

（b）Poeticalwords:

Poeticalwordsarewordsthataretraditionallyusedonlyinpoetry.

Array---outfit;thedeep---thesea;stead---horse;morn---morning;

（c）Colloquialwords:

Incontrastwithliterarywords,colloquialwordsorexpressionsareusedmainlyinspokenEnglish,asinconversationamongfriendsandcolleagues.Theycanalsobeusedininformalwritings.[kəˈləukwiəl] 口语的,

Examples:

Feelingfatigued,Tomretiredearly.（Literary）

Tomfeltsodog-tiredhehitthesackearly.（Colloquial）

Johnwasdismissedforpettythieving.（Common）

Johnwasfiredforpettythieving.（Colloquial）

（d）Slangwords:

SlangisdefinedintheSCDas“language,wordsorphrasesofavigorous,colourful,facetious,ortaboonature,inventedforspecificoccasions,oruses,orderivedfromtheunconventionaluseofthestandardvocabulary.”

（e）Technicalwords:

Technicalorspecialwordsrefertothosewordsusedinvariousspecialfields.Everybranchofscience,everyprofessionortrade,art,etc.

3.Bynotion:

functionwordsandcontentwords:

（A）Functionwords:

Functionwordsareoftenshortwordssuchasdeterminers,conjunctions,prepositions,auxiliaries,andsoforth.

Theydonothavemuchlexicalmeaningandsomeofthemhavenolexicalmeaningoftheirown;

Theyservegrammaticallymorethananythingelse.

Theybelongtoarelativelysmallandpermanentsetofwords.Thetotalnumberoffunctionwordsisabout154.

（B）Contentwords:

Theyhaveindependentlexicalmeaning,theyarethenouns,mainverbs,adjectivesandadverbsofalanguage.

ChapterTWO:

MorphologicalStructureofEnglishWords

1.Morphemes

Morpheme:

Themorphemeisthesmallestmeaningfullinguisticunitoflanguage,notdivisibleoranalyzableintosmallerforms.

EXAMPLE:

denationalization-----de+nation+al+iz+action

Amorphemeisalsoatwo-facetlanguageunitwhichpossessesbothsoundandmeaning.

Amorphemeisnotidentical（同一的）withasyllable（[ˈsiləbl]音节）,either,sincethelatterhasnothingtodowithmeaning.

Allomorphs:

Anallomorphisanyofthevariantformsofamorphemeasconditionedbypositionoradjoiningsound.[ˈaləmɔ:

f]:

（词素变体）

2.ClassificationofMorphemes（Generallytwomaintypes:

Freemorphemes,Boundmorphemes.）

A.FreeMorpheme:

isonethatcanbeuttered[ˈʌtə]说,讲alonewithmeaning.Itcanexistonitsownwithoutaboundmorpheme.

Afreemorphemeisaword,inthetraditionalsense.

B.BoundMorpheme:

cannotstandbyitselfasacompleteutterance;itmustappearwithaleastoneothermorpheme,freeorbound.

EXAMPLE:

un---unkind;-ly---happily;re---receive;s---dogs;ex—boxes;ed---worked.

Alternatively,morphemesmaybedividedintoroots（orrootmorphemes）andaffixes（oraffixationalmorphemes）

C.Roots:

Arootisthebasicunchangeablepartofaword,anditconveysthemainlexicalmeaningoftheword.

Rootstherefore,arethecoresofEnglishwords.Historicallytherootistheearliestformofaword.Rootareeitherfreeorbound

a）Freeroots:

InEnglish,manyrootsarefreemorphemes.Freerootsbelongtothebasicword-stock,andhavethefundamentalfeaturesofthebasicword-stock.Afreerootsconsistsonemorpheme.

b）Boundroots:

Theyarenotwords,andsoarenotfreemorphemes;theycannotexistontheirown.<