优质英语词汇学知识点.docx
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优质英语词汇学知识点
EnglishLexicology:
ACoursebook
Chapter1LexicologyandWords
KnowledgePoints:
1.Lexicologyisthestudyofthevocabularyorlexiconofagivenlanguage.
2.Morphologyisthestudyoftheformsofwordsandtheircomponents.
3.Themajorpurposeofstudyinmorphologyistolookatmorphemesandtheirarrangementsinwordformation.
4.Morphemeisthesmallestmeaningfulunitoflanguage.Morphemesmayconstitutewordsorpartsofwords.
5.Semanticsisdefinedasthestudyofmeaning.
6.Generallyspeaking,semanticsfocuseson:
1)themeaningofwords;
2)themeaningofutterancesincontext;
3)themeaningofsentences;
4)meaningrelationsbetweensentences;
5)meaningrelationsthatareinternaltothevocabularyofalanguage.
7.Etymologyisthestudyofthewholehistoryofwords.
8.Wordisusedtraditionallytorefertoasequenceoflettersboundedbyspaces.
9.Thetermwordisalsousedtorefertoanintermediatestructuresmallerthanawholephraseandyetgenerallylargerthanasinglesoundsegment.
10.MajorfeaturesofWords
1)Awordisasoundorcombinationofsoundswhichwemakevoluntarilywithourvocalequipment.
2)Awordissymbolicandisusedtostandforsomethingelse.
3)Thewordisanuninterruptibleunit.
4)Awordhastodowithitssocialfunction.
5)Awordmayconsistofoneormoremorphemes.
6)Wordsarepartofthelargecommunicationsystemwecalllanguage.
7)Awordoccurstypicallyinthestructureofphrases.
11.Intraditionalgrammar,eightpartsofspeecharedistinguishedinEnglish:
noun,pronoun,adjective,verb,adverb,preposition,conjunction,andinterjection.
12.Wordscanalsobeclassifiedintolexicalwordsandgrammaticalwords.
13.Generallyspeaking,lexicalwordsarenouns,verbs,adjectives,andadverbs.
14.Thelexicalwordscanbeused(functions):
1)torepresentourexperienceoftheword;
2)torefertopersons,places,thingsandconcepts(e.g.thenounsSmith,London,pineapple,unity);
3)todescribequalitiesandproperties(e.g.theadjectivesexcellent,kind,high);
4)torepresentactions,processesorstates(e.g.theverbsjump,bite,stay);
5)todescribecircumstanceslikemanner(e.g.theadverbskindly,slowly,cheerfully).
Furthermore,lexicalwordshavetheirowncontentmeaningsandmaybemeaningfulwhenusedalone.E.g.bookandhousehavetheirowncontentmeanings.
15.Grammaticalwordsarewordslikepronouns,prepositions,demonstrative,determiners,conjunctions,auxiliaryverbs,andsonon.
16.Semanticorlexicalfield:
Asemanticfieldcontainswordsthatbelongtodefinedareaofmeaning.Crystal(1995)definesasemanticfieldasa‘namedareaofmeaninginwhichlexemesinterrelatedanddefineeachotherinspecificways’.
Chapter2SomeBasicConceptsandWordMeanings
KnowledgePoints:
1.Morphemesaretheultimategrammaticalconstituents,thesmallestmeaningfulunitsoflanguage.
2.Featuresofmorpheme:
1)Amorphememaybeacompleteword.E.g.the,fierce,desk,eat,boot,at,fee,mosquitocannotbedividedupintosmallerunitsthataremeaningfulthemselves.
2)Amorphememayalsobeawordformsuchasanaffix.e.g.–able,in-,-hood.
3)Amorphememaybeacombiningform.e.g.bio-,geo,pre-.
3.Phonemesarethesmallestworkingunitsofsoundperse,andtheybuildupintomorphemes.
4.Lexeme:
Lexemeorlexicalitemisregardedasaunitoflexicalmeaning,whichexistsregardlessofanyinflectionalendingsitmayhaveorthenumberofwordsitmaycontain.
Lexemeisconsideredanabstractlinguisticunitwithdifferentvariants(e.g.singasagainstsang,sung).
5.Morph:
Anyconcreterealizationofamorphemeinagivenutteranceiscalledamorph.Itisaphysicalformrepresentingsomemorphemesinalanguage.
6.Allomorphs:
Morphswhicharedifferentrepresentationsofthesamemorphemearereferredtoasallomorphsofthatmorpheme.
7.Morphemescanbeclassifiedintoboundmorphemesandfreemorphemes.
8.Boundmorphemesmustbejoinedtoothermorphemes.e.g.thesuffix–dom,isaboundmorpheme.
9.Freemorphemesneednotbeattachedtoothermorphemesandcanoccurbythemselvesasindividualwords.e.g.cat,chair,farm,andbugarefreemorpheme.
10.Morphemesmayalsobeclassifiedintoderivationalmorphemesandinflectionalmorphemes.
11.Denotation:
Denotationofalexemeistherelationshipthatholdsbetweenthatlexemeandpersons,things,places,properties,processesandactivitiesexternaltothelanguagesystem.
12.Reference:
Therelationshipofreferenceholdsbetweenanexpressionandwhatthatexpressionstandsforonparticularoccasionsofitsutterance.
13.Sense:
Senseisarelationshipbetweenthewordsorexpressionsofasinglelanguage,independentlyoftherelationship,ifany,whichholdsbetweenthosewordsorexpressionsandtheirreferents.
14.Leech(1981)distinguishesseventypesofmeaninginlanguage:
conceptualmeaning,connotativemeaning,socialmeaning,affectivemeaning,reflectedmeaning,collocativemeaning,andthematicmeaning.
15.Conceptualmeaning,whichissometimescalleddenotativeorcognitivemeaning,referstomeaningsaspresentedinadictionary.
16.Connotativemeaningisthecommunicativevalueofanexpressionbyvirtueofwhatitrefersto,overandaboveitspurelyconceptualcontent.
17.Socialmeaningreferstothekindofmeaningapieceoflanguageconveysaboutthesocialcircumstancesofitsuse.
18.Affectivemeaningcanbeusedtocovertheattitudinalandemotionalfactorsexpressedinaword.
19.Reflectedmeaningisthemeaningwhicharisesincasesofmultipleconceptualmeaning,whenonesenseofawordformspartofourresponsetoanothersense.
20.Collocativemeaningconsistsoftheassociationsawordacquiresonaccountofthemeaningsofwordswhichtendtooccurinitsenvironment.
21.Thematicmeaningiswhatcommunicatedbythewayinwhichaspeakerorwriterorganizesthemassage,intermsofordering,focus,andemphasis.
22.Stem:
Thewordtowhichaffixesareaddedandwhichcarriesthebasicmeaningoftheresultingcomplexwordisknownasthestem.
23.Root:
Astemconsistingofasinglemorphemeislabeledasroot.For,example,walkisarootanditappearsinthesetofword-formsthatinstantiatethelexemewalksuchaswalk,walks,walkingandwalked.
24.Freemorpheme:
Rootswhicharecapableofstandingindependentlyarecalledfreemorphemes.Singlewordslikeman,book,tea,sweet,cookarethesmallestfreemorphemescapableofoccurringindependently.
25.Boundmorpheme:
somerootsareincapableofoccurringindependently.Theyalwaysoccurwithsomeotherword-buildingelementattachedtothem.Suchrootsarecalledboundmorphemes,like–mitinpermit,remit,commit,admit,andceiveinperceive,receive,conceive.
26.Base:
Abaseisalexicalitemtowhichaffixesofanykindcanbeadded.
Theaffixesattachedtoabase.Inotherwords,allrootsarebases.
27.Affix:
Arootorstemcanbeattachedwithanaffix.Affixesaremorphemeswhichonlyoccurwhenattachedtoothermorphemes.Bydefinitionaffixesareboundmorphemes.
28.Threetypesofaffixes:
prefix,suffixandinfix.
1)prefix:
Aprefixisanaffixattachedbeforearoot(orstemorbase)likere-,un-andin-,asinre-make,un-kind,in-decent.
2)suffix:
Asuffixisanaffixattachedafteraroot(orstemorbase)like-ly,-er,-ist,and-ed,asinkind-ly,wait-er,interest-ing,interest-ed.
3)infix:
Aninfixisanaffixinsertedintotherootitself.AccordingtoKatamba(1993),infixesareverycommoninsemiticlanguagelikeArabicandHebrew.
29.Othertypesofaffixes:
inflectionalaffixesandderivationalaffixes.
1)Inflectionalaffixesareusedforsyntacticreasonstoindicatenumber,tense,case,andsoon.
2)derivationalaffixescanalterthemeaningorgrammaticalcategoryofthebase.
30.Polysemy:
Polysemyreferstothesituationinwhichawordhastwoormoredifferentmeanings.
Forinstance,thenounbankissaidtobepolysemousbecauseitmaymean:
(1)afinancialinstitutionthatpeopleorbusinessescankeeptheirmoneyinorborrowmoneyfrom;
(2)araisedareaoflandalongthesideofariver;
(3)alargenumberofthingsinarow,especiallypiecesofequipment.
31.Featuresofpolysemy:
1)Theconceptofpolysemyiscomplexandinvolvesacertainnumberofproblems.AsmentionedbyJacksonandAmvela(2000),wecannotdetermineexactlyhowmanymeaningsapolysemouswordhas,asawordmayhavebothaliteralmeaningandoneormoretransferredmeanings.
2)Theisnoclearcriterionforeitherdifferenceorsamenessofmeaning.
3)Itdifficulttodistinguishbetweenpolysemy(i.e.onewordwithseveralmeanings)andhomonymy(i.e.severalwordswiththesameshape—spellingand/orpronunciation).
4)Polysemyisanessentialconditionforitsefficiency.
32.Homonymy:
Homonymyreferstoasituationinwhichtherearetwoormorewordswiththesameshape.
33.Towtypesofhomonyms(JacksonandAmvela,2000):
homographandhomophone
1)homograph:
Homographreferstoawordwhichisspeltthesameasanotherwordbuthasadifferentmeaningandsometimesadifferentpronunciation.Forexample,lead(metal)andlead(dog’slead)arespeltthesamebutpronounceddifferently.
2)homophone:
Homophonereferstoawordthatsoundsthesameasanotherwordbutahsitsownspelling,meaningandorigin.Forexample,right,riteandwritearespeltdifferentlybutpronouncedthesame.
34.Featuresofhomonymy:
1)Therearecasesinwhichtwohomonymswithtotallydifferentmeaningsmaybothmakesenseinthesameutterance.
2)Spellingwilloftenhelptodifferentiatebetweenwordswithareidenticalinsound.
3)Writingconventionscanhelpremo