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1、The Cause and Tendency of Semantic Change in EnglishBy吴冰姿1015010305A student of English Department of College of International Languages and CulturesHohai UniversityNovember,2012CONTENTS1. Introduction2. Literature review 2.1 Current situation 2.2 Research areas3. Methodology The type and trend of s
2、emantic change The cause of the change of word meaning The effect of semantic change4. Analysis of semantic change in English 4.1 The type and trend of semantic change 4.2 The cause of the change of word meaning 4.3 The effect of semantic change5. Conclusion6. ReferencesAbstract: All kinds of langua
3、ges are constantly changing. It is mainly concerned about pronunciation, word meaning, semantic and sentence structure. And the change of word meaning is the most obvious and rapid. This paper analyses the cause of the change through linguistic aspect, the trend of semantic changes and the effect of
4、 the change.Key words: word meaning, change, cause, effect1. Introduction Nowadays, we can easily find that word meaning changes in english are keeping striking our eyes. Some words have come into appearance in all aspects of our life while some words have disappeared as they lost the favor of peopl
5、e. Facing so many English new words, how can the English learners learn them efficiently? The answer is that we should know how the word meaning changes and analyses the principles. It is very helpful for english learners to learn english words when they know why words change. There are many reasons
6、 for the lexical meaning change. The paper will discuss the linguistic factors mainly. 2. Literature review 2.1 Current situation Since 1987, scholars have started to notice the change of word meaning. During 1987 to 2009, many researches have been written. The overseas scholars like Roy Peter Clark
7、 Published Change in the Meaning of Words Demands Care in the Use of Language on Poynter in 2009. He believed that there is some predictability in the way words change over time. And Grzega, Joachim published Historical Semantics in the Light of Cognitive Linguistics: Aspects of a new reference book
8、 reviewed in 2000. And Traugott, Elizabeth Closs published From less to more situated in language: the unidirectionality of Semantic change, in Adamson, Silvia, 1990. Domestic scholars like CHEN Lei-jing (Shaoguan Radio & TV University, Shaoguan 512005,Gunangdong, China) wrote an essay Exploration o
9、f the Change of English Word Meaning from Socio-Linguistic Perspective. This essay analyses the basic factors such as the social environment, the social psychology and the social culture etc. through socio-linguistic perspective. And Yang Yuan (Leshan teachers college) published The Significance of
10、Context in Understanding the Word Meaning on Time Education. This essay reviews the significance of context in understanding the words. In order to well grasp the correct word meaning from contexts, we should know better about the contexts and have a good command of knowledge of cross culture and ba
11、ckground information. Wang Xiaosu published Factors in the Change of English Word Meaning on New Countryside in 2011. The essay emphasized that word meaning is significant in English learning and explored the factors in the change of English word meaning. XU Jing wrote The Change of Word Meaning and
12、 the Structural Relations of Linguistic Signs on Journal of Pla University of Foreign Languages in 2000. In his opinion, here are two main reasonsthe change of the two types of structural relations of linguistic signs-syntagmatic relation and paradigmatic relation-in practical language use. Mao Shua
13、imei (2006) delivered On the Cognitive Mechanism of the Semantic Change of English & Chinese Acoustic Verbs on Journal of Hunan Institute of Engineering. This paper explored the origin and understanding of the semantic transfer of the English and Chinese acoustic verbs to listen/to hear and not to l
14、isten /not to hear from the perspective of metaphorization subjectification within the framework of cognitive linguistics. It enhanced our universal knowledge of semantic relevance and sematic variation. The differentiating adaptation of social, cultural and psychological factors should be taken int
15、o consideration in the study of metaphorization subjectification. LI Hua published The New Change and New Development of English Words on Journal of Shazhou Polytechnical Institute of Technology. This paper listed some typical examples in such fields as science and technology, politics and economy,
16、culture and education, sports and entertainment with the hope to arouse readers awareness of the rapid development of English words during these years and to update their English so as to adjust to the requirement of modern life. Many of them talked about the cause of the change of English word meaning. Semantic change cant happen in a closed state,
