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1、Chapter 1 The Basic Concepts of Words and VocabularyLanguage, linguistics & lexicology Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used forhuman communication. It is a specific social action and acarrier of information.Language is a system of human communication whichconsists of the structured a
2、rrangement of sounds (or theirwritten representation) into larger units, e.g., morphemes,words, sentences, utterances.LanguageGenerally speaking, linguistics can be defined as the scientific study of language. To be more exact, linguistics studies the general principles upon which languages are cons
3、tructed and operate as systems of human communication.LinguisticsLexicology is a branch of linguistics concerned with the study of the vocabulary of a given language. It deals with words, their origin, development, structure, formation, meaning and usage. In short, it is the study of the significati
4、on and application of words.What is lexicology?The significance of the course:Develop your personal vocabulary and consciously increase your word power (active vocabulary).Understand word-meaning and organize, classify and store words more effectively.Raise your awareness of meaning and usages, use
5、words more accurately and appropriately.Develop your skills and habits of analyzing and generalizing linguistic phenomena in your learning experiences.Ultimately improve your receptive and productive skills in language processing as well as language production.Aims of the course:Give a systematic de
6、scription of the English vocabulary.Offer an insight into the origin and development of the English vocabulary.Discuss the problems of word-structure and word-formationStudy the use of English words , their meanings and changes in meaning, their sense relations.The total number of the words in a lan
7、guage. All the words used in a particular historical period.All the words of a given dialect, a given book, a given discipline and the words possessed by an individual person.What is vocabulary?speaking vocabulary-active vocabularywriting vocabulary-active vocabularyreading vocabulary-passive vocabu
8、laryguess vocabulary-passive vocabulary Ones personal vocabulary can be divided into:What Is a Word?A word is a minimal free form;A word has a sound;A word is meaningful;A word is syntactically functional. A word is a minimal free form of a language that has a given sound, meaning and syntactic func
9、tion.Definition in Chinese:词，今指语言组织中的基础单位，能独立运词，今指语言组织中的基础单位，能独立运用，具有声音，意义和语法功能。用，具有声音，意义和语法功能。（辞海，1984，375页，上海辞书出版社）Sound and meaningAs for the relationship between sound and meaning, there has been no agreement. One is called the Naturalists(自然派自然派)， the other is called the Conventionalists(规约派规约派
10、).The former thinks there exists an intrinsic correspondence between sound and sense, while the latter thinks “there is no logical relationship between the sound which stands for a thing or an idea and the actual thing and idea itself” . The relationship between them is conventional. Arbitrary A wor
11、d is a symbol that stands for something else in the world. The symbolic connection is always arbitrary, and there is no logical relationship between the sound which stands for a thing or an idea and the actual thing and the idea itself.e.g. dog, bookWhats in a name? That which we call a rose. By any
12、 other name would smell as sweet. -Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)In Shakespeares opinion, if we use another wordinstead of the word “rose”. This kind of 玫瑰花 smellssweet, too. Conventional The relationship between sound and meaning is conventional. In different languages, on the one hand
13、, the same concept can be represented by different sounds. e.g. woman, frau(Ger), femme(F), fn (妇女妇女)on the other hand, the same sound can be used to denote different things in one language. e.g. mi:t meet, meat, meteSound and formIt is generally agreed that the sound should be consistent with the f
14、orm. But in English, there are more differences between the two. The reasons for the differences are: The English alphabet was adopted from the Romans, and it does not have a separate letter to represent each sound in the language so that some letters must work together in combination. The pronuncia
15、tion has changed more rapidly than spelling over years. E.g. sum, cum, wuman, wunder, munk some, come, woman, wonder, monk The borrowing has come.Early borrowings were assimilated, later ones do not conform to the roles of English pronunciation and spelling.E.g. stimulus, denouement, fiesta, eureka,
16、 kimono. fish ghoti gh like the f in laugh, o like the i in women, ti like the sh in nation. Hymn, condemn, bomb hymnal, condemnation, bombardClassification of English words English words may fall into:In terms of use frequency : the basic word stock and nonbasic vocabulary In terms of notion: conte
17、nt words and functional wordsIn terms of origin: native words and borrowed wordsIn terms of morphology: simple words, compounds and derived words. the basic word stock nonbasic vocabulary The basic word stock is the foundation of the vocabulary accumulated over centuries and forms the common core of
18、 the language.Words that do not belong to the common core of the English language The characteristics of the basic word stock (1) all national characterWords of the basic word stock denote the most common things and phenomena of the world around us, which are indispensable to all the people who spea
19、k the language. (1) All National Character Natural phenomena: rain, snow, fire, water, sun, moon, spring, wind, hill; Human body and relations: head, foot, hand, face, father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter; Names of plants and animals: oak, pine, grass, pear, apple, tree, horse, cow, sheep,
20、 cat, dog, chicken Action, size, domain, state: come, go, eat, hear, beat, carry, good, evil, old, young, hot, cold, heavy, white, blackNumerals, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions: one, ten, hundred, I, you, your, who, in ,out, under, and, but, till, as (2) StabilityWords of the basic stock have
21、been in use for centuries. As they denote the commonest things necessary to life, they are likely to remain unchanged.e.g. man, fire, mountain, water, sun, moon;However, stability is only relative, e.g. arrow, bow, chariot, knight move out, electricity, machine, car, plane, computer, radio, televisi
22、on, internet entered.(3) ProductivityMost root words or monosyllabic words can beused alone or to form new words with otherroots and affixes.e.g. foot: footage, football, footpath, footfall, footed,footloose, footling, footman, footing, footprint(4) Polysemy: Plurality of meanings.e.g. take: a. to m
23、ove or carry from one place to another, b. to remove or use without permission or by mistake, c. to seize or capture, d. to get for oneself, e. to get hold of sth. with the hands, f. to be willing to accept, g. to bear or endure, h. to need (a stated amount of time), i. to perform the action connect
24、ed with, j. to test or measure, k. to write down, l. to have the intended effort or to work successfully (5) CollocabilityWords enter a number of set expressions,idiomatic usages, proverbial sayings and the like. e.g. heart: a change of heart; after ones heart;a heart of gold; at heart; cross ones h
25、eart; cryones heart out; eat ones heart out; have onesheart in ones mouth; heart and hand; heartand soul; take something to heart; wear onesheart upon ones sleeve; with all ones heart etc.Terminology (术语): technical terms used in particular disciplines and academic areas.medicine: hepatitis肝炎, indig
26、estion, penicilin; mathematics: algebra, trigonometry, calculus ;music: symphony, orchestra, sonata, concerto;education: audiovisual, megauniversity, microteaching;Nonbasic vocabulary includesJargons(行话)：the specialized vocabularies by which members of particular arts, sciences, trades and professio
27、ns communicate among themselves.a bear market 熊市a bull market 牛市CAPI （Communication Application Program Interface）通信应用程序接口CPI (Consumer Price Index) PPI ( Producer Price Index)Slangs(俚语)： the sub-standard languages, which are used by specific groups of the population.cancer stick: cigarettefeel no p
28、ain: be drunkin the soup: in serious troublebring down: disappointkick the bucket: dieeggheadtart: loose womangat: pistol chicken: cowardsmoky: policedame: womanbloke: fellow swell: greatblue: fightfull: drunkbeaver: girlp.14 Ex. 7Argots(黑话)：a secret language used by various groupsincluding, but not
29、 limited to, thieves and other criminalsto prevent outsiders from understanding their conversations. can-opener =all-purpose keydip=pick-pocket雷子/扳子=警察上天窗，下平台，掏底兜，插马后（南京小偷暗语）找光阴=掏包皮子=钱包Dialectal words( 方言词)： words which are used only by speakers of the dialect.beauty （AuE =excellent, great)auld (Sco
30、t=old) 瘪三 =Beg Sir 乞丐Archaisms(古词/古语/古语词): words which were once in common use, but now are restricted only to specialized or limited use. They are found mainly in older poems, legal documents and religious writing or speech.thou / thee =you wilt=willp. 14 Ex. 8haply = perhapsmethinks = it seems to
31、mesooth = truthtroth = pledgequoth = saidbillow = wave/ the seaalbeit = althougheke = alsomorn = morningere = beforehallowed = holy bade = bidNeologisms(新词语/新词/旧词新义)：newly created words and expressions, or words that have taken on new meanings.glocalization=globalization+localization Microelectronic
32、s; futurology; data bank; memory; the Pill, AIDS; internet 最新现代汉语词典第六版收录近3000新词：黄金周 雷人 宅男 宅女 劈腿 给力 低碳 搞掂 八卦 达人 北漂 碰瓷 蚁族 香蕉人 MBA Content wordsFunctional wordsdenote clear notions, known as notional words, including: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, numerals.do not have notions of their own.Known as
33、 empty words or form words, including: prepositions, conjunctions, auxiliaries, articles.Native words Borrowed words are words brought to Britain in the fifth century by the German tribes: the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes, thus known as Anglo-Saxon words.Although native words are small in numbe
34、r, they form the mainstream of the basic word stock. Words taken over from foreign languages are known as borrowed words or loan words or borrowings. Besides the characteristics (all national character,stability, productivity, polysemy and Collocability),native words have two other features:1) Neutr
35、al in styleSince native words denote the commonest things inhuman society, they are used by all people, in all places, on all occasions, and at all times. So they are notstylistically specific.2) Frequent in useNative words are most frequently used in everyday speech and writing. Although native wor
36、ds are small innumber, their percentage in use runs usually as high as70% to 90 %.Characteristics of native wordsAccording to the degree of assimilation and manner ofborrowing, borrowed words can be divided into four classesa. Denizens (同化词同化词)Denizens are words borrowed early in the past and now as
37、similated into the English language. In other words they have come to conform to the English way of pronunciation and spelling.port from portus (L) cup from cuppa (L)change from changier (F) pork from porc (F)b. Aliens (非同化词非同化词)Aliens are borrowed words which have retained theiroriginal pronunciati
38、on and spelling.dcor (F) blitzkrieg (G) kowtow (CH) bazaar (Per)c. Translation Loans (译借词译借词)Translation loans are words and expressions formed from the existing material in the English language but modeled on the patterns taken from another language. Subdivided into:Words translated according to th
39、e meaning:mother tongue from lingua materna (L)a slip of the tongue from lapsus linguae (L) masterpiece from Meisterstuck (G) black humour from humour noir (F)long time no see (CH)Words translated according to the sound:ketchup from fanchiejiang (CH dial.)lama from lama (Tib) tea from te (CH dial.)d
40、. Semantic Loans (借意词借意词)Words of this category are not borrowed with reference to the form but to the meaning. Inother words, English has borrowed a newmeaning from an existing word in the language.dream : originally meant joy, music ;pioneer : once signified explorer, person doing pioneering work,
41、 now has taken on newmeaning “a member of the Young Pioneer ” fromRussian.p. 15 Ex. 12DenizensAliensTranslation loansSemantic loanskettlediewallskirthusbandconfrerepro patriaWunderkindmikadoparvenuchopsticktyphoonblack humourlong time no seedreamGive a term for each of the following definitions:1. s
42、ub- standard words often used on informal occasions (slangs)2. specialized vocabulary common in certain professions (jargons)3. words used by sub-cultural groups particularly by underground society (argots)4. words that have clear notions (content words)5. words of Anglo-Saxon origin (native words)6
43、. words borrowed by way of translation (translation-loans)7. old words with new meanings (neologisms) Recommended Readings:v汪榕培、卢晓娟，1997，英语词汇学教程。上海：上海外语教育出版社。v林承璋, 2005, 英语语言学引论。武汉：武汉大学出版社。v林福美，1985，现代英语词汇学。合肥：安徽教育出版社。v张维友，1999英语词汇学。北京：外语教学与研究出版社。v张韵斐、周锡卿，1986，现代英语词汇学概论（An Introduction to Modern English Lexicology）。北京：北京师范大学出版社。vNation, I. S. P. 1990. Teaching and Learning Vocabulary. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.vNation, I. S. P. 2001. Learning Vocabulary in Another Language. Cambridge: CUP.
