English Lexicology
英语词汇学
It aims at investigating and studying the morphological structures of English words and words equivalents, their semantic structures, relations, historical development, formation and usages.
Chapter I Basic Concept of Words and Vocabulary
词的基本知识
The definition of a word定义
①a minimal free form of a language,独立存在、最小的语言学位
②a sound unity有完整的发音
③a unit of meaning有意义
④a form that can function alone in a sentence在句子中起独立作用
The vocabulary refers to:
①the total number of the words in a language
②all the words used in a particular historical period
③all the words of a given dialect, a given book and a given discipline
④the words possessed by an individual person
All the words in a language make up its vocabulary
Sound and Meaning读音与意义的关系
①a word is a symbol that stands for something else in the world
②the relationship between sound and meaning is arbitrary（任意的）and conventional（约定俗
成的）
③no logical relationship between the sound which stands for a thing or an idea and the actual
thing and idea itself没有逻辑关系
e.g. A dog is called a dog not because the sound and the three letters that make up the word just automatically
suggest the animal in question.
Sound and Form读音与拼写的关系
①Old English
②the pronunciation has changed more rapidly than spelling
③created by the early scribes早期的抄写所造成的差异
④borrowing外来词
Classification of Words词汇的分类
1. By use frequency: Basic word stock and non-basic vocabulary基本词汇与非基本词汇
Basic word stock基本词汇的主要特点
The foundation of the vocabulary
Form the common core of the language
①all national character全民性(the most important feature)
②stability稳定性(relative)
③productivity能产性(for root words or monosyllabic words)
④polysemy多义性(semantic changes)
⑤collocability搭配性
non-basic vocabulary非基本词汇
①Terminology术语: Consists of technical terms used in particular disciplines and academic
areas
②Jargon行话: Refers to the specialized vocabularies by which members of particular arts,
sciences, trades and professions communicate among themselves
③Slang俚语: Belongs to the very informal words and expressions that are more common in
spoken language, especially used by a particular group of people
④Argot黑话: Generally refers to the jargon of criminals
⑤Dialectal words方言词: Words used only by speakers of the dialect in question
⑥Archaisms古语词: Words or forms that were once in common use but now restricted only
to specialized or limited use(especially in older poems, legal
documents and religious writing or speech)
⑦Neologisms词语: Newly-created words or expressions or words that have taken on new
meanings
2. by notion: Content words and functional words实意词与功能词
Content words实意词: Denote clear notions, thus are also known as notional words
Constitute the main body of the English vocabulary
Growing
Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, numerals
①They denote objects, phenomena, action, quality, state, degree, etc.
②Constitute the main body of the English vocabulary, and they are numerous and ever
growing.
Functional words功能词: To express the relation between notions, the relation between words s
well as between sentences, and also known as form words
Do far more work of expression on English on average than content
words
Prepositions(介词), conjunctions(连词), auxiliaries(助动词), articles(冠词)
①Do not have notions of their own
②To express the relation between notions, the relation between words as well as between
sentences.
3. by origin: Native words and borrowed words本族语和外来词
Native words: 公园5世纪由日耳曼部落盎格鲁人、萨克逊人、朱特人带入英国Amount to roughly by 50,000 to 60,000
Form the mainstream of the basic word stock
Stand the core of the language
①Neutral on style文体上中性
②Frequent in use使用频繁
Add the five features of the basic stock word
Borrowed words: Constitute 80% of the modern English vocabulary
Denizens 同化词: Words borrowed (from Latin, Greek, French, Scandinavians) early in the past and now well assimilated into the English language
Aliens非同化词: Words are borrowed which have retained their original pronunciation and spelling
Translation-loans译借词: Words and expressions formed from the existing material in the English language but modeled on the patterns taken from another language Semantic-loans借义词: Words of this category borrowed the meanings form other language
Chapter II the Development of the English Vocabulary
英语词汇的形成与发展
The indo-European Language Family印欧语系
It made up the most of the language of Europe (the Near East and India)
8 principle groups
Eastern set: Balto-Slavic, Indo-Iranian, Armenian and Albanian
Western set: Celtic, Italic, Hellenic and Germanic
A historical overview of the English vocabulary
1. Old English古英语450-1150
It generally refers to Anglo-Saxon
About 50,000-60,000 words
Full of complex endings or vowel changes(复杂的词尾或元音变化)
Influenced by Latin, Norwegian and Danish(从拉丁语、挪威语和丹麦语中吸收大量词汇) (Full endings, synthetic language合成型语言)
2. Middle English中古英语1150-1500
Normans invaded in 1066(法国诺曼底人入侵英国后)
Norman French influent English (about 9,000words and 75%are still in use)
Words about government, social scales, law, religion, moral matters, food, fashion, military affairs and so on
Holland (for the trade relation, about 2,500 words of Dutch)
(Leveled endings)
3. Modern English 当代英语1500-up to now
The establishment of printing in England（印刷术的引入）
Early Modern English 1500-1700
①Renaissance 文艺复兴运动Latin, 10,000 words
②Mid-seventeenth, Bourgeois Revolution, Industrial Revolution
资产阶级革命工业革命
absorb words from all major language of the world(吸收了世界各地主要语言)
③World War II, more words are created by means of word-formation to express new ideas,
inventions and scientific achievements(构词法)
Late modern English
(Analytic language分析型语言)
Growth of Present-day English Vocabulary当代英语词汇的发展
Three main sources of new words三大来源
①the rapid development of modern science and technology科技的发展
②social, economic and political changes社会、经济、政治的变化
③the influence of other cultures and languages其他文化和语言的影响
Modes of Vocabulary Development词汇的发展方向
①Creation造词(the most important way)
Refers to formation of new words by using the existing materials, namely roots, affixes and other elements
②Semantic change旧词新义