《英语词汇学》知识点归纳

English Lexicology(英语词汇学)

Lexicology: is a branch of linguistics, inquiring into the

origins and meanings of words.

Chapter 1--Basic concepts of words and vocabulary

Word: A word is a minimal free form of a language that has a

given sound and meaning and syntactic function. (1)a minimal

free form of a language (2)a sound unity (3)a unit of meaning

(4)a form that can function alone in a sentence

Sound and meaning: almost arbitrary, “no logical relationship

between the sound which stands for a thing or an idea and the

actual thing and idea itself”

Sound and form:不统一的四个原因

（1）the English alphabet was adopted from the Romans, which

does not have a separate letter to represent each other

（2）the pronunciation has changed more rapidly than spelling

over the years

（3）some of the difference were creates by the early scribes

（4）the borrowings is an important channel of enriching the

English vocabulary

词汇Vocabulary: all the words in a language make up its

vocabulary

词语分类Classification of English Words：

1.

By use frequency: basic word stock & non basic vocabulary

基本词汇的特征:

1)All-National character（全民通用性most important）

2)Stability

3)Productivity（多产性） 4)Polysemy（多义性）

5)Collocability（可搭配性）

没有上述特征的词:(1)Terminology(术语) (2)Jargon（行话）(3)slang（俚语）(4)Argot（暗语）（5）Dialectal words (6)

Archaisms（古语） (7) Neologisms（新词语）:Neologisms

2.

3.

By notion: content words实词 & functional words虚词

By origin: native words & borrowed words

Native words（本族语词）: Two other features:(1)neutral in

style (2)frequent in use

Borrowed words/Loan words: words taken over from foreign

languages.(80% of modern EV)

1) denizens(同化词，融入英语): (shirt from skyrta(ON))

2) aliens（非同化词/外来词，可以看出源头）: kowtow

3) translation loans(译借词):按其他语言方式组成英语

long time no see / tofu

4) semantic loans（借义词）：they are not borrowed with

reference to the form,but their meanings are borrowed

pioneer本指开拓者，先引申为先锋。

Chapter 2 the development of the English Vocabulary

印欧语系The Indo-European Language Family

The Eight Groups in Indo-European Family of Languages（8大印欧语）

The Eastern set:

(1)The Balto-slavic Group（波罗的-斯拉夫语族）：Russian,Bulgarian,Polish,Czech etc.

(2)The Indo-Iranian Group（印度-伊朗语族）：Hindi,Bengali,Persian etc.

(3)The Armenian Group（亚美尼亚语族）：Armenian.

(4)The Albanian Group（阿尔巴尼亚语族）：Albanian.

The Western set:

(5)The Hellenic Group（古希腊语族）：Greek.

(6)The Italian Group（意大利语族）：Latin ,Romance

languages(French,Italian,Spanish, portuguese,Romanian)

etc.

(7)The Celtic Group（凯尔特语族）：Irish,Welsh,Breton etc.

(8)The Germanic Group（日耳曼语族）：

Flemish,German,Dutch,Scandinavian(Norweigian,

Swedish,Danish,Icelandic) etc.

三个发展阶段The Three Stages of Development of the English

Vocabulary:

1 Old English (450-1100) (vocabulary 50,000 to 60,000): was I

high inflected language.

2 Middle English (1150-1500): retaines much fewer inflections

（1066法国开始入侵英国）

3 Modern English (1500-up to now) 始于印刷术

英语外来元素Foreign elements：

Latin （war and agriculture/罗马人把基督教带到英国church terms）

Greek (science/sports/medicine/politics)

French(government and

administration/feudalism/religion/morality)

Scandinavian 纳维亚人（nouns、pronouns/birds/sea）

Minor elements：Italian、German、Dutch、Spanish and

Portuguese、Celtic

词汇的发展模式Modes of Vocabulary Development:

1) 创造新词creation：the formation of new words by using the

existing.

2) 旧词新义semantic change: create many more new useages of

the words.

3) 借用外来词 borrowing: constitute merely 6 to 7 percent of

all new words

Chapter 3 Word Formation I

词素Morpheme: the smallest functioning unit in the composition

of words

词素变体Allomorph: is a different variant form of a morpheme，differ in phonological and spelling form, but at the same in

function and meaning

词素的分类Type of Morpheme

（1）Free Morphemes: A free morpheme is one that can stand by

itself. (independent).

（2）Bound Morpheme: A bound morpheme is one that cannot stand

by itself.

Free Morpheme =free root

Morpheme(词素)

Bound root prefix

bound derivational派生

suffix

affix

inflectional 曲折

判断题：

affix must be bound morphemes√

不是所有的词都需要自由词素√ per-ceive trans-late

re-mit

大部分词语是派生的√

词根和词干

A root is the basic form of a word which cannot be further

analyzed without total loss of identity.

A stem is the surplus part after the cutting of inflectional

morpheme in a word with inflectional morphemes,can be further

analyzed, it sometimes could be a root.

Chapter 4 Word-Formation II(构词法)

词缀法（Derivation派生法）：the formation of words by adding

word-formaing or derivational affixes to stem.

（1）Prefixation：It's the formation of new words by adding a

prefixes to stems.

1)Negative prefixes(否定):

un-,non-,in-,dis,a- ,il-,ir-,im-,(not obey)

2)Reversative prefixes（逆反前缀）: un-,de-，dis- etc.

unwrap(open)

3) Pejorative prefixes: mis（贬义）：mal-, pseudo- (bad

behavior)

4) Prefixes of degree or size(程度前缀)：arch-,extra-,hyper-,macro-,micro-,

mini-,out-,over-,sub-,super-,sur-,ultra-,under-,ect.

overweight

5) Prefixes of orientation and attitude（倾向）:contra-,counter-,anti-,pro-

6)Locative prefixes（方位）:extra-,fore-,inter-,intra-,tele-,trans-, etc.

extraordinary

of time and order（时间和顺序前缀）:fore-,pre-,post-,ex-,re- etc. monorail(one rail)

8) Number prefixes（数字前缀）:uni-，mono-, bi-，di-,

tri-,multi-，poly- ，semi-，

9) Miscellaneous prefixes（混杂前缀）：auto-, neo-, pan-,

(2)Suffixation（后缀法）: It's the formation of a new word by

adding suffixes to stems.

1)noun suffixes 2)adjective suffixes 3)Adverb suffixes

4)verb suffixes

复合法 （also called composition）

Compounding: is the formation of new words by joining two or

more stems

Compounds are written in three ways: solid连写(airmail)，hyphenated带连字符(air-conditioning)and open分开写(air

force, air raid)

Formation of compounds（复合词的形式）

（1）noun compounds ：. : air + plane = airplane,flower + pot

= flower pot

（2）adjective compounds ： . acid + head = acid-head

（3）verb compounds ： . house + keep = housekeep

转类法

Conversion: is the formation of new words by converting words

of one class to another class.（功能转换，又叫零派生.functional

shift/zero-derivation）

拼缀法

Blending : is the formation of new words by combining parts of

two words or a word plus a part of another word. : smoke + fog

= smog, formula + translation = FORTRAN

截短法

Clipping:is to shorten a longer word by cutting a part off the

original and using what remains plane from airplane, phone

from telephone. 四种形式：

1).Front clippings (phone from telephone) 2).Back

clippings (dorm from dormitory)

3).Front and back clippings (flu from influenza) 4).Phrase

clippings (pop from popular music)

首字母缩写法

Acronymy:is the process of forming new words by joining the

initial letters of names of social and political organizations

or special noun phrases and technical terms.

（1）Initialism（首字母缩写词法）: BBC(for British

Broadcasting corporation)

（2）Acronym（首字母拼音法）: TEFL (teaching English as a foreign

language)

（逆生法，逆构词） (greed from greedy)

From Proper Name(专有名词转成法): .: watt（瓦特，电功率单位）

Chapter 5 Word Meaning

Reference(所指):It is the relationship between language and

the word. It is the arbitrary and conventional. It is a kind

of abstraction, yet with the help of context, it can refer to

something specific.

Concept（概念）:which is beyond language, is the result of human

cognition(认识),reflecting the objective world in the human

mind.

Sense（意义）:It denotes the relationship inside the language.

‘The sense of an expression is its place in a system of semantic

relationships with other expressions in the language.’

Motivation(理据)：It accounts for the connection between the

linguistic symbol and its meaning.

1) Onomatopoeic motivation（拟声理据）:words whose sounds

suggest their meaning, for these words were creates by

imitating the natural sounds or noises. Knowing the sounds of

the words means understanding the meaning. .: bang, ping-pong,

ha ha.

2)Morphological motivation （形态理据）:multi-morphemic words

and the meaning of many are the sum total of the morphemes

combines. .: airmail, miniskirt .例外：black market, ect.

3)Semantic motivation（词义理据）：refers to the mental

associations suggested by the conceptual meaning of a word. It

explains the connection between the literal sense and

figurative sense of the word. :the foot of the mountain(foot)

4)Etymological motivation （词源理据）:the history of the word

explains the meaning of the word. :pen-feather

词义的类别Types of meaning

1. 语法意义Grammatical Meaning: indicates the grammatical

concept or relationships

2. 词汇意义Lexical Meaning ：Conceptual meaning and

associative meaning

4types: Connotative 、Stylistic 、Affective（appreciative

& pejorative）、 Collocative

Chapter 6 --Sense relation and semantic field （语义关系和语义场）

多义关系的两种研究方法Two approached to polysemy

1. 历时方法diachronic approach ：from the diachronic point of

view, polysemy is assumed to be the result of growth and

development of the semantic structure of one and same word.

First meaning is the primary meaning , the later meanings are

called derived meanings.

2. 共时方法synchronic approach : synchronically, polysemy is

viewed as the coexistence of various meanings of the same word

in a certain historical period of time.基本意义是central

meaning , 次要意义是derived meaning.

词义的两种发展类型Two processes of development

1.

radiation（辐射型）：is a semantic process in which the primary

meaning stands at the centre and the secondary meanings

proceed out of it in every direction like rayes. : face, neck)

2.

连锁型concatenation:is the semantic process in which the

meaning of a word move gradually away from its first sense

by successive shifts until there is not a sign of connection

between the sense that is finally developed and that which

the term had at the beginning.:treacle)

3.

In radiation, each of the derived meaning is directly

connected to the primary meaning. In concatenation, each of

the later meaning is related only to the preceding one like

chains. Though the latest sense can be traced back to the

original, there is no direct connection in between.

4.

They are closely related, being different stages of the

development leading to polysemy. Generally, radiation

precedes concatenation. In many cases, the two processes

work together, complementing each other.

Homonymy（同形同音异义关系）:words different in meaning but

either identical both in sound and spelling or identical only

in sound or spelling.

类别Types of homonyms

1）Perfect homonyms一词多义

2)Homographs（同形异义词）:同一个词发音不同意思不同words

identical only in spelling, but different in sound and

meaning.(最多最常见)

3）Homophones（同音异义词）

来源Origins of homonyms

1）change in sound and spelling ：(eare-ear, lang-long,

langian-long)

2）borrowing (feria-fair, beallu-ball, baller-ball )

3）Shortening(缩略): (ad-advertisement,)

同音同形异义词和多义词区别The differentiation of Homonyms

from Polysemes

1)基本区别 Homonymy refers to different words which happen to

share the same form and polysemy are the one and same word which

has several distinguishable meanings.

2) etymology(词源)：H are from different sources. P are from

the same source.

3) semantic relatedness(语义关联): The various meanings of

polysemant are correlated and connected to one central meaning.

Meanings of different homonymys have nothing to do with one

another. In dictionaries, a polysemant has its meaning all

listed under one headword whereas homonyms are listed as

separate entries.

Rhetoric features of homonyms(同形同音异义词的修辞特)：As

homonyms are identical in sound or spelling, particularly

homophones, they are often employed to create puns for desired

effect of, say, humor, sarcasm or ridicule.

Synonymy (同义关系): one of two or more words in the English

language which have the same or very nearly the same essential

meaning .

Types of Synonymy(同义词的类别) :

synonyms（完全同义词）

synonyms（相对） : change/alter/vary, stagger/reel/totter,

strange/odd/queer)

Sources of synonyms(同义词的来源) :

1)Borrowing：(room-chamber, foe-enemy, help-aid, leave-depart,

wise-sage, buy-purchase)

2)Dialects and regional English

3)Figurative and euphemistic use of words （单词的修饰和委婉法）:occupation/profession-walk of life, dreamer--star-gazer,

drunk-elevated, lie-distort of fact.

4)Coincidence with idiomatic expressions（与习惯表达一致）:win-gain the upper hand, decide-make up one’s mind,

finish-get through, hesitate-be in two minds, help-lend one a

hand.

同义词辨析Discrimination of Synonyms

in denotation外延. Synonyms may differ in the range and

intensity of meaning.(rich-wealthy, work-toil,

want-wish-desire)

in connotation内涵. By connotation we mean the stylistic and

emotive colouring of words. Some words share the same

denotation but differ in their stylistic appropriateness. (借词：answer-respond, storm-tempest, wood-forest, handy-manual,

unlike-dissimilar,homely-domestic, fleshy-carnal.中性词：policeman-constable-bobby-cop, ask-beg-request. 古语词、诗歌：ire/anger, bliss-happiness, forlorn-distresses,

dire-dreadful, list-listen, enow-enough, save-expect,

mere-lake )

in application. Many words are synonymous in meaning but

difference in usage in simple terms. They form different

collocations and fit into difference sentence patterns. (allow

sb. to do let sb. do sth. / answer the letter-reply to the

letter)

反义关系Antonymy :it is concerned with semantic opposition.

Antonyms can be defined as words which are opposite in meaning.

Types of Antonyms:

1)contradictory terms (矛盾反义词): these antonyms truly

represent oppositeness of meaning. 特点：①The assertion of one

is the denial of the other. ②Such antonyms are non-gradable.

They cannot be used in comparative degrees and do not allow

adverbs of intensity like “very” to qualify them . :

single/married)

2)contrary terms（对立反义词）: antonyms of this type are best

viewed in terms of a scale running between two poles or

extremes.: old/young, rich/young, big/small) The two opposites

are gradable and one exists in comparison with the other.

3)relative terms（关系反义词）： this type consists of

relational opposites.（parent/child, husband/wife,

employee/employer, sell/buy, receive-give）

反义关系的特点Some of the characteristics of antonyms

1)antonyms are classified on the basis of semantic

opposition(语义对立)

2)a word which has more than one meaning can have more than one

antonym

3)antonyms differ in semantic inclusion（语义内涵）

4)contrary terms are gradable antonyms，differing in degree of

intensity, so each has its own corresponding

opposite.(hot/warm: hot-cold/warm-cool)

反义词的使用The use of antonyms

1）Antonyms are helpful and valuable in defining the meaning

of words.

2) To express economically the opposite of a particular thought

for the sake of contrast. :now or never, rain or shine, friend

or foe敌友，weal and woe哀乐)

3）To form antithesis(对比法) to achieve emphasis by putting

contrasting idea together. (proverbs and sayings: easy come ,

easy go./ more haste, less speed.

上下义关系Hyponymy ：Hyponymy deals with the relationship of

semantic inclusion. The meaning of a more specific word is

included in that of another more general word. For example, a

cat is hyponym of animal

上义词和下义词Superordinate and Subordinate ：use

subordinates which are concrete and precise ,presenting a vivid

verbal picture before the reader. Superordinates which convey

only a general and vague idea.

语义场Semantic Field

Viewing the total meaning in this way is the basis of field

theory.

.(apple, pear, peach, date, mango, orange, lemon, etc. make

up the semantic field of ‘fruits’)

The semantic field of the same concept may not have the same

members in different language.

.(aunt in English, may means “父亲的， 妈妈的，父亲哥哥的妻子” in Chinese.(122)

Chapter 7 Changes in Word Meaning词义的演变

词义变化的种类Types of Changes

1. Extension /generalization

2. Narrowing/ specialization

3. ioration(词义的升华):refers to the process by which words

rise from humble（粗陋的） beginnings to positions of importance.

[nice, marshal, constable, angel, knight, earl, governor, fond,

minister, chamberlain ]

4. Degradation / pejoration(词义的降格):A process whereby

words of good origin fall into ill reputation or non-affective

words come to used in derogatory（贬损的） sense.[boor, churl,

wench, hussy, villain, silly, knave, lewd, criticize, lust ]

5. Transfer(词义的转移): Words which were used to designate指明 one thing but later changed to mean something else have

experienced the process of semantic transfer.

词义变化的原因Causes of Semantic Change

1.外部因素 1) Historical reason 2 )Class reason阶级原因 3)

Psychological reason心理原因

2.内部原因： 1)shorting缩略:gold-gold medal, gas-coal gas,

bulb-light bulb, private-private soldier 2)borrowing借用:deer-animal-beast 3)analogy类推:

Chapter 8 Meaning and Context 词义和语境

Two types of context（语境的种类）

1. Extra-linguistic context/ Non-linguistic situation（非语言语境）：In a broad sense, context includes the physical

situation as well, which embraces the people, time, place, and

even the whole cultural background. (look out, weekend,

landlord )

context/ grammatical context(语言语境)：In a narrow sense, it

refers to the words, clauses, sentences in which a word appears.

It may cover a paragraph, a whole chapter and even the entire

book.分为两类：

1) Lexical context（词汇语境）：It refers to the word that occurs

together with the word in question. : paper, do)

2) Grammatical context（语法语境）：It refers the situation when

the meaning of a word may be influenced by the structure in which

it occurs. : become)

语境的作用The role of context

of ambiguity(消除歧义)

1）Ambiguity due to polysemy or homonymy.

2）Grammatical structure can also lead to ambiguity

如何消除歧义——①extend the original sentence ②alter

the context a little

of referents(限定所指)

如何限定所指——①with clear context ②with adequate

verbal context

of clues for inferring word-meaning (提供线索以猜测词义)

1)definition 2)explanation 3)example 4)synonymy

5)antonymy

6)hyponymy（上下义关系） 7)relevant details 8)word

structure

Chapter 9 English Idioms 习语

定义Idioms: are expressions that are not readily

understandable from their literal meaning of individual

elements.

特点Characteristics of Idioms unity （语意的整体性）

stability

分类Classification of Idioms

．

(white elephant累赘物 the salt of the earth 诚实正派人 apple

of discourse 祸根)

2 .adj.（as poor as a church mouse一贫如洗 cut and dried 确定的 wide of the mark不确定的）

3 .v.（bite the hands that feeds忘恩负义 keep the pot boiling维持生活 give sb. the bag解雇）

4. adv.(tooth and nail 拼命 through thick and thin不畏艰辛 in

nothing flat立刻）

5 .sentence idioms 句式习语（one swallow does not make a summer独木不成林）

使用Use of idioms

features（文体彩）：

colloquialisms（俗语）big wheel重要的人

slang （俚语）hit the sack: 上床 in the soup: 有麻烦

literary expressions（书面表达）bear witness to 证明

features(修辞彩)

1) phonetic manipulation （语音处理）：

（1）alliteration头韵法：part and parcel

（2）rhyme尾韵法：toil and moil

2）lexical manipulation（词法处理）

（1）reiteration 同义词并举 [scream and shout] [pick and

choose]

（2）repetition 重复[out and out]

（3）juxtaposition (of antonyms) 反义词并置 [here and

there] [day and night]

of speech（修辞格）

（1）simile明喻 as proud as peacock像孔雀一样骄傲 /as

mute as a fish 默不作声

（2）metaphor暗喻 a white elephant / a black sheep

（3）metonymy换喻/以名词代动作：live by one’s pen / from

cradle to grave

（4）synecdoche提喻/以部分代整体：earn one’s bread

（5）Personification拟人法 actions speak louder than words

（6）Euphemism委婉语：kick the bucket(die)

（7）hyperbole 夸张：a world of trouble / a flood of tears

来源Origins of idioms:

works:

Screw one’s courage鼓起勇气 To the manner born天生

Man Friday 忠仆，得力助手

Brevity is the soul of the wit简洁是智慧的灵魂 Live not

to eat, but eat to live.

Judas’s kill 出卖朋友 Much cry and little wool空叫喊

Turn the other cheek忍受暴力 Spare the rod and spoil the

child不打不成材

Bell the cat替别人冒风险 Cat’s paw被别人利用的人

Pandora’s box灾祸之源 Dead sea fruit华而不实 The

heel of the Achilles唯一要害

metaphor

As wise as owls猫头鹰的聪明As quite as mouse老鼠的安静As timid as rabbit兔子的胆小

Bury one’s head in the sand逃避现实 Come out of the

cocoon开始与人交往

life

On the rocks濒临灭绝 Bead of roses舒适的生活 Turn on

a new leaf改头换面

Hear around the grapervine道听途说 Beat around the bush旁敲侧击 Spill the beans泄露秘密