Lexical-Fossilization-in-Semantic-Category--从语义范畴研究词汇的石化现象毕业论文.doc

本科毕业论文(设计)题目： Lexical Fossilization in Semantic Category 学院： 班级：姓名： 指导教师： 职称： 完成日期： 年 月 日16Lexical Fossilization in Semantic CategoryAbstract : Nowadays, fossilization phenomena have been paid much attention to by many researchers, because it is an inevitable topic in the study of second language acquisition. Based on the authors diligent research, it is observed that many second language learners are hard to obtain an obvious progress after studying English for a long time, no matter how hard they work. This is actually a kind of fossilization phenomena，which often makes second language learners feel tough and perplexing, and also causes “time-consuming more, yielding results low” phenomena. The phenomena may occur in all linguistic aspects such as phonological fossilization, lexical fossilization, pragmatic fossilization etc. Lexis, as the base of a language, consists of its most important part. Therefore lexical fossilization is crucial to the study of fossilization.In this thesis, the author probes into the lexical fossilization in semantic category. The essay is based on the researchers previous study about lexical semantics and some typical examples. By analyzing some objective causes of fossilization phenomena in lexical aspect, the author tries to find out the effective ways to prevent the fossilized errors in order to improve our English learning, such as providing accurate and appropriate L2 Input., turning to bilingual dictionary, getting acquainted to cultural background. The thesis consists of the following four parts: In the first part, the author firstly tries to introduce the background information of the fossilization phenomena and then discusses the significance of this study. In the second part, the author presents the literature review of fossilization phenomena in SLA, makes a brief description of the definition of fossilization and some related terms on fossilization. In the third part, with some typical examples, the author illustrates some certain manifestation of lexical fossilization in semantic category, and then discusses some objective causes of fossilization phenomena from the three aspects, namely, the influence of geographical environment, the influence of cultural background, the meaning of a word keeps updating. Besides that, the author tries to find out some effective ways to prevent the fossilized errors in lexical learning. In the fourth part, the author arrives at a conclusion of the whole thesis and points out the direction of further studies. Key Words : fossilization phenomena； lexis； semanticContentIntroduction :1Literature Review:21 General Introduction of Fossilization32 Manifestation of Fossilization in semantic category42.1 English Semantic Meaning Partly Similar to Chinese52.2 English Semantic Meanings Different From Chinese52.3 Semantic Meaning Only in English or Chinese63 The Cause of Fossilization73.1 The Influence of Geographical Environments83.2 The Influence of Culture Background93.3 The Meaning of a Word Keeps Updating104 Some Tentative Methods to Reduce Fossilization104.1 To Provide Accurate L2 Input104.2 Turn to Bilingual Dictionary114.3 Get Acquainted to Cultural Background114.4 To Renew Vocabulary12Conclusion12References:13Introduction : Selinker first defined the term “fossilization” as “the long term persistence of plateaus of non-target-like structures in the inter-language of non-native speakers (even those who are very fluent speakers of the L2) has been called fossilization”. Over the past 30 years or so, many researchers and linguists have made various careful studies on fossilization phenomena , which is an inevitable topic in the study of second language acquisition, and they have achieved a lot of insights in the studies and contributed greatly to foreign language teaching and learning. Learners suffer from a variety of manifestation of fossilization in different degree, especially in lexical semantics fossilization aspect. Lexis, as the base of a language, consists of its most important part. Only with it can a language exist and develop. In our country, generally a vocabulary chart is attached in an English teaching material, and one or several Chinese equivalents are followed by every single word. In this situation, when students try to remember the English words, they bear the so-called corresponding Chinese meaning in mind, and store them in the brain. Consequently when an English word is referred, they would reflect the limited and superficial meaning spontaneously. As time passes, deeply-rooted fossilization comes into being.Fossilization is a serious problem to the English learners. If we dont take it into consideration we may keep still or even regress in the process of learning. This thesis is written under such a situation to meet various needs. In third part, the author explains fossilization from the refreshing angle and analyzes the cause of manifestation mentioned above. With the recognition concerning the causation of fossilization, attempts for changing fossilized forms often make it easier for us to get twofold results with half the effort. In order to improve language proficiency of language learners of our country, some tentative methods to prevent and reduce fossilization will be suggested from the angle of language learning. namely, providing accurate and appropriate L2 Input., turning to bilingual dictionary, getting acquainted to cultural background. The study of fossilization in SLA has been attracting more and more peoples attention. In the thesis, the author tries to find out the effective ways to prevent the fossilized errors to improve the English learning. The study of fossilization is of great significance. In order to improve our countrys foreign language teaching and learning, In order to further promoting the international communication and multiple co-operations between china and the outside world, it is necessary to get a better understanding of SLA.Literature Review:The concept of fossilization was first introduced into the second language acquisition (SLA) literature by Selinker, the British famous linguist and the professor of London University, to label the undesirable phenomenon in L2 learning that the L2 learner fails to reach target-language competence or that non-target forms become fixed in inter-language (Mukkatesh 1986; Major1988, Ellis1994, Pica 1994). In this definition, Selinker seems to have seen fossilization as a way of both characterizing and explaining the product of the SLA process in terms of what many observers consider one of its most prominent qualities (compared to L1 A), that is, relative failure. Over the past 30 years or so, many researchers and linguists have made various studies on the phenomenon of fossilization. A great researchers try to define fossilization from different angles, thus the definitions of fossilization vary a great deal. Random House Dictionary gave another authoritative definition which goes like the following: Ling.(of a linguistic form, feature, rule, etc)to become permanently established in the inter-language of a second-language learner in a form that is deviant from the target-language norm and that continues to appear in performance regardless of further exposure to the target language.(1987,p.755) . Fossilization was now: a situation in which the learner might produce a target language form correctly in one context but not in another, thereby evidencing a fluctuation in inter-language performance. In order to qualify as fossilization, this fluctuation would have to have persisted in the learners speech for an extended period of time (perhaps two to five years at the very least)-in spite of copious interaction with native speakers in an environment where the learners L2 is spoken as a first language. (Selinker,1989) And just several years later, while admitting that definitions of fossilization varied widely, Selinker reported the existence of literally hundred of studies in the literature which claim to have shown a fossilized phenomenon, or speculate on a fossilizable phenomenon, or assume fossilization and speculate on its possible cause in the case under study(Selinker, 1992). In 1992, Selinker added the dimension of “cessation of further systematic development in the inter-language. In retrospect, it is clear that the earliest definitions of fossilization delineated five basic properties: first, fossilization is equivalent to cessation of development; second, fossilizable features pertain every aspect of IL, including phonetic, phonological，morphological, syntactic, semantic, lexical, discoursal and pragmatic features; third, fossilizable features are persistent and resistant; fourth, fossilization hits both adult L2 learners and child L2 learners; fifth, fossilizable features usually manifest themselves as backsliding in performance. This fossilization may occur in all linguistic aspects such as pronunciation, spelling, wording, grammar structure, or text structure etc. Vocabulary is one of the indispensable components of language system. It is considered as the most difficult component of language knowledge for a learner to grasp. Gorman(1979)points out that there is evidence showing that as students become more proficient in a second language, problems caused specifically by syntactical variation become less significant( Quigley, 1985:499). Students can learn word pronunciation and its grammatical rules in a restricted period of time. It is because either of them is relatively stable, but it is not the same case with word meaning, which is determined by the characteristics of word meaning itself: diversity, variability and nationality. So the study of lexical fossilization is crucial to the research of fossilization. English linguist Leech once adopted the term ”petrification” ,which is the synonym of “fossilization”. It refers the fact that the conventional meaning of an entry is varied and thus may cause fossilization. The study lays the foundation of lexical fossilization. In Ellis (1994:354), the causes are summarized as two general kinds: internal and external factors. Internal factors include age and lack of desire to acculturate. External factors are communicative pressure, lack of learning opportunity and the nature of the feedback on learners use of L2. Fossilization is the undesirable outcome of foreign language learning, which reflects the operation of various internal processes. As Selinker and Lamendella(1978) conclude, there is probably no single cause; both internal and external factors play a role and we are still a long way from being able to specify the differential contribution of the various factors and how they interact. Through careful research I find that their explanations are all based on the psychological. In the following section, the author will elaborate some objective causes of fossilization.1 General Introduction of FossilizationFossilization was first defined by Selinker, as: The long term persistence of plateaus of non-target-like structures in the inter-language of non-native speakers (even those who are very fluent speakers of the L2) has been called fossilization. (Selinker, 1972; Selinker and Lamendella,1978). Then the theory became influential and authoritative in the whole field of SLA. Over the past 30 years or so, many researchers and linguists have made various study on the phenomenon of fossilization, meanwhile they have made great progress. English linguist Leech once adopted the term ”petrification” ,Which is the synonym of “fossilization”. It refers the fact that the conventional meaning of an entry is varied and thus may cause fossilization. The study lays the foundation of lexical fossilization. From then on, fossilization arise attention home and abroad. Fossilization is likely to take place at any stage and in any category, it is an unavoidable phenomenon in the course of SLA.In our country, generally a vocabulary chart is attached in an English teaching material, and one or several Chinese equivalents are followed by every single word, In this case, when students try to remember the English words, they bear the so-called corresponding Chinese meaning in mind, and store them in the brain. Consequently when an English word is referred, they would reflect the limited and superficial meaning spontaneously. As time passes, deeply-rooted fossilization comes into being. Lexical semantic fossilization is a serious problem In the process of foreign language acquisition. Learners suffer from a variety of manifestation in different degrees, which de-accelerate the learning process and affect our learning proficiency seriously.2 Manifestation of Fossilization in semantic category As we all known that the meaning of a word is difficult to grasp. Even the word “meaning” itself has different meanings. Leechs 7 types categorization in his Semantics published in 1974 is the most well known. The 7 types of meaning are1)conceptual meaning, 2) connotative meaning, 3) social meaning, 4) affective/emotive meaning, 5) reflected meaning, 6) collocative meaning and 7) thematic meaning. Among these types the ones from the second to the sixth could be grouped into associative meaning. Usually in our teaching material, there is a vocabulary chart, in which one or several Chinese equivalents are followed by every single word. Since the meaning of a word is rich and complex, it is impossible to list its meaning comprehensively. So in most cases, the declarative meaning is attached. When we probe into the theory, we find that there are about 4 semantic relations between the Chinese lexis and the corresponding English lexis :(1)Both denotative meanings and associated meanings are identical; (2) Denotative meanings or associated meanings are partly similar; (3) Denotative meanings are identical but associated meanings are different; (4) Denotative meanings are identical but associated meanings merely exist in English or Chinese. Of which, the last 3 kinds of relations are the principle concern on lexical semantic fossilization in the thesis. Some typical instances will be listed to elaborate the viewpoints.2.1 English Semantic Meaning Partly Similar to ChineseIn English and Chinese, there are quite a lot of words whose denotative meanings are partly the same. In Chinese, some concepts are not categorized painstakingly, while it is not the case in English. For example, the word “wine” is often translated as “jiu” in Chinese, actually wine refers to “pu tao jiu” only. On the other hand, the “jiu” in Chinese is an umbrella word, which include “bai jiu, tian jiu, pu tao j