英文专业词汇学考试复习资料.doc

Chapter 1 The Basic Concepts of Words and Vocabulary1、The Definition of a WordLexicology focuses on the study of meanings and origins of words.According to semanticists（语义学家）, a word is a unit of meaning.A word is a minimal（最小的） free form of a language that has a given sound, meaning and syntactic function（句法功能）.2、VocabularyAll the words in a language make up what is generally known as its vocabulary.3、Sound and MeaningThe relationship between sound and meaning is no logic4、Sound and FormThere was more agreement between sound and form in Old English than in Modern English.With the development of the language, more and more differences arose between sound and form.5、Classification of WordsNo.ClassificationExampleNotes1By use frequencyBasic Word Stock（基本词汇）The basic word stock forms the common core（共合）of the language.Pronouns（代词） and numerals are semantically monosemous（单一的） and fairly limited in the respect of productivity（多产性）and collocability（搭配性）.The most important feature of the basic word stock is all national character.Nonbasic VocabularyArchaisms（古词语）：thouNeologisms（新词）：AIDSArgot（黑话）：persuader( means dagger)Technical Terms2By notion（有无实义）Content Words（实义词）Functional Words3By OriginNative WordsBorrowed WordsDenizens（同代词）：port、shirtAliens（非同代词）：dcorTranslation Loans（译借词）: lama（喇嘛）4By Morphology （形态）Simple WordsCompounds and Derived Words6、简答（1）、What is the relationship between sound and meaning? Give examples to illustrate it. The relationship between sound and meaning is arbitrary and conventional. In different languages, the same concept can be shown by different sounds. “Woman”, for example, becomes “Frau” in German, “Femme” in French and “fu nv” in Chinese. On the other hand, the same sound mi:t is used to mean “meet, meat, mete”, denoting different things.（2）、What are the four major reasons for the differences between sound and form? The first reason (he internal reason) is that there are more phonemes （音素）than letters in English. Another reason is that the pronunciation has changed more rapidly than spelling over the years. The third reasons that some of the differences more created by the early scribes. The fourth reason is the borrowing.（3）、How are words classified in the course book? Words can be classified by different criteria and for different purposes. Words may fall into: the basic word stock and nonbasic vocabulary by use frequency; content words and functional words by notion; native words and borrowed words by origin; simple words, compounds and derived words by morphology.（4）、What is the difference between denizens and aliens? Denizens are words borrowed early in the past and now are well assimilated（完全同化） into the English language. But aliens are borrowed words which have retained their original pronunciation and spelling. These words are immediately recognizable as foreign in origin.Chapter 2 The Development of the English Vocabulary1、The Indo-European Language FamilyThe prehistoric Indo-European parent language, thought to be a highly inflected （内部曲折语）language.GroupClassificationIncludingEaster Set(东支)Balto-SlavicPrussian、Lithuanina（立陶宛语）、Czech（捷克语）Indo-IranianPersian、Bengali（孟加拉）、Hindi、RomanyWestern Set（西支）CelticScottish、Irish、WelshHellenicGreekItalicFive Romance languages: Portuguese、Spanish、French、Italian、RomanianGermanicFour Northern European Languages (Scandinavian languages):Norwegian（挪威语）、Icelandic（冰岛语）、Danish、SwedishGerman、Dutch（荷兰语）、Flemish（佛兰芒语）、English2、Three Phases of the Historical DevelopmentThe first peoples who inhabited the land were Celts.The second language known in English was Latin of the Roman Legions.（1）、Old English（450-1150） In the 9th century England was invaded by Norwegian and Danish Vikings.（2）、Middle English（1150-1500） The French influence on English vocabulary was one of the significant points of the Middle English period.The most important fact of the Middle English period was the steady erosion of the inflectional systems of Old English.（3）、Modern English（1500-present） In the early period of Modern English, Europe saw a new upsurge of learning ancientGreek and Roman classics. It is estimated that about one fourth of modern English vocabulary has come from French.3、Foreign Elements in the English VocabularyIn earlier stages of English, Latin, Greek, French and Scandinavian were the four major contributors.The simultaneous existence of French, Latin and English lasted for a century.4、Modes of Vocabulary DevelopmentModern English vocabulary develops through three channels: creation, semantic change（旧词新义）and borrowing.Creation is the most important way of vocabulary expansion.5、简答What are the characteristics of Old English?Old English also known as the Anglo-Saxon, has a vocabulary of about 50000 to 60000 words, which are almost monogeneous and entirely Germanic with only a few borrowings from Latin and Scandinavian. Old English was a highly inflected language. It was a synthetic language（综合性语言）.（Modern English is an analytic language）Chapter 3 Morphological Structure of English Words1、MorphemesThe minimal meaningful units in English are known as morphemes（词素）.2、Classifying MorphemesNo.ClassificationNotes1Free morphemeBound morpheme（粘着词素）include two types: bound root and affixare chiefly found in derived words2Derivational morphemeconfined to suffixes function as grammatical markersInflectional morpheme（曲折词素）3Content morpheme（实义词素）On a semantic and syntactic basis, morphemes can fall into content/lexical and grammatical morphemes.Grammatical morpheme3、Morphs（形素）Morphemes are abstract units, which are realized in speech by discrete units known as morphs.4、Allomorphs（词素变体）An allomorph refers to a member of a set of morphs, which represent one morpheme.5、AffixNo.Classification Notes1Inflectional affixesaccording to the functionDerivational affixes2prefixin view of their distribution （位置） in the wordsSuffixes embrace both derivational suffixes and inflectional suffixes.suffix6、A root is the basic form of a word which cannot be further analyzed without total loss of identity.7、简答（1）、What is the difference between free morphemes and bound morphemes? Free morphemes which have complete meanings in themselves and can be used as free grammatical units in sentences are independent of other morphemes, but bound morphemes which cannot occur as separate. Words are bound to other morphemes to form words or to perform a particular grammatical function.（2）、What is the difference between derivational morphemes and inflectional morphemes?Derivational morphemes are used to derive new words, but inflectional morphemes are employed used to indicate the syntactic （句法）relationship between words and function as grammatical markers. Chapter 4 Word FormatioThe most productive ways of creating new words are affixation, compounding, and conversion.1、AffixationAccording to the position:ClassificationIncludingExampleNotesPrefixationNegative Prefixes（表示否定）undemocratic,disloyalGenerally speaking, prefixes do not change the word-class of the base but modify its meaningReversative/Privative Prefixes（表示逆反）unlockSuffixaion(Noun Suffixes)a Deverbal Noun Suffix（动词变名词）dismissal,assistanta Denominal Noun Suffix（名词变名词）booklet, hostessThe words created by adding word forming or derivational affixes to bases are calledderivatives.2、Compounding（复合法）Example: workfare(work+welfare) In adjective-plus-noun compounds, the adjective element cannot take inflectional suffixes.Verb compounds are created either though conversion or through back-formation.3、Conversion（转类法）The conversion that takes place between nouns and verbs is the most productive.The conversion of two syllable nouns into verbs involves a change of stress. Nouns fully converted from adjectives have all the characteristics of nouns.4、Blending（拼缀法）The overwhelming majority of blends are nouns5、Back-formation（逆身法）Back-formation is considered to be the opposite process of suffixation.6、简答（1）、What is the main difference between prefixes and suffixes? Unlike prefixes which primarily effect a semantic modification of the base, suffixes have only a small semantic role, their primary function being to changes the grammatical function of a base, i.e. the change of the word class with a slight modification of meaning.（2）、What are the three main features of compounds? The three main features of compounds are phonological features, semantic features and grammatical features. The word stress of a compound usually occurs on the first element. Each compound should express a single idea just as one word. A compound tends to play a single grammatical role in a sentence.（3）、What is back-formation? What are the characteristics of back-formation? Back-formation is the method of creating words by removing the supposed suffixes. Words created through back-formation are verbs. Stylistically, back-formed words are largely informal and some of them have not successfully gained currency.（4）、What is acronymy? What is the difference between initialisms and acrnyms? Acronymy is the process of forming new words by joining the initial letters of composite names of social and political organizations or phrases used as technical terms. Words formed in this way are called initialisms or acronyms. Initialisms are pronounced letter by letter, but acronyms are pronounced as normal words7、论述题Point out the formation of the following words?No.ClassificationIncludingExample1Blendinghead+tailautocide(automobile+suicide)、broasted(broiled+roasted)、chunnel(channel+tunnel)head+headcomsat(communication+satellite)、telex(teleprinter+exchange)、Amerind(American+Indian)、sitcom(situation+comedy)head+wordmedicare(medical+care)、Eurasia(Europe+Asia)、autocamp(automobile+camp)word+tailBookmobile(book+automobile)、workfare(work+welfare) , tourmobile(tour+automobile)2Clipping（截短法）Front Clippingquake(earthquake)、copter(helicopter)、chute(parachute) , phone(telephone)、scope(telescope)Back Clippingmemo(memorandum)、gent(gentleman)、fan(fanatic)、disco(discotheque)Front and Back Clippingflu(influenza)、fridge(refrigerator) Phrase Clippingpub(public house)、zoo(zoological garden)、pop(popular music)3Acronymy（首字母拼音法）(Depending on the pronunciation)Initialisms（首字母缩略词）VOA、BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation)、UFO (unidentified flying object)、TB (tuberculosis)AcronymsNATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization)、AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome)、CORE (Congress of Racial Equality)、TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language)、1、“Medicare” and “sitcom” are blends. “Medicare” is formed by combining the head of “medical and the word “care”, and “sitcom” is formed by combining the head of “situation” and that of “comdey. 2、”Memo” and “flu” are clipped words. “Memo” is formed by clipping the lack of “memorandum” and “flu” is formed clipping the front and lack of “influenza”.3、”TB” and “NATO” are new words created through acronymy. “TB” from “tuberculosis” is an initialism, while “NATO” from “the North Atlantic Treaty Organization” is an acronym.Chapter 5 Word Meaning and Componential Analysis（成份分析法）1、ReferenceWords are but symbols, many of which have meaning only when they have acquired reference.2、Concept（概念）Meaning and concept are closely connected but not identical.Concept, which is beyond language, is the result of human cognition, reflecting the objective world in the human mind.3、SenseUnlike reference, sense denotes the relationships inside the language.4、Motivation（理据）Motivation refers to the connection between the linguistic symbol and its meaning.No.ClassificationExample1Onomatopoeic Motivation（拟声理据）crow by cocks、quack by ducks、trumpet by elephants、buzz by bees or flies、croak by frogs、squeak by mice、neigh by horses、bleat by goats、hiss by snakes、roar by lions and tigers2Morphological Motivation（形态理据）hopeful、useless、careful3Semantic Motivation（语音理据）Mouth (the mouth of a river)4Etymological Motivation（词源理据）pen5、Types of MeaningNo.ClassificationNotes1Grammatical MeaningLexical meaning and grammatical meaning form the word meaning.Lexical meaning itself embraces two components: conceptual meaning and associative meaning.Functional words, thought having little lexical meaning, possess strong grammatical meaning whereas content words have both meanings, and their lexical meanings are prominent.Lexical Meaning（词汇意义）2Conceptual MeaningThere are few words with the same conceptual meaning and the same stylistic meaning.Associative Meaning（1）、Conceptual Meaning and Associative MeaningNo.ClassificationExampleNotes1Connotative Meaning（内涵意义）mother、home1、Opposite to the denotative meaning, connotative meaning refers to the overtones or associations suggested by the conceptual meaning.2、Connotative meaning varies considerably according to culture, historical period, and the experience of the individual.2Stylistic Meaning （文体意义）They chucked a stone at the cops, and then did a bunk with the loot.After casting a stone at the police, they absconded with the money.3Affective Meaning（感情意义）Positive、Negative、Both appreciative（褒义的） or pejorative（贬义的):1、Words that have emotive values may fall into two categories: appreciative or pejorative.2、Affective meaning, which is unstable, differs from the conceptual meaning.4Collocative Meaning（搭配意义）pretty woman and handsome woman6、简答（1）、What is reference? What are the characteristics of reference? Reference is the relationship between language and the world. By means of reference, a speaker indicates which things in the world are being talked about. The reference of a word to a thing outside the language is arbitrary and conventional. Although reference is a kind of abstraction, yet with the help of context, it can refer to something definite.（2）、What is conceptual meaning? What are the characteristics of conceptual meaning? Conceptual meaning known as cognitive, denotative, or designative is the meaning given in the dictionary and forms the core of word meaning. Being constant and relatively stable, conceptual meaning forms the basis for communication as The same word generally has the same conceptual meaning to all the speakers of the same speech community. (language).（3）、What is the difference bet