1、Chapter 1 Basic Concepts of Words and Vocabulary,1. What is a WordDefinition: A word is a minimal free form of a language that has a given sound and meaning and syntactic function. “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。”（ 辞海（上）页）,(1) a minimal free form of language;(2) a sound unity;(3) a unit of meani
2、ng;(4) a form that can function alone in a sentence.Eg. Man , fine , misfortune, management, blackmail“The young man left quietly.”,2. Sound and MeaningThis symbolic connection is almost always arbitrary, and there is no logical relationship between the sound which stands for a thing or an idea and
3、the actual thing and idea itself (Lodwig and Barret ,1973) Eg. Dog, rose, woman,meat, meet, meteknight, night 洗澡/冲凉；幼儿园/幼稚园,3. Sound and FormDifferences occur between the twoInternal reason:English alphabet adopted from the RomansExternal reasons: 1) The pronunciation has changed more rapidly than s
4、pelling over the years 2) Some of the differences were created by the early scribes.,i,u ,v, m, n, wuo before m,n, veg. sumsome, cum-come, wuman- woman, wunderwonder, munk-monkEnglish word should not end in u or vhence, eg.live, have, due, true 3)In the late 1500,Printing became well established. Di
5、ctionaries did their share in stopping spelling changes.,4) Finally comes the borrowing.The early borrowings were assimilated and the later ones were not.eg. Stimulus (L), denouement(F), fieste(Sp), eureka (Gr), kimono (Jap)4. VocabularyIt is used in different senses.1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6),5. Classificat
6、ion of Words1) Basic word stock and non-basic vocabularyCharacteristics of basic word stock:A. All national character (全民性)Natural phenomena:Human body and relations:Names of plants and animals:Action, size, domain, state:Numerals, pronouns prepositions, conjunctions:,B. Stabilityeg. man, fire, moun
7、tain, water, sun, moon.arrow, bow, chariot, knightelectricity, machine, car, plane, computer, radio, televisionC. Productivityroot words or monosyllabic wordsfoot: footage, football, footpath, footer, footfall, footed, footloose, footling, footman,footing, footprint,Dog: doglike, dogcart, dog-cheap,
8、 dog-tired, dog-ear, dogfight, doghole, dogpaddle, dogsleep D. PolysemyEg. Take1) to move or carry from one place to another;2) to remove or use without permission;3) to get for oneself;,4) to get hold of (sth.) with the hands;5) to be willing to accept;6) to bear or endure;7) to need (a stated amou
9、nt of time);8) to perform the actions connected with;9) to test or measure;10) to write down;11) to have the intended effect or to work successfully,E. Collocabilityenter set expressions, idiomatic usages, proverbial sayings and the like Eg. HeartA change of heart, a man/woman after my own heart, a
10、heart of gold/stone, at heart, break ones heart, cross ones heart, cry ones heart out, eat ones heart out, have ones heart in ones mouth, heart and hand, heart and soul, ones heart sinks within one, my/his/her heart leapt, my heart bleeds (for sb.),take something to heart, wear ones heart upon ones
11、sleeve, with all ones heart,Words do not belong to the common core of the language. A. Terminologymedicine: photoscanning, hepatitis, indigestion, penicillinmathematics:algebra, trigonometry, calculusmusic:symphony, orchestra, sonata,concertoeducation:audiovisual, mega-university, microteaching,B. J
12、argonIn business: bottom line, ballpark figures, bargaining chipsIn horse-racing: hold him back; hold him inIn medicine: paranoia, hypoIn warfare: buster C. Slang,Dough, bread: Grass, pot: Beaver: Smoky, bear: Catch: Roger: X-rays: Nut, dome,upper, bean, block: Elevated, merry, jolly, comfortable, b
13、oiled, grassy, tight, knocked out, blue-eyed, fried, paralyzed, pickled, stiff, stunned:,D: Argotcan-opener, dip, persuader E. Dialectal wordsstation: AusE ranchauld: ScotE oldbluid: ScotE bloodhame: ScotE homebog: IrE swamp,F. Archaismsthou: you ye: plural youthee: objective youwilt: willbrethren:
14、brothertroth: pledgequoth: saidtherefrom: from that or there,G: Neologismsmicroelectronics: the branch of electronics dealing with integrated circuitsfuturology:a study that deals with future possibilities based on current trendsAIDS:acquired immune deficiency syndromeE-mail:electronic mailInternet,
15、 freak out:withdraw from reality and society esp. by taking drugs,Some popular internet English 1. Catch shrimps 2. Chinese cabbage 3. cyber pinup 4. Cyber Romeo 5. Emoticons 6. Online suicide 7. Plant strawberry 8. Proxy kiss,9. Q 10. Reptile 11. Prawn 12. White Bone Demon 13. We both realized that
16、 we clicked.,Content words and Functional words: Notional words and empty words Native words and borrowed words: Four classes of Borrowed words or loan words : 1)Denizens:Words borrowed early in the past and now are well assimilated into the English language.,port from portus(L); cup from cuppa(L);
17、shift from skipta(ON); Shirt from skyrta (ON); change from changier (F); pork from porc (F) 的确良from dacron(E) 海拔from altitude(ME,L) 2) AliensBorrowed words which have retained their original pronunciation and spelling.,decor (F);blitzkrieg(G);kowtow (CH);bazaar (Per);raja (Hin);status quo (L);interm
18、ezzo(IT);emir (Arab),wushu(Ch)sauna(Finnish)咖啡(Arab)，可乐，模特(French)摩登,3) Translation-loans Words and expressions formed from the existing material in the English language but modeled on the patterns taken from another language. a. Words translated according to the meaningmother tongue- lingua materna
19、(L)long time no see- haojiumeijian (CH)by heart -par coeur(F)Four Books,Five Classics -四书五经Great Leap Forward-大跃进 Son of Heaven-天子 work point-工分,surplus value- Mehrwert(G)masterpiece Meisterstuck (G)black humor Humour noir(F) b. Words translated according to the soundkulak kyrak(Russ)ketchup ke-tsia
20、p (CH dial)lama -lama (Tib)tea te (CH dia),4) Semantic-loansWords of this category are not borrowed with reference to the form, but their meanings are borrowed.Eg. Dream: joy, music(later meaning borrowed from the Norse)Pioneer: explorer, person doing pioneering work (a member of the Young Pioneer , Russian)dumb: ( stupid, German),fresh: (impertinent, sassy, cheeky, under the influence of the German wordfrech),
