1、An Introduction to Modern English Lexicology,General Introduction,Lexicology is a branch of linguistics concerned with the vocabulary of the English language in respect to words and word equivalents. The scope of lexicology embraces the development, structure, formation, meaning, and usage of words
2、and word equivalents （等同词）. Accordingly my lecture is composed of the following parts:,1. A general survey of English vocabulary 2. Morphological structure of English words and word formation 3. Word meaning and sense relation 4. English idioms, American English, choice and use of English dictionari
3、es,Part I Chapter I A General Survey of English Vocabulary,Two often quoted definitions for “word”: 1. A word is a free form which does not consist entirely of (two or more) lesser free form; a word is a minimum free form （最小自由形式）.(Bloomfield 1933: 177-178) Bound forms and Free forms: Bound forms（黏附
4、形式）-genuine linguistic forms which convey a meaning, occur only,in construction, as part of a larger form and are never used as sentences. e.g. ess in countess, lioness etc., or the ish in boyish, childish etc., or the s in hats, books, cups etc. Free forms-linguistic forms which consist entirely of
5、 two or more lesser free forms and occur as sentences. e.g. poor John or John ran away or yes, sir,is a phrase. A free form which is not a phrase, is a word.,Bloomfields definition emphasizes syntax (句法）and does not touch upon meaning, which is a crucial aspect of any “word”. 2. A word is defined by
6、 the association of a given sense with a given group of sounds capable of a given grammatical use. (Antoine Meillet)This definition shows a combination of meaning and sound with special emphasis on grammatical use. It is a useful definition but does not include the concept of word as the minimal fre
7、e form.,Therefore, a word may be defined as:A fundamental unit of speech and a minimum free form; with a unity of sound and meaning (both lexical and grammatical meaning), capable of performing a given syntactic function.,1. Development of English vocabulary,All the words in a language together cons
8、titute what is known as its vocabulary. A. English vocabulary as viewed in the historical perspective The history of English begins with the conquest and settlement of what is now England by the Angles, Saxons and the Jutes from about 450 AD.,The language they spoke was Anglo-Saxon, which replaced t
9、he Celtic spoken by the former inhabitants. The next seven hundred years (449-1100) are known as the Old English (OE) or Anglo-Saxon (AS) period of the English language. The vocabulary of Old English contains some fifty or sixty thousand words, which were chiefly Anglo-Saxon with a small mixture of
10、Old Norse (a general term for the Scandinavian language in its very early stage) words as a result of the Scandinavian or the Danish conquests of England in the ninth century.,During the Old English period, English language borrowed a considerable number of Latin words, especially after the introduc
11、tion of Christianity into Britain in 597. e.g. bargain, cheap, inch, pound; cup, dish, wall, wine; abbot, altar, candle, disciple, hymn, martyr, nun, priest, pope, shrine, temple and a great many others. The transitional period from Old English to Modern English is know as Middle English (ME 1100-15
12、00), which is characterized by the strong influence of French following the Norman Conquest in 1066.,Since the French-speaking Normans were the ruling class, French was used for all state affairs and for most social and cultural matters; but the masses continued to speak English. The French loan wor
13、ds（借词）were found in every section of the vocabulary: e.g. law and governmental administration (judge, jury, justice; government, parliament, state); military affairs (conquer, sergeant, victory); religion (baptism, confess, divine, sermon); clothing (coat, dress, gown, robe); food (beef, mutton, por
14、k, dinner); art (beauty, image, design); literature (chapter, poet, prose);,science (medicine, remedy, surgeon), and so on. The English language from 1500 to the present is called Modern English. In the early stages of this period (including the years between 1500 and about 1700) the Renaissance bro
15、ught great changes to vocabulary. In this period, the study of classics were stressed and the result was the wholesale borrowing from Latin. The Latin loan words were mostly connected with science and abstract ideas.,e.g. chemist, function, scientific, vacuum; area, irony, theory, education, adapt,
16、exist, appropriate, precise. The renewed study of Greek also led to the introduction of some Greek words directly into the English vocabulary. Greek borrowings were mostly literary, technical and scientific words. e.g. drama, comedy, tragedy, lexicon, criterion, botany, physics and so on. From the 1
17、6th century onward, English borrowed words from an increasing number of languages,For example, from French: attach, caf and so on; Italian (mainly in the fields of music, art and architecture): concert, duet, piano, soprano, solo, tenor; model, bust, studio; dome, balcony, piassa and so on; Spanish:
18、 armada, cargo, vanilla, cocoa and cigar; Portuguese: caste and pagoda; German: bismuth, cobalt, nickel and zinc; Dutch: dock, freight and keel; Russian: vodka, troika, ruble and tsar;,Australian: boomerang, kangaroo and dingo; Arabic: sugar, sultan and alcohol; Indian: coolie, cashmere and khaki; H
19、ebrew: schmozzo and schmalts; Chinese: tea, typhoon and yamen; Japanese: kimono and tycoon; African: gorilla and zebra. In fact English has adopted words from almost every known language in the course of its historical development.,As summed up in The Encyclopedia Americana: “The English language ha
20、s vast debts. In any dictionary some 80% of the entries are borrowed” English is supposed to have the most copious vocabulary of all the language in the world, estimated at more than a million words.B. The rapid growth of present-day English vocabulary (especially after the World War II) and its cau
21、ses,After World War II, neologisms (new words or new meanings for established words)（新词语）swept in at any rate much faster than that of the pre-war period. The main reasons for the frequent appearance of neologisms are three: 1. Marked progress of science and technology: Since the end of World War II
22、, tremendous new advances in all fields of science and technology have given rise to the creation in the English language of tens of thousands of new words.,The great majority of these are technical terms known only to the specialists, but a certain number of them have become familiar to the public
23、and passed into general use. e.g. Words used in connection with the nuclear bomb: chain reaction, radioactivity, fall-out; clean bomb, overkill, neutron bomb and medium-range ballistic missiles and so on. Words connected with the exploration of space: astronaut, countdown, capsule, launching pad, sp
24、acemen, space suit, space platform and space shuttle etc.,2. Socio-economic, political and cultural changes: (aspects that connect with the introduction of new words) e.g. New social habits and new living conditions: hire purchase, credit card, fringe benefit; chores, house sitter, house sitting, pr
25、essure cooker, microwave oven, instant noodle, supermarket etc. Drug addiction: upper (a stimulant drug), downer (a depressant drug) Some subculture: hippie, yuppie, gay, lesbian etc.,Womens Liberation Movement: Ms, chairperson, spokeswomen, saleswoman, feminism, malechauvinism, and sexism. Changes
26、in education: open classroom “an informal flexible system of elementary education in which open discussions and individualized activities replace the traditional subject-centered studies”, Open University etc. 3. The influence of other cultures and languages: Examining the English vocabulary in its
27、historical perspective, one can see that,English is characterized by a marked tendency to go outside her own linguistic resources and borrow from other languages. Although this borrowing has slowed down, it is still an important factor in vocabulary development. e.g. discotheque from French, sputnik
28、 from Russian, mao tai from Chinese and so on.The development of science, the rapid changes in society, the receptive and flexible nature of English with regard to the influence of other cultures and languages-all these have resulted,in a dramatic increase in vocabulary, a growth which in turn contr
29、ibutes to the richness and resourcefulness of the English language.,2. Classification of English Words According to Different Criteria,The English vocabulary may be classified by three main criteria: by origin, by level of usage, and by notion. A. By origin: native words and loan wordsWords of Anglo
30、-Saxon origin or of Old English are native words, while those borrowed from other languages are loan words or borrowed words.,Most of the loan words have been perfectly naturalized in usage. They have conformed to native English in accent and in spelling; sometimes even in adoption of an English aff
31、ix, for instance: faultless (fault-French by origin+the English suffix less), uncertain (the English prefix un+certain-French by origin). However, there are words borrowed from foreign languages without any change in sound and spelling, e.g. charge daffairs and so on.The most native words in Modern English are monosyllabic (单音节的).,
