英语词汇学教程课件第6章English-Lexicology-6

1、English LexicologyLecture SixEnglish LexicologyLecture SixOther Word-formation ProcessesConversionBlendingshorteningOther Word-formation ProcessesConversionA change in word class without the addition of an affix is known as conversion. In other words, conversion is a process by which a word belongin

2、g to one word class is transferred to another word class without any change in form. It is a productive device for the creation of new words since there is no restriction on the form.ConversionA change in word claAs the distinction between conversion and functional shift (the extension of an existin

3、g word to take on a new syntactic function) is not well-defined, conversion is also called functional shift. There are four major kinds of conversion: from noun to verb, from verb to noun, from adjective to noun and from adjective to verb. As the distinction between conNoun verb: to air, to arm, to

4、bottom, to cup, to fish, to mouth, to tooth, e.g.We hold meetings where the residents problems can be aired.They quickly armed themselves with sticks. Prices are stilling falling, but show no signs of bottoming out.Noun verb: to air, to arm, tVerb noun: a call, a command, a count, a go, a guess, a l

5、ook, a walk, e.g.Dont try to eat the whole thing in one go. Hold your breath for a count of ten. Can you wait while I make another call?Verb noun: a call, a commandAdjective verb: to better, to blind, to bold, to brave, to dirty, to empty, e.g. The low sun blinded her as she drove up the hill.You ca

6、n use your bold to make the information stand out a little more. It was time to brave the rush hour traffic again.Adjective verb: to better, tAdjective noun: best, poor, rich, blind, convertible, daily, double, e.g. Ill do my best to help you.You can adjust the blinds to keep out the glare. Id booke

7、d two single rooms, but they gave us a double.Adjective noun: best, poor, Auxiliary verbs, adverbs, modal verbs, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections and even affixes can all act as bases for conversion, e.g. He downed his beer and left.The company has had its share of ups and downs.Good binocu

8、lars are a must for any serious birdwatcher.Are you out to your parents?Auxiliary verbs, adverbs, modaAmong the different types of conversion, the formation of a verb by converting a noun, adjective or other word is very common. For example, the noun chair becomes the verb to chair, as in chair the

9、meeting. This process is known as a type of verbification. This type of verbification often involves simple conversion of a non-verb to a verb. Verbified words are often found in colloquial English, where the speaker needs to describe common actions or experiences. Among the different types of cSome

10、 of the most common words include access, aim, bed, beer, brave, clean, cup, deck, e-mail, fool, impact, pension, ship, train and so on. The formation of a noun by converting a verb, adjective or other word is also very common. This process is often referred to as a type of nominalization. Some of t

11、he most common words For example, the verb run is used as the noun run, as in I went for a run after work. This type of nominalization is widely used as one of the most flexible and creative linguistic devices in English. Although it is very difficult to tell which form arose first, these two types

12、of conversion do exist. For example, the verb run is uSometimes when a word consisting of two or more syllables undergoes conversion, there is a change in the stress pattern. Sometimes when a word consisti英语词汇学教程课件第6章English-Lexicology-6BlendingBlending refers to the process of combining parts of tw

13、o words to form a third word which contains some of the meaning of each part. Blends are compounds that are less than compounds. Among the better-known blends are smog (from smoke and fog), fruice (from fruit and jiuce), glasphalt (from glass and asphalt), modem (from modulator and demodulator) and

14、urinalysis (from urine and analysis).BlendingBlending refers to the In the formation of a blend, the first part of the first element is added to the second part of the second element. Most blends are nouns, but a few are adjectives such as glitzy (from glitter and ritzy), and verbs such as skyjack (

15、from sky and hijack). In the formation of a blend, Structurally, there are four common types of blends. The first type of blends is a full word followed by a splinter, e.g. wintertainment (from winter + entertainment), chatire (from chat + satire). Blends can also begin with a splinter, followed by

16、a full word, e.g. cinemenace (from cinema + menace). Structurally, there are four cThe second type of blends consists of two splinters. There are two subtypes. In some cases, the beginning of one word is followed by the end of another word, e.g. psychergy (from psychic + energy). In other cases, bot

17、h splinters are the beginnings of words, e.g. sitcom (from situation + comedy). The second type of blends consThe third type of blends consists of complete overlap, in which a part of the blend belongs to both words, e.g. sexploitation (from sex + exploitation), palimony (from pal + alimony). The fo

18、urth type of blends is involves the embedding of one word in another, e.g. entreporneur (from entrepreneur + porn). The third type of blends consiA very small number of blends consist of three source words, e.g. intelevisionary (from Intel + television + visionary).A very small number of blends Blen

19、ds are often found in advertising, product names, and magazine and newspaper headings. Blending often results in the creation of new morphemes or in the addition of new meanings to old ones. Blends are often found in adveFor example, automobile was originally a combination of Greek autos (self) and

20、Latin mobilis (movable). The element auto became productive as in the words autobiography, autodidact, autograph, autocar and autobus. The second element of automobile also acquired a combining function as in bookmobile (library on wheels) and bloodmobile (blood bank on wheels). For example, automob

21、ile was orShorteningsShortenings of various sorts are a popular means of increasing the word stock of a language. Shortened forms of words are a major feature of written language, as in the use of Mr, Dr, Ms, Lt, COD, VIP, and NATO. ShorteningsShortenings of variThe shortenings may even come from a

22、different language, and the full form may not be known, e.g. i.e. (=id est), e.g. (=exempli gratia), and etc. Some are spoken as words (e.g. NATO); some are spelled out (e.g. VIP is always vi: ai pi:); some are automatically expanded (e.g.); and some permit a choice (e.g. viz spoken as viz or as nam

23、ely). Shortening involves clipping, initialism, backformation and aphetic forms.The shortenings may even come Clipping is a common way of shortening a longer word. It is the process by which a word-form of usually three or more syllables is shortened without a change in meaning or function. Clipped

24、words tend to be casual but very useful. They often convey informal or affectionate connotations. However, the result of clipping is often a synonym which is convenient to use than the longer words. Clipping is a common way of shWidespread use can cause them to replace their sources and lose their i

25、nformal quality, as in bus (from omnibus) and taxi (from taximeter cabriolet). In schools, we shorten subjects to words like econ, gym, and math. Widespread use can cause them Clipping often ignores morphemic boundaries, as in English copter (from helicopter). Typical clippings are partial shortenin

26、gs of simple word-forms, their lexical categories being usually nouns or adjectives. The most typical clippings have one or two syllables left and only one stress. There are three major types of clippings: fore clipping, hind clipping, and midclipping. Clipping often ignores morphemFore clipping ref

27、ers to the process of clipping the beginning of the source, e.g. plane (from aeroplane) and phone (from telephone). Hind clipping refers to the process of clipping the final part of the source, e.g. deli (from delicatessen) and lab (from laboratory). In midclipping, the shortening affects the middle

28、 of the source form, e.g. cortisone (from corticosterone) and proctor (from procurator).Fore clipping refers to the prOne some rare occasions, clipping may affect both ends of the source with the middle part retained, e.g. flu (from influenza) and tec (from detective). Clipping may extend to phrases

29、 and word group, as in fed (from federal government employee), narc (from narcotics agent), radial (from radial tire), jet (from jet airplane) and pub (from public house). One some rare occasions, clippThere may be minor spelling adjustments, for example, mike (from microphone). These adjustments ma

30、y include the replacement of final vowel letters, as in ammo (from ammunition), or the addition of endings -y/-i/-ie, as in comfy (from comfortable).There may be minor spelling ad In addition, there are some marginal clippings mainly used orally and only in certain contexts. There are three types of

31、 phonetic clippings: phonetic fore clipping, phonetic midclipping, and phonetic hind clipping, as in fraid (from afraid), cause (from because) and oer (from over). In addition, there are some mInitialismsInitialisms are the results of putting together the initial letters, or occasionally the first t

32、wo letters, of the orthographic words in a phrase and using them as words. The use of initialism is for brevity or catchiness. Sometimes euphemism may be involved, as with BO (from body odour) and VD (from Venereal Disease).InitialismsInitialisms are theWhen initialisms are pronounced with the names

33、 of the letters of the alphabet, they are called alphabetisms. Examples of alphabetisms are: ANU (from Australian National University), BA (from Bachelor of Arts), CIA (from Central Intelligence Agency), VCR (from video cassette recorder). When initialisms are pronounceWhen they are pronounced like

34、individual words, they are acronyms.Examples of acronyms are: DINKY (from double income, no kids yet), radar (from radio detecting and ranging), RAM (from random access memory), NATO (from North Atlantic Treaty Organization), OPEC (from Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries).When they are pr

35、onounced like Some initialisms may be pronounced with the names of the letters or like individual words, as in LA (from Los Angeles) and VAT/Vat (from Value Added Tax).Some even display peculiar pronunciations, as in English SWF (from Shockwave Flash File), read as swif. There are even items with tw

36、o spellings and two readings, as in ETD/e.t.d. (from estimated time of departure). Some initialisms may be pronouAlphabetisms may be mixed with acronyms and the two systems of pronunciation are combined, e.g. VP (from Vice-President) is pronounced like veep and ROTC (from Reserve Officers Training C

37、orps) pronounced like rotcy. Alphabetisms may be mixed withInitialisms are flexible in the selection of constituents, e.g. DISPLAY (from Digital Service Planning Analysis), SpLD (from special learning difficulties). Sometimes, they may be written alternatively in lowercase, such as CIF/c.i.f. (from

38、cost, insurance, and freight). Initialisms are flexible in thSome alphabetisms may consist of uncommon constituents such as numbers, symbols, full word forms, or letters indicating series, phases, or types, as in B2B (from Business-to-Business), G10 (from Group of Ten), c&f (from cost and freight) a

39、nd UVA (from ultraviolet A).Some alphabetisms may consist Initialization can be found in letter compounds, as in e-commerce (from electronic-commerce). Although the initial often replaces a word-form, it may also be iconic, as in T-shirt or simply reduplicate the first letter of the following word-f

40、orm, as in H-hour. Initialization can be found inThe processes of clipping and blending have brought about many splinters. The splinters function as combining forms. In contemporary English, we can find many examples formed with splinters such as -thon, -holic, -gate and scape. The processes of clip

41、ping and New words have been formed with the splinter thon, which came from marathon. We have words like telethon, walkathon, dancethon, paint-a-thon. With the splinter holic, we can have words like workaholic, chocoholic, foodaholic, shopaholic. The splinter gate, which means political scandal, beg

42、an with Watergate and has generated Irangate, Whitewatergate, Contragate, and Skategate. The splinter scape, which came from landscape, occurs in seascape, mountainscape, oceanscape, spacescape, mindscape and dreamscape. New words have been formed witA few splinters can be put at the beginning of a

43、word, as e- (from electronic). The splinter e- has given rise to e-commerce, email, e-bucks and e-celebrity.A few splinters can be put at BackformationBackformation is the making of a new word from an older word which is mistakenly assumed to be its derivative. In fact, it involves the shortening of

44、 a longer word by “subtracting” an affix thought to be part of the old word. BackformationBackformation is Historically, a number of new words entered the English lexicon in this way. For example, the verbs typewrite and televise were invented historically after their noun forms typewriter and telev

45、ision by the subtraction of the suffixes -er and -ion respectively.Backformations are also common in creating verb compounds. For instance, housekeep is back formed from housekeeper, daydream from daydreaming, and fast-freeze from fast-frozen.Historically, a number of new 英语词汇学教程课件第6章English-Lexicol

46、ogy-6Words from Proper NamesThe English vocabulary is also characterized by the number of words that derive from proper names of people, places, books or brands. This process is called the commonization of proper names. Once these words pass into the language, we are usually not aware of their origi

47、n. Words from Proper NamesThe EngFor example, sandwich, guy and robot are derived from names of people. Sandwich is named for the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, who put his food between two slices of bread so that he could eat while he gambled. Guy was originally applied to persons so tattered that they l

48、ooked like the straw-stuffed figures of Guy Fawkes, a British traitor. Moreover, robot is named after the mechanical creature in the Czech writer Karel Capeks play R.U.R., the initials standing for Rossums Universal Robots. For example, sandwich, guy andThe words ampere, ohm and watt were originally the names of scientists, but are now used as units of measurement. Quisling was the name of a Norwegian fascist and is used now to refer to someone who secretly helps an enemy or opponent. Braille was also