英语词汇学考试

1.Whatisthedefinitionofword?Theminimalfreeformofalanguage,whichhasagivensound,meaningandsyntacticfunction.Word:asingleunitoflanguagewhichmeanssomethingandcanbespokenorwritten.Asoundoracombinationofsounds,oritsrepresentationinwritingorprinting,thatsymbolizesandcommunicatesameaningandmayconsistofasinglemorphemeorofacombinationofmorphemes.(Linguistics)oneoftheunitsofspeechorwritingthatnativespeakersofalanguageusuallyregardasthesmallestisolablemeaningfulelementofthelanguage,althoughlinguistswouldanalyzethesefurtherintomorphemesRelatedadjectivelexical,verbal.(Electronics&ComputerScience/ComputerScience)Computingasetofbitsusedtostore,transmit,oroperateuponanitemofinformationinacomputer,suchasaprograminstruction.Definitionofaword

Aristotledefinedawordasthesmallestsignificantunitofspeech-adefinitionwhichheldswayuntilrecently.Modernmethodsofanalysishavediscoveredsemanticunitsbelowthewordlevel.Anewtermisthereforeneededtodenotethesmallestsignificantelementofspeech;incontemporarylinguistictheoryitisknownasamorpheme.

Bloomfielddistinguishesbetweentwotypesoflinguisticforms:freeformsandboundforms.Freeformscanstandbythemselvesandsometimesactasacompleteutterancewhereasboundformscannot.Forexample,thewordnicelycontainsthefreeformnice,andtheboundform-ly.Theformercanoccurasanindependentunitandevenasasentence(Whatabouttheotherfilm?-Nice).Butthesuffix-lycannotstandbyitself,tosaynothingofactingasacompleteutterance.AccordingtoBloomfield,awordisaminimalfreeform.Lexicologydealsbydefinitionwithwordsandwordformingmorphemes,thatistosay,withsignificantunits.Itfollowsthattheseelementsmustbeinvestigatedintheirformandintheirmeaning.Therefore,fromthelexicologicalpointofview,awordisacombinationofform(phonological)andmeaning(lexicalandgrammatical).Inaddition,awordactsasastructuralunitofasentence.2.Whatdoesonomatopoeticmotivationmean?Whatdoessemanticmotivationmean?Doesonomatopoeiamotivationcontradictthestatementthatthereisnonaturalconnectionbetweensoundandmean?OnomatopoeiaisderivedfromGreekonomatopoiia"word-making":onoma,-matos"name"+poieo"make".Variousothertermshavebeensuggested,suchasechoism(Jespersen)and"phonaestheticfunction"(Firth).Onomatopoeicmotivationmeansdefiningtheprincipleofmotivationbysound.Thesoundsofsuchwordsascuckoo,ding-dong,swish,buzz,seemtobeappropriatetotheirsenses.Butithastobepointedoutthatonomatopoeicwordsconstituteonlyasmallpartofthevocabulary.Theformsofwordsnormallyhaveonlyaconventionalrelationshipwithwhattheyreferto.AccordingtoStephenUllmann,onomatopoeicformationcanbedividedintoprimaryonomatopoeiaandsecondaryonomatopoeia.

Ⅱ.Semanticmotivation

Semanticmotivationmeansthatmotivationisbasedonsemanticfactors.Itisakindofmentalassociation.Whenwespeakofthebonnetorthehoodofacar,ofacoatofpaint,orofpotatoescookedintheirjackets,theseexpressionsaremotivatedbythesimilaritybetweenthegarmentsandtheobjectsreferredto.Inthesameway,whenwesaytheclothfortheclergy,silkforaQ.C.,or"townandgown"for"townanduniversity",thereissemanticmotivationduetothefactthatthegarmentsinquestionarecloselyassociatedwiththepersonstheydesignate.Bothtypesofexpressionarefigurative:theformeraremetaphorical,basedonsomesimilaritybetweenthetwoelements,thelatteraremetonymic,foundedonsomeexternalconnection.Soundandmeaning

TheNaturalistshavearguedthattheoriginoflanguageliesinonomatopoeia,thatpeoplebegantalkingbycreatingiconicsignstoimitatethesoundsheardaroundtheminnature.Theymaintainthatthereisanaturalconnectionbetweensoundandmeaning.TheConventionalists,ontheotherhand,holdthattherelationsbetweensoundandmeaningareconventionalandarbitrary.Factshaveprovedthisargumenttobevalid.Wordsthatconveythesamemeaninghavedifferentphonologicalformsindifferentlanguages-forexample,Englishmeat/mi:t/,Chineseròu.Alternatively,thesamephonologicalformsmayconveydifferentmeanings-forexample,sight,site,cite.3.HowmanykindsofwordmeaningarethereinEnglish?Wordmeaningismadeupofvariouscomponentswhichareinterrelatedandinterdependent.Thesecomponentsarecommonlydescribedastypesofmeaning.Twomaintypesofwordmeaningaregrammaticalandlexical.Grammaticalmeaning:themeaningintermsofgrammarlexicalmeaning:Conceptualmeaningalsocalled“denotative”or“cognitive”meaning.Thisreferstothedefinitiongiveninthedictionary.Itiswidelyassumedtobethecentralfactorinlinguisticcommunicationandisintegraltotheessentialfunctioningoflanguage.Associativemeaningmeaningassociatedwiththeconceptualmeaningwhichcanbefurtherdividedintofollowingtypes:a)connotativemeaningb)socialmeaningc)affectivemeaningd)reflectedmeaninge)collocativemeaningThematicmeaning:Thisiswhatiscommunicatedbythewayinwhichthemessageisorganizedintermsoforderandemphasis.4.Whatiscontext?Whatroledoescontextplayinlinguisticcommunication?Contextinitstraditionalsensereferstothelexicalitemsthatprecedeorfollowagivenword.Modernlinguistshavebroadeneditsscopetoincludebothlinguisticandextra-linguisticcontexts.⏹Linguisticcontextreferstowords,clauses,sentences,paragraphs,orwholebooksinwhichawordappears.⏹Extra-linguisticcontextreferstoaparticulartime,space,orcultureinwhichawordappears.⏹Linguisticcontextreferstowords,clauses,sentences,paragraphs,orwholebooksinwhichawordappears.Linguisticcontextcanbefurtherdividedinto❑Lexicalcontext❑Grammaticalcontext❑Verbalcontextinitsbroadsense⏹Lexicalcontext:thelexemesthatco-occurwiththewordinquestion.Themeaningofthewordisaffectedordeterminedbytheneighboringlexemes.Roles:ContextcandistinguishEliminatingambiguityConveyingemotionalovertonesIndicatingreferentsandtherangeofthemeaningofaword5.Whatarethemajortypesofsynonymy?Explainthosetypeswithexamples.Ingeneral,Englishsynonymscanbedividedintotwotypes:completesynonymsandrelativesynonyms.AsforEnglishsynonyms,therearealotofslightdifferencesbetweentheminshadeofmeaning,affectivemeaning,stylisticmeaning,collocativemeaningandsoon.Absolutesynonyms绝对同义词Absolutesynonymsarewordswhosemeaningisfullyidenticalinanycontextsothatonecanalwaysbesubstitutedfortheotherwithouttheslightestchangeinmeaning.Thiskindofsynonymsarerareandmaybefoundinspecialterminologysuchascompoundingandcompositioninlexicology,malnutritionandundernourishmentinmedicine.Relativesynonyms相对同义词Synonymswhichdenotedifferentshadesofmeaningordifferentdegreesofagivenqualityarecalledrelativesynonyms.Thiskindsofsynonymsarethesameinsomedegreesuchasdiscoverandfindbothmeanseesomethingbutdiscovercanmeanbethefirstonetocomeacrosssomething,findmeansexperiencesomethinginsomeway.语言学的Synonymswhichdenotedifferentshadesofmeaningordifferentdegreesofagivenqualityarecalledrelativesynonyms.Synonymyreferstothesamenessorclosesimilarityofmeaning.Wordsthatarecloseinmeaningarecalledsynonyms.1)Dialectalsynonyms----synonymsusedindifferentregionaldialects,e.g.autumn-fall,biscuit-cracker,petrol–gasoline…2)Stylisticsynonyms----synonymsdifferinginstyle,e.g.kid,child,offspring;start,begin,commence;…3)Synonymsthatdifferintheiremotiveorevaluativemeaning,e.g.collaborator-accomplice,…4)Collocationalsynonyms,e.g.accuse…of,charge…with,rebuke…for;…5)Semanticallydifferentsynonyms,e.g.amaze,astound,…6.Whatarethepossiblecauseoflanguagechange?Languagechangeisthephenomenonwherebyphonetic,morphological,semantic,syntactic,andotherfeaturesoflanguagevaryovertime.economy:Speakerstendtomaketheirutterancesasefficientandeffectiveaspossibletoreachcommunicativegoals.Purposefulspeakingthereforeinvolvesatrade-offofcostsandbenefits.themediumofcommunicationculturalenvironment:Groupsofspeakerswillreflectnewplaces,situations,andobjectsintheirlanguage,whethertheyencounterdifferentpeoplethereornot.analogy-reducingwordformsbylikeningdifferentformsofthewordtotheroot.languagecontact-theborrowingofwordsfromforeignlanguagesThecauseoflanguagechange语言变化的原因Soundassimilation语音同化Soundassimilationreferstothephysiologicaleffectofonesoundonanother.Inanassimilativeprocess,successivesoundsismadeidentical,ormoresimilar,tooneanotherintermsofplaceormannerofarticulation,orofhaplology-thelossofoneoftwophoneticallysimilarsyllablesinsequence.语音同化是指一个音受其毗邻的音的音响而发生音变，使其发音变得与毗邻的音接近。"Engla-land"-"England""ciese","cinn""cild"——cheese,chin,childRulesimplificationandregularization规则的简化与统一Itisatypeofspontaneousmorphologicalrulechangethatinvolvesexceptionalpluralformsofnouns英语名词复数的形式有规则形态变化与不规则形态变化两种，在英语演化过程中，由于不规则形态趋于规则化，所以复数形式趋向简化。Internalborrowing内部借用Anotherkindofchangethatismotivatedbytheneedtolessentheburdenonmemoryiscalledinternalborrowing.引起语言变化的又一原因是旨在减轻记忆复旦的语言规则的内部借用现象。Eg:cowsasthepluralof"cow"insteadoftheearlierplural"kine"Elaboration规则的细化Ruleelaborationoccurswhenthereisaneedtoreduceambiguityandincreasecommunicationclarityorexpressiveness.为了避免出现模棱两可、含糊不清的词句，或为了提高语言表达上的准确性往往需要增加一些规则，致使句法规则更加细化。Socialtriggers社会因素Linguistshavebecomeincreasinglyawareofsociologicaltriggersforlanguageschanges.Suchas:wars,invasion,occupation,colonialization,andlanguageplanningandstandardizationpoliciesleadtovigorouslanguagechanges.Eg:NormanConquestmarkedthedawningoftheMiddleEnglishperiod.促使语言变化的原因不仅有语言内部的，更多的是来自语言系统外部的社会环境的变化，如：侵略战争、殖民化政策、政府推行的语言规划政策或标准化运动等。Culturaltransmission文化传播Oneofthemostpervasivesourcesoflanguagechangeseemstobethecontinualprocessofculturaltransmissionacrossgenerations.Eg:oldpeople"icebox"butyoungerone"fridge"语言变化的原因还在于，层出不穷的新观念和新事物需要人们用新的词语去表达。Children'sapproximationtowardtheadultgrammar儿童语言习得Thewaychildrenacquirethelanguageconstitutesanotherbasiccauseforlanguagechange.Moreimportantly,childrenhaveastrongdesiretosimplifyandregularizegrammaticalrules,particularlywhentheyseeadultsusecertainrulesoptionally.儿童在习得母语时接收到了各种语言信息和表达习惯，儿童往往偏向于习得简化了的或规则化的表达方式，语言演化也就自然出现了。7.Arethemeaningofsomewordscloselyrelatedwithculture？Givesomeexamples.Theword“chopsuey”datesbacktotasp-sui,Cantonese,isaChinesedishconsistingofmeat(oftenchicken,fish,beef,shrimp(UK:prawns)orpork)andeggs,cookedquicklywithvegetablessuchasbeansprouts,cabbage,andceleryandboundinastarch-thickenedsauce,nowisafamousdishinAmerica.KowtowisalsofromCantonesekow-tow,istheactofdeeprespectshownbykneelingandbowingsolowastohaveone'sheadtouchingtheground.AnalternativeChinesetermisketou,howeverthemeaningissomewhataltered:kòuoriginallymeant"knockwithreverence",whereaskēhasthegeneralmeaningof"touchupon(asurface)".AlsoChristmasshortsfromtheword”christ’smass”isthedayJesusChristwasborn.NowChristmas