Transcript Lexicology

Modern English Lexicology
Fall, 2014
 Specialized knowledge
What is knowledge?
Is it useful?
Concepts, generalizations and rules
Theories: Hypothesis,
predictions …systematic organization
of…ratiocinate …
definite answers and controversies
Outline
 Brief introduction to lexicology
 Syllabus of the course
 Assessment and Evaluation
 Group Tasks
About the Course
 Definition of lexicology
 Significance of the course
 General goals for lexicology
 Five branches of lexicology
 Lexicology and other branches of
linguistics
What is lexicology?
lexicology
 lexikon
word or phrase
+
logie
Learning / study of
A branch of linguistics dealing with the vocabulary of a
given language

Lexicology

A branch of linguistics concerned with the
study of the vocabulary of a given language.

It deals with words, their origin, development,
history, structure, meaning and application.
Emphasis
 Both English and Chinese are expected in
your examples (e.g., Comparative study in
motivation of words in both English and
Chinese).
English Lexicology Lexicology of any languages
Significance of the Course
 To provide a foundation for linguistic research
Theoretical Significance
 To hold the linguistic vision on words and vocabulary, i.e.,
the rules and theories summarized from language data
 To give learners a deeper understanding of word meaning
thereby enabling them to organize, classify and store words
more efficiently in the academic perspective
 To increase learners’ word power; raises their awareness of
meaning and usages, and enable them to use words more
accurately and appropriately
 To enhance learners’ receptive and productive skills in
language processing as well as language production
Purposes
Specific goals for lexicology
 To provide a systematic description of
English vocabulary;
 To deal with the meaning of words, word
formation, the types of word structure
and the use of English words;
 To offer students insights into the origin
and development of English vocabulary
Organization
 Word formation
 Word meaning: Motivation
 Change in word meaning
 Categorization: semantic features and sense
relation, association and collocation
 Origin and development
 Word meaning in context: cohesion and
coherence, English Idioms, word and
Politics,Euphemism
Five Branches of Lexicology
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Semantics: the meanings of words and sense
relations
Etymology: the origins and history of
individual words and their development
Phraseology(成语学）: set expressions and
idioms
Historical lexicology: studies from the
historical point of view the development of
vocabulary
Lexicography: writing and making of
dictionaries
Lexicology & Other Branches of Linguistics
General Linguistics
 Phonetics
 Syntax (grammar)
 Semantics
 Pragmatics & Stylistics
 …
Lexicology
& linguistics
semantics
Meanings of words
and sentences
How words are arranged to
form a sentence.
syntax&
grammar
Lexicology
phonetics
stylistics&
pragmatics
Language sound
systems
Social rules in language use
With Semantics
Word meaning and sense relations
polysemy: well, spring, drill, saw
homonymy: sea-see
synonymy: nice/fine, like/adore,
draw/paint
antonomy: thin/fat, good/bad,
beautiful/ugly
hyponmy: flower
tulip, rose,
jasmine
semantic field:
Semantic filed
 A set of words (or lexemes) related in meaning.
Linguist Adrienne Lehrer has defined semantic
field more specifically as "a set of lexemes
which cover a certain conceptual domain and
which bear certain specifiable relations to one
another" (1985).
 "The words in a semantic field share a
common semantic property. Most often, fields
are defined by subject matter, such as body
parts, landforms, diseases, colors, foods, or
kinship relations. . . .
 Words in each semantic field defines one
another.
Semantic features
 e.g., superman
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 …
[+/-animate]
[+/-human], [+/-animal]
[+/- female], [+/-male]
[+/-young],[+/-old]
girl
boy
woman
pretty flower
garden
colour
village
boy
man
car
handsome vessel
overcoat
airliner
typewriter
pretty
[+delicacy, +superficial, -manliness,
-big, -dignity]
handsome
[+vigor, +dignity, +big, +manliness]
With Syntax
 Morphology: vocabulary and grammar are
organically related to one another. The
former functions as the input of the
computational system of a sentence.
 Grammar , for example, tells us how to form
words into sentences, i.e., word order the
collocation of words and syntactic
distribution of a word.
With Phonetics
 Phonetics is the study of speech sounds. Without
sound, there is no word because every word is a
unity of sound and meaning.
Phones语音&Phoneme音位/音素
[l]
[l]
/l/
[p]
[ph]
/p/
超音位特征对语义搭配的影响在英语
中是司空见惯的。例如：
He is a French teacher.
孤立地来看French teacher，我们很
难判别French在与teacher搭配时是什
么意思。
A ˊFrench ,teacher teaches French.
A ,French ˊteacher is French.
Aˋtoy /factory produces toys.
A /toy ˋfactory is a model of a factory
used as a toy.
my ˊold ,friend (old: long known or long
familiar) 不可以转换成 :
*My friend is old.
my ˊnew ,friend 不可以转换成 :
*My friend is new.
a ˊpure ,scientist 不可以转换成 :
* The scientist is pure.
theˊwrong ,applicant 不可以转换成:
*The applicant is wrong.
超切分特征传达了说话人的态度，
即使是一个词，当被赋予不同的语
调时，也会折射出说话人不同的态
度：
ˋNo ( a matter-of-fact statement)
ˊNo (questioning)
ˇNo(doubtful but encouraging )
ˆNo (indignant; emphatic prohibition
and scolding)
With stylistics and pragmatics
Stylistics is the study of optional variations in
the sounds, forms, or vocabulary of a
language as characteristic of different uses
of language, different situations of use, or
different literary types.
Anglo-Saxon Norman /French
ask
question
thin
spare
folk
people
fair
beautiful
hearty
cordial
Latin/ Greek
interrogate
emaciated
nation
attractive
cardiac
In the fields of science:
General
hole
speed
force
Specialist
orifice/cavity
velocity
intensity
In medicine:
General
bleeding
wound
skull
sweat
Specialist
haemorrhage
laceration
cranium
perspiration
1) Let's dine on fried chicken.
2) Hey, baby, wanna dine tonight?
3) Me and Bob are dinin' out.
4) Wouldja dine with me tonight?
5) Would you dine with me tonight ?
6) Mrs Whitmore wishes you to dine
with her.
1) Let's dine on fried chicken.
2) Hey, baby, wanna dine tonight?
3) Me and Bob are dinin' out.
4) Wouldja dine with me tonight?
The first four sentences violates cooccurrence restrictions.
1) Let's dine on fried chicken.
2) Hey, baby, wanna dine tonight?
Food eaten with the fingers is not an
appropriate object of dine. "Hey, baby,"
implies that the speaker is a young male
trying to put forth a macho image. Since,
in our society, being macho is not
associated with refinement, such speech
forms clash with the formal dine.
3) Me and Bob are dinin' out.
4) Wouldja dine with me tonight?
In 3, the grammatical variant "me and Bob" is a
marker of nonstandard speech. People who use
"me and Bob" are not likely to speak of dining
no matter how well they eat. The pronunciation
dinin' is humorous because the -in' replacement
for -ing is reserved for informal speech, but dine
is formal. Similarly, wouldja is a more casual
pronunciation than would you.
5) Would you dine with me tonight ?
6) Mrs Whitmore wishes you to dine
with her.
The last two sentences are entirely
formal, hence appropriate for dine,
although they too could be used
facetiously by, say, a person adopting the
formal tone for comic effect.
Lexicology
& linguistics
semantics
Meanings of words
are the units of semantic study
How words are arranged to
form a sentence.
syntax&
grammar
Lexicology
phonetics
stylistics&
pragmatics
Words are unit
of sound meaning
Social rules in language use
Syllabus of the Course
 Textbook and Materials
 Course schedule
 Requirements on participants
 Assessment
Textbook
 《现代英语词汇学》．陆国强．上海外语教
育出版社，2000年3月．
 Supplementary Reading Materials
2017/4/12
41
II. 两本词汇学巨著的启示意义
第
一
本
2017/4/12
Lexicology -- An
International
Handbook on the
Nature and
Structure of Words
and Vocabularies
by D. Alan Cruse
(Editor)
Publisher: Mouton
de Gruyter; Bilingual
edition (2005)
42
第
二
本
2017/4/12
P. Hanks, ed.
Lexicology -Critical
Concepts in
Linguistics
6 vols.
Publisher:
Routledge
(2008)
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 奥格登(C. K. Ogden)和理查兹(I. A.
Richards)等人于1923 年出版了成为语义学
经典著作之一的《意义的意义》(The
Meaning of Meaning)一书。奥格登等人在此
书中区分了mean / meaning（有意义/意义）
的16 种不同的意义。
“Mean”/”Meaning”有几种解释？
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2017/4/12
John means to write.（约翰想写。）——
“intends”（意图）
A green light means go.（绿灯行。）——
“indicates”（表述）
Health means everything.（健康第一。）——
“has importance”（重要性）
His looks was full of meaning.（他的目光中含义
深沉。）—— “special importance”（特别强调）
What is the meaning of life?（生活的意义是什
么？）—— “point, purpose”（观点、意图）
What does “capitalist” mean to you?（你认为
“资本家”指什么？）——“convey”（传递）
What does “cornes” mean?（“眼角膜”是什么
意思？） —— “referring to in the real world”
（现实所指）
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Assessment & Evaluation
Daily performances: 40%
 Final Exam 60% ( 10% from your essay)

Requirements on Participants
 Regular attendance (systematic knowledge)
 Group Presentation and Essay 20%
 Active involvement in class-room activities:
asking questions 10% (2 questions)
 Completion of homework 10%
Group Presentation
 Provide examples to support or argue
against the discoveries and generalization
we have discussed (to the point)
 The examples that come from both English
and Chinese are expected.
 Durance: about 30 mins
 Date of presentation is scheduled in
advance and should not be changed without
good reasons.
Group Presentation
Essays(1000 words) based on your
presentation
(the final question)
Criteria of evaluation
 Accuracy
 Theoretical value
 Clarity
 Variety of examples
 1. Word Formation I: compound, derivation (roots, affixes),
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conversion
2. Word Formation II: blending, clipping, acronym,
backformation, other sources
3. types of word meanings, motivation of words and loss of
motivation: arbitrariness (English & Chinese)
4. Chang in word meaning: Types of semantic change:
Generalization/Extension; Specialization/Restriction;
Elevation/Amelioration; Degradation/Degeneration, Causes
of changes (English & Chinese)
5. Componential analysis and Semantic features
6.Sense relation:
Synonymy,Antonymy,Polysemy,Homonymy,Hyponymy
(English & Chinese)
7. Association and Collocation
8. English Idioms
9. Origin and Development of English words
10. Euphemism, word and politics, word and gender
(English & Chinese)