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絕對同義詞Absolutesynonymsarewordswhosemeaningisfullyidenticalinanycontextsothatonecanalwaysbesubstitutedfortheotherwithouttheslightestchangeinmeaning.Thiskindofsynonymsarerareandmaybefoundinspecialterminologysuchascompoundingandcompositioninlexicology,malnutritionandundernourishmentinmedicine.Relativesynonyms相對同義詞Synonymswhichdenotedifferentshadesofmeaningordifferentdegreesofagivenqualityarecalledrelativesynonyms.Thiskindsofsynonymsarethesameinsomedegreesuchasdiscoverandfindbothmeanseesomethingbutdiscovercanmeanbethefirstonetocomeacrosssomething,findmeansexperiencesomethinginsomeway.語言學(xué)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語言變化的原因Soundassimilation語音同化Soundassimilationreferstothephysiologicaleffectofonesoundonanother.Inanassimilativeprocess,successivesoundsismadeidentical,ormoresimilar,tooneanotherintermsofplaceormannerofarticulation,orofhaplology-thelossofoneoftwophoneticallysimilarsyllablesinsequence.語音同化是指一個音受其毗鄰的音的音響而發(fā)生音變，使其發(fā)音變得與毗鄰的音接近。"Engla-land"-"England""ciese","cinn""cild"——cheese,chin,childRulesimplificationandregularization規(guī)則的簡化與統(tǒng)一Itisatypeofspontaneousmorphologicalrulechangethatinvolvesexceptionalpluralformsofnouns英語名詞復(fù)數(shù)的形式有規(guī)則形態(tài)變化與不規(guī)則形態(tài)變化兩種，在英語演化過程中，由于不規(guī)則形態(tài)趨于規(guī)則化，所以復(fù)數(shù)形式趨向簡化。Internalborrowing內(nèi)部借用Anotherkindofchangethatismotivatedbytheneedtolessentheburdenonmemoryiscalledinternalborrowing.引起語言變化的又一原因是旨在減輕記憶復(fù)旦的語言規(guī)則的內(nèi)部借用現(xiàn)象。Eg:cowsasthepluralof"cow"insteadoftheearlierplural"kine"Elaboration規(guī)則的細化Ruleelaborationoccurswhenthereisaneedtoreduceambiguityandincreasecommunicationclarityorexpressiveness.為了避免出現(xiàn)模棱兩可、含糊不清的詞句，或為了提高語言表達上的準確性往往需要增加一些規(guī)則，致使句法規(guī)則更加細化。Socialtriggers社會因素Linguistshavebecomeincreasinglyawareofsociologicaltriggersforlanguageschanges.Suchas:wars,invasion,occupation,colonialization,andlanguageplanningandstandardizationpoliciesleadtovigorouslanguagechanges.Eg:NormanConquestmarkedthedawningoftheMiddleEnglishperiod.促使語言變化的原因不僅有語言內(nèi)部的，更多的是來自語言系統(tǒng)外部的社會環(huán)境的變化，如：侵略戰(zhàn)爭、殖民化政策、政府推行的語言規(guī)劃政策或標準化運動等。Culturaltransmission文化傳播Oneofthemostpervasivesourcesoflanguagechangeseemstobethecontinualprocessofculturaltransmissionacrossgenerations.Eg:oldpeople"icebox"butyoungerone"fridge"語言變化的原因還在于，層出不窮的新觀念和新事物需要人們用新的詞語去表達。Children'sapproximationtowardtheadultgrammar兒童語言習(xí)得Thewaychildrenacquirethelanguageconstitutesanotherbasiccauseforlanguagechange.Moreimportantly,childrenhaveastrongdesiretosimplifyandregularizegrammaticalrules,particularlywhentheyseeadultsusecertainrulesoptionally.兒童在習(xí)得母語時接收到了各種語言信息和表達習(xí)慣，兒童往往偏向于習(xí)得簡化了的或規(guī)則化的表達方式，語言演化也就自然出現(xiàn)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