1、Chapter oneThe Basic Concepts of Words and Vocabulary,Contents of this lecture,Word and vocabulary Relationship between sound and meaning Relationship between sound and form Classification of English words,1.1 Word and vocabulary,1.1.1 Word To sum up, the definition of a word will cover the followin

2、g points: A minimal free form of a language; A sound unity; A unit of meaning; A form that can function alone in a sentence.,Definition:,A word is a minimal free form of a language that has a given sound, meaning and syntactic function.,1.1.2 Vocabulary,All the words in a language make up what is ge

3、nerally known as its vocabulary. The term “vocabulary” is used in different senses.,the total number of the words in a language all the words used in a particular historical period, e.g. Old (Middle, Modern) English vocabulary. all the words of a given dialect, a given book, a given discipline and t

4、he words possessed by an individual person.,1.2 Sound and Meaning,The problem of the relationship of sound and meaning is controversial. There are mainly two representative view points:,(1)the Naturalists(自然派),The Naturalists think that there is an intrinsic correspondence between sound and meaning.

5、 (音和義之間有一種必然聯(lián)系),Tis not enough no harshness gives offence, The sound must be an echo to the sense. Pope: Essay on Criticism,(2) the Conventionalists(習(xí)慣派),The Conventionalists think that there is no intrinsic correspondence between sound and meaning.,They are arbitrary. Or we can say it is a kind of

6、linguistic social contract.(一種社會(huì)契約)。,Whats in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet. Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet,Large quantity of evidence show that the Conventionalists view is more convincing. There is no connection between sound and meaning.,1.3 Sound and For

7、m,Written form=orthographical record of the oral form Sound should be consistent with the form. (only true in Old English),With the development of the language, more and more differences arose between sound and form now. Reasons:,1) the English alphabet was adopted from the Romans, and it does not h

8、ave a separate letter to represent each sound in the language so that some letters must work together in combination. 26 letters 48 phonemes,2)the pronunciation has changed more rapidly than spelling. In the early days the spelling and sound almost corresponded to each other.,Sound has been changing

9、 continuously since the printing press was brought to England, while spelling remained stable.,3)sometimes, people deliberately changed the spelling for easier recognition. Scribes (抄寫員) often worked in haste. w, n, u, v misunderstanding wuman, wunder, munk woman, wonder, monk,4)borrowing also leads

10、 to the differences between the two. Both meanings and spellings were borrowed. Stimulus (L), kimono (Jap), denouement (F),1.4 Classification of English Words,-classified by different criteria and for different purposes. -criteria: by origin, by use frequency and by notion.,1.By use frequency: Basic

11、 word stock and nonbasic vocabulary,Basic word stock(基本詞匯): The is the foundation of the vocabulary and forms the common core of the language.,Characteristics:,1)All National Character (全民性） They denote the most common things and phenomena of the world around us, which are indispensable to all speak

12、ers. They include words relating to:,Natural phenomena: rain, snow, fire, sun Human body and relations: head, foot, mother, father Names of plants and animals: oak, pine, grass, pear, cat, dog, chicken,Action, size, domain, state: come, go, eat, good, hot, white, black Num., pron., prep.,conj.: one,

13、 ten hundred, I, you, who, out, and, but,2) Stability (穩(wěn)定性）,They denote the commonest things necessary to life, they are likely to remain unchanged.,Stability is only relative. These words have been undergoing some changes. Arrow, bow Electricity, machine, car, computer,3) Productivity (能產(chǎn)性）,They ar

14、e mostly root words or monosyllabic words. They are active in forming new words with other roots and affixes.,Examples:,-foot: footage尺數(shù), football, footpath小路, footloose到處行走的, footman步兵, footprint足跡, -dog: doglike, dog-ear, dogtooth, doghole, dogsleep打盹, dogfight,4) Polysemy (多義性）,They often possess

15、 various meanings because most of them have undergone transformations in semantic structure in the course of use and become polysemous.,Example:,Take: To move or carry from one place to another To remove or use without permission or by mistake To seize or capture To get for oneself To get hold of st

16、h with the hands To be willing to accept,5) Collocability ( ability to form collocations)（搭配性）,Many words enter quite a number of set expressions, idiomatic usages, proverbial sayings and the like.,Examples:,-heart: break ones heart; after ones heart; cry ones heart; heart to heart; at heart; lose o

17、nes heart; someones heart sinks, etc.,*Not all the words of the basic word stock have all these characteristics.,Pronouns and numerals enjoy nation-wide use and stability, but are semantically monosemous and have limited productivity and collocability.,Nonbasic vocabulary(非基本詞匯),(1) Terminology (專業(yè)術(shù)

18、語) Terms used in particular disciplines and academic areas: Photoscanning, hepatitis, indigestion, penicilin, algebra,(2) Jargon (行話),Specialized vocabularies by which members of particular arts, sciences, trades and professions communicate among themselves:,Examples:,Paranoid (suspicious)medicine，

19、hold him back (prevent a horse from winning)horse-racing， ballpark figures (estimate)-business Buster (bomb)-warfare,(3)Slang,Sub-standard language, between the standard general words and informal ones Grass, pot (大麻)，smoky bear (警察)，頭：nut, dome, upper People who spend more time with close friends a

20、nd mere acquaintances use most slangs.,(4) Argot (隱語),The combined cant (shoptalk of any group) and jargon of criminals. can-opener (萬能鑰匙)，persuader (匕首),(5) Dialectal words (方言詞),Words used only by speakers of the dialect in question Chook (雞)，station (牧場)-AusE Coo (奶牛)，hame (家)-Scot,(6) Archaisms

21、(古舊詞語),Words or forms that were once in common use but are now restricted only to specialized or limited use. Thou-you, ye-you, thee-you, wilt-will, hereof-of this or concerning this,(7) Neologisms (新詞語),Newly-created words or expressions or words that have taken on new meanings. Microelectronics (微

22、電子學(xué)) Futurology (未來學(xué)) Freak out (通過吸毒逃避現(xiàn)實(shí)),2.By notion:,content words and functional words (實(shí)詞和功能詞),1)Content words are used to name objects, qualities, actions, processes or states, and denote clear notions, known as notional words. -nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs and numerals earth, run, wal

23、k, dark, never, five,2)Functional words,do not have notions of their own, also called empty words(虛詞). used to express the relation between notions, words and sentences, known as form words(形式詞).,Examples:,On Of Upon And But Be (does, did) Do (am, are, were, is),Content words constitute the main bod

24、y of the English vocabulary, are numerous, and the number is growing. Functional words remain stable, and the number is small.,3.By origin: native words and borrowed words,Native words: Words brought to Britain by the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes, so known as Anglo-Saxon words. Almost the basic

25、 word stock,More Characteristics:,1) Neutral in Style Denote the commonest things, used by all people. Begin (E)commence (F) Rise (E)mount (F)ascend (L),2) Frequent in Use,70-90% Author or book Native Foreign Spenser 86% 14% Shakespeare 90% 10% Milton 81% 19%,Borrowed words,Loan words or borrowings Constitute 80% of the modern English vocabulary,1) Denizens (同化詞),Words borrowed early in the past and now are well assimilated into the English language (in pronunciation and spelling). From Latin, Greek, French and Scandinavian,Examples:,Portportus (L) Cupcuppa(L) Changechangier