Basic Concepts of Words and Vocabulary 英语词汇详细知识点_

2024年2月3日发(作者：)

Basic Concepts of Words and Vocabulary

What is lexicology?

Lexicology is a branch of linguistics concerned with the study of the

vocabulary of a given language. It deals with words, their origin,

development, structure, formation, meaning and usage. In short, it is

the study of the signification and application of words.

What Is a Word?

A word is a minimal free form of a language that has a given sound,

meaning and syntactic function.

词是具有一定的声音、意义和语法功能，能独立运用的最小的语言单位。

What is vocabulary?

➢The total number of the words in a language.

➢All the words used in a particular historical period.

➢All the words of a given dialect, a given book, a given discipline and

the words possessed by an individual person.

Vocabulary Size

Speaking vocabulary----active vocabulary

writing vocabulary------active vocabulary

reading vocabulary------passive vocabulary

guess vocabulary--------passive vocabulary

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Language can be defined as “an arbitrary vocal system used for

human communication”. By system we mean that the elements in a

language are arranged according to certain rules, but not at random.

Elements at a lower level are combined according to certain rules to

form elements at a higher level.

Specially, Language presents itself as a hierarchy in different aspects.

As is shown in the following hierarchical rank scale, language rises

form morpheme at the bottom up to the sentence at the top in terms of

lexicography. (词典编纂)

2.1 Morpheme

 is a morpheme(词素)?

The morpheme is the smallest functioning unit in the composition

of words, not divisible or analyzable into smaller forms.

What is usually considered a single word in English may be

composed of one or more morphemes:

One morpheme---nation

Two morphemes---nation-al

Three morphemes---nation-al-ize

Four morphemes---de-nation-al-ize（使…非国有化）

More than four morphemes---de-nation-al-iz-ation

So we can define morpheme in this way:

the smallest unit in terms of relationship between expression and

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content, a unit which can not be divided without destroying or

drastically altering the meaning, whether it is lexical or grammatical.

■A morpheme is a two-facet language unit in that it possesses both

sound and meaning.

A morpheme vs. A word

Morphemes occur in speech only as constituent parts of words.

They can not be used independently, although a word may consist of

a single morpheme. Nor are morphemes divisible into smaller

meaningful units. That is why the morpheme may be defined as the

minimum meaningful language unit.

2. Allomorph (形位变体，词[语]素变体）

Sometimes a morpheme may have two or more different

morphological forms or phonetic forms, depending on the context in

which it occurs.

For example, the prefix sub can be realized as sub as in subway, sup as

in support and suppress, suc as in succeed, and sus as in sustain. That is,

when sub occurs before a root beginning with the sound /p/ it is

realized as sup and when it is added a root with a beginning sound /k/

and a beginning letter c it is realized as suc.

 These different morphological or phonetic forms of a morpheme are

allomorphs of the morpheme.

Allomorphs（词素变体）:

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An allomorph is any of the variant forms of a morpheme as

conditioned by position or adjoining sounds. For example

ion/-tion/-sion/-ation are the positional variants of the same suffix.

Verbs

ending with the sound /t/ usually take –ion (as in invent,

invention);

verds ending with consonants other than /t/ take –tion (as in describe,

description);

verbs ending in –ify and –ize take –ation (as in justify, justification;

modernize, modernization);

verbs ending in –d, -de, or –mit, take –sion (as in expansion, decision,

omission); there are exceptions: attend, attention; convert, conversion,

etc.

Allomorphs also occur among prefixes. Their form then depends on

the first letter of the verb to which they will be added.

e.g.

im- before p,b, or m, imperfect, imbalance, immobile;

ir- before r, irresponsible, irregular;

il- before l, illegal, illogical;

in- before all other consonants and vowels, inflexible, inexcusable;

im-,ir-, and il- are thus allomorphs of the morpheme, in-.

2.2 Classification of Morpheme

morphemes and bound morphemes

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Free morphemes(自由词素）： Morphemes which are independent of

other morphemes are considered to be free. Free morphemes have

complete meanings in themselves and can be used as free grammatical

units in sentences. A free morpheme is one that may constitute a word

(free form) by itself, in the traditional sense.

e.g. man, faith, read, write, red

Bound morphemes(粘附词素): morphemes that can not occur as

separate words. It can not stand by itself as a complete utterance; it

must appear with at least one other morpheme, free or bound. Unlike

free morphemes, they do not have independent semantic meaning;

instead, they have attached meaning or grammatical meaning.

e .g. -ly , re- , -ed, -s

Bound morpheme can change the meaning or word class of a word,

e.g. fit and unfit, broad and braoden;

It can also have grammatical function, e.g. book and books.

2. Root and affix

Alternatively, morphemes may be divided into roots (or root

morphemes) and affixes (or affixational morphemes).

a. Free root: In English many roots are free morphemes, such as boy,

moon, walk, black ( i.e. they can stand alone as words).



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 A word consisting of one free root (or one morpheme) is a simple

words. Free roots, just like simple words, belong to the basic

word-stock, and have the fundamental features of the basic

word-stock . Free roots provide the English language with basis for the

formation of new words.

b. Bound roots: Quite a number of roots derived from foreign sources,

esp. from Greek and Latin, belong to the class of bound morphemes.

A bound root is that part of the word that carries the fundamental

meaning just like a free root. Unlike a free root, it is a bound form and

has to combine with other morphemes to make words.

A root, whether it is free or bound, generally carries the main

component of meaning in a word.

Notice what the following words have in common:

e.g. -tain contain, detain retain

-viv/vit revive vitamin vital vivacious

vivid

例词

基本 第一种 第二种

意义单位 符号(词) 符号（词根）

人 man anthro

花 flower anth(o)

时 time chron

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

色 colour chrom

水 water hydr(o)

石 stone lite(o)

牙 tooth dent(i)

头 head cephal

脚 foot ped

音 sound phon

日 sun sol

月 moon lun

星 star astro(er)

世界 world cosm(o)

生命 life bi(o)

中心 center center

Affixes(词缀): Affixes are forms that are attached to words or word

elements to modify meaning or function. According to the functions of

affixes, we can put them into two groups: inflectional and derivational

affixes.

Inflectional affixes (inflectional morphemes): Affix attached to the

end of words to indicate grammatical relationships are inflectional,

thus known as inflectional morphemes. The inflectional affix does not

form a new word with a new lexical meaning when it is added to

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another word. Nor does it change the word-class of the word to which

it is affixed. It just adds some grammatical information to the word.

It serves to express such meanings as plurality, tense, and the

comparative or superlative degree.

Plural markers: -s, -es, -en, feet, sheep

Genitive case: -’s

Verbal endings: -ing, -(e)d, irregular verbs,

Comparative and superlative degrees: -er, -est

The number of inflectional affixes are small and fixed; no new ones

have bee added since 1500.

Derivational affixes (derivational morphemes): They are so called

because when they are added to another morpheme, they "derive" a

new word. If a morpheme can change the meaning or the word

class, or both the meaning and word class of a word, it is a derivational

morpheme.

e.g. re+write,mini+car, super+market, modern+ize, mean+ness,

work+er.

Many derivational affixes have a specific lexical meaning, for

instance: -ism means “doctrine or point of view” as in socialism.

Quite a number of other derivational affixes have more than one

meaning.

e.g. de- 1. to undo what has been done, to reverse the action of

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decentralize, decode

 2. to remove: to debone

 3. to reduce: devalue

 4. (esp. in grammar) coming from sth. else: a deverbal

noun

Derivational affixes do not only have independent lexical meaning but

also affective meaning.

e.g. prefixes: mis-, mal-, pseudo- -- pejorative

suffix: -ling -- derogatory : hireling, weakling

-ish, -- "of the nature of," -- derogatory: bookish uppish.

derivational affixes which can be attached to words of different

words-classes:

e.g. -able -- verbs -- washable

-- nouns -- marriageable;

The number of derivational affixes, although limited, is much larger

than that of inflectional affixes. New ones are coined from time to time.

e.g. Russian: sputnik (1957),

-nik beatnik, peacenik computernik

Derivational morphemes or derivational affixes are commonly

subdivided into prefixes and suffixes. Affixes before the word are

called prefixes (as in supermarket) those after are called suffixes ( as in

friendship).

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Both prefixes and suffixes may be grouped according to:

(1) Their linguistic origin:

OE affixes: un-, mis-, be-, out-, over-, -ness, -dom, -hood, -ly, and -er.

Foreign affixes: ab-(L), bi- (L), dis-(L), re-(L), kilo(GK), poly(GK),

mal-(F),-able(F), -ism(GK), -ic(GK).

(2) Their productivity:

Affixes (such as re-, un-, -able, -ize) are called productive or living

when they can be used to form new words. Those that are no longer

used to form new words are termed dead or unproductive.

e.g. for- forgets, forgive, forbid

-with withdraw, withhold, withstand

Root, stem, base

As defined by Bauer:

" A root (词根) is a form which is not further analyzable, either in

terms of derivational or inflectional morphology. It is that part of a

word-from that remains when all the inflectional and derivational

affixes have been removed. A root is the basic part always present in a

lexeme." (Bauer 1983:20)

e.g. un touch able s

greenhouse-- green house

Bauer defines "stem" as follows:

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" A stem （词干） is of concern only when dealing with inflectional

morphology. ... Only Inflectional (but not derivational) affixes are

added to it: it is the part of the word-form which remains when all the

inflectional affixes have been removed,“ A stem is any morpheme or

combination of morphemes to which an inflectional affix can be added.

e.g. friends, friendships, greenhouses

A base （词基） is any form to which affixes of any kind can be added;

it may also be defined as "a form to which a rule of word formation is

applied."

From the definitions of the three terms, we can see that any root or

stem can be termed a base. But a base is different from the root in that

the former is (sometimes) derivationally analyzable while the later is

derivationally unanalyzable. A base is also different from a stem in

that both derivational and inflectional affixes can be attached to a base

but only inflectional affixes can be attached to a stem.

e.g. disagreements, disagreement, disagree

3. Lexeme, word form, lexical entry, word

1) Lexeme:

Lexeme an abstract vocabulary item with a common core of meaning.

It can be realized by different word forms. Put it in another way,

lexeme is a set of linguistic signs which share the same lexical meanings

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but different in their grammatical, meanings. Fro example, dies,died,

dying, die belong to the same lexeme DIE. Man and men are varying

forms of the same lexeme MAN.

Some set expressions such as bury the hatchet, give up and ups and

downs would be each considered a single lexeme.

2) Word form （词形）：

 Word form is the realization (representation or manifestation) of

the lexeme. Equivalently, it is the inflected forms of a lexeme.

An illustration of the relationship between lexeme and word form:

word-forms lexeme

SEE

SLEEP

CATCH

See, seeing, saw, seen

Sleeps, sleeping, slept

Catch, catches, catching, caught

Jump, jumps, jumped, jumping

Tall, taller, tallest

Boy,

JUMP

TALL

boys

BOY

Woman, women WOMAN

3） Lexical entry(词条)：

Lexical entry is the specification of the information of a lexeme in

dictionary or the representation of the idiosyncratic information of a

lexeme, including (i) its pronunciation, (ii) syntactic properties and (iii)

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meaning. For example, the lexical entry swim:

PHONOLOGY /swim/

SYNTAX intransitive verb

[SWIM]

SEMANTICS

MORPHOLOGY Past swam

Past Participle swum

4）Word

How to define a word?

A word can be defined the smallest meaningful linguistic unit that can

be used independently. Knowing a word means knowing its

pronunciation (sound) and meaning, whose relationship is arbitrary. A

word can be defined from the following aspects:

1) Orthographically speaking, a word is a unit which, in print, is

bounded by spaces on both sides. It is a physically definable unit. But

there is a problem with this definition: should we count it as two words

or one word when two words are contracted as one orthographic unit.

a. I am a good cook.

b. I’ve been a good cook.

2) Morph-syntactically speaking, word has four characteristics: (i)

syntactic independence, (ii) positional mobility, (iii) uninterruptibility,

(vi) Internal stability.

Syntactic independence means that nothing smaller than a word can

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normally form a sentence on its own. That is to say, word is the

smallest independent unit in a language. It is the smallest unit which

can constitute, by itself, a complete utterance.

Positional mobility means that the word-forms as a whole can be

moved relatively easily within the sentence, such as “This we must see”

and “Plums I love”.

Uninterruptability means that extraneous material cannot be inserted

into a word form even there are several parts in a word, such as the

contrast between nationalism vs. *national-anti-lism.

Internal stability means that internal morpheme or letters are fixed /

stabilized, i.e., the ordering of items within the word-form is usually

fixed and non-contrastive, as opposed to the ordering of word-forms

within the sentence, as is the case with * ly-sudden

 Part of Speech / Word Class:

Part of Speech are the categories into which the words of a language

can be classified either according to their syntactic functions or

according to their morphological structure.

There are traditionally nine word classes in English: noun, verb

(transitive and intransitive), adjective, adverb, preposition, pronoun,

article, conjunction, interjection. There are still some new categories

introduced recently into linguistic analysis. They are particles,

auxiliaries (助动词) and pro-forms(代词形式).

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Particles include the infinitive marker “to”, the negative marker

“not” and the subordinate elements in phrasal verbs, such as “up” in

look up, break up and do up, and “at” in look at and arrive at.

Pro-form is a collective term for the set of items which can be used to

substitute for other items or construction. They are always neglected.

e.g.

Do you need a lift? If so, I will drive you to the destination.

Do you think your little brother study hard enough? Yes, he does.

I know him more than I did.

I would have never believed it. She has readily accepted his proposal.

The dog is hiding there, under the table.

Different ways of classifying words:

1) Open-class words and closed-class words

Open-class words include nouns, verbs, adjective and adverbs. They

are so called because their membership is not fixed or limited. With

the emergency of new ideas and inventions, new expressions are

continually being added to the lexicon. The other six word classes are

called closed-class words because their membership is relatively fixed.

2) Grammatical (function) words and lexical

(content) words

Grammatical words are also called function words, whose role is

largely or wholly grammatical. They include link verb “be”,

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prepositions, conjunctions and determiners, ect. Lexical words carry

the semantic meaning. Nouns, verbs, adjectives and most adverbs are

lexical words.

3) Variable words and invariable words

Variable words are those that have ordered and regular series of

grammatically different word forms. Invariable words are those that

remain relatively constant.

Token(标记) and Type（类型）

In linguistics, a distinction is always made between classes of

linguistic items (e.g. phonemes, words, utterances) and actual

utterances in speech or writing of examples of such classes. The class

of linguistic units is called a type and examples of individual members

of the class are called tokens.

In mathematic linguistics the total number of words in a text may be

referred to as the number of text tokens, and the number of different

words as the number of text types. The ratio of different words in a

text to the total words in the text is known as the lexical density or

Type-Token ratio for that text.

Paradigm

A paradigm is a list or pattern showing the forms which a word can

have in a grammatical system.. It typically shows a word’s inflections

rather than derivatives. It is the set of all the inflected forms which an

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individual word assumes or the full set of words realizing a particular

lexeme.

For example: Boy, {boy, boys}

 DO, {do, does, did, doing, done}

Summary:

 are composed of morphemes. A morpheme, the minimal

meaningful unit of the English language, possesses both sound and

meaning. An allomorph is any of variant forms of a morpheme.

2. Morphemes may be classified as free or bound. A free morpheme is

one that can stand by itself as a complete utterance, while a bound

morpheme cannot exist on its own; it must appear with at least one

other morpheme, free or bound.

3. Morphemes can also be classified into roots and affixes. A root

carries the main component of meaning in a word. Roots can be free or

bound morphemes. Free roots can stand alone as words and provide

the language with a basis for the formation of new words. Bound roots

cannot appear as words in modern English, although they were once

words, nor can they be used to form new words.

4. Affixes are bound morphemes, because they are used only when

added to other morphemes. Affixes are classified into inflectional and

derivational affixes. The former are related to grammar only.

Derivational affixes are subdivided into prefixes and suffixes, which

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are related to the formation of new words. Roots, prefixes and suffixes

are the building blocks with which words are formed.

5. On morphemic level, words can be classified into simple, complex

and compound words, according to the number and type of

morphemes they are composed of.

6. Morphemes are important in the word-building process because

the two most central and productive word-formation process,

compounding and affixation, are related to morphemes: the former is a

combination of free morphemes, the latter is the addition of bound

morphemes to free ones.

English Lexicology

Unit 3

Word formation 2

Contents

Abbreviation (shortening)

Clipping

Initialism

Acronym

Blending

Aphesis

Back-formation

Onomatopoeia

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

Words from Proper Names

Exercises

Clipping

(shortening a word or words by leaving out letters or syllables)

apocope (back clipped)

dorm(itory), disco(theque), expo(sition), gas(oline), hi(gh)-fi(delity), memo(randum),

rep(resentative),

aphaeresis (front clipped)

(violon)cello, bus, cab, phone,

front and back clipped

flu, fridge

syncope (middle clipped, contraction)

fossil(iz)ation, pacif(ic)ist

gov't (government), can’t

Clipping

Clipping in phrases:

daily (paper), finals (final examinations)

IOU (I owe you),

Clipping in style

informal

Changes needed in clipping for the sake of sound

bike (bicycle), coke (Coca-Cola),

Initialism—General

(the use of initialization in words where each letter is pronounced)

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CPPCC (the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference)

D.J. (disc jockey)

GDP (Gross Domestic Product)

GNP (Gross National Product)

CPI (consumer price index)

IOC (International Olympic Committee)

BBC, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, AP

c/o =care of

P.S. =postscript

RSVP=Reponde s’il vous plait

Initialism—IT

AGP ← Accelerate Graphics Processor

AI ← Artificial Intelligence

BBS ← Bulletin Board System

CAD ← Computer-Aided Design

CAI ← Computer-Assisted Instruction

CD ← Compact Disk

CPU ← Central Processing Unit

DPI ← Dots Per Inch

FTP ← File Transfer Protocol

HTTP ← Hypertext Transfer Protocol

IC ← Integrate circuit

IP ← Internet Protocol

LCD ← Liquid Crystal Display

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LED ← light-emitting diode

OS ← Operating System

PPM ← Pages Per Minute

USB ←Universal Serial Bus

VGA ← Video Graphics Array

Initialism—Web-chatting

ASAP

AAMOF (as a matter of fact)

BTW

BBL (be back later)

BRB (be right back)

CU (see you)

CUL (see you later)

FE (for example)

FTF (face to face)

FYI (for your information)

IC (I see)

IMO (in my opinion)

IOW (in other words)

LOL (laughing out loudly)

OIC (Oh, I see)

TIA (Thanks in advance)

TTUL (Talk to you later)

TY (Thank you)

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VG (very good)

Initialism—Compound

E-school

E-tail

= electronic school（网络学校）

= electronic retail（电子零售）；

= hydrogen bomb（氢弹）

H-bomb

V-day = victory day（胜利日）

= undersea boat（潜艇）

U-boat

Acronym

(words derived from the initials of several words, pronounced as a word, not as a list of

letters)

APEC ← Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation （亚太经济合作组织）

ASEAN ← the Association for South-East Asian Nations（东南亚国家联盟）

NATO ← the North Atlantic Treaty Organization （北大西洋公约组织）

UNESCO ← the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization（联合国教科文组织）

laser ← light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation（激光）

ROM ← read only memory（只读内存）

Acronym-Intentional coincidence

近年来，首字母拼音词出现了一个有趣的现象，人们有意或无意地把首字母英语词汇学拼音词拼写成与现存的词相同的样子，并借用其读音。

SALT “ 限制战略武器会谈”(Strategic Arms Limitation Talks)

BASIC English “ 英美国际通用科技商业英语”

（British-American-Scientific-International-Commercial English ）

Basic (Beginners’ All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) （一种计算机代码）

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CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning)

Blending

(making a word by putting together parts of other words)

4 types of blends

head + end

telecast (television broadcast)

motel (motor hotel), botel

head + head

Amerind (American Indian),

comsat (communication satellite),

Interpol (international police)

head + word

paratroop (parachute troops)

heliport (helicopter port)

word + head

masscult (mass culture)

More examples:

netizen, brunch, Taikonaut

email，sci-fi (or scifi),

infortainment，glocalization (全球本土化)

Aphesis (词首非重读短元音的脱落)

Aphetic forms are a special kind of shortening characterized by the omission of the

initial unstressed syllable as in ’scuse me (excuse me) and ’cause (because).

Back-formation

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Back-formation is the making of a new word from an older word which is mistakenly

thought to be its derivative.

It involves the shortening of a longer word by cutting away an imagined/supposed

derivational suffix.

The word edit is often cited as an example of back-formation. In other words, edit is

not the source of editor, as dive is not the source of diver, which is the expected

derivational pattern; rather, the opposite is the case.

Edit in the sense “to prepare for publication,” first recorded in 1793, comes from editor,

first recorded in 1712 in the sense “one who edits.”

Back-formation

logic

Back-formation is created by analogy according to the following proportion (比例式).

writer: write :: peddler: ?

revision: revise :: television: ?

write is to writer as peddle is to peddler.

revise is to revision as televise is to television.

Back-formation—Classification

Removing supposed nominal suffix (n.

→ v.)

Simple noun suffix

Compound noun suffix

→v.)

Removing supposed adjective suffix (adj.

Derivative suffix

-Ed Participle suffix

-Ing Participle suffix

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

Simple noun (-or, -er, -ar, -tion, -sion, -ance, -ence, etc)

peddler（小贩）→ to peddle（叫卖）

orator（演说家）→ to orate（演说）

burglar（盗贼）→ to burgle（夜盗）

swindler（骗子）→ to swindle（诈骗）

editor（编辑）→ to edit（编辑）

sculptor（雕刻家）→ to sculpt（雕刻）

rover（徘徊者）→ to rove（徘徊）

loafer（游手好闲的人）→ to loaf（漂游）

helicopter（直升飞机）→ to helicopt（用直升飞机运送）

escalator（自动楼梯）→ to escalate（逐步上升）

elevator（升降机）→ to elevate （升高）

 resurrection → to resurrect （复活）

aggression → to aggress（侵略）

Simple noun suffix (-or, -er, -ar, -tion, -sion, -ance, -ence, etc) removed

donation → to donate（捐赠）

escalation → to escalate（逐步升级）

automation→to automate（使自动化）

destruction → to destruct（破坏，毁坏）

pre-emption（先买权）→ to preempt（先占，先发制人）

emotion（感情）→ to emote（表达感情）

location（位置）→ to locate（定位）

reticence → to retice（沉默）

reminiscence → to reminisce（回忆）

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excursion → to excurse（游览）

intuition → to intuit（凭直觉）

option → to opt（选择）等

Compound noun suffix (-er, -tion, -sion, -ship, -ist, etc.) removed

caretaker（管理员）→ to caretake（临时看管）

proof-reader（校对人）→ to proof-read（校对）

day-dreamer（空想家）→ to day-dream（空想）

housekeeper（管家人）→ to housekeep（主持家务）

typewriter（打字机）→ to typewrite（打字）

baby-sitter（临时保姆）→ to baby-sit（做保姆）

fire-bomber（燃烧弹）→ to fire-bomb（用燃烧弹袭击）

taperecorder（录音机）→ to taperecord（录音）

mass-production → to mass-produce （成批生产）

non-conformist （不信奉国教的）→ to non-conform（不信奉国教）Derivative suffix (-ish, -some, -ous, -y, etc.) removed

gloomy（忧闷的）→ to gloom（使忧闷，使阴暗）

lazy（懒惰的）→ to laze（偷懒）

peevish（气恼的）→ to peeve（使气恼）

cozy（舒适的）→ to coze（使舒适）

greedy（贪婪的）→ to greed（贪婪）

gruesome（可怕的）→ to grue（因害怕或寒冷而发抖）

-Ed Participle suffix (-ed, -en) removed

giftwrapped（作作品包装的）→ to giftwrap（礼品包装）

henpecked（惧内的）→ to henpeck（怕老婆）

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spoonfed（填鸭式的）→ to spoonfeed（填鸭式灌输）

tongue-tied（张口结舌的）→ to tongue-tie（张口结舌）

globe-trotted（环球的）→ to globe-trot （环球旅行）

browbeaten （被吓坏了的）→ to browbeat（吹胡子瞪眼）

panic-stricken（惊慌失措的）→ to panic-strike（使惊慌失措）

-Ing Participle suffix removed from n. & adv.

suckling （乳儿）→ to suckle （给……喂奶）

merry-making → to merry-make（寻欢作乐）

air-conditioning （空气调节）→ to air-condition（调节空气）

hay-making → to hay-make（晒干草）

soothsaying → to soothsay（预言）

sight-seeing → to sight-see（观光）

book-keeping → to book-keep（记帐）

brain-washing（洗脑）→ to brainwash（实行洗脑，灌输）

window-shopping → to window-shop（溜达看商店橱窗）

darkling adv.（在黑暗中）→ to darkle（变暗）

sidling adv. （从侧面）→ to sidle （侧身而行）

groveling adv. （匍匐地）→ to grovel（匍匐）

Back-formation in style

Stylistically, back-formation words are applied in press and colloquial contexts.

Onomatopoeia

(making words by echoing a sound that is linked to the thing we want to name)

Onomatopoetic word (imitative word/echo word). (Ety.:onoma, a name; poiein, to make)



喀嚓, Pif-paf (必扑),

27

Classification (by Stephen Ullman)

Primary onomatopoeia ( 基本拟声词)

Secondary onomatopoeia ( 次要拟声词)

Primary onomatopoeia

imitating human beings

babble（婴儿牙牙学语）, chuckle（咯咯地笑）, grumble （咕哝）、cough（咳嗽）, moan（呻吟声）, murmur（自言自语）

imitating animals

kittens mew（小猫喵喵叫）, pigeons coo（鸽子咕咕叫）, frogs crook（青蛙呱呱叫）, snakes

hiss（蛇咝咝声）, mice speak（老鼠吱吱叫）, bees buzz（蜜蜂嗡嗡声）

imitating natural sounds

We listened to in the pattering of the rain on the window.（滴滴答答）

I heard a long roll of the thunder. (隆隆的)

Primary onomatopoeia

imitating other sounds

water: bubble, ripple, trickle ( 细流水)

door & window: bang

clock: ding, tick-tock, tap

weapon: bump

cracking: crack

Secondary onomatopoeia

次要拟声词是指音与某种象征性的意义发生联系的词。这类词从词源上来说是没有拟声依据的, 它们之所以被认为有拟声作用,是因为它们本身某些字母的发音能象征某种概念或意境, 丰富人们的想象。 J.R. Firth称之为phonaesthemes (to label the systematic

28

pairing of form and meaning in a language联觉音组)。

sk- (摩擦): skate, skid(打滑), skim

sl- (滑): slide, slick (滑溜)

bl-“充气”: bladder (气囊), blast, bloat

fl- “快速运动或移动”: fly, flow, flush

sn-“呼吸”或“爬行”: sneeze, sniff, snail, sneak, snake

qu-“摇动、颤动”: quake, quaver, quiver

-are (强光或大噪声): blare (耀眼的光), flare, glare, stare

-ash (尖利的撞击声): slash (猛砍), mash, clash, crash

Words from Proper Names

Another minor word-formation process is the creation of new words from proper names.

The transition from proper names to common nouns is a gradual one.

Proper names

People’s name

Name of places

Book names

A good example: sandwich

It originates from John Montagu (1718-92), Fourth Earl of Sandwich. He was so fond of

gambling that he would not leave the gambling table to have a proper meal.

He was said to eat while playing. Later, people used his name to refer to

all similar food.

Words from names of places

china watergate: originally the name of

an

office

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building in Washington,

D.C.

champagne: a white wine made

in the region of Champagne, France.

Watergate

The Watergate scandal began with the arrest of five men for secretly entering the

Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Office complex in

Washington, D.C. on June 17, 1972.

Investigations conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) revealed that this

burglary was one of many illegal activities authorized and carried out by Nixon's staff.

Why is a scandal always a -gate ?

President-related scandals

伊朗门，白宫秘书门，情报门

Politics-related scandals

Koreagate，cattlegate，虐囚门

All kinds of scandals

兽兽门，艳照门，博客门，日记门，etc.

catch-22 (第22条军规; 令人左右为难的规定)

Catch-22 is a satirical novel by the American author Joseph Heller (born 1923), first

published in 1961.

It refers to a paradoxical Air Force rule by which a pilot is considered insane if he keeps

flying combat missions without asking for a relief, but if he does ask for a relief, he is

considered sane and may not be relieved.

例如，如果我是一位还没有发表过作品的作家，也就是说，我的作品没有在出版社出版30

过；我拿着我的作品去出版社商讨出版问题，出版社的人却对我说，他们不替没有发表过作品的人出版作品。如果所有的出版社都给我同样的答复，我岂不是就遇上Catch-22了！

评副教授必须承担过省级科研项目,而申请省级科研项目的人员必须具有副教授资格,这就是catch-22。

Exercise 1

Minor Processes of Word-formation

Shortening

❖Types of shortening or abbreviation（缩略法）

4.1 Clipping ( 截短法)

The process of clipping involves the deletion of one or more

(usually a noun), which is also available in its full form.

e.g. plane , phone , gym, taxi

Four main types of Clipping

1. Back clippings（apocope）

The deletion may occur at the end of the word.

2. Front clippings (aphaeresis)

The deletion occurs at the beginning of the word:

Clippings often alter spelling:

e.g. biz, bike, fridge, pram (perambulator),

sarge (sergeant )

syllables from a word

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Some clipped forms are altered by the addition of such endings as -y, -ie, or -o.

e.g. comfy , hanky , teeny , telly, ammo

taxi, plane bus, pram. etc.-- fully accepted in the standard language

ad, dorm, bike, exam, lab, math, etc. -- informal

sarge, combo, tec ,etc -- slangy

gymnasium

❖dormitory

❖handkerchief

❖gasoline

❖kilogram

❖influenza

❖business

❖parachute

❖refrigerator

❖taxicab

❖gym

❖dorm

❖hanky

❖Gas

❖kilo

❖flu

❖biz

❖chute

❖fridge

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❖taxi or cab

4.2 Acronymy -- Initialisms and Acronyms

❖Acronymy is a special kind of clipping, by which a new word is formed from the initial

letters of the name of an organization or scientific term,etc. There are two kinds of word

formed by acronymy: initialisms and acronyms，while are different in that the former are

pronounced letter by letter while the latter are pronounced as single words.

1. Initialisms （首字母缩略词）

Initialisms are pronounced letter by letter. e.g.

BBC--British Broadcasting Corporation /'bi:bi:'si:

APC-- aspirin, phenacetin乙酰对氨苯乙醚, 非那西汀(解热镇痛剂的一种), caffeine咖啡因, usually a white tablet used for reducing fever, relieving headache, etc. /ei pi:'si:/

VIP--a very important person /vi:ai'pi:/

The motivation for initialism is either “brevity or catchiness”

e.g. BO –- body odour

VD – venereal disease

Three types of initialisms:

3) A letter represents the complete form of the first (or the first two) word, while the second

word (or the third word) is in full form:

e.g. H-bomb =hydrogen bomb;

D-notice = official request to news-editors not to publish items on specified

subjects, for reasons of security;

G-man = an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (AmE)

V-J Day = the day on which the fighting with Japan officially ended in the World

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War II (Aug.15, 1945) or the day the surrender was formerly signed (Sept.2, 1945)

2. Acronyms （首字母拼音词）

Acronyms are words formed from the initial letters of the name of an organization or a

scientific term, etc. Acronyms differ from initialism in that they are pronounced as words

rather as sequences of letters;

❖central processing unit

❖Do it yourself

❖Chief Executive Officer

❖Information technology

❖artificial intelligence

❖Save our ship

❖international direct dial

❖Test of English as a foreign language

❖read only memory

❖The North Atlantic Treaty organization

❖Federation Internationale de Football

❖Acquired Immune Deficiency syndrome

❖Radio detecting and ranging

Vocabulary Quiz

►SARS

►AIDS

►IBM

►ATM

►DJ

34

►ELT

►FLT

►EFL

►ESL

►TEFL

►TESL

►TESOL

❖Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome

❖Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

❖International Business Machines Corporation

❖Automatic Teller Machine

❖Disc Jockey

❖English Language Teaching

❖Foreign Language Teaching

❖English as a Foreign Language

❖English as a Second Language

❖Teaching English as a Foreign Language

❖Teaching English as a Second Language

❖Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

(Continued)

►TOEFL

►IELTS

►GRE

►GMAT

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►PETS

►CET

►TEM

►MBA

►HSK

❖Test of English as a Foreign Language

❖International English Language Testing System

❖Graduate Record Examination

❖Graduate Management Admission Test

❖Public English Test System

❖College English Test

❖Test For English Major

❖Master of Business Administration

❖Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi

4.3 Blending

Blending is a process of word-formation in which a new word is formed by combining

parts of two or more words or a word plus a part of another word.

newscast (news + broadcast),

brunch (breakfast + lunch)

The result of such a process is called a blend（拼缀词）, or a portmanteau n.[语]紧缩词,混合词 word or a telescopic word.

Blending is thus a process of both compounding and abbreviation.

Structurally blends may be divided into four types:

1. The first part of the first word + the last part of the second one.

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aviation+electronics =

beauty+utility =

binary+digit =

boat+hotel =

light+radar =

mean+stingy =

smoke+fog =

stagnation+inflation =

2. The first part of the first word + the first part of the second word

communication+satellite =

formula+translation =

Situation+comedy =

science+fiction =

modulator + demodulator =

3. The whole form of the first word + the last part of the second word

fact+fiction =

lunar+astronaut =

slim+gymnastics =

talk+marathon =

4. First part of the first word +whole form of the second word

documentary+drama =

medical+care =

motor+town =

network + meeting =

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Back-formation is a term used to refer to a type of word-formation by which a shorter

word is coined by the deletion of a supposed affix from a longer form already present in

the language.

e.g. burgle – burglar

Affixation and backformation

Back-formation is also known as a reverse derivation because a derived form has

preceded the word from which it is derived.

1) Verbs created from nouns ending in -er, -or, -ar, e.g.

editor--- to edit

pedlar -- to peddle escalator -- to escalate

house sitter -- to house sit

vacuum cleaner- to vaccum clean

2) Verbs created from abstract nouns

e.g. diagnosis -- to diagnose

television -- to televise

enthusiasm -- to enthuse

automation -- to automate

concordance -- to concord

3) Verbs created from adjectives:

e.g. lazy -- to laze

cosy -- to cose

complicity -- to complicit

4) Nouns created from adjectives:

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e.g. gloomy -- gloom

greedy -- greed (few in number)

5) Verbs created from compound nouns:

e.g.

match-maker -- to match-make

merry-making-- to merry-make

dress-maker -- to dress-make

4.6 Onomatopoeia

❖Some English words came into being by onomatopoeia, i.e. the imitation of natural

sounds. Onomatopoeic words(拟声词) are echoic ones whose sounds suggest their senses.

These words help us from mental pictures about the things, people, or places that are

described.

❖ words in connection with the sound made by animals

eg. goose---cackle

pig---grunt

bee---buzz

frog---croak

mosquito---hum

dog---bark

horse---neigh

❖ words in connection with the sound made by persons

eg. murmur (咕哝), whisper (耳语声), giggle (咯咯笑声), hum (哼), ouch (哎呀), hush

39

(嘘), chuckle (抿着嘴轻声地笑), mutter (轻声低语), en (嗯), hi (喂), chatter (唠叨), whoop (喘气声), babble (胡言乱语, 含糊不清地说)

❖ words in connection with the sound made by things

eg. click 喀嚓 (剪刀, 门, 按钮 )

clang 发出铿锵声 (叮当声)

bubble 汩汩地流水（水声）

rumble 轰隆声 (雷, 风, 炮, 车)

ticktack 嘀嗒 (钟表)

thump 砰然地响 （重物击物声）

▪Roots

▪Bound root morphemes

▪Free root morphemes

▪Affixes

Roots

▪Free roots: free morphemes

▪Bound roots: derived from foreign source

▪Vit (Latin: “life”): viv (to live): revive vitamin

Transition from bound roots to free roots

▪Graph(1878), phone(1866)

Learn some roots from Latin

▪acu- (acr-) ----sharp

▪Acute

vital vivid

40

▪ag- (act-) ---to do, to drive

▪Agent

More roots from Latin

▪anim----life or mind

▪animal

▪annu- (ennu-) ---year

▪annual

▪Aud- (audit) --to hear

▪audience

Words about hairstyle

▪Hairstyle1, 2, 3

▪Poodle cut

▪Bangs

▪Bunches

▪Ducktail cut Dreadlock

Topic

▪Affixes

▪Word-formation

Affixes: distinction from roots

▪They do not form words by themselves

▪Their meaning is not as clear and specific as it the meaning of roots

▪The number of affixes is much restricted than that of roots

Types of affixes

▪Suffixes

41

▪prefixes

free bound

▪Affixes are bound morphemes

▪It is quite normal for free morphemes to become bound

▪e.g. less (adj.): devoid of, lacking

▪dom : doom, judgement

hood: condition or state

Functions of affixes

Derivation of unhabitableness

▪The stem is habit

Main process of English

Word-formation

▪Prefixation

▪Suffixation

▪Conversion

▪Compounding

8 categories of prefixes

▪Negative-prefixes

▪a-, an- (used before vowels)

▪dis-

▪in-, il-, im-, ir-

▪non-

▪un-

42

▪ob-

▪se-, sed-

Negative prefixes

▪a-, an- : lacking of, lacking in; combined with n. or adj. used chiefly learned and

scientific words

eg. amoral, asexual, asymmetry, anarchy, aseptic, anhydrous

Negative Prefixes

▪dis-, combining with Adj. Adv. N. and V.

eg. dishonest, disjoint, disloyal, disunity, disuse (n.) disbenefit, disambiguate

▪in-, im- (before labials), il-, ir-

incomplete, inconsistent, incorrect, insane, inattention, illiterate, illogical, imbalanced,

immortal, irrational, irrelavant

Note: less common than un-

non-

▪non-black, nonscience, nonbusiness, nonfree (without freedom), nongreen

nonperishable, nontrivial,

non-U (adj): (BrE.)not of the upper class

New meaning of non-

▪nonbook: a book which has little literacy or factual information

▪noncandidate: a person who has not announced or is unwilling to announce his candidacy

of an office

▪nonhero: antihero: a hero whose character is opposite to traditional one

▪nonperson: a person regarded as non-existent; unperson

Difference : non-, un-

43

▪non-: binary (non-gradable) contrast

▪un-: the opposite end of a scale

▪Example:

non-scientific: fields other than science

unscientific: not scientific

Productive prefix as non-

▪600 words with the prefix non- in Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, 1977

un- (adj, participles, n.)

▪Unfriendly, uninformative, unwise, unremarked (unnoticed), unassuming (modest), unease,

unrest

▪Other meanings of un-

unbook: a book bought not to be used but to be given as a present

unpeople: people in lack of humanity and individuality

unperson: a political or public figure who has lost the influence or importance

ob-, se-

▪ob▪: in the opposite direction

object, obverse,

▪se-: apart

separate, select

Judgment prefixes

▪dis- (intensifier) disturb, disgruntle

▪dys- (badly) dyslogistic, dyspeptic

▪eu- (good,well) eugenics, euphoria

44

▪Extra- extraordinary, extramarital

▪Mal- (ill,evil) malpractice, maltreat, maldevelopment, malfunction, malnutrition

▪Meta-

▪Mis-

▪Pro-

▪Proto-

▪Pseudo-

▪Meta- (changed) metaphysics

▪Mis (badly, wrongly): misdial, mishear, misunderstand, misconception (understanding

wrongly)

▪Pseudo- (false):

pseudonym: an invented name

pseudoscience: pretended science

pseudoclassic: pretending to be classic

▪Pro: (on behalf of) pro-British, pro-education

▪Proto- (first, chief) prototype,

Locative prefixes

▪Ab-, a-, or abs- (from, away) abnormal,

▪Ad- (toward) : admit, advance

▪Ana- (back): analogy

▪Apo(away): apology

▪Cata (down, away): catastrophe

▪Circum- (around): circumnaviate (sail around)

▪Counter- against, opposite

45

▪De-

▪Dia-

▪Ecto-

▪En-

▪Endo-

▪Epi-

▪Ex-, ec-

▪Iinfra- below

▪Inter—

▪Intra– inside

▪Para-

▪Peri

▪Pro

▪super

▪Syn-

▪Trans--

Counting prefixes

▪Ambi: both ambiguous

▪Bi-

▪Di- ditransitive

▪Mono

▪Multi

▪Omni: all

▪Poly

46

▪Tri

▪Uni

Others

▪Temporal prefixes

ante-, fore-, neo-, post-, pre-, pro-,re-

▪Involvement prefixes

anti-, auto--, co-, con-, vice-

Suffixes

Other methods of word formation

▪Conversion: from one word class to another word class without changing the form:

release(v)—release(n)

▪Compounding: two words into one

Lord: loaf (bread) warden (guardian)

Compounding

▪Syntactic compounds

shoemaker, washing machine, bookkeeper, candlelight

▪Lexical compounds

ice cream, sweetheart

Neologism

▪Invention words: Blurb, Kodak, Nylon, lubriderm

Blending

▪Two familiar words yoked together

smog: smoke+ frog

More ways of word formation

47

▪Acronyms

▪Initialisms

▪Reverse acronyms

▪Shortening

▪Eponyms

Topic: Word meaning

▪What is “meaning”?

▪Semantic features

▪Senses relations between words

▪Change of word meaning

What is “meaning”?

▪What is the meaning of “retrospection” ? (signify)

▪ I did not mean to hurt you. (intend)

▪ He never says what he means.

▪ She rarely means what she says.

▪ Life without faith has no meaning. (significance/ value)

What is “meaning”?

▪What do you mean by the word “love” (intend to say)

▪He means well but he’s rather clumsy.

▪Fame and richness mean nothing to the true lovers.

▪Dark clouds mean rain. ( a sign of )

▪It was John, I meant, not Harry.(speak of/ have in mind)

Form and Meaning

▪Language is a system of symbols

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▪The relation between form and sense is arbitrary and conventional

▪“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet” ---Shakespere: Romeo and Juliet

Motivation

▪Most words are nonmotivated

▪Phonetic motivation: onomatopoeic words or echoic words

▪woof-woof (dog), miaow (cat), moo (cow), baa-baa (sheep), roar (lion), coo (pigeon), hum

(bee), quack (duck) bang (door)

Poetry

▪The ice was here, the ice was there,

The ice was all around:

It cracked and growled, and roared and howled,

Like noises in a swound

Motivation

▪Morphological motivation

-able, read: readable

good-looking

▪Semantic motivation

a stony heart

the leg of a table

(figurative usage, mental association)

Types of Word Meaning

▪grammatical meaning

▪Consists of word-class and inflectional paradigm

49