1、1. Morpheme （詞素 ）The morpheme is the smallest meaningful linguistic unit of language ,not divisible or analyzable into smaller forms .2. Allomorphs（詞素變體 ）An allomorph is any of the variant forms of a morpheme as conditioned by position or adjoining sounds .3. Compounding （ 復 合 詞 ）Composition or comp

2、ounding is a word-formation process consisting of joining two or more bases to form a new unit, a compound word. It is a common device which has been productive at every period of the English language. Today the largest number of new words are formed by compounding.4. Derivation （詞源）A.The definition

3、 of prefixation前（ 綴） Prefixation is the formation of new words by adding prefixes to stems.Features: Prefixes do not generally change the word-class of the stem but only modify its meaning. The majority of prefixes are characterized by their non-class-changing nature. Their chief function is to chan

4、ge meanings of the stems.B. The definition of suffixation后（ 綴 ）Suffixation is the formation of new words by adding suffixes to stems. Unlike prefixes which primarily change the meaning of the stem, suffixes have only a small semantic role, their primary function being to change the grammatical funct

5、ion of stems. In1 / 13 other words, they mainly change the word class. However, they may also add attached meaning to the stem.5. Conversion （轉換 ） Conversion is a word-formation whereby a word of a certain word-class is shifted into a word of another without the addition of an affix. It is also call

6、ed zero derivation（ 零位 派生 ）.This is a method of turning words of one part of speech to those of a different part of speech. These words are new only in a grammatical sense. Since the words do not change in morphological structure but in function, this process is also known as functional shift.6. Acr

7、onymyA . The definition of initialismsInitialisms（ 首字母連寫法 ）: a type of shortening, using the first letters of words to form a proper name, a technical term, or a phrase; an initialism is pronounced letter by letter.B. The definition of acronymsAcronyms（首字母拼音法 ）: words formed from the initial letters

8、 of words and pronounced as words.Acronyms differ from initialisms in that they are pronounced as words rather than as sequences of letters.7. Blending Blending（拼綴法 ）is a process of word-formation in which a new word is formed by combining parts of two words. The2 / 13 result of such a process is ca

9、lled a blend word. Blending is thus a process of both compounding and abbreviation.8. Clipping Clipping （截短語 ）is to shorten a longer word by cutting a part off the original and using what remains instead. For example, plane and exam are often used in place of aeroplane, and examination respectively.

10、9. Back-formation Back-formation（ 逆 成 法 ） is a process of word-formation by which a word is created by the deletion of a supposed suffix. It is also known as a reverse derivation.Look at the following words, think about what suffixes can be added to it: care: careful, careless, carefully, carelessly

11、, carelessness friend: friendly, friendship quick: quickly, quicken, quickish,quicky10. Reduplication Reduplication（ 重 疊 法 ） is a minor type of word-formation by which a compound word is created by the repetition （1） of one word like so-so; （2） of two almost identical words with a change in the vowe

12、ls such as pingpong; （3） of two almost identical words with a change in the initial consonants as in teenyweeny.11. Motivation （理據 ）Types of Word Meaning11.1 Grammatical Meaning Grammatical meaning（ 語法意義 ）refers to that part of meaning of the word which indicates grammatical3 / 13concept or relation

13、ships such as the word class, singular and plural forms of nouns, tense meaning of verbs and their inflectional forms （forget, forgets, forgot, forgotten, forgetting）.11.2 Lexical meaning Lexical meaning（詞匯意義 ） is the meaning of an isolated word in a dictionary. This component of meaning is identica

14、l in all the forms of the word.E.g. gog, oes, went, gone, going po ssess different grammatical meaning. But they have the same lexical meaning expressing the process of movement.Lexical meaning itself has two components: conceptual meaning and associative meaning.11.3 Conceptual meaning Conceptual m

15、eaning（概念意義 ） （also known as denotative meaning） is the meaning given in the dictionary and forms the core of word meaning. Conceptual meaning forms the basis for communication as the same word has the same conceptual meaning to all the speakers of the same language.Sun: a heavenly body which gives

16、off light, heat,and energyMother: a female parent11.4 Associative meaning Associative meaning（關聯意義 ） is the secondary meaning supplemented to the conceptual meaning. It differs from the conceptual meaning in that it is liable to the4 / 13 influence of such factors as culture, experience, religion, g

17、eographical region, class background, education, etc.Associative meaning comprises four types:A.connotative meaning Connotative meaning內 （涵意義 ）In contrast to denotative meaning, connotative meaning refers to the overtones or associations which a word suggests or implies.Mother （a female parent） is o

18、ften associated with love c,a re , tenderness , forgiving , etc.Home （a dwelling place） may suggest family, warmth, safety, love,convenience , etc. East or west, home is best.Statesman implies loyaltyd, evotion to public welfare po;l itician implies deceit, po-dwreurnk, bragging, villainy.B.stylisti

19、c meaning Stylistic meanin文g（體意義 ）Words may have stylistic features, which make them appropriate for different contexts.This stylistic difference is especially true of synonyms. It is observed that there are few words which have both the same conceptual meaning and stylistic meaning.C. affective mea

20、ning Affective meaning情（ 感意義 ）Affective meaning indicates the speaker astt itude towards the person or thing in question.Words that have emotive values may fall into two categories:5 / 13 Appreciative or commendatory（ 褒義）: words of positive overtones used to show appreciation or approval.Pejorative

21、or derogatory（ 貶義 ）: words of negative connotations imply disapproval, contempt or criticism.D. collocative meaning Collocative meanin搭g（配意義 ） Collocative meaning consists of the associations a word acquires in its collocation. In other words, it is that part of the word meaning suggested by the wor

22、ds before or after the word in discussion.12. Polysemy Polysemy （一詞多義 ）can be defined as a term used in semantic analysis to refer to a lexical item which has a range of different meanings.Polysemic words are signs of an advanced culture. It is also an essential feature of a language s economy and e

23、fficiency.Three ways for a language to express new ideas, new processes and new products, etc.:Form a new word;Borrow a word from other languages; Add new meanings to established words.13. Homonymy Homonyms（ 同 形 異 義 ）: Words, which, though different in meaning, are pronounced alike, or spelled alike

24、, or both. Types of homonyms:Perfect homonyms 同音異義 :Words identical in sound and spelling6 / 13 but different in meaning.date/date; bear/bear; bank/bankHomophones 同音 :Words identical in sound but different in spelling and meaning.write/right; dear/deer; son/sunHomographs 同形異義 :Words identical in spe

25、lling but different in sound and meaning.lead/lead; bow/bow; tear/tear14. Synonymy 同（ 義關系 ）-semantic similarityA.Absolute or perfect synonym完s（全同義詞 ）:a. words which are identical in meaning in all its aspects, I.e. both in grammatical and lexical meaning, including conceptual and associative meaning

26、. Such synonyms are rare in natural languages.b. .compounding and composition;c. word building and word-formation;d. malnutrition and undernourishmentB.Relative or partial synonyms部（ 分同義詞 ）: words which are similar or nearly the same in denotation, but embrace different shades of meaning or differen

27、t degree of a given quality. It is this type of synonyms we shall deal with here.15. Antonymy（反義關系 ）-semantic opposition7 / 13A.Contraries Contraries相（ 對反義詞 / 兩極反義詞 ）Antonyms of this type are best viewed in terms of a scale running between two poles or extremes. The two opposites are gradable（ 可 分級的

28、 ）.hot, warm, cool, coldbeautiful, pretty, good-looking, plain, ugly old-young, big-small, poor-rich B.Complementaries Complementarie絕s（對反義詞 / 互補反義詞 ） These antonyms truly represent oppositeness. They are so opposed to each other that they are mutually exclusive and admit no possibility between them

29、 （non-gradable）.dead-alive, present-absent, male-female, true-false, approval-disapproval, capable-incapablePrefixes: dis-, in-, il-, ir-, im-, un-C. Conversives Conversiv換es位（ 反義詞 /關系反義詞 ） This third type consists of relational opposites.Husband-wife, employer-employee, debtor-creditor Above-below,

30、 in front of-behind, up-down Buy-sell, give-receive, go-come, gain-loseD. Semantic incompatibles Semantic incompatible多s（項不相容詞 ） North, south, east, westSpring, summer, autumn, winterJanuary, February, March, December Sunday, Monadtauyr,d ay .S8 / 1316. Hyponymy（上下義關系 ）-semantic inclusionHyponymy de

31、als with the relationship of semantic inclusion. It refers to the relationship which obtains between the genus （general lexical item）and the species（specific lexical items）.The general lexical item is called the superordinate（上義詞 ）.The specific words are known as hyponyms（下義詞 ）.17. The semantic fiel

32、d theory語（ 義場理論 ）The vocabulary of a language is not simply a listing of independent items, but is organized into areas or fields, the members of which are joined together by some common semantic component. The whole vocabulary can be divided up into fields. Words in each field are semantically rela

33、ted and define one another. Vocabulary is seen as an integrated system of lexemes interrelated in senseJost Trier （a German linguist） The semantic field of the same concept may not have the same members in different languages, thus lexical gaps（詞匯空缺 ） occur. The semantic field of kinshipMembers in E

34、nglish: 13father, mother, son, daughter, brother,sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, cousin, husband, wife.Members in Chinese: The semantic field of food hot dog, sandwich, hamburger 豆腐 , 饅頭18. Changes in Meaning9 / 1318.1 Four tendencies in semantic change1）Extension擴（ 大 ）The meaning changes from s

35、pecific to generalized one or cover a broader conceptthing- 審判大會 ?政治會議 any thing2） Specialization/narrowing （縮小 ）garage-安全的地方 poison-飲料 hospital- 休息娛樂場所3） Elevation （升格）貶義/中性義 -褒義（或高級別 ）Marshall-馬夫 -元帥 Executive一般執行者 -行政官員4） Degradation （降格）中性 /褒義貶義Cunning有學問的 -狡猾的 Sly- 熟練的 -偷偷摸摸的 ;狡猾的18.2 Causes of

36、 changes in word meaningHistorical cause: a word retains its original form, its meaning changes because the object which it denotes has changed.Social cause: change in word meaning resulting from a constant verbal traffic between common words and various technical words. Foreign influence:deer/anima

37、l （Latin）/beast （French） pig/pork, sheep/mutton, cattle/beefLinguistic cause:a. Ellipsis（省略 ）: In noun phrases, the noun is deleted and only the first element is left, but retaining the sense of the whole phrase.10 / 13 Sometimes it is the second or “ headword ”of the phrase that remains.b. Analogy（

38、類比）:fortuitous: happening by chance; accidental fortunatefruition: a pleasure obtained from using or possessing something the bearing of fruitPsychological cause:a. Euphemism（委婉語）: use mild, agreeable language when speaking of an unpleasant or embarrassing fact and of taboo subjects. death to pass away, to breathe ones last, to ceaset oto f athlli nk,asleep, to go west, to be no more poor peoplelowerincome brackets, underprivileged,disadvantagedb. Grandiloquence（夸張）: the use of long, important-sounding words