A BRIEF introduction to english lexicology

ABRIEFINTRODUCTIONTOENGLISHLEXICOLOGYCHAPTER1LEXICOLOGYANDWORDS1.1Introduction1.2WhatIsLexicology?1.3WhatIsaword1.4TheConnectionofLexicologywithOtherBranchesofLinguistics1.5LexicalandGrammaticalWords1.6WordsandSemanticFields1.7AimsandSignificanceoftheCourseofEnglishLexicology1.8ApproachestotheStudyofEnglishLexicology1.1IntroductionWordsarethebuildingblockoftheEnglishlanguage.Theyareveryimportantinverbalcommunication.Weshallreviewinthischapterthetermlexicology,theconceptofword,wordclasses,thefeaturesofword,andtheconceptofsemanticfields.Weshallalsodiscussthedifficultiesinthedefinitionoftheword,themajorfeaturesofwords,andtheplaceofwordsinlinguisticanalysis.Language,LinguisticsandLexicologyWhatislanguage?1.a.Theusebyhumanbeingsofvoicesounds,andoftenwrittensymbolsrepresentingthesesounds,inorganizedcombinationsandpatternsinordertoexpressandcommunicatethoughtsandfeelings.b.Asystemofwordsformedfromsuchcombinationsandpatterns,usedbythepeopleofaparticularcountryorbyagroupofpeoplewithasharedhistoryorsetoftraditions.2.a.Anonverbalmethodofcommunicatingideas,asbyasystemofsigns,symbols,gestures,orrules:thelanguageofalgebra.b.ComputerScience.Asystemofsymbolsandrulesusedforcommunicationwithorbetweencomputers.3.Bodylanguage;kinesics.4.Thespecialvocabularyandusagesofascientific,professional,orothergroup:“histotalmasteryofscreenlanguage—cameraplacement,editing—andhishandlingofactors”(JackKroll).5.Acharacteristicstyleofspeechorwriting:Shakespeareanlanguage.6.a.Abusive,violent,orprofaneutterance:“languagethatwouldmakeyourhaircurl”(W.S.Gilbert).b.Aparticularmannerofutterance:gentlelanguage.7.Themannerormeansofcommunicationbetweenlivingcreaturesotherthanhumanbeings:thelanguageofdolphins.8.Verbalcommunicationasasubjectofstudy.9.Thewordingofalegaldocumentorstatuteasdistinctfromthespirit.•Languageisasystemunderlyingthespeechofacommunity.--Saussure•Languageisasysteminthemindofanindividual.•Itisthesetofsentencescharacterizedortobecharacterizedbyagenerativegrammar.--Chomsky•Languageisasetofsentencespotentiallyobservableinaspeechcommunity.--BloomfieldLanguageisasystemofsymbolsbasedonphysiology,psychologyandphysics.Itisaspecialsocialactionandacarrierofinformationusedforhumancommunicationinasociety.[赵世开：《论语言和语言学习》1980]FunctionsofLanguage1.Socialfunction2.Psychologicalfunction1.SocialfunctionLanguageisusedasameansofcommunicationinasociety.Itgrowsanddevelopswiththegrowthanddevelopmentofasociety.Nosociety,nolanguage.Takethemeansoftransportationforexample:buggy–1.Asmall,light,one-horsecarriageusuallyhavingfourwheelsintheUnitedStatesandtwowheelsinGreatBritain.2.Ababycarriage.gig–Alight,two-wheeledcarriagedrawnbyonehorse.troika–ARussiancarriagedrawnbyateamofthreehorsesabreast.coach–.Amotorbus.b.Arailroadpassengercar.c.Aclosedautomobile,usuallywithtwodoors.d.Alarge,closed,four-wheeledcarriagewithanelevatedexteriorseatforthedriver;astagecoach.coupé--Aclosedfour-wheelcarriagewithtwoseatsinsideandoneoutside.caravan--Alargecoveredvehicle;avan.abuggyacoupécar,bus,motor,moped,sedan,saloon,limousine,shuttleairplane,airbus,jetplane,spaceship2.PsychologicalfunctionLanguageisusedtoexpressman’sthought.Theprocessofthinkingiscloselyconnectedwithlanguage.Nothinking,nolanguage.DefinitionofLinguisticsTheanalyticstudyofhumanlanguage.ORThestudyofthenatureandstructureofhumanspeech.ORLinguisticsisconcernedwiththelexicalandgrammaticalcategoriesofindividuallanguages,withdifferencesbetweenonetypeoflanguageandanother,andwithhistoricalrelationswithinfamiliesoflanguages.WordsinLinguisticAnalysis1.Phonology(音韵学；音位学)2.Lexicology(词汇学)3.Morphology(形态学)4.Syntax(句法学)5.Semantics(语义学)6.Functionallinguistics(功能语言学)7.Sociolinguistics(社会语言学)8.pragmatics(语用学)9.Psycholinguistics(心理语言学)10.Corpuslinguistics(语料库语言学)11.Discourseanalysis(语篇分析)12.Phonetics(语音学)13.Stylistics(语体学)14.Descriptivelinguistics(描写语言学)15.Contrastivelinguistics(对比语言学)16.Comparativelinguistics(比较语言学)17.Appliedlinguistics(应用语言学)18.Computationallinguistics(计算语言学)2.WhatIslexicologyWordisacomplexphenomenoninourdailylife.Asthenamesuggests,lexicologyisthestudyofthevocabularyorlexiconofagivenlanguage.Itdealsnotonlywithsimplewords,butalsowithcomplexandcompoundwords.Ifwewanttostudywords,weshallhavetolookatwordsandtheirrelationstootherfieldsfromdifferentperspectives.Lexicologyiscloselyrelatedtomorphology,semantics,etymology,andlexicography,becausethesefieldsalsodealwithwords.DefinitionofLexicologyThetermlexicologycontainstwoGreekmorphemes:lexikonandlogie.Theformermeans‘word’,thelatter‘learning’or‘thestudyof’.Sotheliteralmeaningofthetermis‘thescienceofwords’.Lexicologyisthebranchoflinguisticsconcernedwiththestudyofthevocabularyofagivenlanguage.Itdealswithwords,theirorigin,development,history,structure,meaningandapplication.Inshort,itisthestudyofthesignificationandapplicationofwords.1.2.1MorphologyandSemantics1.Morphologyisthestudyoftheformsofwordsandtheircomponents.Inmorphology,morphemeisabasicconcept.Themajorpurposeofstudyinmorphologyistolookatmorphemesandtheirarrangementsinwordformation.2.Semanticsisoftendefinedasthestudyofmea