6.现代英语词汇学

Semanticclassificationofwordsmeansthatvocabularyunitsareclassifiedonthebasisofvariousmeaningrelationsbetweenwordsontheparadigmaticaxis(语义聚合轴线).Paradigmaticrelationexistingbetweenwordsnotonlydefinethewordmeaningbutalsofunctionasthemaincriteriaunderlying(accountingfor)thesemanticclassificationofwords.Forexample,thecriterionofcommonconceptservestoclassifywordsintosemanticfields,whereassemanticrelationsofsimilarity,contrastandinclusionunderlie（arethebasisof)respectivelytheclassificationoflexicalitemsintosynonyms,antonymsandhyponyms(下义词）.现代英语词汇学（第六章）SemanticClassificationofWords1.ThesuperordinateandthehyponymSomewordsrefertothegenus（类概念）;othersrefertothespecies（种概念）.Ashasbeenstatedearlier,thegenusisaclassofthingsmadeupoftwoormoresubordinateclassesofspecies.Thisinvolvesusinthenotionofsemanticinclusion(语义内包)inthesensethattulipandroseareincludedinflower,andlionandelephantinanimal.Inclusionisthusamatterofclassmembership.JohnLyons’termfortherelationisHyponymy(上下义关系),whichisalsoknownas“semanticinclusion”.Inclusionreferstoincludingandbeingincluded.Hyponymyreferstotherelationshipwhichobtainsbetweengeneralandspecificlexicalitems(betweenthegenusandthespecies).Thatistosay,hyponymyincludestheuppertermandthelowerterm.Theuppertermiscalledthesuperordinatewhilethelowertermiscalledthehyponym.wesaythatdogandcatbelongtoanimal,thewordanimalistheuppertermcalledthesuperordinate.Thewordsdogandcatarelowertermscalledhyponyms.Weknowthatlivingthingsincludeanimalsandplants.Ontheonehand,animalscontainbirds,fishes,snakes,insects,etc.aswellasmammals;ontheotherhand,animalsincludehumanandbeasts.Therelationshipofinclusionamonglivingthingsisevident.First,animalsmaybeusedincontrastwithplantstoincludebirds,fishes,snakesetc.Second,animalsmaybeusedinthesenseof‘mammal’tocontrastwithbirds,fishes,snakesetc.toincludehumanandbeasts.Third,animalsmaybeusedinthesenseof‘beasts’tocontrastwithhumanbeings.Hyponymycanbedescribedintermsoftree-likegraphs,withhigher-ordersuperordinatesabovethelowersuperordinates.Buttheirstatuseitherassuperordinatesorassubordinatesisrelativetootherterms.Forexample,horse,dog,pigaresubordinatesinrelationtoanimal,butsuperordinatestomare,houndandboar.Animalitselfbecomesasubordinateofcreature.Andcreatureinturnbecomesasubordinateoflivingthings.Itwouldseemreasonablethatthewholeofthevocabularycouldbeorganizedinthisway:foodmeatvegetablefruitbeef,pork,mutton;celery,spinach,cabbage;apple,orange,peachThesetoftermswhicharehyponymsofthesamesuperordinatetermarecalledco-hyponyms.Forexample,beef,pork,muttonaretheco-hyponymsofthesuperordinatemeat.Thesenserelationofhyponymyisveryhelpfulinreceptiveandproductiveprocessing.Inreadingcomprehension,coherencebyhyponymyisakeypoint.e.g.Therewasafinerocking-chairthathisfatherusedtositin,adeskwherehewroteletters,anestofsmalltablesandadark,imposingbookcase.Nowallthisfurniturewassold,andwithithisownpast.Inthispieceofdiscourse,thewriterusesasetofhyponymsunderfurniture,whichgivesthewritingcoherenceandprovidesthekeytounderstandingthetext.Inproduction,knowingthesemanticfeaturesofthehyponyms,andtheirsuperordinatescanhelpusachievevividness,exactness,andconcreteness.Considerthefollowingtwopairsofsentences:(1.a)Treessurroundedthewaternearoursummerplace.(1.b)Oldelmssurroundthelakenearoursummercabin.(2.a)Imetawriterwhoistherelationofapolitician.(2.b)ImetanewspaperreporterwhoisthebrotherofSenatorBuckley.Itisnotdifficulttojudgethatineachpairsentence[b]isbetterthansentence[a],becausein[b]thewriterusessubordinates,whichareconcreteandprecise,presentingavividverbalpicturebeforethereaderwhereasin[a]thewordsusedaresuperordinates,whichconveyonlygeneralandvagueidea.SemanticField“Thevocabularyofagivenlanguageisnotsimplyalistingofindependentitems,butisorganizedintoareas,orfield,withinwhichwordsinterrelateanddefineeachotherinvariousways.”(Crystal1989:316)ThemassivewordstoreofalanguagelikeEnglishcanbeconceivedofascomposedaroundanumberofmeaningareas,somelarge,suchas‘philosophy’or‘emotion’,otherssmaller,suchas‘kinship’or‘color’.Viewingthetotalmeaninginthiswayisthebasisoffieldtheory.TheGermanlinguistTriersawvocabularyas“anintegratedsystemoflexemes(词位)interrelatedinsense”.Therefore,thewordsoflanguagecanbeclassifiedintosemanticallyrelatedsetsorfields.Forexample,peach,apricot,mango,pineapple,orange,lemon,etc.makeupthesemanticfieldoffruits;celery,lettuce,leek,onion,cucumber,pumpkinspinach,carrot,egg-plantandsoonformthefieldofvegetables.Thefieldofcolorscompriseswordslikered,orange,yellow,green,white,black,blue,purple,pink,etc.AccordingtoTrier’svisionoffields,thewholevocabularycanbedividedupintofields.Roget’sThesaurus(分类词汇汇编；辞典)wasagoodexample.Heusedaschemeofuniversalconceptsasaframeandlistedtogetherthewordswhichsharethesameconcepts.LongmanLexiconofContemporaryEnglishtoowascompiledonthisprinciple.Itdescribessome15,000items,classifiedintofourteensemanticfieldsofapracticaleverydaynature.Wordsineachfieldaresemanticallyrelatedand.defineoneanother.Itisageneralbeliefthatthemeaningdoesnotexistintheworditself,butratherspreadsovertheneighboringwords,becaus