English-lexicology

EnglishlexicologyBasicconceptsLexicology:thestudyofmeaningsandoriginsofwords.(WNWD)Etymology:Theoriginandhistoricaldevelopmentofalinguisticformasshownbydeterminingitsbasicelements,earliestknownuse,andchangesinformandmeaning,tracingitstransmissionfromonelanguagetoanother,identifyingitscognatesinotherlanguages,andreconstructingitsancestralformwherepossible.词源：一种语言形式的起源及其历史发展可通过确定该词或词素的基本组成部分，已知最早的用法及其形式和含义的转变，追溯它从一种语言转变为另一种语言的过程，鉴定它在其它语言中的同源词和重现它的祖传形式来展现和说明Vocabulary:1)thetotalnumberofthewordsinalanguage2)allthewordsusedinaparticularhistoricalperiode.g.OldEnglishVocabulary3)allthewordsofagivendialect,agivenbook,agivendisciplineandthewordspossessedbyanindividualperson.Word(tobeexactasingleword)Intermsofspokenlanguage(asoundunity)Insemantics(aunitofmeaning)Grammatically(aformthatcanfunctionaloneinasentence)Awordisaminimalfreeformofalanguagethathasagivensound,meaningandsyntacticfunction.Visually(torefertothenextpage)OrthographyInlanguageswithaliterarytradition,thereisinterrelationbetweenorthographyandthequestionofwhatisconsideredasingleword.Wordseparators(typicallyspacemarks)arecommoninmodernorthographyoflanguagesusingalphabeticscripts,buttheseare(exceptingisolatedprecedents)amoderndevelopment(seealsohistoryofwriting).InEnglishorthography,wordsmaycontainspacesiftheyarecompoundsorpropernounssuchasicecreamorairraidshelter.Vietnameseorthography,althoughusingtheLatinalphabet,delimitsmonosyllabicmorphemes,notwords.Conversely,syntheticlanguagesoftencombinemanylexicalmorphemesintosinglewords,makingitdifficulttoboilthemdowntothetraditionalsenseofwordsfoundmoreeasilyinanalyticlanguages;thisisespeciallydifficultforpolysyntheticlanguagessuchasInuktitutandUbykh,尤比克语(高加索语系中一种)whereentiresentencesmayconsistofsinglesuchwords.OrthographyLogographicscriptsusesinglesigns(characters)toexpressaword.Mostdefactoexistingscriptsarehoweverpartlylogographic,andcombinelogographicwithphoneticsigns.ThemostwidespreadlogographicscriptinmodernuseistheChinesescript.WhiletheChinesescripthassometruelogographs,thelargestclassofcharactersusedinmodernChinese(some90%)areso-calledpictophoneticcompounds(形声字,XíngshēngzìCharactersofthissortarecomposedoftwoparts:apictograph,whichsuggeststhegeneralmeaningofthecharacter,andaphoneticpart,whichisderivedfromacharacterpronouncedinthesamewayasthewordthenewcharacterrepresents.Inthissense,thecharacterformostChinesewordsconsistsofadeterminerandasyllabogram代表一个音节的书写符号,字,similartotheapproachusedbycuneiformscript楔形文字andEgyptianhieroglyphs.OrthographyThereisatendencyinformedbyorthographytoidentifyasingleChinesecharacterascorrespondingtoasinglewordintheChineselanguage,paralleltothetendencytoidentifythelettersbetweentwospacemarksasasinglewordintheEnglishlanguage.Inbothcases,thisleadstotheidentificationofcompoundmembersasindividualwords,whilee.g.inGermanorthography,compoundmembersarenotseparatedbyspacemarksandthetendencyisthustoidentifytheentirecompoundasasingleword.Comparee.g.EnglishcapitalcitywithGermanHauptstadtandChinese首都(lit.chiefmetropolis):allthreeareequivalentcompounds,intheEnglishcaseconsistingoftwowordsseparatedbyaspacemark,intheGermancasewrittenasasinglewordwithoutspacemark,andintheChinesecaseconsistingoftwologographiccharacters.SoundandmeaningCertainsoundswillrepresentcertainpersons,things,places,properties,processesandactivitiesexternaltothelanguagesystem.Thereisnologicalrelationshipbetweenthesoundwhichstandsforathingoranideaandtheactualthingandideaitself.Conventionalrelationshipbetweentheletters,soundandtheconcept.Eg.Dog,Wordstructureandletter-soundcombinationbl[/bl/hasmeaningofasudden(load)sound,especiallyoneproducedbyastreamofforcedair,suchasblare,blat,bleat,blipandblastCl/kl/meanstomakeanabrupt,sharpsound,asinthecollisionoftwohardsurfaces,suchasclack,clang,clap,clash,click,clatter,clop,cluckandclunkCr/kr/istomakeasharp,snappingsound,suchascrack,crackle,creak,crepitate,crunchandcrushGr/gr/istovoiceadeep,inarticulatesound,asofpain,grief,ordispleasure,andsoundisusuallymadebyhumanbeingandanimals,suchasgroan,grouse,growl,grumbleandgrunt.Scr/skr/meansahigh-pitched,stridentsoundorcry,suchas,scrannel,screak,screech,scroop,scrunchSqu/skw/istogiveforthashort,shrillcryorsound,suchassquall,squeak,squeal,squelchandsquish.stopsorplosives,onomatopeiaSoundandformOldEnglish:writtenformagreeswiththeoralformReasonforthediscrepancybetweensoundandforminModernEnglish:1)TheEnglsihalphabetwasadoptedfromtheRomans,2)thepronunciationhaschangedmorerapidlythanspelling3)borrowedwordsdonotconformtotherulesofEnglishpronunciationandspellingAbout80%englishwordsfitconsistentspellingpatternsSomechangesofthewordformbyscribesTheychangedtheletterutoowhenitcamebeforem,n,orv.(toavoidmisunderstandingincombination)Eg.Sum,cum,wuman,wunder,munkcametobewrittenas?NoEnglishwordshouldendinuorv.thus,anewasaddedbutnotpronouncedEg.Liv,hav,du,trucametobewrittenas?ClassificationofwordsByfrequency:basicwordstockandnonbasicvocabulary(controversial)Bynotion:contentwordsandfunctionalwordsByorigin:nativewordsandborrowedword