搜索
1TheCausesofChangesinWordMeaningAbstract:Keywords:historical;social;psychological;linguistic;semanticDoyouknowwhenJuliettellsRomeo,“Iamtoofond”,sheisnotclaimingshelikesRomeotoomuch?Shemeans“Iamtoofoolish”DoyouknowwhenHoratiosaystoHamlet,“Seasonyouradmirationforawhile…”,heisnottellingHamlet“toincreasehisrespect(thecurrentmeaningofadmiration)forsomething”?Infact,hemeans“tomoderatehisastonishment.”Don’tbesurprised,because,asQuirkasserts,almosteverywordweusetodayhasslightlydifferentmeaningfromtheoneishadacenturyago;andacenturyagoithadaslightdifferentmeaningfromtheoneithadacenturybeforethat.Whenawordlosesitsoldmeaningandcomestorefertosomethingaltogetherdifferent,theresultisachangeofwordmeaning.AsnonnativeEnglishlearners,learningthecausesofchangesinwordmeaningcanhelpusdeepentheunderstandingofthemeaningoflexicology,vocabulary,semanticfieldandculturebackground.Bylearningthis,wecanusevocabularyinamoreprecisewayandavoidmistakeorembarrassmentwhencommunicatingwithnativespeakers.Thecausesofchangesinwordmeaningcanbedividedintolinguisticcauseandextra-linguisticcause.Extra-linguisticcausecanalsodivideintohistoricalcause,socialcauseandpsychologycause.LinguisticcauseChangeofmeaningisfrequentlybroughtaboutbytwotendenciesinalinguisticsystem:towardsellipsisandtowardsanalogy.Somelinguiststhinkforeigninfluenceshouldsubordinatelinguisticcause.Ellipsisoccurswhenaphraseisshortenedtoonewordwhichretainsthemeaningofthewhole,soitoftenoccursinhabitualcollocations,suchasadjective+nounorattributivenoun+noun.Private,daily,duplicatearealladjectives,buttheyareusedasnouns.Privatemeansasoldierofthelowestrank,dailymeansdailynewspaper,andduplicatemeansduplicatecopy.Undersuchcircumstances,whateverisleft,whetheranounoranadjective,isallusedasanounassumingtheoriginalmeaning.Naturally,theassociationbecamesoclosethatthefirstelementcouldalonecarrythemeaningofthewholephrase.Besides,thereisachangeofgrammaticalfunctionaswell,aswhenadjectivesassume2therolesofnouns.Unliketheaboveexamples,whosesenseofonewordhasbeentransferredtoanothersimplebecausethetwooccurtogetherhabitually,insomecases,itisthesecondor“headword”ofthephrasethatremains.Forexample,(stream)engine,(coal)gasand(light)bulb.Theanalogicaltendencymeansnewmeaningsdevelopedinonepartofspeecharepassedontootherpartsofspeechfromthesamelexicalbase.Fortuitousformerlydenoted‘happeningbychance’,‘accidental’,andlatertookonthemeaning‘fortunate’probablybyanalogybecausethetwowordslooksimilarinshape.Anotherinterestingexampleisfruition,originallyfromaLatinwordfruitiomeaningenjoyment.Butnow,itsmeaningisgivenas“fulfillmentof(plans,desiredresults,aims,etc.),”possiblyfromconnectionwiththewordfruit.ForeigninfluencesAparticularlyimportantcauseofchangeofmeaninginwordshasbeentheinfluenceofforeignwords.Forexample,thenativewordstooloriginallymeantanykindofseatforoneperson,andcouldevenbeusedforaking’sseat.ItgotitshumblemeaningbecausetheFrenchwordchairwasadoptedtodenoteamorecomfortablepieceoffurniture.Otherexampleisdream.Dreammeant“joy”inOE;itgetsitsmodernsensefromtherelatedScandinavianworddraumr.HistoricalcauseItoftenhappensthatthoughawordretainsitsoriginalform,itsmeaninghaschangedbecausetheobjectwhichitdenoteshaschanged.Thisisthehistoricalcauseofsemanticchange.Thewell-knownsemanticistUllmannnotes,“Itoftenhappensthatlanguageismoreconservativethancivilization,materialaswellasmoral.Objects,institutions,ideas,scientificconceptschangeinthecourseoftime;yetinmanycasesthenameisretainedandthushelpstoensureasenseoftraditionandcontinuity.”(Ullmann1997:198)Indeed,itoftenhappensthatawordisretainedforanamethoughthemeaninghaschangedbecausethereferenthaschanged.Takepenforexample,itdonated‘feather’,whichwasusedintheWestaspeninoldtimes.Now,thetimewhen‘feather’servedaspenislonggone,andpeopleareusinghall-pointpensandfountainpens,yetthenameisstillkept.Thischangehasalsooccurredtocomputer,whichdesignateda‘personwhocomputes’inthepast.Atpresent,whenwetalkaboutcomputer,people,peoplewouldthinkofan‘electronicmachine’ratherthanaperson.Therearealsomanyscientificconceptswhichhaveretainedtheiroriginalforms,althoughtheirmeaningshavechangedasaresultofnewscientificdiscoveriesandincreasedknowledge.Forinstance,beforeCopernicus,thesunwasthoughttobe‘the3luminouscelestialbodythatinthePlolemaicsystemisoneofthesevenplanetsrevolvingaroundtheearth’andthismeaningisretainedin“Thesunrisesandsets.”TheCoperniciantheorytriedtochangethehistoricalpointofviewandnoweveryoneknowsthatthesunisa‘stararoundwhichtheearthandotherplanetsrevolve…’SocialcauseWearegoingtodiscusssocialcauseofthechangesofwords’meaningsinfiveaspects.A.SocialdevelopmentChangeinwordmeaningresultingfromaconstantverbaltrafficbetweencommonwordandvarioustechnicalwordsisreferredtoassocialcauseofsemanticchange.(Ullmann1997:199-200)Asaresult,sometechnicalwordshavelosttheirspecializedmeaningsandhavecometobeusedinmoregeneralsenses,whichconnectwithelectricity,physics,chemistry,medicine,mathematics,etc.Forinstance,feedbackmeans“response”incommonuse,asin“Theteacherlikestohavefeedbackfromhisstudents.”Dimension:asacommonword,