What-is-the-definition-of-the-words

BasicWordStockandNativeWords赖惠珊，英语D班NO.12Whatisthedefinitionofthewords?Tosumupofawordcomprisesthefollowingpoints.Wordisaminimalfreeformofalanguage,asoundunity,aunitofmeaningandaformthatcanfunctionaloneinasentence.Whatisthebasicwordstock?Thebasicwordstockisthefoundationofthevocabularyaccumulatedovercenturiesandformsthecommoncoreofthelanguage.ThoughwordsofthebasicwordstockconstituteasmallpercentageoftheEnglishvocabulary,yetitismostimportantpartofit.ThebasicwordstockoftheEnglishvocabularyhavethefollowingfundamentalfeatures.Firstofall,“Allnationalcharacter”isthemostimportantfeaturesthatmaydifferentiatewordsofthecommonusefromallothers.Wordsofthebasicwordstockbelongtothepeopleasawhole,nottoalimitedgroup,nomatterwhatdialecttheyspeak,nomattertowhichsocialclasstheybelong.Wordsofthebasicwordstockdenotethemostcommonthingsandphenomenaoftheworldaroundus,whichareindispensabletoallthepeoplewhospeakthelanguage.TherearesomebasicwordstockhavingthefeatureofNationalcharacterincludingthewordsaboutnaturalphenomenasuchasrain,storm,windandthewordsabouthumanbodyandrelationssuchashead,hand,sister,cousinandsoon.What’smore,thewordsincludenamesofplantsandanimals,action,size,domain,stateandnumerals,pron.,prep.,conjalsohavethefeatureofnationalcharacterinthebasicwordstock.Aswordsinthebasicwordstockdenotethecommonestthingsnecessarytolife,theyarelikelytoremainunchanged.Thestabilityofthebasicwordstockisrelativechangestakingplaceinitveryslowly.However,thebasicwordstockhasbeenundergoingsomechanges.Somewordswhichwereonceprevalentinbygonedayshavenowmovedoutofthewordstockwhilesomenewwordshavejoinedtherankofbasicwords,followingsocialandtechnologicalchangeswhichdenotenewthingsandmodernwaysofthelife.Therefore,stabilityisthefundamentalfeaturesofthebasicwordstockoftheEnglishvocabulary.Actually,Wordsofthebasicwordstockaremostlyrootwordsormonosyllabicwords;theycanformnewwordswithotherrootsandaffixes.Forexample,thebasicwords“man”canformnewwordssuchasairman,postmanandmanhoodandthewords“foot”canformnewwordssuchasfootage,football,footpath,footloose,footman,footprint.Thewords“dog”canformalsosuchasdoglike,dog-ear,dogtooth,doghole,dogsleep,dogfight.Therefore,basicwordsareveryactiveinformingnewwords.Inbrief,Word-formingabilityisthefundamentalfeaturesofthebasicwordstockoftheEnglishvocabulary.Wordsbelongingtothebasicwordstockoftenpossesspluralityofmeaningsbecausemostofthemhaveundergonesemanticchangesinthecourseofuseandbecomepolysemous.What’smore,manywordsofthebasicwordstockhaveabilitytoformcollocations.Theyenterquiteanumberofsetexpressions,idiomaticusages,proverbialsayingsandthelike.Theyhavestrongcollocability.Sincethegreatmajorityofthebasicwordstockarenativewords,theyarenaturallytheonesusedmostfrequentlyineverydayspeechandwriting.Takeaexample,theword“eyes”.whenitbeusedintheexpressionof“Haveaneyefor”,itmeansthatsomebodyhaveabilitytodosomething.However,whenitputinthesentence“Toseeeyetoeyewith”,itdescribesthatsomebodyagreecompletely.Takeanotherexample,theexpressionof“afterone’sownheart”.What’smore,thewordhandagaincanbefoundinphraseslikeatfirsthand,handinhand,toshowone’shand,toplayintosomebody’shandsandsoon.Itisnaturallytheoneusedmostfrequentlyineverydaywritingandithavequitedifferentmeaning.Sincethegreatmajorityofthebasicwordstockarenativewords,theyarenaturallytheonesusedmostfrequentlyineverydayspeechandwriting.Ifonecountthewordsofnativeandforeignorigininadictionary,hewouldfind80percentoftheentriestobeloanwords.Ifonecountedthewordsactuallyused,however,theproportionisalmostreversed,thepercentageofnativewordswouldrunveryhigh,usuallybetween70and90percent.AstothereasonwhydowesaythatnativewordsarethecoreoftheEnglishvocabulary?NativewordsarewordsbroughttoBritaininthefifthcenturybytheGermantribes:theAngles,theSaxons,andtheJutes,thusknownasAnglo-Saxonwords.Althoughnativewordsaresmallinnumber,theyformthemainstreamofthebasicwordstock.Firstly,becausethenativewordsformthegreatmajorityofthebasicwordstockoftheEnglishlanguage.Andthebasicwordstockisthefoundationofthevocabularyaccumulatedoveranumberofepochs.ItshouldbementionedthatmostnativewordsinModernEnglisharemonosyllabic.TheyformthegreatmajorityofbasicwordstockofEnglishlanguage.Italsoincludesthemostfrequentlyusedwordsthatareessentialtolife.Sincenativewordsdenotethecommonestthingsinhumansociety,theyareusedbyallpeople,inallplaces,onalloccasions,andatalltimes.Sotheyarenotstylisticallyspecific.Secondly,theymakeupthemostfamiliar,mostusefulpartoftheEnglishvocabulary.SowesaythatnativewordsarethecoreoftheEnglishvocabularyforitsimportance.