WelcometotheClassofLEXICOLOGYAnIntroductiontoModernEnglishLexicologyLecturer:GaoXiangThereisnoeggineggplant,norhaminhamburger;Neitherapplenorpineinpineapple.Andwhilenooneknowswhatisahotdog,Youcanbeprettysureitisn'tcanine.EnglishmuffinswerenotinventedinEnglandNorFrench-friesinFrance.Sweetmeatsarecandies,whilesweetbreads,Whicharen'tsweetaremeat.WetakeEnglishforgranted.Butifweexploreitsparadoxes,Wefindthatquicksandcanworkslowly,Boxingringsaresquare,AndaguineapigisneitherfromGuineanorisitapig.Andwhyitisthatwriterswrite,butfingersdon'tfing,grocersdon'tgroce,Andhammersdon'tham?Ifthepluraloftoothisteeth,Whyisn'tthepluralofbooth,beeth?Onegoose,twogeese.So,onemoose,twomeese?Onemouse,twomice.Onelouse,twolice.Onehouse,twohice?Ifteacherstaught,whydidn'tpreacherpraught?Ifavegetarianeatsvegetables,Whatdoesahumanitarianeat?Whydopeoplereciteataplay,andplayatarecital?Shipbytruckorcarandsendcargobyship?Parkondrivewaysanddriveonparkways?Howcanaslimchanceandafatchancebethesame,Whileawisemanandawiseguyareopposites?HowcantheweatherbehotasHellonedayAndcoldasHellanother?Whenahouseburnsup,itburnsdown.Youfillinaformbyfillingitout.Andanalarmclockgoesoffbygoingon.Yougetinandoutofacar,Yetyougetonandoffabus.Whenthestarsareout,theyarevisible,Butwhenlightsareout,theyareinvisible.Andwhy,whenIwindupmywatch,Istartit,ButwhenIwindupthisessay,Iendit?Englishisasillylanguage...Itdoesn'tknowifitiscomingorgoing!1.IntroductionThetermlexicologycomesfromGreekmorphemes“lexis”,meaning“wordorphrase”,and“logie”meaning“adepartmentofknowledge”.Lexicologyisthebranchoflinguisticsconcernedwith“thestudyofthemeaningandusesofwords.”EnglishlexicologydealswithEnglishwords,theirorigin,meaning,historicaldevelopment,morphologicalstructures,senserelations,idioms,formationandapplication.Lexicologyisthebranchoflinguisticsconcernedwiththestudyofthevocabularyofagivenlanguage.Itdealswithwords,theirorigin,development,history,structure,meaningandapplication.Lexicologyisthepartoflinguistics,dealingwiththevocabularyofalanguageandthepropertiesofwordsasthemainunitsoflanguage.2.TwodivisionsoflexicologyLexicologyconsistsof“generallexicology”and“speciallexicology”;theformerexploresthewordsandvocabularyoflanguageingeneralandinvestigatestheirregularity,whereasthelatterstudieswordsofaparticularlanguage.Therefore,ourpresentcoursebook“ModernEnglishLexicology”fallsintotherangeof“speciallexicology”,studyingthewordsoftheEnglishlanguageonly.BranchesofLexicologyGeneral-thegeneralstudyofwords,irrespectiveofthespecificfeaturesofanyparticularlanguageSpecial-thedescriptionofthevocabularyofagivenlanguageHistorical-thestudyoftheevolutionofavocabularyaswellasofitselements.Thisbranchdiscussestheoriginofwords,theirchangeanddevelopment.Descriptive-dealswiththedescriptionofthevocabularyofagivenlanguageatagivenstageofitsdevelopment.3.Fivesub-branchesoflexicologySemanticsisconsideredtobeindependentsubject.However,othertheoristsclaimthatsemantics,whichinvestigatesthenature,structure,andthedevelopmentandchangeofwordmeaning,isasub-branchoflexicology.Theotherfourbranches:Etymologystudiesthemeaning,origin,andhistoryofindividualwordsandtheirdevelopment.Historicallexicologystudies,fromahistoricalpointofview,thedevelopmentofvocabularyasawholeonthebasisofetymology.Phraseologydealswithsetexpressionsoridioms.Lexicographyisconcernedwiththewritingandcompilationofdictionaries.4.Therelationoflexicologytootherbranchesoflinguistics1.WithPhonetics:Phoneticsisthestudyofspeechsounds.Withoutsound,thereisnowordbecauseeverywordisaunityofsoundandmeaning.超音位特征对语义搭配的影响在英语中是司空见惯的。例如:HeisaFrenchteacher.孤立地来看Frenchteacher,我们很难判别French在与teacher搭配时是什么意思。但是在特定超音位的语境中,当我们赋予French一个主重音,Teacher一个次重音,这时,HeisaFrenchteacher就有了明确的意义,即:他是一位法语教师。AˊFrench,teacherteachesFrench.如果我们赋予French一个次重音,teacher一个主重音,这时HeisaFrenchteacher中的French表示法国国籍:A,FrenchˊteacherisFrench.超切分特征通过重音有规则的分配使得本族语者把宾语前置的修饰语与其他修饰语区分开来,试比较:Aˋbull-,fightinvolvesbulls.A,bull-ˋcalfisayoungbull.Aˋtoy,factoryproducestoys.A,toyˋfactoryisamodelofafactoryusedasatoy.超切分特征传达了说话人的态度,即使是一个词,当被赋予不同的语调时,也会折射出说话人不同的态度:ˋNo(amatter-of-factstatement)ˊNo(questioning)ˇNo(doubtfulbutencouraging)ˆNo(indignant;emphaticprohibitionandscolding)2.Withgrammar:Vocabularyandgrammarareorganicallyrelatedtooneanother.Inlearningalanguage,attentiontogrammarisasimportantasattentiontovocabulary.Grammar,forexample,tellsushowtoformwordsintosentences.Findfaultwith:有些成语可以进行某些转换,而不允许其他转换:Hefoundfaultwiththem.可以进行被动转换:Faultwasfoundwiththem.但是,跟Hesoughthelpfromthem.不一样,“Hefoundfaultwiththem”中的名词是不可以变换为代名词的。以Hesoughthelpfromthem.为基础,我们可以转换出“Hedidn’tseekitfromme,和“Whatdidheseekfromyou?;但是,根据Hefoundfaultwiththem,我们不能转换出:*Wedidn’tfinditwithme*Whatdidhefindwithyou?Across:当across作为方向或目标语状语成为谓体的附加状语时,在肯定句中,across可以移至句首,如:Acrossthefield,wewalked,carryingheavyequipment.但是在否定句中,由于这类状语往往是否定的焦点,所以在否定句中,across引导的方向或目标附加状语通常都不跳出否定结构范围之外,如:Theydidn’twalkacrossthefield,carryingheavyequipment.*Acrossthefield,theydidn’twalk,carryingheavyequipment.beaccustomedto,Beusedto:Iamaccustomedtocoldweather.Iamusedtocoldweather.AccustomedasIamtocol