现代英语词汇学概论chapter9

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1、ChapterIXCHANGESINWORDMEANINGOverviewCausesofchangesinwordmeaningTendenciesinsemanticchange1AnoverviewofsemanticchangesVocabularyisthemostunstableelementofalanguageasitisundergoingconstantchangesbothinformandcontent.Comparativelyspeaking,thecontentisevenmoreunstablethantheform.Changinginw

2、ordmeaninghasneverceasedsincethelanguagecameintobeingandwillcontinueinthefuture.Thechangeofword-meaningisfundamentalinalivinglanguage.2CausesofChangeinwordmeaningLinguisticcausesEllipsisBorrowingAnalogyFigurativeuseofwordsMetaphorMetonymyExtra-linguisticcausesHistoricalreasonSocialreasonP

3、sychologicalreason3LinguisticcausesEllipsisThemeaningofawordmaychangewhenaphraseisshortenedtoonewordwhichretainsthemeaningofthewhole.Thisiscalledellipsis.gold:goldmedaldaily:dailynewspaperThemeaningoftheword“gold”haschangedfrommaterialtorefertothewholephrase“goldmedal”.Thiskindofchangeoft

4、enoccursinhabitualcollocations.4BorrowingTheinflux(流入)ofborrowingshascausedsomewordstochangeinmeaning.deer(original)awildanimalofanysortfromaliontoamouse.InMiddleAges,theFrenchwordbeste(=beast)becamethegeneralword.In16thcentury,theLatinwordanimalwasalsoadoptedintotheEnglishvocabulary.Toda

5、ydeercanonlyrefertoaparticularkindofanimal.5AnalogyIfanadjectivedevelopsanewmeaning,thederivednounfromtheadjectivewillhaveacorrespondingnewmeaningbyanalogy.Theprocesscanbeappliedtoawordofanywordclass.Diplomatic(original)skillfulindealingwithinternationalrelations(present)skillfulindealing

6、withanykindofrelationsDiplomatic:DiplomacyDiplomacy(original)theartofdealingwithinternationalrelations(present)???artoforskillindealingwithpeopleAnalogy6FigurativeuseofwordsThefigurativeusereferstotheexpressionofsayingsomethingisanotherthingtherebymakingthespeechorarticlevividandstimulati

7、ngthereaders’imagination.Theoriginalthing iscalledtenorwhilethingcomparedtoiscalledvehicle.Metaphor&metonymy7MetaphorMetaphorisafigureofspeechcontaininganimpliedcomparisonbasedonsimilarity.inwhichawordoraphraseordinarilyandprimarilyusedforonethingisappliedtoanother,