英语专业词汇学Chapter5

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1、Chapter5ChangeofmeaningWarming-upVocabularyisthemostunstableelementofalanguageasitisundergoingconstantchangesbothinformandcontent.Comparatively,thecontentisevenmoreunstablethantheform.Thischapterwilldealwiththemajorpatternsthatchangesinmeaningfollowandthecausesofchanges.Content1.Polysem

2、y2.TypesofsemanticchangeAssignmentReviewChapter5ExercisesinChapter5PreviewChapter6TheEnd1.PolysemyDefinition:thesamewordmayhavetwoormoredifferentmeanings1)SourcesofpolysemyA.ShiftsinapplicationWordshaveanumberofdifferentaspectsaccordingtothecontextinwhichtheyareused.1)SourcesofpolysemyB

3、.Specializationinasocialmilieu(背景)Polysemyoftenarisesthroughakindofverbalshorthand.Forexample,“action”means“legalaction”foralawyer;amilitaryoperationforasoldier.Namely,thesamewordmayacquireanumberofspecializedsenses,onlyoneofwhichwillbeapplicableinagivenmilieu.1)SourcesofpolysemyC.Figur

4、ativelanguageAwordcanbegivenoneormorefigurativesenseswithoutlosingitsoriginalmeaning.Forexample,thebedofariver,asaddleinthemountains(basedonmetaphor).2)Primarymeaning&derivativemeaningPrimarymeaningreferstowhatawordoriginallymeantandthederivativemeaningreferstothemeaningspringingfromthe

5、originalmeaning.Forexample,place.3)Centralmeaning&secondarymeaningRadiation:animportantprocessbywhichwordsextendtheirmeaning.Theprimaryorcentralmeaningappearsatthecenterintheformofahubandsecondarymeaningsradiateoutfromitlikethespokeofawheel.Example:seeP90FurthernotesonCentralmeaning&se

6、condarymeaningEachofthesecondarymeaningisindependentofalltherest,andmaybetracedbacktothecentralsignification.Forexample,power(abilitytoact)→controloverone’ssubordinate;delegatedauthority;physicalstrength;Concatenation:opposedtoradiation,meansawordmovesgraduallyawayfromitsoriginalsenseas

7、aresultofsuccessivesemanticchangesuntilthereisnotatraceofconnectionbetweenthesensethatisfinallydevelopedandtheprimarysense.Forexample,candidate.2.Typesofsemanticchange1)Generalization/Extensionofmeaning2)Specialization/Restrictionofmeaning3)Elevation/Ameliorationofmeaning4)Degr