英语词汇学3.ppt

Characteristics of the native element All-national character: Words of the basic word stock denote the most common things and phenomena of the world around us, which are indispensable to all the people who speak the language.Every English person uses the words of the native element no matter he is a king or a slave. Great stability: The native element lives for centuries providing the English with a basis for the formation of new words. As they denote the commonest things necessary to life, they are likely to remain unchanged. Stability, however, is only relative. Native element: The native element in Modern English is mostly monosyllabic. e.g. sun, cow, go, run d. Word-formation ability: Most words of native origin possess large cluster of derived and compound words in the present-day language. Handy, handle, handiwork, handcraft, handful, handbook, handbarrow, hand cuff. 3.3. Borrowing: an overview A loan word, borrowed word or borrowing is a word taken over from another language and modified in phonemic shape, spelling, paradigms(词形变化) or meaning according to the standard of the English language. 70% of the English vocabulary are loan-words and only 30% of the words are native. Causes and means of borrowings into English Two causes: Historical-- -- share with West Germanic languages many common words and structures -- a great many words came through foreign languages Social -- -- the rapid development of the modern mass media, the international exchange and information. Three ways: a. Oral speech b. Written speech c. Through invaders Four Groups of Loan-words a. Alien（非同化词）: words borrowed from a foreign language without any change of the foreign sound and spelling. they are words which have retained their original pronunciation and spelling. These words are immediately recognizable as foreign in origin. e.g. coup detat, fiancée, table dhot, vis-à-vis b. Denizens(同化词): words taken from a foreign language with a transform