Analysis of English Semantic Change.docVIP

Analysis of English Semantic Change 　　[a]Changchun University of Science and Technology, Changchun, China. 　　*Corresponding author. 　　Received 20 May 2013; accepted 22 August 2013 　　Abstract 　　Semantics changes with the times all the time. When a word loses its original meaning, and refers to other different things, this may lead to the semantic change. The factors, such as the change of people’s living environment, the revolutionary of society, the progress of technology may contribute to the semantic change. The semantic change has some forms, including the extension of meaning, restriction of meaning, the elevation of meaning, degradation of meaning and transference of meaning. In this paper, the types of semantic change will be illustrated at first. Then the reasons of semantic change will be discussed. At last, the conclusion can be drawn that understanding the types, reasons and history will help us to master more vocabulary, and improve our ability of using language. 　　Key words: Semantic change; Types; Reasons 　　HAO Yu, CHI Ren (2013). Analysis of English Semantic Change. Higher Education of Social Science, 5(2), -0. Available from: URL: /index.php/hess/article/view/j.hess.1927024020130502.H534 　　DOI: /10.3968/j.hess.1927024020130502.H534 　　INTRODUCTION 　　Semantic change is a common phenomenon in all the language. In modern English, the semantic of many words have changed and the new meaning has been extended based on the original meaning. Generally speaking, semantic change not only adds the new meaning to the certain word, but also makes the meaning changed. 　　When the word lose its original meaning and is endowed with new meaning, we call it semantic change. The factors, such as the change of people’s living environment, the revolutionary of society, the progress of technology may contribute to the semantic change. Semantic change has been studied by some scholars. Many results of this aspect have been achieved. To write this paper, I colle