英语词汇学第七八章.docVIP

??????????? Chapter 7? Changes in Word Meaning ????????????????? ???????????????? 词义的演变 ?学习目标： 了解词义变化的必然性，词义变化的主要方式和原因。 考核要求：? 本章共有两节 1. 词义变化的方式/种类 识记以下术语的基本概念： 词义的扩大、词义的缩小、词义的升华、词义的降格 领会：四种变化方式在英语词汇发展中的作用。 2. 词义变化的原因 领会：词义演变的原因 语言外部原因：历史原因、阶级原因、心理原因。 语言内部原因：缩略、借用、类推。 ? All languages change through time——historic change, hence ?diachronic studies of language. Modern English—Middle English—Old English 现代汉语—近代汉语—古代汉语: 比如，佛教中的“南无阿弥陀佛”, 南无二字的语音变化 nan’wu or na mo? Language change：all parts of grammar may change: Sound change? ??????南无… morphological change莫须有。thee syntactic change?? 不知何适？ vocabulary change? ?addition of new words loss of words ????????????????? ??change in the meaning of words l??????? Sound change??????? stan???? stone; ham, home; mice/i:/, mice /ai/; mouse /u:/ /au/; broke /br哦ken/； l??????? morphological change： thee——you; l??????? syntactic change?? I love thee not →I do not love you. He saw you not→ He didn’t see you. l?????? vocabulary change??? Vocabulary is the most unstable element of a language as it is undergoing constant changes both in form and content. ? 7.1 Four major Types of Changes 词义变化的四种类型 识记基本概念： 7.1.1 Extension/ generalization语义扩展 Extension refers to the widening of word meaning the meaning of a word becomes broader. e.g. ?tail once referred to “the tail of a horse”, but now it is used to mean “the tail of any animal”. holiday originally meant holy day, i.e., a day of religious significance. Today, this word signifies any day on which we don’t have to work. So, tail and holiday have widened their meaning, from specific to general. ? 7.1.2 Narrowing: is also called specialization语义变窄/专业化 Narrowing is a process by which a word of wide meaning acquires a narrower or specialized sense. In the course of several generations, semantic change has narrowed the meaning of a word to what it is in Modern English. For instance, “hound” , which used to be the general term for “dog”, has been narrowed to a special kind of dog. Other