西南大学第五次作业答案.docxVIP

一 一. What are the characteristics of native element in English? The native element has the following characteristics: All-national character: Every English person uses the words of the native element no matter whether 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 the foundation is the native element or the basic word-stock accumulated over a number of epochs. Mono-syllabic words: The native element in Modem English is mostly monosyllabic. e.g. sun, cow, go, run, etc. Great word-forming ability: Most words of native origin possess large cluster of derived and compound words in the present-day language, e.g. the word hand, has brought such derivatives and compounds as: handy, handle, handiwork, handicraft, handful, handbook, hand barrow, handcuff. Wide collocability: The native element has wide collocability. Many native words enter quite a number of set expressions, idioms, phrases and proverbial sayings, e.g. the word heel enters the following units: heel of Achilles (a vulnerable point); heel over head or head over heels (upside down) etc. Plurality of meanings: Most of the native words have undergone striking transformations in semantic structure, and as a result are nowadays highly polysemantic, e.g. the verb to tell, for instance, is made nowadays highly polysemantic, e.g. the verb to tell, for instance, is made to express the following meanings: make known, express, explain; High frequency value: The native element (words of Anglo-Saxon origin) forms the bulk of the most frequent elements used in any style of speech. They constitute no less than 80% of the 500 most frequent words listed by Thorndike and Lorge. Stylistically neutral: Most native words are stylistically neutral. E.g. to begin (neutral) ? to commence (formal). There are words equally fit to be used in a lecture, a poem, or when speaking to a child. 二. What are the classifications of Homonyms? W