词汇学名词解释

词汇学

1、Compounding（合成法）

Compounding is a word-formation process of joining two or more bases to form a new unit, a compound word.

e.g. blackboard, air-conditioning, flowerpot 2、Derivation（派?生法）= a?xation（词缀法）

A word-formation process by which new words are created by adding a prefix, or su?x,

or both, to the base. e.g. belittle, debug, anti-war 3、Conversion（词性转移法）

Conversion is a word-formation process whereby a word of a certain word-class is shifted into a word of another word-class without the addition of an a?x.

e.g. attack (v. & n.), compound (v. & n.), permit (v. & n.) 4、Initialisms（?首字?母连写词）

Initialism is a type of shortening, using the first letters of words to form a proper name, a technical term, or a phrase; it is pronounced letter by letter.

e.g. BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), VIP (a very important people)

5、Acronyms（?首字?母拼?音词）

Acronyms are words formed from the initial letters of the name of an organization or a scientific term.

e.g. OPEC, BASIC, SAM, TEFL, UNESCO 6、Clipping（剪裁法）

The process of clipping involves the deletion of one or more syllables from a word (usually a noun), which is also available in

its full form.

e.g. plane from airplane, phone from telephone, gym from gymnastics, taxi from taxicab

7、Blending（混合法）

Blending is a process of word-formation in which a new word is formed by combining the meanings and sounds of two words, one of which is not in its full form or both of which

are not in their full forms.

e.g. newscast (news + broadcast), brunch (breakfast + lunch) 8、Back formation（逆构法）

Back-formation is a term used to refer to a type of word-formation by which a shorter

word is coined by the deletion of a supposed a?x from a longer form already present in the language.

e.g.the verb resurrect was formed from the noun resurrection by removing the supposed derivative su?x -ion, and the verb edit formed from editor by dropping the su?x -or.

9、Words from proper names（专有名词构词法）

The words that coined from the di?erent proper names. Such as the names of people, the names of places, the names of books, or the names of brands.

e.g. watt, hertz, Nicotine 10、Reduplication（复制法）

Reduplication is a minor type of word-formation by which a compound word is created by the repetition (1)of one word like go-go; (2)of two almost identical words with a change in the vowel’s such as ping-pong; (3) of two almost identical words with a change in the initial consonants, as in teenyweeny.

11、Coinage（新造的字）

Coinage is a process of inventing words not based on

existing morphemes.

e.g. fruice = fruit +juice, slanguage =slang + language 12、Classification of English words according to di?erent criteria

A. By origin: 1) native words 2) loan words B. By level of usage : 1)common words 2)literary words 3)colloquial words 4)slang words 5)technical words C. By notion:

1)function words（虚词） 2)content words （实词）

13、inflectional morpheme (or inflectional a?xes) （曲折词缀） An inflectional aifix serves to express such meanings as plurality, tense, and the comparative or superlative degree. It does not form a new word with new lexical meaning when it is added to another word. Nor does it change the word-class of the word to which it is a?xed.

e.g. “s” in chairs, pens ; “es” in boxes, tomatoes; “en” in oxen

14、root（词根）

(1) 书：A root is the basic unchangeable part of a word, and it conveys the main lexical meaning of the word.

e.g. work, boy, moon, walk

(2) ?网：A root is a form which is not further analysable, either in terms of derivational or inflectional morphology. A root

is the basic part always present in a lexeme.

15、stem（词?干）

Stem is the part of the word-form which remains when all inflectional a?xes have been removed.

e.g. in the word undesirables, the stem is undesirable; in the word desired, the stem is desire 16、base（词基）

Base is any form to which a?xes of any kind can be added. e.g. in the word desirable, desire is the base to which a su?x -able is added.

17、echoic words or onomatopoeic words（拟声词或象声词） Words motivated phonetically are called echoi words or onomatopoeic words, whose pronunciation suggests the meaning.

e.g. the woof-woof of a dog, the miaow of a cat 18、homonyms（异义词）

In the English language, there are many pairs or groups of words, which, though di?erent in meaning, are pronounced alike, or spelled alike, or both.

e.g. lead (n. & v.), sow (n. & v.), tear (n. & v.) 19、complementary antonyms（互补性反义词）

Complementaries or contradictories represent a type of binary semantic opposition. In a complementary pair the contrast between the two terms is absolute.

e.g. alive and dead, single and married 20、synchronic dictionary（共时词典）

Synchronic dictionaries describe the vocabulary of a certain period or at a certain stage of the development of the language, providing the from, meaning, usage, etc., of the words of the period.

e.g. COD, WCD

21、allomorph（同位异形体）

An allomorph is any of the variant forms of a morpheme as conditioned by position or adjoining sounds.

e.g. the allomorphs -ion/-tion/-sion/-ation are the positional variants of the same su?x

22、prefixation（前缀）

Prefixation is the formation of new words by adding a prefix or combining form to the base.

e.g. de-, be-, en-

23、semantic motivation（语义动机）

Semantic motivation refers to motivation based on semantic factors. It is a kind of mental association.

e.g.When we speak of a stony heart we are comparing the heart with a stone; when we say the leg of a table, we are comparing the tables leg with one of the lower limbs of a human being.

24、a?ective meaning（情感意义）

A?ective meaning is concerned with the expression of feelings and attitudes of the speaker or writer.

e.g. Aha! Alas! and Hurrah! 25、hyponymy（上下义关系）

Hyponymy is the relationship which obtains between specific and general lexical items, such that the former is “included” in the la tter.

e.g. a cat is a hyponym of animal, flute of instrument, chair of furniture

26、semantic field（语义场）

（1）书：Semantic field theory \"took the view that the vocabulary of a given language is not simply a listing of

independent items (as the headwords in a dictionary would suggest), but is organized into areas, or fields, within which words interrelate and define each other in various ways.\"

（2）?网：Semantic field theory is concerned with the vocabulary of a language as a system of interrelated lexical networks. The words of a semantic field are joined together by a common concept, and they are likely to have a number of collocations in common.

e.g.The words red, green, white etc. make up the semantic field of colors;

the words father, mother, son etc. make up the semantic field of kinship

27、componential analysis（成分分析法）

The analysis of word meanings is often seen as a process of breaking down the sense of a word into its minimal components.

e.g. cow : [+ Bovine + Adult - Male] man : [+Human + Adult + Male]