语言学Linguistics

Linguistics
Three words you must know before learning:Language ['læŋgwidʒ] 语言Linguistics [liŋ'gwistiks] 语言学
Linguist ['liŋgwist] 语言学家
What is the relation between linguistics and the courses we have learned in the previous two years?
listening, speaking, reading , writing they are language skills ;linguistics, including literature…language knowledge 知其然,知其所以然
Course objectives: 1.mastery of basic linguistic terms concepts and theories.2.T o arouse your interest in language and language phenomenon.3.Let you know the branches of linguistics. 4.preparation for further study and research about language.
Chapter One An Introduction to language and Linguistics
1. The Definition of Language
语言的定义：(1)语言是一种社会现象……语言区别于其他社会现象的专门的特点是它是作为人们交际的工具、作为人们交流思想的工具来为社会服务的; (2) 它是作为人们的思维工具来为社会服务的。

……就语言自身而言,它是由语音和语义结合而成、由词汇和语法所构成的符号系统。

语言这个符号系统区别于其他符号系统—如红绿灯、旗语、代数符号等—的特点是社会性,复杂性,生成性。

‖
Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.
words are symbols, they have concrete signs (sounds), and the sounds represent a certain meaning.
Vocal: linguistic symbols are various movements of speech organs.
Arbitrary: a linguistic symbol is composed of two things: speech sounds (form) and the idea (meaning) the sounds convey. The relation between the sounds and their meaning are not naturally, directly related.
2. The Origin of Language
2.1 The divine-origin theory
Christianity: God Egyptians: The God Thoth The Hindus: The God Brahma and Goddess Sarasvati
2.2 The invention theory
The bow-wow theory 拟声说The pooh-pooh theory 感叹说The ―yo-he-ho‖ theory 劳动喊声说
2.3 The evolutionary theory
―language‖ does not refer to any certain language like English or Chinese. There are over 100 language families in the world. We will list top ten language families: pp 4-5
一、印欧语系Indo-European family 二、乌拉尔语系The Uralic Family 三、阿尔泰语系The Altaic Family 四、
汉藏语系The Sino-Tibetan Family五、南岛语系The Malayo-Polynesian Family 六、闪含语系\亚非语系The Afro-Asiatic family七、高加索语系The Caucasian Family 八、南印度达罗毗荼语系The Dravidian Family九、南亚语系The Austro-Asiatic Family 十、尼日尔·刚果语系The Niger-Congo Family
3. The Design Features of Language
We would all agree that Language is essential to human beings but we may find it hard to specify what makes our Language advantageous over animal ―Languages‖.
As Be rtrand Russell once observed: ―No matter how eloquently a dog may bark, he cannot tell you that his parents were poor but honest.‖
The features that define our human Languages can be called DESIGN FEATURES.
3.1 Arbitrariness (任意性)
1.There is no logical connection between meanings and sounds. It is a sign of sophistication, unlimited sources of
expression. 2.In other words, there are no direct or intrinsic links between form and meaning or between the signal and the message.3.This nature of language is well illustrated by a famous quotation from Shakespeare's play ―Romeo and Juliet‖:A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.4.However, language is not absolutely arbitrary:There are instances in all languages of what is traditionally referred to as onomatopoeia [.ɔnəu.mætəu‗piə] n. 拟声,拟声语,声喻法:Such as ―cuckoo‖, ―crash‖, in English.―碰！碰！枪响了两声, ―小鸟在枝上叽叽喳喳‖ in Chinese. 模仿金属的声音：clash, clank, ting, tinkle, clang, jangle, ding-dong, tick-tack
3.2 Duality (二重性)
Language system has two sets of structures: one of sounds, the other of meanings. A small number of sounds can be grouped and regrouped into a large number of units of meaning (words), and the units of meaning can be arranged and rearranged into an infinite number of sentences.
For example:First set :[l] [u] [k] [t]… limited，meaningless sounds;Second set：[buk] [luk] [tuk]… unlimited，
meaningful words
3.3 Creativity (创造性)
1.We can use language to create new meanings. Words can be used in new ways to mean new things, and can be
instantly understood by people who have never come across that word before. nguage is creative in terms of its potential to create endless sentences.
[l] [u] [k] [t]… forty-eight sounds[buk] [luk] [tuk]… thousands of words
3.4 Displacement (移位性)
Language can be used to refer to things which are not present: real or imagined matters in the past, present, or future or in far-away places. The remoteness in time and space would not be a barrier in human communication.
4. The Functions of language
4.1 Informative function(信息传递功能)
Language is used to tell what the speaker believes, to give information about facts, or to reason things out.
E.g.The earth revolves around the sun.
4.2 Interpersonal function (人际功能)
People establish and maintain their status in a society.
E.g.Dear Sir, Dear Professor, Johnny, yours, your obedient servant 王教授，您的学生某某
4.3 Performative function (言语行为功能)
Language is used to change the social status of persons, to "do things", and to perform actions.
E.g.I hereby declare the meeting open. I declare the wedding ceremony begin.
4.4 Emotive/expressive function(感情功能)
Language is crucial in changing the emotional status of an audience for or against someone or something. It is a means of getting rid of our nervous energy when we are under stress.
4.5 Phatic function(寒暄功能) Phatic communion (交感性谈话)
Language is used for establishing an atmosphere or maintaining social contact rather than for exchanging information or ideas. Greetings, farewells, and comments on the weather serve this function.
4.6 Recreational function(娱乐功能)
It refers to t he use of language for the sheer joy of using it, such as a baby‘s babbling or a chanter‘s chanting.
4.7 Metalingual function(元语言功能)
1.Our language can be used to talk about itself.
2.Meta-language is a language used to make statements about a
language. The language about which they are made is correspondingly the object language.3.A Chinese grammar of English uses Chinese as a meta-language for the description of English.4.语言是人类用来交际的任意性的语言符号体系。

5. The Definition of Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of the languages of all human societies. Linguistics is not uniquely English. It discusses all human languages. A linguist should have a wide experience of different types of languages. He studies the general rules upon which all languages are constructed and operate as systems of communication in the societies in which they are used.
6. Basic Distinctions in Linguistics
6.1 Descriptive and Prescriptive描述性和规定性
A descriptive linguist describes and analyzes facts observed. He talks about "what people actually say", whereas a
prescriptive linguist tries to lay down rules for "correct" behavior. He tells people what to say and how to say it.
6.2 Synchronic and Diachronic studies共时研究和历时研究
This is a distinction made by the Swiss linguist F. de Saussure Language exists in time and changes through time.
We can study a language as it exists at any one time or over a period of time.
A synchronic statement is a statement about a language at one period of time.
E.g.《现代英语语法》―莎士比亚英语的特点
A diachronic statement, however, is a statement about the changes in a language that took place over a period of
time. 《语言学发展史》《皖西方言的演化》
6.3 Langue 语言and parole 言语[lɑ:ŋg] [pə'rəul]
This is a distinction also made by the Swiss linguist F. de Saussure early this century. Langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community. langue can be thought of as the generalized rules of the language. It is abstract, is not actually spoken by anyone, and is relatively stable and systematic.
E.g.English，Chinese
Parole refers to the realization of langue.
It is the concrete use of the conventions or application of the rules. It is specific to the situation in which it occurs, is always a naturally occurring event, and is subject to personal and situational constraints. In brief, langue refers a certain language in general, parole refers language used by a certain person.
Langue is social.Parole is individual.
6.4 Competence and performance语言能力和语言运用
This distinction was made by an American linguist, Noam Chomsky in his ―Aspects of the Theory of Syntax‖ in the 1950s. 《句法理论要略》
Competence is the ideal language user's knowledge of the rules of his language. It enables a speaker to produce and understand an indefinite number of sentences and to recognize grammatical mistakes and ambiguities.
Performance is the actual realization of this knowledge in utterances.It is often influenced by psychological and social factors.
Chomsky regards competence as a property of the mind of each individual.He looks at it more f rom a psychological point of view.
6.5 traditional grammar and modern linguistics
1.It is generally believed that the beginning of modern linguistics was marked by the publication of F. de Saussure‘s
book ―Course in General Linguistics‖ 《普通语言学教程》in the early 20th century.2.Modern linguistics is descriptive while traditional grammar is prescriptive.Modern linguistics regards the spoken language as primary, not the written. T raditional grammar , on the other hand, tended to emphasize or even over-emphasize, the importance of the written word. 3.Modern linguistics differs from traditional grammar also in that it does not force language into a Latin-based framework.
Weak points of T raditional Grammar
规定语言学家在判断语言的正确与否时常从逻辑学的角度加以观察，但是却忽视了语言在受一般逻辑规律支配的同时，又有自身的规律，使得语言规律与逻辑规律既有相似性又有相异性。

以双重否定为例。

从逻辑学的角度来看，否定之否定就是肯定。

正因如此，规定语法学家认为：I didn‘t do nothing.正确的解释为:It is not true that I did nothing.或I did something.但是，英语使用的现实却是这两种相互矛盾的语义都存在。

语义的区别是通过语言的语音规律加以实现的。

在前者，―didn‘t‖重读，而后者―didn‘t不重读。

再看下列例句：All the children didn‘t sleep (All the children failed to sleep.)
All the children didn‘t sleep. (Not all the children failed to sleep.)
这两个话语在语义上的差异也是违反了传统逻辑规律。

语音规律的介入很好地解决了这一问题：All the children didn‘t ˋsleep. (重音落在sleep上，且使用降调)
All the children didn‘t sleep.（重音落在all上，且使用降升调）
在看以下例句：I can‘t care less.I can care less.
按照逻辑的一般规律，这两个话语应该有着相互对立的语义，但是它们的理性语义却是一样的，即：I don‘t mind.
事实上，这种突破一般逻辑规律的现象在其它语言中也时常可见。

以汉语为例：今天街上好热闹。

今天街上好不热闹。

再看汉语中的―差点儿‖和―差点儿没‖两个表达法：他差点儿摔倒了。

他差点儿没摔倒。

用―差点儿‖或―差点儿没‖去与说话人不希望实现的事情搭配，那么它们都是指事情接近实现而没有实现。

我差点儿通过了考试。

我差点儿没通过考试。

如果用―差点儿‖和―差点儿没‖去修饰说话人希望实现的事情，那么―差点儿‖含有惋惜希望的事情未能实现，而―差点儿没‖是指庆幸希望的事情发生了。

7. Main Branches of Linguistics
It is generally agreed that linguistics should include at least five parameters, namely, phonologic, adj. 音韵学上的morphologic[.mɔ:fə'lɔdʒik] ,形态学的syntactic[sin'tæktik] ,句法的semantic [si'mæntik] adj. 语义的pragmatic [præg‗mætik]. 语用的
The following are these main branches of linguistics.
7.1 Phonetics 语音学
PHONETICS studies speech sounds, including： 1.the production of speech,2.the sounds of speech3.the description and classification of speech sounds, words and connected speech, etc
7.2 Phonology 音系学
Phonology studies the rules governing the structure, distribution, and sequencing of speech sounds and the shape of syllable. It deals with the sound system of a Language by treating phoneme as the point of departure.
Phonetics is the study of speech sounds that the human voice is capable of creating . Phonology is the study of a set of those sounds that constitute language and meaning. The first focus on chaos while the second focus on order. 7.3 Morphology 形态学
MORPHOLOGY is concerned with the internal organization of words.
It studies the minimal units of meaning — morphemes and word-formation processes.
7.4 Syntax 句法学
SYNT AX is about principles of forming and understanding correct English sentence s.
The form or structure of sentence is governed by the rules of syntax.
7.5 Semantics 语义学
SEMANTICS examines how meaning is encoded in a Language. It is not only concerned with meanings of words as lexical items, but also with levels of Language below the word and above it, e.g. meaning of morphemes and sentences.
7.6 Pragmatics 语用学
PRAGMATICS is the study of meaning in context. It deals with particular utterances in particular situations and is especially concerned with the various ways in which the many social contexts of Language performance can influence interpretation. In other words, pragmatics is concerned with the way Language is used to communicate rather than with the way Language is structured.
The above discussion is mainly from the viewpoint of micro-linguistics.
8. Branches of Macro-linguistics
Linguistics is not the only field concerned with Language.
Other disciplines such as :psychology, sociology, ethnography[eθ'nɔgrəfi] n. 人种学, 人种论the science of law and artificial intelligence etc. are also preoccupied with Language.Therefore, it is not surprising we have some branches of Macro-linguistics.
8.1 Psycholinguistics
Psycholinguistics investigates the interrelation of Language and mind, e.g. in processing and producing utterances and in Language acquisition.
8.2 Sociolinguistics
Sociolinguistics is an umbrella term, which covers a variety of different interests in Language and society, including the social functions of Language and the social characteristics of its users.
8.3 Anthropological linguistics
As a science, the study of Languages is somewhat older than anthropology.
The two disciplines became closely associated in the early days of anthropologists enliste d the help of linguists to study unwritten Languages.
8.4 Computational linguistics
Computational linguistics is an interdisciplinary field, which centers on the use of computers to process or produce human Language.
8.5 Neuro-linguistics
It tries to construct a model of the brain's control over the process of speech and hearing, to explain how many messages the nervous system has to send out to various speech organs in order to produce one individual sound and in what order they are sent, and to work on the treatment of language disorder.
(aphasics [ə'feizik]失语症, aphonia 失音症)
8.6 Mathematical linguistics
It studies the mathematical features of language, often employing models and concepts of mathematics. One approach is to study the application of statistical techniques in linguistic theory and description.
8.7 Corpus linguistics语料库语言学
Corpus linguistics is about investigating the way people use language in speech and writing. It introduces the corpus-based approach to linguistics, based on the analysis of large databases of real language examples stored on computer.
Lecture 5
The Structures of English (1) Syntax （句法学）
5.1 Defining syntax
Syntax is the study of how words combine into sentences; specifically the syntactic patterns of sentences /internal structures of sentences /syntactic properties and functions, and the rules governing the syntactic combinations.
Syntax accounts for: the grammaticality of sentences;word order; hierarchical organization of sentences;
grammatical relations whether different structures have different meanings or the same meaning; the creative aspect of language.
5.1.1 Grammatical Knowledge
Mental Grammar
The boy found the ball.*The boy found quickly.*The boy found in the house.
Prescriptive Grammar
Bill hired Mary.Mary hired Bill.Mary was hired by Bill.
Descriptive Grammar
He has everything a woman wants,and he wants everything a woman has.
Recursiveness/ Recursion递归性
A children's rhyme . This is the farmer sowing the corn,that kept the cock that crowed in the morn,that wake d the
priest all shaven and shorn,that married the man all tattered and torn,that kissed the maiden all forlorn forlorn,that milked the cow with the crumpled horn, that tossed the dog,that worried the cat,that killed the rat,that ate the malt,that lay in the house that Jack built.
5.2 Sentence patterns/types in English
i)Mary is a nurse/poor. SVC ii) Mary weighs 120 pounds. SV A iii) Mary came. SV iv) Mary cheated me.
SVO v) Mary called me Jim. SVOC vi) Mary put her child down. SVOA vii) Mary lend him some money.SVOO
5.3 Syntactic relations
Positional relation (word order, horizontal relations, syntagmatic relations; chain relations
Syntagmatic 结构段的, 语段的relation refers to the sequential or linear arrangement of words in a language.
Any language has its patterns of arrangement.Word order determines syntactic relations and sentence meaning, esp. for those analytical languages like Chinese. （分析性的语言）Chinese is analytical language.
分析语：分析语的特征是不用形态变化而用语序和虚词来表达语法关系。

He went to school.他去学校了。

He has gone abroad.他已经出国了。

Synthetic language---综合语English is synthetic-analytic language.
5.4 The hierarchical structuring of English
Sentences are not strings of words put together linearly but rather hierarchical constructions.
e.g. young boys and girls
IC analysis 直接成分分析法John likes singing Chinese songs.John likes?likes singing?singing Chinese?
BUT: likes (singing (Chinese songs)) John (likes (singing (Chinese songs)))
1) Binary cutting 两分法2) Immediate constituent/ ultimate constituent直接成分最终成分3) Tree diagram/ labeled tree
diagram树形图加标记的树形图4) IC analysis: the approach to analyze sentences into immediate constituents by binary cuttings until obtaining the ultimate constituentsPractice: Apply IC analysis onto the following sentence:
The world today is highly competitive.
off
adj. 远的, 休假的, 空闲的, 落后懈怠的adv. 离开, 出发, 距离隔断, 分割, 不继续运行, 下台prep. 离开, 脱落, 下班vi. 离开, 走开
But IC analysis cannot remove the ambiguity as found in Flying planes can be dangerous.
explain why structures like the following look similar but basically diffe rent: a.He is easy to please. b. He is eager to please.
5.5 Surface and deep structures
Lecture 6
The Structures of English (2)
What is meant by IC analysis?What are ‗surface structure‘ and ‗deep structure‘? Analyze how the following sentence is ambiguous:Flying planes can be dangerous.
Deep Structure 1
A plane that is flying can be dangerous. A plane used for flying can be dangerous.
Deep Structure 2Flying planes can be dangerous.
两种歧义分别是：(1)The plane which are flying in the sky can be dangerous. (2)The work flying planes (drive planes) can be dangerous.
6.1 English paragraphs
Paragraph a topic sentence supporting sentences
Supporting sentences:Exemplification 举例, 例证Instantiation 用具体例子说明, 例示;comparison and contrast;reasons;definition;analogy;Enumeration 计算, 列举, 细目
Some English words have a common root but are used in very different senses. Consider human and humane, for example. Their origin is the same and their meaning are related, but their usage is distinct. A human action is not the same thing as a humane action. We cannot speak of a Declaration of Humane Rights. There is a weapon called a humane killer, but it is not a human killer.
6.2 English texts
T ypes of English texts : narration description exposition argumentation Perspective Point of view Chronological order flashback
6.3 Cohesion in English texts
cohesion 衔接
Means of cohesion (衔接）:a. Lexically(repetition, synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy--reiteration)b.
Grammatically(ellipsis, substitution, reference)c. Logically(connectives)
A latest survey has been held among some citizens from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzho u about the Internet‘s
influence on people‘s habit of reading. The research shows that 40% of them have strong belief that it will replace the book as the sole source of information, but the remaining 60% argue that the Internet will coexist with the traditional means of information transmission. I agree with the latter.
Identify the cohesive devices in the following passage:
A latest survey has been held among some citizens from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou about the Internet‘s
influence on people‘s hab it of reading. The research shows that 40% of them have strong belief that it will replace the book as the sole source of information, but the remaining 60% argue that the Internet will coexist with the traditional means of information transmission. I agree with the latter.
reference
Grammatical ellipsis
substitution
tense
conjunctions repetition
Logical Lexical
conjuncts meronym
(2) Which type of cohesive device is used most often?
grammatical devices (esp. substitution ―it‖ and ―its‖ and tense)
Reference deserves further elaboration here. The first distinction can be drawn between endophoric reference and exophoric reference. While the former points to a relation between an entity in the situational context and a linguistic item in the text(as in ―He is the man you want to see!‖ said wh en the mentioned person comes over to the speaker), the latter refers to the relation between two linguistic items in the same text.
For endophoric reference, further distinction is attempted between anaphoric reference and cataphoric reference.
The former involves a relation between a preceding referential expression or an antecedent and the current pronominal item (as in ―John loves Jane. He takes great care of her. This is known to all.‖) , whereas the latter denotes a relation between the current prono minal item and the later occurring expression (as in ―This is what John does for Jane: he sends a bunch of roses to her every day.‖) .
6.4 T urn taking in English conversations
In conversation, dialogue rather than monologue dominates. Conversationalists take turns speaking. The chance to speak is technically termed as floor. The current speaker may try to maintain the floor, or give up the floor.
While the next speaker may opt to interrupt in order to seize the floor, he or she can wait to be nominated by the current speaker, or take the hints from him such as a long pause, a gesture, a gaze, etc.
An initiation, say a question or a request, by the first speaker and the response by the second speaker, like an answer to the question and a compliance with the request, form an adjacency pair.
If the second part of the adjacency pair is positive, it is preferred; if the second part of the adjacency pair is negative, it is dispreferred. The latter is characterized by the use of such signals as ―well‖, hesitation markers like ―erm‖, pauses, explanations or accounts, etc.
3. ASK : a. Is the conversation composed of adjacency pairs? Not wholly.
b. If not, how would you characterize the conversation?Two adjacency pairs are inserted within an
otherwise adjacent pair. The inserted pairs are technically called insertion sequences.
4. ASK :a. How would you describe a conversational repair?The conversational repair here is composed of a trouble
source from LI, the initiation of a repair from Li, the self repair from Zhang, and an optional follow-up
from Li.
b. Are there other types of repair in daily conversation?Apart from other initiation + self repair, we have
other types: self-initiation + self-repair, other-initiation + other repair, and self-initiation + other-repair.
Repair can be classified according to the content repaired, too.
Lecture 7 Semantics
7.1 What is Semantics ?Semantics is generally considered to be the study of meaning in language.
5.2 Lexical Meaning
Two Concepts to Understand Sense Reference
Sense is concerned with the inherent meaning of the linguistic form.Collection of all the features of theAbstract De-contextualized Dictionary meaning
Reference means what a linguistic form refers to in the real physical world.The linguistic element real entity What the dog is doing? Which dog
Sense relates to the complex system of relationships that hold between the linguistic elements themselves;
it is concerned only with intra-linguistic relations.In fact, when we are talking of sense relations, we are talking of synonymy[si'nɔnimi] n. 同义词, 同义词研究,antonymy[ɑn'tɔnəmi] n. 反义词组, 反义现象,
hyponymy[hai‗pɔnimi] n. (词义之间的)下义关系, 上下位关系,polysemy['pɔli.si:mi]n. 意义的分岐, 一词多义, homonymy[hɔ'mɔnimi]n. 同音异义, 同形异义, 同名
5.2.1 synonymy
Synonymy is used to m ean ― sameness of meaning or close similarity of meaning”Context plays an important part in deciding whether a set of lexical items is synonymous." What a nice ___ of flowers!"The items ―range, selection, choice,‖ etc. are synonymous." His ___ of knowledge is enormous!"Range, breadth,etc. are synonymous. Difference in meaning
Amaze and astound form a pair of synonyms. Both suggest great wonder or bewilderment in the face of something that seems impossible or highly improbable.But they differ in degrees of wonder or bewilderment. Amaze denotes difficulty of belief and astound extreme difficulty of belief.A teacher was amazed to find that a lazy student had gained •a mark of 100 in an important test.A woman may be astounded to learn that her dearest friend has been spreading malicious gossip about her.―Anger, rage, fury, indignation and wrath‖ are synonymous in denoting the emotional excitement induced by intense displeasure."Anger" , the most general term, describes merely the emotional reaction; the word itself suggests no definite degree of intensity, and carries no necessary implication of outward manifestation; " to conceal one's anger"," T om is easily aroused to anger.""Rage" often implies a loss of self-control. " fury" , the strongest word in the group, suggests •a rage so violent that it may approach madness;The insolence of the waiters drove him into a rage, and he flung his plate to the floor and stalked out of the restaurant.Mad with fury, John pounded his fists on the wall and beat his breast."Indignation" denotes anger based on a moral condemnation of something felt to be wrong and unfair; e.g.Abolitionists viewed the institution of slavery with indignation.Mary expressed her indignation at being unfairly dismissed.English is particularly rich in synonyms for the historical reason that its vocabulary has come from two different sources, from Anglo -Saxon on the one hand and from French, Latin and Greek on the other.
Since English is considered to be a Germanic language from a historical point of vie w, with Anglo-Saxon as an earlier stage of its development, the "Anglo-Saxon" words are often considered "native" while those from French, Latin or Greek are ―foreign‖, ―borrowed‖ from these languages.
A) dialectal synonyms方言同义词
Synonyms belonging to different dialects of the language
B) words differing in styles or registers 文体同义词
Words having the same cognitive meaning but having different stylistic meanings
Penalties for overdue books will be strictly enforced. ( written )
Y ou have got to pay fines for overdue books. ( spoken )
They made a decision to abandon the project. ( formal )
They decided to walk out on the project. ( informal )
to chide (literary )to berate ( neutral )to scold ( neutral ) to blame ( neutral )
to carpet ( colloquial, esp. BrE )to tell off ( colloquial )to bawl out ( AmE, slang )man (neutral )chap ( colloquial )fellow ( colloquial )bird ( colloquial ) What a queer bird!guy ( slang )bozo ( slang )Domicile ( very formal ) residence ( formal ) abode (poetic) home ( general ) ['dɔmisail] n. 住所, 住宅steed ( poetic )horse ( general )nag ( slang )gee-gee ( baby talk )
C) words differing in emotive or evaluative meaning情感或评价同义词
"little" and "small" are synonyms. But if any emotion is associated with the designation, we must choose "little".
" A small boy" is as good English as " a little boy." Y et if you should exclaim" *Poor small boy!", the phrase is unidiomatic, because the word "small" has no affective meaning...She is a nice little thing ( indicating tenderness or regard, but possibly patronage, or a feeling of superiority)...."
D) collocationally-restricted synonyms搭配同义词
These words can be considered as synonyms only when they occur in conjunction with certain words.rancid, addled, sour, rotten:rancid bacon rancid butter addled egg sour milk rotten butter and egg
rancid[‗rænsid] adj. 腐臭的, 令人反感的addled['ædld] adj. 头脑混乱的, 腐烂的a flock of, a heard of, a school of, a pride of: a flock of sheep a herd of cows, a school of whales, a pride of lions accuse...of, e.g. The policemen accused him of the arson.charge...with, e.g. At the meeting he charged his opponent with evasion of the basic issues.rebuke...for, e.g. The teacher rebuked the student for being impudent.reproach...with or for, e.g. He reproached me with extravagance.
pretty \ handsome girl \ boy child\ man flower \car garden \table colour\ overcoat village \airliner cottage \house
sail a small boat navigate a liner teach arithmetic inculcate doctrine scholarly intelligence animal cunning offering to a church dole to the unemployed
Lecture 8 Semantics Antonymy
Antonymy is a standard technical term used for oppositeness of meaning between lexemes.
gradable opposites( contraries)
a. They will show different degrees of a given quality.
b. They can be qualified by adverbials of degree.
C. Their meanings are relative to each other. One meaning is determined in reference to the meaning of the other.
Since contraries are gradable, the semantic contrast in a contrary pair is relative; i.e. there are often intermediate terms between the two opposites.Thus we have not just rich and poor, but there are such gradations as rich,well-to-do, well-off, moderately wealthy, comfortably off, hard up, poor.
d. Since they show different degrees of a given quality, they will allow a middle ground between them.
e. The negation of one does not mean the assertion of the other.“ He is not rich” does not mean “he is poor.”
They can be used in the structure “ neither…nor:for example:I am neither rich nor poor.
Very often this kind of antonyms are not symmetric in meaning.
old/young heavy/light Wide /narrow deep/shallow far/near long/short
Complementarity [.kɔmplimen'tæriti]
Antonyms which can not be compared to determine whether they have the same degree of a certain property are called ungradable opposites. Complementarities are very often ungradable opposites.
The negation of one is the assertion of the other.
For example: alive/dead― He is not alive‖ means ― He is dead‖.They can not be used in the structure― neither…nor‖ because they do not allow possibilities between them:for example:I am neither alive nor dead.
More examples: male/female married/single boy/girl brother/sister
Relational opposites 换位反义词
They express the reversal of a relationship between items or a contrast of directions.
If A sells a watch to B, B buys a watch from A.。