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青岛理工大学琴岛学院毕业论文题目A Breif Study On the Changes of EnglishVocabulary学生姓名：____________李纺纺______________指导教师：______________石满霞____________ 外语系商务英语专业083班2011年3月28日毕业论文任务书专业商务英语班级083 姓名李纺纺下发日期2009年12月19摘 要妇女通常被认为是弱势群体而被轻视。

这种性别歧视现象同样体现在英语语言中，这种语言被称为性别歧视语言。

本文着重分析了英语语言中的性别歧视现象以及如何避免这种现象。

本文由五部分组成：第—部分简要介绍本文的写作背景；第二部分通过大量的实例分析，着重描写了英语语言表述中的性别歧视：第三部分从社会经济和文化方面分析了语言中性别歧视现象存在的原因：第四部分为如何避免性别歧视提出了许多建议；第五部分是本文的结论：人们必须真正意识到并做到男女平等，正确运用语言，才能根除语言中存在的性别歧视现象。

关键词：性别歧视，性别歧视词，无性别歧视词，原因，规避upon. This gender bias can also be found in the English language. Such language is called sexist language. This paper is devoted to the study of sexism in the English language and on how to avoid sexism. It begins with a short introduction of the background information. By highlighting many examples of the sexism in the English language that discriminates against women, the second part of this paper focuses on some expressions that show sexism, and analyzes the reasons for sexism in English in various aspects of society, economics and culture. Moreover, this paper puts forward many suggestions on how to avoid sexism in daily use. The paper ends with the conclusion that unless enough awareness is paid both to the correct use of language and to the equal rights between men and women, the sexism in the English language can not be eradicated.KEY WORDS: sexism, sexist word, non-sexist word, reason, avoidContentsIntroduction (9)Chapter One The Development of English V ocabulary (10)1.1 Old English (10)1.2 Middle English................................ .. (11)1.3 Modern English (13)C hapter Two The Changes of Words Formation (14)2.1 Morphems,roots and stem (14)2.2 Affixation (14)2.3 Compounding . .... .... ..... .... ............... .. (14)2.4 Conversion (15)2.5 Bl ending (15)Chapter Three The Changes of Words Meaning (16)3.1 Causes and Reasons (16)3.2 Narrowing (16)3.3 Extension (16)3.4 Degeneration (17)3.5 Elevation (17)Conclusion (19)Acknowledgements (20)Bibliography (21)IntroductionV ocabulary has proved particuarly important and certainly the most difficult .Wilkins asserts, ‘Without geammer very litte can conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed. ’The changes of English vocabulary mostly depend on word formation and the changes of word meaning. Talk about word formation, it‟s affixation, compounding, conversion and bending. These ways of word formation make a chief contribution to the change of English vocabulary. The changes of word meaning is a common situation in our daily life . The types of changes include extension, narrowing, elevation, degradation. And the cause of meaning changes ,I will give a detail cepression in the next esssay.Chapter One The Development of English VocabularyThere are about one million English words in all. English is also an internationallanguage in this society. How does English come into being? Why it has so many vocabularies? In the following passage, I will give you a general picture about these two questions.The history of English language is divided into three periods:1. the old English period ( from 450AD to 1150 AD )2. the middle English period ( from 1150AD to 1500AD )3. the modern English period ( from 1500AD up to now )1.1 The Old English PeriodAs I mentioned above, in fact, that there is also a period we can call it the pre-old English period, which includes the Celts, the Scottish and Irish races and culture, and also Welsh race and culture were brought by the Celts. Then the Romans brought Latin alphabet and civilization to this land. After these two were the formation of the Anglo-Saxons people, which is the original English race and language.Old English consists mainly about the native language of Anglo-Saxons people. The period from 450AD to 1150AD is known as the old English period, and it is also been called Anglo-Saxons period. It is described as the period of full inflections, since during most of this period the case endings of the noun, the adjective, and the conjugation of the verb were not weakened. Also during this period, when the Norman Conquest in 1066AD brought French to England, and much of the English vocabulary was replaced by words borrowed from French and Latin.Old English is a synthetic language. (There are two classes of languages in the world: synthetic and analytic. A synthetic language is one which shows the relation of words in a sentence largely by means of inflections. An analytic language is one which indicates the relation of words in a sentence by means of word order, prepositions or auxiliary verbs, rather than by inflections.) Old English nouns and adjectives have four cases: the nominative case, the genitive case, the dative case and the accusative case. Apart from these four cases, Latin nouns have the ablative and locative cases.Old English has a vocabulary of about 50,000 to 60,000 words. It was a highlyinflected language just like German. Therefore, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs has complex endings or vowel changes, or both, which differ greatly from the language that we use today.1.2 The Middle English Periodold English words were lost, but thousands of words borrowed from French and Latin appeared in the English vocabulary. French influ Middle English period is from 1150AD to 1500AD. During this period the inflections which had begun to break down towards the end of the old English period, became greatly reduced, and it is known as the period of leveled inflections. The Norman Conquer was the cause of this change. The change of this period had a great effect on both grammar and vocabulary. In grammar English has changed from a highly inflected language to an analytic language. In this period many ence on the English vocabulary is much more direct and observable. The number of French words that came into E from Latin. nglish was very numerous. More than half of the English vocabulary is derived1.3 The Modern English PeriodModern English period is from 1500 to the present. A large part of the original inflectional system has disappeared, and it is known as the period of lost inflections. We may divide this period into two parts: the early Modern English period and the Late Modern English period.The early modern English period extends from 1500AD to 1700AD. The chief influence of this time was the great humanistic movement of the Renaissance. In this period the study of the Latin and Greek classics was stressed, so the influence of Latin and Greek on English was great.The late modern English period started after 1700AD. The eighteenth century in England was a time of stabilizing and purifying the English language. In the eighteenth century French greatly influenced English. The number of French words in the period from 1650AD to 1800AD increased rapidly, such as: ballet, cartoon, champagne, cohesion, dentist, patrol, publicity, routing.Meanwhile the territorial expansion of the English empire in this period resulted in the expansion of the English vocabulary. Thus, there are many words flow into English vocabulary, which includes American Indian words, Mexican words, Peru words, Brazil words, India and African words.The nineteenth and twentieth centuries are a period of rapid expansion for the English vocabulary in the history of the English language. In this period many changes have taken place. Especially the great development of science and technology is reflected in the English vocabulary.Chapter Two The Changes of Word FormationWhen we are reading a new article, we often encounter with some new words that we have never seen before. In this case, most of us will leave out the new word and go on with the following sections. If we know something about English word formation, maybe the article would not be so difficult for us to understand. In this way, we can guess the meaning of the new word according to what we have learned about English word formation. It has been proved that our guess is correct in most cases. So we say word formation can help us have a better comprehension of a new article.2.1 AffixationAffixation is generally defined as the formation of words by adding word-forming or derivational affixes to bases. This process is also known as derivation, by which new words derived from old or base forms. The words that are created in this way are called derivatives. According to the position affixes occupy in words, affixation falls into two subcategories: pre-fixation and suffixation.Pre-fixation is the formation of new words by adding prefixes to bases, which donot generally change the word-class of the base. Their chief function is to modify its meaning, although there are exceptions. In my opinion, prefixes can be divided into: negative prefixes, pejorative prefixes, prefixes of degree or size, prefixes of time and order. Such as, negative prefixes, e.g. a-, dis-, in-, non-, un-, e.g. amoral, disloyal, injustice, non-smoker, and so on.Suffixation is the formation of new words by adding suffixes to bases. Their primary function is to change the grammatical function of the base, such as the change of the word class with a slight modification of meaning, though there are a few exceptions. Suffixes can be divided into noun suffixes, adjective suffixes, adverb suffixes, and verb suffixes. I can give you an example. The word “countless”, “-less”change the part of form and show the negative meaning of the stem.2.2 CompundingCompounding is the formation of new words by joining two or more bases. Words formed in this way are called compounds. So a compound is a …lexical unit consisting of more than one base and functioning both grammatically and semantically as a single word‟ (Quirk).Compounds can be written solid, hyphenated and open. Compounds have remarkable characteristics which are different from noun phrases. It comes down to three major ones:1) Phonological features. In compounds the word stress usually occurs on the first constituent whereas in noun phrases the second element is generally accented if there is only one stress. In cases where there are two stresses, the compound has the primary stress on the first element and the second stress, if any, on the second, whereas the opposite is true of free phrase.2) Semantic features. Compounds differ from free phrases semantically. Every compound should express a single idea just as one word. The meaning of a free phrase can not be inferred from the two components of itself. Nevertheless, a lot of compound are transparent, that is to say, the meaning can be obtained from the separate elements of compounds. But the two elements are inseparable and the change of the element would result in the loss of the original identity.3) Grammatical features. Two elements of a compound each plays a separate grammatical role, which can be seen in the way the expressions are handled morphological. For example, compound nouns often show their plural forms by taking inflectional –s at the end. Though there are exceptions, their …one-wordness‟ identity is apparent..2.3 ConversionIn English learning, students will often confused with words which have two or more part of form. Many of such conditions are caused by conversion. Conversion is the formation of mew words by converting words of one part of speech to those of another part of speech, without changes in morphological structures but in function. Words created in this way are new only in a grammatical sense. Words produced by conversion are primarily nouns, adjectives and verbs. The most productive, however, is the conversion that takes place between nouns and verbs. It deserves nothing that conversion is not only a change of grammatical function of the item involved but with it the different range of meaning is originally carried.2.4 BendingBlending is a very productive process and many coinages are resulting from blending have become well established. Moreover, they can sever as models for new formation. It is not the Combination of two words directly, but to combine parts of two words or a word plus a part of another word. This kind of word formation is called blending. This processes including:The first part of the first word +the last part the second word.The whole part of the first part +the last part the second word.The first part of the first word +the first part the second word.The whole part of the second word + the first part of the first word.The overwhelming majority of blends are nouns; very few are verbs and adjectives are even fewer. Blends are mostly used in writing related to science and technology, and newspapers and magazines. Though many of them have already achieved currency in English, they are still considered by the serious-minded people to be slang and informal. However, it is advisable not to use such words too often, particularly in formal writing.Chapter Three The Changes of Word Meaning3.1 Causes and ReasonsFive causes of semantic change:1. Historical cause -Although a word retains its original form, its meaning has changed because the object which it denotes has changed. This is the historical cause of semantic change. e.g. car, pencil, virtue: .2. social change -Some technical words have lost their specialized meanings and have come to be used in more general common senses, and this is referred to as social cause of semantic 35change. e.g. feedback,, etc. And there is also a reverse process, in which a popular word is given a special meaning in specialized vocabulary. A specific environment may add a fresh and highly technical sense to a word of general use. e.g. energy, etc.3. foreign influence --A particular important cause of change of meaning in words has been the influence of foreign words. E.g. deer, etc. .4. linguistic cause -In linguistic system, two tendencies frequently bring about change of meaning, i.e. towards ellipsis & analogy.1) ellipsis --In habitual collocations, such as adj.+n or attri. N. +n., the noun is often deleted, and the first element retains the meaning of the whole phrase.. e.g. private,etc. And sometimes, it is the second part or the head word of the phrase that remains.2) analogy –p New meanings developed in one part of speech are passed on to other parts of speech from the same lexical base.5. psychological cause --The psychological cause mainly involves the use of rhetorical devices.Here we conclude almost all the figures of speech (rhetorical devices):A. Figures of resemblance or relationshipSimile: involving an expressed comparison, almost always introduced by the word "like, as". The two things compared must be dissimilar and the basis of resemblance is usually an abstract quality. E.g.His brother is as brave as a lion.Records fell like ripe apples on a windy day.Pop looked so unhappy, almost like a child who's lost his piece of candy.3.2 NarrowingNarrowing of meaning, also called specialization, is the opposite of widening meaning. It is a process by which a word of wide meaning acquires a narrow or special sense.W hen a common word is turned into a proper noun, the meaning is narrowed accordingly.For economy, some phrases are shortened and only one element of the original, usually an adjective, is left to retain the meaning of the whole.The same is true of material nouns, which are used to refer to objects made of them and thus have a more specific sense. e. g. Starve = to die => ME to die of cold and hanger => to die of hangerFrom general to specific; from abstract to concrete: corpse = human or animal body => dead body of manMeat” food and drink => flesh of animal as foodWife => married womanGirl = a young person of either sexes => femaleHospital = a place for sheltering or entertaining travelers =〉place where people are treated for illness or injuries.3.3 ExtensionExtension of meaning, also known as generalization, is the name given to the widening of meaning which some words undergo.It is a process by which a word which originally had a specialized meaning has now become generalized. In other words, the term has extended to cover a broader and often less definite concept.A large proportion of polysemic words of modern English have their meanings extended sometime in the course of development. Some words are generalized to such an extent that they can mean almost anything.Extension of meaning is also found in many technical terms, which as the term suggests are confined to specialized use. Words communized from proper nouns have experienced the same semantic change.Picture = painting or drawing => photo; film 3.4 DegenerationDegradation or pejoration of meaning is the opposite of semantic elevation. It is a process whereby words of good origin fall into ill reputation or non-affective words come to be used in derogatory sense.Observation shows that it is much more common for word meanings to change in denotation from neutral to pejorative than it is for them to go the other way.Words which were used to designate one thing but later changed to mean something else have experienced the process of semantic transfer.Associated transfer refers to the meaning that is transferred through association (the nose of a plane).Transfer may also occur between abstract and concrete meanings.Another transfer that occurs between subjective and objective meanings is noteworthy.Two main forms of degeneration:a. The falling of word meaning into disrepute, for one reason or another.b. The gradual extension of meaning to so many senses that any particular meaning which a word may have had is completely lost. This form of degeneration refers to the weakening of meaning resulting from habitual use of particular words on unsuitable occasions.Word old meaning elevated meaningSilly happy foolishCriticize appraise find fault with3.5 ElevationThe word meaning takes a turn for the better in the course of time, and has either risen from a “snarl” word to a “purr” word, or from a slang ter m to a common word Word old meaning elevated meaningAngel messenger messenger of GodKnight servant rank below baronetEarl man countFond foolish affectionateConclusionTill now, the English vocabulary is still changing, some words come out and some die out. In a word, as society is constantly in a state of development, so is language. Society depends on language for its existence. As society develops new objects are created that require the invention of new words and expressions. Therefore, the changing of English vocabulary is an endless changing process. So it is essential, as well as important, for us to know the changes of English vocabulary, especially for the students of English mayor. The role of vocabulary in communication calls for cotinuing vocabulary learning. Since English Lexicology deals with English vocabulary, this course will definitely be beneficial. With some knowlege of vocabulary, we will be able to handle the words, particularly those concerning words more professionally. They will be able to select and organize the best way to learn English well. The Lexocologist say, without words to express a wide ranges of meanings, communication in that language cannot happpen in any meaningfull way.AcknowledgementI am greatly indebted to all my teachers from the bottom of my heart. During the four years of study in the university, they have given me great assistance. I have learnt not only the academic knowledge but the true meanings of life as well.My thanks go to my supervisor Shi Manxia who gave me a lot of suggestions, and very willingly revised my paper again and again.Thanks for all my friends for collecting information and paper materials for me. Without their help, I would not have finished this paper well.Thanks for my deeply loved parents, without whose love and encouragement, I could not have finished my study in the university. Four years' education in Qingdao Technological University Qindao College is my precious wealth.Go out the college not mean the stop of the study of English. Go out the college mean graps all the opportunity to learn more about the English and other important things, which benefit to our life.Bibliography语音学与音系学入门北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2000 Gimson,A.C.and Arnold,E.An Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology 北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2000Halliday,M.A.K. 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