词汇学课本练习答案

Chapter I
1.主观题
2.How did the Norman Conquest and the Renaissance influence the English vocabulary ?
The transitional period（转型时期）from Old English to Modern English is known as Middle English(ME 1100----1500), which is characterized by the strong influence of French following the Norman Conquest in 1066, French was used for all state affairs and for most social and culture matters, which influenced English in daily life.
The English language from 1500 to the present is called Modern English. In the early stage of this period the Renaissance（文艺复兴）brought great change to the vocabulary. The renewed（复兴的）study of Greek in the Renaissance not only led to the borrowing of Greek words indirectly through the medium（媒介）of Latin, but also led to the introduction of some Greek words directly into English vocabulary. Greek borrowings were mostly literary, technical and scientific words,(page 4~5)
3.Enumerate the causes for the rapid growth of neologisms（新词，旧词新意，新词的创造者/使用者）after World WarⅡ. Give four examples for each cause.
①marked progress of science and technology. Example: to blast off(炸掉，炸毁) ,to countdown ,capsule, launching pad
②socio-economic（社会经济）, political and cultural changes. Example: roller-hockey ,surf-riding, skydiving（跳伞运动）, designated hitter
③the influence from other cultures and languages（page6~7）Example: cosmonaut ,discotheque（小舞厅，迪斯科舞厅）,ombudsman（调查官员舞弊情况的政府官员）, apartheid（种族隔离）.
4.What are the fundamental features of the basic word stock（词库）of the English vocabulary ?
(1). National character(全民通用性)：Words of the basic word stock belong to the people as a whole, not to a limited group.
(2). Stability（稳定性）:As words in the basic word stock denote the commonest things necessary to life, they are likely to remain unchanged. However, a certain number of Old English words have dropped out of the basic word stock, while new words have joined the rank of basic words, following social and technological changes.
(3). Word-forming ability(构词)：Basic words are very active in forming new words.
(4). Ability to form collocations（搭配能力）：Basic words combine readily with other words to form habitual expressions and phrases.
Since the great majority of the basic word stock are native words, they are naturally the ones used most frequently in everyday speech and writing.(Page 10 paragraph 4 , 5 ,7 , 8 and Page 11 paragraph 2)
5.What are the characteristics of the English vocabulary as a result of its historical development ?
The historical development of English language shows that English is a heavy borrower; it has adopted words from almost every known language, especially from Latin, French and Greek.（page 18.）
6.Why do we say that native words are the core of the English vocabulary?
First, because the native words form the great majority of the basic word stock of the English language. And the basic word stock is the foundation of the vocabulary accumulated over a number of epochs.
Second, they make up the most familiar, most useful part of the English vocabulary. So we say that native words are the core of the English vocabulary for its importance. （Page 10 paragraph 2, and Page 19 paragraph 2）
7.What do we mean by literary and common words ?
(1) Common or popular words are words connected with the ordinary things or activities necessary to everyday life. The great majority of English words are common words . The core of the common words is the basic word stock. They are stylistically (在文体上) neutral , and hence they are appropriate in both formal and informal writing and speech. (Page 11 paragraph 6)
(2) Literary words are chiefly used in writing, especially in books written in a more elevated（升高的，提高的，崇高的）style, in official documents, or in formal speeches. They are comparatively seldom used in ordinary conversation.(Page 12 paragraph 1)
Chapter 2
Q1:Explain the following terms and provide example:
a.Morphemic 形位
b.Allomorph 形位变体
c.free and bound morphemic
d.hybrid 混合词
Morphemic: the smallest meaningful linguistic unit of language, not divisible or analyzable into smaller forms. Example: nation (page21 ,paragraph2, line 1) Allomorph:any of the variant forms of a morphemic as conditioned by position or
adjoining sounds. Example: books, pigs.( page22 , paragraph 3, line 4)
Free morphemic: one that can be uttered alone with meaning. Example: man，read，faith (page23 , paragraph2, line 1 To2 )
Bound morphemic: cannot stand by itself as a complete utterance表达; it must appear with at least one other morphemic. Example: unkind (page23 , paragraph2, line4) Hybrid: a word made up of elements form two or more different language. Example: goddess, rewrite.( page27 , paragraph2, line 4)
Q2. What are the differences between inflectional and derivational affixes? P26页第4段开头P29页第4自然段末尾
Inflectional affixes （屈折词缀）are related to grammar only. Derivational affixes （派生词缀）are subdivided into prefixes and suffixes, which are related to the formation of new words. Roots, prefixes前缀and suffixes后缀. are the building blocks with which words are formed.
The number of derivational affixes, although limited, is much larger than that of inflectional affixes.
Q3:In what two ways are derivational affixes 派生词缀classified? p26 Derivational affixes are classified in prefixes 前缀and suffixes后缀.
Q4:How are words classified on the morphemic（语素的）level? P29 paragraph 5 On the morphemic level, words can be classified into simple, complex and compound words（复合词）.
Chapter III
ⅠExplain
1、(p32)Word-formation rules:The rules of word-formation define the scope and methods whereby speakers of a language may create new words
2、Root, stem and base. Analyze the word denationalized into root, base and stem. Denationalized
①Root：nation
②stem：denationalize
③base：nationalized
ⅡCompounding
1、What are the relative criteria of a compound?
(p35-p36)①Orthographic criterion
②Phonological criterion
③Semantic criterion
ⅢDerivation
1、What is derivation?
(p42-p43)Derivation is a word- formation process by which new words are created by adding a prefix, or suffix, or both to an already existing word.
2、What is the difference between prefixation and suffixation?
Prefixation is the addition of a prefix to the base. Prefixes modify the meaning of the base, but they do not generally alter its word-class. Every prefix has a specific meaning of its own; prefixes are therefore classified according to their meanings.
Suffixation refers to the addition of a suffix to the base. Suffixes frequently alter the
word-class of the base. Therefore, suffixes are classified according to the class of word they form into noun-forming suffixes, verb-forming suffixes, etc(p66)
3、How are the major living prefixes classified? Give a few examples to illustrate each kind.
（P44）The major living prefixes are classified into the following eight categories by their meaning :
1) negative prefixes (un- , non- , in- , dis- , a- ). eg , unhappy ,nonhero , injustice ,disadvantage , atypical ）
2) reversative or privative prefixes （un - , de - , dis -）. eg , unwrap , decentralize ,disunite
3) pejorative prefixes ( mis - , mal - , pseudo - ) .eg. mistrust , maltreat, pseudo-science
4) prefixes of degree or size ( arch - , super - , out - , sub - , over - , under - , hyper - , ultra - , mini - ) eg, archbishop，supercurrent hyperactive, outlive , ultra-conservative 5) prefixes of attitude ( co - , counter - , antic - , pro - ) eg, cooperation, anti-nuclear ,
pro-student , counterpart
6) locative prefixes ( super-, sub- ,inter- , trans- ) eg. Subarctic , superacid, transcode
7) prefixes of time and order ( fore - ,pre - , post - , ex - , re - ) forehead , reconsider ,prereading , post-war
8) number prefixes ( uni - / mono - , bi - / di - , multi - / poly -) multi-purpose , monocle , bi-media
4、How can you form deverbal nouns, denominal nouns, deadjective verbs, and denominal adjectives by suffixation?
（P50）answer：1）deverbal noun suffixes: verb-noun suffixes , such as –er in writer , -ee
in employee, -ation in exploitation and –ment in development .
2) denominal noun suffixes : noun –noun suffixes , such as –hood in boyhood , - ship in scholarship , - let in booklet , and –dom in stardom .
3) deadjective verb suffixes : adjective – verb suffixes , such as –ify in simplify , - ize in modernize , and –en in quicken
4) denominal adjective suffixes: noun – adjective suffixes, such as –full in helpful, -less in limitless, -y in silky and –ish in foolish.
5、Give the meaning of the following words and analyze the structure of each word:
（P51）answer: 1) a driver means a person who drives
2) a lighter means a machine used for lightering
3) a gardener means a person who garden
4) a New Yorker means a person from New York
5) a villager means inhabitant of village
6) a diner is‘a dining carriage on a train‘
7) a lifer is‘slang. A person sentenced to imprisonment for life
8) a dresser means
Analyze : as for 1、2、3 ,affixed to a verb ,the suffix forms agent nouns with the meaning of ‗ one who performs an action ‘as for 4、5 ，this affix may also be joined to the means of cities , countries , and to other place names . as for 6、7、8 colloquial and slangy .
ⅣConversion
1、what is the difference between conversion（此类转化法）and suffixation（加
后缀）?
(P55 介绍conversion的第一段)：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 affix. It is also called zero-derivation.
e.g. bottle (n. ) ---- bottle ( v. ), buy (v. ) ---- buy ( n.), tutor ( n. ) ---- tutor ( v. )（例子也可以举其他的如attack）
(P49 介绍Suffixation的第一段)：Suffixation: It's the formation of a new word by adding a suffix or a combining form to the base, and usually changing the word-class of the base.e.g.boy n. + -ish -- boyish adj. boy n. +hood -- boyhood n.
2、In a conversion pair, how can you determine which of the two is the base and which the derived word(派生词)?
（P56 中间三个例子）
•The base is derivation by zero suffix.
Spy –a deverbal noun without suffix, meaning one who spies.
•The derived word is derivation by suffix
Wirter---a deverbal noun with "-er" suffix，meaning one who writes
3、Illustrate the axiom（原理）,"The actual grammatical classification of any word is pendent upon its use."
（P57最后一段）Notice how the word-class of round varies in accordance with its use in the following sentence:
i.e. The second round(n)（回合）was exciting. Any round(adj)（圆的）plate will do.
Some drivers round(v)（绕行）coners too rapidly.
The sound goes round and round(phrase). (旋转)
The above examples tell us a very important fact: because word order（词序）is more fixed in Modern English than ever before, the function shifts within sentence structures are possible without causing any confusion in intelligibility(可懂度，可理解性).『这一段可不要』
4、Why is the conversion from noun to verb the most productive process of conversion?
(58—59页)First in contemporary English, there is a tendency o f ―a preponderance of nouns aver verb‖.
Second, there are only a few verb-forming affixes in English. They are be-, en-, -ify, -ize and –en.
5、What are the major semantic types under noun to verb conversion?
（a）“to put in/on N”
（b）“to give N, to provide N”
（c）“to deprive of N; or to remove the object denoted by the noun from something”（d）“To….with N”
（e）“To｛be/ act as｝N with respect to…”
(1)verbs from human nouns
(2)verbs from animal nouns
(3)verbs from inanimate nouns
（f）“To ｛make/change｝…into N”
（g）“To ｛send/go｝by N”
(1)mail
(2)bicycle
（h）“To spend the period of time denoted by N”
6、Why is the poor an example of partial conversion?
（62页）It is used as noun when preceded by the definite article; yet the converted noun takes on only some of the features of the noun; i.e. It does not take plural and genitive inflection, nor can it be preceded by determiners like a, this, my, etc.
8、Pick out the converted words in the sentences below and state(1)the word-class
of the converted words and their meanings; (2)to what word-class the base of each of the converted words belongs:
（1）They are going to summer in Guilin.
the converted word: summer（v.）
the word-class of it: conversion
meaning:避暑；过夏天
the base of the word of the word-class belongs: summer(n.)
(2)They hurrahed his wonderful performance.
the converted word: hurrah(v.)
the word-class of it: conversion
meaning:欢呼，叫好，为----喝彩
the base of the word of the word-class belongs: hurrah(n.)
(3)You have to round your lips in order to make the sound/u:/.
the converted word: round(v.)
the word-class of it: conversion
meaning:弄圆，使---成圆形
the base of the word of the word-class belongs: round(n.)
(4)They are great sillies.
the converted word: silly(n.)
the word-class of it: conversion
meaning:傻瓜
the base of the word of the word-class belongs: silly(adj.)
(5)She dusted the furniture every morning.
the converted word: dust(v.)
the word-class of it: conversion
meaning: 拂去灰尘
the base of the word of the word-class belongs: dust(n.)
(6) It is a good buy.
the converted word: buy(n.)
the word-class of it: conversion
meaning:购买，买卖；所购的物品
the base of the word of the word-class belongs: buy(v.)
Chapter4
I. Explain the following terms and provide examples.
1. Initialism:
Initialism is a type of shortening, using the first letters of words to form a proper name, a
technical term, or a phrase；an initialism is pronounced letter by letter.
2. Acronym:
Acronyms are words formed from the initial letters of the name of an organization or a scientific term, etc.
3. Blend:
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.
4. Front and back clipping:
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.
Back clipping may occur at the end of the word. This is the most common type of clipping.
Front clipping occurs at the beginning of the word.
5. back-formation:
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 affix from a longer form already present in the language.
6. Reduplication:
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.
Chapter V
1.How are the sound and meaning of most words related? Give examples to
illustrate your point. (P93)
Most English words are conventional（常规的）, arbitrary symbols; consequently, there is no intrinsic（内在的，固有的）relation between the sound-symbol and its sense.
e.g. house ( English)
maison ( French)
fangzi ( Chinese)
dom ( Russian)
casa ( Spanish)
A more convincing evidence of the conventional and arbitrary nature of the connection between sound-symbol（声音符号）and meaning can also be illustrated by a set of homophones(同音异义词): write, right, and rite(仪式，礼拜式）. They are pronounced the same but convey different meanings.
2.What do we mean by phonetic motivation? （P94和PPT）
Words motivated phonetically are called echoic words（拟声词）or onomatopoeic words, whose pronunciation suggests the meaning. They show a close relation of name to sense whereas non-echoic words don‘t show any such relationship.
Onomatopoeic words（拟声词）can be divided into primary Onomatopoeia（直
接拟声）and secondary Onomatopoeia（间接拟声）.Primary Onomatopoeia means the imitation of sound by sound. Secondary Onomatopoeia means that certain sounds and sound-sequences are associated with certain senses in an expressive relationship.
3.Quote a short poem or passage that shows the literary effect of onomatopoeic words. (P94倒数第二行)
“The ice was here, the ice was there,
The ice was all around;
It cracked and growled, and roared and howled,
Like noises in a swound!‖
5.What is meant by grammatical meaning?（P96~97）
Grammatical meaning(词法意义) consists of word-class（词类）and inflectional paradigm（词形变化）。

(1）It describes the word‘s lexical meaning and also gives what is traditionally known as the part of speech of the word, which modern linguists call the
word-class.
(2）The set of grammatical forms of a word is called its paradigm.
On the other hand the grammatical meaning is the same in identical sets of individual forms of different words.
6. What is the different between grammatical meaning and lexical meaning? (P97第3段)
First, the lexical meaning(词汇意义) of a word is the same in all forms of one and the same word while the grammatical meaning （语法意义）varies from ,one word-form
to another. Second, every word has a different lexical meaning whereas the grammatical meaning is the same in the identical sets of individual forms of different words.
7．Why should we give primary importance to conceptual/denotative meaning（概念/外延意义）of words ?(P97第4段)
Denotative meaning is the central factor in linguistic communication.
One of the functions of words is to designate or describe something, such as an object, a property or a process. Users of a language cannot talk about their knowledge of a physical object or a natural phenomenon, unless this knowledge is expressed in words which have the same meaning for all speakers of a given community. This is the denotative meaning of a word.
Denotative meaning is used when the emphasis is on the relationship between language, on the one hand, and the things, events, or processes, which are external to the speaker and his language, on the other.
The denotative meaning of a word is its definition given in a dictionary. It‘s that aspect of lexical meaning which makes communication possible.
8. Give three to five words which have connotations（内涵）varying from one speech community to another speech community, or from era to era.
(The answer is from page98)
(1) mother: The denotative meaning of the word mother is ―female parent‖, but it generally connotes love, care, tenderness.
(2) January: The word January denotes ―the first month of the year‖, but it connotes cold weather, a biting north wind, snow, central heating, skating or even the New Year.
(3) road: To the Eskimos in Greenland , Alaska and North Canada, who travel by sledge,
road often connotes snow-covered ground, while to those living in big cities, road connotes smooth and peaceful avenues with trees alongside, or streets crowded with people and heavy traffic.
(4)Uncle Sam: Uncle Sam is a term of favorable connotation to most American in the United States, but in some countries the opposite is true, and an allusion to Uncle Sam would be associated with feelings of anger and hatred towards the American government.
12. Explain the following terms with examples:(The answer is from page101 )
a) semantic features (语义特征)
The linguistic meaning of a word is the set of abstracted characteristics necessary to distinguish the category which the word names from all other categories. These abstracted characteristics（抽象特征）are known as semantic features. Semantic features are used to describe semantic universals（共性，一般概念）that may characterize all languages.
For example, [Male], [Female], [Adult], [Non-adult], [Human], [Bovine], [Ovine] and [Porcine] are the semantic features.
b) componential analysis（成分分析）
All languages, for example, distinguish nouns that categorize abstract from concrete experience; animate from inanimate referents; human from non-human; male from female. The word ‗man‘ has the following semantic features:〔Human〕, 〔Adult〕, 〔Male〕and〔Concrete〕This kind of analysis is known as componential analysis.
CHAPTER 6
Ⅰ、Polysemy
1、What is meant by polysemy? Why is polysemy an essential condition for language efficiency?
（1）、Polysemy has been defined as― A term used in semantic analysis to refer to a lexical item which has a range of different meanings.‖ 109页第 2---3行
(2)、Polysemy is also an essential feature of a language‘s economy and efficiency. Just imagine what a heavy burden it would be on the learner's memory if it were not possible for one word to possess several senses . One would be obliged to learn a tremendous number of separate words for every subject one might wish to talk about. 110页
第 14---17行
2. What sort of process is radiation?
Radiation is the process in which the primary or central meaning stands at the center while secondary meanings radiate from it in every direction like ray. 111页第17---19行
3、What is concatenation?
Concatenation,― linking together‖ , is a semantic process in which the meaning of a word moves gradually away from its first sense by successive shifts , like the links of a chain,
until there is no connection between the sense that is finally developed and the primary meaning. 113页 11----14行
Ⅱ、Homonymy
1、What do we mean by perfect homonyms?
115页倒数第2-3行Perfect homonyms : Words identical in sound and spelling but different in meaning are called perfect homonyms.
2、What is the difference between homophones and homographs? Illustrate your point.
116页第8-9行Homophones: Words identical in sound but different in spelling and meaning are called homophones.
116页第12-13行Homographs : Words identical in spelling but different in sound and meaning are called homographs.
3、What are the sources of homonyms?
The sources of homonyms are as follows:
①Phonetic convergence: Converging sound development is the most common cause of homonymy, or to be more exact, of homophones. Under the influence of phonetic changes, two or more words which once were different in sound forms take on the same pronunciation the spoken language.(出自课本117页)
②Semantic divergence: Homonymy can also be brought about through diverging
sense development . When two or more meanings of the same word drift apart to such an extent that there will be no obvious connection between them , polysemy will give place to homonymy.(出自课本第118页)
③Foreign influence: Words introduced from abroad have increased the number of
homonyms in English ,as can be seen from some of the examples already given in the preced ing section on ―Phonetic convergence‖and ―Semantic divergence‖(出自课本第118页)
④Shortening: Homonyms may also be created by the word-formation process of
clipping .This source is of decidedly subsidiary importance in formal writing but has widespread influence in everyday speech . The following words afford graphic examples of this process(课本第119页)
4、答案在261页
5、答案在261-262页
6、答案在262页
Chapter 7
Ⅰ Synonym
1. Comment on the traditional definition of synonyms.
What’s your definition for synonyms ?
(P124) Synonyms are traditionally defined as words in differing in sound form but identical or similar in meaning.
(P125) a word having the same meaning as other word: as one of two or more words of the same language and grammatical category having the same essential or generic meaning and differing only in connotation, application, or idiomatic use: one of two or more words having essentially identical definitions.
2. What do we mean by complete synonyms ?
(P125) two word s are totally synonyms only if they are fully identical in meaning and interchangeable in any context without the slightest alteration in connotative, affective and stylistic meanings.
3. In what respects do synonymous words differ ? P133
(1)synonyms of different word-classes(like jealous and jealousy)(2)words synonymous with phases(like to to-lerate and to put up with);(3)different sentence patterns expressing roughly the same idea.
4. Why are synonyms useful for literary purposes and for everyday use of the language ?
(P132) Becaus e of the ―sameness‖ of the denotative meaning of synonyms and their difference in connotative, stylistic and affective meaning, we can see synonyms are useful for avoiding repetition and for achieving precision in meaning and variety in style.
Ⅱ Antonym
1. How do you define antonyms? P136
The term ―antonyms‖ is used for ―oppositeness of meaning‖; words that are in opposition are antonyms
2. What is meant by Contraries, complementaries, conversives? P136 Contraries(相对性反义词)
Contraries show a type of oppositeness of meaning, illustrated by such pairs as old/ young, big/ small, long/ short, etc. They can be seen in terms of degrees of the quality
involved.
Complementaries ( 互补性反义词）
Complementaries refer to a type of binary semantic contrast which admits of no gradability between the lexical items.
Conversives ( 换位反义词）
Conversives display a type of oppositeness of meaning, illustrated by such as buy—sell, give– receive, parent– child, above– below, etc. There is an interdependence of meaning.
3.What is the difference between root(固定)antonyms and derivational(派生的)antonyms? P148
Root(固定)antonyms are words with different toots. Derivational(派生的)antonyms are words with the same roots having negative affixes, such as happy and unhappy.
4. Which is the unmarked member in the following antonymous pairs: long, short; high, low? What is the difference between marked and unmarked ones? Unmarked member: long; high.
The unmarked member is used when one simply wishes to know the state, quality of features of a person, thing, etc.
The marked member always carries a certain implication of distinctiveness. The unmarked member is one which carries no particular implication at all.
Ⅲ Hyponymy
1. What is meant by Hyponymy ? P150
It is the relationship which obtains between specific and general lexical items, such that the former is included in the latter . That is to say, the former is a hyponym(受支配词）
of the latter. e.g. A cat is a hyponym of animal; flute is that of musical instrument; chair of furniture, and so on.
Chapter VIII
1.Explain the following terms:
a. Lexical context(词汇语境): it refers to the lexical items combined with a given polysemous word. One word can be used in many different senses when it is combined with other lexical items.
b. Extra-linguistic context (语言之外的环境)：
1. the actual speech situation in which a word occurs
2. the entire cultural background against which a word is used
2. State the vital roles of context in determination of word meaning
A.Eliminating ambiguities（含糊，不明确）
1. Lexical ambiguity due to polysemy
2. Structural ambiguity arising from the grammatical analysis of a sentence or a phrase.
B.Conveying emotional overtones(感情色彩)
C.Indicating referents and the range of the meaning of a word
3.What do you think of the following remarks?
1）The meaning of a word is its use in the languages
I don't agree with this remark. A word‘s use is just a part of its meaning. Context is of great importance for the understanding of word meaning, especially for the understanding of the meanings of polysemic words. No matter how many denotative meanings a word may have, generally there will be no risk of misunderstanding the
meaning, when it occurs in a particular context.
2）The contexts of an utterance determine its meaning…since no two contexts are ever exactly the same…To insist dogmatically that we know what a word means in advance of its utterance nonsense”
Every word has a meaning or meanings of its own, independent of the context. When we say context determines the word sense , we do not mean that it gives a sense to the word, but that it selects one out of all possible meanings already there.
Chapter IX Changes in word meaning
1、Explain why change of word-meaning is fundamental in a living language ?
Changing of meaning can be illustrated with words from any page of Shakespeare. (Eg: in Shakespeare‘s days, admiration meant astonishment; season meant moderate .so ―season your admiration for a while…‖ meant ―to moderate his astonishment‖.)
The change of meaning in English words would of themselves provide enough material for a large volume.
Changing of meaning is a commonplace , and indeed it would appear to be fundamental in meaning …almost every word we use today has a slightly different meaning from the one it had a century ago ;and a century ago it had a slightly different meaning from the one it had a century before that.
2、How do the historical and social causes account for changes in the meaning of words？。