英语词汇学复习题

1 .What is a word? word is a minimal free form of a language that has a given sound, meaning and syntactic function.2.In what way are words related to vocabulary?Vocabulary refers to the sum total of all the words in a language. In other words, vocabulary is composed of words and words make up vocabulary. If we compare vocabulary to a family, words are family members.3.Illustrate the relationship between sound and meaning with examples .Sound is the physical aspect of a word and meaning is what the sound refers to. Sound and meaning are not intrinsically related and their collection is arbitrary and conventional. For example, tree/tri:/ means 树in English because the English-speaking people have agreed to do so just as Chinese p eople use/shù/ (树) to refer to the same thing. This explains why people of different languages use different sounds to express the same concept. However, in the same languages, the same sound can denote different meanings, . /rait/ can mean right, rite, and write.4 .Enumerate the causes for the differences between sound and form of english wordsThere are generally four major causes of the differences between sound and form. ⑴ There are more phonemes than letters in English, so there is no way to use one letter to represent one phoneme. ⑵ The stabilization of spelling by printing, which breaks the synchronized change of sound and spelling. ⑶ Influence of the work of scribes, who deliberately changed the spelling of words and ⑷ borrowing, which introduces many words which are against English rules of pronunciation and spelling.5 .Give examples to show the influence of early scribes on english spellingEarly scribes changed the spelling of many words while copying things for others because the original spelling forms in cursive writing were difficult for people to recognize, such as sum, cum, wuman, munk and so on. Later, the letter u with vertical lines was replaced with o, resulting in the current spelling forms like some, come, woman, monk. The changed spelling forms are more distinguishable to readers.6.What are the characteristics of basic word stockWords of the basic word stock form the common core of the English language. They are the words essential to native speakers’ daily communication. Suc h words are characterized by all national character, stability, polysemy, productivity and collocability.7.choose the standard meaning form from the list on the right to match each of the slang words on the leftA tart loose woman b. bloke fellow pistol d. swell great e. chicken cowardF .blue fight g. smoky police h full drunk i. dame woman j. beaver girl8.given the modern equivalents for the following archaic wordshaply = perhaps albeit= although methinks = it seems to me eke= also bade= bidsmooth= truth morn= morning troth= pledge ere= before quoth = said hallowed= holy billow= wave/ the sea9.Explain neologisms with examplesNeologisms refer to newly-coined words or old words with new meanings. For example, euro(欧元), e-book(电子书), SARS(非典), netizen (网民), are newly-coined words. Words like mouse(鼠标),web(网络),space shuttle(航天飞机) etc. are old words which have acquired new meanings.10.What is the fundamental difference between content and functional wordsBy notion, words fall into content words and functional words. Content words include nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and numerals, which have clear notions; whereas functional words are void of notions but are mainly used to connect content words into sentences. Content words are numerous and changing all the time, while functional words are small in number and stable. But functional words have much higher frequency in use than content words.11.How do you account for the role of native words in english in relation to loan words ?Native words form a small portion of the English vocabulary, but they make up the mainstream of the basic word-stock which belongs to the common core of the English language. Compared with most loan-words, native words are mostlyessential to native speakers’ daily communication and enjoy a much higher frequency in actual use.12. Categorize the following borrowed words into denizens , aliens translation loans and semantic loans Denizens Aliens Translation loans Semantic loanskettle confrere chopsticks dreamdie pro patria black humourskirt parvenu long time no seewall Wunderkind typhoonhusband MikadoKey to chapter 21. Why should students of english lexicology study the In-European language family?The Indo-Europe Language Family is one of the most important language families in the world. It is made up of the languages of Europe, the Near East and India. English belongs to this family and the other members of the Indo-European Language Family have different degrees of influence on English vocabulary. A knowledge of the Indo-European Language Family will help us understand English words better and use them more appropriately. a tree diagram to show the family relations of the modern language given below3. W hat are the fundamental differences between the vocabularies of the 3 periods of development ? Do you think we can divide the historical development in other ways ? Defend your argument.The vocabularies of the three periods differ greatly from one anther. Old English has (1) a small vocabulary (50 000—60 000), (2) a small number of borrowings from Latin and Scandinavian only and (3) the words full of endings. Middle English has (1) a comparatively large vocabulary, (2) a tremendous number of foreign words from French and Latin and (3) word endings leveled. Modern English has (1) a huge and heterogeneous vocabulary, (2) tremendous borrowings and (3) words with lost endings. Yes, we can divide the developments in other ways, for example, Old English period can be called Anglo-Saxon period. And Middle English might start from 1066, the time of Norman Conquest. But in doing so, the logical continuation Indo-European Language Family Balto-Slavic Lithuanian Prussian PolishSlavenianRussianBulgarian Indo-Iranian Hindi Perian CelticBreton Scottish Irish Italic Spanish French Italian Portuguese Roumanian Hellenic Greek Germanic English Swedish German Icelangic DanishDutchof thee three phases of the original division is lost.4.what characteristics of english make the english language heterogeneous ?it is receptivity and adaptability of the English language that make it possible for English to borrow heavily from other majorlanguages of the world, so that the English vocabulary eventually has become heterogeneous.5.Account for the popularity of english in the present world from a linguistic perspective.The popularity of English lies in the fact that English is ready to borrow from other languages and to adapt itself to new situations and new developments, that it has accepted elements from all other major languages and that it has simple reflection and a relatively fixed word order. All these make the language comparatively easy to learn and to use.6 course human events necessary peopledissolve political connected assume powersseparate equal station nature entitledecent respect opinions requires declarecauses impel separationFrom the words picked out, we can see that most of the content words are either of Greek or Latin origin. What we left are mostly functional words. This shows that Greek and Latin play a very important part in the English vocabulary.7.Give a brief account of the 4 phases of Latin borrowing with 2 or 3 examples for each period.Latin borrowing can be divided into four phase: (1) Pre-Anglo-Saxon period,(2)Old English period, (3) middle English period and (4) Modern English period. Borrowings in the first period are mainly common words such as wall, wine, kettle and so on; Words borrowed in the second period are mainly religious terms such as candle, nun, church; the third period saw word borrowed often via French such as frustrate, history, infancy and so on and in the forth period Words borrowed from Latin are usually abstract formal terms like status, nucleus, minimum.the difference elements that make up the following hybrids.eventful [Latin + English] hydroplane [Greek +Latin Falsehood [Latin +English ] pacifist [Latin +Greek ]Saxophone [German +Greek ] heirloom [French +English ] Joss house [Portuguese +English ] television [Greek + Latin ]the following French loan word into 2 groups , one being early borrowings and the other late ones .amateur (late) finace (late) Empire (late) peace (early) Courage (early) garage (late) Judgement (early) chair (early)Chaise (late) grace (early) Servant (early) routine (late) Jealous (early) savate (late) Genre (late) gender (early)Debut (late) morale (late) State (early) chez (late) Ballet (late)ment on Jespersen's remark on Scandinavian element in english "An englishman cannot thrive or be ill or die without Scandinavian words, they are to the language what bread and eggs are to the daily fare.Jespersen’s comment reveals the importance of Scandinavian words in English. Just as people cannot live without bread and eggs, so English language cannot operate properly without Scandinavian words.11. Match the Italian musical terms with the proper definitionsallegro f. 轻快 Alto i. 女低音 Andante j 行板 Crescendo b. 渐强 Diminuendo g. 渐弱 Forte e. 强Largo d. 缓慢 Piano h. 轻 Pianoforte a. 轻转慢 Soprano c. 女高音12.Look up these words in a dictionary to determine the language from which each has been borrowedcherub（Hebrew） chipmunk(American Indian ) Chocolate(Mexican ) coolie(Hindi) Cotton (Arabic) jubilee (Greek)Lasso (Spanish) loot (Hindi) Sabbath (Hebrew) shampoo (Hindi) Snorkel (German) ttamale (Mexican) Tepee (American) tulip (Turkish) Voodoo (African) kibitz (German) Wok (Chinese) sauerbraten (German)13. Here is a menu of loan words from various sources . Choose a word to fill in each space .a. alligatorb. Lococ. rodeod.. Bonanzae. igloof. Blitzkriegg. wigwamh. Canoei. hurricanej. Boomerangk. poncho14.Describe the characteristics of contemporary vocabularythe characteristics of the contemporary vocabulary can be summarized as follows: (1) the vocabulary is huge in size and heterogeneous; (2) it has tremendous borrowings from all other major languages of the world; (3) the words have lost their endings; (4) it is growing swiftly by means of word-formation because of the development of science and technology, social, economic and political changes andinfluence of other cultures and languages.15.What are the major modes of vocabulary development in contemporary english ?the major modes of vocabulary development of contemporary are creation, that is by means of word-formation; semantic change, adding new meanings to old words; borrowing words from other language and revival of old-fashioned words, which has a insignificant role.Key to chapter 3the terms in the blanks according to the definitionsa. morphemeb. allomorphc. bound morphemed. free morphemee. affixf. inflectional affixg. derivational affix h. rooti. stem j. base2. What is the difference between grammatical and lexical morphemes,and inflectional and derivational morphemes .give examples to illustrate their relationshipsInflectional morphemes are the suffixes added to the end of words to denote grammatical concepts such as –s(-es), -ed, -ing and –est (to show superlative degree of adjectives and adverbs) whereas derivational morphemes are prefixes and suffixes added to words to form new words such as pre-, dis-, un-, -tion, -er, -ness and so on.Grammatical morphemes are those used to show grammatical concepts, including inflectional suffixes as mentioned above and functional words (prepositions, pronouns, articles, auxiliary verbs), for example, but, the, do and Was; lexical morphemes are derivational affixes including both prefixes and suffixes3.Analyse the words in terms of root, stem ,baseIndividualisticindividualist + ic [stem , base]individual + ist [stem, base ]individu + al [stem, base ]in + dividu [root, stem, base ]undesirablesun +desirable [stem, base ]desir + able [root, stem, base ]the following terms in a tree diagram to show their logical relationshipsKey to chapter 4Enumerate the three important means of word formation and explain their respective role in the expansion of English vocabulary.The three means of word formation are affixation , which creates 30% to 40% of the total number of new words ;compounding ,which brings 28% to 30% of all the new words; and conversion , which provides English with 26% of the new words.Affixation1.What is affixation? What is its alternative name ?Affixation, also called derivation, is the formation of new words by adding affixes to stems. Affixation Includes prefixation and suffixation according to the types of Affixes used to forms new words.2.What is the difference between prefixation and suffixation?Prefixation is to create new words by adding prefixes to base while suffixation makes new words by adding suffixes to base.3.What are the characteristics of prefixes and suffixes?Generally speaking, prefixes do not change part of speech of base but only modify their meaning whereas suffixes do change part of speech but seldom modify the meaning of bases.4.What is the best way to classify prefixes ? Why ?The best way to classify prefixes is on the basis of meaning because prefixes only change the meaning of bases in general.5. Form negatives with each of following words by using one of these prefixes dis~,il~.im~ , in~,ir~ ,non~, un~, non-smoker incapable impractical disobey insecurity irrelevantimmature inability/disability unofficially unwillingness illegal disagreementillogical disloyal inconvenient non-athletic6. harden horrify modernizememorize falsify apologizedeepen glorify sterilizelengthen intensify beautifyfatten sympathizea. apologizeb. beautifyc. lengtheningd. sympathizede. to fattenf. falsify/hardenmorpheme free morpheme =free rootbound morphemeBound root affixinflectional affix derivational affix prefixsuffixg. memorizing h. Sterilize7. a. employee b. politician c. participantd. waitresse. conductorf. teacherg. pianist h. examinee/examiner8. trans- = across: transcontinental, trans-worldmono- = one: monorail, monoculturesuper- = over, above: superstructure, supernaturalauto- = self: autobiography, automobilesub- = bad, badly: malpractice, malnutritionmini- = little, small: minicrisis, miniwarpre- = before: prehistorical, preelectionex- = former: ex-teacher, ex-filmerCompounding1.Why are the criteria by which to differentiate compounds from free phrases? What do you think of these criteria? The three criteria are(1)stress pattern, that is, stress in a compound falls on the first element but on the second in a free phrase, . '- -(compound), - ' -(free phrase);(2)meaning, that is, the meanings of a compound is usually not the combination of the meaning of thecomponent parts, but the free phrase is, . hot line(compound: busy line),hot potato(free phrase: potato which is hot);(3)grammatical unity, that is, the different elements form a grammatical unit, which does not allow internal change, . easy chair(compound: a special arm chair),easier chair(free phrase: a less easy chair).However, every rule has expectations. The same is true of the criteria. Three are examples against each of the three rules.2. heartbeat [S + V] brainwashing [V + O]movie-goer [place + ] baking powder [ adv+n.]far- reaching [Adv+] dog-tired [adv + adj]lion-hearted [adv + ] love-sick [adv + adj]boyfriend [S + complement] peace-loving [V +O]snap decision [V + O] easy chair [ adj+ n]on-coming [adv+v] tax-free [adv +adj]light-blue [adj + adj] goings-on [V +adv]Whereas conversation is the derivation of new words by adding zero affixes, such as single(adj.)→single(v.）.3.Wh at are the usual methods to form compound words ? Give examples.There are two ways to form verb compounds. For example, first name (v. from first name) and honeymoon (v. from honeymoon)are words created by means of conversion: words such as proofread (v. from proofreading)and chain-smoke (v. from chain smoker) are formed by means of backformation.有教养的 well-behaved 守规矩的culture-bound 含文化的 homebound 回家的needle work 针织品 homework 家庭作业praiseworthy 值得表扬的 respectworthy 值得尊敬的bar-woman 吧女 sportswoman 女运动员nationwide 全国的 college-wide 全校的clear-minded 头脑清晰的 strong-minded 意志坚强的military-style 军事风格的 newstyle 新款self-control 自制 self-respect 自尊budget-related 有预算的 politics-related 与政治相关的water-proof 防水 fire-proof 防火once-fashionable 曾经流行的 once-powerful 曾经强大的news-film 新闻片 news-letter 时事通讯mock-attack 演习 mock-sadness 假悲伤sister-in-law 嫂/弟媳妇 father-in-law 岳父/公公home-baked 自家烤的 home-produced 自制的half-way 半途的/半路的 half-done 半生不熟的ever-lasting 永久的 ever-green 常青的age-conscious 年龄敏感的 status-conscious 身份敏感的campus-based 以校园为基地的 market-based 基于市场的Conversion1.What is conversion? What do you think of the alternatives functional shift and zero-derivation?Conversion is the formation of new words by turning words of one part of speech to those of another part of speech, The term functional shift reveals the actual function of conversion, . change of the functions of words .the term zero-derivation approaches conversion from the perspective of derivation because it is a way of deriving new words by adding zero affixes, hence zero derivation.2.In what way is conversion different from suffixation?Although both are called derivation ,suffixation is the derivation of new words by adding suffixes to bases, such as simple (adj.)→simplify（v.)3 what causes of words are most frequently converted ?The classes most frequently involved in conversation are nouns and verbs.4 in what way are verbs converted from nouns semantically related to original nouns and vice versa ?Verbs converted to nouns usually are related to the original verbs in six different ways. The new nouns converted from verbs refer to （1）state of mind or sensation, .desire(state of desiring); (2) event or activity, . swim (the activity of swimming );(3) result of the action, . buy (the result of buying);(4) doer of the action, . bore (the person whom bores); (5) tool or instrument, e,g, paper (doing something with paper ) and (6) place, . turn(the place of turning).Nouns converted to verbs are generally related to the original nouns in sever different ways . The new verbs usually mean (1) to put in or on the noun, e. g. peel (to remove the peel from );(4) to do with the noun, . Shoulder (to do something with shoulder); (5) to be or act as the noun, e. g. tutor (to be the tutor) ;(6) to make or change into the noun, . cash (7) to send or go by the noun ,e. g. ship (to send by ship).5.Explain partial conversion and full conversion with examplesWhen adjectives are converted into nouns, some are completely changed, thus known as full conversation, and others are partially changed, thus known as partial conversion. Adjectives which are fully converted can achieve a full noun status, i. e. having all the characteristics of nouns. That means they can take a / an shorts, finals. Adjectives which are partially converted still keep adjective features. They should always be used with the, and they cannot take -s/-es to show plural forms. Moreover, the words can have comparative or superlative degrees: the poor, thepoorer ,the young, the very unfortunate.6.What changes are occasionally involved in the process of conversion?The changes occasionally involved are (1) change of spelling accompanied by pronunciation ,e. G. Life/laIf/→live/liv/ , breath /breɚ/→breathe /bri:ỏ/ and blood /blʌd/→ bleed / bli:d/ ;(2) change of pronunciation and stress ,e. g. use . n /ju :s / → use v. / ju:z / and permit n. /'p :mit/→ v. /p 'mit / and so on.7.a .stomach [n.→v.] b. Room [n.→ v.] [n → v]go [v → n][a → n][a → n][a → n] h. ah/ ouch [int → v][a → n] might-have-been [finite v → n][proper n → v][v → n][a → v]Blendingmotel motor + hotel) 汽车旅馆 humint (human + intelligence) 情报 advertisetics (advertisement + statistics) 广告统计学psywarrior (psychological warrior) 心理战专家 hoverport (hovercraft + port 气垫船码头 chunnel (channel + tunnel) 海峡隧道hi-fi (high + fidelity) 高保真音响 cinemactress (cinema + actress) 电影演员Clippingcopter (helicopter) front clipping dorm (dormitory) back clipping lab (laboratory) back clipping prefab (prefabricated house) phrase clipping gas (gasoline) back clipping prof (professor) back clipping scope (telescope) front clipping champ (champion) back clipping sarge (sergeant) back clippingmike (microphone) back clipping ad (advertisement) back clipping tec (detective) ront and back clipping Acronymyinitialisms and acronyms are formed to a certain extent from initial letters. Is there any difference between them ? Illustrate your point with examplesYes, there is a difference between them. The difference lies in the formation and pronunciation. Initialisms are formations pronounced letter by letter, . UFO(unidentified flying object), BBC(B ritish B roadcasting C orporation), VIP(very important person) and acronyms are formed to conform to the rule of spelling and pronunciation, that is, the words look and sound like ordinary words, . AIDS/eidz/(acquired immune deficiency syndrome), MAD(mutually assured destruction), radar(radio detecting and ranging).do the short forms stand for ?kg =k ilogram ft=f oot cf =c onfer cm=c entimeter $=d ollar ibid = i bide etc. = e t cetera VIP=v ery i mportant p ersonOPEC=O rganization of P etroleum E xporting C ountries TOEFL=t est of E nglish as a f oreign l anguage3. a. SALT b. radar c. AIDSd. BASICe. Laserf. WHOg. sonar h. G-manBackformation1. Both back-formation and back-clipping are ways of making words by removing the endings of words . How you account for coexistence of the 2 ?can you illustrate the difference ?It is true that both are means of making new words by removing the end part of the words. But they have differences. For a back-formed word , what is removed is the supposed suffix ,. auth------author , donate------donation ,loaf-----loafer , the forms –-or,--ion , --er coincide with the their suffixes . For back clipping , however , what is removed is usually different from the existing suffixes ,. ad------advertisement , gas-------gasoline , exam------examination , etc.2.Cive the original words from which the following words are back-formedLase (laser) escalate(escalator) Babysit (babysitter) peeve (peevish) Orate (orator) commute (commuter) Communization of proper namesa.Tantalize -------Tantalus : to tease or torment by keeping sth. wanted out of reachb.b Argus-eyed--------Argus : to be extremely watchfula.narcissim--------Narcissus : excessive admiration of oneself or one’s appearanceb.sabotage-------Sabots : (1) to destroy or damage deliberately(2) deliberate damage or destructione. martinet--------Martinet : strict /stern (military) trainerf . yahoo-------Yahoo : a lout or ruffiang. Shylock--------Shylock: a ruthless money lenderh. hovering-------Hoover: cleaning by using a vacuum cleanerKey to Chapter 51. What is reference ?Reference is the connection between the word form and what the form refers to in the world. (or: Reference is the relationship between language and the world.)2. What is concept ?Concept is a notion or idea, formed in the mind as a result of cognition, which reflects the objective world.3. What is sense ?The sense of a word shows its place in a system of semantic relationships with other words in the language. It is often used to substitute meaning.4.What is motivation? Does this theory contradict the theory of "arbitrariness" and "conventionality' concerning the relationshipbetween linguistic symbols and their senses ?Motivation explains the relationship between the linguistic symbol and its meaning, or the logical reason why a certain word has a certain meaning.As mentioned earlier, the relationship between sound and meaning is arbitrary and conventional. Motivation seems to contradict the theory. The answer is “yes and no”. By “yes”, we mean all the mono-morphemic words in a language are non-motivated except a few onomatopoeic words which imitate the natural sounds or noises. By “no”, we mean many multi-morphemic words are motivated, for in many cases the meaning of the whole word is the combination of the morphemes. The morphemic structure explains the meaning.5. What are the 4 types of motivation? Explain them with examplesThe four types of motivation are onomatopoeic motivation, morphological motivation, semantic motivation and etymological motivation. Onomatopoeic motivation explains onomatopoeic words whose meaning is based on the pronunciation of the words such as miaow, thump, peng, etc. ; morphological motivation explains the words whose morphological structure throws light on their meaning, such as profiteer (profit+eer), darkroom (dark+room),deconstruction (de+construct+ion), etc. ; semantic motivation explains the figurative meaning of words whose literal meaning suggests the figurative meaning such as the tongue of fire, the mouth of the river, the face of the earth; etymological motivation explains the words whose meaning is closely related to their origins such as banting(therapy for keeping slim by going on a diet discovered by Doctor Banting) and Brille(language used by the blind created by Brille).6. apes-gibber birds-sing/twitter cattle-low crickets-chirp doves-coo foxes-yelpgeese-gabble sheep-bleat wolves-howl monkeys-chatter pigs- grunt hyenas-laugh turkeys-gobble swans-cry7. What is the difference between grammatical meaning and lexical meaning?Grammatical meaning refers to the part of meaning which shows grammatical relationship such as part of speech of words, plural forms of nouns, tense of verbs, etc. and lexical meaning includes all the rest of the meanings of a word apart from the grammatical meaning, . conceptual meaning and associative meaning.8. What ar ethe characteristics of conceptual meaning and associative meaning?Conceptual meaning is fundamental, universal and stable whereas associative meaning is secondary, contextual, open-ended or indeterminate, thus changing.9. What connotations do you think we word atomic might have for each of the following people ?a. A scientist working in a project to develop industrial uses for nuclear power might have all the positive associations with atomic, such as “benefit”, “energy”, etc.b. A Japanese resident of Hiroshima, victim of the atomic explosion at the end of World War Ⅱ, might have all the negative associations with atomic, such as “suffering”, “killing”, “death”, “horror”, etc.c. To a student of nuclear physics, atomic might be associated with “mystery”, “science”, “knowledge”, etc.10. talkative: implying a fondness for talking frequently and at length (neutral)articulate: expressing oneself easily and clearly (positive)gossip: indulging in idle talk or rumours about others (negative)rambling: talking aimlessly without connection of ideas (negative)fluent: speaking easily, smoothly and expressively (positive)gabby: inclined to chatter (negative)mouthy: overtly talkative, especially in a rude way (negative)11.No Appreciative Neutral Pejorativea. particular fastidious/fussyb. critical fault-finding/pickyc. vogue/style fadd. artful cunning/slye. unstable fickle/capriciousf. developing backward/underdevelopedg. encourage/promote instigateh. group clique/gang12. What are semantic features?Semantic features are the minimal semantic components of words which are abstracted from the words, These features。