Homework for English Lexicology

Homework for English Lexicology
Chapter 1
1. Which of the following is NOT true?
A. A word is the smallest form of a language
B. A word is a sound unity.
C. A word has a given meaning.
D. A word can be used freely in a sentence.
2. The differences between sound and form are due to
A. the fact of more phonemes than letters in English.
B. stabilization of spelling by printing
C. influence of the work of scribes.
D. innovations made by linguists.
3. Of the five characteristics listed for the basic word stock, the most important is
A. all national character
B. productivity
C. polysemy
D. collocability
4. Compare the following statements by supplying an appropriate term for each blank.
A. borrowed words which still sound foreign and looked foreign are ___.
B. There is no ___ relationship between sound and ___ as the connection
between them is ___ and conventional.
C. ____ are borrowings that have become naturalized or assimilated in English.
D. Archaisms are words no longer in ___ use or ____ in use.
E. Content words are changing all the time whereas functional words are___.
___words enjoy a ____ frequency in use than content words.
F. A word whose meaning was borrowed from another language is called ___.
Chapter 2
I. Fill in the blanks according to the text.
The language used between 450 and _______is called_______, which has a vocabulary of ______. Middle English refers to the language spoken from 1150 to _______, followed by the _______ period, subdivided as early modern English __( ) and late (1700-up to now.)
II. Decide whether the statements are true or false.
1. English is more closely related to German than French.
2. Scandinavian languages refer to Icelandic, Norwegian, Danish and Swedish.
3. Old English was a highly inflected language.
4. In early Middle English period, English, Latin, and Celtic existed side by
side.
5. The introduction of printing into England marked the beginning of modern
English period.
6. Modern English is considered to be an analytic language.
7. The four major foreign contributors to English vocabulary in earlier times are
Latin, French, Scandinavian and Italian.
8. In modern times, borrowing brings less than ten percent of modern English
vocabulary.
9. The major factors that promote the growth of modern English vocabulary are
advances in science and technology as well as influence of foreign cultures and languages.
10. The most important mode of vocabulary development in present-day English
is creation of new words by means of word formation.
Chapter 3
I. Write out the opposites of the following with in-(il, ir, etc), non-, and un-.
1. mature
2. regular
3. considerate
4. noble
5. legitimate
6. passive
7. endurable 8. accuracy 9. inductive
10. legible 11. reasonable 12. balance
13. legalize 14. metal 15. variance
Chapter 4
I. Fill in the blanks according to the text.
In modern times, the expansion of ____ is mainly through word-formation.
The major means of word-formation are _____, _____ and ____. It is estimated that affixation supplies modern English with _____percent of its new vocabulary, _____gives 28 to 30 percent and 26 percent of new words come from _____. Shortening, such as clipping, ____etc. also plays an important role in the development of vocabulary, resulting in amount up to eight to _____ percent.
II. Decide whether the following statements are true or false.
1. Compounding are words formed by combining affixes and stems.
2. Open compounds look like free phrases as the elements forming each word are
written separately.
3. As a rule, the stress of compounds falls on the first element.
4. The meaning of a compound is usually the combination of the stems.
5. A compound functions as a single grammatical unit, so the internal structure can
not be changed.
6. Conversion refers to the use of words of one class as that of a different class.
7. Words mainly involved in conversion are nouns, verbs and adverbs.
8. Partial conversion and full conversion are concerned with adjectives when
converted to nouns.
9. Such words as the poorer, the departed, a republican are all examples of partial
conversion.
10. An alternative for conversion is functional shift.
Chapter 5
Decide whether the following statements are true or false.
1. Motivation explains why a particular form has a particular meaning.
2. Grammatical meaning refers to the part of speech, tenses of verbs and stylistic
features of words.
3. Unlike conceptual meaning, associative meaning is unstable and indeterminate.
4. Affective meaning refers to the part of the word-meaning which indicates the
attitude of the user.
5. Collocation can affect the meaning of words.
6. By etymological motivation, we mean that the meaning of a particular word is
related to its origin.
7. The connotative meaning is also known as connotations, which are generally
found in the dictionary.
Chapter 6
I. Complete the following passage according to the text with a suitable word
for each blank.
Polysemy is the ______ of long semantic development of a word.
Diachroncally, a polysemant was _______ when it was first created and it became _________ gradually when it acquired more and more meanings later on. The first meaning was the ________ meaning and the rest were _______ from it.
Synchronically, a ______ has a number of meanings that _______ at the same time. Among them there is a ________ meaning which is the ________meaning, and the rest are all _______ to it in one way or another and can be ______ back to the central meaning.
II. Decide whether the statement below are true or false
1. Perfect homonyms share the same spelling and pronunciation.
2. Homonyms come mainly from borrowing, changes in sound and spelling, and
dialects.
3. Homonyms are words whose meanings are closely related.
4. The origins of the words are a key factor in distinguishing homonyms from
polysemants.
5. Most homonyms are words that are the same in spelling, but differ in sound and
meaning.
6. Words which have opposite meanings are called antonyms.
7. Contradictory terms do not show degrees.
8. Relative terms are relational opposites, which include verbs reversing the action
of each other.
III. Complete the passage
Synonymy deals with words that are the ______ or ________ the same in meaning. The words which are fully _______ in meaning are called ________synonyms and all the others are ________ synonyms. ________ synonyms are interchangeable whereas _______ synonyms differ in such areas as ________, _________ (stylistic and affective), and ________.
Chapter 7
I. Study the following words and their meanings, a being the original meaning, b the modern meaning. Give the process that each word has undergone through in terms of extension, narrowing, elevation and degradation
1. box ( )
A. container made of boxwood b. Any container
2. voyage ( )
A. journey b. journey by water
3. sergeant: ( )
A. servant b. non-commissioned officer
4. starve: ( )
A. die b. die from hunger
5. Citizen: ()
A. city dweller b. inhabitant of a state or nation
6. doctor ( )
A. skilled in any learned profession
B. specialist in medicine
7. gossip ( )
A. godfather b. one who repeats idle talk and spreads rumor about
8. notorious( )
A. well-known
B. unfavorably well-known
II. Say whether the words underlined are used in subjective or objective sense.
A. the old man, though poor, is a respectable gentleman.
B. The person is doubtful about the doubtful promise made by the unexpected
visitor.
C. Never run towards a dangerous animal.
D. There is a hot pursuit for the escaped prisoner.
E. She said with an embarrassed laugh.
F. He was very courageous in battle.
G. Just after two years he is quite a grown boy now.
H. His is not a dubious character, but his loyalty remains dubious.
Chapter 8
Give a term according to each of the definition
1. part of a piece of writing or speech which surrounds a word and helps to
explain its meaning ( )
2. structural patterns where a particular word is used ( )
3. hints given in the text ( )
4. physical situation or environment relating to the use of words ( )
5. words which are used with a particular word and influence its meaning
( )
6. guessing word-meaning according to context ( )
7. getting rid of double meaning ( )。