词汇学题目

Lecture One

Language Linguistics Lexicology

IV. QUESTIONS

1) What is lexicology?

2) What is the nature and scope of English lexicology?

1. Lexicology is a branch of linguistics, inquiring into the origins and meanings of words.

2. Nature: English lexicology is a theoretically-oriented course, chiefly concerned with the basic theories of words in general and of English words in particular. In the meantime it is a practical course, for it has something to do with words—the most fundamental element of language. Scope: English lexicology aims at investigating and studying the morphological structures of English words and word equivalents, their semantic structures, relations, historical development, formation and usages.

Lecture T wo

The Sources of the English Vocabulary

V. Questions:

Decide whether the statements are true or false.

1). English is more closely related to German than French.

2). Old English was a highly inflected language.

3). In early Middle English period, English, Latin, and Celtic existed side by side.

4). Modern English is considered an analytic language.

5). The four major foreign contributors to English vocabulary in earlier times are Latin, French,

Scandinavian and Italian.

6). In modern times, borrowing brings less than 10 percent of modern vocabulary.

7). 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.

8). The most important mode of vocabulary development in present-day English is creation of new words by means of word-formation.

9). Old English vocabulary was in essence Germanic with a small quantity of words borrowed from Latin and Scandinavian.

10). Middle English absorbed a tremendous number of foreign words but with little change in word endings.

Lecture Three

Word-formation in English

III. Questions

1. Write the terms in the blanks according to the definitions:

a. a minimal meaningful unit of a language( )

b. one of the variants that realize a morpheme( )

c. a morpheme that can stand alone( )

d. what remains of a word after the removal of all affixes( )

2. Form negatives of each of the following words by using

one of these prefixes dis-, il-, im-, in-, ir-, non-, un-.

smoker capable practical obey security relevant

mature ability officially willingness legal agreement

athletic loyal convenient

3. Turn the following nouns and adjectives into verbs with suffixes -en, -ify, -ize and then choose proper ones to fill in the blanks:

hard, horror, modern, memory, false, apology, deep,

glory, sterile, length, intense, beauty, fat, sympathy

a. He ____ for interrupting her.

b. She tried to _____ her room with posters and plants.

c. A study has been ordered into the feasibility of ____ the airport’s main runway by two hundred metres.

d. However much they _____ with her, they all felt it was her fault.

e. Soya is excellent food to _____ cattle.

f. She laughed and that seemed to _____ her voice.

g. Forty thousand pound had been spent on _____ the station.

h. _____ the bottles by immersing them in boiling water for fifteen minutes.

Lecture Four

Word Meaning and Semantic Relations

V. Questions:

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. Collocation can affect the meaning of words.

4. The connotative meaning is also known as connotations, which are generally found in the dictionary.

5. By etymological motivation, we mean that the meaning of a particular word is related to its origin.

6. Affective meaning refers to the part of the word-meaning which indicates the attitude of the user.

Lecture Five

Semantic Relations

V. Questions:

1. Decide whether the statements 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 meaning 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.

2. Arrange the groups of synonyms according to their degree of intensity:

1) genius, ability, talent 2) terror-stricken, frightened, alarmed

3) surprise, amaze, astonish 4) irritate, annoy, exasperate

5) pleasure, delight, rapture 6) sadness, grief, sorrow

7) pardon, forgive, excuse 8) zealous, eager, enthusiastic

9) fear, horror, panic 10) abuse, insult, slander