Lexicology词汇学练习题目和答案

Mid-term Exam
1.Please illustrate the logical relationships of the following terms: free morphemes,
bound root, derivational affixes, affixes, morphemes, inflectional affixes, bound morphemes.
Free ----free root
Bound root
Morpheme
Bound inflectional affixes
prefixes
Derivational affixes
suffixes
2.Prefixation and suffixation are two subclasses of affixation. Please define prefixation
and suffixation and explain the difference between them. Use ―polite—impolite‖, ―happy—happiness‖ to illustrate your point.
Prefixation is the formation on new words by adding a prefix or combining form to the base, and usually change the meaning of the base. Suffixation is the formation of new words by adding a suffix or a combining form to the base, and usually changing the word-class of the base. Im- is a negative prefix, polite, by adding a suffix im- , changes into the negative side impolite. However, happy is a adjective, and it is changed into a noun by adding suffix –ness without changing its basic meaning.
3. Comment on the following groups of words to illustrate types of meaning of words
and their relationship.
Group 1: ―took, taught, became‖
Group 2: ―have, has, had, had, having‖
There are two main types of meaning that are grammatical and lexical. Grammatical meaning consists of word-class and inflectional paradigm. Group 1 is the same in grammatical meaning: ―took , taught, became‖, they have different lexical meaning, but they are in the same word-forms of the past-tense meaning. However, group 2 has the same lexical meaning, while they are different in the tense, that is to say in different grammatical meaning.
4. Analyze and comment on three adjectives used in the following sentences based on
synonym difference in connotation.
[A] Look at that little boy.
[B] Look at that small boy.
[C] Look at that tiny boy
Little, small, tiny are synonyms, but they are different in affective meaning.
The word small has no affective meaning, and it just means that sth or sb is not large in size, number, degree, amount, etc. The word little almost has the sa me meaning, but it carries with it some emotion of affection or dislike. The word tiny means sb or sth is very small in size or amount.
5. The basic form of English negative prefix in- is [in-], as in inaccurate and insecure.
In impossible, [n] is changed to match the place of articulation of its following stop [p]. In illiterate, [n] becomes identical to its following [1]. Which phonological rule does this example illustrate? Please define the rule and give one more example.
Assimilation rule can illustrate this example. The assimilation rule assimilates one sound to another by ―copying‖a feature of a sequential phoneme, thus making the two phones similar. For example, in irregular, [n] becomes identical to its following[r].。