英语词汇学笔记--名词解释篇

英语词汇学笔记之“名词解释篇”2010.1.11济南1.Word --- A word is a minimal free form of a language that has a given sound and meaning and syntactic funtion.2. Morpheme --- A morpheme is the minimal significant element in the composition of words.3. Free morphemes or Content morphemes (Free root)--- They are morphemes that may constitute words by themselves : cat, walk.4. Bound Morphemes or Grammatical morphemes--- They are morphemes that must appear with at least one other morpheme, either bound or free : Catts, walk+ing.5. Bound root --- A bound root is that part of the word that carries the fundamental meaning just like a free root. Unlike a free root, it is a bound form and has to combine with other morphemes to make words. Take -dict- for example: it conveys the meaning of "say or speak" as a Latin root, but not as a word. With the prefix pre-(=before) we obtain the verb predict meaning "tell beforehand".6. Affixes --- Affixes are forms that are attached to words or word elements to modify meaning or funtion.7. Inflectional morphemes or Inflectional affixes --- Affixes attaches to the end of words to indicate grammatical relationships are inflectional ,thus known as inflectional morphemes.There is the regular plural suffix -s(-es) which is added to nouns such as machines, desks.8. Derivational morphemes or Derivational affixes--- Derivational affixes are affixes added to other morphemes to create new words.9. Prefixes --- Prefixes are affixes that come before the word, such as, pre+war.10. Suffixes --- suffixes are affixes that come after the word, for instance, blood+y. Derivational morphemes/ derivational affixes --- A process of forming new words by the addition of a word element. Such as prefix, suffix, combing form to an already existing word.Prefixation ---- is the formation of new words by adding prefix or combing form to the base. (It modify the lexical meaning of the base)Suffixation--- is the formation of a new word by adding a suffix or combing form to the base and usually changing the word-class of the base. Such as boy. Boyish (noun- adjective)11. Roo t --- A root is the basic form of a word which cannot be further analysed without total loss of identity.12.Opaque Words--Words that are formed by one content morpheme only and cannot be analysed into parts are called opaque words, such as axe, glove.13. Transparent Words--Words that consist of more than one morphemes and can be segmented into parts are called transparent words: workable(work+able), door-man(door+man).14. Morphs--Morphemes are abstract units, which are realized in speech by discrete units known as morphs. They are actual spoken, minimal carriers of meaning.15. Allomorps--Some morphemes are realized by more than one morph according to their position in a word. Such alternative morphs are known as allomorphs. For instance, the morpheme of plurality {-s} has a number of allomorphs in different sound context, e.g. in cats /s/, in bags /z/, in match /iz/.16.Derivation or Affixation--Affixation is generally defined as the formation of words by adding word-forming or derivational affixes to stems. This process is also known as derivation.17.Prefixation--Prefixation is the formation of new words by adding prefixes to stems.18.Suffixation--Suffixation is the formation of new words by adding suffixes to stems.19. Compounding（Compositon）--Compounding is a process of word-formation by which two independent words are put together to make one word. E.g. hen-packed; short-sighted.20. Conversion--Conversion is the formation of new words by converting words of one class to another class. This process of creating new words without adding any affixes is also called zero-derivation. E.g. dry (a.)-->to dry.21. Back-formation-- is a process of word-formation by which a word is created by the deletion of a supposed affix. E.g. editor entered the language before edit.22. Abbreviation ( shortening )-- is a process of word-formation by which the syllables of words are abbreviated or shortened.23. Abbreviation includes four types : I. Clipped words II. Initialisms III. Acronyms IV. Blends.I. Clipped words--are those created by clipping part of a word, leaving only a piece of the old word. E.g. telephone-->phone, professional-->pro.II. Initialisms--are words formed from the initial letters of words and pronounced as letters. E.g. IMF/ai em ef/=International Monetary Fund.III. Acronyms--are words formed from the initial letters of word and pronounced as words. E.g. NATO/'neito/=North Atlantic Treaty Organization.IV.Blends--are words that are combined by parts of other words. E.g. smoke+fog=smog.24. Polysemy--The same word may have two or more different meanings. This is known as "polysemy". The word "flight", for example, may mean "passing through the air", "power of flying", "air of journey", etc.*Two approaches to polysemy: Diachronic and SynchronicDiachronically, we study the growth or change in the semantic structure of a word , or how the semantic structure of a word has developed from primary meaning to the present polysemic state .Synchronically,we are interested in the comparative value of individual meanings and the interrelation between the central meaning and the secondary meanings.*Two processes leading to polysemy: Radiation and concatenationRadiation: Semantically, 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 rays.Concatenation: 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, untill there is no connection between the sense that is finally developed and the primary meaning.25. Homonyms--are generally defined as words different in meaning but either identical both in sound and spelling or identical『a.同一的，完全相同的』only in sound or spelling.26. Perfect Homonyms--are words identical both in sound and spelling,but different in meaning。