浅析英语词义演变的主要原因-杨景侠

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英语词义演变的原因和主要方式

浅谈英语词义演变的原因和主要方式摘要：词语的意义在一定时期内是相对稳定的,但历经千百年后,则会发生一定的甚至是重大的变化。

英语经历古英语时期、中古英语时期及现代英语时期三个阶段的发展，法语词、拉丁语词、希腊语词和斯堪的纳维亚语词等的大量涌入，英语的词汇越来越丰富。

可以说，词汇的变化最快，也最显著。

这一方面表现在新词汇的产生和旧词汇的消亡，还有很重要的一个方面是词义的不断演变。

本文将讨论词义演变的诸多起源以及其主要方式。

关键字：词义的扩大，缩小，升格，降格等班级：07外国语学院教育3班学号：072725030姓名：黄滢作为语言的载体，人们日常生活交流的工具，词和词义都会随着时间不断地变化。

根据语言的需要，在新的历史时期，一个词常常会被赋予一些新的含义，或发生一些意义上的变化。

因此，词义的变化就是原有词义的改变和新词义的产生。

由于有的事物之间在功能、形状、动作等特征方面存在着某些相似之处，那么命名该事物的词就可以从一种事物、现象、行为的名称转指成为另一种事物、现象、行为的名称，这是词义的改变和新词义产生的基础。

一词义演变的主要原因引起词义变化的原因很多，一位早期的语义学家把词义变化的原因归纳为三十一条。

词义变化的复杂性由此可见一斑。

尽管引起词义变化的原因很多，但最主要的有：1．历史因素。

英语的历史起源于公元五世纪上半叶盎格鲁、撒克逊和裘德人所使用的语言，后经历了漫长的社会发展和变化，特别是英国历史上两次外来入侵者的统治，加剧了词义的变化。

2．社会因素。

社会是在不断发展中进步的，语言是社会发展变化的晴雨表，社会的发展，科学的进步，会给词赋予新的含义，原本是普通含义的词可能会变成专业术语，反之亦然。

3．语言因素。

词义的变化常常是由于语言的发展而造成的，语言的发展总是朝着一定的规律而动的，如词的省略(ellipsis)，使得原本需要几个词表达的含义转到一个词上，使词义发生了变化。

4．心理因素。

这点主要是通过委婉语，夸张语及讽刺语的使用而改变着某些词的含义。

浅析英语词义演变的主要原因-杨景侠

浅析英语词义演变的主要因素2012英语成本杨景侠 2012550402019 语言是文化的载体，忠实地反应文化。

而各种文化之间存在着差异性。

因而在跨文化交际中，交际的失败很大部分不是来自语言，而是因为交际者对两种不同的文化差异性没有完全的理解。

了解词汇变化的现象十分必要，而更加重要的是要试图理解变化背后的机制。

影响词义演变的相关因素（Factors of change）英语经古英语时期（450-115-）、中古英语时期（1150-1500）及现代英语时期（1500 up to the present）三个阶段的发展，随着法语词、拉丁语词、希腊语词和斯堪的纳维亚语词等的大量涌入，英语的词汇越来越丰富。

可以说，词汇的变化最快，也最显著。

这一方面表现在新词的产生和旧词的消亡，还有很重要的一个方面是词义的不断演变。

所谓词义的演变是指词的内在结构形式不变，而意义发生变化的现象。

这种变化现象也是英语咋表达运用上具有的丰富性、灵活性的重要原因。

纵观语言文字发展的历程、社会原因和外来影响等；以及内部原因，即心理原因和语言原因等。

导致词义演变的原因非常复杂，但是概括说来可以大致分为语言学外因素（Extra-linguistic factors）及语言学因素（Linguistic factors）。

一语言学外因素（Extra-linguistic Factors）（一）历史原因(Historical cause)英语的历史起源于公元五世纪上半叶盎格鲁、撒克逊和裘德人所使用的语言，后经历了漫长的社会发展和变化，特别是英国历史上两次外来入侵者的统治，加剧了词义的变化。

（二）社会原因(Social cause)1．社会发展与词义变化从社会语言学的角度来看，词义的变化不是在封闭的状态下发生的，而是受社会的影响和制约的。

词义不仅在形成过程中与客观世界、社会实践有密切的联系，而且随着社会以及人们认识的发展而发展。

人类社会中的事物、概念、思想不断发生变化，因此反映客观事物或现象的词义往往发生变化。

词义演变的原因

04
词义演变的未来趋势
语言变化的预测
语言发展与科技进步
随着科技的不断进步，新事物、新概念不断涌现，语言也会随之发生变化，新的词汇和表达方式将不断涌现。
社会变迁与文化影响
社会变迁和文化发展对语言的影响也是不可忽视的。随着社会观念的转变和文化的交流融合，一些词汇的意义可能会发生变化。
全球化与跨文化交流
通过对不同语言和历史时期的研究，发现词义演变具有普遍性和规律性，这些规律和模式有助于我们深入理解语言发展和变化的机制。
对未来研究的建议
加强跨语言和跨文化的研究，比较不同语言和文化中词义演变的异同，以揭示更深层次的语
言共性和特性。
关注语言现实，对现代语言使用中的词义变化进行及时跟踪和研究，以揭示语言变化的最新趋势和特点。
进一步探究词义演变的机制和规律，特别是对于一些特殊类型的词义演变，例如隐喻、转喻等现象。
结合认知科学、心理学、社会学等多学科的理论和方法，全面探究词义演变的动因和机制，以推动语言学研究的深入发展。
THANKS
感谢观看
对社会的影响
1 2
社会认知
词义演变会影响人们对事物的认知和理解，从而影响社会观念和价值观念的形成和变化。
社会交流
词义演变会影响社会交流，影响人们的沟通效果和信息传递，从而影响社会关系的建立和维护。
3
社会进步
词义演变也会促进社会进步，随着新词汇和新意义的应用和普及，社会的认知水平和文明程度也会相应提高。
词汇意义的变化
词汇意义的演变是词义演变的核心。随着人们对客观世界的认识不断深入，词汇的意义也会发生变化。例如，“小姐”一词在古代指未出嫁的女孩，现在则指年轻女性。
语言外部因素

研究影响英语词汇语义变化的因素

研究影响英语词汇语义变化的因素摘要：这篇论文的目的是分析影响英语词汇语义变化的因素。

其原因是多种多样的。

本文试图从词汇的角度阐释在不同的方面，词的语义变化，为何会发生词的语义变化。

语义变化的原因是什么? 这篇文章主要介绍影响因素的两个方面：语外因素和语内因素。

语外因素包括历史因素，阶级因素，心理因素，社会因素。

语内因素包括词义扩大，词义缩小，褒义化，贬义化。

关键词：英语词汇；语内因素；语外因素Abstract: This articler aims to analyze the influential factors that effect the semantic change of the English vocabulary. The reasons are various. From a lexical perspective，this paper analyzes the semantic change of words in different respects as why semantic change of words happens. What factors that influence the semantic change? This article mainly introduces two aspects of the factors: extra-linguistic factors and linguistic factors. Extra-linguistic factors contain historical factors, class factors, psychological factors, social factors. Linguistic factors consist of generalization, specialization, amelioration, pejoration, transference.Key words: English vocabulary; internal-linguistic factor; extra-linguistic factor0. 引言众所周知，人类社会在不断转变，语言作为人类交流和表达思想的工具也在发生变化。

浅析英语词义的演变

指神圣的日子）。今天它却指“ 休息日” ——尽管它源于宗教。因而，该词词义得到了拓宽。下面提供更多类似的例子：古意现意Ｏｅｄｆｎ击打一冒犯，惹怒
ＢＣｍａｉｏｐｎｎｏＰｌｉｅ幼鸟一任何鸟类面包共食者一同伴，伙伴石堆一任何物件形成的堆
（）义缩小二词与词义扩大相反，一个词不达意及原义也可民缩小或限制
Ｃｔｉｉｚｒｃｅ称赞，ｉ评估一批评一Ｌｓｕｔ愉快，令人高兴的事物一色欲，贪婪英语词义变化产生的原因：
成某个特定的意义。譬如“ ｅｔ一词在ｌ世纪泛指食物，ｍａ” ７但现在其意义却仅限于指称“ 可食哺乳动物的肉” 下面是更多的词义缩。
Ｇｖｒｏｏｅｒ飞行员州长ｎ
词义扩大是指将原来的特定含义扩宽或抬升为相对普遍的意义。例如，ｍｎｓｐ” “ ａｕｃｔ一词在现代英语词典中文字处理器打印出来的书写之物” 。但它
最初仅仅指手写稿。再比如，ｈｌａ”一词原本是宗教英语，意 “ｏｄｙｉ（
小的例子：
道，语言具有符号象征性，每一个词都是与某一个具体的意念相关联的符号。从这种意义上来讲，我们需要无限数量的词或符号来代表现实世界中的事物和我们的经验感受。可这终究被证明是不可能的，而且也妨碍了交际的顺利进行。对于这个问题有一个解决办法，那就是让现有的词表示多种含义，将新的意义赋予即，旧词形，使之一词多义。词义的变化总体来讲有四种方式，即词义
汪建宇（新疆对外贸易学校新疆乌鲁木齐
８０２）３０１

认识词义演变的原因和过程词义演变的关键原因

认识词义演变的原因和过程词义演变的关键原因
(一)、社会原因
• 7. 社会价值观与词义变化
• 社会价值观对词义的影响，最有趣的例子就是委婉语的使用。为了语言禁忌或避免提起令人不快的事情，人们就使用比较顺耳的词语来替代。委婉语的出现就使那些被用作委婉语的词语的意义发生了演变：
• Accident：意外的事，偶然的事
认识词义演变的原因和过程词义演变的关键原因
(一)、社会原因
• 1. 社会发展与词义变化
• Manuscript：1597年，manuscript从中期拉丁语 manuscriptum、拉丁语manu scriptus(=written by hand手写的)演化而来，由manu(=hand 手)+scriptus及其过去分词scribere（=to write 写）构成。
认识词义演变的原因和过程词义演变的关键原因
(一)、社会原因
• 3. 社会阶级与词义变化 • 词义朝贬义方向演变的过程叫做词义的降
格(degradation, degeneration, deterioration, catachresis或pejoration of meaning)。 • 词义朝褒义方向发展的过程叫做词义的升格(the elevation, ascent或amelioration of meaning)。
认识词义演变的原因和过程词义演变的关键原因
(一)、社会原因
• 2. 社会环境与词义变化 • 英国议会(parliament)
Upper House / House of Lords 上院，上院议长 High Lord Chancerllor
Lower House / House of Commons下院, 下院议长Speaker

现代英语的词义变化与外部原因

第28卷　第2期V o l.28　N o.2河　南　职　技　师　院　学　报Jou rnal of H enan V ocati on2T echn ical T eachers Co llege2000年　6月Jun.2000现代英语的词义变化与外部原因α吴秀芳(河南职技师院,河南新乡453003)摘要:从一词多义现象出发,论述了现代英语词义变化的四种形式:扩展、狭缩、褒升与贬降,并对造成这些变化的社会、历史及心理等外部原因进行了初步探析。

关键词:现代英语;词义变化;扩展中图分类号:H315文献标识码:A文章编号:10032482X(2000)022*******1　引言英语的词义变化指的是英语词汇的语义变化,即历史发展、社会变革、科技进步以及语言自身的发展等原因,使一个词的语义在该词的使用过程中逐渐发生变化。

这种变化最为突出的表现即是一词多义现象。

本文拟从一词多义现象出发,对现代英语词义变化的几种形式加以描述,并对引起这些变化的外部原因进行初步探讨。

2　英语词义的变化语义学(Sem an tics)的成分分析理论指出,一种语言的词义不是单一的概念,而是由若干意义成分组成的复合体;构成词义的成分称为语义特征(Sem an tic featu res),一个词的语义特征的总和即是该词的全部意义。

我们可以用语义成分对英语词汇中所有单词的意义进行描述,英语的词汇不是一个互不相关的单词集合体;相反,英语词汇中所有词与词之间存在着各种语义关系。

英语中的一词多义现象即是这“各种语义关系”中的一种。

因此,通过对英语中一词多义现象进行剖析,追根求源,可以寻出英语词义变化的大致脉络,理出英语词义变化的四种表现形式,即:词义的扩展、狭缩、褒升和贬降。

2.1　词义的扩展(Ex ten si on M ean ing)词义的扩展是指词义从表达比较具体或专门化的个别意义扩展成表示一般或普遍的意义,或由专门术语扩展成日常用语。

简述英语词义演变的原因

山西科技
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第２５卷

第４期
●科教论坛
简述英语词义演变的原因
王华伟
（太原理Ｔ大学轻纺丁程与美术学院，山西晋中，３６００００）
“ 布景 ”现在可以用来指各种“ ，场面”ａｏ（；ｌｆ避开，ｏ远离）原来是个航海术语，即把船头调到顶风的方向，这个词的原始意义恐怕已
经很少有人知道了。
１２社会环境与词义变化．
去的习俗；ａａａｄ是 “ Ｉｌｎｈｎｔｉ干涉干预、狡诈 ” 的意思；ｐｎｓｔ— Ｓａｉａｈｈｌｅ是“ ｅｔ胡说八道的人 ” ｒｈｂｌ表示“ ；Ｉｓｕｉｌ荒诞可笑的说法 ” 等等。由于历史的原因，在英语中最受歧视的恐怕是荷兰人，国和荷英兰在１７世纪的时候经常打仗，Ｄｔｈ使ｕｃ～词在许多用法中都带了贬义。例如：ｏｂｅＤｔ莫名其妙的话）ｌｇｔｎ ’ Ｄｔｐｄｕｌｕｃｈ（，ｅｏｅＳｕｃｕ０ｈ
摘要：人类社会一直在不断发展变化，语言也在不断发展变化。其中，词汇的变化最快、最显
著。词义随着社会发辰而演变，多原因造成词义演变，自社会方面的因素较多。诸来
关键词：语词汇；义演变；因英词原
中圈分类号：３３Ｈ１
文献标识码：Ａ
文章编号：０４６２（０００ — １８０１０— ４９２１）４０２— ２

英语词义的变化

目录引言 (3)1、英语词义演进与退化 (3)2、英语词义的缩小与扩大 (5)3、英语词义的弱化与加强 (7)4、英语词义功能的转变 (7)结束语 (8)参考文献 (9)英语词义的变化摘要：语言作为人类交流思想和传递信息的工具，总是随着人类社会的进步而发生着变化。

英语作为一种语言，已经有1500年的历史，其变化巨大也是可想而知的。

英语词义的变化主要表现在词义的演进与退化、词义的缩小与扩大、词义的弱化与加强以及词义功能的转变等方面【1】。

关键词：英语；词义；变化The changes of lexical meanings of English wordsAbstract: The language as tools of human thought and communicate information, is always changing with the progress of humansociety. English as a language, having1500 years of history,the change is palpable. English word meaning changes in wordmeaning evolution and degeneration, narrowing of the meaningand expand, the weakening and strengthening as well as themeaning of the word function transformation, etc.Key word：English；meaning；change引言随着社会的发展，时代的变迁，英语像汉语一样，一些新词出现，旧词消失，一些词义退化演进，词义的功能也在发生转变。

词义的变化从时间上可以分为文艺复兴时期、资产阶级革命时期、殖民地开拓时期【2】。

【英语】自考论文论英语词义的变化

文档来源为:从网络收集整理.word版本可编辑.欢迎下载支持. 【关键字】英语毕业论文题目：论英语词义的变化准考证号：学生姓名：指导老师：武汉大学外语学院制On the Meaning Change of English Words文档来源为:从网络收集整理.word版本可编辑.欢迎下载支持.论文摘要语义学是关于意义的学问，它旨在研究语言单位，特别是单词和句子的意义。

词是语言中具有意义的，最小的能够独立运用的单位，所以关于词的意义（即词汇语义学）在语言学中占用重要的位置。

单词一直处在不断的变化过程当中，形式上的或是内容上的，常常是后者发生变化。

正像Quirk在1963年指出的那样，“…几乎我们现在使用的每一个词与其在一个世纪以前的意义稍有不同,而一个世纪以前的单词又和它在一个世纪之前的意义稍有差别” 。

广泛的讲，意义的变化指的是现行词义的变化，或是对现行词语添加新的义项。

这种变化随着时间的流逝而产生。

本论文探究了英语词义变化的方式、类型及原因。

希望本论文可以帮助英语专业的学生更好地学习英语词义。

关键词：词义; 变化; 方式; 类型; 原因文档来源为:从网络收集整理.word版本可编辑.欢迎下载支持.AbstractThe subject concerning the study of meaning is called semantics, which targets at the study of the meanings of linguistics units, such as words and sentences. A word is the minimum free form with certain meaning, thus the study of word meaning (lexical semantics) occupies an important position in linguistics study. Word has been constantly undergoing the process of changes，either in forms or in meanings, with the latter being more frequent. Just as Quirk said in 1963, “… almost every word we use today has a different meaning from the one it had a century ago, and a century ago it had a slight different meaning from the one it had a century bef ore that”. Broadly speaking, meaning change refers to the alternation of the meaning of existing words, as well as the addition of new meaning to established words. This change occurs along with time. This thesis explores the approaches, modes, causes of word meaning change. Hopefully, it may help us English majors study English word meaning better.Keywords: meaning；change；approach; mode; cause文档来源为:从网络收集整理.word版本可编辑.欢迎下载支持.ContentsI. Introduction (1)II. Approaches to meaning change of English words (2)2.1 extension approach (2)2.2 figurative approach (3)2.3 merger approach (3)III. Modes of meaning change of English words (4)3.1generalization (5)3.2 specialization (6)3.3 elevation (7)3.4 degradation (7)IV. Causes of meaning change of English words (8)4.1 extra –linguistics factors (8)4.2 linguistics factors (10)V. Conclusion (11)Bibliography (12)On the Meaning Change of English WordsI. IntroductionAs a branch of semantic study, the lexical semantics has been long regarded as the focal point. And the question as to what is the meaning of word becomes the first inquiry for language leaners. The objective matters, which exclude human mind, including all the living creatures, unanimated objects, events and their behavior, state and characteristics, etc. are reflected, thus sensation, perception, representation are produced first. Human mind then will generate the abstract preliminary products into concepts. Then man fixes the concepts in the vehicle of language, enabling us human beings to exchange our thoughts through these signs with certain meaning individually. Thus, words come into being. In other words, the meaning of words is endowed by men. As British linguist Eric Partridge once pointed out, “words have no meanings, p eople have meaning for them”. This process is generally agreed upon by all linguists. However, different people may hold different opinions on the sub-structure of word meaning.One difficulty in the study of meaning is that the word “meaning” itself has different meanings. In their book The meaning of meaning written in 1923, C.K Odgen and I.A Richards presented “a representative list of the main definition which reputable students of meaning have favored” (Odgen & Richards, 2003: 186). There are 16 majo r categories of them, with sub-categories totaling up to 22.The edifice of any language could be observed as a grand project composed of three elements: sound, lexicon, and grammar, among which sound is the physical shell of a language; lexicon serves as the “brick” and “concrete”; while grammar functions as the ways and principles by which linguistic elements are organized and oprate. So word meaning above all can be divided into two big categories: grammatical meaning and lexical meaning.Grammatical meaning corresponding with grammar signifies the grammatical aspect of a word. For example, “girl” is a single form, while “girls” represents the plural form in meaning.Lexical meaning, on the other hand, is the study of word meaning at its content level. For example, in the group of words “go, goes, gone, went, going”, each word has different grammatical meaning obviously, but their lexical meaning is the same, namely “to move or travel from one place to another” (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 1998:746). Foreign linguists have different classifications on word meaning. Geoffrey Leech, a world famous Britishlinguist, categorizes seven types of meaning, as follows: conceptual meaning, connotative meaning, social meaning, affective meaning, reflected meaning, collocative meaning, thematic meaning, with conceptual meaning being the center of word meaning. And connotative meaning, social meaning, affective meaning, reflected meaning, and collocative meaning and thematic meaning can be brought together under the heading associative meaning(Leech.,1981).In the following sections, we are going to explore the approaches to meaning change, the modes of meaning change and the causes accounting for the meaning change. And with some basic knowledge of word meaning change in the thesis, it may cast light on how to gasp word meaning and help us English majors study English language better.II. Approaches to meaning change of English wordsThe change of word meaning refers to the process in which the existing word has some changes either in number of its meaning items or its content in its application or development. In this section we will take a glimpse at the trace of changes in word meaning. There are mainly three types as follows：2.1 Extension approachExtension refers to a way a word derived from a new through certain connections based on its original meaning, or its existing meaning items. For example, the word “hoe”（noun）meant “ a garden tool with a handle and a blade ,used for breaking up soil and re moving weds” and then a related meaning was produced , “to break up soil, remove plants, etc, with a hoe”, such as in the phrase “ to hoe a flowers”(Oxford Advanced Learner’ s English-Chinese Dictionary, 1997: 838), so “hoe” here is used as a verb. Howev er, we can easily see the close connection in meaning between the noun “hoe” and the verb “hoe”. Some words can create new meaning through extending or narrowing the scope of reference, which is also very common. For example, the word “journal” originally meant “a written record that you make of the things that happen to you each day (diary) (Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary, 1997: 775). Let us look at another example, the word “wedge” (noun) originally meant “a piece of wood, robber, me tal, etc, with one thick end and a thin pointed end that you use to keep a door open, to keep two things apart, or to split wood or rock”, then its verbal meaning came into being, namely “ to put or squeeze something tightly into a narrow space, so that it can not move easily”(ibid).2.2 Figurative approachWhether the scope of reference extends or narrows, the type of object a word denotes has not changed. However, when a word has changed its literal meaning to its figurative meaning, the type of object is utterly different, and then semantic shift has occurred in word meaning. This is also a very important style of meaning changes.Abundant examples can serve as the illustrations of the figurative approach. For example, the word “burden” originally meant“a heavy load that is difficult to carry” and then people tended to use it for referring to “ a duty ,responsibility ,etc, that causes worry, difficulty or hard work”, for example, in the sentence “The main burden of caring for old people falls on the state”. This abstract sense of “burden” is very vivid and concise in the effect of expression, which will certainly leave a deep impression on the listener’s mind.2.3 Merger approachThis way of change in word meaning refers to another way of change in word meaning, reflecting the relationship between two words under certain circumstances. When one word’s scope of reference expands into that of another related word, meaning may then be annexed, making the latter one lose its status of independence. Comparatively speaking, this approach is less in frequency in word meaning change than the previous two approaches, which however should not be ignored by us English learners. In the study of antonyms, we come to know the concept of “gradable antonyms” first, the co mmonest type of antonyms. That is, the members of a pair differ in terms of degree. The denial of one is not necessarily the assertion of the other, and there is no absolute criterion of judgments by which we may say something is good or bad, long or short, big or small. Usually, the term of the higher degree serves as the “cover term”. For example, we ask somebody “how old are you?” and the person asked may not be old in any sense. He may be as young as twenty or three. The word “old” is used here to cover both old and young. The sentence above means the same as “what is your age?”. Technically, the “cover term” is called “unmarked”, i.e. usual; and the covered “marked”, or unusual. That means, in general, it is the “cover term” that is more often used. If the covered is used, then it suggests that is something odd, unusual here. The speaker may already know that something or somebody is young, small, near, and he wants to know the extent in greater detail. This characteristic is also reflected in the corresponding nouns, such as length, height, width, and depth.Because of the differences, a lot of word meanings are different. For example, in CambridgeInternational Dictionary of English, the word ‘individual’ is defined as ‘the idea that freedom of thought and action for each person is the most important quality of a society, rather than shared effort and responsibility’. It is positive. However, in The English-Chinese Dictionary, there is a sentence ‘These poets were individualists, wanting to explore their own thoughts and feelings, not content with the general truth’. Obviously, the meaning of ‘individualists’ is negative.III. Modes of meaning change of English wordsGenerally speaking, the development and change of word meaning is ever-increasing in number of meaning items almost in every language system, due to social development and word meaning development itself. However it becomes complicated as each individual word is concerned. For some, the number of meaning item may increase, and for others, just the reverse. And some words’ meaning may disappear, or reduce to morphemic meaning, etc.3.1 GeneralizationThe generalization of meaning is a process by which a word originally having a specialized meaning has now extended to cover a broader and often less definite concept.A large proportion of polysemic words of modern English have their meaning extended sometime in the course of development. Let us refer to some example as illustrations. The word “manuscript” today means “an author’s writing whether by hand or typed with a type writer or a word-procession”. But its old meaning referred to “handwriting”(written by hand)only. The word “fabulous” originally meant “resembling a fable” or “based on a fable”, but then it meant “incredible” or “marvelous”, since as we all knew that something incredible or marvelous often only existsd in fables, not in reality. Another example is the word “barn”. It meant “a place for stor ing only barley”, but now its meaning extends to “storeroom”. More examples are available here to cast light on the generalization of meaning.Word Old meaning Extended meaningbutcher one who kills goats one who kills animalsbonfire fire on bones a fire in the open madeby burning anything What is more, “thing” is often associated with “any”, “some”, and “no”, namely “anything”, “something”, and “nothing” respec tively. The frequency of these three words is high in both written and spoken form, the latter one especially. I have oncecounted and amazed at the high frequency one tend to employ “something” when he or she tries to introduce or explain a certain object, event, idea, etc. Other words like business, concern, matter, article, and circumstance have undergone similar process of meaning generalization.3.2 SpecializationSpecialization of language is a process by which a word which is used to have a more general sense becomes restricted in its application and conveys a special concept in present-day English. A typical example is the word “ deer”, which was used to refer to all kinds of animals, for example in Shakespeare’s sentence “ rats a nd mice and such small dear”; i n British English, “corn” was once used as “grain”, but in present-day American English, it only refers to “maize”; w hen “garage” was first borrowed from French, it meant more other than “any safe place”, but at present “garage” narrows down to “ a place for storing cars”—a shelter for cars only. Here are more examples:Word Old meaning Specialized meaning girl young person of either sex female young person wife woman married womanaccident event unfortunate eventChange of meaning is frequently brought about by two tendencies in a language system: toward ellipsis and toward analogy. Ellipse as a cause of semantic change often occurs in habitual collocations, such as adj + n. or attributive + n, in which the noun is often deleted and only the first element(the attributive) is left, but retaining the sense of the whole phrase.For example, “a gener al” comes f ro m “ a general officer”, “bugle” from “ bugle horn”, “gold” from “gold me t al”, “uniform” f ro m “uniform dress”, “ transistor” f rom “transistor radio”, “daily” f ro m “ daily newspaper”, etc.Another case of specialization occurs when a common noun changes into a proper one, and its meaning specializes correspondingly. For example, the City refers to “London business center”; The Peninsula refers to “Iberian Peninsula” only; and the word “Prophet” refers to Muhammad, who founded the religion of Islam.3.3 ElevationElevation of meaning is a process by which words rise from humble beginning to a position of importance. In other words, some words in their early history signified something low or humble, but as time goes by, the meaning changed to designate something agreeable or pleasant. A typical case in point is the word “nice”. It originally meant “ignorant”, then “foolish”, but later it was dramatically eleva ted to“delightful, pleasant”;Marshal(high—ranking army officer) and Constable(police man) were both once referred to “keeper of horses”. More relevant examples are also provided here：Word Old meaning Elevated meaningknight servant rank below baronetangel messenger messenger of Godminister servant head of ministryNobody nowadays is reluctant to be described as “shrewd” perhaps, or “nimble”. However, for some time these two words are rather derogatory in meaning.A shrewd man was once often associated with “evil” or “wickedness”, while a nimble man is considered as someone taking something without certain permission; and the word “success”, a desirabl e destination for anyone to reach, was once only a simply neutral “result”.3.4 DegradationContrary to elevation, degradation of word meaning is a process whereby words of good origin or affective neutrality fall into ill reputation or come to be used in a derogatory sense. An interesting fact is that many addresses for common people have taken on derogatory color. For example, “churl”which used to refer to “peasant” or “free man” has changed into “uncultivated or mean person”;“wench” once referred to “country girl”, but now it has degraded into “prostitute”;“villain”once referring to “person who worked in a villa”has now changed into “evil or wi cked person or scoundrel”. The following words have also undergone similar changes: Word Old meaning Degraded meaningknave boy dishonest personlust pleasure sexual desirelewd ignorant lecherousAs statistics shows that it is much more common for word meaning to change in denotation from neutral to pejorative than it is for them to go to the other way.The above-mentioned four types are the main types of word meaning changes, excluding transference, comparatively taking a small percentage in word meaning change, which thus is not within the framework of the present thesis discussion. IV. Causes of meaning change of English wordsWith the ever-changing human society, language as the vehicle of communication is also in the process of change and development. Both linguistic and extra-linguistic factors are exerting influence on word meaning changes. We can find out certain rules beneath the surface of meaning variations, which will deeper our understanding of word meaning.4.1Extra-linguistic factorsMeaning has always been a centre topic in human scholarship, though the term “semantics” has only a history of a little over a hundred years, let alone lexical semantics. There were discussions of meaning in the works of the Greek philosopher Plato as early as in the fifth century before Christ. In China, Lao Zi had discussed similar question even earlier. The fact that over the years numerous dictionaries have been produced with a view to explaining the meaning of words also bears witness to its long tradition. The research on word meaning has been drawing attention from linguists, philosophers and anthropologists, psychologists, and so on. This also exemplifies the fact that many extra-linguistic factors contribute to the change of word meaning.1.Historical reason. It often happens that a word is retained for a name though the meaning has changed because the referent has changed. The famous linguist Ullman once said “language should be more conservative than either material or spiritual civilization. Objects, styles, points of view and scientific concept have all changed in the course of time. But in many cases, the names were retained which helpto ensure that the tradition and continuity of a language.”(Zhou, 2007: 198). Take “pen” as a example. “Pen” in the beginning refer red to “feather”, since people in the West used feather to make a “pen”. Nowadays, we have already said farewell to the age of using a feather pen, and we prefer to use ball pen or fountain pen. But we still stick to employ the name “pen”; “car”once referred to “two-wheel cart drawn by horses and used in war”. With the development of modern automobile technology, “car” has changed to refer to “automobile”; similarly, “computer” originally mean t “person who computes”, but now it is another case. When we talk about computer, the first image jumping into our minds is definitely “a electric machine” instead of“a person”.Increased scientific knowledge and discovery are also important factors that account for the change of word meaning. For example, people believed in ancient times that the sun was one of the seven planets revolving the earth. And this meaning could still be seen in the sentence “The sun rises and sets”, although people nowadays have alread y accepted Copernicus’ theory that “sun is a star around which the earth and other planets revolve”.2.Class reason. Language is a mirror perfectly, reflecting everything in the human society, which records speeches and attitudes of people from all walks of life. And various social variants have then come into being. The attitudes of different classes have also made inroads into lexical meaning in the case of elevation or degradation. The so-called “King’s English”is a typical example. There are a considerable number of words of different professions, which often have derogatory meaning. Since in the eyes of the aristocrats, the working people are ignorant, stupid, and rude in behavior. For example, words “churl, hussy, wench, and villain” have all degrade d from neutral sense into “ill-mannered or bad people”. What is more, words like “democracy, revolution, liberation, human rights and communism” have quite different meanings to different people or in different society.3. Psychological reason. The associated transfers of meaning and euphemistic use of words are often due to psychological factors. For example, in American Civil War, Copperhead (a kind of poisonous snake) was used to refer to someone whosupported the Southerners secretly. As to the latter usage above (euphemistic), many humble and despised occupations often taking more appealing names is all due to psychological reasons. Americans are especially fond of using euphemistic expressions. For example, “garbage collector”is called “sanitation engineer”in America and “disposal” in Britain; “g ardener” changes into “landscape architect”; and “servant” changes into “domestic engineer”. As statistics shows, the so-called “engineer” is more than two hundred among respectful addresses in English.Besides, religious influence is another kind of psychological reason. As Cardinal Trench once said, “ange l”, “martyr” and “paradise” have their meanings elevated due to the influence of the Christianity.4.2 Linguistic factorsThere are exterior reasons for the change of word meaning, and also the interior reason, i.e. the development of language itself. Here as the follows.Firstly, a phrase is often be shortened to a word without losing the original entire meaning. For example, “gold” is used for “gold medal”, “gas” for “ coal gas”, “bulb” for “light bulb”, and “private” for “private soldier”. Under these circumstances, whatever is left, a noun or an adjective, is used as a noun to be the equivalent of the original expression.Secondly, the influx of borrowing words in great number has also resulted in the change of word meaning. For example, “deer” once referred to all kinds of animals. With the coming of Latin word “animal” and the French word “beast”, these three words were forced to re-identify their status as they all have the same denotation. As a result, “animal” kept its original sense, and “deer” shortened its meaning reference scope, while “beast” changed its semantic color into derogatory.At last, analogy can also bring about meaning changes. For example, the word “fortuitous” once meant “happening by chance, accidental”. But later it extend ed to have the meaning of “fortunate”. Is there a logical explanation for that? Perhaps, this is a process of the demonstration of “analogy”. “Fru ition” originally meant “a pleasure we obtain from using or possessing something” and ha d no relationship in meaning with “fruit”. However, one of its meaning items “the bearing of fruit” isprobably the result of association based on “fruit”.Besides, cultural psychology is the study of the way cultural traditions and social practices regulate, express, and transform the human psyche, resulting less in psychic unity for humankind than in ethnic divergences in mind, self, and emotion. When one learns a language, it is important to learn its cultural psychology. For example, when Chinese people observe a thing, they will start from the whole, but the westerners will start from the part.V. ConclusionThis thesis explores the approaches, modes, causes of word meaning change. Semantic change plays a very important role in widening the vocabulary of a language. Since language is symbolic, each word serves as a symbol in relation to a specific meaning. In this sense, we need infinite number of word or symbols to code the physical entities and our experiences, which will be ultimately proved impossible and obstruct the smooth operation of communication. So an old form is given a new concept, thus the meaning of a form is multiplied.The approaches in which word meaning changes represent the main types of changes and indicate both linguistic and extra-linguistic causes. After acquiring some basic knowledge of word meaning changes, one may could not help asking such a question “What measures can be adopted in daily study?”. Hopefully this thesis could cast new light on the study of English word meaning for us English majors and help us lay a solid foundation for the exploration of the wonders of the English language.BibliographyCambridge International Dictionary of English [D], Shanghai: ShanghaiForeign Language Education Press, 2008Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English [Z], Beijing: The CommercialPress, 1998Leech, G, A, Semantics: the study of meaning, 2nd edition, Harmondsworth:Penguin, 1981Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary[Z]. Beijing: TheCommercial Press, Oxford University Press, 1997Odgen,C,K,& Richards,I,A, The meaning of meaning, London: Routledge &Keganpaul, 2003The English-Chinese Dictionary[D], Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2005Zhou, Ruiying, A study of teaching English word meaning[M], Changsha:Hunan Normal University, 2007池昌海, <<现代语言学导论>>, 浙江: 浙江大学出版社，2004胡壮麟主编, <<语言学教程>>(修订版), 北京: 北京大学出版社，2001胡壮麟、姜望琪主编, <<语言学高级教程>>, 北京: 北京大学出版社，2004 李赋宁, <<英语史>>, 北京: 商务印书馆，2008汪榕培、卢晓娟, <<英语词汇学教程>>, 上海: 上海外语教育出版社，2007 此文档是由网络收集并进行重新排版整理.word可编辑版本！。

词义演变的原因

词义演变的原因词义演变的原因一、语言内部原因1、语言本身的发展，人的认知能力语言最初是具体感知事物的符号，一个词指示某一特定的事物，随着人的认知能力的继续发展，对这一特定事物的概念也不断扩展。

如：book原指刻在木石上的古日耳曼字母，随着人的认知能力的发展，book可以指出版的小说，发行的期刊，甚至现在还出现了e-book （电子书籍）。

2、借词的影响由于借词能够更加准确地描述某个事物，从而使一些本族词语失去了原有的意义。

或是由于借词的引入，原有英语词的词义发生演变，以便与借词的语义相区别。

如：stool---chairpig，cow，sheep---pork，beef，muttonrear---raiseclean---purewrath---anger---irehearty---cordial3、词义的增减Tide（时间、时节、小时、潮汐）---潮汐Condition（规矩、方法、情况）---情况Bill（清单、目录、账单）---账单4、词语的简化语言逐渐趋于简化是任何语言的发展规律。

English←English language↖English peopledaily---daily newspaperduplicate---duplicate copyuniform---uniform dress5、修辞手法语言中的类比现象、隐喻现象、借代现象也会使一些词的词义发生变化。

如：fox---a person like a foxfoot---foot of the hill，foot of the bed当一个词的词义发生变化时，它的派生词的词义也会随之变化。

diplomatic（外交的；老练的)---diplomacy（老练）二、社会原因1、社会发展随着社会及人类认识的发展，人们对于社会中的事物、概念、思想不断发生变化，因此反映客观事物或现象的词义往往也会不断变化。

如：Soup（开水）---食物的汁car（两轮战车）---汽车manuscript（手稿）---任何原创稿件ship（挖木成舟）---spaceship（宇宙飞船）salt（食盐）---一切盐类bug（臭虫）---窃听器2、社会环境社会上发生的事件往往会使词的意义发生变化。

论词义变化的内部原因及外部原因

标题论词义变化的内部原因及外部原因
一，绪论
二，本论
1，英语词义变化的外部原因
（1）社会因素
（2）历史因素
（3）外来词的影响
（4）心理原因
2，英语词义变化的内部原因
（1）词义扩大
(i)词义扩大的类型及表现：从特定到一般，从具体到抽象，从术语到一般词语，
从专有名词到普通名词
（2）词义缩小
(i)词义缩小的类型及表现：从一般到特指，从抽象到具体，从普通名词到专有名
词，外来词的词义缩小
（3）词义升格
（4）词义降格
（5）词义转化
3，从字面意义到比喻意义
（1）引喻
（2）换喻
三，结论
(老师,参考文献也很多，我可以看完继续补充论文内容)
参考文献：
⋯蓝纯．认知语言学与隐喻研究[M】．北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2005．
[2】F，De Saussure．Course in General Linguistics[M]．北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2001．
[3】付慧琳，戴卫平，论英语词汇发展的特点[J】．包头职大学报，2005(1)：76—78．
[4】卢植．认知与语言——认知语言学引论．上海：上海外语教育出版社，2006．
[5】雷湘兰浅析英语词义的演变[J】'大学时代，2006(8)：20·21．
[6】高桂莲．英语新词汇的发展与变化[J】．西北第二民族学院学报(哲社版j，2001(2)：77．78．
[7】彭建武．认知语言学研究【M】．青岛：中国海洋大学出版社，2005．
[8】陈琳霞．论专有名词普通化[J】．温州大学学报，2002(3)：60．62．。

词义演变的原因

词义演变的原因引言:物质世界的一切都处于永恒运动、变化之中。

语言系统也一样。

词汇是语言系统的一个单位，和其他语言单位一样，随着物质世界的运动变化而发展变化，客观世界运动发展变化的特性决定了语言系统的变化（特别是词义变化）的必然性。

语言系统在与周围其他各种系统的相互作用过程中，不可避免地受到特定因素的影响。

正是这些因素的共同作用，促使语言从未局限于固定不变的封闭状态，而是处在变化之中。

分析词义演变的原因与方式，以加强对词汇更深刻的理解，有利于我们更好的了解语言的变化发展，正确熟练地使用语言。

词义演变的原因1、社会历史原因。

社会的发展是影响到词义演变的最主要因素。

语言属于社会现象，从社会存在的时候起，就有语言的存在。

语言是随着社会的产生和发展而产生和发展的。

因此，我们要了解语言及其发展的规律，就必须要把语言同社会发展的历史联系起来。

比如“钟”原来是指“一种中空而敲击发声的响器”，用铜或铁制造成的，后来出现了计时的器具，也用它来表示，“钟”的意义发生了改变。

“飞”，原来是指“鸟类等鼓动翅膀在空中活动”，出现了飞机、飞船以后，产生了新的意义:“利用动力机械在空中行动”。

“革命”原指“更改天命”，古人认为王者受天命而立，王者易姓就叫革命，如“汤武革命”，现在“革命”指被压迫阶级用暴力夺取政权。

建立新制度，转义为“根本革命”。

上面例子充分说明了社会历史变化给词义带来的深刻变化。

2、心理原因。

主要由于心理上的联想，使词义发生变化。

语言是一种系统性的事物，它深深受使用它的群体的影响。

无论是语言、语法、还是语义都具有约定俗成的特点。

例如汉语“尖锐的声音”，从触觉到听觉的联想。

英语sweet sound （甜蜜的声音），从味觉到听觉的联想。

又比如“羊”古代认为是六畜中最具美味的佳肴，这种风俗习惯也在文字和字义上有所反应，出现了一批从“羊”得声的形声字和会意字，它们大多有“美好”、“善良”、等义，如“祥”，从“羊”得声训为“善”。

浅析英语词汇意义演变的原因和类型

浅析英语词汇意义演变的原因和类型作者：许静来源：《校园英语·上旬》2020年第07期【摘要】英语语言具有内部稳定性，但也会随时代的发展而变化。

其中词汇变化表现最为明显，尤以词汇意义为甚。

造成这一现象的因素纷繁复杂，演变形式也多种多样。

本文通过对英语词义演变的原因及类型进行分析，旨在总结词义演变的规律，帮助学生提高掌握英语词汇的能力。

【关键词】词汇;词义演变;原因;类型【作者简介】许静，女，中原工学院信息商务学院外语学院，助教，研究方向：翻译理论与实践。

一、引言语言具有内在稳定性，因此人们得以相互理解和交流。

但语言也很灵活，随着时代的发展而变化。

语言的变化中体现最明显的是词汇的变化。

词汇的变化主要表现在两个方面：新旧词汇的更替和词汇意义的演变。

一个词刚出现时只用来指某一事物、现象、性质或行为，因此基本上只有一种意义。

在语言发展过程中，由于各种因素的影响，同一个词可以用来代表多种事物和概念，使词义得到扩展，这就是词义演变现象。

词义演变不可能在某一封闭状态下发生，而是受多种动态因素影响的结果，一方面是语言内部因素，另一方面是社会历史等因素。

二、词义演变的原因1.语言内部原因。

（1）词语缩略造成的词义演变。

英語的固定名词短语一般由意义不同的两个成分构成，即“形容词+名词”或“名词+名词”。

为了表达简便，逐渐用短语中的一个单词来表达整个短语的意义。

例如，natural gas（天然气）中的“gas”就可以代表天然气，light bulb （电灯泡）中的“bulb”便可指灯泡。

（2）类比造成的词义演变。

人们在给新事物或概念命名时，常利用语言中已有的词语，通过替换其中的语素成分而使词义发生变化。

例如，glass ceiling指“在公司企业和机关团体中限制女性职位晋升的障碍”，通过将两个常见单词组合成一个新短语，这一短语获得了新的含义，而非每个单词意义的叠加。

（3）外来词传入造成的词义演变。

外来词的传入意味着词汇量得到扩大，因此词义会随之减少。

文化语境下英语新词语义演变的特征

文化语境下英语新词语义演变的特征随着社会的发展和文化的变迁，英语新词的语义也会发生演变。

文化语境是影响英语新词语义演变的重要因素之一。

下面是文化语境下英语新词语义演变的特征：1.文化背景的影响文化背景是英语新词语义演变的重要因素之一。

随着社会的发展和文化的变迁，新词的语义也会发生变化。

例如，随着女性地位的提高，女性相关的新词语义也发生了变化，如“女权主义”一词最初是指女性争取平等权利的运动，现在则更多地涵盖了对性别歧视的反对和对女性权益的支持。

2.社会需求的变化社会需求的变化也会影响英语新词语义的演变。

例如，随着互联网的普及，新词“网民”最初是指使用互联网的人，现在则更多地指那些在互联网上活跃的人。

3.语境的影响语境也是影响英语新词语义演变的重要因素之一。

同一个词在不同的语境中可能会有不同的含义。

例如，新词“绿色”最初是指环保和可持续发展，现在则更多地指与环保相关的产品和服务。

4.文化交流的影响文化交流也会影响英语新词语义的演变。

随着全球化的发展，英语新词的使用范围越来越广泛，不同文化之间的交流也会影响新词的语义演变。

例如，新词“文化输出”最初是指一个国家或地区的文化在其他国家或地区的传播，现在则更多地指一个国家或地区的文化影响力。

总之，文化语境是影响英语新词语义演变的重要因素之一。

随着社会的发展和文化的变迁，新词的语义也会发生变化。

了解这些特征可以帮助我们更好地理解和使用英语新词。

论英语词义的演变

186作者简介：霍静（2001—　），女，汉族，辽宁沈阳人。

主要研究方向：翻译学、语言学。

基金项目：国家级大学生创新创业项目“一站式美剧英语学习基地”的研究成果（项目编号：202013600018）。

语言是人类交流活动中使用的系统，人类使用这个系统来描述不断变化的客观物质世界和他们自己的精神世界，并通过这种描述活动进行交流和沟通以实现生存和发展。

由此可以看出，只有生动，动态和多变的语言系统才能实现上述目标。

语言特别是英语语言词汇学内部有着内在稳定性，因此使用这种语言（本文特指英语）的人群主体可以相互的进行交流和理解。

但与此同时，英语这种语言也向当地灵活，它可以随着时代的发展而不断地扩充自己，进行新的变化或者“旧瓶装新水”。

在英语的变化中，变化体现的最为明显的内容就是词汇的变化。

而英语词汇的变化主要表现在以下方面：一是新的词汇词义与旧的词汇词义进行更替，而是或新或旧的词汇的意义进行演化。

在某个英语词汇或者词组刚刚被创新出来的时候可能只能代指某一事物或者其他的性质、现象行为等等。

所以在新词创立之初，在很大比例上是仅仅有单纯意义的，但是语言的发展总是千变万化的，随着时代经济基础的变化，基于其的文化语言自然而然地随其变化，慢慢地在新词的母体上就会演变出适应当时事物和经济基础的新的意义，以前的词汇变成了旧词，但是因为新的意义被赋予所以这个词汇在某种意义上以另一种形式继续存活，更有甚者，后来的意义逐渐演化成生活中所大多使用的含义因此而被更广泛的使用从而以前的意义被逐渐磨灭消失取代，这就是词汇词义的演变和更替。

然而，词汇语义的演变也就是semantic shift是不可能独立发生在不受任何因素影响的封闭环境中，因此词汇的演变必然会受到某些不为人知的因素影响，而究竟是何对词汇词义的演变产生影响呢，本文将进行浅析。

一、语言内部原因首先，word-shortening是造成的词义演变的一大原因。

在英语中的固定短语特别是名词短语的组成是两部分不同意义的两个成分，也就adjective和noun或者noun和noun组成。

简述英语词义演变的原因

简述英语词义演变的原因
王华伟
【期刊名称】《山西科技》
【年(卷),期】2010(025)004
【摘要】人类社会一直在不断发展变化,语言也在不断发展变化.其中,词汇的变化最快、最显著.词义随着社会发展而演变,诸多原因造成词义演变,来自社会方面的因素较多.
【总页数】2页(P128-129)
【作者】王华伟
【作者单位】太原理工大学轻纺工程与美术学院,山西晋中,030600
【正文语种】中文
【中图分类】H313
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2.英语动物词汇的词义引申及其演变原因 [J], 王芬
3.英语词义演变的原因分析 [J], 贺江柳;卿逸豪
4.英语味觉词词义演变的规律、动因及其对英语词汇习得的启示 [J], 莫丽红
5.从隐喻视角看宁波方言词义演变--兼议海洋文化对英语词义演变的影响 [J], 梅莉莎;吴媛媛;陈忆雯;戚国辉
因版权原因，仅展示原文概要，查看原文内容请购买。

英语词义演变的原因分析

英语词义演变的原因分析
英语词义的演变是由语言使用者不断加工与发展，同时也受历史、文化、社会发展等因素影响，产生的自然规律。

1、历史变迁:历史的发展和文明的进步,都会改变那些具有特定时期文化含义的词,从而整体改变了英语的某些词义。

2、文化潮流:文化流行起伏，某些词语也会受到影响，而从而改变其词义。

3、社会发展:社会的发展会造就出新的新的社会现象,因而也会造成词义的变化。

4、技术发展:技术发展会令新的物质财富成功创造，同时也给旧有词义赋予新的含义。

5、历史文化渗透:不同文化背景带来的词义会渗透到另一 language，使其经历历史文化演变。

总之，英语词义的演变，主要是由各种历史、文化、社会、技术的发展以及民族语言对接所影响的。

归纳起来，既有语言使用者的行为，也是使用者之间语义上的碰撞，是一种演变性质而非单一性质。

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浅析英语词义演变的主要因素2012英语成本杨景侠 2012550402019 语言是文化的载体，忠实地反应文化。

而各种文化之间存在着差异性。

因而在跨文化交际中，交际的失败很大部分不是来自语言，而是因为交际者对两种不同的文化差异性没有完全的理解。

了解词汇变化的现象十分必要，而更加重要的是要试图理解变化背后的机制。

可以说，词汇的变化最快，也最显著。

这一方面表现在新词的产生和旧词的消亡，还有很重要的一个方面是词义的不断演变。

所谓词义的演变是指词的内在结构形式不变，而意义发生变化的现象。

这种变化现象也是英语咋表达运用上具有的丰富性、灵活性的重要原因。

纵观语言文字发展的历程、社会原因和外来影响等；以及内部原因，即心理原因和语言原因等。

导致词义演变的原因非常复杂，但是概括说来可以大致分为语言学外因素（Extra-linguistic factors）及语言学因素（Linguistic factors）。

（二）社会原因(Social cause)1．社会发展与词义变化从社会语言学的角度来看，词义的变化不是在封闭的状态下发生的，而是受社会的影响和制约的。

词义不仅在形成过程中与客观世界、社会实践有密切的联系，而且随着社会以及人们认识的发展而发展。

人类社会中的事物、概念、思想不断发生变化，因此反映客观事物或现象的词义往往发生变化。

例如：pen最早是指"羽毛"，古人用羽毛当笔，这样的笔就称为pen。

现在人们用钢笔写字，书写工具由羽毛发展到钢笔，但名没有变，还是pen。

这样，pen一词的含义就演变了。

同样，manuscript原来是指"手稿"，现在只要是作者送到出版社去的原稿，不论是打字机打的还是计算机打的，都可以叫做manuscript。

专门术语和普通词汇之间经常交叉使用，也使词的意义发生了演变。

例如：salt （食盐）到了化学词汇中便成了一切盐类，即酸中的氢根被金属元素取代后所成的化合物。

normal（法线，当量），appendix（盲肠），base（碱），finish（抛光），mole（克分子）等专科术语都来自普通词汇，这些词的词义都发生了变化。

专门术语变成普通词语的例子更是数不胜数，scene原来只是个戏剧用词，表示"布景"，现在可以用来指各种"场面"；aloof（避开，远离）原来是个航海术语，即把船头调到顶风的方向，这个词的原始意义恐怕已经很少有人知道了。

2．社会环境与词义变化社会上发生的事件往往会便词的意义发生变化。

例如：abdication的原义是"退位"，在英国，Abdication可以特指英王爱德华八世1936年为了与美国离婚女子沃利斯·信普森夫人结婚而正式放弃王位。

Accession Day（登基日）的原义没有特指的意思，但是现在的英国指的是1952年2月6日伊丽莎白二世登基之日，每年庆祝这个日子的方式是在政府各部办公大楼上升起英国国旗。

3．社会阶级与词义变化社会生活中的心理因素也造成了词义褒贬的演变。

Villain原来是指"村民"（villager），但封建贵族的剥削阶级偏见地把"村民"和"坏人"混为一谈，竟然使villain的意义演变为"坏人"、"反面人物"。

clown（小丑）的原义是"农民"，在济慈（John Keats）的《夜莺颂》（Ode to the Nightingale）里还保留了这样的意思：The voice I hear this passing night was heardIn ancient days by emperor and clown;Perhaps the selfsame song that found a pathThrough the sad heart of Ruth, when sick for home,he stood in tears amid the alien corn.（我在今晚听见的歌声古代的君王乡民也听到过：也许就是打动露丝悲哀的心房那一首歌，那会儿她怀念故乡，站在异国的麦田中泪滴千行。

--引自朱维基译的《济慈诗选》）凡是涉及社会地位低下的人，villain、knave、churl之类的词都带上了贬义，连cowboy（牛仔）也带上了贬义的色彩，《简明牛津词典》给cowboy下的一个定义是："an unscrupulous or reckless person in business, esp. an unqual ified one"。

凡是涉及社会地位高的人，哪怕跟自由人、绅士、贵族有关的词，例如free、gentle、noble都带上了褒义。

4．民族情绪与词义变化民族之间的感情也会影响词义的褒贬。

一些坏事前面往往加上其它民族的名称，仿佛坏事都是别人干的，英国人要干这些事都是外国人带坏的。

例如：to take French leave（不辞而别），源出十八世纪法国参加宴会的客人不向主人告辞而自行离去的习俗；Italian hand是"干涉干预、狡诈"的意思；Spanish athlete是"胡说八道的人"的意思；Irish bull表示"荒诞可笑的说法"等等。

民族偏见在谚语中也多有体现：One Englishman can beat three Frenchmen.（一个英国人可以打败三个法国人。

）The Italians are wise before the deed, the Germans in the deed, the French after the deed.（意大利人事前聪敏，德国人事中聪敏，法国人事后聪敏。

）An American will go to hell for a bag of coffee.（美国人为了一袋咖啡可以连命都不要。

）5．种族情绪与词义变化六十年代以前在美国称黑人为"a Black"是带有侮辱意味的，是对黑人的侮蔑性称呼。

但由于黑人的民族运动高举Black Power（黑人权力）的旗帜，提出了"Black is beautiful"的口号，Black English（黑人英语）、Black history （黑人的历史）、Black studies（黑人研究），Black capitalism（黑人企业家拥有和管理的私人企业），Black nationalism（黑人民族解放运动）等一连串的词语应运而生，用Black指"黑人"带上了庄重的色彩。

与此同时，原来感情色彩中性的Negro却蒙上了一层贬义。

在正式的场合，又创造出Afro-Americans和African Americans来称呼黑人，用Native Americans来称呼印第安人（Indians），用Mexican Americans来称呼墨西哥人（Mexicans）。

6．性别差异与词义变化男人和女人说的不是不同的语言，他们说的是同一语言的不同变体，差别主要在语音方面和词汇方面。

总的说来，英语里这种差异是比较小的。

在英语的词汇中确实存在着语言的"性别歧视"（sexism），语言是歧视女性的。

"人类"就用man来表示：Man is a rational animal; men are born equal. 英语中不少以-man 构成的复合词（例如chairman），明显是以男人为中心。

近年来，许多人指出这类词至少表面上带有男人的偏见，越来越多地使用没有性别差异的词chair或chairperson。

与此同时，draftsperson（起草人）、businessperson（商人）等一连串带-person的词也应运而生了。

一些不带形态标记的词（unmarked words）往往指的是男性，而要表示女性的时候，只能另上加上标记。

例如：poet-poetess, hero-heroine, student-girl student, novelist-lady nov elist, doctor-woman doctor, president-female president，等等。

在西方社会里，男人要有"阳刚"，女人要有"阴柔"，对男女表示称赞时所用的词也不一样，男人是great、terrific、cool、neat，女人是adorable、charming、sweet、lovely。

几乎所有指称女性的词都受到了降格，可以用作"妓女"（prostitute）的委婉语，例如housewife, lady, girl, mistress, nun等等。

7．社会价值观与词义变化社会的价值观对词义的影响，最有趣的例子就是为了语言禁忌（taboo）或者避免提起令人不快的事情，人们使用比较顺耳的词语来替代，这些所谓比较顺耳的词语就是委婉词语（euphemism）。

委婉词语的出现，也使那些用作委婉词语的词语的意义发生了演变。

例如：把车祸说成accident，其实accident原来的意思只不过是"意外的事、偶然的事"。

这样，这个词的意义也就经历了降格的过程。

在当前报纸、广播、电视等大众宣传媒介（mass media）得到普及的时代，广告商在推销产品的时候，往往把"最新的"跟"最好的"等同起来，所以就使state-of-the-art 有了"最新型的"的意思，进而又有了"最优良的"的意思。

Exposure（曝光）本来是给不好的事情暴曝光，但是在公众面前多露面毕竟能提高知名度，所以exposure 原先的贬义也逐渐消失了，变成"露面"的意思，例如：He had, in a few short days of intense exposure, become a fo lk hero.有的委婉词语甚至已经失去理据，例如人们不再想起cemetery曾经是graveyard（墓地）的委婉用语，roost曾经是cock（公鸡）的委婉用语。