英语词汇学论文Meaning_changes_in_English

Meaning changes in English

Abstract:As other languages in the world, English changes as times goes by. English formed and developed over many centuries into the form today. Studying the changing principles of words of English would help us acquire further awareness of English lexicon and do good to our language acquirement.

Key words: meaning changes types causes

1. Introduction

V ocabulary is the most unstable element of language as it is undergoing constant changes both in content and form. Of course, some meanings remain much the same for a long time because the referents to which they direct us do not change. Frequently, an old form or words are pressed into new service when a new linguistic need is felt. When a word loses its old meaning and comes to refer to something different, the result is a change in word meaning. Change of meaning refers to the alternation of the meaning of existing words, as well as the addition of new meaning to a particular word.

2. Types of meaning changes

2.1 Extension of Meaning /Generalization of Meaning

It is a process by which a word which originally had a specialized meaning has now become generalized or has extended to cover a broader and often less definite concept. For example，Manuscript originally means handwriting (writing by hand only) while its present meaning is any author‟s writing whether written by hand or typed with a type-writer or a word-processor. Salary was (Original) a sum of money given to Roman soldiers to enable them to buy salt; and is (present) fixed payment made by employer at regular intervals to employees.

A large proportion of polysemous words of modern English have their meanings extended sometime in the course of development. Some words are generalized to such

a degree that they can mean almost everything.

(1) She is such a pretty little thing.

(2) I have to pack my things for the journey.

(3)There is another thing I want to ask you about.

(4)That only makes things worse.

(5)The thing is, can we finish the job in time?

In the above senten ces, “Thing” which used to mean “a public assembly” or “a council” in Anglo-Saxon times, now has become an all-purpose word. Its meaning is so general, and we sometimes call this noun a …light noun‟.he English people are of a mixed blood. The early inhabitants of the island we now call England were Britons, but in fact all the races were the invaders came from Europe. Nobody knows very much about Britain before the Romans came during the first century BC, but there had been at least three invasions before that. The first of these was by a dark-haired Mediterranean race called the Iberians. The other two were by Celtic tribes: one is Gaels, whose descendants are the modern Scots and Irish; another is the Britons, who gave their name to the whole island of Britain. These were the people whom the Romans conquered. The Romans gave the Britons a good deal of their civilization. Then at the beginning of the fifth century Britain was invaded by three tribes from the northern Europe: the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes. These three tribes merged into one people, and the three dialects they spoke naturally grew into a single language, the English language.

2.2 Narrowing of Meaning

It is a process by which a word of wide meaning acquires a narrow or specialized