词汇学作业

英师本1106班

王红红

20111411196

1.Apart from the meaning of a word from the dictionary, what other

kinds of meaning we must know in order to use it effectively in communication? Support your argument with necessary examples.

Apart from the meaning of a word from the dictionary, we should also know the connotative meaning and the social or stylistic meaning in order to use it effectively in communication.

Connotative meaning refers to the emotional association which a word or a phrase suggests in one’s mind. It is the supplement value which is added to the purely denotative meaning of a word. For instance, the denotative meaning of the word mother is “female parent”, but it generally connotes love, care, and tenderness. Conations may be considered on two levels: connotation pertaining to individuals and the connotations pertaining to a group.

Social meaning is that which a piece of language conveys about the social circumstances of its use. Language must be adjusted to fit different contexts or situations where it is used for a specific purpose; one adjusts one’s language so as to make it appropriate in various situations in terms of (1) the social relationship between the speakers or correspondents(which may be that of friend to friend, or professor to student); (2)the occasion( which may be a class reunion or an official reception); (3)subject matter(which may be about serious political issues or about films, swimming or food); (4) the mode of discourse(spoken or written).we may further simplify the styles into three levels: formal, neutral and informal. None of these styles is better than any other: appropriate is the key to the good use of the various styles.

2.Characterize the following lexical items, using the six binary semantic

features.(+animate)，（+live）,(+concrete), (vegetative), (+trunked), (leafed).

Tree (+animate +live -concrete –vegetative +trunked +leafed)

Pine (+animate +live +concrete –vegetative +trunked +leafed)

Plant (+animate +live -concrete +vegetative +trunked +leafed)