实用英语词汇学课后练习答案 张华

1.Explain briefly the two methods of the study of lexicology.

There are two main approaches which are used to study English lexicology. One is a synchronic approach and the other is a diachronie approach. A synchronic approach shows that words can be studied at a point in time, disregarding whatever changes might be taking place, while a diachronic approach indicates that words can be considered historically, with emphases on the origin and changes in form and meaning.

2.What is a word?

Word can be defined as a meaningful group of letters printed or written horizontally across a piece of paper. The definition of a word will cover the following points:

a) a minimal free form of a language

b) a sound unity

c) a unit of meaning

d) a form that can function alone in a sentence

3.What is vocabulary?

All the words in a language make up what is generally known as its vocabulary. V ocabulary is most commonly used to refer to the sum total of all the words of a language.

4.Explain briefly transparent words and opaque words.

How the majority of words were formed cannot be explained. These words are

called opaque words, such as whose axe, book, table, and work .Only a minority

of words can be explained . They are words whose meaning is determined is from the meaning of their components. Such as cuckoo, ping-pong, motherland, and blackbird.

5.How do you account for the role of native words in English in relation to loan-words?

Words can be divided into native words and loan words according to their origin. Native words are Anglo-Saxon words still retained in Modern English, while loan words are word taken from different foreign languages. Native words cannot compare with loan-words in number, but have a more important role in the language.

4. Why do we say “English is a heavy borrower?”

English owes 80% of its vocabulary to other languages. That is to say English has borrowed 80 percent of its vocabulary from other languages. In fact, the English vocabulary contains words from all the major languages of the world. No other language of the world has borrowed so heavily. Therefore, the name “heavy borrower”best describes the characteristic of the English vocabulary.

5.Enumerate the major modes of modern vocabulary development.

Modern Enlish vocabulary develops through three channels:creation,semantic

change, and borroeing.

(1)Creation refers to the formation of new words by using existing materials,

namely roots, affixes, and other elements.

(2)Semantic change means an old form, which takes on a new meaning to meet the new ,such as mouse and web.

(3)Borrowing has played a vital role in the development of vocabulary, particulary in earlier times.Borrowed words constitute mere ly six to seven percent of all new words.

21．Both initialism and acronyms are ...explain them with example.

Initialism is a word formed initial letters and pronounced letter by letter while acronym is a word fromed from initial letters bu t pronounced as a normal sord. BBC,GMT,WHO,ISBN,FBI are all initialisms and SARS,ROM,UNESCO are acronyms.