英语语言学_第七章

Wherefore
来自百度文库
3 Changes in the meaning of words
Widening of meaning Narrowing of meaning Meaning shift
Widening of meaning
Holiday: [+specific] holy day (天主教)瞻礼日 [+general] any rest day Tail: [+specific] tail of a horse [+general] tail of any animal cherry-pick原指“摘樱桃”，现指“挑选最好的东西”
Borrowing
----When different cultures come into contact, words are often borrowed from one language to another. The following are some of the loan words in English. Latin: bonus education exit German: beer waltz quartz Chinese: tea kowtow sampan Russian: sputnik commissar vodka Arabic: zero algebra alcohol
美国英语在英语世界已经逐渐占有主导地 位，为英语提供的新词最多。David K. Darnhart等编纂的《美国词览》 (America in So Many Words) 一书中收集的20世纪每 年一词（个别年份有两个词）来看，多数词 语都是在英语世界通用的： 是
grass roots roots（基础，1901） 1901 goo（黏性物质，1902） highbrow（自以为文化修养很高的人，1903） cut the mustard（做符合要求的事情，1904） jellybean（软心豆粒糖，1905）
jalopy（破旧的汽车，1929） bulldozer（大型起重机，1930） skid row（贫民街，1931） hopefully（怀着希望，1932） supermarket（超级市场，1933） whistle-stop（小镇，1934） boondoggle（琐碎无价值的工资，1935） streamline （流线型，1936） groovy （演奏得出色的，1937） teenager（青少年，1938） jukebox（投币式自动唱机，1939） jeep (吉普车, 1940) multicultural (多文化的, 1941) gizmo (记不住名称的机械装配, 1942)
2. Loss of words
Words can be lost from a language as time goes by. The following words, taken from Romeo and Juliet, have faded out of the English language. Beseem Wot Gyve to be suitable to know a fetter why
Functional shift （word class shift）
----Words may shift from one part of speech to another without the addition of affixes, e.g. Noun verb: to knee, to bug, to tape, to brake… Verb noun: a hold, a flyby, a reject, a retreat… Adj. verb: to cool, to narrow, to dim, to slow… Adj. noun: a daily, a Christian, the rich, the impossible…
teddy bear（玩具熊，1906） muckraker（搜集并揭发丑事的人，1906） melting pot（各种族同化的国家，1907） asleep at the switch（坐失良机，1908） pork barrel（政治拨款，1909） barbershop（无伴奏重唱，1910） blues（美国黑人的布鲁斯歌曲，1911） movies（电影，1912） jazz（爵士乐，1913） backpack（身负背包的徒步旅行，1914） flapper（行动与衣着不受传统约束的年轻女子1915） IQ（智商，1916）， GI（美国士兵，1917），
Blending
----A blend is a word formed by combining parts of other words, e.g. smog—smoke + fog motel—motor + hotel camcorder—camera + recorder
Acronyms& Initialism
Narrowing of meaning
hound: any dog a special kind of dog猎犬 girl: young person of either sex young people of female sex deer: any animal a particular kind of animal meat: food edible part of an animal corn: grain a particular grain
acronym (首字母拼音词, 1943) , snafu (混乱, 1944) , showbiz (娱乐行业, 1945), iron wall (铁幕, 1946) , cold war (冷战, 1946) , babysit (照看小孩, 1947) cybernetics ( 控制论,1948), cool (好极了, 1949), DJ (disc jockey播放唱片的人, 1950), rock and roll (摇滚乐, 1951), Ms. (女士, 1952), UFO (不明飞行物, 1953), fast food (快餐, 1954), hot line (热线, 1955),
D-Day（预定进攻发起日，1918） T-shirt（T恤衫，1919） normalcy（正常状态，1920） media（媒体，1921） cold turkey（突然完全停止服用毒品，1922） hijack（抢劫，1923） brainstorm（突然想到的妙计，1924） motel（汽车旅馆，1925） Bible Belt（美国南部基督教基要派流行的地1926） macho（男子气概，1927） athlete’s foot（足癣，1928）
kinds of changes
Sound change Morphological and syntactic change Vocabulary change
Morphological and syntactic change Change in “agreement” rule Change in negation rule Process of simplification Loss of inflections Vocabulary change Addition of new words Loss of words Changes in the meaning of words
An awareness of this point may help to better understand many linguistic phenomena around us. Among those aspects of changes, language change in vocabulary is the most prominent.
Language change
jet skiing snowboarding hydrospeeding twigloo netspeak open-collar workers newbie misper cash flow bottom line
Netizen bungee jumping cyberspace Vertically challenged CDMA code division multiple access SOHO small office, home office DV digital video chat room
Back-formation逆构词
----New words may be coined from already existing words by “subtracting” an affix thought to be part of the old word. edit editor hawk hawker携鹰打猎者 beg beggar baby-sit baby-sitter
Coinage
----A new word can be coined outright to fit some purpose, e.g. walkman Kodak Xerox Ford Benz Toyota
Clipped words
----The abbreviation of longer words or phrases, e.g. gym—gymnasium memo—memorandum disco—discotheque fridge—refrigerator
Some Recent Trends
①Moving towards greater informality ②The influence of American English ③The influence of science and technology Space travel太空旅行 Computer and internet language Ecology生态学
Meaning shift
inn: a small, old hotel or pub well-known, nice hotel Holiday Inn nice: ignorant (1000 years ago) 无知的 good, fine lust: pleasure with negative and sexual overtones silly: happy naïve, foolish
Language is constantly changing as society develops and the way of people’s life change. Language changes in many aspects, such as the changes in phonology or we say change in sound, the changes in vocabulary or lexicon, changes in syntax in other words grammar and changes in meaning.
Vocabulary change
1. Addition of new words
coinage(创新词) clipped words(截短词,混和词) acronyms(词首字母缩略词) back-formation(逆构词法) functional shift (word class shift) borrowing
----Acronyms are words derived from the initials of several words, e.g. CBS---- Columbia Broadcasting system ISBN----International Standard Book Number WTO WHO PLA AIDS UNESCO APEC OPEC CAD SARS