(完整版)词汇学Unit6-7答案

Unit 6 Semantic Networks of English Words

Check Your Understanding

State whether each of the following statements is TRUE or FALSE.

a. Words from different classes can form a semantic field.

b. Most lexical items form semantic field with other lexemes with certain semantic relation.

c. The meaning of a hyponym is included in the meaning of its superordinate.

d. There is always a superordinate term for its hyponyms.

e. Lexical gaps across English and Chinese exist in all semantic fields.

Key: F T F F T

In-Class Activities

1. Some semantic fields are quite small. For example, each pair of antonyms, such as long and

short forms a lexical field of two members. The meanings of the two antonyms have in

common that both relate to an end section of the same scale, and the group is complete since

there are no other adjectives that share this part of the meaning.

ASK:

(1) Can you find more semantic fields of this small type?

(2) Do polysemous word old and its antonyms new and young belong to the same semantic field?

Key:(1) alive and dead, male and female, big and small

(2) No. old & new and old & young belong to different semantic fields.

2. In public notices, we often find the use of general words for persons, objects, places, etc. Look

at the following three pictures.

ASK:

(1) What are the general words used in these pictures? Can you provide some hyponyms for each

of them? Does any of the general words have a certain hyponym that finds no equivalent in

Chinese?

(2) Do you think it is reasonable to use superordinate terms on these occasions?

Key: (1) vehicle, pets, food, drinks, shirt, shoes, customer

(2) Omit

dog” is a

3. Hyponymy is a transitive relation, i.e, if x→y and y→z then x→z. For example, since “

“dog is a hyponym of

is a hyponym of “animal”,

hyponym of “mammal”　a nd “mammal”　

animal”.

ASK:

(1) Can you find other examples to prove the relation of transitivity?

(2) Is meronymy a transitive relation like hyponymy? Use examples for illustration.

Key:(1) Tulip is a hyponym of flower which is a hyponym of plant.

Scarlet, vermilion, carmine and crimson are hyponyms of red which is a hyponym of

color.

(2) Meronymy is not exactly the transitive relation like hyponymy. For example, “p

is a part of “eye”, and “eye” is a part of “face”, while “pupil” is not a part of

4. Often a concept lexicalized in one language may not have a corresponding lexical item in

another language and thus presents a translation difficulty.

ASK:

(1) What methods can you employ to translate the missing word, if the concept is important or

must be cited often?

他铅笔盒里有五支笔” into English? Why

(2) Is it an easy job to translate the Chinese sentence “

or why not? Name some of the hyponyms of “

笔” in both Chinese and English.

Key: 1) a compound word, a descriptive phrase, borrowing from one language, etc.

2) No. Because there is no English equivalence for Chinese word笔.

铅笔pencil 钢笔pen / fountain pan圆珠笔ball-point pen 毛笔writing brush画笔

painting brush 鸭嘴笔drawing pen / ruling pen蜡笔(wax) crayon 粉笔chalk

5. A term which is a hyponym of itself is an autohyponym in that the same lexical item can

contrasts with operate at both superordinate and subordinate levels; for example, “man”　

“animal” at one level, but at a lower level it contrasts with “woman” (in effect, “of man”).

ASK:

(1) Can you find other autohyponyms?

(2) Can you account for the existence of autohyponyms in any possible way?

Key: Omit

6. Hyponymy and meronymy are often found in language use. It is quite common for a general

term and a specific term, or a part word and a whole word to substitute for each other in both

speaking and writing. The former rhetorical device is called metonymy and the latter one

, the specific synecdoche. For example, in the sentence “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”

term “apple” refers to the general term “fruit”; in the sentence “How many mouths doe to feed”, the part word “mouth” is used to replace the whole word “person”. Read the fo sentences.

a. He could hardly earn his everyday bread.

wheels.

b. I’ve got

c. Last year nearly 6 million vehicles rolled off the assembly lines.

d. Put down the steel.

ASK:

(1) Can you point out the words substituted by the bold-faced words?

(2) Can you supply more examples of your own?

Key: (1) 1. food 2. car 3. automobiles 4. knife

(2) Omit

Post-Class Task

1.How is meronymy different from hyponymy? Use examples to illustrate their differences.

Key: Meronymy is different from hyponymy in that the former is a “part of”　

or “member of”　

leaf is a part of a tree; an oak is a relation while the latter a “kind of” relation. For example, a

kind of tree.