refer to

语⾔学第三章

Chapter3Lexicon

3.1Whatisword?

alexeme?

Alexemeisthesmallestunitinthemeaningsystemofalanguagethatcanbedistinguishedfromothersimilar

ccurinmanydifferentformsinactualspokenorwrittenntences,andisregardedasthe

d“write”isthelexemeof“write,writes,wrote,writingandwritten.”

amorpheme?

Amorphemeisthesmallestunitoflanguageintermsofrelationshipbetweenexpressionandcontent,aunit

thatcannotbedividedintofurthersmallerunitswithoutdestroyingordrasticallyalteringthemeaning,whetheritislexicalor

d“boxes”hastwomorphemes:“box”and“es,”neitherofwhichpermitsfurtherdivisionoranalysis

shapesifwedon’twanttosacrificeitsmeaning.

anallomorph?

iantsoftheplurality“-s”makestheallomorphs

thereofinthefollowingexamples:map–maps,mou–mice,ox–oxen,tooth–teeth,etc.

aword?

Awordisthesmallestofthelinguisticunitsthatcanconstitute,byitlf,acompleteutteranceinspeechor

writing.

3.1.1Threensof“word”

callydefinableunit

monfactorunderlyingatofforms

aticalunit

3.1.2Identificationofwords

ity

Wordsarethemoststableofalllinguisticunits,inrespectoftheirinternalstructure,stituentpartsofacomplex

wordhavelittlepotentialforrearrangement,comparedwiththerelative

ewordchairmanforexample.

Ifthemorphemesarerearrangedas*manchair,itisanunacceptablewordinEnglish.

veuninterruptibility

Byuninterruptibility,wemennewelementsarenottobeinrtedintoawordevenwhenthereareveralpartsinaword.

Nothingistobeinrtedinbetweenthethreepartsoftheworddisappointment:

dis+appoint+neallowedtoupausbetweenthepartsofaword:*disappointment.

umfreeform

catedtreatingntenceas“themaximumfreeform”andword“the

minimumfreeform,”thelatterbeingthesmallestunitthatcanconstitute,by

itlf,acompleteutterance.

3.1.3Classificationofwords

leandinvariablewords

Invariablewords,onecanfindorderedandregularriesofgrammaticallydifferentwordform;ontheotherhand,partofthe

–follows–following–followed.

Invariablewordsrefertothowordssuchassince,when,ldom,through,hello,veno

inflectiveendings.

ticalwordsandlexicalwords

Grammaticalwords,onwords,expressgrammaticalmeanings,suchas,conjunctions,prepositions,articles,and

pronouns,aregrammaticalwords.

Lexicalwords,twords,havelexicalmeanings,hichrefertosubstance,actionandquality,suchas

nouns,verbs,adjectives,andadverbs,arelexicalwords.

-classwordsandopen-classwords

Clod-classword:Awordtbersare

ore,pronouns,prepositions,conjunctions,articles,

cloditems.

Open-classword:Awordthatbelongstoth,

verbs,adjectivesandmanyadverbsareallopen-classitems.

ass

,wordclassdisplaysawiderrangeofmore

esomeofthecategoriesnewlyintroducedinto

linguisticanalysis.

(1)Particles:Particlesincludeatleasttheinfinitivemarker“to,”thenegativemarker“not,”andthe

subordinateunitsinphrasalverbs,suchas“getby,”“doup,”“lookback,”etc.

(2)Auxiliaries:eoftheiruniqueproperties,which

onecouldhardlyexpectofaverb,linguiststodaytendtodefinethemasaparatewordclass.

(3)Pro-forms:Pro-formsaretheformswhichcanrveasreplacementsfordifferentelementsina

mple,inthefollowingconversation,soreplacesthatIcancome.

A:Ihopeyoucancome.

B:Ihopeso.

(4)Determiners:Determinersrefertowordswhichareudbeforethenounactingasheadofa

nounphra,inerscanbe

dividedintothreesubclass:predeterminers,centraldeterminersandpostdeterminers.

3.2Theformationofword

3.2.1Morphemeandmorphology

Morphologystudiestheinternalstructureofwords,andtherulesbywhichwordsareformed.

3.2.2Typesofmorphemes

rphemeandboundmorpheme

Freemorphemes:Thowhichmayoccuralone,thatis,thowhichmayconstitutewordsbythemlves,arefree

morphemes.

Boundmorphemes:Thowhichmustappearwithatleastanothermorphemearecalledboundmorphemes.

,affixandstem

xisthecollectivetermfor

sanymorphemeor

combinationofmorphemestowhichaninflectionalaffixcanbeadded.

Arootisthebaf

tosay,ordinternationalism,after

theremovalofinter-,-aland-ism,dscontainarootmorpheme.A

nblackbird,blackboardandblacksmith;-ceiveinreceive,conceive

dsleepisafree

rootmorpheme,whereasslep-inthepasttenceformsleptcannotexistbyitlf,andthereforebound.A

stemisanymorphemeorcombinationofmorphemestowhichaninflectionalaffixcanbeadded.E.g.

mershowsthatastemcanbe

equivalenttoaroot,whereasthelattershowsthatastemmaycontainarootandaderivationalaffix.

tionalaffixandderivationalaffix

Inflectionisthemanifestationofgrammaticalrelationshipsthroughtheadditionofinflectionalaffixes,suchasnumber,

person,finiteness,aspectandca,whichdonotchangethegrammaticalclassof

thestemstowhichtheyareattached.

Thedistinctionbetweeninflectionalaffixesandderivationalaffixesissometimesknownasadistinctionbetweeninflectional

ellthedifferencebetweenthemwiththefollowingways:

(1)Inflectionalaffixesveryoftenaddaminuteordelicategrammaticalmeaningtothestem.E.g.

toys,walks,John’s,ore,

contrast,,citation,etc.

(2)Inflectionalaffixesdon’tchangethewordclassofthewordtheyattachto,suchasflower,

flowers,whereasderivationalaffixesmightormightnot,suchastherelationbetweensmalland

smallnessfortheformer,andthatbetweenbrotherandbrotherhoodforthelatter.

(3)Inflectionalaffixesareoftenconditionedbynonmanticlinguisticfactorsoutsidetheword

iceoflikesin“Theboylikesto

navigateontheinternet.”isdeterminedbythesubjecttheboyinthentence,whereas

iceof

cleverandclevernessdependsonwhetherwewanttotalkabouttheproperty“clever”orwe

wanttotalkabout“thestateofbeingclever.”

(4)InEnglish,inflectionalaffixesaremostlysuffixes,,

walks,,teacher,etc.

3.2.3Inflectionandwordformation

tion

Inflectionisthemanifestationofgrammaticalrelationshipsthroughtheadditionofinflectionalaffixes,suchasnumber,

person,finiteness,aspectandca,whichdonotchangethegrammaticalclassofthestemstowhichtheyareattached.

rmation

Wordformationefurthersubclassifiedintothe

compositionaltype(compound)andderivationaltype(derivation).

(1)Compound

Compoundsrefertothowordsthatconsistofmorethanonelexicalmorpheme,orthewaytojointwoparatewordsto

produceasingleform,suchasice-cream,sunri,paperbag,railway,

rest-room,simple-minded,wedding-ring,etc.

Theheadofanominaloranadjectivalendocentriccompoundisdeverbal,thatis,uently,itis

y,the

:lf-control,pain-killer,ives:

virus-nsitive,machinewashable,centriccompoundsareformedbyV+N,V+A,and

V+P,whereastheexocentriccomefromV+NandV+:playboy,cutthroat,etc.

Adjectives:breakneck,walk-in,etc.

(2)Derivation

rastwithinflections,derivationscanmakethewordclassof

theoriginalwordeitherchangedorunchanged.

3.2.4Thecounterpointofphonologyandmorphology

rph:Anyofthedifferentformsofamorpheme.

phonology/morphophonemics:Morphophonologyisabranchoflinguisticsreferringtothe

analysisandclassificationofthephonologicalfactorsthataffecttheappearanceofmorphemes,and

correspondingly,socalled

morphonologyormorphonemics.

lation:Assimilationreferstothechangeofasoundasaresultoftheinfluenceofanadjacent

sound,whichismorespecificallycalled“contact”or“contiguous”assimilation.

ilation:Dissimilationreferstotheinfluenceexercidbyonesoundgmentuponthe

articulationofanother,sothatthesoundsbecomelessalike,ordifferent.

3.3Lexicalchange

3.3.1Lexicalchangeproper

ion

Sinceeconomicactivitiesarethemostimportantanddynamicinhumanlife,manynewlexicalitemscomedirectlyfromthe

consumeritems,theirproducersortheirbrandnames.

ng

Blendingisarelativelycomplexformofcompounding,inwhichtwowordsareblendedbyjoiningtheinitialpartofthefirst

wordandthefinalpartofthecondword,orbyjoiningtheinitialpartsofthe

twowords.

iation/clipping

Anewwordiscreatedbycuttingthefinalpart,cuttingtheinitialpartorcuttingboththeinitialparts

oftheoriginalwords.

m

Acronymismadeupfromthefirstlettersofthenameofanorganization,whichhasaheavilymodifiedheadword.

-formation

Back-formationreferstoanabnormaltypeofword-formationwhereashorterwordisderivedbydeletinganimagedaffixfrom

alongerformalreadyinthelanguage.

icalcreation

Theprincipleofanalogicalcreationcanaccountfortheco-existenceoftwoforms,regularandirregular,intheconjugationof

someEnglishverbs.

ing

Englishinitsdevelopmenth,Latin,

French,Spanish,Arabicandotherlanguageshaveallplayedanactiveroleinthis

process.

3.3.2Phonologicalchange

Thelossofsoundcanfirstrefertos

ofsoundsmayalsooccurinutterancesattheexpenofsomeunstresd

words.

on

Soundsmaybelostbuttheymayalsobeaddedtotheoriginalsoundquence.

esis

esishadbeenoriginallyaperformance

error,whichwasoverlookedandacceptedbythespeechcommunity.

lation

Assimilationreferstothechangeofasoundasaresultoftheinfluenceofanadjacentsound,whichismorespecifically

called“contact”or“contiguous”assimilation.

3.3.3Morpho-syntacticalchange

logicalchange

Theformofinflectionalaffixesmayalsochange.

ticalchange

Therearemoreinstancesofchangesinthesyntacticalfeaturesofwords

3.3.4Semanticchange

ning

Broadeningisaprocesstoextendorelevatethemeaningfromitsspecificntoarelativelygeneralone.

ing

Contrarytobroadening,theoriginalmeaningofawordcanbenarrowedorrestrictedtoaspecificn.

gshift

aningshiftisunderstoodinitsnarrown,i.e.

thechangeofmeaninghasnothingtodowithgeneralizationorrestrictionasmentionedabove.

hift

Byshiftingthewordclassonecanchangethemeaningofawordfromaconcreteentityornotionto

ocessofwordformationisalsoknownaszero-derivation,orconversion.

ymology

Folketymologyreferstoachangeinformofawordorphra,resultingfromanincorrectpopularnotionoftheoriginor

meaningofthetermorfromtheinfluenceofmorefamiliartermsmistakenlytakentobeanalogous.

3.3.5Orthographicchange

ritingisarecordingofthesoundsysteminEnglish,phonological

changeswillnodoubttoffgraphiticchanges.