2. What is the fundamental difference between the process of radiation and concatenation? Illustrate your point.
Radiation is a mantic process in which the primary meaning stands at the center and the cond meaning proceed out of it in every direction like rays. The meanings are independent of one another, but can all be traced back to the central meaning. The word neck affords a good example. The primary meaning is (1) that part of man or animal joining the head to the body; from this are derived (2) that part of the garment; (3) the neck of an animal ud as food; (4) a narrow part between the head and body or ba of any object; (5) the narrowest part of anything; bottle, land, strait or channel ( WNWD). Though the referent of each of die five may not be the same, yet they are all related to the central meaning. Meaning (2) is an instance of transfer, (3) an instance of specialization, and (4) and (5) are instances of extension.Concatenation, meaning ‘linking together’, is the mantic process in which the meaning of a word moves gradually away from its first n by successive shifts until, in many cas, there is not a sign of connection between the n that is finally developed and that which the term had at the
beginning. In plain terms the meaning reached by the first shift may be shifted a cond time, and so on until in the end the original meaning is totally lost. The word treacle is an illustrative example (WNWD):
(1) wild beast;
(2) remedy for bites of venomous beasts;
(3) antidote for poison or remedy for poison;
(4) any effective remedy;
(5) (BrE) molass.
Unlike radiation where each of the derived meanings is directly connected to the primary meaning, concatenation describes a process where each of the later meaning is related only to the preceding one like chains. Though the latest n can be traced back to the original, there is no direct connection in between. Now consider the ns of treacle. Se
ns (1) and (2) are now entirely lost; (3) and (4) are obsolete, and only (5) remains common in u.
Radiation and concatenation are cloly related, being different stages of the development leading to polymy. Generally, radiation precedes concatenation. In many cas, the two process work together, complementing each other.)
3. Complete the following passage according to the text with a suitable word for each blank.
Polymy is the _____ of long mantic development of a word. Diachronically, a polymant was when it was first created and it became _____ gradually when it acquired more and more meanings later on. The first meaning was the_____ meaning and the rest were ______ from it. Synchronically, a _____ has a number of meanings that_____ at the same time. Among them there is a meaning which is the _____ meaning, and the rest are all _____ to it in one way or another and can be _____ back to the central meaning.
key
result
monomic/ monomous
polymic/ polymous
吃什么可以减肥primary
derived
polymant
色不迷人人自迷coexist
central
primary/ first
related
traced
4. The word board has a number of meanings, the primary being ‘a long, broad, flat piece of sawed wood' and one of the derived meanings being ‘a group of persons who manage or control a business, school system, council’. Consult a good dictionary and explain in what way the two meanings are related and what process is involved.
key
According to LDCE, the word board has the following meanings:
1) a long thin flat piece of cut wood
2) a flat surface with patterns, ud for playing a (stated) game on电脑启动
3) a flat piece of hard material ud for putting a (stated)food on
4) also noticeboard- a flat piece of hard material fastened to the wall in a public plac to pin noticeon
白三烯调节剂
5) BLACKBOARD
6) meals
菊花展7) a committee or association, as of company directors or government officials, t up for a special responsibility
From the definitions, we know that the process is concatenation; we can e no sign of the primary from the derived one.
Homonymy
1. Dedide whether the statements below are true or fal.
a. Perfect homonyms share the same spelling and pronunciation.
大桥下面
培训班总结b. Homonyms come mainly from borrowing, changes in sound and spelling, and dialects.
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