词汇学

第一单元 英语词汇概说

英语单词的结构

⒈词 word: It is a minimal free form of language which has given sound and meaning and

syntactic function. Eg: book, red …..

⒉词条 entry: It is a term used by dictionary compilers. It refers to all the information about

word that appears in a dictionary.

It includes the headword, the pronunciation, definition, irregular plural forms, comparative and

superlative form, irregular forms of verbs, part of speeches, even derivatives of the headword,

etc.

⒊词位 lexeme: In linguistic study, every entry (specifically the headword) which are collected

into a dictionary is called a lexeme by linguists. An lexeme is an abstract unit in

linguistics that roughly corresponds to a set of forms taken by a single word. Eg: run, runs,

ran, running. 原形大写表示词位，词位相当于词条中的headword.

⒋词形 word form: Different forms of a word which are caused by the change of tense, number,

point of view, part of speech, etc. are called word form.

⒌词汇 vocabulary/ lexicon: all the words in a language are termed as it. However, vocabulary

can also be used to refer to all the words in a book or in a particular historical period of

time, or in a dialet, or in a particular discipline, or eben to all the words that a person

possesses.

⒍词汇单位 lexical unit/ item: is a single word or chain of words that are the basic elements of a

language’s lexicon. Eg: cat, traffic light, take care of, by-the-way, it’s raining cats and

dogs. The entire store of lexical items in a language is called its lexis(词库).

Ⅱ、classification of English words

By origin: native words 本土词; loan words外来词.

By use frequency: basic word stock基础词; non-basic word stock非基础词.

By the level of usage: common words 常用词；literary words 书面词；colloquial words口语词；

slang words 俚语；technical words 术语.

By notion(function): content words 实义词；function words 功能词.

Ⅲ、

⒈词素morpheme: is the smallest meaningful linguistic unit of language, not divisible or

analyzable into smaller forms. Word is composed of morphemes. 词素是词的组成部分，

是语言中语音和词义的最小结合体。单词是由词素构成的。（自由词素可以单独使用）

⒉ independence of morpheme

⑴自由词素free morpheme：①have complete meanings in themselves and can be used as free

grammatical units in sentences.具有完整的词汇意义，能够单独构成一个词独立使用的

词根。 ②The free morpheme is also content morphemes or free roots（自由词根）,

simple words. ③all monomorphic word(单词素词) are all constituted by free

morpheme. ④those polymorphic words(多词素词) which is wholly made up of

free morphemes are called compounds(复合词) .

⑵粘着词素bound morpheme: bound to other morphemes to form words. They do not have

independent semantic meaning; instead, they have attached meaning.具有一定意义，但不

能单独存在，必须黏附在其他形式上的词素。 Include bound roots(粘着词根) and

bound affixes.

⒊semantic importance of morpheme 词素的两大类 词根与词缀

⑴粘着词根bound root：part of word that carries the fundamental meaning just like a free root. It

is a bound form and has to combine with other morphemes to make words.不能单独使

用，必须与其它词素结合起来才能构成词，属于粘着形式.

⑵词缀affixes: are forms that are attached to words or word elements to modify meaning or

function.只有语法意义，没有词汇意义 或者 虽有一定的词汇意义，但在词中只表达

次要的意义. It includes inflectional and derivational affix.

①屈折词缀inflectional affix: 只有语法意义，没有词汇意义。-s, -‘s, -ed, -er, -est ……

②派生词缀 derivational affix: 有一定的语义，也常能决定单词的词性。 Decided into prefix

(前缀)and suffix（后缀）.

自由词根……. 自由形式

词根

词素 粘着词根

前缀

派生词缀 粘附形式

词缀 后缀

屈折词缀

⒋词素变体allomorph: is any of the variant forms of a morpheme as conditioned by position or

adjoining sounds. 同一词素在不同的构词环境中可以有不同的变体。

⒌词根root: is a part of the word when all the affixes are removed.含有明确的词汇语义，在单

词中表达主要的意义。

⒍词干stem: is any morpheme or combination of morpheme which an affix can be added. It can

be equivalent to a root, and it can also be two or more roots.词干可以是一个root 或派生词或复

合词。

第二单元 基本构词方法

一、派生法

⒈派生法derivation：the word formation method in which prefixes and suffixes are added to

roots or bound root and bound root combine to form new words. 派生词缀和词根结合，后者粘

着词根和粘着词根结合构成单词的方法。 Derivative 派生词

①Prefix + root + suffix ②bound root + bound root

⒉⑴ a free root based derivative

① prefix + a free root ②a free root + suffix ③prefix + a free root + suffix

④combining form + a free root

⑵ a bound root based derivative

① prefix + a bound root ②a bound root + suffix ③prefix + a bound root +suffix

④ combining form + combining form ⑤combining form + suffix

⒊⑴ polysemic meaning of prefix and suffix 多义性

⑵ synonymous meaning of prefix and suffix 同义性

⑶different productivity of prefix and suffix 构词能力差异 (不同的派生词缀在当代英语中

构成新词的能力，即构词能力productivity，差异很大。跟无构词能力的粘着词根结合在一

起的派生词缀，一般都是没有构词能力。

⒋ prefixes are classified on a semantic basis and suffixes on a grammatical basis.

⒌⑴the classification of prefixes⑵the classification of suffixes 看笔记

Ⅱ、复合法

⒈compounding ( composition ) is word formation method in which more than one free

morphemes are combined to form a new word.把两个或两个以上独立的词结合在一起构成新

词的方法。

⒉复合词compound: the word formed by compounding.

⒊ characteristics of compounds

⑴ phonological features 读音规则 ：重音多半落在第一个组成部分上；但是“过去分词+

名词”构成复合名词，重音却落在第二个组成部分上。

⑵orthographical features 书写规则：连写，分开，用连字符

⑶ grammatical features 语法规则

① 复合词有些特殊形式，在自由词组中是不可能有的（1、在名词前有动词作修饰成分2、

将名词和过去分词放在一起3、将形容词和过去分词放在一起）

② 复合词是作为一个词来看待的，在句中充当一个成分，所以只能在词尾变化，而不能在

词中间有变化（1、在符合此中作为修饰成分的形容词一般没有比较级或最高级2、复合

词的复数一般在后一个成分上表示，但也有例外）

⑷semantic features 语义规则：两个词一旦组成复合词，就引出新语义。

⒋Semantic

⑴在多数情况下，第一部分限定或修饰第二部分，也有例外。第二个词是重点。

⑵受法语语序的影响（president elect当选总统，court-martial军事法庭….）

⑶受动词短语的影响（lighting-up time点灯时间）

⑷不少含有隐喻metaphor，换喻metonymy, 提喻synecdochce.

⒌ classification of the compounds详情看书（P42——48）

⑴noun compound ⑵adjective compound ⑶verb compound

⑷Other①复合介词preposition compound （notwithstanding）

②复合连接词conjunction compound (whenever)

③ adverb compound复合副词 (moreover)

④pronoun compound复合代词 (myself)

⑤numberals compound复合数词 (twenty-five)

⑤ sentence compound句式复合词 (that what’s-his-name fellow)

Ⅲ 转化法

⒈转化法 conversion refers to the word formation method in which the words gain the new

meaning by directly converting the part of speech without changing its original form. It is also

called functional shift, transmutation, derivation by zero suffix, zero-derivation. 不改变词的形

态，只是使词从一种词类转化为另一种词类，从而使该词具有新的意义和作用，成为一个新

词。也叫“零位后缀派生法，零位派生法”.

⒉feature

⑴most of the conversion take place in simple words, and most monosyllabic nouns have the

converted verb.大多在简单词中进行

⑵derivations usually do not have converted usages.派生词通常不能转化

⑶compounds can also have converted usages.复合词转化的情况比派生词多

⒊according to the part of speech of converted words, the most frequently used converted words

should be converted nouns, verbs and abject.

⒋转化 （详情见书P55——64）

第三单元 其它构词方法

一、缩略法

⒈缩略法 shortening/ abbreviation is the word formation method in which some syllables of the

word.

⒉⑴截短法clipping is the process of taking some syllables of the word off. 截短原词的某一

（或某些）音节所得的词叫做Clipped word截短词。

① 截除词尾 apocope ②截除词首 aphaeresis ③截除首尾 front and back clipping ④截除

词腰 syncope (缩约形式contractions是带有省略号的缩略词：gov’t---government…..)

【截短词所指的事物或概念一般与原词一样，但也能变出新的词义；有的截短词与原词同时

存在，只是截短词，而原词不常用，甚至是带有书卷气；截短词比原词更有鲜明的文体色彩，

只适用于口语或非正式场合；截短词在拼写时有时要稍作改动，以便于读音】

⑵首字母缩略法/词 initialism is the process of using the first letters of a word combinations to

form a new word.利用词的第一个字母代表一个词组的缩略词

Structural feature

① in initialism, letters can be used to refer to the whole word combination.字母代表整个词

② letters can also be used to refer to a part of the word combination字母代表一部分

③ some initialism can hyphenated with other words 与其它词连用

⑶首字母拼音法/词 acronym when the initialism are pronounced into a word, the word of

formation method become acronym.把用首字母组成的缩略词拼读成一个词，

⑷拼缀法blending 拼缀词blend a new compound is created by combining two words in which

one word lost certain parts or both words lost certain parts. It is a kind of compounds. It is also

called 混合词telescopic word or 行囊词portmanteau word. 【most are nouns】

① 并列 coordination ：liger-----lion + tiger

② 偏正 modification ：slanguage-----slang + language

二、逆生法

⒈逆生法back-formation is the word formation in which a new word is created by taking off the

end of a simple word because people mistake the end for a suffix.【most of the word are verb】

三、拟声法

⒈拟声法 onomatopoeia is the word formation method in which a word is make by sound

imitating. 拟声词onomatopoetic word, imitative word, echo word

⒉structural features

⑴single syllable words are used to imitate one sound.一个拟声词代表不同事物，不能随便使用

⑵reduplicative syllables are used to imitate of repetitious sounds or action. These words are

called重叠词 reduplicative or ricochet words.重叠音节模拟多次声音或动作。

⑶in reduplicative, the vowels or consonants may change.

⒊ the imitation objects

⑴human ⑵animals ⑶objects, especial by water

⒋ the function

⑴ most of the words not only imitate the sounds but also refer to the behavior of making the

sound, so they are verb

⑵some words not only imitate the sound, but also refer to object which can make the sound.

第四单元 词义的组成

Ⅰ、in the triangle of significance, word meaning refers to the concept in human mind which is

generalized from people’s sensation, perception and representation.

Meaning(concept) 意义（概念）

词 Word

形式 Form ………………所指对象 Referent

Ⅱ、词的理据the motivation of words

⒈隐性词 opaque words: most of words are not motivated; that is to say, the words referent is

arbitrarily chosen. The connection between the word and the referent are conventional. 意义与形

式之间毫无联系的隐性词

⒉显性词 transparent words: there are

Ⅲmotivation of word

⒈ in different languages, the words which are used to refer to the same referent may have

different motivations.

⒉通俗词源 folk etymology: in the use of a word, people intentionally or unintentionally

associate the word with those words they are familiar to, which cause the final change of the word

in its spelling.

Ⅳ ⒈语义成分分析法componential analysis: the meaning of the word is the combination of its

semantic components ( 语义特征semantic feature,：区别性特征distinctive feature)

Eg: Man== +human + adult + male

⒉语义场 semantic field: the collection of words which can belong to the same part of speech

and have very close semantic relations.

⑴ according to the distinctive features of the semantic field, it can be classified into:

① complete synonymous semantic field 同义

② comparatively synonymous semantic field 近义

③ generic semantic field 类义

④ antonymous semantic field 反义

⑵ but these semantic fields can not be clearly separated, and there are complicated relations

among them.

Ⅴtranslation enlightenment

⒈词汇空缺 lexical gaps and translation (豆腐,pudding)

⒉between two languages, there are only a few absolute equivalent完全对应词. Most of the

equivalents are only partial equivalent部分对应词.

⒊ “false friend” may cause wrong translation.

二、the composition of word meaning

Ⅰ语法意义grammatical meaning of a word refers to the part of the meaning of the word which

show the grammatical proper of the word.

Functional words虚词 only have grammatical meaning, and content words实词 have both

grammatical meaning and lexical meaning.

Ⅱ词汇意义 lexical

⒈概念意义conceptual meaning (所指意义referential meaning, dictionary meaning)

⑴core of word meaning ⑵comparatively stable ⑶ general and concrete

⒉关联意义associative meaning

⑴ the attached meaning ⑵ it changes with the context

⑶ it includes connotative meaning ,stylistic meaning ,affective meaning ,collocative

meaning.

Ⅲ⒈内涵意义connotative meaning refers to the associated characteristics of the word. 词的概

念意义的属性。Connotative meaning of a word differ in different language because different

cultural background. ⑴color word⑵animal word

⒉文体意义 stylistic meaning of a word refer to the property of using it in a certain occasion.应

用于正确的场合。

⑴neutral style : basic word stock in English and their feature.(适用于各种场合)

⑵particular style : formal, informal; neologism新词语 and obsolescence古词语, regional dialect

地区方言 and social dialect社会方言 (用于特定场合)

① Formal: learned words, technical words.

② Informal：Standard informal words (口语词colloquialism)；

Substandard informal words (俚语slang, 俗语词vulgarism, 行业用语

professionalism, 隐语 argot)

⒊情感意义affective meaning

⑴倾向词slanted words或者富有情感意义的词loaded words ： 有褒贬意义的词语

以名词和形容词居多

⒋搭配意义collocative meaning. 词语之间的搭配不仅要遵守语法规则，而且必须符合词汇

的语义特征，好要受到多种语法因素和语义因素的制约。

第五单元 一词多义和同形异义

Ⅰ一词多义polysemy . 除了术语外，单义词monosemic words 是很少的。

⒈meaning relations

⑴原始意义primary vs 引申意义extended

⑵普遍意义general vs 特殊意义special

⑶抽象意义abstract vs 具体意义concrete

⑷字面意义literal vs 比喻意义metaphorical

Ⅱ同形异义 homonymy same spelling and(or) pronunciation, different meaning

⒈完全的同形异义absolute homonymy （spelling and pronunciation are same）

⒉同音异义词homophone （same pronunciation）

⒊同形异音异义词homograph/heteronym (same spelling)

Ⅲ、如何区别

惯用的方法是看词的意义之间有无联系。从历史和现状两方面看。

⒈历史方面：一个词经过各种演变的过程，发展成多义词。

词的意义之间如果没有联系，那就是同形异义词。

⒉多义词的不同意义如果在演变过程中词义联系逐渐减弱，乃至完全消失，结果便会出现同

形异义词。 多义词的解体在更多情况下形成了同源对似词（etymological doublets）即源出

同一个词而形式和意义都不相同。

Ⅳ、语境的作用

⒈ context refers to the sentence, the paragraph ,the discourse ,the appears.

It includes 语言环境linguistic context and 语言外环境extra-linguistic context.

⒉词汇方面是指词语的搭配（collocation）

语法方面是指一个词所在的句法结构。

Ⅴ歧义和含混

⒈歧义ambiguity 指的是某一句子、词组或单词的意义存在两种或两种以上可能的解释。

⑴语法或句子上 ⑵词汇上的

⒉一方面由于一词多义或同形异义；另一方面由于人们对于词的某种形态变化有不同理解。

⒊含混vagueness指的是没有明确的外延概念的语言，词义造成的含混是由于词义的不确定

或者指代不明确而造成的。

⑴指称含混 referential vagueness ⑵词义不确定indeterminacy of meaning

⑶词义缺乏确指 lack of specification ⑷词义的析取 disjunction

第六单元 词义关系

一、同义关系

Ⅰ同一个意义或概念，可以有一个以上的词来表达，这就是同义现象synonymy,这样的词叫

做同义词synonyms

Ⅱ同义词的类型

⒈完全同义词perfect synonyms: 语义上毫无区别，可以在任何上下文中毫无区别地互相替

代的等义词

⒉部分同义词partial synonyms:基本意义相同或相似

⒊同义关系还可能存在于成语之间，有些同义成语意义完全相同，只不过使用的比喻不同；

有些同义成语表示同一意义的不同程度；有的还有感情、文体上的差别。

Ⅲ同义词的来源

⒈①有一部分是英语本族中固有的，表示各种细微的意义差别；②早在古英语时期，拉丁词

语和斯堪的纳维亚各族语词就进入英语；③十四世纪，大量希腊语和拉丁语被引入英语；④

法语借词；⑤美国英语；⑥方言；⑦语言现象：短语动词以及由短语动词转化而成的名词；

⑧词的比喻。

⒉特点：①本族语口语化，朴素亲切；②法语借词，希腊语或拉丁语借词一般是书面词，而

希腊语、拉丁语借词文言味更浓，显得凝重。

Ⅳ同义词的辨析

⒈①概念意义是词义的核心。分析同义词在概念意义中的细微差别，是同义词辨析的核心。

②同义词群中，经常是其中一个词含义较广泛而且较通俗常用，而其它各个词则含有各种特

殊的意义，只用在一定的场合。

⒉同义词在各种关联意义上也有差别。两个同义词在关联意义上的差别往往是有交叉的。

⒊在用法上不同。

Ⅴ词汇变体和误用词语

Ⅰ词汇变体lexical variation:个别词有两个读音和拼写上都稍有不同的形式，它们在词义和

用法上毫无区别，完全是一个词，因此称为“词汇变体lexical variant”.

Ⅱ⒈误用词语malapropism:英语的一种用词错误现象，类似汉语里的写错别字和读别音。

⒉英语中这样的用词错误特别多，因为它的词汇量特别大，借词又极其丰富。

⒊有些词不能算作同义词，只能算“容易混淆的词confusable words”

二、反义关系

Ⅰ反义关系 antonymy: is the lexical phenomenon in which two words are opposite in meaning.

Two words which are opposite in meaning are called反义词 antonyms.

Ⅱ类型

⒈绝对反义词absolute antonyms:词义完全相互排斥，相互否定。又称：矛盾词contradictory

terms, 二元反义词binary antonyms，互补词complementaries. 是不可分级的反义词。

⒉可分级反义词gradable antonyms:又称 “相反词contrary terms” ，两级反义词。

Eg: hot-----warm-----cool-----cold

⒊关系反义词relational opposites:具有一种相对的对立关系，也就是说两个反义词方向相

对。又称“对立词” Eg: parent-----child; husband-----wife; up----down

⒋多项不相容词semantic incompatibles:一组多项不相容的词，几个词之间对立，体现了一

种多元对立关系。 Eg: spring/summer/autumn/winter; 表示的都是对比关系constrastingness

Ⅲ特点

⒈一个词往往有许多反义词，但是一个词的反义词并不能跟这个词的所有的同义词构成反义

词，因为每个词的语义场范围和深度不相同。

⒉由于一词多义现象的存在，一个词在不同的词义上可能有不同的反义词

⒊英语中有时同一个词义也可以有两个反义词，一个是完全否定的，一个是意义对立的

⒋反义词往往是一个是无标记的unmarked，一个是有标记的marked.以形式标记而论，通常

以前缀和后缀来表示。

⒌有的反义关系却没有反义词来表示。

Ⅳ应用

矛盾修饰法 oxymoron: 将两个意义互相矛盾或互不调和的反义词巧妙地置于一处构成修

饰语，与被修饰语在实质上，性质上或特征上互相对立又协调统一的一种修辞法。

三、下义关系和分类关系

Ⅰ⒈下义关系hyponymy: is the sense relation between a general, more inclusive word and a

more specific word. It is the relation of inclusion.. Those specific words are called 下义词

hyponyms.英语中有些词在意义、性质、特征、类别等方面下属于另一个表示较大的范畴的

词，这些词就叫做下义词。 A group of hyponyms of a super ordinate are called

co-hyponyms.（一组下义词的统称）

⒉下义关系体现了逻辑学里的包含关系relationship of inclusion

⒊下义关系体现的是包含关系，有时容易与同义关系混淆。

Ⅱ⒈分类关系taxonomy :根据事物的同和异把事物集合分类。

⒉在分类关系这种意义关系中，表示小类的词项叫分类词taxonyms;表示上一层次的大类的

词项的叫上类词super ordinate (The general word is called super ordinate);同样层次的词项叫

共类词co-taxonyms;它们之间的关系是共类关系co-taxonymy

⒊特点

⑴分类关系是一种类属关系 ①名词所指称的事物有清楚的外延，所以名词之间可以存在表

示类属的分类关系。②共类词之间是不相容关系，它们的地位在大多数情况下是平等的。

⑵分类关系是一种不超过五个层次的意义关系

⑶分类关系是有空缺的意义关系

⒋类型

⑴绝对分类关系perfect taxonymy:符合分类穷尽性和排他性原则的分类结构所体现的意义

关系

⑵相对分类关系non-perfect taxonnymy: ①有空词项的分类结构②准分类结构