英语词汇学chapter 3.ppt

Chapter 3 Introduction of Words What is lexicology? Lexicology is a branch of linguistics concerned with the study of the vocabulary of a given language. It deals with words, their origin, development, structure, formation, meaning and usage. In short, it is the study of the signification and application of words. What Is a Word? A word is a minimal free form of a language that has a given sound, meaning and syntactic function. 词是具有一定的声音、意义和语法功能，能独立运用的最小的语言单位。 Language can be defined as “an arbitrary vocal system used for human communication”. By system we mean that the elements in a language are arranged according to certain rules, but not at random. Elements at a lower level are combined according to certain rules to form elements at a higher level. Specially, Language presents itself as a hierarchy in different aspects. As is shown in the following hierarchical rank scale, language rises form morpheme at the bottom up to the sentence at the top in terms of lexicography. (词典编纂) 2.1 Morpheme 1.What is a morpheme(词素)? The morpheme is the smallest functioning unit in the composition of words, not divisible or analyzable into smaller forms. What is usually considered a single word in English may be composed of one or more morphemes: One morpheme---nation Two morphemes---nation-al Three morphemes---nation-al-ize Four morphemes---de-nation-al-ize（使…非国有化） More than four morphemes---de-nation-al-iz-ation So we can define morpheme in this way: the smallest unit in terms of relationship between expression and content, a unit which can not be divided without destroying or drastically altering the meaning, whether it is lexical or grammatical. ■A morpheme is a two-facet language unit in that it possesses both sound and meaning. A morpheme vs. A word Morphemes occur in speech only as constituent parts of words. They can not be used independently, although a word may consist of a single morpheme. Nor are morphemes divisible into smaller meaningful