A lexeme is the smallest unit in the meaning system of a language. The lexeme “give” includes as members “give”, “gives”, “given”, “giving”, “gave”, but excludes “giver” and “givers”. A lexeme is an abstract unit. It can occur in many different forms in actual spoken and written sentences.
A word is a minimal meaningful unit of a language that can function independently.
Morphemes are known as minimal meaningful units of a language.
2、组合形式
A combining form is a bound root that can form a new word by combining with another combining form, a word, or sometimes an affix, for example techno- and -phobe in technophobe.
3、区别Root base sterm
⏹ A root is the basic form of a word which cannot the further analyzed without total loss of identity.
e.g. international
⏹ A base is a form to which affixes of any kind (both derivational and inflectional) can be added.
e.g. grace ---- graceful ---- ungraceful
⏹ The stem is used only when we deal with inflectional affixes, so any form to which an inflectional affix is attached is a stem.
e.g. works, workers, workshops
4、转化法定义
Conversion is the formation of new words by converting words of one class to another class. Since words that are made do not change in morphological structure but in function, this process is also known as functional shift. Words produced by conversion are primarily nouns, adjectives, and verbs.
N---V bottle to bottle
Adj----V dry to dry
V------N look have a look
5、截短法定义及分类
Clipping/shortening(截短法)is the formation of new words by cutting a part off the original and using what remains instead. Words formed in this way are called “clipped words”.
There are four common types of clipping: apocope/back clipping, aphaeresis/front clipping, front and back clipping, syncope.例子 exam---examination phone---telephone tec----detective pacifist----pacificist
6、关联意义的定义与分类
Associative meaning is the secondary meaning supplemented to the conceptual meaning. It differs from the conceptual meaning in that it is open-ended and indeterminate.
1.Connotative meaning refers to the overtones(弦外之音) or associations suggested by the conceptual meaning.woman--frail,cowardly,emotional
2.Affective meaning expresses the speaker’s attitude towards the person or thing in question.dear hello
3.Collocative meaning is that part of the word meaning suggested by the words with which it co-occurs. pretty handsome
4.Stylistic meaning: daddy male parent
7、同形异义词的定义及分类
⏹ Concretely speaking, homonyms are words different in meaning, but either identical both in sound and spelling or identical only in sound or spelling.
⏹ Homonyms fall into three types: absolute homonyms, which are words identical both in sound and spelling; date base . homophones, which are words identical only in sound but different in spelling and meaning; night/knight leak/leek homographs, which are words identical only in spelling but different in sound and meaning.tear sow
8、区分歧义与含混
Ambiguity refers to the phenomenon that a word, phrase or sentence has more than one meaning. Are you engaged?Vagueness is caused by the indistinction and unclearness of language. A vague word is one that has an indefinite denotation(外延概念).forest wood city town
9、同义词及其分类
A synonym is a word or expression that has the same or nearly the same meaning as another in the same language. Synonyms can be classified into two groups: perfect synonyms, which are words identical in grammatical meaning and lexical meaning including conceeptual and associative meaning, compounding/composition and partial synonyms, which are similar in essential meaning, but embrace different shades of meaning or different degrees of a give quality.couple/pair
10、上义词和下义词
The relationship in which the meaning of a more specific word is included in that of another more general word is called hyponymy. For example, the words animal and dog are related in this way. The specific term dog is called a hyponym, and the general term animal is called a superordinate term.
11、词义变化
Extension of meaning, also known as generalization, is a process by which a word which originally had a specialized meaning has now become generalized or has extended to cover a broader and often less definite concept.
Narrowing of meaning, also called specialization, is a process by which a word of wide meaning acquires a narrower or specialized sense.
Elevation or amelioration refers to the process by which words rise from humble beginnings to positions of importance.
Degadation or pejoration of meaning is a process by which words of good origin or affective neutrality fall into ill reputation or come to be used in a derogatory sense.
12、为什么英语谚语具有结构固定性
Characteristics of idioms: 1) Semantic unity : Each idiom is a semantic unity. The meaning of an idiom is very often not the total sum of the meanings of the constituent parts. In other words, an idiom functions as a unit of meaning which cannot be predicted from the literal meaning of its member words. 2) Structural stability: Structural stability means that the structure of an idiom usually remains unchangeable. In other words, the constituent components of an idiom can not, generally speaking, be replaced.
13、Word formation
Derivation:man superman. compounding:greeenhand conversion:nurse-to nurse. Abbreviation. back formation: to beg-beggar. onomatopoeia:bark
14、词的理据
Motivation refers to the connection between the linguistic symbol (the word form) and its meaning. The relationship between the word-form and meaning is conventional and arbitrary, most words can be said to be non-motivated. These words are known as opaque words. Nevertheless, English does have words the meanings of which are transparent and reasonably explicable. These words are known as transparent words. Motivation can occur in four ways: phonetic motivation, morphological motivation, semantic motivation, etymological motivation.
