英语词汇学chapter5.ppt

Chapter 5
Change of meaning
Vocabulary is the most unstable element of a language as it is undergoing constant changes both in form and content. Comparatively, the content is even more unstable than the form.
This chapter will deal with the major patterns that changes in meaning follow and the causes of changes.
…almost every word we use today has a slightly different meaning from the one it had a century ago…(Quirk)
Shakespeare is perhaps more difficult to understand than more recent writings because many of his words were used in different sense from what they have now in contemporary dictionaries.
Eg. “the rivals of my watch, bid them make haste.”(partner)
“How pregnant sometimes his replies are.”(meaningful)
1.  Polysemy
Definition: the same word may have two or more different meanings
1)  Sources of polysemy
A. Shifts in application
Words have a number of different aspects according to the context in which they are used.
1) Sources of polysemy
B. Specialization in a social milieu(背景)
Polysemy often arises through a kind of verbal shorthand. For example, “action” means “legal action” for a lawyer; a military operation for a soldier. Namely, the same word may acquire a number of specialized senses, only one of which will be applicable in a given milieu.
1) Sources of polysemy
C.  Figurative language
A word can be given one or more figurative senses without losing its original meaning.
For example, the bed of a river, a saddle in the mountains (based on metaphor).
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2) Primary meaning & derivative meaning
Primary meaning refers to what a word originally meant and the derivative meaning refers to the meaning springing from the original meaning.
For example, place.
3) Central meaning & secondary meaning
Radiation: an important process by which words extend their meaning.
The primary or central meaning appears at the center in the form of a hub and secondary meanings radiate out from it like the spoke of a wheel.
Example: see P90
Further notes o