词义变化论文.doc

Elevation and Degradation Analysis of English Words
学期 2011/2012学年第一学期
科目英语词汇学
班级 0901
学号 090901022
姓名牛晓晨
论文摘要
词是词汇学中具有意义最小的能够独立运用的单位,词义一直处在不断的变化过程中,无论形式上或内容上。词义的变化过程中,语言学家对词义变化方式分类很多,很难有唯一的标准。罗姆在《词义变化词典》中把词义变化的方式分为十一类之多。无论种类有多繁多,其变化方式可归类与词义范围,词义褒贬和词义转移三个方面。在本论文中将以词义褒贬为出发点,通过分析什么是词义的升格和降格以及其产生的原因,去认识词义的变化。
希望本论文通过对词义褒贬的理解和研究,帮助同学去更好的学习词汇学,更好的学习英语。
关键词:词义变化, 方式,词义褒贬,升格,降格。
I. Introduction
There are many types discussed by linguist in semantic change. Just as Quirk said in 1963, “… almost every word we use today has a different meaning from the one it had a century ago, and a century ago it had a slight different meaning from the one it had a century before that”. As we known, the semantic change has gone through a long history. It is no doubt that there are too many types of semantic change. And the question as to how to seize the types of semantic change from which point of view es the first inquiry for students. However, as an important part of semantic change type, amelioration and pejorative of semantic has been long regarded as the focal point.
Therefore, in the following sections, we are going to explore the types of semantic change from the view of amelioration and pejorative of semantic, and to learn what is elevation and degradation of English words.
ⅡElevation and Degradation Analysis of English Words
Generally speaking, Commentary and derogatory mean