西安外国语大学王满良老师词汇学考试习题
Questions and tasks:
1.What is lexicology?
2.What is the nature and scope of English lexicology?
3.What subjects is English lexicology correlated with? And to what extent?
4.Why should a student of English study English lexicology?
Chapter one
Questions and tasks
I. Answer the following questions.
1. What is a word?
A word is a minimal free form of a language that has a given sound and meaning and
syntactic function.
1) a minimal free form of a language;
2) a sound unity;
3) a unit of meaning;
4) a form that can function independently in a sentence.
2. What are the causes of differences between sound and form?
The internal reason for this is that the English alphabet was adopted from the Romans, one letter may represent two or more different sounds,
Another reason is that the pronunciation has changed more rapidly than spelling over the years, and in some cases have drawn far apart.
A third reason is that some of the differences were created by the early scribes(抄写员)
3. How do you define “vocabulary”?
The vocabulary of a language refers to all the words in the language.
4. List 3 criteria for classifying words.
By use of frequency, words may fall into the basic word stock and nonbasic vocabulary.
By notion, words can be categorized into content words and functional words.
By origin, they can be classified into native words and borrowed words.
5. What are the characteristics of basic word stock?
1)All national character
2)Stability
3)Productivity
4)Polysemy
5)Collocability
6. List 7 kinds of nonbasic word stock.
) Terminology (术语)
Jargon(行话)
Slang(俗语)
) Argot(黑话)
Dialectal words(方言
Archaisms(陈词)
Neologisms(新词)
7. Explain neologisms with examples.
overworking class, noun
A segment of society in which the chief characteristic is the desire or need to work long
hours.
8. What features do native words have in contrast to borrowed words?
Neutral in style
2) Frequent in use
II. Multiple choice
1. Which of the following is NOT true? A
a. A word is the smallest form of a language.
b. A word is a sound unity.
c. A word has a given meaning.
d. A word can be used freely in a sentenc
e.
2. The differences between sound and form are due to ____C_.
a. the fact of more phonemes than letters in English
b. stabilization of spelling by printing
c. influence of the work of scribes
d. innovations made by linguists
3. Of the five characteristics listed for the basic word stock, the most important is ___A__.
a. all national character
b. productivity
c. polysemy
d. collocability
III. Complete the following statements by supplying an appropriate word for each blank.
1. Borrowed words which still sound foreign and look foreign are __ Aliens ___.
2. There is no ___ logical ___ relationship between sound and _ Meaning
____ as the connection between them is ___ arbitrary __ and conventional.
3. __Denizens(同化词)___ are borrowings that have become naturalized or assimilated in English.
4. Archaisms(陈词)__ are words once in common use or but now restricted only to specialized or limited use.
5. Content words are changing all the time whereas functional words are ___stable__. _ Functional _____ words enjoy a ___greater___ frequency in use than content words.
6. A word whose meaning was borrowed from another language is called __semantic-loans IV. Choose the standard word from the column on the right to match each of the slang words on the left.
a. beaver coward
b. bloke drunk
c. blue fellow
d. chicken fight
e. dame girl
f. full great
g. gat loose woman
h. smoky pistol
i. swell police
j. tart woman
keys: beaver—girl bloke—fellow blue—fight chicken—coward dame—woman full—drunk gat—pistol smoky—police swell—great tart—loose woman
V. Match following archaic words with their modern equivalents:
a. albeit also
b. bade although
c. billow before
d. eke bid
e. ere faith
f. hallowed holy
g. haply it seems to me
h. methinks morning
i. morn perhaps
j. quoth said
k. sooth truth
l. troth wave/the sea
keys: albeit—although bade—bid billow—wave/the sea eke-also ere—before
hallowed—holy haply—perhaps methinks—it seems to me morn—morning
quoth—said sooth—truth troth—faith
chapter two
Questions and tasks
I. Define the following terms:
1. Old English
2. Middle English
3. Modern English
Old English (450-1150)
Middle English (1150-1500)
Modern English (1500-up till now)
5.The Germanic language family
Germanic(日尔曼语族): Norwegian, Icelandic, Danish, Swedish, known as Scandinavian languages, German, Dutch, Flemish(比利时佛兰芒语), English
II. List the major modes of modern English vocabulary development.
Modern English began with the establishment of printing in England. Considering the changes in vocabulary, it is necessary to subdivide it into Early (1500-1700) and Late (1700-up to the present) Modern English.
In Modern English, word endings were mostly lost with just a few exceptions. It can be concluded that English has evolved from a synthetic language (Old English) to the present analytic
language.
III. Decide whether the following statements are true or false:
F 1. English has always been the language of England.
T 2. Celtic made only a small contribution to the English vocabulary.
T 3. People generally refer to Anglo-Saxon as Old English.
T 4. Old English has a vocabulary of about 50,000 to 60,000 words.
F 5. English is more closely related to French than to German.
F 6. Modern English is considered a highly inflected language.
T 7. The introduction of printing into England marked the beginning of Modern English period.
F 8. In modern times, borrowing brings more than 10% of modern English vocabulary.
F 9. In early Middle English period, English, Latin and Celtic existed side by side.
T 10.The most important mode of vocabulary development in present-day English is creation of new words by means of word-formation.
Keys:
IV. Borrowings usually fall into two classes: denizens and aliens. Decide which words are denizens and which are aliens. Write in the bracket D for denizen and A for alien.
savant (A 学者savoir ) servant ( D ) genre ( A种,类 ) gender ( D )
message ( D ) massage ( A ) chapel ( D,小教堂 ) chapeau ( A帽子 )
morale ( A ) moral ( D ) button ( D ) cartoon ( A )
Denizens are words borrowed early in the past and are now well assimilated into the English language.
liens are borrowed words which have retained their original pronunciation and spelling.
V. Look up the following words in a dictionary and determine the language from which each has
been borrowed and then translate these terms into Chinese.
chapter three
Questions and tasks
I. Match the definitions with their corresponding terms:
1. a minimal meaningful unit of a language F a. affix
2. a morpheme that can stand alone D b. bound morpheme
3. a morpheme attached to a stem or root A c. derivational affix
4. an affix that indicates grammatical relationships E d. free morpheme
5. an affix that forms new words with a stem or root C e. inflectional morpheme
6. what remains of a word after the removal of all affixes G f. morpheme
7. a form to which affixes of any kind can be added H g. root
8. a morpheme that cannot function as a separate word B h. stem
Keys: 1. f 2. d 3. a 4. e 5. c 6. g 7. h 8. b
II. Analyze the words in terms of root and stem.
individualistic undesirables
K ey: individualist (stem) individual (stem) dividual (stem) dividu (stem, root)
undesirable (stem) desirable (stem) desire (stem, roo t)
chapter four
Tasks and assignments
I. Choose the best to complete each of the following statements:
1. In modern times, the expansion of English vocabulary is mainly through __C___.
A. borrowing
B. semantic change
C. word-formation
D. none of the above
2. The one that is Not a major means of word-formation is __D___.
A. affixation
B. compounding
C. conversion
D. blending
3. It is estimated that affixation supplies modern English with ___A__ percent of its new vocabulary.
A. 30-40
B. more than 50
C. less than 20
D. about 26
4. Affixation, also known as ___B__, is the formation of new words by adding affixes to stems.
A. clipping
B. derivation
C. compounding
D. back-formation
5. Prefixation is to create new words by adding _C____ to stems.
A. suffixes
B. affixes
C. prefixes
D. a definite article
6. The word silkworm is a compound that is written __C___.
A. open
B. hyphenated
C. solid
D. as a free phrase
suitcase
best man,
mischief-maker (搬弄是非者)
solid, hyphenated, and open.
7. Compounding, also known as ___B__ , is the formation of new words by joining two or more stems.
A. conversion
B. composition
C. acronymy
D. shortening
8. Words created through back-formation are mostly __B___.
A. nouns
B. verbs
C. adjectives
D. adverbs
9. Initialisms and acronyms are two kinds of ____A_ .
A. acronymy
B. clipping
C. back-formation
D. blending
10. Words formed by combining parts of two words or a word plus a part of another are called blends or __D___ words.
A. mixed
B. combined
C. buzz
D. portmanteau
II. Decide whether the statements below are true or false:
1. Compounds are words formed by combining affixes and stems. F
2. Open compounds look like free phrases as the elements forming each word are written separately. T
3. The stress of a compound usually falls on the first element. T
4. The meaning of a compound is always the combination of the stems. F
5. A compound functions as a single grammatical unit, so the internal structure cannot be changed. T
6. Conversion refers to the use of words of one class as that of a different class. T
7. Words mainly involved in conversion are nouns, verbs and adverbs. F adjectives
8. Partial conversion and full conversion are concerned with adjectives when converted to nouns. T
9. Such words as the poor, the handicapped, a Democrat are all examples of partial conversion. F
10. The conversion between nouns and verbs may involve a change of stress. T
11. An alternative for conversion is functional shift. T
IV. Write out the full forms of the following shortenings:
Clipping is the formation of words by cutting a part off a longer word and using what remains.
V. Identify the mode of word-formation of each of the following words:
1. boredom compound
2. website compounds
3. milk (as in “milk the cow”) Conversion
4. Pasteurize Words from proper names
5. drowse Back-formation
6. ads Acronymy
7. WHO Acronymy 8. motel Blending 9. narcissus Words from proper names
10. emote Back-formation
VOA Voice of America
BBC British Broadcasting Corporation
c/o care of
SOS save our ship
GMT Greenwich Mean Time (格林尼治平均时)
GDP gross domestic product
UFO unidentified flying object
WHO World Health Organization
MFN Most Favored Nation status
IMF International Monetary Fund (世界货币基金组织)
RSVP (French)
CEO chief executive officer
CPA certified public accountant
2. Letters represent constituents in a compound or just parts of a word:
TV television
p.s. postscript
ID identification card/identity card
TB tuberculosis
GHQ General Headquarters
MBA master of business administration
GRE graduate record examination
4.6. 2 Acronyms
Acronyms are words formed from initial letters but pronounced as normal words, for example, radar(radio detecting and ranging), laser(lightwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation). More examples:
NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organation
AIDS acquired immune deficiency symdrome
BASIC beginners? all-purpose symbolic instruction code
TOEFL test of English as a foreign language
UNESCO United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization
OPEC Organization of Petroleum Export Countries
TESO teaching English as a second language
Some acronyms are formed with the initial letter of the first word plus the whole of the second:
N-bomb nuclear bomb
D Notice Defence Notice
D Day decimalization day (英国十进币制实施日,即1971年2月15日)
1.affixation 30%-40% of the total number of words are produced through affixation
https://www.doczj.com/doc/934836000.html,pounding 28%-30%
3.conversion 26%
4.shortening
5.clipping
6.acronymy 4, 5 and 6 8%-10%
7.blending 1%-5%
Chapter five
Questions and tasks
I. Define the following terms:
1. Reference
2. Concept
3. Sense
1. Reference is the relationship between language and the world.
By means of reference, a speaker indicates what in the world is being talked about.
2. Therefore, a concept can have as many referring expressions as there are languages in the world. Even in the same language, the same concept can be expressed in different words.
Synonymous pairs such as die/pass away, fat/overweight, answer/reply are all good examples. Each pair has the same concept but different social, cultural and stylistic values.
3. Every word that has meaning has sense (not every word has reference).
The meaning of “meaning” is what is termed “sense”. Sense is also an abstraction.
II. Choose the best to complete each statement:
1. “Nature” in the word “denaturalization” is NOT a __D___.
A. free root
B. free morpheme
C. stem
D. bound root
2. Word formation excludes __C___.
A. affixation and compounding
B. conversion and shortening
C. repetition and alliteration
D. chipping, acronymy and blending
3. The negative form of the word “political” is _A__.
A. apolitical
B. ilpolitical
C. inpolitical
D. impolitical
4. The differences between compounds and free phrases show in the aspects of __D___.
A. phonetic features
B. semantic features
C. grammatical features
D. all the above
5. The chief function of prefixation is to __A___.
A. change meanings of the stems
B. change the word-class of the stems
C. change the grammatical function
D. all the above
6. A concept has __C___ referring expressions.
A. one
B. no
C. many
D. none of the above
7. The correct statement among the following is __D___.
A. Root and stem are identical
B. Root includes stem
C. Root and stem are totally different
D. Stem includes root
8. Associative meaning comprises several types except __D___.
A. connotative meaning
B. stylistic meaning
C. affective meaning
D. lexical meaning
9. The overwhelming majority of blends are __B___.
A. verbs
B. nouns
C. adjectives
D. adverbs
10. The de- in decompose is a __C___ prefix. ( dis- un-)
A. negative ( a- dis- in- il-im- ir- non-)
B. pejorative
C. reversative
D. locative
11. __C___ are bound morphemes because they cannot be used as separate words.
A. Roots
B. Stems
C. Affixes
D. Compounds
III. True or false:
1. A concept is universal to all men alike regardless of culture, race and language. T
2. Grammatical meaning refers to the part of speech, tenses of verbs and stylistic features of words.
F singular and plural meaning of nouns, tense meaning of verbs and their inflectional forms
part of speech of words
3. Affective meaning refers to the part of the word-meaning which indicates the attitude of the user. T
4. Collocation can affect the meaning of words. T
it is that part of the word-meaning suggested by the words before or after the word in discussion.
5. Functional words have little lexical meaning. T
6. Conceptual meaning forms the core of word-meaning. T
Conceptual meaning, also known as denotative meaning(指示/外延意义), is the meaning given in the dictionary and forms the core of word-meaning.
7. Connotative meaning is an essential part of word-meaning. F
In contrast to denotative meaning, connotative meaning refers to the overtones(含蓄之意) or associations suggested by the conceptual meaning, traditionally known as connotations.
8. Connotative meaning varies from culture to culture. T
9. Words that have stylistic values may fall into two categories: appreciative and pejorative. F …formal?, …neutral?, and …informal?.
10. Every word has reference. F
11. The same word may have different grammatical meanings. T
12. Lexical meaning and grammatical meaning make up the word-meaning. T
Keys: 1.T 2. F 3. T 4. T 5. T 6. T 7. F 8. T 9. F 10. F 11. T 12. T
IV. Classify the following groups of words under Appreciative, Neutral and Pejorative. Write in the bracket A for appreciative, N for neutral, and P for pejorative.
Example: fattening ( ), nourishing ( ), rich ( )
Answer: fattening ( P ), nourishing ( A ), rich ( N )
Affective meaning (情感意义)
Keys
1) famous ( A), notorious ( P ), well-known ( N )
2) aroma ( A ), smell ( N ), stench ( P )
3) cottage ( N ), shack ( P ), summer home ( A )
4) legislator ( N ), politician ( P ), statesman ( A )
5) skinny ( P ), slender ( A ), thin ( N )
6) chubby ( A ), fat ( P ), heavy ( N )
7) economical ( A ), stingy ( P ), t hrifty ( N )
8) extraordinary ( A ), unusual ( N ), weird ( P )
9) adherence ( N ), loyalty ( A ), partisanship ( P )
10) extravagances ( P ), luxuries ( N ), the good things of life ( A )
V. Classify the following groups of words under Formal and Informal. Write in the bracket F for formal and I for informal.
Stylistic meaning
Example: ( ) guy ( ) man
Answer: ( I ) guy ( F ) man
1) (F ) Impoverished ( I ) poor
2) ( I) rich ( F ) wealthy
3) ( F ) intelligent (I ) smart
4) ( F ) automobile ( I ) car
5) (I ) enough ( F) sufficient
6) ( F ) certain (I ) sure
7) ( I) pick ( F ) select
8) (F ) appropriate (I ) right
9) ( F) awesome ( I ) scary
10) ( I) bad ( F) negative
Chapter six
Tasks and questions
I. Define the following terms:
1. A polysemant
2. homonyms
3. synonyms
4. antonyms
5. hyponyms
6. superordinate
7. semantic field
1. Polysemy is a common feature peculiar to all natural languages.
2. Homonyms are words different in meaning but identical both in sound and spelling or identical only in sound or in spelling.
3. Synonyms are words different in sound and spelling but most nearly alike or exactly the same in essential meaning.
4. Antonymy is concerned with semantic opposition. Antonyms are words which are opposite in meaning. Antonyms can be classified into three major groups.
5. For instance, lilac and chrysanthemums are hyponyms of flower; pigeon and magpie are hyponyms of bird. These general words such as flower and bird are the superordinate terms or superordinates.
6. Hyponymy can be described in terms of a tree-like graph, with high-order superordinates above the lower subordinates/hyponyms, but their status either as superordinates or as subordinates is relative to other terms.
7. Semantic field is one of the meaning areas around which the massive stock of a language is composed.
II. True or false:
1.The problem of interrelation of the various meanings of the same word can be dealt with
from two different angles: diachronic approach and synchronic approach. (T)
2.Perfect homonyms share the same spelling and pronunciation. (T)
3.Homonyms come mainly from borrowing, change in sound and spelling, and shortening. (F)
4.Homonyms are words whose meanings are closely related. (F)
5.The origins of the words are a key factor in distinguishing homonyms from polysemants.
(T)
6.Most homonyms are words that are the same in spelling, but differ in sound and meaning.
(F)
7.Words which have opposite meanings are called antonyms. (T)
8.Contradictory terms do not show degrees. (T)
9.Relative terms are relational opposites, which include verbs reversing the action of each
other. (T)
10.Contrary terms are non-gradable and allow intermediate members in between. (F)
11.If a word has synonyms, naturally it has antonyms. ( F)
12.The marked term of an antonymous pair often covers the meaning of the unmarked. (F)
13.Antonyms should be opposites of similar intensity. (T)
14.Antonymy deals with the relationship of semantic opposition. (T)
III. Multiple choice:
1.The most important source of synonyms is perhaps _____. ( B )
A.dialects and regional English
B.borrowing
C.figurative and euphemistic use of words
D.coincidence with idiomatic expressions
2.Homographs are words identical only in _____ but different in two other aspects.
A. sound
B. meaning
C. spelling
D. sense ( C )
3. Homophones are words identical only in _____ but different in two other aspects.
A. sound
B. meaning
C. spelling
D. sense ( A )
4. _____ are contrary antonyms. ( B )
A. true and false
B. rich and poor
C. parent and child
D. male and female
5. Of the types of homonyms, _____ constitute the largest number and are most common.
A. perfect homonyms
B. homophones
C. homographs
D. antonymy (B )
6. Two processes of development of word-meaning from monosymy to polysemy are _____.
A. radiation and concatenation
B. radiation and extension ( A )
C. synchronic and diachronic approaches
D. concatenation and borrowing
7. The origins of homonyms include _____. ( D )
A. change in sound and meaning
B. shortening
C. borrowing
D. all the above
8. Relative synonyms, also called near-synonyms, are similar or nearly the same in _____
meaning. ( C )
A. stylistic
B. affective
C. conceptual
D. collocative
9. Based on the degree of similarity, homonyms fall into three classes except _____. ( C )
A. perfect homonyms
B. homographs
C. synonymy
D. homophones
10. Absolute synonyms are _____. （B）
A. numerous
B. rare
C. popular
D. common
11. The differences between synonyms show in three aspects except _____. (C )
A. denotation
B. connotation
C. tense meaning
D. application
12. _____ may often lead to ambiguity. (D)
A. Polysemy
B. Homonymy
C. Grammatical structure
D. All the above
13. Borrowing as a source of homonymy in English is illustrated by _____. （B）
A. long (not short )
B. ball ( a dancing place )
C. rock ( rock?n?roll )
D. ad (advertisement)
14. Homophones are often employed to create puns for desired effects of _____. ( D )
A. humour
B. sarcasm
C. ridicule
D. all the above
15. Banana is a _____ of fruit. ( A )
A. hyponym B synonym C. superordinate D. antonym
IV. List 3 types of homonyms and give 2 pairs of example to illustrate each type.
V. List 3 types of antonyms and give 2 pairs of example to illustrate each type.
Chapter seven
Questions and tasks
I. Define the following terms:
1. elevation
2. degeneration
3. extension
4. narrowing
1. Elevation or amelioration refers to the process by which words rise from humble beginnings to positions of importance.
2. Degeneration or pejoration of meaning is the opposite of semantic elevation. It is a process in which words of good origin fall into ill reputation or non-affective words come to be used in derogatory sense.
3. Extension of meaning, also known as generalization, refers to the widening of meaning that some words undergo.
4. Narrowing of meaning, also called specialization, is the opposite of widening meaning. It is a process by which a word of wide meaning acquires a narrower or specialized meaning (sense). II. What are the causes of semantic change? Illustrate your point with examples.
III. Multiple choice
1.Of the modes of word-meaning changes, _____ are the most common.
A. elevation and transfer
B. narrowing and degeneration
C. extension and narrowing C. degeneration ( C )
2. The word wife designating woman now means a married woman. This change of word-meaning is called _____.
A. extension
B. narrowing
C. elevation
D. degradation (B)
3. The word layman which used to refer to one who is not of clergy now means non-member of any profession. This change of word-meaning is _____.
A. extension
B. narrowing
C. elevation
D. degradation (A)
4. The original meaning of nice is ignorant or foolish and its modern meaning is delightful. This is _____ of word meaning.
A. extension
B. narrowing
C. elevation
D. degradation (C)
5. Linguistic factors in word meaning changes exclude _____.
A. internal factors within the language system
B. the influx of borrowing
C. analogy
D. grammar ( D )
6. Silly meant happy in old English, but now it means foolish. This mode of word-meaning change is _____.
A. extension
B. narrowing
C. elevation
D. degradation ( D)
7. Extra-linguistic factors of word-meaning include _____.
A. historical reason
B. class reason
C. psychological reason
D. all the above ( D )
8. The change of word meaning is brought about following internal factors except _____.
A. the influx of borrowing
B. repetition
C. analogy
D. shortening ( B )
9. The four major modes of semantic change are _____ . ( A)
A. extension, narrowing, elevation and degradation
B. extension, generalization, elevation and degradation
C. generalization, narrowing, specialization and degradation
D. extension,, elevation, amelioration and pejorartion
Chapter Eight
Questions and tasks
I. Study the following sentences carefully and then match the definitions with the corresponding italicized words in the sentences.
Definitions:
a. a material in the form of thin flat sheets used for writing or printing on, etc.
b. a newspaper
c.thesis written at the end of the term
d. a set of printed questions used as an examination in a particular subject
e.an official report explaining something that the government intends to do
Sentences
1.He is reading today?s paper.
2.I must finish my term paper tomorrow.
3.The teacher has made out a test paper.
4.The government has just issued a new white paper on education.
5.Can you lend me some writing paper?
II. Determine the meaning of do in each of the following sentences:
1.She?ll do her hair before she goes out. (arrange)
2.The police stopped the red car that was doing 80 miles an hour. (driving)
3.They do fish very well in this restaurant. (cook)
4.The students are doing computer at school. (studying)
5.The children are doing well at their new school. (progressing)
III. Rewrite the following sentences to eliminate ambiguity:
1.Mary found a book on Main Street.
2.We were shocked by his punishment.
3.Visiting relatives can be boring.
4.The police were ordered to stop drinking about midnight.
5.He has left his mother to look after his daughter.
6.Illegal waste dumping is a serious source of pollution.
Chapter Nine
Questions and tasks
I. True or false:
1. An idiom contains at least two words. T
2. Idioms are fixed in structure and so can never be changed. F
3. Idioms are usually difficult to understand because the meanings of idioms are not in many cases