英语词汇学教程参考答案(杨信彰)

《英语词汇学教程》参考答案

Chapter 1

1. The three definitions agree that lexicology studies words. Yet, they have different focuses. Definition 1 focuses on the meaning and uses of words, while definition 2 on the overall structure and history. Definition 3 regards lexicology as a branch of linguistics and focuses on the semantic structure of the lexicon. It is interesting to note that the three definitions use different names for the object of study. For Definition 1, it is words, for Definition 2 the vocabulary of a language, and for Definition 3 the lexicon.

2. (1) They can go into the room, and if they like, shut the door.

(2) You boys are required to give in your homework before 10 o’clock.

(3) I watch the football match happily and find it very interesting.

3. (1) W hen it follows ‘-t’ and ‘-d’, it is pronounced as [id];

(2) When it follows voiceless consonants, it is pronounced as [t];

(3) When it follows voiced consonants and vowels, it is pronounced as [d].

4. (1) They are words that can be included in a semantic field of “tree”.

(2) They represent the forms of the verb “fly” and have a common meaning.

(3) They belong to a lexical field of “telephone communication”.

(4) They are synonyms, related to human visual perception. Specifically, they denote various kinds of “looking”.

5. (a) 'blackboard: a board with a dark smooth surface, used in schools for writing with chalk (the primary stress in on black);

'blackbird: a particular kind of bird, which may not necessarily be black in color (the primary stress in on black);

'greyhound: a slender, swift dog with keen sight (the primary stress in on black);

'White House: the residence of the US President in Washington (the primary stress in on black).

(b) 'black 'board: any board which is black in color (both words receive primary stress);

'black 'bird: any bird which is black in color (both words receive primary stress);

'grey 'hound: any hound that is grey in color (both words receive primary stress);

'white 'house: any house that is painted white (both words receive primary stress).

6. There are 44 orthographic words, i.e. sequences of letters bounded by space. There are 24 open class words and 20 closed class words.

7. (a) The ‘bull’ is literal, referring to a male bovine animal.

(b) ‘Take the bull by the horn’ is an idiom, meaning (having the courage to) deal with someone or something

directly.

(c) ‘Like a bull in a china shop’ is an idiom, meaning doing something with too much enthusiasm or too quickly

or carelessly in a way that may damage things or upset someone.

(d) A ‘bull market’is one where prices rise fast because there is a lot of buying of shares in anticipation of

profits.