英语专业词汇学课件9.changes in word meaning

Chapter 9 Changes in word meaning一.Cause of changes in word meaning1.Historical cause: It often happens that thought a word retain its original form,its meaning haschanges because the object which it denotes（表示）has changed, this is the historical cause of semantic change.Pencil is from Latin word meaning—a little tail or a fine brush, like our chinese pen 毛笔，later, when it was made of wood and graphite石墨，it was still called a “pencil”2.Social caus e: change in word meaning resulting from a constant verbal traffic between commonwords and various technical words is referred to as social cause of semantic changeHot and cold have changed their meaning in the field of politics, as in “cold war”,”hot war” and “hot line”3.Foreign influences : a particularly important cause of change of meaning in words has been theinfluence of foreign wordsThe native word stool originally meant any kind of seat for one person, and could be used for a king’s seat, it got its present humble(粗陋) meaning because the French word chair was adopted to denote a more comfortable piece of furniture4.Linguistic cause 语言的影响:a. Towards ellipsis 省略A general---a general officerUniform—uniform dressb.Towards analogy 类推Energetic(精力旺盛)—formerly meant” to operate, effect” as in “the most energeticchemicals”, now energetic means” of , having or showing energy, vigorous, forcefull” as if it had been derived from energy5.Psychological cause 心理上的影响1）Euphemism（委婉词）：It refers that the word changed after people use mild,agreeable language when speaking of an unpleasant or embarrasing fact and of taboo subjects as sex and the excretive processes of the boby.Such as death can be used as '' go west''.2）Grandiloquence（夸张）：It refers to the use of long,important-sounding words for effect.The disire to upgrade or raise the social status of a position,occupation,or institution bychanging its common name to one felt to confer greater dignity or importance is another psychological factor in the change of word meaning.In a sense,it is a form of euphemism.e.g. ''hair stylist'' was upgraded as ''hairologist'' for barbers.3）Cynicism（挖苦语）：It refer that the disire to sneer(冷笑) and to be sarcastic (讽刺)cause the semantic change. e.g. sanctimonious (假装神圣)means''devot,holy or scared'' and now means ''pretending to be very holy or pious''.二.Four tendencies in semantic change1. Restriction(限制, 约束)(or narrowing or specialization) of meaning（词义的缩小）：It isthe opposite of widening, is a process by which a word or wide meaning acquires(获得, 学到)a narrower or specialized sense.e.g. “meat”originally means “ food,solid food” but now res tricted to mean “the flesh of animals used as food,excluding fish and birds”.2. Extension (generalization) of meaning（词义的扩大）:A process by which a word whichoriginally had a specialized meaning has now become generalized. e.g. “holiday” originally means “holy day,a day for religious significance” but now extended to mean “ day of festivityor recreation when no work is done” Restriction and extension refer to change in the range of the denotative(外延) meaning of words, either narrowed or widened,they are so closely associated that they can hardly be treated separately.3. Degeneration of meaning(pejoration)（词义的贬降: A process whereby words of goodorigin fall into ill reputation or non-affective words come to used in derogatory(贬低)sense. .e.g. "silly" originally means "blessed and happy" but now degenerated to mean "foolish".4. Elevation (or amelioration) of meaning（词义的扬升）:Elevation is the process by whichwords rise from humble beginings to positions of importance.Elevation of meaning is one of the tendencies of meaning change,which changes the meaning of a linguistics from "low" to "high" ,e.g. "minister" originally means “a servant of master” to presently "head of adepartment in a nation”.*Degeneratio and elevation refer to change in connotative(内涵),stylistic(风格), andaffective(感情) meanings.三．Semantic development or change resulting from the figurative (比喻)use of words The figurative use refers to the expression of saying something is another thing.Thus can make the speech or article become vivid and stimulus the reader to imagine.The original thing is called tenor,the another thing is called vehicle.1.Metaphor（隐喻）：Metaphor is a figure of speech containing an implied comparison basedon association of similarity,in which a word or a phrase ordinarily and primarily used for one thing is applied to another,a process which often results in semantic change or figurative extension of meaning. e.g. a beautiful woman may be described as a vision.A cunning person is often referred to as a fox2.Metonymy（换喻）：Metonymy is a figure of speech by which an object or idea is describedby the name of something closely related to it. That is to say, a transfer of names occurs between two things associated by actual contiguity, either by physical contact, or contact through various though associations. Metonymy does not reveal any new relations but arises between words already related to each other in different ways, for example. The white house for the president or for the presidential sraff of the Unitd States.1）Sign for the person or thing signified. e.g crown, sceptre, throne for king.2）Container for its contents. e.g. the bottle for alcoholic drink.3）The abstract for the concrete. e.g. the management for governing body,board of directors etc.4）The concrete for the abstract. e.g. tongue for language.5）A part for the whole and vice versa. e.g. a sail for a ship,the army for a soldier etc.6）The material for the thing made. e.g. silver for coins made of silve or for silver vessels,dishes,articles.课后习题---回家再做1.Explain why change of word-meaning is fundamental in a living language2.How do the historical and social causes account for changes in the meanings of words3.How are changes of meaning frequently brought about by linguistic causes?4.Why have many words changed their meaning as a result of being used euphemistically5.how have the following words become specialized in meaning?Fowl, hound,deer,meat,to stink, to starve, pipe6.What is extension of meaning? how have the following words become extended inmeaning?Plant, bird,holiday,salary, picture,thing,to arrive7.What are the two main forms of degeneration of meaning? Give examples to illustrateyour point8.Describle the process of elevation of meaming for the following words9.Pioneer, minister,marshal, job,black10.How have metaphor and metonymy played an important part in semantic developmentand semantic change?11.Find out the original meaning of the following words by consulting an etymologicaldictionary, suggest explanations as to how they have acquired their present meanings: Style,clue,cunning, horrible12.Give examples of words from chinese, the meaning of which have changed with time,and suggest explanations as how these changes have taken place.。

Changes in Word Meaning曹礼华5101100327 1003The vocabulary is the most unstable element of a language. Its meaning is undergoing changes all the time. And often, the meaning of a word changes into new service when a new linguistic need is felt. So the changes do not have regular pattern for us to follow. And there also are many kinds of types of changes in word meaning. The issue is so complex and hard to research.First of all, I want to talk about the reason for the changes in word meaning. Although there are many reasons for the changes in word meaning, in my opinion, there are four main reasons for this:1.Historical Reason. English originate form Britain around after the 5th century. Then it hadexperienced a long time social development and changes. Especially, the intruders from the mainland exacerbate the changes in word meaning.2.Social Reason. Society moves forward with the development of economy and technology.So there would be more needs for words to define the new things.3.Linguistic Reason. Words are used by people to communicate. So we want to use itconveniently. And with this purpose, a lot of complicated words are becoming simple and general.4.Mental Reason. With the development of our civilization, everyone wanted to be gentler toothers especially when they want to express something to refuse others. So a new word meaning maybe come out.There are two main types of word changes named extension of meaning and narrowing of meaning.(1)Extension of Meaning.Extension of meaning, also known as generation, is the name given to the widening of meaning which some words undergo. It is a process by which a word which originally hada specialized meaning has now become generalized or has extended to over a broaderand often less definite concept. For example, pen just means “quill”which is made by different kind feather. But the pen-nib was invented later. People started to use pen to define pen-nib. Obviously, now “pen”has a big difference from “pen”people know before.The word “car” comes form the Latin word “carrus”. Carrus means carriage with two or four wheels. But now it has a extended meaning. Automobile and tramcar can be defines with car. The morphology of this word does not change, but it has different meaning when the referents change.The word “arrive” comes form the Latin word “arripare” which means pulling in to shore.In the ancient times, traveling is so dangerous especially traveling on the sea that people are safe when people pull in to shore. Nowadays, arrive still has the meaning of pulling in to shore, but its extended meaning is often used by people.There are more examples of extension of word meaning listed below.And, to be specific, there are several cases as follow1)Form special use to general use. With the development of society, some words whichwere just used to define one thing become general to define a group of things.Examples: journal (daily paper → all kinds of paper); countdown (countdown beforea bomb explode → a situation that is very serious)2)Form specific use to abstract use. Examples: make, grasp, place.3)Form proper nouns to common nouns. There are many common nouns that comeform people names, place name, book name, and organization name.(2)Narrowing of meaningThe narrowing of meaning is opposite form extension of meaning. For example, the original meaning of meat is food especially liquid diet. But now the word is only used to define the meat expect fish and bird. And there are more examples listed below.And the Narrowing of word meaning can be divided into several cases as follow:1)From general use to special use. Examples: the word “fowl” was used to describe theall birds, but now it means birds kept in house by human. And dear means animal2)From abstract use to specific use. Stink represent foul smell instead of all smellbefore.3)From common nouns to proper nouns. For example, the city represents the downtownof London.(3) Extension and narrowing of meaning in Chinese words.1) Extension of meaning in Chinese wordsModern Chinese is much different form the ancient times. We often use the word “cry” to describe the situation when tears drop form our eyes nowadays. But in ancient times, there are different words or sentences to represent different cry. And the words “ci” and “xiong” are only used to describe the birds’ sex. But now they can be used to all creatures. Generally, extension of meaning in Chinese words is more obvious between modern times and ancient times.2) Narrowing of meaning in Chinese words.There also are many examples of narrowing of meaning in Chinese words. The word “wa” means earthenware, but now it just means bile on the roof. Another example which we all know is “wife”. Wife is called “qizi” in Chinese. But “qizi” means both of mother and child. So if we want to do a good job in reading writings in classical Chinese, you must know well about the extension and narrowing of meaning in Chinese words.(4) Conclusion of changes in word meaningChanging in word meaning has never ceased since the beginning of the language and will continue in the future. And it is a symbol of development of our society. And we can see the changes of culture, economy, and tradition form the changes of word meaning. It just likes a mirror to the society. Language is not just a tool for us ,it is a kind of culture itself. And there is no doubt for us that we should know well about these changes in word meaning. It is a good way to study the history of one nation.。