Modern English Lexicology

Introduction

September, 2009
Wang Haizhen
Outline

 Instructor introduction
 Course introduction
 Chapter 1: Introduction to Lexicology
About instructor

 Name: Wang Haizhen 王海贞

 Working experience:1993-
 Learning experience: 1993;1998;2007
 Academic interests: applied linguistics; CALL, langua
ge testing
 E-mail address: uuwanghz@sina.com
 Mobile: 13912633880
 Course e-mail: lexicology_2009@yahoo.cn; passwor
d: suda0704
Course introduction: objectives

 To understand the importance of lexis or words in

English learning;
 To learn the basic concepts and fundamental
theories in lexicology;
 To learn about word formation and words in use;
 To work out vocabulary learning strategies;
 To enable students to practice lexical knowledge in
their language use.
Course plan

 16/17 lectures + 2 student presentations

 Week 1: introduction; Week 2: Chapter 1;
Week 3: Chapter 2; Week 4: Chapter 3…
 Classroom activities: action-oriented; proble
m-solving activities (led by Wh- questions)
 After-class assignment in mini-research form
Course requirement

 Autonomous pre-class preparation;

– Ask yourself questions while reading;
– Note down the difficult points you want to discuss.
 Active in-class participation and cooperation
– Form into groups of 4; find your learning partner;
– Group work + pair work
 Collaborative work/research after class
– Finish weekly homework;
– Complete a lexicology-related research with your group
members for this course.
Course evaluation

 Class presence (10%)

 Class performance (20%)
 Group research (70%)
– A lexicology-related topic;
– An oral presentation + a printed paper
– Self-evaluation + within-group evaluation + inter-
group evaluation + instructor evaluation
An introduction to lexicology

 What is lexicology?
 How are these terms different -- words, lexis,
vocabulary & lexicon?
 How to define “word”?
 How important is lexicology?
 What do you expect to learn from this
course?
What is lexicology? (1)

 --the study of lexis

 --the stock of words in a given language

 -ology also -logy suffix :

the study of sth, especially sth scientific
– geology (=the study of rocks and the Earth)
– climatology (=the study of climate)
– Egyptology (=the study of ancient Egypt)
What is lexicology? (2)

 Lexicology is the study of lexis, or the sci

ence of words.

 “Lexicology is the branch of linguistics th

at investigates, describes and theorizes a
bout vocabulary.”
(Jackson & Amvela 2000, Words, Meaning an
d Vocabulary: An Introduction to Modern English
Lexicology)
Question: What do we mean by lexis?
Words? Vocabulary? Are they the
same?

 lexis
 [Longman] n [U] [Language: Greek; Origin: LEXICON]
technical all the words in a language
= vocabulary
 the lexicon:
technical all the words and phrases used in a language
or that a particular person knows; (linguistics) vocabular
y (contrasted with grammar)
 E.g. mental lexicon: a language user’s knowledge of words
 Also refer to p.5.
Question: How to define “word”?

 Do words exist?
(1) Can we easily cut a sound sequence into separate
words? Based on the length of pauses?
 E.g. Dowordsexist? Therearenospacebetweenspokenwords.
(2) Can we conveniently demarcate words by the writin
g system? E.g.
 a new waste paper basket
 waste paper basket & a new waste
 attorney generals
 I’ll go out; the King of England’s
 Question: Do words exist?
 Answer: Yes, but it’s difficult to define a word.
What is Bloomfield’s definition of
word?

 Leonard Bloomfield (1887-1949), an

influential linguist
 Homework 1: Find more information about
Leonard Bloomfield

 Discussion: Bloomfield’s definition of word

A word is a minimal free form.

 T or F
( ) A word is a minimal form.
( ) A word is a free form.
( ) A word is smaller than a phrase but larger than
a sound segment.

 More concepts: morpheme; free form; bound

form
morpheme

 smallest meaningful unit into which a word can be divi

ded 词素
 Question: Which is smaller? A morpheme or a word?
 Question: How many morphemes does each of the fol
lowing words consist?
– boyish; unlikely; receive; classroom
 Answer:
– boyish (boy-ish); unlikely (un-like-ly); classroom (class-room)
 Question: How are the structures of boyish and classr
oom different?
Free form & bound form

 A form which may occur alone is free.

 A form which may not occur alone is bound.
 Question: Identify free or bound forms: free, freedom,
-dom, learn, learning, -s, -ing, -ed. Can you give mor
e examples?
 Reading comprehension check: (p.4) a word is view
ed as a form which can occur in isolation and have m
eaning but which cannot be analyzed into elements
which can all occur alone and also have meaning.
Question: What characteristics do
words have?

 Discuss the question and explain the

following terms:
 affix, suffix, prefix;
 stem, root;
 complex words, compound words;
 phrases;
 word class, part of speech.
Characteristics of words (1)

(1)The word is an uninterruptible unit.

 E.g. lock, read

 Prefix: [Longman] technical a group of letters that is a

dded to the beginning of a word to change its meanin
g and make a new word, such as 'un' in 'untie' or 'mis'
in 'misunderstand‘;
 Suffix: [Longman] a letter or letters added to the end
of a word to form a new word, such as 'ness' in 'kindn
ess' or 'ly' in 'suddenly'
 Affix: prefix + suffix (+ infix)
Stem; root

 Reading comprehension check: (p. 4) The w

ord to which affixes are added and which carr
ies the basic meaning of the resulting comple
x word is known as the ‘stem’, which may co
nsist of one or more morphemes.
 Question: How do stem and root differ?
 E.g. beginning, roots, rootlessness, unlikely
Characteristics of words (2)

(2) The word may consist of one or more morphemes.

 If one morpheme (e.g. dog, hand, out) , then a simpl
e word (minimum free form).
 Question: What are complex words? Compound w
ords?
 1 free form + ≥1 bound form  complex word
 1 free form + ≥ 1 free form  compound word (gentl
emanlike)
 Exceptions: gentle-man-ly; under-develop-ed
Characteristics of words (3)

(3) The word occurs typically in sentences

the structure of phrases.

clauses

 Question: Where to put phrases

in the language structure? phrases

 Answer:
words

morphemes
 Reading comprehension check: (p. 5) …This
phenomenon is called ‘rank shift’ by Halliday
(1994).
 rank shift 级转移
 E.g. The man who came late was my brother.

 Homework 2: Find more information about H

alliday
Characteristics of words (4)

(4) The word belongs to a specific word class

or part of speech.
 Question: How do you understand ‘word
class’ or ‘part of speech’?
How important is lexicology?

 “Without grammar very little can be conveyed, withou

t vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.”
(D.A. Wilkins)

 “ 词汇之于语法，有如砖之如混凝土，它们共同构筑
意义的大厦”。（丁建新， 2004 ：前言）

 Words are bricks to a language.

 Words build meaning and convey thoughts.
What do you expect to learn from this
course?

 Open to discussion.
Mini-research 1 (generation)

 How to express the following in English? What d

o they mean? （“某某一代”，“某某一族”，
用作称呼某一特定社会群体的代名词。）
1. “ 飞特族” 2. “ 飘一族”
3. “ 乐活族” 4. “ 奔奔族”
5. “ 三明治一族” 6. “ 拼一族”
7. “ 果冻族” 8. “ 波波族”
9. “ 生白族” 10. “ 蹭停族”
 What other similar expressions do you know?
Mini-research 2 (modern
acronyms)

 Give the Chinese of the following acronyms

and define.
1. 3C 2. 3G 3. GSM
4. SIM 5. TDMA 6. CDMA
7. LCD 8. UMPC 9. SUV
10. CD-ROM 11. IT 12. DVD
13. HTML 14. LAN 15. RAM
 What other similar acronyms can you find?
Mini-research 3 (emoticons & IM-
speak)

– Emoticon=emotion + icon 情绪脸谱

– IM-speak= instant messaging-speak 即时消息式语言
 Explain the following. What else can you find?
1. ;) 2. :-D 3. :-0
4. B4 5. b/c 5. GR8
7. IMHO 8. OTOH 9. SRI
10. SYS 11.TIA 12. TBC
13. POV 14. VG 15. w/o
Mini-research 4 (“ 客”文化 )

 Give the English for the following and explain.

1. 博客 2. 黑客 / 骇客
3. 闪客 4. 掘客
5. 奇客 / 极客 6. 沃客
7. 维客 8. 播客
9. 威客 10. 搞客
Mini-research 5 (the most beautiful
English words Top 70)

 To celebrate its 70th anniversary, on Nov. 24,

2004, the British Culture Association carried
a poll about the most beautiful words in the
English language. Over 40,000 people in 46
countries and regions voted. What’s the
result? Give the top 70 most beautiful English
words and their Chinese equivalents.
Mini-research 6

 Give information about Leonard Bloomfield.

Mini-research 7

 Give information about M.A.K.Halliday.

Mini-research 8

 Give information about Ferdinand de

Saussure.
Mini-research 9

 Give information about Louis Hjelmslev.

Plan for Week 2

1. Finish our discussion of Chapter 1.

2. Present (orally, with the help of PPT slides)
to the class your mini-research results.