Chapter Six (1)

1、Chapter Six A General Survey of English Vocabulary英語詞匯該說英語詞匯該說World LanguagesLanguage families:Sino- Tibetan (漢藏語系漢藏語系)Indo- European （印歐語系）（印歐語系）Semito- Hamitic （閃含語系）（閃含語系）Bantu （班圖語系）（班圖語系）Uralic （烏拉爾語系）（烏拉爾語系）Altaic （阿爾泰語系）（阿爾泰語系）Malayo- Polynesian （馬來（馬來 波利尼西亞語系）波利尼西亞語系）Indian （印第安語系）（印第安語系）Mai

2、n Branches of Indo- European Indo- Iranian group(印度 伊朗語族): including Persian（伊朗的波斯語）, Sanskrit (which later developed into Hindi )（印度的梵語，后來發(fā)展成為印地語）, Urdu（烏爾都語）, Bengali （孟加拉語）and the language of the Gypsies（吉普賽人的語言）.Armenian （亞美尼亞語族）：發(fā)展為亞美尼亞語Slavic（斯拉夫語族）: including Russian（俄語） and Polish（波蘭語）.Helle

3、nic（古希臘語族）：gradually developed into Greek （逐漸發(fā)展為現(xiàn)代的希臘語）5. Italic（意大利語族）：Latin (拉丁語)and Romance languages （由于羅馬帝國向外擴(kuò)張而傳播到歐洲各地的羅曼語音） French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian. 6. Celtic （凱爾特語族）: Gaelic(蓋爾語), Welsh （威爾士語）and Briton（布列塔尼語）.7. Albanian（阿爾巴尼亞語族）8. Germanic（日耳曼語族）: English, German

4、, Dutch（荷蘭語）, Yiddish （依地語） and the Scandinavian languages （斯堪的納維亞各國語言）. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 大不列顛及北愛爾大不列顛及北愛爾 蘭聯(lián)合王國，由英蘭聯(lián)合王國，由英 格蘭、蘇格蘭、威格蘭、蘇格蘭、威 爾士和北愛爾蘭組爾士和北愛爾蘭組 成，是一個(gè)位于歐成，是一個(gè)位于歐 洲西北面大不列顛洲西北面大不列顛 群島的君主立憲制群島的君主立憲制 國家。始于英格蘭國家。始于英格蘭 王國故王國故簡稱英國簡稱英國。 English vocabulary

5、 as viewed in the historical perspective Part I The Development of English VocabularyPart I The Development of English Vocabulary Of course, from the 16th century, English borrowed words from an increasing number of languages, the major ones being the three Romance languages, French, Spanish and Ita

6、lian. English also adopted words from other European languages. From German, came bismuth bzm (化學(xué) 鉍), cobalt kblt(化學(xué) 鈷), nickel and zinc; from Dutch, dock, freight(貨運(yùn)) and keel (龍骨；平底船) ; from Russian, vodka, troika (三駕馬車；三頭政 治 ) , r u b l e a n d t s a r ( / z a : / 沙 皇 ) . Part I The Development o

7、f English VocabularyRomance Languages The Romance languages (羅曼斯語（由拉丁語演變而成的語言）), sometimes called the Romanic languages, Latin languages, or Neo-Latin languages, are a group of languages descended from Vulgar Latin(民間拉丁語或通俗拉丁語) and forming a branch of the Italic languages （意大利語族）within the Indo-Euro

8、pean language family（印歐語系）. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, as a result of exploration, colonization and trade, many words came in from non- European languages. Some examples are: from Australian boomerang (n. 飛去來器；自食其果的行為；回飛棒), kangaroo, dingo (澳洲野狗) from Arabic sugar, sultan （蘇丹）, alco

9、hol from Indian coolie, cashmere（羊絨，開士米）, khaki （卡其色） from Chinese yamen, loquat (枇杷), ginseng (人參), litchi (荔枝), kaoliang (高粱), tai chi (太極), and tea (茶), etc. from Japanese kimono(和服), tycoon（大亨，巨富，巨頭） from African gorilla, zebra Part I The Development of English Vocabulary As summed up in the Enc

10、yclopedia Americana (美國百科全書), “ The English language has vast debts. In any dictionary some 80% of the entries are borrowed. The majority are likely to come from Latin, and of those more than half will come from French. A considerable number will derive directly or indirectly from Greek. A substanti

11、al contribution will come from Scandinavian languages, and a small percentage from Portuguese, Italian, Spanish and Dutch.”Part I The Development of English VocabularyPart II Classification of English Words According to Different CriteriaBy origin: native words and loan words Words of Anglo- Saxon o

12、rigin or of Old English are native words, while those borrowed from other languages are loan words or borrowed words. Most native words in modern English are monosyllabic. They form the great majority of the basic word stock (基本詞匯) of the English language. The basic word stock is the foundation of t

13、he vocabulary accumulated over a number of epochs. Though small in number, these words are the ones used most frequently in everyday speech and writing; they play no small part in linguistic performance and communication.Examples of native wordsIn the native stock we find the most frequently used wo

14、rds denoting the commonest things necessary for life, such as description of Nature (land, mead, meadow, field, ford, earth, wood, hedge, hill.)names of natural phenomena (sun, moon, rain, frost, snow), names of animals and plants (horse, mare, sheep, lamb, deer, swine, hen, dog, flower, beech, oak,

15、 ash, elm,) names of parts of body (head, hand, foot, eye, ear, chin, heart, bone.) adjectives (big, small, red, black, white, high, deep, wide, broad, narrow, long, fresh, swift, sound, good, wise, merry, greedy), verbs expressing concrete actions (live, eat, work, go, come) auxiliary and modal ver

16、bs, pronouns, most numerals, prepositions and conjunctions. The fundamental features of the basic word stock National character (全民性): Words of the basic word stock denote the most common things and phenomena of the world. These words cannot be avoided by any speaker of a given community, irrespecti

17、ve of class origin, education, profession, geographical regions, culture, etc.Stability(穩(wěn)定性): as words in the basic word stock denote the commonest things necessary to life, they are likely to remain unchanged.Productivity (能產(chǎn)性): Words of the basic word stock are mostly root words or monosyllabic wo

18、rds. They are very active in forming new words. For example, the word hand forms such derivatives and compounds as: handful, handy, handily, handbag, handball, handwriting, etc.Collocability (搭配能力強(qiáng)): Basic words combine readily with other words to form habitual expressions and phrases. The word hand

19、 again can be found in phrases like at first hand, hand in hand, to show ones hand, a factory hand, hand in glove, and so on.B. By Level of Usage (1) Common words (2) Literary words (3) Colloquial words (4) Slang words (5) Technical words (1) Common words Common words are connected with the ordinary

20、 things or activities necessary to everyday life. The core of the common words is the basic word stock. They are stylistically neutral, hence they are appropriate in both formal and informal writing and speech. (2) Literary words Literary words are chiefly used in writing, especially in books writte

21、n in a more elevated style, in official documents, or in formal speeches. They are comparatively seldom used in ordinary conversation. In English, most of the literary words are of French, Latin or Greek origin. Many of them have their everyday synonyms. For example, cast (throw), edifice (building)

22、, endeavor (try), purchase (buy), etc. More examples: distinction(difference), inclination(trend), dubious (uncertain), amelioration (improvement), valiant (brave), garment (clothes), merchant (dealer), proceed (go on), manufacture (make), artificial (manmade), frail (weak), vessel (ship), veritable

23、 (true), mount (rise) (3) Colloquial words In contrast with literary words, colloquial words or expressions are used mainly in spoken English, as in conversation among friends and colleagues. They can also be used in informal writings, but are inappropriate in formal speeches or writings. They are m

24、arked colloq. or informal in dictionaries. Such as: kid, guy, fellow, gayCompare: Feeling fatigued, tom retired early. (literary) Tom felt so dog-tired he hit the sack early. (colloquial) John was dismissed for petty thieving. (common) John was fired for petty thieving. (colloquial) Penalties for ov

25、erdue books will be strictly enforced (literary) You have got to pay fines for overdue books. (colloquial) They approved of the plan. (literary) They agreed to the plan. (common) (4) Slang words Slang is defined as language, words or phrases of a colorful, facetious (playfully jocular; humorous), or

26、 taboo nature, invented for specific occasions, or uses, or derived from the unconventional use of the standard vocabulary. The chief reason for the formation and use of slang expressions is to secure freshness and novelty. A slang usage is not generally used in formal conversation unless the speake

27、rs are on intimate terms; slang embraces those daring and new expressions that have not been accepted by the majority of people as Standard English. Examples of slang words: Beaver (girl) Smoky, bear (police) Nut, dome, upper, bean, block (head) Elevated, merry, jolly, comfortable, boiled, tight, bl

28、ue-eyed, stiff (drunk) (5) Technical words Technical or special words refer to those words used in particular disciplines and academic areas. They are also called terminologies or technical terms. Every branch of science, every profession or trade, every art and every sort of sports has its own tech

29、nical terms. The function of those technical words is partly to denote things or processes which have no names in ordinary English, and partly to increase precision in nomenclature(命名法)(identifying definitions). Examples of technical words: In music: symphony (交響樂), sonata ( 奏鳴曲), orchestra(管弦樂隊(duì)), c

30、oncerto ( 協(xié)奏曲). In education: audiovisual (視聽教學(xué)的), microteaching (微型教學(xué)) In mathematics: algebra (代數(shù)學(xué)), geometry, calculus (微積分學(xué)), trigonometry ( 三角法) In biology: clone, embryo ( 胚胎), cell , organism, DNA(deoxyribonucleic acid), gene C. By notion (1) Function words Function words are often short word

31、s such as determiners, conjunctions, prepositions, auxiliaries, and so forth. Although they do not have much of their lexical meaning, they have a special kind of meaning-grammatical meaning. They act as grammatical signals to show the connection between content words. Another important characterist

32、ic is that function words belong to a relatively small and permanent set of words, in comparison to content words. The total number of functional words is about 154. They are stable; they do not come and go with changing fashions and ideas. (2) Content words Content words have independent lexical me

33、anings. Content words belong to an open list. New lexical items are constantly being created, and no one could make a complete list of all the content words in English.The Norman Conquest In 1066, under the leadership of William the Conqueror(征服王威廉), the Normans crossed the English Channel, and defe

34、ated the British King Harold(英王哈羅德) in the Battle of Hastings(哈斯丁戰(zhàn)役). From then on, Britain ended its disruption and was ruled by the centralized feudal system(中央集權(quán)的封建制).Some French Loans1. Words concerning the government and administration: government, govern, administer, crown, state, empire,realm, reign(君主統(tǒng)治), royal, prerogative(君權(quán)), authority, sovereign（君主）, majesty, tyrant（專制統(tǒng)治者）, usurp（篡奪）, oppress, court（宮廷）, council（地方議會(huì)）, parliament, assembly（議會(huì)）, treaty, alliance, tax, subsidy, revenue（稅收）. 2. Words c