英语词汇学教程课件第6章English-Lexicology-6.ppt

English LexicologyLecture SixEnglish LexicologyLecture SixOther Word-formation ProcessesConversionBlendingshorteningOther Word-formation ProcessesConversionA change in word class without the addition of an affix is known as conversion. In other words, conversion is a process by which a word belonging to one word class is transferred to another word class without any change in form. It is a productive device for the creation of new words since there is no restriction on the form.ConversionA change in word claAs the distinction between conversion and functional shift (the extension of an existing word to take on a new syntactic function) is not well-defined, conversion is also called ‘functional shift’. There are four major kinds of conversion: from noun to verb, from verb to noun, from adjective to noun and from adjective to verb. As the distinction between conNoun → verb: to air, to arm, to bottom, to cup, to fish, to mouth, to tooth, e.g.We hold meetings where the residents’ problems can be aired.They quickly armed themselves with sticks. Prices are stilling falling, but show no signs of bottoming out.Noun → verb: to air, to arm, tVerb → noun: a call, a command, a count, a go, a guess, a look, a walk, e.g.Don’t try to eat the whole thing in one go.  Hold your breath for a count of ten. Can you wait while I make another call?Verb → noun: a call, a commandAdjective → verb: to better, to blind, to bold, to brave, to dirty, to empty, e.g. The low sun blinded her as she drove up the hill.You can use your bold to make the information stand out a little more. It was time to brave the rush hour traffic again.Adjective → verb: to better, tAdjective → noun: best, poor, rich, blind, convertible, daily, double, e.g. I’ll do my best to help you.You can adjust the blinds to keep out the glare. I’d booked two single rooms, but they gave us a double.Adjective → noun: best, poor, Auxiliary verbs, adverbs, modal verbs, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections and even affixes can all act as bases for conversion, e.g. He downed his beer and left.The company has had its share of ups and downs.Good binoculars are a must for any serious birdwatcher.Are￿you￿outout￿to￿your￿parents?Auxiliary verbs, adverbs, modaAmong the different types of conversion, the formation of a verb by converting a noun, adjective or other word is very common. For example, the noun chair becomes the verb to chair, as in ‘chair the meeting’. This process is known as a type of verbification. This type of verbification often involves simple conversion of a non-verb to a verb. Verbified words are often found in colloquial English, where the speaker needs to describe common actions or experiences. Among the different types of cSome of the most common words include access, aim, bed, beer, brave, clean, cup, deck, e-mail, fool, impact, pension, ship, train and so on. The formation of a noun by converting a verb, adjective or other word is also very common. This process is often referred to as a type of nominalization. Some of the most common words For example, the verb run is used as the noun run, as in I went for a run after work. This type of nominalization is widely used as one of the most flexible and creative linguistic devices in English. Although it is very difficult to tell which form arose first, these two types of conversion do exist. For example, the verb run is uSometimes when a word consisting of two or more syllables undergoes conversion, there is a change in the stress pattern. Sometimes when a word consisti英语词汇学教程课件第6章English-Lexicology-6BlendingBlending refers to the process of combining parts of two words to form a third word which contains some of the meaning of each part. Blends are compounds that are less than compounds. Among the better-known blends are smog (from smoke and fog), fruice (from fruit and jiuce), glasphalt (from glass and asphalt), modem (from modulator and demodulator) and urinalysis (from urine and analysis).BlendingBlending refers to the In the formation of a blend, the first part of the first element is added to the second part of the second element. Most blends are nouns, but a few are adjectives such as glitzy (from glitter and ritzy), and verbs such as skyjack (from sky and hijack). In the formation of a blend, Structurally, there are four common types of blends. The first type of blends is a full word followed by a splinter, e.g. wintertainment (from winter + entertainment), chatire (from chat + satire). Blends can also begin with a splinter, followed by a full word, e.g. cinemenace (from cinema + menace). Structurally, there are four cThe second type of blends consists of two splinters. There are two subtypes. In some cases, the beginning of one word is followed by the end of another word, e.g. psychergy (from psychic + energy). In other cases, both splinters are the beginnings of words, e.g. sitcom (from situation + comedy). The second type of blends consThe third type of blends consists of complete overlap, in which a part of the blend belongs to both words, e.g. sexploitation (from sex + exploitation), palimony (from pal + alimony). The fourth type of blends is involves the embedding of one word in another, e.g. entreporneur (from entrepreneur + porn). The third type of blends consiA very small number of blends consist of three source words, e.g. intelevisionary (from Intel + television + visionary).A very small number of blends Blends are often found in advertising, product names, and magazine and newspaper headings. Blending often results in the creation of new morphemes or in the addition of new meanings to old ones. Blends are often found in adveFor example, automobile was originally a combination of Greek autos (‘self’) and Latin mobilis (‘movable’). The element auto became productive as in the words autobiography, autodidact, autograph, autocar and autobus. The second element of automobile also acquired a combining function as in bookmobile (‘library on wheels’) and bloodmobile (‘blood bank on wheels’). For example, automobile was orShorteningsShortenings of various sorts are a popular means of increasing the word stock of a language. Shortened forms of words are a major feature of written language, as in the use of Mr, Dr, Ms, Lt, COD, VIP, and NATO. ShorteningsShortenings of variThe shortenings may even come from a different language, and the full form may not be known, e.g. i.e. (=id est), e.g. (=exempli gratia), and etc. Some are spoken as words (e.g. NATO); some are spelled out (e.g. VIP is always 'vi: 'ai 'pi:); some are automatically expanded (e.g.); and some permit a choice (e.g. viz spoken as viz or as namely). Shortening involves clipping, initialism, backformation and aphetic forms.The shortenings may even come Clipping is a common way of shortening a longer word. It is the process by which a word-form of usually three or more syllables is shortened without a change in meaning or function. Clipped words tend to be casual but very useful. They often convey informal or affectionate connotations. However, the result of clipping is often a synonym which is convenient to use than the longer words. Clipping is a common way of shWidespread use can cause them to replace their sources and lose their informal quality, as in bus (from omnibus) and taxi (from taximeter cabriolet). In schools, we shorten subjects to words like econ, gym, and math. Widespread use can cause them Clipping often ignores morphemic boundaries, as in English copter (from helicopter). Typical clippings are partial shortenings of simple word-forms, their lexical categories being usually nouns or adjectives. The most typical clippings have one or two syllables left and only one stress. There are three major types of clippings: fore clipping, hind clipping, and midclipping. Clipping often ignores morphemFore clipping refers to the process of clipping the beginning of the source, e.g. plane (from aeroplane) and phone (from telephone). Hind clipping refers to the process of clipping the final part of the source, e.g. deli (from delicatessen) and lab (from laboratory). In midclipping, the shortening affects the middle of the source form, e.g. cortisone (from corticosterone) and proctor (from procurator).Fore clipping refers to the prOne some rare occasions, clipping may affect both ends of the source with the middle part retained, e.g. flu (from influenza) and tec (from detective). Clipping may extend to phrases and word group, as in fed (from federal government employee), narc (from narcotics agent), radial (from radial tire), jet (from jet airplane) and pub (from public house). One some rare occasions, clippThere may be minor spelling adjustments, for example, mike (from microphone). These adjustments may include the replacement of final vowel letters, as in ammo (from ammunition), or the addition of endings -y/-i/-ie, as in comfy (from comfortable).There may be minor spelling ad In addition, there are some marginal clippings mainly used orally and only in certain contexts. There are three types of phonetic clippings: phonetic fore clipping, phonetic midclipping, and phonetic hind clipping, as in ’fraid (from afraid), ’cause (from because) and o’er (from over). In addition, there are some mInitialismsInitialisms are the results of putting together the initial letters, or occasionally the first two letters, of the orthographic words in a phrase and using them as words. The use of initialism is for brevity or catchiness. Sometimes euphemism may be involved, as with BO (from body odour) and VD (from Venereal Disease).InitialismsInitialisms are theWhen initialisms are pronounced with the names of the letters of the alphabet, they are called alphabetisms. Examples of alphabetisms are: ANU (from Australian National University), BA (from Bachelor of Arts), CIA (from Central Intelligence Agency), VCR (from video cassette recorder). When initialisms are pronounceWhen they are pronounced like individual words, they are acronyms.Examples of acronyms are: DINKY (from double income, no kids yet), radar (from radio detecting and ranging), RAM (from random access memory), NATO (from North Atlantic Treaty Organization), OPEC (from Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries).When they are pronounced like Some initialisms may be pronounced with the names of the letters or like individual words, as in LA (from Los Angeles) and VAT/Vat (from Value Added Tax).Some even display peculiar pronunciations, as in English SWF (from Shockwave Flash File), read as [swif]. There are even items with two spellings and two readings, as in ETD/e.t.d. (from estimated time of departure). Some initialisms may be pronouAlphabetisms may be mixed with acronyms and the two systems of pronunciation are combined, e.g. VP (from Vice-President) is pronounced like veep and ROTC (from Reserve Officers Training Corps) pronounced like rotcy. Alphabetisms may be mixed withInitialisms are flexible in the selection of constituents, e.g. DISPLAY (from Digital Service Planning Analysis), SpLD (from special learning difficulties). Sometimes, they may be written alternatively in lowercase, such as CIF/c.i.f. (from cost, insurance, and freight). Initialisms are flexible in thSome alphabetisms may consist of uncommon constituents such as numbers, symbols, full word forms, or letters indicating series, phases, or types, as in B2B (from Business-to-Business), G10 (from Group of Ten), c&f (from cost and freight) and UVA (from ultraviolet A).Some alphabetisms may consist Initialization can be found in letter compounds, as in e-commerce (from electronic-commerce). Although the initial often replaces a word-form, it may also be iconic, as in T-shirt or simply reduplicate the first letter of the following word-form, as in H-hour. Initialization can be found inThe processes of clipping and blending have brought about many splinters. The splinters function as combining forms. In contemporary English, we can find many examples formed with splinters such as -thon, -holic, -gate and –scape. The processes of clipping and New words have been formed with the splinter –thon, which came from marathon. We have words like telethon, walkathon, dancethon, paint-a-thon. With the splinter –holic, we can have words like workaholic, chocoholic, foodaholic, shopaholic. The splinter –gate, which means ‘political scandal’, began with Watergate and has generated Irangate, Whitewatergate, Contragate, and Skategate. The splinter –scape, which came from landscape, occurs in seascape, mountainscape, oceanscape, spacescape, mindscape and dreamscape. New words have been formed witA few splinters can be put at the beginning of a word, as e- (from electronic). The splinter e- has given rise to e-commerce, email, e-bucks and e-celebrity.A few splinters can be put at BackformationBackformation is the making of a new word from an older word which is mistakenly assumed to be its derivative. In fact, it involves the shortening of a longer word by “subtracting” an affix thought to be part of the old word. BackformationBackformation is Historically, a number of new words entered the English lexicon in this way. For example, the verbs typewrite and televise were invented historically after their noun forms typewriter and television by the subtraction of the suffixes -er and -ion respectively.Backformations are also common in creating verb compounds. For instance, housekeep is back formed from housekeeper, daydream from daydreaming, and fast-freeze from fast-frozen.Historically, a number of new 英语词汇学教程课件第6章English-Lexicology-6Words from Proper NamesThe English vocabulary is also characterized by the number of words that derive from proper names of people, places, books or brands. This process is called the commonization of proper names. Once these words pass into the language, we are usually not aware of their origin. Words from Proper NamesThe EngFor example, sandwich, guy and robot are derived from names of people. Sandwich is named for the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, who put his food between two slices of bread so that he could eat while he gambled. Guy was originally applied to persons so tattered that they looked like the straw-stuffed figures of Guy Fawkes, a British traitor. Moreover, robot is named after the mechanical creature in the Czech writer Karel Capek’s play R.U.R., the initials standing for Rossum’s Universal Robots. For example, sandwich, guy andThe words ampere, ohm and watt were originally the names of scientists, but are now used as units of measurement. Quisling was the name of a Norwegian fascist and is used now to refer to someone who secretly helps an enemy or opponent. Braille was also the name of a French inventor and now refers to the reading system for blind people. Titan is the name of a person in Greek mythology, but now titan is used to refer to a giant.The words ampere, ohm and wattThere are many words from place names. Cologne is the name of a place in Germany, but now refers to a liquid with a pleasant smell. Bourbon is the name of a place in the US, but is now used refer to a type of whisky. Panama is the name of a country, but can also be used to refer to a man’s hat made from straw. Moreover, Lilliput was a place name in Swift’s novel Gullivers' Travels, but now Lilliputian is used to refer to someone who is extremely small. The word bikini is from the Bikini atoll of the Marshall Islands.There are many words from placBrand names such as Xerox, Kleenex, Jell-o, Brillo, Nylon, Velcro and Vaseline are now sometimes used as the general name for different brands of these same types of products. A few words are from the titles of books. For example, catch-22 comes from the title of Joseph Heller’s novel Catch 22 and means ‘a difficult situation that is impossible to escape from because each part of the problem must be solved first’, as in John is in a catch-22 situation now.Brand names such as Xerox, KleMetanalysisMetanalysis is a complex process of word formation in English. The term refers to an analysis of a word into parts, in the course of which the original structure of the word is altered. For example, another is historically a fusion of the two words an and other, but in current English it is a single word. MetanalysisMetanalysis is a co英语词汇学教程课件第6章English-Lexicology-6。