Chapter 1 the basic concepts of words and vocabulary

Chapter oneThe Basic Concepts of Words and Vocabulary

Contents of this lecture

Word and vocabulary Relationship between sound and meaning Relationship between sound and form

Classification of English words

1.1 Word and vocabulary1.1.1 Word

To sum up, the definition of a word will cover the following points: – A minimal free form of a language; – A sound unity; – A unit of meaning; – A form that can function alone in a sentence.

Definition: A word is a minimal free form of a language that has a given sound, meaning and syntactic function.

1.1.2 Vocabulary All

the words in a language make up what is generally known as its vocabulary.The term ―vocabulary‖ is used

in

different senses.

– the total number of the words in a language– all the words used in a particular historical period, e.g. Old (Middle, Modern) English vocabulary. – all the words of a given dialect, a given book, a given discipline and the words possessed by an inpidual person.

1.2 Sound and Meaning The

problem of the relationship of sound and meaning is controversial.

There

are mainly two representative view points:

(1)the Naturalists(自然派)The Naturalists think that there is an intrinsic correspondence between sound and meaning. (音和义 之间有一种必然联系)

’Tis not enough no harshness gives offence, The sound must be an echo to the sense.Pope: Essay on Criticism

(2) the Conventionalists(习惯派)

The

Conventionalists think that there is no intrinsic correspondence between sound and meaning.

They are arbitrary. Or we can say it is a kind of linguistic social contract.(一 种社会契约)。

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet.Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet

Large

quantity of evidence show that the Conventionalists’ view is more convincing. There is no connection between sound and meaning.

1.3 Sound and Form Written

form=orthographical record of the oral form Sound should be consistent with the form. (only true in Old English)

With

the development of the language, more and more differences arose between sound and form now. Reasons:

1)

the English alphabet was adopted from the Romans, and it does not have a separate letter to represent each sound in the language so that some letters must work together in combination. 26 letters →48 phonemes