The 3 basic elements of English:
speech
sounds grammar vocabulary
Lexicology:
A branch of Linguistics which studies the origins and meanings of words. To be specific, they include aspects like the formal and semantic structure, semantic relationships, word formation and usage, the historical development and evolution of words, etc.


1. Basic word stock and nonbasic vocabulary
基本词汇和非基本词汇
Basic word stock
5 basic features of the basic word stock
All national character 全民性 Stability 稳定性 Productivity 能产性 Polysemy 多义性 Collocability 搭配能力强

Criterion : by use frequency Basic word stock Non-basic vocabulary Criterion: by notion Content words Functional words Criterion : by origin Native words Borrowed word

BUT Not all the words of the basic word stock have these characteristics. E.g., Pronouns, numerals: monosemous, nonproductive “All national character” is the most important of all characteristics.
Teaching focus:
• • •
Definition of a word Definition of vocabulary Classification of words
Basic word stock and non-basic vocabulary Content words and functional words Native words and borrowed words
1.1 What is a word? A word is a minimal free form of a language that has a given sound, meaning and syntactic function.
词是具有一定的声音、意义和语法功能，能 独立运用的最小的语言单位。

What causes the differences between sound and form? More phonemes than letters Not enough letters to represent phonemes phonemes ≥ letters

Quicker change of sound than spelling Sound and spelling do not change simultaneously. Printing stabilized spelling while sound continuesic vocabulary
1) 2)
3)
4) 5) 6) 7)
Terminology 专业术语 Jargon 行话 Slang 俚语 Argot 隐语/黑话 Dialectal words 方言词 Archaisms 古语词 Neologisms 新词语
1) Terminology 专业术语 photoscanning 扫描audiovisual 视听 indigestion 消化不良 2) Jargon 行话 shop talk 行话 hypo = hypodermic syringe 皮下注射 buster = bomb 3) Slang 俚语 （sub-standard） dough, bread = money smoky, bear = police drunk = elevated, merry, jolly, comfortable, boiled, grassy, tight, knocked out, blue-eyed, fried, paralyzed, pickled, stiff, stunned
• • •

Introduce a definition of a word; Put forward the three main principles of lexical classification; Elaborate on the features of basic word stock and non-basic vocabulary.

Collocability 搭配能力强 able to form collocations a change of heart 改变主意; after one’s heart 正中下怀; a heart of gold金子般的心; at heart 在心底; break one’s heart 令人心碎; cross one’s heart 上帝保佑, 祈祷; cry one’s heart out 痛哭; eat one’s heart out 因伤心而 消瘦; have one's heart in one's mouth忐忑不 安, 紧张; heart and hand 全心全意; heart and soul 全心全意; One’s heart sinks within one 心寒; take something to heart 把……放 在心上, 在意; wear one’s heart upon one’s sleeve 流露感情; with all one’s heart 诚心诚 意
Deliberate change of spelling by early scribes for easier recognition i u v m w n made handwriting difficult to recognize and the scribes changed spelling forms. sum cum wuman wunder munk some come woman wonder monk


Un-assimilated borrowings A large proportion of them are not assimilated yet: stimulus (L) dénouement (F) fiesta (Sp) eureka (Gr) kimono (Jap)
1.5 Classification of words

Productivity 能产性 dog: doglike, doghood(狗性), dogcart, dogcheap(便宜廉价的), dog-ear(书页折角n. or v.), dog-fall(平局), dog-fight(混战), doghole(狗窝 (一样的房间)), dog paddle(狗爬式), dogsleep(假寐, 打盹) Polysemy 多义性 Most words have plural meanings. get, go, etc.
1.4 Sound and form
Form= written record of the oral form The two forms (written & oral forms) of a language should agree with each other. In modern English, sound (pronunciation) and form (spelling) have a lot of differences.




Arbitrary: no logical relationship Conventional: people of the same speech community have agreed to use the sound to refer to the entity. English: dog /dog/ woman /wuman/ bird /bə:d/ Chinese: /gou/ /funǚ/ /niao/ Same sound: /sΛn/ son sun; /flauə/ flower flour

All national character 全民性 snow, fire, sun hand, face, father, mother apple, tree; horse, cow eat, hear, good, old, I, you, in, out

Stability 稳定性 man, fire, mountain, water, sun, moon BUT bow, chariot, knight, rickshaw (out of common use) plane, computer, internet, cellphone (in common use)
To
sum up, English Lexicology is a theoretically-oriented course as well as a practical one.
Chapter I The basic concepts of words and vocabulary