Lexical motivation and implications for language learning and teaching IntroductionMost English words are conventional, arbitrary symbols. There is no connection between the word form and its meaning. Some English words are motivated symbols. What is motivation?Motivation means relation between the form of the word and the original fact or reality. More specifically, if there is a relationship between phonic (sound) form of a word/lexeme and an object/fact of extra-lingual reality, or between a new word and the original word, we speak of motivated words. There are four principal types of motivation: Onomatopoeic motivated, syntactically motivated, semantically motivated and etymologically motivated.1)Onomatopoeic motivation means defining the principle of motivation by sound.The sounds of such words as cuckoo, ding-dong, swish, buzz, seem to beappropriate to their senses. Some of these onomatopoeic terms have certainelements in common. For Example, the sounds / sn / may express three types of experiences: "breath-noise (sniff, snuff, snore, snort), "quick separation ormovement" (snip, snap, snatch), and "creeping" (snake, snail, sneak, snoop).Another interesting feature of onomatopoeic patterns is that they often work by vowel alternation. By substituting one vowel for another one can express different noises: snip - snap, sniff - snuff, flip - flap - flop. It should be noted that many onomatopoeic forms are based on alternations of not vowels but of initialconsonants: higgledy-piggledy, helter-skelter, namby-pamby, roly-poly, etc.2)Syntactic motivation means that by analyzing the formation of the word, one cangain the meaning of it. Apparently, words which have syntactic motivation are almost derivative or compound words. So, syntactic motivation, namely, thesyntactic relations between the two bases of compounds, account for a large part of self-explaining compounds. A possible sub classification of compound nouns could be made by the part of speech of each base. 'Daydreaming' and 'sightseeing' are compound nouns from 'N+V-ing'. And others such as teacher, worker, leader, and singer, etc --- these derivative words are not non-motivation. They all consist of a verb and –er. These words mean people who do these actions. And from the affix of the derivation words, we can often infer their meaning. Take collapse for example. It is made up of col (which means doing things together) and lapse(which means falling down), so the word means falling down together. And then we can imagine it into subside or cave in. But we can not take this regulation for granted. Eggplant has no egg in side; pineapple has neither pine nor apple; and there’s no ham in hamburger at all. Some abrogative words have allegoricsignificance, so their motivation is unobvious. For example, night-cap means the wine drunk before sleep instead of the cap used for sleep.3)Semantic motivation means that motivation is based on semantic factors. It is akind of mental association. When we speak of the bonnet or the hood of a car, of a coat of paint, or of potatoes cooked in their jackets, these expressions aremotivated by the similarity between the garments and the objects referred to. In the same way, when we say the cloth for the clergy, silk for a Q. C., or "town and gown" for "town and university", there is semantic motivation due to the fact that the garments in question are closely associated with the persons they designate.Both types of expression are figurative: the former are metaphorical, based onsome similarity between the two elements, the latter are metonymic, founded on some external connection.1. MetaphorMetaphor is a figure of speech containing an implied comparison, in which a word or phrase ordinarily and primarily used of one thing is applied to another, as in "He has a heart of stone.", "The curtain of night has fallen."2. MetonymyMetonymy is the device in which we name something by one of its attributes, as in crown for king, the turf for horse-racing, the White House for the President.3. SynecdocheSynecdoche means using a part for a whole, an individual for a class, a material for a thing or the reverse of any of these - for example, bread for food, the army for a soldier, copper for penny.4. AnalogyAnalogy is a process whereby words are created in imitation of other words.It is illustrated by motorcade and aquacade, created on the model of cavalcade;cashomatic coined after automatic; flash-forward after flash-back; earthrise after sunrise; without-it after with-it.4) Etymological motivation means that the meanings of words can be explained with reference to etymological information. Very often, the history of the word can explain why a form has acquired a particular meaning. Like human beings, the word also has history. History helps to understand and to memorize words. In 1880, Charles Stewart Parnell attempted to break the shackles of landlords living outside of Ireland, he initiated that the tenant occupying the land but can not afford to pay rent should be punished. Then in Russia within the Earl of Erne the land, since the tenant can not afford to pay rent, they asked Earl to lower rent, however, the butler Charles Cunningham Boycott refused. In retaliation, the tenant not only refused to harvest their crops and arable land, but also detained Boycott’s food and letters. They humiliated him threatened his life. Their disposal has become very famous as a result; the newspaper will use Boycott to replace any non-violent resistance approach. Today, boycott means “to refuse to buy, use or take part in something as a way of protesting”.E.g. China porcelain or ceramic ware (originally imported from China)Japan a hard varnish (brought from Japan)Braille from the creator Louis BrailleWalkman from a trade markMotivation’s history and rela tion with cultureEnglish has a long history, the development of English witness changes and developments in British history. Etymologically if you explore the rationale of a word,it is not difficult to find words provided a rich cultural connotations. Each nation has its own unique language and cultural heritage, including the national psychology, religious culture, way of thinking, ethical concepts, historical facts and so on.1 An alien cultural integrationFor example, in English means that sheep, mutton, cream is from Old English. The British have suffered Norman invasion, after three hundred years, the British aristocracy and upper classes mostly francophone, English is spoken by inferior peoples and peasant. Norman's cultural superiority and social status to the British left a lot Normandy vocabulary. Now English has a high proportion of French presence, and today no one can change them.2 the role of historical figuresSuch as August, this word comes from the ancient Roman emperor Julius Caesar’s first name, whose full name is Julius Caesar Augustus Caesar. Also July is also derived from the name of Julius Caesar Julius Caesar, which is Caesar's birth month, people named after him to commemorate his achievements. Some inventor, scientist's name is also used as a synonym for a particular area. Amp comes from the French scientist Ampere, ohm from the German physicist Ohm and so on.3 Some vocabulary words from the title of masterpiece, the meaning of the word is relevant with the books. Like utopia from "Utopia" this book, odyssey from Homer’s "Odyssey".Loss of motivationThere may be two factors which lead to loss of motivation. One is a change in the morphological structure of a word. The other is the change of meaning. When the gap between original and transferred meaning becomes too wide, motivation is lost and two senses will be felt to belong to two separate word.Lexical motivation’s implications for language learning and teachingAnyway, motivation (and lack of motivation) is a language universal, that is a linguistic phenomenon that characterizes all languages without exception, no matter whether they are genetically related and structurally close or not. It is vitally important to study lexical motivation in typological perspective, because it not only makes it possible to classify tongues according to the degree and type and subtypes of motivation, but also gives insights into the nature of the word, into the human brain that verbalizes attributes of an object to name this object. A contrastive research into lexical motivation contributes to comprehension why some attributes are lexicalized more often than others, and why some attributes are never lexicalized at all. In the final analysis, it contributes to the cognitive science aimed at ascertaining how information is acquired, processed and stored by the human mind. Based on heuristic，associative and practical principles，this theory can be applied into vocabulary teaching，and make vocabulary teaching various，effective and economic．Vocabulary is one of the most important and basis unit for language constitution．An English learner’s language proficiency largely depends on his mastery of vocabulary．It is allimportant task in consideration that how to activate students’ knowledge in memory，spread their plentiful association，and deepen their comprehension．Reference1 汪榕培;卢晓娟. 英语词汇学教程.上海:上海外国语出版社20052 王艾录;司富珍. 语言理据研究[M].北京:中国社会科学出版社,2002.3 黄慧平. 福建商业高等专科学校学报.2007。