Chapter 3 Morphology structure of English words
3.1 Morphemes
The definition of a morpheme: The morpheme(词素) is the smallest meaningful linguistic unit of language, not divisible or analyzable into smaller forms. A word is the smallest unit of a language that stands alone to communicate meaning. Structurally, however, a word is not the smallest unit because many words can be separated into smaller meaningful units. Words are composed of morphemes. What is usually considered a single word in English may be composed of one or more morphemes
Words can have an internal structure, i.e. they are decomposable into smaller meaningful parts. These smallest meaningful units we call morphemes.
One morpheme: nation
Two morphemes: nation-al
Three morphemes: nation-al-ize
Four morphemes: de-nation-al-ize
确定语素必须满足两个标准, 一是含义相近, 二是发音相近.
-ly 在 manly, princely, friendly 中属于同一个语素.
-er 在 worker, teacher, speaker, swimmer 等词中意为"做…的人", 属于同一语素,
但在 manner 一词并不是 man 和 -er 合起来的意思, 所以 manner 不能看作是由 man 和 -er 两个语素构成, 其中的 -er 也不能看作是与 worker 中的 -er 相同的语素.
3.2 Classification of Morphemes
Morphemes can be classified in various ways.
Morphemes may be classified into free and bound.
Free morphemes (自由词素), also called content morphemes(实义词素）, may constitute words by themselves.
Bound morphemes（粘着词素）, known as grammatical morphemes （语法词素）, must appear with at least one other morpheme, either free or bound.
3.2.1 Types of Morphemes—free vs. bound
● Free morphemes(自由词素)
Morphemes which are independent of other morphemes are considered to be free. Free morphemes have complete meanings in themselves and can be used as free grammatical units in sentences. Therefore, we might as well say that free morphemes are content morphemes （实义词素）or free roots(自由词根).
man, earth, wind, faith, red, write….
● Bound Morphemes(粘着词素)
Morphemes which cannot occur as separate words are bound. They are so named because they are bound to other morphemes to form words. Unlike free morphemes, they do not have independent semantic meaning; instead, they have attached meaning (un-kind, hope-ful) or grammatical meaning (cat-s, slow-ly, walk-ing, call-ed). They are also called grammatical morphemes.
3.2.2 types of morphemes—root vs. affixes
Morphemes may also be classified into roots (or root morphemes) and affixes (or affixational morphemes).
definition of root :A root is the part of the word-form which remains when all the affixes have been removed.
A root is the basic unchangeable part of a word which conveys the fundamental meaning of the word.
Two types of roots – Free roots: Morphemes are said to be free if they can stand alone as words (In English, many roots are free roots) black in black, blackboard, blacksmith, blackmail.
Bound roots: They are so called because they are always bound to something else. They cannot exist on their own ceive in receive, perceive, conceive, deceive.
Bound roots(粘着词根): A bound root is that part of the word that carries the fundamental meaning just like a free root. Unlike a free root, it is a bound form and has to combine with other morphemes to make words.
(However, there are quite a number of roots which cannot exist on their own and thus belong to the class of bound morphemes.
For example, ceive in receive, conceive, perceive, deceive. these roots cannot be used to form new words.)
A root, whether it is free or bound, generally carries the main component of meaning in a word.
therefore, that a knowledge of roots can help one to analyze and understand many words almost on sight. Although the Latin and Greek roots are usually bound morphemes and cannot stand alone, it is helpful to recognize some of the common ones, since thousands of English words are built on them. Knowing the meaning of these roots can help clarify the meaning of many English words.
3.2.3 Two types of affixes
Affixes(词缀): Affixes are forms that are attached to words or word elements to modify meaning or function. According to the functions of affixes, we can put them into two groups: inflectional (曲折词缀）and derivational （派生词缀） affixes.
Affixes can be divided into inflectional morphemes and derivational morphemes. This reflects two major morphological (word building) processes:
Affix is a collective term for the type of formative (构词成分) that can be used only when added to another morpheme.
● Inflectional affixes: does not form a new meaning when it is added to another word. Nor does it change the part of the word to which it is affixed.
● Derivational affixes: when they are added to another morpheme, they derive a new word.
Many have a specific lexical meaning. Quite a number of them have more than one meaning. They have affective meaning
3.2.3 affixes
● Inflectional affixes(曲折词缀)
Affixes attached to the end of words to indicate grammatical relationships are inflectional, thus known as inflectional morphemes. For example: cats, walked, walking, John’s book…
● Derivational affixes(派生词缀)
Affixes added to other morphemes to create new words. They can be further divided into prefixes and suffixes
Prefixes(前缀) ; Suffixes(后缀)
Inflectional affixes (or inflectional morphemes) serve to express the following meanings:
(1) plurality: e.g. -s in chairs, pens; -es in boxes, tomatoes; en in oxen.
(2) the genitive case: e.g. ’s in boy’s, children’s.
(3) the verbal endings: for example,
a. -(e)s in words like eats, teaches shows the third person singular present tense.
b. -ing in words like eating, teaching shows the present participle or gerund.
c. -(e)d in words like worked, saved shows the past tense or past participle.
(4) the comparative and superlative degrees:
e.g. -er in words like smaller, harder; -est in words like smallest, hardest.
● Derivational Morphemes-- either by changing the meaning of the base to which they are attached; or by changing the grammatical category (part of speech) of the base
Derivational Affixes are subdivided into prefixes and suffixes
(1) Prefixes are affixes before the root, e.g. unjust, rewrite.
As a rule, most prefixes modify the meaning of roots, but not their parts of speech.
task: list some prefixes that can modify the parts of speech. - en-(em-) as in words like embody, enrich
(2) Suffixes are affixes after the root, e.g. darkness, worker.
By the addition of the suffix, the word is usually changed from one part of speech into another, e.g. liberation, modernize
Both prefixes and suffixes may be grouped according to:
1. Their linguistic origin: Native/foreign affixes
1). Native affixes are those that existed in the OE period or were formed from OE words, such as un-, mis-, be-,out-, over-, -ness, -dom, -hood, -ly, and –er.
2). Foreign affixes came as a part of loan words from Latin, Greek, French, or other languages. Examples: ab-(L), bi-(L), dis-(L), re-(L), kilo-(Gk), poly-(Gk), mal-(F), -ic(Gk), -ism(Gk), -ist(Gk), -able (F), and –ize(F).
A hybrid混合词 is a word made up of elements from two or more different languages.
2. Their productivity: Affixes (such as re-, un-, -able, -ize) are called productive or living when they can be used to form new words.
Those that are no longer used to form new words are termed dead or unproductive.
Examples of dead affixes are: for- as in forget, forgive and forbid; with- as in withdraw, withhold and withstand, and –ant or –ent as in servant, different, etc.
Sum: Inflection and Derivation
Derivational morphemes are used to create new lexical items (lexemes（词位）).
Inflectional morphemes only contribute to the inflectional paradigm词形变化 of the lexemes, which lists all the word-forms of the lexeme.
3.2 Types of Morphemes
Diagram of morphemes
classification of words on a morphemic level
On this level, words, according to the number and type of morphemes they contain, can be classified into:
(1) simple words: those consisting of a single morpheme, such as man, work, kind;
(2) derived words: those which are the result of a derivational process. Such words usually consist of a free morpheme and one (or more than one) bound morpheme, such as fruitless, fruitful, unfruitful, unfruitfulness;
(3) compound words: those which are composed of two or more free morphemes, e.g. deep structure, spacesuit, forget-me-not, stick-in-the-mud, and jack of all trades.
3.3 Morph and allomorph
The definition of morph(语素形式/词素形式)
- phonological （音韵的）and orthographical（拼写的）forms used to represent morphemes. Morphemes can be represented in braces. For example, {big} is pronounced as /big/ and spelled as big, thus /big/ and big are respectively the phonological and orthographical morphs of {big} .
Morpheme, Morph, Allomorph
A morph is a physical form representing a certain morpheme in a language.
Sometimes different morphs may represent the same morpheme; i.e., a morpheme may take different forms. If so, they are called allomorphs of that morpheme.
An allomorph(词素变体) is any of the variant forms of a morpheme as conditioned by position or adjoining sounds.
区别：语言中最小的不可再分的意义单位是词素morpheme(又可称为形位、语素等)。词素是抽象的，它是通过词素形式morph表现出来的。词素还具有变体形式，在语言学中称为词素变体allomorph。
Allomorphs are morphs in complementary distribution; i.e. they are never found in identical contexts.
The choice of allomorph used in a given context is normally based on the properties of the neighboring sounds.
Example: The third person singular verb suffix and the plural nominal suffix –s in English
Verbs ending with the sound /t/ usually take –ion (as in invent, invention);
verbs ending with consonants other than /t/ take –tion (as in describe, description);
verbs ending in –ify and –ize take –ation (as in justify, justification; modernize, modernization);
verbs ending in –d, -de, or –mit, take –sion (as in expansion, decision, omission); there are exceptions: attend, attention; convert, conversion, etc.
A prefix like im- occurs before p, b, or m (imperfect, imbalance, immobile); its allomorphs are
ir- before r (irregular, irresponsible);
il- before l (illogical, illegal);
in- before all other consonants and vowels (inflexible, incomplete).
3.4 Root, base and stem
1 What is root?
- A root is the basic form of a word which cannot be further analysed without total loss of identity. The root, whether free or bound, generally carries the main component of meaning in a word.
2 What is stem?
- A stem is the part of the word-form which remains when all inflectional affixes are removed.
A stem may consist of a single root morpheme as in iron or of two root morphemes
It can be a root morpheme plus one or more affixational morphemes as in mouthful, underestimate. Therefore, a stem can be defined as a form to which affixes of any kind can be added.
Internationalists In this word, nation is a root and a stem as well. All the rest national, international, internationalist are stems.
3 what is base?
A base is any form to which affixes of any kind can be added; it may also be defined as ''a form to which a rule of word-formation is applied.'‘ This means that any root or stem can be termed a base.
E.g.: desirable is a base in undesirable. desirable (base --- desire)
The differences between root, stem, base:
A root is the basic unchangeable part of a word, no further analysis.
E.g.: nation is a root in international.
A stem is the surplus part after the cutting of inflectional morpheme in a word with inflectional morphemes, can be further analyzed, it sometimes could be a root.
e.g. desire is a stem in desired.
A base is a form to which a rule of word-formation is applied, it could be a root or a stem.
E.g.: internation is a base in international.
词基(base)是任何一种词缀都可加在上面的形式.它与词根(root)有区别,因为它是可以从派生角度进行分析的形式,在上面可以加上派生词缀.但是词根则不容许做进一步的分析.词基与词干(stem)也是不同的,因为派生词缀和屈折词缀都可以加在词基上,而只有屈折词缀可以加在词干上.
desire (v.)
1. desire (v.): 是词根(不可再分解),是词干(可以加屈折词缀,如过去时态 -ed),是词基.
2. desirable (adj.): 不是词根(可再分解);不是词干(不可以加屈折词缀),是词基(既可以加词缀,又能再分解下去).
3. undesirable (n.): 不是词根(可再分解);是词干(可以加屈折词缀,如名词复数 -s),也是词基.
Root, stems & affixes
affixes: bound morphemes which attach to roots or stems
Stems: root plus affixes
Root/base: the basic morpheme which provides the central meaning in a word
Conclusion
Words are composed of morphemes. A morpheme, the minimal meaningful unit of the English language, possesses both sound and meaning. An allomorph is any of variant forms of a morpheme.
Morphemes may be classified as free or bound. A free morpheme is one that can stand by itself as a complete utterance, while a bound morpheme cannot exist on its own; it must appear with at least one other morpheme, free or bound.
Morphemes can also be classified into roots and affixes. A root carries the main component of meaning in a word. Roots can be free or bound morphemes. Free roots can stand alone as words and provide the language with a basis for the formation of new words. Bound roots cannot appear as words in modern English, although they were once words, nor can they be used to form new words.
Affixes are bound morphemes, because they are used only when added to other morphemes.
Affixes are classified into inflectional and derivational affixes. The former are related to grammar only.
Derivational affixes are subdivided into prefixes and suffixes, which are related to the formation of new words.
Roots, prefixes and suffixes are the building blocks with which words are formed.
On morphemic level, words can be classified into simple, complex and compound words, according to the number and type of morphemes they are composed of.
Morphemes are important in the word-building process because the two most central and productive word-formation process, compounding and affixation, are related to morphemes: the former is a combination of free morphemes, the latter is the addition of bound morphemes to free ones.
Chapter 4 Word-Formation
4.1 General Remarks
The word formation processes;
Affixation(词缀法）or derivation（派生法）(30% - 40% of the total number of new words)--Prefixation, suffixation
Conversion （转类法） (26%)
composition or compounding（复合法） (28-30%)
Shortening 缩略法 ( clipping截短法 & acronymy 首字母拼音法) (8-10%)
Blending拼缀法 and other means ( 1%-5%)
4.2 Prefixation
Definition of prefixation: Prefixation is the formation of new words by adding prefixes to bases.
Features: non-class changing. Prefixes do not generally change the word-class of the base but only modify its meaning. However, there is an insignificant number of class-changing prefixes
The classification of prefixes
In some reference books, prefixes (and suffixes) are classified according to their source, but this does not seem to help from a practical point of view. It seems more helpful to classify the most important productive prefixes by their meaning into the following ten categories:1) Negative prefixes否定前缀2) Reversative or privative prefixes逆反前缀3) Pejorative prefixes贬义前缀4) Prefixes of degree or size表范围和程度的前缀5) Prefixes of orientation and attitude表方向和态度的前缀6) Locative prefixes方位前缀7) Prefixes of time and order表时间和顺序的前缀8) Number prefixes 数字前缀9) Conversion prefixes 转化前缀10) Miscellaneous prefixes其它类型的前缀
4.3 Suffixation
The definition of suffixation: Suffixation is the formation of new words by adding suffixes to bases. Unlike prefixes which primarily change the meaning of the base, suffixes have only a small semantic role, their primary function being to change the grammatical function of bases. In other words, they mainly change the word class. However, they may also add attached meaning to the base
The classification of suffixes: Since suffixes mainly change the word class, we shall group suffixes on a grammatical basis into:
1) Noun suffixes: Noun suffixes may be subdivided into the following five kinds.
2) Adjective Suffixes
3) Adverb Suffixes
4) Verb suffixes
4.4 Conversion
The definition of conversion: Conversion is a word-formation whereby a word of a certain word-class is shifted into a word of another without the addition of an affix. It is also called zero derivation(零位派生).
These words are new only in a grammatical sense. Since the words usually do not change in morphological structure but in function, this process is also known as functional shift.
Major types of conversion:
1. Noun-verb conversion. More words about Noun-verb Conversion:In some cases, conversion is accompanied by certain changes that affect pronunciations or spelling or stress distributions. The most common changes are:
(1)Voiceless to voiced consonant.
(2) Initial to end stress. This stress shift occurs usually in two syllable words. When used as a noun, the stress falls on the first syllable whereas as a verb, the stress moves onto the second syllable.
2. Verb-noun conversion. Phrasal verb-noun conversion;
3. Adjective-noun conversion
Partial and complete conversion
When adjectives are converted into nouns, some are completely changed, thus known as full conversion, and others are partially changed, thus known as partial conversion.
Adjectives which are fully converted can achieve a full noun status, i.e. having all the characteristics of nouns. That is they can take a/an or-s/-es to indicate singular or plural forms: a native, a Republican, a pair of shorts, finals.
Adjectives which are partially converted still keep adjective features. They should always be used with the, and they cannot take -s/-es to show plural forms. Moreover, the words can have comparative or superlative degrees: the poor, the poorer, the young, the very unfortunate.
● Partial conversion
Denoting a quality or a state common to a group of person: the deaf, the blind, the poor, the wounded
Denoting peoples of a nation (ending in –sh, -se, -ch): the English, the Chinese, the Danish, the Scotch
Denoting a quality in the abstract: a strong dislike for the sentimental, to distinguish the false and the true, from the sublime to the ridiculous
Denoting a single person (converted from participles): the accused, the deceased, the deserted, the condemned死刑犯
● Complete conversion
A native, two natives, a returned native
He is a natural for the job.
Tom is one of our regulars, he comes in for a drink about this time every night.
To them she is not a brusque crazy, but appropriately passionate.
They are the creatives in the advertising department.
4.5 Compounding
The definition of compounding: Composition or compounding is a word-formation process consisting of joining two or more bases to form a new unit, a compound word. It is a common device which has been productive at every period of the English language. Today the largest number of new words are formed by compounding.
Forms of compounds
Solid（连写形式）: bedtime, honeymoon
Hyphenated（连字符连接形式）: above-mentioned, town-planning
Open（分写形式）: reading material, hot line
Types of compounds: Noun compounds; Adjective compounds; Verb compounds
4.6 Blending
The definition of blending: Blending（拼缀法）is a process of word-formation in which a new word is formed by combining parts of two words. The result of such a process is called a blend or telescopic word （伸缩词） or portmanteau（混成） word. Blending is thus a process of both compounding and abbreviation. Structurally blends may be divided into four types (see page 82-83).
More words about Blending:1. The overwhelming majority of blends are nouns; very few are verbs and adjectives are even fewer. The few verbs are: telecast from (television + broadcast), guestimate from (guess + estimate), breathalyse（做呼吸测醉试验）from (breath + analyse). 2. Blends are mostly used in writing related to science and technology, and to newspapers and magazines. Though many of them have already achieved currency in English, they are still considered by serious-minded people to be slang and informal. Therefore, it is advisable not to use such words too often, particularly in formal writing.
4.7 Backformation
The definition of backformation: Back-formation（逆成法） is a process of word-formation by which a word is created by the deletion of a supposed suffix（假定后缀）. It is also known as a reverse derivation(逆向派生).
More words about Back-formation: Words created through back-formation are mostly verbs. There are only a few that can be used as nouns or as both nouns and verbs, e.g. gloom (n) from gloomy (a), greed (n) from greedy (a).
Stylistically, back-formed words are largely informal and some of them have not gained public acceptance. Therefore, they should be used with care.
4.8 Shortening
The definition of shortening or abbreviation: Shortening is to shorten a longer word by cutting a part off the original and using what remains instead. For example, plane and exam are often used in place of aeroplane, and examination respectively.
Types of shortening or abbreviation（缩略法）
1) clipped words（剪切词）: those created by clipping part of the word (usually a noun), leaving only a piece of the old word. The clipped form is normally regarded as informal.
2) initialisms（首字母缩略词）: a type of shortening, using the first letters of words to form a proper name, a technical term, or a phrase; an initialism is pronounced letter by letter.
3) acronyms（首字母拼音词）: words formed from the initial letters of words and pronounced as words. Acronyms differ from initialisms in that they are pronounced as words rather than as sequences of letters.
More words about Acronymy:
1. Some acronyms are formed with the initial letter of the first word plus the whole of the second, e.g. G-man (Government man) 美国联邦调查局人员 , D-day (decimalization day)英国货币制度改为十进位之日 , etc.
2. Both initialisms and acronyms have become very popular sine WWII and thus extremely productive. With the advance of time, some of the words may fall out of use whereas by far a greater number of words will be added. Acronymy will undoubtedly remain an important contributor to contemporary English vocabulary.
4.9 Analogy
The definition of analogy（类比）: The process by which words or phrases are created or re-formed according to the existing patterns in the language
Chapter 5 Word Meaning and Componential Analysis(I)
5.1 Word Meaning
1.What is ‘word meaning’?
Word meaning can be defined as a reciprocal relation between name and meaning. 意义是名称与意思的联系。 ‘Meaning’ is what the form stands for. Eg: desk: something you sit at and you do your work
2. What is reference所指关系?
It is the relationship between language and the world.所指是语言与客观外界之间的相互关系。
It is the relationship between words and the things, actions, events, and qualities they stand for. For example, the word ‘tree’ refers to the object ‘tree’.
In other words, only when a connection has been established between the linguistic sign and a referent(所指物), i.e., an object, a phenomenon, a person, etc. does the sign become meaningful.换言之，只有当语言符号与所指物---物体、现象、人等之间建立某种联系，这个符号才获得意义。
The reference of a word to a thing outside the language is arbitrary and conventional. 词与外界事物的这种指称关系是任意的，又是约定俗成的。
3. What is concept?
It is the general idea or meaning which is associate with a word or symbol in a person’s mind. 指词或符号在人脑中的大致印象或意义。
4. What is sense语义?
Generally speaking, the meaning of 'meaning' is perhaps what is termed 'sense'
The sense of an expression is its place in a system of semantic relationships with other expressions in the language.
词语的意义是它在语义关系系统中同其它词语相对的位置。
difference between reference and sense?
Every word that has meaning has sense but not every word has reference. 每个词都有语义，但不一定都有所指。Eg: but, almost.
These grammatical words do not refer to anything. And words like God, dragon and phenix refer to imaginary things.
5.2 Types of meaning
Word meaning is made up of various components which are interrelated and interdependent. These components are commonly described as types of meaning. 词义有各种相互联系与相互依存的不同成分组成，这些成分就是词义的种类。
1. Grammatical Meaning & Lexical Meaning
Grammatical meaning indicates grammatical concept or relationships such as part of speech of words, singular and plural meaning of nouns, tense meaning of verbs and their inflectional paradigm. (语法意义指词义中表示语法概念或关系的那部分意义。例如词类、名词的单复数、动词的时态意义及它们的屈折形式。)
inflectional paradigm: all the inflectional forms of a word
Lexical meaning is the meaning of an isolated word in a dictionary. This component of meaning is identical in all the forms of the word. (林承璋：词汇意义是词典中一个独立词的意义。在该词的所有形式中，其词汇意义相同。）
2. Conceptual Meaning & Associative Meaning
Conceptual meaning is meaning given in the dictionary and forms the core of word meaning.概念意义是词典中所给的意义，是词义的核心。
Associative meaning is the secondary meaning supplemented to the conceptual meaning. It differs from the conceptual meaning in that it is open-ended and indeterminate, liable to the influence of such factors as culture, experience, religion, etc. 联想意义是概念意义的补充意义，是次要意义。它受语言外界因素如文化、经历、宗教、地域、出身、教育等的影响而变化，所以是开放性的，是不定的。
1) Connotative Meaning: It refers to the overtones or associations suggested by the conceptual meaning. 内涵意义是由概念意义产生的言外之意或联想。
2) Stylistic Meaning: Apart from their conceptual meanings, many words have stylistic features, which make them appropriate for different styles.很多词除了其概念意义外，还有文体色彩，以适应不同的文体风格。
In some dictionaries, these stylistic features are clearly marked as ‘formal, informal, literary, archaic(古）, slang’ and so on.
The stylistic differentiation is especially true of synonyms. It is observed that there are few words which have both the same conceptual meaning and the stylistic meaning.
3) Affective Meaning: Affective meaning expresses the speaker’s attitude towards the person or thing in question. This meaning can be overtly and explicitly conveyed simply by the choice of the right words.情感意义反映作者或说话人对所谈论的人或物、事态等表示的个人情感或态度。这种意义可以通过选用表情词直接了当地表现出来。
Words that have emotive values may fall into two categories: appreciative(褒义） and pejorative/derogative（贬义）. Words of positive overtones are used to show appreciation or the attitude of approval; those of negative connotations imply disapproval, contempt or criticism.
4) Collocative Meaning: It is that part of the word meaning suggested by the words with which it co-occurs.搭配意义即与之一起使用的词语所赋予的那部分意义。
5.3 Componential Analysis 成分分析
1. What is componential analysis?
The analysis of word meanings/componential analysis is often seen as a process of breaking down the sense of a word into its minimal components, which are known as semantic features 语义特征or sense components语义成分. Componential analysis is on the basis of semantic contrast.
Conventionally, these minimal components can be symbolized in terms of binarity/binary opposition对分法. Eg: +ADULT (adult), - ADULT (young).
Sense components are conventionally enclosed in square brackets or parenthesis or without. They are all written in capital letters or in small letters with the letter in capital to distinguish them from lexical items.
In making componential analysis, it is important to focus on the distinguishing features, i.e. features which can distinguish one word from another.
Chapter 5 Word meaning: Motivation(II)
1 Conventionality and Motivation
Triangle of significance（词义三角）
The debate over the connection between sound and meaning
The naturalists maintain there is a natural/intrinsic connection between sound and meaning.
The Conventionalists, on the other hand, hold that the relations between sound and meaning are conventional and arbitrary. The meaning of a word is a kind of linguistic social contract.
● Conventionality（约定俗成）
● Motivation（理据）:Motivation deals with the connection between name (word-symbol) and its sense (meaning). It is the relationship between the word structure and its meaning.
Non-motivated and motivated
From the point of view of motivation, the great majority of English words are non-motivated, since they are conventional, arbitrary symbols.
However, there is a small group of words that can be described as motivated, that is, a direct or somewhat connection between the symbol and its sense can be readily observed.
Types of motivation
● Onomatopoeic motivation（拟声理据） means defining the principle of motivation by sound. Words motivated phonetically are called onomatopoeic words, whose pronunciation suggests the meaning. They show a close connection between sound and sense.
Primary onomatopoeia(基本拟声）: Primary onomatopoeia means the imitation of sound by sound. Here the sound is truly an “echo to the sense”
Secondary onomatopoeia（次要/间接拟声）; Secondary onomatopoeia means that certain sounds and sound-sequences are associated with certain senses. In other words, certain sounds evoke symbolic connotations, suggesting particular senses..
But it has to be pointed out that onomatopoeic words constitute only a small part of the vocabulary; some onomatopoeic words are not completely motivated phonetically and are conventional to quite a large extent. If you throw a stone into water, the sound you hear is by no means the same as when you say splash. Flies do not exactly make the sound of buzz.
● Morphological motivation: We say the word is morphologically motivated, for a direct connection can be observed between the morphemic structure of the word and its meaning. This is called morphological motivation(形态理据）
Derivational words are morphologically motivated. If one knows the meaning of the affix and the base, then one can immediately tell the meaning of the word.
Compounds words may be morphologically motivated too. The meanings of words like good-looking, spaceman, moonscape, daydream and many others derive from the combined meaning of the component parts.
One thing worth pointing out is that the morphemes, the component parts of these words are themselves conventional.
● Semantic motivation: Semantic motivation （语义理据）refers to the mental association suggested by the conceptual meaning of a word. It explains the connection between the literal sense and figurative sense （比喻义）of the word. Here it is the figurative usage that provides the semantic motivation.
Types of semantic motivation:
1. Metaphor: Metaphor（隐喻）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. It is a simile without like or as.;
2. Metonymy: Metonymy（借代） is the device in which we name something by one of its attributes. The substitution of the name of one thing for that of another with which it is closely associated. Metonymy usually includes several classes: container for its content, a thing closely associated for another, tool for the doer or deed, writer for his works, the concrete for the abstract and so on.
3. Synecdoche: Synecdoche（提喻）means using a part for a whole, an individual for a class, a material for a thing, or vice versa, the whole for a part.
4. Analogy : Analogy（类比）is a process whereby words or phrases are created in imitation of existing patterns in the language. The motivation is that the meaning or sense of the created word shares similarity with the existing language pattern.
5. Logical motivation: Logical motivation（逻辑理据）deals with the problem of defining a concept by means of logic. It means, first, identify the concept of a genus（种概念）, second, to identify the attributes distinguishing one species（属差）from other similar species in the same genus.
6. Motivation and Culture
Relation: Motivation is closely related to culture and history. In English, some words are endowed with rich cultural connotations. Words that epitomize cultural history are call culturally-bound words or allusive words. These words originated from religion, mythology, history and literature.
etymological motivation(词源理据）The origins of words more often than not throw light on their meanings .for example, now people use pen for any writing tool though it originally refers to ‘a heavy quill or feather’, because before modern pens were created, feathers were trimmed to a split point, used as writing tools .though people in modern times no longer use feathers in writing, for the sake of conventionality, the name is retained .All the words commonized from proper names can be explained in terms of their origins.
Commonization of proper names (p89-93)
Apart from affixation, compounding, conversion, blending and other word formation processes, there is an interesting source for the enrichment of English vocabulary, proper names
Modern English has a large number of words which come from proper names, including:
● Names of people : A. from names scientists/inventors B. from characters in mythology C. from historical figures D. from characters in literary works
● Names of places
● Names of books
● Tradenames
A non-native learner should have relevant background knowledge about the target language’s history, geography, customs, habits, knowledge about the Bible and Christianity.
National psychology
Religious Philosophy
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