Lecture One
I. Teaching Content (Chapter / Unit, or Theme)
A brief introduction to this course and chapter 1: A general survey of English vocabulary.
II. Time Allotment
4 periods
III. Teaching Objectives and Requirements
Objectives: Enable students (1) to have a general idea about this course, including the definition of “lexicology”, the scope of “lexicology”, the aim of this course, suggested learning methods for this course, components of this course, requirements and marking of this course; (2) to know the definition of “word”, the development of English vocabulary and the classification of English words according to different criteria.
Requirements: Students should learn by heart the different categories of English words according to different criteria as well as the definition of “word”.
IV. Key Points and Difficult Points in Teaching
Key points: the definition of “word” and the classification of English words according to different criteria.
Difficult point: the definition of “word” and the classification of English words according to different criteria.
V. Teaching Methods and Means
Teacher’s explanation and students’ group discussion
VI. Teaching Process
1. Lead-in and introduction to this course: (30 mins)
1.1 Ask students: (1) what is lexicology according to what you have learned?
(2) Why should we take this course in this semester?
(3) How can we learn this course well?
(1) The literal meaning of lexicology is “the science of the word”. Lexicology is a branch of linguistics concerned with the vocabulary of language in respect to words and word equivalents. Last semester, we have learned the various branches
1.2 Content to be covered in this course
The textbook of this course is《现代英语词汇学概论》by 张韵斐. In this course the first nine chapter of the book will be covered while the rest three chapters will be for students themselves to read.
Books for reference: 张维友. 英语词汇学. 北京：外语教学与研究出版社，1999.
1.3 Assessment of this course
The final score of this course will be calculated according to the following formula: final exam (50%) + (attendance+assignments+tests+performance in class)(50%)
2 Definition of “word” (25 mins)
2.1 Bloomfield’s definition: “…some linguistic forms, which we call bound forms are never used as sentences. English examples are the -ess/is/ in countess, lioness, duchess, etc., or the –ish/iʃ/ in boyish, childish, greenish, etc., or the –s/s/ in hats, books, cups, etc. these are genuine linguistic forms and convey a meaning, but they occur only in construction, as part of a larger form. Forms which occur as sentences are free forms…” “A free form which consists entirely of two or more lesser free forms, as for instance, poor John or John ran away or yes, sire, is a phrase. A free form which is not a phrase, is a word. A word, then, is a free form which does not consist entirely of (two or more) lesser free forms; in brief, a word is a minimum free form.” (Bloomfield 1933: 177-178).
According to this definition: words are minimum free forms (free forms are forms which occur as sentences). So words are minimum forms which occur as sentences.
Problem of this definition: (1) not all words can occur in isolation, the, a, my are examples; (2) this definition emphasizes syntax and does not touch upon meaning, which is a crucial aspect of any “word”.
2.2 Antoine Meillet’s definition: “A word is defined by the association of a given sense with a given group of sounds capable of a given grammatical use.”
This definition shows a combination of meaning and sound with special emphasis on grammatical use.
Problem of this definition: it doesn’t include the concept of word as the minimal free form.
2.3 Main criteria of a word
The above two definitions combined together can give the main criteria of a word, that is sound, meaning and syntactic function.
A word may be defined as a fundamental unit of speech and a minimum free form; with a unity of sound and meaning (both lexical and grammatical meaning), capable of performing a given syntactic function.
Show some examples.
2.4 words are either spoken or written
2.5 Word, lexical item and vocabulary
Lexical items are single words or words that are grouped in a language’s lexicon. Examples are “cat”, “traffic light”, “take care of”, “by-the-way”, and “don’t count your chickens before they hatch”.
Vocabulary usually refers to a complete inventory of the words in a language, and the words and phrases used in the variants of a language, e.g. dialect, register, terminology.
3 The development of English vocabulary (35 mins)
3.1 English vocabulary viewed in the historical perspective
As an important part of English, the history of vocabulary development is interrelated with the history of English. So first we need to have a look at the growth of the English language.
Time | Historical events | Influence |
Celts(the earliest inhabitants) | The Celts | |
450 | The conquest and settlement of the Angles, Saxons and the Jutes | Anglo-Saxon |
790 | The Scandinavian or the Danish conquests | Old Norse borrowed |
1066 | The Norman Conquest | French borrowed |
16th-18th century | The Renaissance (14th century) | 1. Latin borrowed 2. Other European language borrowed |
At the turn of the 19th and 20th century | Colonization | 1. Non-European languages borrowed 2. English world wide |
After World War II | Advance in science and technology | Many new words created |
After World War II, neologism (new words or new meanings for established words) swept in at a rate much faster than that of the prewar period. Main causes include:
1. Marked progress of science and technology
2. Socio-economic, political and cultural changes
3. The influence of other cultures and languages
4 Classification of English Words According to Different Criteria
The English vocabulary consists of different kinds of words, which may be classified by different criteria: by frequency, by origin, by level of usage, and by notion.
4.1 By frequency: Basic word stock and non-basic vocabulary (基本词汇和非基本词汇) （20 mins）
Words can be classified into the basic word stock and monobasic word stock by use frequency.
The basic word stock is the foundation of the vocabulary accumulated over a number of epochs. In the basic stock we find auxiliary and modal verbs, and a greater part of numerals, pronouns, prepositions and conjunctions. It also includes the most frequently used words that are essential to life, such as names of natural phenomena, names of parts of the body, adjectives denoting size and colour, verbs expressing concrete actions and others denoting the most fundamental things of life. The fundamental features of the basic word stock are: 1. national character (全民性) 2. stability (稳定性) 3. word-forming ability (productivity能产性) 4. Polysemy （多义性）5. ability to form collocations (collocability搭配能力强)
Non-basic word stock include terminology, jargon(行话), slang, argot (隐语), dialectal words, archaisms (古语词) and neologisms.
4.2 By origin: native words and loan words (20 mins)
Words of Anglo-Saxon origin or of Old English are native words, while those borrowed from other languages are loan words or borrowed words.
4.2.1 The classification of borrowed words
(1)Denizens(同化词): the early borrowed words which have been assimilated and conformed to the English way of pronunciation and spelling.
(2)Aliens（非同化词）: the borrowed words which have retained the foreign way of pronunciation or spelling and have not been assimilated into the English language.
(3)Translation-loans（译借词）: the words and expressions which are formed from the existing English materials, but modeled on the patterns of another language.
(4)Semantic loans（语义借词）: Words which have not been borrowed with reference to the form, but to the meanings.
Most of the loan words have been perfectly naturalized in usage. They have conformed to native English in accent and in spelling; some even in adoption of an English affix.
4.2.2 Native words
Most native words in Modern English are monosyllabic. They form the great majority of the basic word stock. They are naturally the ones used most frequently in everyday speech and writing
4.3 By level of usage: (30 min)
4.3.1 Common words
Common or popular words are words connected with the ordinary things or activities necessary to everyday life. The great majority of English words are common words. The core of the common words is the basic word stock. They are stylistically neutral, appropriate in both formal and informal writing and speech.
4.3.2 Literary words
Literary words are chiefly used in writing, especially in books written in a more elevated style, in official documents, or in formal speeches.
Among the literary words, two categories are noteworthy: archaic words and poetical words. Archaic words are words no longer in common use, although retained for special purpose. Poetical words are words that are traditionally used only in poetry.
4.3.3 Colloquial words
In contrast with literary words, colloquial words or expressions are used mainly in spoken English, as in conversation among friends and colleagues.
4.3.4 Slang words
Slang is defined as “language, words or phrases of a vigorous, colourful, facetious, or taboo nature, invented for specific occasions, or uses or derived from the unconventional use of the standard vocabulary.”
4.3.5 Technical words
Technical or special words refer to those words used in various special fields. Every branch of science, every profession or trade, every art and every sort of sport has its own technical terms.
4.4 By notion: content words and functional words (20mins)
4.4.1 Content words/Notional words/Lexical words are used to name objects, qualities, actions, processes or states, and have independent lexical meaning. They are the nouns, main verbs, adjectives and adverbs of a language. Content words constitute the main body of the English vocabulary. They are numerous and the number is ever changing.
4.4.2 Functional words/Empty words/Form words/Grammatical words are often short words such as determiners, conjunctions, prepositions, auxiliaries, and so forth. They do not have much lexical meaning and some of them have no lexical meaning of their own. They serve grammatically more than anything else. They constitute a very small number of the vocabulary. Its number is stable.
VII. Reflection Questions and Assignment
1. Questions and Exercises on Page 19 and Page 20 of the textbook.
2. What is the classification of borrowed words?
VIII. Major Reference
[1] 张韵斐.《现代英语词汇学概论》. 北京：北京师范大学出版社，2004.
[2] 何张维友《英语词汇学》. 北京：外语教学与研究出版社，1999.
IX. Teaching Journal
