词汇学-1.5.1

1.5 Classification of Words
　　The English vocabulary consists of words of all kinds. They can be classified by different criteria and for different purposes. Words may fall into the basic word stock and nonbasic vocabulary by use frequency, into content words and functional words by notion, and into native words and borrowed words by origin..
1.5.1 Basic Word Stock and Nonbasic Vocabulary
　　The basic word stock is the foundation of the vocabulary accumulated over centuries and forms the common core of the language.Though words of the basic word stock constitute a small percentage of the English vocabulary, yet it is the most important part of it.These words have obvious characteristics.
　1. All national character. Words of the basic word stock denote the most common things and phenomena of the world around us, which are indispensable to all the people who speak the language. They include words relating to the following respects:
Natural phenomena: rain, snow, fire, water, sun, moon, spring, summer, wind, hill;Human body and relations: head, foot, hand, face, father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter;
Names of plants and animals: oak, pine, grass, pear, apple, tree, horse, cow, sheep, cat, dog, chicken;
Action, size, domain, state: come, go, eat, hear, beat,carry,good, evil, old, young, hot, cold, heavy, white,black;
Numerals, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions: one, ten, hundred, I, you, your, who, in, out, under, and, but, till,as.
These words cannot be avoided by any speaker of English, irrespective of class origin, education, profession, geographical regions, culture, etc.

2. Stability. Words of the basic word stock have been in use for centuries, e.g. man, fire, mountain, water, sun, moon. As they denote the commonest things necessary to life, they are likely to remain unchanged. Stability, however, is only relative. Actually, the basic word stock has been undergoing some changes. Words like arrow, bow, chariot, knight, which were common in the past, have now moved out of the word stock whereas such words as electricity, machine, car, plane, computer, radio, television, which denote new things and modern way of life, have entered the stock. But this change is. slow. There are many more words joining in than dropping out.
3. Productivity. Words of the basic word stock are mostly root words or monosyllabic words. They can each be used alone, and at the same time can form new words with other roots and affixes, e.g. foot: footage, football, footpath, footer, footfall, footed, footloose, footling, footman, footing, footprint and many others. In the same way, dog is the father of doglike, doghood, dogcart, dog-cheap, dog-ear, dog-fall, dogfight, doghole, dogpaddle, dogsleep, to name just a few.
4. Polysemy. Words belonging to the basic word stock often possess more than one meaning because most of them have undergone semantic changes in the course of use and become polysemous.One example will suffice for illustration. The verb take may mean: to move or carry from one place to another; to remove or use without permission or by mistake; to seize or capture; to get for oneself;to get hold of (something) with the hands; to be willing to accept;to bear or endure; to need (a stated amount of time); to perform the actions connected with; to test or measure; to write down; to have the intended effect or to work successfully (LDCE)
5. Collocability. Many words of the basic word stock enter quite a number of set expressions, idiomatic usages, proverbial sayings and the like. Instances are numerous. Take heart for example: a change of heart; after one's heart; a heart of gold; at heart;break one's heart; cross one's heart; cry one's heart out; eat one's heart out ; have one's heart in one's mouth; heart and hand; heart and soul; One's heart sinks within one; take something to heart;wear one's heart upon one's sleeve; with all one's heart and so on.
   Of course, not all the words of the basic word stock have these characteristics. Pronouns and numerals enjoy nation-wide use and stability, but are semantically monosemous and have limited productivity and collocability.. Therefore, 'all national character' is the most important of all featurés that may differentiate words of common use from all others.
   Words, void of the stated characteristics, do not belong to the common core of the language. They include the following:
6. Terminology consists of technical terms used in particular disciplines and academic areas as in medicine: photoscanning, hepatitis,indigestion,penicillin;in mathematics:algebra,trigonometry, calculus; in music: symphony, orchestra, sonata, concerto; in education: audiovisual,megauniversity,microteaching, etc.
7. Jargon refers to the specialized vocabularies by which members of particular arts, sciences, trades and professions communicate among themselves such as in business: bottom line for 'inescapable implication, unavoidable result, ultimate version', ballpark figures for 'estimate', bargaining chips foran advantage held by any ofthe parties in a negotiation'; in horse-racing: hold him back for prevent a horse from winning', hold him in for 'force a horse to run behind at the beginning of a race so as to reserve speed for the finish'; in medicine: paranoid for 'suspicious, worried', persona hypo for 'hypodermic syringe'; in warfare: buster for 'bomb'. Generally speaking, people outside the circle have difficulty in understanding such words.formannerism'
8. Slang belongs to the sub-standard language, a category that seems to stand between the standard general words including informal ones available to everyone and in-group words like cant (shoptalk of any sub-group), jargon, and argot, all of which are associated with, or most available to, specific groups of the population. Certain words are labeled 'slang' not because of their appearance or pronunciation but because of their usage. Dough and bread, for instance, are standard when they are used as food terms but slang in the sense of 'money'. Similarly, grass and pot have standard or formal use meaning, respectively, i. e. 'type of plant life' and “cooking utensil', but slang use meaning 'marijuana'. Such words as beaver (girl), smoky, bear (police), catch (talk to), holler (call), Roger (understand), X-rays (radar) are all' slang words (Reader's Digest 1983). The concept ' head' can be referred to by nut, dome, upper, bean, block and so on; in the same way, the meaning of 'drunk' can be expressed in as many terms as over three hundred such as elevated, merry, jolly, comfortable, boiled, grassy, tight, knocked out, blue-eyed, fried, paralyzed, pickled, stiff, stunned (Qin 1986).

　　These examples indicate that much of the slang is created by changing or extending the meaning of existing words though some slang words are new coinages altogether. Slang enjoys popular use.Almost everyone uses some slang sometimes, and some people use a lot of slang often. Those who don't go to offices or seldom find themselves in formal situations, and those who spend more time with close friends than business associates and mere acquaintances, use the most slang, because slang is colourful, blunt, expressive and These examples indicate that much of the slang is created by changing or extending the meaning of existing words though some slang words are new coinages altogether. Slang enjoys popular use.Almost everyone uses some slang sometimes, and some people use a lot of slang often. Those who don't go to offices or seldom find themselves in formal situations, and those who spend more time with close friends than business associates and mere acquaintances, use the most slang, because slang is colourful, blunt, expressive and impressive. As some people claim, slang avoids pretensions. It is "language that rolls up its sleeves' and gets to work.
　　4. Argot generally refers to the jargon of criminals. Its use is confined to the sub-cultural groups, and outsiders can hardly understand it, e. g. can-opener (all-purpose key), dip (pick-pocket),persuader (dagger).
　　5. Dialectal words are words used only by speakers of the dialect in question. For example, beauty (AusE = excellent, great), chook (AusE = chicken), cocky (AusE = small farmer), station(AusE = ranch); auld (ScotE = old), bluid (ScotE = blood),coo (ScotE = cow), hame (ScotE = home), lough (IrE = lake),bog (IrE = swamp).
　　6. Archaisms are words or forms that were once in common use but are now restricted only to specialized or limited use. They are found mainly in older poems, legal documents and religious writing or speech. Here are some examples: thou (you), ye (plural you), thee (objective you), wilt (will), brethren (brother), troth (pledge), quoth (said), aught (anything), hereof (of this, concerning this), therefrom ( from that or there), wherein (in what).
　　7. Neologisms are newly-created words or expressions, or words that have taken on new meanings. Here are some examples from 12,000 WORDS:microelectronics. = the branch of electronics dealing with integrated circuitsfuturology = a study that deals with future possibilities based on current trendsAIDS = acquired immune deficiency syndromeE-mail = electronic mail, the sending of messages via computer systems internet an international computer network linking both business and private usersfreak out = withdraw from reality and society esp. by takingdrugs.