词汇发展论文.doc

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1、ABSTRACTIn language learning, especially for the study of English, application of words is of vital importance. But how to use the basic words appropriately? In response to this issue, we need to analyze the position comprehensively, from a historical background Then another question appears-how man

2、y factors can influence the vocabulary? Political ,Economical or the Cultural elements can affect the process of word formation. In my treatise ,i will enquire into the cultural influence mainly. My paper can be divided into four parts. The first part talks about the objective and significance of th

3、e present study. The second part studies the vocabulary development. The third part is about the formats of cultural impact on vocabulary. The last part summarizes the whole passage.Key Words: cultural development , vocabulary IntroductionVocabulary is a fundamental component in a language. As Wilki

4、ns said without grammar very little can be conveyed,；without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed. Therefore, vocabulary knowledge should be the top priority when it comes to learning a foreign language.When referring to the vocabulary, we tend to think of the words ,phrases, and their meaning, but fo

5、r language learners ,the developing process is more significant compared to the superficial meaning. It is necessary to know how the words are made ,to know where they derive from and to know the principles that lies in the word-making. Many students knows only a separate word without a little recog

6、nizition of any other words that is related to it .Moreover ,time is always changing .Nothing in the world is constantly stable and the words is not an exception.With the development of science and technology,cultural communication is more convenient and frequent. As the communication develops, they

7、 unconsciously influences the words in changing the words, changing the words meaning and altering their relations. There are many factors that can be vital in the process of vocabulary developing , cultural communication is just one aspect. Due to the restriction of the objective condition ,our res

8、earch is limited. But I believe the probity will never end whatever happens.Till now,there are many research on vocabulary and lexicology, inquiring into the origin and meaning of words,or about the diifferent methods in applying words into sentences and paragraphs.But,few really focuses on the cult

9、ural impact on vocabulary.In other words ,the cultural influence is put in a marginal corner.Then the paradox come into exist.Whether the cultural factor is important or not has been discussed recently and few consensus has been reached at.Hence ,the contemporary research is limited in this scope.Th

10、e difficulties in this research lies in that the definition of cultural impact is hard to determinate or too broad to define and that the concrete content in vocabulary is limited in three aspects:shape,meaning and relation.Thus ,if we just begin and end with such three factors ,no far-sighted outco

11、me will be reached at.To solve this problem,we need to look over nearly all the documents about the development of vocabulary.Chapter One Objective and Significance of the Present Study1.1 Culture and lexicology Based on the dictionary ,culture is defined as following:1. a particular society at a pa

12、rticular time and place2. the tastes in art and manners that are favored by a social group3. all the knowledge and values shared by a society4. (biology) the growing of microorganisms in a nutrient medium (such as gelatin or agar)the culture of cells in a Petri dish5. a highly developed state of per

13、fection; having a flawless or impeccable quality6. the attitudes and behavior that are characteristic of a particular social group or organization the developing drug culture the reason that the agency is doomed to inaction has something to do with the FBI culture7. the raising of plants or animals

14、the culture of oysters .Lexicology is a branch of linguistics, enquiring into the origins and meanings of words.1.2 Culture universality determines lexical community. The culture universality refers to the common part in different culture ;let us bring our discussion to a more present and practical

15、context ,it can be given a concrete example: people in every corner of the earth enjoy the same body structure and need the same outer environment to live on. The relationship between language and culture is dialectic. That is ,language is a part of culture but it serves the culture ,reflects its de

16、mand in return. The language is the carrier of culture ,but the culture restraints the derivation of language. The vicissitudes of vocabulary can also refract the change and development of culture. For example ,the word fox in Chinese and English have a same meaning: crafty. Thus the vocabulary is a

17、n excellent performance of cultural connotation.1.3 Cultural specificity determines the differentiation of the connotation of words.In detail, different nations scattered in different parts of the world, and the environmental discrepancy and diverse methods used in adapting the earth in the developi

18、ng process formed various culture with its own feature, such as Maya civilization and the Huang He civilization. The diverse civilization represents the cultural fruits of different region in different era. In this aspect, cultural specificity can be underlined. Through comparison, cultural differen

19、ce in English and Chinese vocabulary can be reflected in the following aspects. First: consistent object. Dragon is a imaginary animal in both china and England .In Chinese culture, dragon is the symbol of Chinese people and the represent of national spirit; Chinese people endow it with supreme powe

20、r. But in English culture, dragon is a wicked figure. It is said in the Beowulf that dragon commited so much sin that he was destroyed by people at last. Second: the word family in Chinese and English is both based on marriage and descent, but, in Chinese culture it includes at least three generatio

21、ns; in English culture ,it is simply refers to the children and their parents. Moreover,the appellation used to indicate genetic connection is ample in Chinese and it is very concrete but rather deficient in English culture. Third: vacancy vocabulary; in other words, the word which is common in one

22、culture but scarce in another culture. That is some words dont have a counterpart in other culture. History is replete with evidence to demonstrate this point ;it can be given a concrete example: the words Duke, Marpuis , Earl, Viscount, Baron are the gradational rank in English but it is nonexisten

23、t in Chinese culture. The meaning : fei, pin, guiren, etc that indicate the different status of the king wife are also nonexistent in English culture 1.4 The pragmatic principle used in translation radicate the culture location of vocabulary.The translation is a process that aims at transferring the

24、 source language to the target language. The standard for evaluating a translation is whether the intension semantics are of equal value with the original text. In the translation practice, we all know that only a sound language basic skills is not enough for an appropriate translation; an insight f

25、or both culture is indispensable. In short , we should put proper word in proper places. When translating, we should make sure the concrete meaning of a word. The meaning of a word here is composed of two parts: conceptional meaning and associative meaning. The conceptional meaning refers to the acc

26、urate ,concrete meaning of a word. The associative meaning refers to the emotional coloring and the connotative meaning of a word. For example, the Chinese Ai wu ji wucan be translated into Love me love my dog . The conceptional meaning and the associative meaning of this sentence is quite different

27、 .If someone dont know the associative meaning and what the dog represents in Chinese culture, it is impossible for him/her to make an appropriate translation. From the analysis made above, it is no doubt that the comprehension of a word will rely on the acquaintance of the culture it belongs to. Al

28、so ,it is safe to say that it is indispensable to radicate the cultural location of a word to make a good translation.1.5 The present situationWith the advance of technology and the development of society, the communication between different nations is more and more frequent, the divergence between

29、different culture is less and less. Cultural integration has been a world phenomenon the direct result of which is that the connotative and extension meaning of a word in different language has converge and come close. Thus, the channel for language communication has turned smooth.Summary:culture de

30、termines the connotative meaning of vocabulary;vocabulary is an important carrier of culture. Chapter Two Vocabulary DevelopmentFor half a century, with the development of American politics, economy and culture, American English has replaced the dominating position of British English in the world. M

31、eanwhile, American English itself has huge changes, of which the most important one is the development of words. This part aims to analyze the changes of words in American English, mainly from the following three perspectives: the emergence of new words, the enlargement of the meaning of old words a

32、nd the simplification of the spelling form of words. This part analyzes the development tendency of modern American English words from Pragmatics perspective, and then displays the rich connotations of modern American English words.2.1 The Emergence of new words 2.1.1 New words related to science: w

33、ith the development of economy and society ,many words are made to adapt to the demand of communication. Take Blach holes for an example. The American government spend 210 million dollars in mading Hubble Telescope ,in order to provide evidence for the Black holes. Thus, many new words have come int

34、o being such as chaos, antiproton, antiparticle, super symmetry squark, slepton, sparticle, sneutrino, etc.2.1.2:New words related to information technology:as our daily life is closely connected with internet ,a number of words were made such as intranet, extranet, Local Area Network, Wide Area Net

35、work,cybercafe,web-site,newbie,guru,hardware,software,mouse,modem,wired,boot,click,hacker,millenniumbug,surfing,uncast,multicast,cellular,thenet,fanzinephone,beeper,swipe.2.1.3:New words related to environment:as the environment problem get worse and people awareness of environment protection highte

36、n some words concern environment variation got a debut in English :fallout, ecosphere, reductionism, spriggina, eco tourism, environmentalist, etc.2.1.4:New words related to Medical Technology and Biotechnology:anorexia, liposuction, trans-sexualoperation, genetic code, hospice, nipandtuch angiograp

37、hy, bionic organs, sperm bank, GM Human, diet pill, the pill, HIV, aids neurosis, euthanasia, clone, etc.2.1.5:New words related to social life:colorful social life is constantly an origin for new words. For example, in 1870s,the watergateissue is known to all that many cases are represented by the

38、word gate. Also, there are other examples, such as Reagan democrat ,Reaganize, Clinton, Clintonian, shuttle diplomacy, mini summit, high profile and low profile, psychological war, trade war, back-yardism, globalism.2.1.6:New words related to education,phisical activity and entertainment activities:

39、polyversity ,geeks, preppie, dropouts, flunk stein, louse up, flunk out,salchow,tankini,slimnastics,soaopera,infomercial,songsmith,noisesmith,throat,weeper,vidiot,couch potato, square eye, etc.2.1.7:New words related to family: broken home, maxi coat,pullover,rager,mosh,zit,wanna,xerox,nerd,duh,down

40、size,snarfe,beatniks,scuzzy,micro,grunge,streaking,reefer,hop,pep pills, overdose zonked, synergamy, sexual harassment.2.2:The enlargement of the meaning of old words2.2.1:The broadening of single word.Airheads original meaning is a place for landing, but its new meaning is woodenhead, someone who i

41、s a fool; gay initial meaning is cheerful, but its modern meaning is the love of two of the same sex, and its another new meaning is annoying.2.2.2:Combining wordsCombine two or more words into a new one at a settled principle and form. For example, with the success of Apollo manned flights to the m

42、oon ,many words related have come into being ,such as space shuttle, moon fall, moonwalk. moonscape, moonquake, moon rover, soft landing, splash, down. Meanwhile, there also are complex combinations such as clotheshorse, night person, backta, talk show, desk study, think bank, death merchant, sky pi

43、lot, Sunday drive, lovebirds, bottle baby, rubbernack, flower child, or even know it alls, roll your owns, Johnnycome lately, spring summer antumn winter ,etc. But it is prominent that the verb and adverb combined to a noun is an important trend, such as sit up, sit down, sleep in, check up, feedbac

44、k ,walk on, drop in, lock out, build up, brush off, etc. But the compound verb and adjective are at a low frequency, such as: high tail to master to, hard to solve, eye ball to way, eye ball, know how and can do.2.2.3:Conversion2.2.3.1:Noun to Verb.Holiday to weeken means enjoying the weekend. winte

45、r means living through the winter. Myth means making something mysterious; room means getting accommodation; main street means speeching at the main street; to bad mouth means speaking evil of other people. 2.2.3.2:Adjective to Noun.Moderate means someone who is moderate; hostiles means someone who

46、is hostile to you; Physical means a physical test; an innocent means one who is innocent; the injectable means something that is injected to the vessel. Sometimes adverb can also be conversed to verb, such as to down(beat down),to up (life up, enhance),to off(call off ,leave away),etc.2.2.3.3:Analog

47、yNew words come through the imitation of the original word ,such as sunrise, earth rise, earthquake, youth quake, workaholic, bookaholic, Uncle Tom ,Aunt Tom ,bulldozer, calfdozer, black market ,grey market ,black power, green power, high rise, low rise ,under kill, day mare, chain smoke, chain drin

48、k.2.3:The simplification of the spelling form of words2.3.1:Abbreviation:the abbreviation of words was fit for the fast pace of modern life:such as axe-ax, plough-plow, storey-story, catalogue-catalog, cheque-check, masque-mask,programme-program,waggon-wago,jewellery-jewelry,colour-color,humour-humo

49、r. 2.3.2:Deletion:diff-difference, bro-brother, gram-grandma or grandpa, info-information, prob-problem,expo-exposition,mod-modern,pol-politician,cig-cigarette,doc-doctor,tab-tablet,pro-professional,memo-memorandum,deli-delicatessen,divi-dividend,limo-limousine,fess-confess,phone-telephone,copter-helicopter,flu-influenza,tec-detective,frig/frige-ref