Chapter 1 Language，Linguistics and Lexicology 1
1-1-1：A Definition of Language 1
ContentS 1
1-1-2：Language，Society and Thought 2
1-2-1：A Definition of Linguistics 4
1-2-2：The Scope of Linguistics 5
1-3-1：What Is Lexicology？ 5
1-3-2：Aims and Significance of the Course of English Lexicology 5
2．With grammar 7
3．With stylistics 7
1．With phonetics 7
1-3-3：The Connection of Lexicology With Other Branches of Linguistics 7
4．With historical linguistics 8
1-3-4：Two Approaches to the Study of English Lexicology 8
Chapter 2 The Sources of the English Vocabulary 11
2-1-1：TheEnglish People and the English Language 11
2-1-2：The Position and Character of the English Language in the Indo-European Family 11
2-1-3：The Divisions of the History of the English Language 12
2-1-4：Some Characteristics of Old English 13
2-1-5：Some Characteristics of Middle English 15
2-1-6：Some Characteristics of Modern English 17
2-2-1：Wordsof Native Origin 21
1．The polysemic character of native words in English 21
2．The collocability of native words in English 22
3．Word-forming ability of native words in Modern English 23
2-2-2：Borrowed Words in the English Vocabulary 23
1．Causes and means of borrowings into English 24
3．Elevationof meaning（Amelioration） （1 25
2．Four groups of loan-words 25
2-3-2：The Scandinavian Element inthe English Vocabulary 27
2-3-1：The Foreign Elements in the English Vocabulary 27
2-3-3：The French Element in the English Vocabulary 30
1．French loan-words in the Middle English period 31
2．French loan-words after the Middle English period 33
1．The zero period of Latin influence 34
Vocabulary 34
2-3-4：The Latin Element in the English 34
2．The first period of Latin influence 35
4．The third period of Latin influence 36
3．The secondperiod of Latin influence 36
5．The fourthperiod of Latin influence 37
2-3-5：The Greek Element in the English Vocabulary 38
1．Words relating to literature 38
2．Words relating to linguistics 38
3．Words relating to natural sciences 38
4．Words relating to socialsciences 38
5．Words relating to medicine 38
1．The preciseness of meaning of the classical elements 39
2-3-6：The Influence of the Classical Elements upon the English Vocabulary 39
2．The richness of the classical elements in the English vocabulary 40
3．The cosmopolitan character of the classical elements 41
2-3-7：Other Foreign Elements in the English Vocabulary 41
2-3-8：Interrelation betweenthe Native and Foreign Elements in the English Vocabulary 43
Chapter 3 Word Meaningand Semantic Relations 46
3-1-1：Some General Remarks on Semantics 46
and Meaning 46
3-1-2：The Relationship between Meaning andtheObject 49
3-2-1：What Is a Word？ 50
1．Phonetic motivation 52
3-2-2：Meaningand Motivation 52
2．Grammatical motivation 53
3．Motivationby meaning 53
3-3-1：Classifications of Words 54
1．According to the lexical meaning and grammatical function of words 54
2．According to the usage of words 54
3．According to the character of words 56
4．According to motivation 56
5．According to polysemy and monosemy 57
6．According to the origin 57
2．Lexical meaning 58
3．Contextual meaning 58
1．Grammatical meaning 58
3-3-2：Main Types of Word Meaning 58
4．Denotative meaning 59
5．Connotative meaning 59
6．Stylistic meaning 59
3-3-3：Word Meaning and Context 62
3-4-1：Synonyms 66
1．What are synonyms？ 66
2．The source of synonyms 66
3．The significance of studying synonyms 69
4．Absolute synonyms and relative 69
synonyms 69
2．Types of antonyms 73
3-4-2：Antonyms 73
1．What are antonyms？ 73
3．Different antonyms of one word 76
4．Use of antonyms 77
3-4-3：Polysemy and Homonymy 79
1．The definition of polysemy 79
2．Two main processes of sense-shift 79
3．The definition of homonymy and homonyms 82
4．The classification of homonyms 82
5．Three ways of forming homonyms 86
1．The definition of neologisms 89
Chapter 4 The Changing English Vocabulary 89
4-1-1：Neologisms 89
3．The sources of new words 90
2．The rate of changes of the English vocabulary 90
4．The formation of neologisms 104
4-1-2：Archaisms 110
1．The definition of archaisms 110
2．The reasons for the disappearance of words 110
3．Obsolete words may be still used at the present time 111
4-2-1：Changes in Meaning 115
1．Historical causes 115
4．Linguistic causes 116
3．Psychological causes 116
2．Social causes 116
4-2-2：FourTendencies in Semantic Changes 117
1．Extension of meaning（Generalization） 117
2．Narrowing of meaning（Specialization） 122
4．Degradation of meaning（Deterioration） 126
4-2-3：Semantic Changes from the Literal Use of Words to Their Figurative Use 129
1．Metaphor 129
2．Metonymy 139
3．Synecdoche 144
4．Euphemism 145
Chapter 5 Word-formation in English 150
5-1-1：Introduction 150
1．Morphological structure and classification of words 150
2．Two types of morphemes 151
3．Three types of words 152
4．Root，base，stem 153
5-2-1：The Main Processes of English Word-formation 161
1．Prefixation 162
2．Suffixation 204
3．Conversion 235
4．Compounding 252
5-2-2：The Minor Processes of English Word-formation 269
1．Clipping or shortening 269
2．Acronyms 272
3．Blending 276
4．Back-formation 278
5．Forming new words by analogy 280
6．Onomatopoeia 281
Chapter 6 English Idioms 284
6-1-1：The Definition of Idioms 284
6-1-2：The Significance of Studying English Idioms 285
6-1-3：The Features of English Idioms 286
1．Idioms used in colloquial style 290
6-1-4：English Idioms in Different Styles 290
2．Idioms used in any situation 291
3．Idioms used in formal situations 292
4．Idioms used as slang 292
6-1-5：The Difference between Idiomatic and Free Phrases 293
6-2-1：Classification of English Idioms 294
1．Idiomatic expressions with specific grammatical structures 294
2．Phrases identified with the familiar parts of speech 297
3．Idioms not correlative with a given 308
grammatical part of speech 308
4．Idioms expressing greeting，surprise，praise or criticism 312
5．Proverbs 313
6-2-2：English Idioms around Different Subjects 316
1．Idioms containing names of birds and animals 316
2．Idioms containing names of parts of the human body 317
3．Idioms involving colors 319
4．Idioms containing words related to clothes 320
5．Idioms involving time 321
6．Idioms involving flowers and plants 322
7．Idioms containing words related to fruit 323
8．Idioms containing words related to shapes and measures 324
7-1-1：English as a Language of World-wide Use 326
Chapter 7 British and American English 326
7-1-2：British and American English 328
7-1-3：The Historical Background of American English 331
7-2-1：Differences between British English and American English 333
7-2-2：Differences in Individual Sounds 334
7-2-3：Differences in Stress 336
7-2-4：Differences in Spelling 337
7-2-5：Differences in Vocabulary 339
7-2-6：Differences in Grammar 351
7-3-1：Two Contrasting Word-lists 355
7-3-2：British and American English in the Future 370
8-1-1：What Isa Dictionary？ 371
Chapter 8 English Dictionaries and How to Use Them 371
8-1-2：Characteristics of Dictionaries 373
8-2-1：Types of Dictionaries 374
8-2-2：Monolingual，Bilingual and Multilingual Dictionaries 374
8-2-3：General and Special Dictionaries 375
8-2-4：Pocket，Medium-sized and Unabridged Dictionaries 376
8-2-5：Synchronic and Diachronic Dictionaries 377
8-2-6：Encyclopedias and Encyclopedic Dictionaries 378
8-3-1：The History of English Dictionaries 379
8-3-2：Five Periods in the History of English Dictionaries 382
8-4-1：How to Use English Dictionaries 384
Bibliography 392