Chapter1 Introduction 1
1.1 The English Vocabulary 1
1.2 The Structure of English Words 18
Chapter2 Basic Word-formation 30
2.1 Derivation 30
2.2 Compounding 35
2.3 Conversion 51
Chapter3 Other Word-formation Categories 63
3.1 Abbreviation 63
3.2 Back-formation 69
3.3 Onomatopoeia 70
Chapter4 Word Meaning 71
4.1 The Meaning of the Word 71
4.2 Kinds of Meaning 92
Chapter5 Polysemy and Homonymy 101
5.1 Introduction 101
5.2 Polysemy 104
5.3 Homonymy 105
5.4 Polysemy or Homonymy？ 108
5.5 Ambiguity and Vagueness 109
Chapter6 Sense Relations 115
6.1 Synonymy 115
6.2 Antonymy 122
6.3 Hyponymy and Meronymy 137
Chapter7 Changes in Meaning 146
7.1 Meaning Changes 146
7.2 Why Does Language Change？ 153
Chapter8 Meaning Shift 155
8.1 Categorizing Figurative Language 155
8.2 Metaphor 158
8.3 Metonymy 162
8.4 Synecdoche 162
Chapter9 Semantic Evolution 164
9.1 Causes of Semantic Evolution 164
9.2 The Process of Semantic Evolution 176
Chapter10 Sources of English Vocabulary 184
10.1 English in Relation to Language Families and Its Development 184
10.2 Sources of English Vocabulary 193
Chapter11 Current Development of English Words 207
11.1 Introduction 207
11.2 Patterns of Lexical Development 212
11.3 New Words Resulted from Meaning Change 213
11.4 The Future of the English Language 215
Chapter12 English Variations across Countries 217
12.1 The Vocabulary of American English 217
12.2 Canadian English 238
12.3 Australian English 239
12.4 New Zealand English 242
Chapter13 Idioms 245
13.1 What Are Idioms？ 245
13.2 Characteristics of Idioms 250
13.3 Different Aspects of the Idiom 252
Chapter14 Phrasal Verbs and Collocations 261
14.1 What Are Phrasal Verbs？ 261
14.2 What Are Collocations？ 265
Chapter15 Other Idioms 278
15.1 Metaphor and Simile 278
15.2 Idiomatic Pairs 282
15.3 Proverbs 283
Chapter16 English Dictionaries 292
16.1 Dictionary ABC 292
16.2 Find Your Dictionaries 306
16.3 Further Development of Dictionaries 317
Bibliography 323