Chapter 1 Introduction 1
1.1 Words 1
1.2 Vocabulary 10
1.3 Lexicology 13
1.4 English Lexicology and Its Relation to Other Disciplines 16
Chapter 2 Some Basic Concepts and Word Meanings 20
2.1 Morpheme,Lexeme and Morph 20
2.2 Word Meanings 27
2.3 Seven Types of Meaning 28
Chapter 3 The Development of English Vocabulary 34
3.1 Indo-European Language Family 36
3.2 Historical Overview of English Vocabulary 37
3.3 Main Sources of New Words of the Present-day English Vocabulary 45
3.4 Modes of the Development of the English Vocabulary 48
Chapter 4 Formation of English Words 62
4.1 Derivation 62
4.2 Conversion 68
4.3 Compounding 69
4.4 Acronymy 75
4.5 Clipping 77
4.6 Blending 78
4.7 Back-formation 80
4.8 Words from Proper Names 81
4.9 Reduplication 82
4.10 Onomatopoeia 83
Chapter 5 Changes in Word Meaning 86
5.1 Causes of Changes in Word Meaning 86
5.2 Four Tendencies in Semantic Change 95
5.3 Semantic Changes Resulting from the Figurative Use of Words 103
5.4 Types of Change 107
Chapter 6 Sense Relations Between Words 119
6.1 Introduction 119
6.2 Characteristics of Sense Relations 119
6.3 Polysemy 120
6.4 Homonymy 126
6.5 Synonym 131
6.6 Antonym 146
6.7 Hyponymy 159
6.8 Meronymy 162
6.9 Semantic Field 163
6.10 Collocation 169
6.11 Metaphorical Extension 171
Chapter 7 Meaning and Context 180
7.1 Types of Contexts 180
7.2 The Role of Context 188
7.3 How to Guess Word Meaning from Context 194
Chapter 8 English Idioms 204
8.1 Definition of Idioms 204
8.2 Sources of English Idioms 205
8.3 Classification of English Idioms 211
8.4 Syntactic,Structural and Stylistic Features 223
8.5 Translation Strategies 230
Chapter 9 English Dictionaries 235
9.1 History of English Dictionaries 235
9.2 Types of Dictionaries 238
9.3 Using the Dictionary 249
Chapter 10 English Vocabulary Learning 258
10.1 Vocabulary Storage 258
10.2 Schematic Learning 259
10.3 Other tips for English Vocabulary Learning 259
Keys to Exercises 263
Common Prefixes in English 277
Common Suffixes in English 283
Lexicology Terms 286
References 297