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Objectives
Main points
¡ñ Sense Relations and Semantic Field
¡ñ¡ñ Polysemy
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Two approaches
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Two processes
¡ñ¡ñ Homonymy
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Types of homonyms
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Origins
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Differentiation
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Rhetoric features
¡ñ¡ñ Synonymy
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Definition
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Types
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Sources
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Discrimination
¡ñ¡ñ Antonymy
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Types
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Characteristics
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Use
¡ñ¡ñ Hyponymy
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Definition
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Use
¡ñ¡ñ Semantic Field
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Definition
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Difference between fiend and hyponymy
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Implications
¡ñ Changes in Word Meaning
¡ñ¡ñ Types of Change
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Extension
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Narrowing
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Elevation
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Degradation
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Transfer
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Associated transfer
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Transfer between abstract and concrete meaning
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Transfer between subjective and objective meaning
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Synesthesia
¡ñ¡ñ Causes of Change
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Non-linguistic Factors
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Linguistic Factor
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Questions and Tasks
¡ñ Meaning and Context
¡ñ¡ñ Types of Context
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Extra-linguistic Context
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Linguistic Context
¡ñ¡ñ Role of Context
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Elimination of Ambiguity
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Indication of Referents
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Provision of Clues
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Questions and Tasks
¡ñ English Idioms
¡ñ¡ñ Introduction
¡ñ¡ñ Characteristics
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Semantic Unity
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Structural Stability
¡ñ¡ñ Classification of Idioms
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Noun idioms
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Adjective idioms
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Verb idioms
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Adverb idioms
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Sentence idioms
¡ñ¡ñ Use of Idioms
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Stylistic Features
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Rhetorical Features
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Phonetic manipulation
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Lexical manipulation
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Figures of speech
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Variations of Idioms
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Replacement
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Addition or deletion
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Position-shifting
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Shortening
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Dismembering
¡ñ English Dictionaries
¡ñ¡ñ Types of Dictionaries
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Monolingual and Bilingual Dictionaries
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Linguistic and Encyclopedic Dictionaries
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Unabridged, Desk and Pocket Dictionaries
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Specialized Dictionaries
¡ñ¡ñ Use of Dictionaries
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Choice of Dictionaries
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Content of the Dictionary
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Use of the Dictionary
¡ñ¡ñ Three Good General Dictionaries
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Longman
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ COBUILD
¡ñ¡ñ¡ñ Chinese-English Dictionary
Answer
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Unit 35

 

Questions and tasks

I. Decide whether the following statements are true or false and write T or F in the brackets: ¡¡¡¡25%
1. Homonyms come mainly from borrowing, the most important source.
2. "Radiation" shows that the derived meanings of a polysemant are not directly related to the primary meaning.
3. Borrowing has brought most synonyms to the English language.
4. A word which has a synonym naturally has an antonym.
5. The superordinate differs from the subordinate in that the former covers the concept of the latter.
6. Extra-linguistic context refers to the physical situation or cultural background.
7. The way to differentiate homonyms from polysemants is mainly to see their origins as well as the co-relationship between the meanings.
8. Inadequate context is often the cause of ambiguity.
9. Hyponymy deals with the relationship of semantic inclusion.
10. In some pairs of antonyms, one term may cover the meaning of the other term.
11. Lexical context refers to the words that appear only before the lexical item in question.
12. In a natural language, most words are non-motivated.
13. We classify idioms on a grammatical basis so that noun phrases will be put together and so will adjectives phrases.
14. A variation of an idiom is to use a different phrase instead of it.
15. Context is important because without it, it would be difficult or impossible to tell the meaning of a polysemant.
15. Good context gives a polysemic word a definite meaning.
16. Monolingual dictionaries are good for advanced learners and bilingual ones are appropriate for foreign learners..
17. contradictory terms do not show degrees.
18. Stylistically speaking, most idioms are neither formal nor informal.
19. Semantic unity and structural stability are general features of idioms, but there are many exceptions.
20. An unabridged dictionary contains at least 150,000 headwords.

II. Group the following antonyms into three classes, namely contradictory terms, contrary terms and relative terms: (12%)


III. Relative synonyms are similar only in some respects but different in others. Explain the differences between them with examples. (20%)
IV. Give a term according to each of the definitions. (10%)
1. Part of a piece of writing or speech which surrounds a word and helps to explain its meaning.
2. Guessing word-meaning according to context.
3. Idioms which are complete sentences including proverbs and sayings.
4. The dictionaries which are compiled in two languages.
5. Sense relation that deals with the relationship of semantic inclusion.
6. A set of words which are semantically associated with one another.
7. Words that are identical in spelling but different in pronunciation and meaning.
8. The process in which a word that was pejorative in the past has now become appreciative.
9. The process that a word goes through by changing from specialized meaning to a more general meaning.
10. A word which is opposite in meaning.
V. Study the following sentences and explain the contextual clues which help you guess the meaning of the italicized words, for example, "definition", "example", "synonym", and so on and put your answers in the brackets. (10%)
1. Unlike her gregarious sister, Jane is unsociable as she refuses to go to parties.
2. Refugees crossed the border to escape the carnage in their homeland. Many of them still remembered the horrible slaughter not long ago.
3. I like fruit, but not avocado, which is too soft.
4. Carnivores are very dangerous. A tiger, for example, escaped from the zoo last month and killed a dog in the street and ate it.
5. Most of his works were published posthumously, for he was hardly known by anyone before his death.

VI. The italicized part of each sentence is ambiguous. Improve the sentence so that each will have a single meaning. (10%)
1. There is a large audience present, including ,many old men and beautiful women.

2. The steward greeted the girl with a smile.

3. The shooting of the hunters occurred at dawn.

4. Is Helen engaged?

5. Margaret cannot bear children.

VII. Match the terms in Column A with the words in Column B. (8%)

VIII. Explain the characteristics of English idioms with examples. (10%)