Transcript English Lexicology Changes in word meaning

English Lexicology
Changes in word meaning
Week 12
Instructor: Liu Hongyong
Warming-up
Do you think the following two words are related or not? In
what way are they related?
salt
holy
awe
fond
salary
holiday
awesome
foolish
nice
lady
lord
know
loaf
loaf
awful
(awesome/awful day?)
<ne (Latin: not)+scire (Latin: know)
<loaf+kneader (lady)
<lo(af+wa)rd (lord)
Overview
• Definition of changes of word meaning
• Types of changes
1. Specialization
2. Extension
3. Degeneration
4. Elevation
5. Transference
• Causes of changes
1. Historical reason
2. Social reason
3. Psychological reason
4. Linguistic reason
Changes in word meaning

When a word loses its old meaning and comes to refer to
something different, the result is a change in word meaning.

Change of meaning refers to the alternation of the meaning of
existing words, as well as the addition of new meaning to a
particular word.

Changing word meaning has never ceased since the beginning
of the language and will continue in the future.

The changes in meaning are gradual, and words are not
changed in a day.
Types of Change




Extension of meaning
Narrowing of meaning
Elevation of meaning
Degradation of meaning
Extension of Meaning
词义的扩大



Generalization of Meaning
It is a process by which a word which originally had
a specialized meaning has now become generalized
or has extended to cover a broader concept.
一个原本具有特殊意义的单词的词义被延伸，范
围扩大，可以用来指代一种更普遍的词义。
salary
 (original) a sum of money given to Roman soldiers to enable them to buy
salt (政府按时发给古罗马军人一些买盐的钱)
 (present) fixed payment made by employer at regular intervals to
employees (薪水)
holiday
 (original) holy day, a day of religious significance (宗教节日，神圣的日
子）
 (present) day of festivity or recreation
收获
由专指“农业收成”扩大到指称 “一切行为的所得”，如“参观的收
获”。
搁浅
由专指“船舶进入水浅的地方不能前进”扩大到指称 一切“事情遭到阻
碍而不能进行”， 如“这次旅游的事无限期地搁浅了。”
A large proportion of polysemous words of modern English
have their meanings extended sometime in the course of
development. Some words are generalized to such a degree that
they can mean almost everything.
“Thing” which used to
mean “a public
She is such a pretty little thing.
assembly” or “a
council” in AngloI have to pack my things for the journey.
There is another thing I want to ask you about. Saxon times, now has
become an all-purpose
That only makes things worse.
word. Its meaning is so
The thing is, can we finish the job in time?
general, and we
sometimes call this
noun a ‘light noun’.
A Chinese Example： …的话
她不喜欢你说的话。
她不喜欢你的话。
她不喜欢你的话，你就不要死皮赖脸的缠着她了。
“话”
(original) Spoken words
A light noun, which can refer to anything
请认真阅读：
江蓝生，2004，跨层非短语结构“的话”的词汇化，《中国语文》第5期：
387－400。
Jiang, L.-S. 2004. About the lexicalization of the cross-structural combination “de
hua”. Zhongguo Yuwen 5: 387-400.
(downloadable from 中国期刊网)

Generalization of meaning is also found in many technical
terms, which are confined to specialized use.
allergic
 (original) too sensitive to medicine 患过敏症的
 (present) averse or disinclined to 反感的；厌恶的
alibi
 (original) a legal term signifying “the plea that the accused is
not at the place when the crime is committed” (被告人不在
犯罪现场的证明)
 (present) excuse (借口)
Narrowing of Meaning
词义的缩小
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It is a process by which a word of wide meaning acquires
a narrow or specialized sense. In other words, a word
which used to have a more general sense becomes
restricted in its application and conveys a special concept
in present-day English.
把词义范围较广的词缩小，表示特指，即过去具有普
遍意义的词变化后，现在仅仅表达特殊意义。
Narrowing; specialization; restriction
Example
Original Meaning
Meaning after
Narrowing
meat
food 食物
flesh of animals 肉
disease
discomfort 不适
illness 疾病
wife
woman 妇女
married woman 妻子
starve
to die
to die of hunger
accident
event 事件
unfortunate event 事故
Narrowing of Meaning
For economy, some phrases are shortened and only one element
of the original, usually an adjective, is left to retain the
meaning of the whole. Such adjectives have thus taken on
specialized meanings.

a general = a general officer

an editorial = an editorial article
Some material nouns are used to refer to objects made of them
and thus have a more specific sense.

glass
a cup-like container or a mirror

iron
device for smoothing clothes
Change in associative meaning

Both extension and narrowing of meaning are
talking about the changes in conceptual meaning.
Next we will talk about the changes in associative
meaning.


Elevation of meaning
Degradation of meaning
Elevation of Meaning
词义的升华



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
It is the process by which words rise from humble
beginnings to positions of importance.
Some words early in their history signify something quite
low or humble, but change to designate something
agreeable or pleasant.
词义的升华指词由贬义或中性转变为褒义。即，有些
词在历史上表示“卑微、下贱”之义，随着时间的推
移转为“惬意的，愉快的”。
A “snarl” word becomes a “purr” word, or a slang
becomes a common word.
elevation; amelioration
Examples of elevation
nice
 ignorant --- foolish --- delightful, pleasant
fond
 foolish --- affectionate
Terrific headache
awesome
 terrible---terrific
Terrific party
marshal
 a keeper of horses --- a high ranking army officer
constable
 a keeper of horses --- a policeman
Degradation of Meaning
词义的降格

It is a process by which words with appreciatory or
neutral affective meaning fall into ill reputation or
come to be used in a derogatory sense.

这是一个词由原先表示褒义或者中性意义转为表
示贬义的过程。
A “purr” word becomes a “snarl” word.
degradation, degeneration, pejoration


Examples
silly
 blessed and happy--- innocent----simple or
simple-minded ----foolish
sad
 full, satisfied, contented ----- calm -----serious ----sorrowful
Transference of Meaning
词义的转移

Definition
 Some words which were used to designate one thing
but later changed to mean something else have
experienced the process of semantic transfer, known
as transference of meaning.
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有些词原指称某些事物，后来发生变化，转为指
称另外的事物，就是词义的转移。
The lip of a wound 伤口的边缘
The tongues of fire
The foot of a mountain
Causes of Change
Extra-linguistic factors
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Historical reason
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Social reason
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Psychological reason
Linguistic factors

Ellipsis

Analogy

Figurative use of words
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
Metaphor
Metonym
Historical reason

A word is retained its original form, though its
meaning has changed because the referent has
changed.
pen
car
Social reason
Language records the speech and attitude of different
social classes, so different social varieties of language
have come into being.
 The attitude of classes have penetrated into lexical
meaning, particularly in the case of elevation and
degradation.
 Quite a number of words that denote different sorts of
working people or their occupations have taken on a
pejorative sense.
Churl, hussy, villain which were originally neutral have been
down-graded as “ill-manned or bad people”.

Psychological reason

The associated transfer of meaning and euphemistic
use of words, etc. are often due to psychological
factors.

People change word meaning owing to various
psychological motives: love, respect, courtesy,
suspicion, pessimism, sarcasm, irony, contempt, hatred,
avoidance of embarrassment, etc.
Example: rubber
Occasionally you can see some good reason for a change
of meaning. For example, the word rubber used to be
used to mean ‘eraser’ in New Zealand varieties of
English (as in British varieties), but was rejected in
favor of eraser once rubber came to mean ‘condom’.
This kind of embarrassment has also led people in many
parts of the English-speaking world to stop calling the
male of the domestic fowl a cock, preferring rooster
instead.
This kind of embarrassment has been suggested as the
reason that ass was replaced by the word donkey in
everyday usage.
Linguistic factors

The change of meaning may be caused by
the internal factors within the language
system.
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


Ellipsis
Borrowing
Analogy
Figurative use of a word
Ellipsis (省略)

The meaning of a word may change when a
phrase is shortened to one word which retains
the meaning of the whole. This is called
ellipsis.
gold: gold medal
daily: daily newspaper
The meaning of the
word “gold” has
changed from material
to refer to the whole
phrase “gold medal”.
This kind of change
often occurs in habitual
collocations.
Borrowing
The influx of borrowings has caused some words to change in
meaning.
deer
(original) a wild animal of any sort from a lion to a mouse.
In Middle Ages, the French word beste (=beast) became the
general word.
In 16th century, the Latin word animal was also adopted into the
English vocabulary.
Today deer can only refer to a particular kind of animal.
Analogy (类推)

If an adjective develops a new meaning, the derived noun from
the adjective will have a corresponding new meaning by
analogy. The process can be applied to a word of any word
class.
Diplomatic: Diplomacy
Diplomatic
(original) skillful in
dealing with
international
relations
(present) skillful in
dealing with any
kind of relations
Analogy
Diplomacy
(original) the art of
dealing with
international
relations
(present) ???
Figurative use of words
Change in word meaning may result from the figurative use of
the language. Metaphor and metonymy are two important
figures of speech (修辞手法).

Metaphor is a figure of speech containing an implied
comparison based on similarity. A cunning person may be
referred to as a fox. Here “fox” means something other than its
literal meaning. The word “fox” gets the figurative meaning
of “a cunning person”.
Metaphor
This is also a horse, but a
metaphorical horse.
Example: foot
foot
This meaning is derived through the metaphor
“The last line on this page is the foot of the page.”
1. The lower extremity of the vertebrate leg that is
in direct contact with the ground in standing or
walking.
2. The lowest part; the bottom
the foot of a mountain
the foot of a page
Metonymy (借喻)

Metonymy is another important factor in semantic change. It is
a figure of speech by which an object or an idea is described
by the name of something else closely related to it.
如“敌人像狗一样夹着尾巴逃跑了”运用的是明
喻，换成借喻就是“这条狗夹着尾巴逃跑了”。
在上面 两句中，本体是“敌人”，喻体是
“狗”，喻词是“像”。由明喻到借喻，只是
省略了本体和喻词。因此所有借喻 只要增加
本体和喻词都可以转换成明喻。
Example: seat
Seat (its sense is extended to the right to sit as a
member of a committee, such as the House of
Commons)
He lost his seat in House of Commons.
The word “seat” has acquired the meaning
of “the right to sit as a member” through
the above metonym.
More Example: cradle
Cradle
These meanings are derived through
the following metonyms.
1. A small low bed for an infant, often furnished
with rockers
2. The earliest period of life; infancy
from the cradle to the grave
3. A place of origin; a birthplace
the cradle of civilization.
Summary
• Definition of changes of word meaning
• Types of changes
1. Specialization
2. Extension
3. Degeneration
4. Elevation
5. Transference
• Causes of changes
1. Historical reason
2. Social reason
3. Psychological reason
4. Linguistic reason