Chapter 9 Changes in word meaning

1. Historical cause: It often happens that thought a word retain its original form,its meaning has

changes because the object which it denotes（表示）has changed, this is the historical cause of semantic change.

Pencil is from Latin word meaning—a little tail or a fine brush, like our chinese pen 毛笔， later, when it was made of wood and graphite石墨， it was still called a “pencil”

2. Social cause: change in word meaning resulting from a constant verbal traffic between common

words and various technical words is referred to as social cause of semantic change

Hot and cold have changed their meaning in the field of politics, as in “cold war”,”hot war” and “hot line”

3. Foreign influences : a particularly important cause of change of meaning in words has been the

influence of foreign words

The native word stool originally meant any kind of seat for one person, and could be used for a king’s seat, it got its present humble(粗陋) meaning because the French word chair was adopted to denote a more comfortable piece of furniture 4. Linguistic cause 语言的影响:

a. Towards ellipsis 省略

A general---a general officer Uniform—uniform dress b. Towards analogy 类推

Energetic(精力旺盛)—formerly meant” to operate, effect” as in “the most energetic

chemicals”, now energetic means” of , having or showing energy, vigorous, forcefull” as if it had been derived from energy

5. Psychological cause 心理上的影响

1）Euphemism（委婉词）：It refers that the word changed after people use mild,agreeable

language when speaking of an unpleasant or embarrasing fact and of taboo subjects as sex and the excretive processes of the boby.Such as death can be used as '' go west''. 2）Grandiloquence（夸张）：It refers to the use of long,important-sounding words for effect.The

disire to upgrade or raise the social status of a position,occupation,or institution by changing its common name to one felt to confer greater dignity or importance is another psychological factor in the change of word meaning.In a sense,it is a form of euphemism. e.g. ''hair stylist'' was upgraded as ''hairologist'' for barbers.

3）Cynicism（挖苦语）：It refer that the disire to sneer(冷笑) and to be sarcastic (讽刺)cause

the semantic change. e.g. sanctimonious (假装神圣 )means''devot,holy or scared'' and now means ''pretending to be very holy or pious''.

二 .Four tendencies in semantic change

1. Restriction(限制, 约束)(or narrowing or specialization) of meaning（词义的缩小）：It is the opposite of widening, is a process by which a word or wide meaning acquires(获得, 学到)a narrower or specialized sense.e.g. “meat” originally means “ food,solid food” but now restricted to mean “the flesh of animals used as food,excluding fish and birds”.

2. Extension (generalization) of meaning（词义的扩大）:A process by which a word which originally had a specialized meaning has now become generalized. e.g. “holiday” originally means “holy day,a day for religious significance” but now extended to mean “ day of festivity

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or recreation when no work is done” Restriction and extension refer to change in the range of the denotative(外延) meaning of words, either narrowed or widened,they are so closely associated that they can hardly be treated separately.

3. Degeneration of meaning(pejoration)（词义的贬降: A process whereby words of good origin fall into ill reputation or non-affective words come to used in derogatory(贬低) sense. .e.g. \"silly\" originally means \"blessed and happy\" but now degenerated to mean \"foolish\".

4. Elevation (or amelioration) of meaning（词义的扬升）:Elevation is the process by which words rise from humble beginings to positions of importance.Elevation of meaning is one of the tendencies of meaning change,which changes the meaning of a linguistics from \"low\" to \"high\" ,e.g. \"minister\" originally means “a servant of master” to presently \"head of a department in a nation”.

*Degeneratio and elevation refer to change in connotative(内涵),stylistic(风格), and affective(感情) meanings.

三． Semantic development or change resulting from the figurative (比喻)use of words

The figurative use refers to the expression of saying something is another thing.Thus can make the speech or article become vivid and stimulus the reader to imagine.The original thing is called tenor,the another thing is called vehicle.

1.Metaphor（隐喻）：Metaphor is a figure of speech containing an implied comparison based on association of similarity,in which a word or a phrase ordinarily and primarily used for one thing is applied to another,a process which often results in semantic change or figurative extension of meaning. e.g. a beautiful woman may be described as a vision. A cunning person is often referred to as a fox

2.Metonymy（换喻）：Metonymy is a figure of speech by which an object or idea is described by the name of something closely related to it. That is to say, a transfer of names occurs between two things associated by actual contiguity, either by physical contact, or contact through various though associations. Metonymy does not reveal any new relations but arises between words already related to each other in different ways, for example. The white house for the president or for the presidential sraff of the Unitd States.

1）Sign for the person or thing signified. e.g crown, sceptre, throne for king. 2）Container for its contents. e.g. the bottle for alcoholic drink.

3）The abstract for the concrete. e.g. the management for governing body,board of directors

etc.

4）The concrete for the abstract. e.g. tongue for language.

5）A part for the whole and vice versa. e.g. a sail for a ship,the army for a soldier etc. 6）The material for the thing made. e.g. silver for coins made of silve or for silver

vessels,dishes,articles.

课后习题---回家再做

1. Explain why change of word-meaning is fundamental in a living language

2. How do the historical and social causes account for changes in the meanings of words 3. How are changes of meaning frequently brought about by linguistic causes?

4. Why have many words changed their meaning as a result of being used euphemistically 5. how have the following words become specialized in meaning?

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Fowl, hound,deer,meat,to stink, to starve, pipe

6. What is extension of meaning? how have the following words become extended in

meaning?

Plant, bird,holiday,salary, picture,thing,to arrive

7. What are the two main forms of degeneration of meaning? Give examples to illustrate

your point

8. Describle the process of elevation of meaming for the following words 9. Pioneer, minister,marshal, job,black

10. How have metaphor and metonymy played an important part in semantic development

and semantic change?

11. Find out the original meaning of the following words by consulting an etymological

dictionary, suggest explanations as to how they have acquired their present meanings: Style,clue,cunning, horrible

12. Give examples of words from chinese, the meaning of which have changed with time,

and suggest explanations as how these changes have taken place.

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