(3) degradation

degradation 又被称作pejoration

e.g. "boor" peasant---now a rude, ill-mannered person

"churl"peasant or free man---uncultivated or mean person

"hussy" housewife---a woman of low moral

"villain" a person who worked in a villa---evil person or scoundrel

(4) elevation

elevation 又被称作 ameliration

e.g. "nice" ignorance---foolish---now elevated to ’delight, pleasant’

"marshal" keeper of horses---now means ’high-ranking army officer’

"constable" keeper of horses---now means ’policeman’

(5) transfer

e.g. paper ( p140)

the lip of a wound ( associated transfer)

purse for ’money’ (associated transfer )

clear-sounding ( transfer of sensations )

2.Causes of Changes :

1)extra linguistic factors

(1) historical reason

a word is retained for a name thogh the meaning has changed because the referent has changed.

e.g. " pen" feather in the past ---pen, ball-pens, fountains pens

increased scientific knowledge and discovery are also important factors.

(2) class reason

elevation and degradation

(3) Psychological reason

The associated transfer of meaning and euphemistic use of words

Religious influence is another kind of psychological need.

e.g. "copperhead" on p.143

2)linguistic factors

The change of meaning may be caused by internal factors within the language system.

Especially when a phrase is shortened to one word which retains the meaning of the whole.

The influx of borrowings has caused some words to change in meaning.

The competition of native words eventually resulted in the semantic division.

语义扩大的三个特例:1)polysemic words of modern English

2)technical terms

3)from proper nouns to common words

问题:由普通变成专有名词算哪一类词类变化模式?

答案: Narrowing

问题: 词义缩小有几个特例?

答案:有三个特例

1) From common words to proper nouns

e.g. city ---> the City

pennisular --->the Pennisular

profit --->the Profit

2) shortening

3) material nouns

问题: 以下的词的词义的变化由什么模式造成的:

1)lust 最早是指人的一种pleasure快乐,现在是指sexual pleasure, 这种词义变化属于哪一种模式?
答案: degradation.

2)Editorial article 缩写为editorial 这是属于哪一种词义变化的模式?

答案: Narrowing

3) the Pennisular : 专指利比利亚半岛,那么这个词的形成是属于哪一种模式?

答案:Narrowing , 因为它是由common words 变成了proper nouns ,

4) Sandwitch , 最早是指三明治这个家族, 但是现在是指一切快餐类食品,这种词义的变化属于哪一种

答案：Extension

5)问题:多义词具有了不同的语义, 这种词义变化模式属于哪一类?

答案：Extension

6) 问题:liquor 最早是指所有液体的通称, 现在专门指alcoholic drinking , 这种词义的变化算哪一种模式?

答案：Narrowing or specialization

7) car 最早是指马拉的战车, 但是现在就是指小轿车,那么这种词义的变化算是哪一个原因造成的?

答案：Extra linguistic factor中的historical reason

8) computer 最早是指人的手工劳动的计算,后来是指占地面积非常大的计算机,现在