英语词义变化的因素与类型

郭亚莉

【Abstract】In general， the language has been divided into two classifications all over the world.One called dead language is the unpopular or out-of –date， another regarded as living language is still prevalent and mutative.The first part of the paper traces the history of English vocabulary integration， including the influence from politics and culture and the process of development and innovation， proving the integration of language is like the process of globalization.There is considerable evidence which has provided to show that any language， even English， will not be a state of fixation.Then， the author lists the types and factors of change with some examples in detail， so that explore further to have more accurate subdivision.The last part compares the features of Chinese and English to illustrate the continuous development and influence from other languages.

【Key words】change； English word meaning； factors

I.Introduction on the history of English vocabulary integration

1.1 The historical background of English vocabulary development.Language historians always partition the history of English into three stages： Old English， Middle English and modern English.In the first stage， the population of English speakers is not more than millions； the scope of usage only is limited to the British Isles.Then， through a long improvement， English has to be the most open language from Middle English to Modern English.

1.2 The influence of politics to language independence.In the ancient times， there were three tribes called Angles， Saxons and Jutes in the northern Europe.In the 5th century， they conquered Britain and settled down there.After driving the native people into the deep mountains of Wales and Scotland， they divided the whole island among themselves.

1.3 The effect of culture movement on English development.English has been taken as the mandarin of England in the end of Middle English.And we cant leave out an important figure—Geoffrey Chaucer， an English writer in the 14th century.He contributed a lot to English： He was the first great poet who wrote in the current English language. English in the process of innovation and development

II.Types of change

2.1 Widening of meaning.First of all， we summarize it as Specific to General.It is through widening of meaning that a mono-semantic word is made poly-semantic.Second way is from Proper nouns to Common nouns.Many proper nouns including person names， place names， etc.have become common nouns used in everyday life.The last is from Concrete to Abstract.In English many words stand for everything.endprint

2.2 Narrowing of meaning.There are three kinds of narrowing.The first kind is from General to Specific.In early time， a woman not unnecessarily married， especially one who is old and uneducated，The second kind is from Abstract to Concrete.One of the commonest transformations in the English language is the transformation from an abstract meaning to a concrete one， The primary meaning of this word is habits or manners.Then it came to mean equipment or apparatus.The last kind is from Common nouns to Proper nouns.One striking use of common nouns for proper nouns is the application of nouns expressing places or names of places.

2.3 Elevation of meaning.There are two kinds of elevation.Firstly， a humble word is beginning to a greater or more important position.Secondly， the middle terms favorable or unfavorable according to their different contexts.

2.4 Transfer of meaning.Sometimes a word will shift so far from its original meaning that its meaning will nearly reverse.Words which were used to designate one thing but later changed to mean something else have experienced the process of semantic transfer.

2.5 Euphemism.Euphemism is the substitution of a word of more pleasant connotation for one of unpleasant connotation.It is also an important cause of semantic changes.We can divide the use of euphemism into three groups.Firstly， we express painful and distressing thing.Death is one of painful thing to speak， so there are many expressions to say it， for example， to decease， to join the majority， to go west， etc.The word kill is also one of such words， so people avoid speaking it and use other expressions， for instance， to destroy， to knock off， to do away with， etc.An economic crisis is another subject for euphemism.

2.6 Substitute.Substitute is a way to avoid repeating， which connects the context.It is the fact that a word can represent another word， clause， even sentence.It is divided into noun substitute， verb substitute， clause substitute and adverbial substitute.The following words usually are used into practice： one（s）， the same， the kind， the sort.We can make sentence for example， the child doesnt like this book.Show him a more interesting one.（the one means the book to avoid repeat）.John plays the piano as well as Mary does.（the does means the play）.As well as pronouns， possessive， so， to， and so on.

References：

[1]Toolan.Language in Literature： An Introduction to Stylistics [M].Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press，2008.

[2]He zhaoxiong & Mei deming.Modern Linguistics[M].Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press，1998.endprint