Contents
Unit 1 An Invitation to Lexicology 1
Text A What Is Lexicology 2
Text B The Secrets of a Word 9
Text C The Synonyms of Word 10
Text D Morphology 11
Unit 2 Historical Development of English Vocabulary 14
Text A English Vocabulary A Historical Perspective 15
Text B The Growth of Present-Day English Vocabulary 23
Text C A Brief History of English 25
Unit 3 Foreign Elements of English Vocabulary 28
Text A The Sources of English Vocabulary 29
Text B Latin and Greek Borrowings 35
Text C French Borrowings 36
Text D Borrowings from Other Languages 38
Unit 4 Classification of English Vocabulary 40
Text A Content Words and Function Words 41
Text B Stylistic Classification of the English Vocabulary 42
Text C Colloquialism in Literature 49
Text D The Importance of Function Words 51
Unit 5 Morphological Structure of English Vocabulary 53
Text A Morphemes 54
Text B Latin and Greek Roots and Affixes in English Vocabulary 62
Text C Roots and Stems 66
Unit 6 Major Word Formations in English 68
Text A English Compound 69
Text B Derived Words 77
Text C Conversion 79
Text D Deriving Nouns from Verbs Names for People 83
Unit 7 Minor Word Formations in English 87
Text A Minor Process of Word Formation 88
Text B Acronymy 95
Text C Reduplication 96
Text D Eponyms 97
Unit 8 Word Meaning and Motivation 99
Text A Word Meaning in the English Language 100
Text B Motivation of Words 102
Text C Aspects of Meaning 107
Text D Onomatopoeia 108
Unit 9 Sense Relations Between Words 111
Text A Synonymy 112
Text B Antonymy 113
Text C Hyponymy 118
Text D Oxymoron 120
Unit 10 Polysemy and Homonymy 124
Text A Polysemy and Homonymy 125
Text B Lexical Relations Hyponymy and Homonymy 132
Text C Fun with Homonyms 134
Unit 11 Semantic Changes 137
Text A Semantic Changes and the Causes 138
Text B Semantic Shift 145
Text C The History of Semantic Change 146
Text D Metaphor and Metonymy 147
Unit 12 Figurative Use of Words 151
Text A What Is Figurative Speech 152
Text B Literal and Figurative Language 153
Text C Synecdoche and Metonymy 158
Text D Taboos and Euphemisms 159
Unit 13 Meaning and Context 162
Text A Context as the Key to Unlocking Word Meaning 163
Text B Ambiguity 171
Text C Context and Context of Situation? 174
Text D Decoding Meaning Through Context 175
Unit 14 English Idioms 179
Text A English Idioms—Cream of the Language 180
Text B Major Sources of English Idioms 182
Text C Animals and English Idioms 187
Text D Food and English Idioms 190
Unit 15 English Vocabulary and Greek Mythology 193
Text A English Words of Greek Mythological Origins 194
Text B The English Word Roots and Mythology 200
Text C Words in Astronomy of Greek Mythological Origins 202
Text D The Adventures of Odysseus 204