What I Have Learned from Lexicology
Lexicology is absolutely a new course for me .I do not come to recognize the notion until I have learned it for weeks .I have ever complain about learning this course ,because I think it useless for me .I just considered lexicology as a subject that teaches me to memorize new words and know new words without dictionary by its prefix and suffix then.It has proved that how superficial I was .What lexicology is about is far more than what have been kept in my mind.The next paragraphs,I will briefly tell about what I have learned from this course .
I used to mistake linguistics as lexicology . In my mind ,the two are the same conception .It is their definitions that instantly make me know their differences .Linguistics is can be defined as the scientific study of language .while lexicology is a branch of linguistics concerned with the study of vocabulary of a given language.What is lexicology is still a puzzle for me .Fortunately the textbook tells me more vividly .It says that lexicology is a science of words .Words ,Meaning and Vocabulary :An Introduction to Modern English Lexicology , written by H.Jackson and .EZ.Amvela , says:??Lexicology is the branch of linguistics that investigates,describes and theorizes about vocabulary .The fields of study on English lexicology has become much wider ,of which there have formed some individual fields ,such as morphology ,semantics ,lexical semantics and so on .
The second and third chapter in English Lexicology made deepest impression on me .They mainly tell about kinds of methods of word formation ,including three fundamental methods__affixation or derivation,compounding or composition ,conversion or transmutation ,and three other methods__abbreviation or shortening ,onomatopoeia back formation .The six methods have their own characteristics.I just detailedly tell about the first method ---affixation. ,because arming with this method will benefit us greatly in accumulating words .The resource of affix is various.As we know ,there are many foreign words in English vocabulary ,mainly from Greece ,Latin and Romanic ,such as anti-,mini-, cata- , uni-, -ion ,-let ,non-,vice- and so on . The meaning of its affixes is of polysemy and synonymity. Affixes have great influence on part of speech and meaning .And the last feature is that affixes are of comtemporaneity .The productivity of affix varies from derivative affix .These features remind me of what I knew before learn the course .That is how to know new words by its prefix and suffix .Take a word ??catastrophe?? for example .Its prefix ??cata-??means ??down??,and its suffix ??troph??means turning ,so the whole word means great suffer or sudden damage. There are many typical affixes ,such as -ish ,cheap designer watches, -under ,be-, en- ,have stead meanings,which we need to keep in mind.The another method,which has helped me a lot is abbreviation .Some common words ,such as CEO, CPPC, CD ,CPU,OPEC, and some other uncommon but meaningful words like SD,AFP,CFR ,BRB,TB,will be of great significance in English learning .Abbreviation has become one of the most important methods of word formation,for its convenience of using ,its simple structure and its clear explanation . By using this method ,it can be formed four kinds of words :clipped word ,initialism,acronym and blend. This method is used in many fields,such as technology ,news ,replica luxury handbags, trade English , the name of constitution , literature , medicine and so on . And those words are common to be seen in daily life . AD , DJ ,CD ,DIY ,are very the examples.
What I have learned from the course seem to be superficial till now. And I do know that I still have a long way to go on the way to learn the course well.