Ⅰ. Each of the statements below is followed by four alternative answers. Choose the one that best completes the statement and put the letter in the bracket.
1. Which of the following suffixes can be used to form both nouns and adjectives?
A.Transfer may occur between abstract meanings and concrete meanings.
B.Transfer may occur between subjective meanings and objective meanings.
C.Transfer may occur as associated transfer.
D.Transfer may occur as structural transfer.
A B C D
D
25. Which of the following about the definition of a word are right? (1) a minimal free form of a language (2) a sound unity (3) a unit of meaning (4) a form that can function alone in a sentence
A.(1)and(2).
B.(1),(2)and(3).
C.(2), (3) and(4).
D.(1),(2), (3)and(4).
A B C D
D
[解析] 根据对词所总结的定义“A word is a minimal free form of a language that has a given sound and meaning and syntactic function.”可知,本题正确答案为D。
26. Which of the following is an example of the use of pejorative prefixes?
29. The overwhelming majority of blends are ______.
A.adjectives
B.verbs
C.adverbs
D.nouns
A B C D
D
[解析] 大部分的拼缀词(blends)都是名词,其次是动词,形容词更少。
30. In the field of word-formation, the most productive means at work now are ______.
A.affixation, compounding and clipping
B.clipping, shortening and acronymy
C.compounding, conversion and clipping
D.affixation, compounding and conversion
A B C D
D
Ⅱ. Complete the following statements with proper words or expressions according to the course book.
1. According to their different ______ functions, the idioms are classified into five groups in the course book.
grammatical
2. Nowadays Anglo-Saxon is generally referred to as ______.
Old English
3. ______ refers to the mental associations suggested by the conceptual meaning of a word.
Semantic motivation
4. The massive word store of a language like English can be conceived of as composed around a number of meaning areas. Some large, such as "philosophy" or "emotions", others smaller, such as "kinship" or "color". Viewing the total meaning in this way is the basis of ______.
field theory
5. "Decompose" and "unwrap" are two examples of ______ prefixes.
reversative
6. The attitudes of different classes of people also made inroads into lexical meanings in the case of ______.
elevation or degradation
7. Vocabulary is the most unstable element as it is undergoing constant change in both ______.
form and content
8. The word in bold in "Michael is the pride of the family." has undergone the transfer from ______.
abstract to concrete meaning
9. The hints given in a context are called ______.
context clues
10. In some idioms, a constituent may be replaced by a word of the same part of speech, resulting in synonymous or ______ idioms.
antonymous
Ⅲ. Define the following terms.
1. initialisms
Initialisms are words pronounced letter by letter: (1) Letters represent full words. (2) Letters represent constituents in a compound or just parts of a word.
2. prefixation
Prefixation is the formation of new words by adding prefixes to stems. Prefixes do not generally change the word-class of the stem but only modify its meaning.
3. alien
Aliens are borrowed words which have retained their original pronunciation and spelling, e. g. ,kowtow, intermezzo, emir, rajar etc.
4. amelioration
Amelioration is also called elevation, a term referring to the process by which words rise from humble beginnings to positions of importance, e. g., "nice" used to mean "ignorant", then changed to "foolish" and now it is elevated to mean "pleasant, delightful".
5. concept
Concept, whith is beyond language, is the result of human cognition reflecting the objective world in the human mind. It is universal to all men alike regardless of culture, race, language and so on.
Ⅳ. Answer the following questions. Your answers should be clear and short. Write your answers in the space given below.
1. What is word-formation? What are the three major processes of word-formation?
Word-formation is the process of creating new words from the material available in the language according to certain structural and semantic formulas and patterns. The three major types of word-formation are affixation, compounding and conversion.
2. What is the symbolic connection between a sound and meaning?
There is no intrinsic relationship between sound and meaning as the connection between them is arbitrary and conventional.
3. In the following sentence, what type of transfer has the word in bold undergone? You should address your remarks to the chair.
The word "chair" has undergone associated transfer. In associated transfer, the meaning of a word is transferred through association. For example, in the following phrases: the lip of a wound, the tongue of a bell, the nose of a plane, each italicized word undergoes associated transfer.
4. What is the appropriate antonym for "sharp" in the following statement? Jack heard the sharp noise from the dark house.
In the sentence, "sharp noise" means the loud, sudden noise high in tone. In this case, the word "dull" can be its antonym, and "dull noise" serves as a counterpart of "sharp noise".
Ⅴ. Analyze and comment on the following. Write your answers in the space given below.
1. Comment on the following pairs of sentences in terms of superordinates and subordinates. [A]The man said he would come to our school next week. [B] The visiting scholar said he would visit our university next Monday.
Superordinates: man, come, school, week. Subordinates : scholar, visit, university, Monday. From these superordinates and subordinates, it can be said that sentence B contains more details.
2. Use examples to illustrate the similarity and difference between absolute synonyms and relative synonyms.
(1) Absolute synonyms (complete synonyms) are words which are identical in meaning in all its aspects, i. e., both in grammatical meaning and lexical meaning, including conceptual and associative meanings. Synonyms of this type are interchangeable in every way. Absolute synonyms are rare in natural languages and restricted to highly specialized vocabulary, such as "scarlet-fever/scarlatina" in medicine. (2) Relative synonyms (near-synonyms) are similar of nearly the same in denotation, but embrace different shades of meaning or different degrees of a given quality. For example, to "change" a thing is to put another thing in its place; to "alter" a thing is to make it different from what it was before.