词汇学Unit 6-7 答案

Unit 6 Semantic Networks of English Words

Check Your Understanding

State whether each of the following statements is TRUE or FALSE. a. Words from different classes can form a semantic field.

b. Most lexical items form semantic field with other lexemes with certain semantic relation. c. The meaning of a hyponym is included in the meaning of its superordinate. d. There is always a superordinate term for its hyponyms.

e. Lexical gaps across English and Chinese exist in all semantic fields. Key: F T F F T

In-Class Activities

1. Some semantic fields are quite small. For example, each pair of antonyms, such as long and short forms a lexical field of two members. The meanings of the two antonyms have in common that both relate to an end section of the same scale, and the group is complete since there are no other adjectives that share this part of the meaning.

ASK:

(1) Can you find more semantic fields of this small type?

(2) Do polysemous word old and its antonyms new and young belong to the same semantic field?

Key:(1) alive and dead, male and female, big and small

(2) No. old & new and old & young belong to different semantic fields.

2. In public notices, we often find the use of general words for persons, objects, places, etc. Look at the following three pictures. ASK:

(1) What are the general words used in these pictures? Can you provide some hyponyms for each

of them? Does any of the general words have a certain hyponym that finds no equivalent in Chinese?

(2) Do you think it is reasonable to use superordinate terms on these occasions? Key: (1) vehicle, pets, food, drinks, shirt, shoes, customer (2) Omit

3. Hyponymy is a transitive relation, i.e, if x→y and y→z then x→z. For example, since ―dog‖ is a hyponym of ―mammal‖ and ―mammal‖ is a hyponym of ―animal‖, ―dog is a hyponym of animal‖. ASK:

(1) Can you find other examples to prove the relation of transitivity?

(2) Is meronymy a transitive relation like hyponymy? Use examples for illustration. Key:(1) Tulip is a hyponym of flower which is a hyponym of plant.

Scarlet, vermilion, carmine and crimson are hyponyms of red which is a hyponym of color.

(2) Meronymy is not exactly the transitive relation like hyponymy. For example, ―pupil‖ is a part of ―eye‖, and ―eye‖ is a part of ―face‖, while ―pupil‖ is not a part of ―face‖.

4. Often a concept lexicalized in one language may not have a corresponding lexical item in another language and thus presents a translation difficulty. ASK:

(1) What methods can you employ to translate the missing word, if the concept is important or must be cited often?

(2) Is it an easy job to translate the Chinese sentence ―他铅笔盒里有五支笔‖ into English? Why

or why not? Name some of the hyponyms of ―笔‖ in both Chinese and English. Key: 1) a compound word, a descriptive phrase, borrowing from one language, etc.

2) No. Because there is no English equivalence for Chinese word笔.

铅笔 pencil 钢笔 pen / fountain pan圆珠笔 ball-point pen 毛笔 writing brush画笔 painting brush 鸭嘴笔 drawing pen / ruling pen蜡笔 (wax) crayon 粉笔 chalk

5. A term which is a hyponym of itself is an autohyponym in that the same lexical item can operate at both superordinate and subordinate levels; for example, ―man‖ contrasts with ―animal‖ at one level, but at a lower level it contrasts with ―woman‖ (in effect, ―a man is a kind of man‖). ASK:

(1) Can you find other autohyponyms?

(2) Can you account for the existence of autohyponyms in any possible way? Key: Omit

6. Hyponymy and meronymy are often found in language use. It is quite common for a general term and a specific term, or a part word and a whole word to substitute for each other in both speaking and writing. The former rhetorical device is called metonymy and the latter one synecdoche. For example, in the sentence ―An apple a day keeps the doctor away‖, the specific term ―apple‖ refers to the general term ―fruit‖; in the sentence ―How many mouths does he have to feed‖, the part word ―mouth‖ is used to replace the whole word ―person‖. Read the following sentences.

a. He could hardly earn his everyday bread. b. I’ve got wheels.

c. Last year nearly 6 million vehicles rolled off the assembly lines. d. Put down the steel.

ASK:

(1) Can you point out the words substituted by the bold-faced words? (2) Can you supply more examples of your own? Key: (1) 1. food 2. car 3. automobiles 4. knife (2) Omit

Post-Class Task

1. How is meronymy different from hyponymy? Use examples to illustrate their differences. Key: Meronymy is different from hyponymy in that the former is a ―part of‖ or ―member of‖ relation while the latter a ―kind of‖ relation. For example, a leaf is a part of a tree; an oak is a kind of tree.

Hyponymy is a transitive relation, i.e, if x→y and y→z then x→z. For example, since ―dog‖ is a hyponym of ―mammal‖ and ―mammal‖ is a hyponym of ―animal‖, ―dog is a hyponym of animal‖. Meronymy is not necessarily a transitive relation. For example, although .

2. Read the following tree diagram on the relationship of hyponymy among lexical items in the

semantic field of fruit and illustrate the lexical gap existing in the field. fruit

?? etc. berry

apple pear blackberry raspberry etc.

Key: The term berry acts as the general term for more specific fruits blackberry and raspberry,

but there seems to be no term for the category including such fruit as apple and pear.

3. Meronymy is classified into the following seven types. Find more examples for each type.

1. component — object (branch — tree,) 2. member — collection (fish — shoal) 3. portion — mass (strand — hair) 4. stuff — object (gold — ring)

5. feature — activity (paying — shopping ) 6. place — area (Cambridge — Massachusetts) 7. phase — process (adolescence — growing up) Key: Omit

4. Identify the meaning relationship between the following pairs.

a. window house b. football game c. Chinese Language d. New York USA e. CPU computer f. scarlet red

Key: 1)meronymy 2) hyponymy 3) hyponymy 4) meronymy 5)mernymy 6) hyponymy

5. The Chinese word ―吃” can be used flexibly to form various expressions. Translate the following Chinese slangs into English.

吃闲饭 吃香 吃不消 吃力 吃苦 吃不开

Key:吃闲饭‖（lead an idle life）， ―吃香‖（be very popular）， ―吃不消‖（more than one can

stand, too much）吃力(word hard, be tired)，吃苦（have a tough time）吃不开（be unpopular）

6. The following passage is an introduction to ―pop‖. Please draw a lexical network of ―pop‖ constructed by words with semantic relations of hyponymy, meronymy, etc.

Pop Even if the word “pop” disappears from the English vocabulary, the influence of pop will remain. Pop has become part of British- and American-history. There has always been a close cultural link, or tie, between Britain and English-speaking America, not only in literature but also in the popular arts, especially music. Before the Second World War the Americans exported jazz and the blues. During the 1950s they exported rock ’n’ roll. Then in the early 1960s a new sound was heard, very different from anything, which has so far come from the American side of the Atlantic. This was the Liverpool, or Merseyside, “beat”. Situated on the River Mersey in the northeastern corner of the industrial Black Country, Liverpool was not a place which anyone visited for fun. Until the 1960s it was known only as one of the Britain’s largest ports. Then, almost overnight, it became world famous as the birthplace of the new pop culture which, in a few years, swept across Britain and America, and across most of the countries of the western world. The people responsible for the pop revolution were four Liverpool boys who joined together in a group and called themselves The Beatles. They played in small clubs in the back streets of the city. Unlike the famous solo stars who had their songs written for them, the Beatles wrote their own words and music. The Beatles won the affection and admiration of people of all ages and social backgrounds. As they developed, their songs became more serious. They wrote not only of love, but of death and old age and poverty and daily life. They were respected by many intellectuals and by some serious musicians. Largely thanks to the Beatles, pop music has grown into an immense and profitable industry. The influence of British pop in America was immense. American pop groups soon became as famous as British groups. Both British and Americans are experimenting with new ideas, and pop is developing and changing, and merging with modern folk music.

Key:

jazz is from is a kind of is from is a kind of music The blues U.S. is from is a kind of is a kind of pop is from creates originated from The Beatles is a city of

Britain Rock Liverpool

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