-
Objectives :
1.
Learn the scientific definition of the word;
2.
Understand
the
arbitrary
and
conventional
relationship
between
sound
and
meaning;
3. Remember the
four factors that cause the differences between
sound and form;
4. Understand the
relationship between words and vocabulary.
Main points:
Word
Sound and
Meaning
Sound and Form
V
ocabulary
Unit 1
1.1
What is a word?
What is a word? This question has
occupied the attention of linguists for ages.
Although numerous definitions have been
suggested, none of them seem to be perfect.
Scholars still do not agree on the
definition of the word.
When we talk about a word, we tend to
think in visual terms. In this line a word
can be defined as a meaningful group of
letters printed or written horizontally across a
piece of paper. As defined in terms of
spoken language, a word is viewed as a sound
or combination of sounds which are made
voluntarily with human vocal equipment.
According
to
semanticists
,
a
word
is
a
unit
of
meaning.
Grammarians
,
however,
insist that a word
be a free form that can function in a sentence,
etc. To sum up, the
definition of a
word comprises the following points:
(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.
Therefore, we can say that 'a word is a
minimal free form of a language that has
a given sound and meaning and syntactic
function.'
Words can be simple and complex, yet
all must comply with these criteria. Man
and fine are simple, but they each have
sound, meaning and syntactic function, and
each
can
be
used
alone
in
a
sentence.
Naturally
they
are
words.
There
are
words
which
are
complex
such
as
and
.
Both
are
polysyllabic
words
and
can
function
as
'subject',
'object'
and
'predictive'
in
a
sentence.
Though
misfortune can be further divided as
mis- and fortune, the former cannot stand alone
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as
a
word.
Similarly,
management
can
be
broken
down
as
manage
and
-ment,
the
latter cannot be used freely, either.
Blackmail can be separated into black and mail,
and both can work as independent units
in a sentence, the meaning of each, however,
is by no means the combination of the
two. Black is a colour, opposite to 'white', and
mail denotes 'something sent by post',
yet when they are put together, the combined
form
means
'compel,
compulsion,
to
make
payment
or
action
for
concealment
of
discreditable secrets etc.' Hence
blackmail is a different word.
1.2 Sound and Meaning
A
word
is
a
symbol
that
stands
for
something
else
in
the
world.
Each
of
the
world's
cultures has come to agree that certain sounds
will represent certain persons,
things,
places, properties, processes and activities
outside the language system. This
symbolic connection is
almost
always arbitrary,
and there is
'no logical
relationship
between the
sound which stands for a thing or an idea and the
actual thing and idea
itself'. A dog is
called a dog not because the sound and the three
letters that make up
the word just
automatically suggest the animal in question. It
is only symbolic. The
relationship
between
them
is
conventional
because
people
of
the
same
speech
community have agreed to refer to the
animal with this cluster of sounds. In different
languages
the
same
concept
can
be
represented
by
different
sounds.
Woman,
for
example,
becomes
Frau
in
German,
femme
in
French
and
fù
n?
in
Chinese.
On
the
other hand, the same
sound [mi:t] is used to mean meet, meat, mete.
Knight and night,
though denoting
entirely different things, yet have the same
sound.
1.3 Sound and Form
It is
generally agreed that the written form
of a natural language is the written
record of the oral form. Naturally the
written form should agree with the oral form. In
other words, the sound should be
similar to the form. This is fairly true of
English in
its earliest stage i.e. Old
English. The speech of the time was represented
very much
more faithfully in writing
than it is today. With the development of the
language, more
and more differences
occur between the two. The internal reason for
this is that the
English alphabet was
adopted from the Romans, which does not have a
separate letter
to represent each sound
in the language so that some letters must do
double duty or
work together in
combination.
Another reason is that the
pronunciation has changed more rapidly than
spelling
over the years, and in some
cases the two have drawn far apart. During the
last five
hundred
years,
though
the
sounds
of
speech
have
changed
considerably,
there
have
been
no corresponding changes of spelling.
A third reason
is that some of the differences were created by
the early scribes. In
the early days
the spelling differences did not matter very much
as people were not so
used to seeing
words in print, and the spelling was not fixed as
it is today. As a result,
no one was
quite sure how some English words should be
spelled. Sometimes, people
deliberately
changed
spelling
of
words
either
to
make
a
line
even
or
for
easier
recognition. Before the printing press
was brought to England, everything was written
by hand. Those scribes, who made a
living by writing for other people often worked
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