English Historical Semantics

ISBN-13: 9780748644773 / Angielski / Miękka / 2015 / 224 str.

University College London) Allan Kathryn L (Lecturer

Opis

Providing an ideal introduction to historical semantics, this book offers graduate students and advanced undergraduate students in linguistics an accessible overview of the structural and cognitive approaches to English historical semantics. Focusing primarily on Lexical Semantics, the study of word meaning, the book looks at how such studies help to answer two key questions in Historical Linguistics: how and why languages change.

Considering changes both in the meanings of individual word forms and in larger areas of the lexicon, English Historical Semantics illustrates how data can be found and analysed, and explores how Lexical Semantics interacts with other areas of linguistics. In particular, the book describes in detail two of the most essential resources in this field: the Oxford English Dictionary and the Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary. By using corpus data to study historical semantics, this book offers a solid grounding in the basic methodology of how to analyse corpus data, providing students with the tools to explore new words entering the language, and to study language change.

With extended case studies including colour and kinship terms, suggestions for further reading, and exercises designed to stimulate reflection and test understanding, this textbook is an invaluable resource and practical guide designed to help students navigate this large and fascinating field.

Edinburgh Textbooks on The English Language - Advanced
Series Editor: Heinz Giegerich

Books in this series provide readers with a detailed description and explanation of key areas in English Language study. The authors presuppose a basic working knowledge of the topic and explore aspects of the linguistics of English for an intermediate or advanced student readership.

Spis treści

Chapter 1: Introduction; Chapter 2: A brief history of the English lexicon; 2.1 Introduction; 2.2 Old English (OE: 700–1150); 2.3 Middle English (ME: 1150–1500); 2.4 Early Modern English (EModE: 1500–1750); 2.5 Late Modern English (LModE: 1750 to present day); 2.6 Conclusion: The Present Day; Chapter 3: Categories of meaning; 3.1. Introduction; 3.2 Traditional approaches to Semantics; 3.2.1 Reference; 3.2.2 Sense; 3.2.2.1 Sense relationships; 3.2.3 Components, sets and fields; 3.2.4 A note on homonymy; 3.2.5 A memory aid; 3.3 Categories and prototypes; 3.3.1 Prototypes in action; 3.3.2 Lexical prototypes; 3.3.3 Homonymy revisited; 3.4 Domains and frames; 3.5. Conclusion; Chapter 4: Tracing the development of individual words; 4.1 Introduction; 4.2 Introducing the OED; 4.2.1 OED1; 4.2.2 OED2; 4.2.3 OED3; 4.3 What the OED tells us; 4.3.1 manga2; 4.3.2 monster; 4.3.2.1 Formal history and etymology of monster; 4.3.2.2 Semantic history; 4.3.3 Overview; 4.4 Some other historical dictionaries; 4.4.1 Middle English Dictionary (MED); 4.4.2 Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND); 4.4.3 Dictionary of the Scots Language (DSL); 4.4.4 Dictionary of Old English (DOE); 4.4.5 Other dictionaries; 4.5 Historical corpora; Chapter 5: How and why words change meaning; 5.1 Introduction; 5.2 The significance of meaning change; 5.3 Studying semantic change; 5.4 The process of semantic change; 5.5 Categories of meaning change; 5.5.1 Widening (or broadening or generalisation) and narrowing (or specialisation); 5.5.2 Amelioration (or elevation) and pejoration (or deterioration or degeneration); 5.5.3 Metaphor and metonymy; 5.6 Grammaticalisation; 5.7 Why do words change meaning?; 5.7.1 External factors; 5.7.2 Internal factors: polysemy, homonymy, synonymy; 5.7.3 Stylistic factors; 5.8 Conclusion; Chapter 6: Larger categories; 6.1 Introduction; 6.2 A brief history of thesauruses; 6.3 The structure of thesauruses; 6.3.1 Basic level and other categories; 6.3.2 Folk and expert categories; 6.4 Using HTOED; 6.4.1 The structure of HTOED; 6.4.2 Inside HTOED categories; 6.5 Conclusion; Chapter 7: English Colour Terms: A case study, C. P. Biggam; 7.1 Introduction; 7.2 How to describe colour; 7.3 What are Basic Colour Terms?; 7.4 The evolution of basic colour categories; 7.5 The development of colour terms in English; 7.5.1 Old English (OE: 700–1150); 7.5.2 Middle English (ME: 1150–1500); 7.5.3 Modern English (ModE 1500–); 7.6 The changing nature of a basic category: BLUE; 7.7 Summary; 7.8 Conclusion; Chapter 8: Language and culture; 8.1 Introduction; 8.2 Linguistics and anthropology; 8.3 Pronouns of address; 8.4 Kinship; 8.4.1 Recent changes; 8.5 Time; 8.6 Conclusion; Chapter 9: Metaphor and metonymy; 9.1 Introduction; 9.2 Metaphor in language and thought; 9.3 Another kind of mapping: metonymy; 9.4 Metaphor and motivation; 9.5 Metonymy and motivation; 9.6 Conclusion; Chapter 10: The big picture and a look ahead; 10.1 Introduction; 10.2 The big picture; 10.3 Green as an example; 10. 4 Looking ahead; References; Glossary of key terms; Index