Analysis of English Semantic Change

Yu HAO, Ren CHI

Abstract


Semantics changes with the times all the time. When a word loses its original meaning, and refers to other different things, this may lead to the semantic change. The factors, such as the change of people’s living environment, the revolutionary of society, the progress of technology may contribute to the semantic change. The semantic change has some forms, including the extension of meaning, restriction of meaning, the elevation of meaning, degradation of meaning and transference of meaning. In this paper, the types of semantic change will be illustrated at first. Then the reasons of semantic change will be discussed. At last, the conclusion can be drawn that understanding the types, reasons and history will help us to master more vocabulary, and improve our ability of using language.

Keywords


Semantic change; Types; Reasons

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References


Bai, X. H. (2002). 浅谈英语词汇的语义演变 [Semantic evolution of English words].《吕梁高等专科学校学报》,(01).

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Shi, J. S. (2001). 析英语语义的演变 [Analysis of the semantic evolution of English].《吉首大学学报》,(01).

Shu, D. F. (2005).《现代语义学》[Modern semantics]. 上海外语教育出版社.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/j.hess.1927024020130502.H534

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