My Understanding of Word-formation

李文森

摘要：As for English learning， breaking through the vocabulary difficulties is the only way. It is undoubtedly the most fundamental， effective and scientific method of vocabulary learning is analyzing the root structure of English words. The effectiveness of the method is based on the accurate grasp of English root and the rules of word-formation.

The interpretation of the root of words and the meaning of word-formation follow the basic idea of the philosophy of experience. In other words， the meaning comes from the experience of the human body， and the human body space experience is at the core of the meaning system.

關鍵詞：word-formation; root; vocabulary

Chapter One My Understanding of English Root-formation

The first part is the understanding of English root-formation. Cognitive linguistics emphasizes that there is a cognitive world between language and the real world， and the use of language reflects the cognitive world. The most basic form of English words is formed gradually by people's perception of body parts， spatial relations and power movements. Firstly， the number and distribution of the root of the word "body experience" reflects that human beings are human-centered in the process of understanding the world. This kind of experience is firstly oriented to "near taking various bodies"， that is， to the human body itself， and then to "far taking various things"， that is， to natural and social phenomena. Among the common roots in English， there are a large number of roots directly related to human body， which involves the main organs of the human body， such as hands， feet， mouths， eyes， ears， noses and so on. Secondly， spatial experience reflects people's dependence on the surrounding spatial and positional change experience. In English prefixes， about half of the prefixes can be used to represent spatial and positional changes， which reflects people's understanding of changes of spatial orientation ， such as ante-， pre-， pro-， post-， re-， retro-， with-， over-， up-， etc. The third aspect is the inner psychological experience and the external environment， related to the person's psychology root formation can directly reflect the people's psychological experience， mainly including the mind emotion cognition and mood in the psychological process of change， such as am （love）， pathy （sympathy）， sat （satisfaction）， it describes people's experience and cognition of various emotional changes in detail. The external environment， including natural environment and social environment， related to the natural and social roots of word-formation directly reflects the people to the natural environment and social environment to the survival of the experience and cognition， such as matri （motherhood， mother） mainly word-formation often associated with the following meaning， nanny， housewives， the head nurse， matron （matron）， marriage， matrimony， female parent （matriarch）， etc.

Chapter Two The Basic Part of English Words

The second part is the root， which is the basic part of English words. The generation and distribution of English roots reflect people's cognition of the world. The creation of roots mainly comes from four aspects： the human body itself， the natural world， the psychological world and social life. The root word-formation from the upper and lower limbs of the human body and language has an absolute advantage in word-formation ability， and the rest is mostly related to various organs and physiological functions of the human body. The roots of words from the natural world mainly include four aspects： the change of spatial position and direction， the change of natural state and nature， the change of quantity and various natural objects. The roots related to people's psychological world are mainly manifested in two aspects： emotional changes and world cognition. Human society is the totality of people grouped together by various social relations， which can be directly reflected by the number of roots. The roots related to social environment represent the largest number of social relations， while other roots are often associated with people's production and life.

Conclusion

In short， English vocabulary is not boring to passive present on books， but is closely associated with people to explore the experience of the world. Just as our Chinese characters， English word-formation reflects human wisdom and creativity， through perusing the book， only to find that root word-formation in English. What's more， through the sibilant word-formation， we can apprehend the cognitive mechanism behind vocabulary and culture connotation. On the basis of expanding vocabulary， we will improve vocabulary ability and language training.

References

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Robin， R. H. The Theory of Vocabulary. Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press， 2000.

The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. Oxford and New York： OUP， 1996.

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