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My Opinion on Why We Study English Lexicology

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My opinion on why we study English lexicology

How many words are there in the modern English language? There is no single sensible answer to this question. It is impossible to count the number of words in a language, because it is so hard to decide what counts as a word. But it is widely accepted by linguists that there are one million or so English words now. If so, a subject is needed to study and analyze modern English vocabulary. Thus, English-lexicological learning is important in some aspects.

ⅠBetter understanding low context culture

Studying English lexicology can help us better understand different thinking styles. According to anthropologist Edward Hall, the U.S is a low context country, which communication is explicit, …show more content…

1.Affixation Affixation is the process of forming words by adding derivational affixes to stems. It is also called derivation. Words formed in this way are derivatives.

1) Prefixation

Prefixation is a way of forming new words by adding prefixes to stems. Usually, prefixes do not change the part of speech of a word. Their chief function is to modify its meaning, although there are exceptions. Prefixes can be divided, based on their meanings, into: negative prefixes, reversative prefixes, pejorative prefixes, prefixes of degree or size, locative prefixes, prefixes of time and order, number prefixes and miscellaneous prefixes. For example,

pre-: before in time, place, or rank pro-: forward, ahead of; or favoring
1. __pro______gress (move forward)
2. ___pre_____cede (come before in time)
3. ____pre____dict (tell about sth. before it happened)
4. ____pro____spect (looking forward)
5. ____pro____slavery (favoring the institution of slavery)
6. ____pre____caution (care taken beforehand)
7. ____pre____side (to sit before and act as chairman)
8. _____pre___vious (occurring before in time or order)
9. _____pro___mote (to move ahead)
10. _____pro___ceed (go forward)

2) Suffixation

Suffixation is the process of forming new words by adding suffixes to the end of stems. The chief role of a suffix is not to modify the meaning of a stem, rather to change the grammatical function of a stem, though there are a few exceptions. Suffixes can be divided

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