何谓英语词汇学？不少学生误以为，英语词汇学就是“学英语词汇”，把词汇学与市面上的各种词汇学习记忆手册联系起来。其实，英语词汇学是高校英语专业一门语言学基础专业理论课程，它运用现代语言学的有关理论，研究英语语言中的词汇问题。

由杨连瑞主编的《新编英语词汇学》共有十章，在参考以上专著及教材优点的基础上，以现代语言学理论为指导，以英语词汇为研究对象，内容主要涉及现代英语词汇的形态结构、构成方式、内容、发展变化、词的形式和内容的关系、词汇之间的意义关系、词汇的语义特征、词的联想和搭配、习语、美国英语词汇等，并附有词汇学专业术语英汉对照表。

Chapter I Introduction

1.1 What Is Lexicology?

1.2 English Lexicology and Its Relation to Other Disciplines

1.3 Methods of Study

1.4 Aims and Significance of the Course

Exercises

Chapter 2 Basic Concepts of Words and Vocabulary

2.1 Definition of a Word

2.2 Sound and Meaning

2.3 Sound and Form

2.4 Vocabulary

2.5 Classification of Words

Exercises

Chapter 3 The Developing English Vocabulary

3.1 The Indo-European Language Family

3.2 A Historical Overview of the English Vocabulary

3.3 Growth of Present-Day English Vocabulary

3.4 Modes of Vocabulary Development

Exercise

Chapter 4 Morphological Structure and Word-Formation

4.1 The Concept of Morpheme and the Types of Morphemes

4.2 The Three Major Processes of Word-Formation

4.3 The Minor Processes of Word-Formation

Exercises

Chapter 5 Ward Meaning, Polysemy and Homonymy

5.1 Motivation

5.2 Main Types of Word Meaning

5.3 Componential Analysis and Semantic Features

5.4 Polysemy

5.5 Homonymy

Exercises

Chapter 6 Sense Relations Between Words

6.1 Synonymy

6.2 Antonymy

6.3 Hyponymy

6.4 Semantic Field

Exercises

Chapter 7 Changes in Word Meaning

7.1 Causes of Changes in Word Meaning

7.2 Four Tendencies in Semantic Change

7.3 Semantic Changes Resulting from the Figurative Use of Words

Exercises

Chapter 8 Meaning and Context

8.1 Types of Contexts

8.2 The Role of Context in Deciding Word Meaning

8.3 How to Guess Word Meaning from Context

Exercises

Chapter 9 English Idioms

9.1 Definition of Idioms

9.2 Sources of English Idioms

9.3 Classification of English Idioms

9.4 Syntactic, Structural and Stylistic Features

9.5 Beware of Translation Traps

Exercises

Chapter 10 American English

10.1 Growth of American English

10.2 Characteristics of American English

10.3 Differences Between British and American English

10.4 Conclusion

Exercises

Appendix English-Chinese Lexicology Terms

Bibliography