-九大行星
Chapter 5
Semantics
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Semantics----the study of
language meaning.
?
Semantics is
defined as
the study of meaning
.
However, it is
not the only linguistic
discipline that studies
meaning.
?
Semantics
answers
the
question
―what
does
this
sentence
mean‖.
In
other
w
ords,
it
is
the
analysis
of
conventional meanings in
words and sentences out of context.
?
Meaning is central to the
study of communication.
?
Classification of lexical meanings.
Here are G
.
Leech
’
s seven types of
meaning. ( British linguist)
?
1. Conceptual
meaning (also called denotative or cognitive
meaning) is the essential and inextricable part of
what
language
is,
and
is
widely
regarded
as
the
central
factor
in
verbal
communication.
It
means
that
the
meaning of words may be
discussed in terms of what they denote or refer
to.
?
2. Connotative meaning
–
the communicative value an
expression has by virtue of what it refers to,
embraces
the properties of the
referent, peripheral
?
3.
Social
meaning
(stylistic
meaning)
–
what
is
conveyed
about
the
social
circumstances
of
the
use
of
a
linguistic expression
?
4. Affective
meaning (affected meaning)
–
what is communicated of the feeling or attitude of
the speaker/writer
towards what is
referred to
?
5.
Reflected meaning
–
what is
communicated through association with another
sense of the same expression
?
Taboos
?
6. Collocative
meaning
–
the associated
meaning a word acquires in line with the meaning
of words which
tend to co-occur with it
?
(2,
3,
4,
5,
6
can
be
together
called
associative
meaning
–
meaning
that
hinges
on
referential
meaning,
less
stable, more culture-
specific )
7. Thematic
meaning
—
what is communicated
by the way in which the message is organized in
terms of order
and emphasis.
Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang
Joly
Hawkes
and Minford
Go home
On my way back
Begin my journey
Pass away
Be no more
Dead
Death
The
breath
is
just
gone
out
of
the
Death
body
Has gone
Her
spirit has retired
Be taken from us
Depart this
world
Depart this life
Gone
Gone
Be no more
Death
?
What is meaning?----
Scholars under different scientific backgrounds
have different understandings of language
meaning.
Some views concerning the study of
meaning
?
Naming
theory (Plato)
?
The conceptualist view
?
Contextualism
(Bloomfield)
?
Behaviorism
Naming theory
(Plato):
Words are names or labels for
things.
The linguistic forms or
symbols, in other words, the words used in a
language are taken to be labels of the objects
they stand for; words are just names or
labels for things
?
Limitations:
1)
Applicable to nouns only.
2)
There
are
nouns
which
denote
things
that
do
not
exist
in
the
real
world,
e.g.
ghost,
dragon,
unicorn,
phenix…
3)
There are nouns that do not refer to physical
objects but abstract notions, e.g. joy, impulse,
hatred…
1
The conceptualist view
?
The
conceptualist
view
holds
that
there
is
no
direct
link
between
a
linguistic
form
and
what
it
refers
to
(i.e.
between
language
and
the
real
world);
rather,
in
the
interpretation
of
meaning
they
are
linked
through
the
mediation of concepts in
the mind.
Ogden and Richards: semantic triangle
Thought/reference
?
concept or notion, mental
image
Words/phrases/sentences
Symbol/Form
(words), signifier
Referent
?
(signified, real object,
reality)
?
The
symbol or form refers to the linguistic elements
(words and phrases);
?
The
referent refers to the object in the world of
experience;
?
Thought or
reference refers to concept.
?
The symbol or a word
signifies things by virtue of the concept
associated with the form of the word in the minds
of the speaker;
and the concept looked at from this
point of view is the meaning of the word.
The
contextualism
John Firth
The situational context: in a
particular spatiotemporal situation
Linguistic context
(co-
text): the probability of a word’s
co
-occurrence or collocation with
another word
?
Meaning should
be studied in terms of situation, use,
context
—
elements closely
linked with language behavior.
Two
types of contexts are recognized:
?
Situational context:
spatiotemporal situation
?
Linguistic context: the
probability of a word’s c
o-occurrence
or collocation.
?
For
example,
―black‖
in
black
hair
&
black
coffee,
or
black
sheep
differs
in
meaning;
“The
president
of
the
United States”
can mean
either the president or presidency in different
situation.
Behaviorism
Bloomfield
based on contextualist view
Behaviorists define meaning of a
language form as the situation in which the
speaker utters it and the response it
calls forth in the hearer
?
Behaviorists attempted to
define meaning as ―
the situation in
which the speaker utters it and the response it
calls
forth in the hearer”.
?
The story of Jack and Jill:
Jill
Jack
S_________r--------s_________R
(the small letters r,
s
?
speech)(the capitalized
letter R, S
?
practical
events)
Lexical meaning
?
Sense
and
reference
are
both
concerned
with
the
study
of
word
meaning.
They
are
two
related
but
different
aspects of
meaning.
?
Sense
---- is
concerned with the inherent meaning of the
linguistic form. It is the collection of all the
features of
the
linguistic
form;
it
is
abstract
and
de-
contextualized.
It
is
the
aspect
of
meaning
dictionary
compilers
are
interested in.
?
Reference
----what a
linguistic form refers to in the real, physical
world; it deals with the relationship between the
2
linguistic
element and the non-linguistic world of
experience.
?
Linguistic expressions stand in a
relation to the world. There are two aspects of
meaning.
?
Reference is
the relation by
which a word picks out
or
identifies an entity in
the
world.
But
the
referential
theory fails to
account for certain kinds of linguistic
expression.
?
Some words are meaningful, but they
identify no entities in the real world, such as
the words
dragon, phoenix,
unicorn,
and
mermaid.
?
It is not
possible for some words to find referent in the
world, such as the words
but, and, of,
however, the,
etc.
?
Speakers of
English understand the meaning of
a
round triangle
although there is no
such graph.
?
Sense is the relation by which words
stand in human mind. It is mental representation,
the association with
something in
t
he speaker’s or hearer’s mind. The
study of meaning from the perspective of sense is
called the
representational approach.
Note:
?
Linguistic forms having the
same sense may have different references in
different situations; on the other hand,
there are also occasions, when
linguistic forms with the same reference might
differ in sense, e.g.
the
morning star
and
the evening star
,
rising sun
in the morning
and
the sunset
at dusk.
Major sense
relations
?
Synonymy,
Antonymy,
Polysemy,
Homonymy,
Hyponymy
Synonymy
?
Synonymy
refers
to
the
sameness
or
close
similarity
of
meaning.
Words
that
are
close
in
meaning
are
called
synonyms.
1) Dialectal synonyms----
synonyms used in different regional dialects,
e.g. autumn - fall, biscuit - cracker,
petrol
–
gasoline
，
lift/elevator,
flat/apartment
…
2)
Stylistic
synonyms----synonyms
differing
in
style,
e.g.
kid,
child,
offspring;
start,
begin,
commence;
gentleman/guy
…
3) Synonyms that differ in their
emotive or evaluative meaning,
orator-
accomplice, attract/seduce
4) Collocational synonyms,
e.g. accuse…of, charge…with,
rebuke…for; …
5)
Semantically different synonyms, e.g. amaze,
astound,…
?
Synonyms
are
frequently
used
in
speaking
and
writing
as
a
cohesive
device.
In
order
to
avoid
repetition the
writer/speaker needs to use a synonym to replace a
word in the previous co-text when
he/she wants to continue to address
that idea. The synonyms together function to
create cohesion of
the text.
Antonymy
?
Antonyms are
words which are opposite in meaning.
?
Gradable
antonyms----there
are
often
intermediate
forms
between
the
two
members
of
a
pair,
e.g.
old-young,
hot-cold,
tall-
short, …
?
Complementary
antonyms----the
denial
of
one
member
of
the
pair
implies
the
assertion
of
the
other,
e.g.
alive-dead
,
male-
female, …
?
Relational/
Reversal
opposites----
exhibits
the
reversal
of
the
relationship
between
the
two
items,
e.g.
husband-wife, father-
son, doctor-patient, buy-sell, let-rent, employer-
employee, give-receive, above-
below, …
Gradable antonyms
3
?
Gradable antonyms
----there are often
intermediate forms between the two members of a
pair, e.g.
old-young,
hot-
cold, tall-
short, …
Complementary antonyms
?
Complementary
antonyms
----the
denial
of
one
member
of
the
pair
implies
the
assertion
of
the
other,
e.g.
alive-dead
,
male-
female, …
?
Antonymy is
frequently utilized as a rhetorical resource in
language use. Oxymoron and antithesis based on
antonymy. Gradable antonyms may give
rise to fuzziness.
Polysemy
?
Polysemy----the same
one word may have more than one
meaning, e.g. ―table‖ may mean:
?
A piece of furniture
?
All the people seated at a
table
?
The food that is put
on a table
?
A thin flat
piece of stone, metal wood, etc.
?
Orderly arrangement of
facts, figures, etc.
Homonymy
?
Homonymy---- the phenomenon
that words having different meanings have the same
form, e.g. different words
are
identical in
sound
or
spelling
, or in both.
?
Homophone ---- when two
words are identical in sound, e.g.
rain-
reign, night/knight,
…
?
Homogragh ----
when two words are identical in spelling, e.g.
tear(n.)-tear(v.),
lead(n.)-
lead(v.), …
?
Complete/full homonym----
when two words are identical in both sound and
spelling, e.g.
ball, bank, watch,
scale,
fast, …
?
Note:
Rhetorically, homonyms are often used as puns.
?
A polysemic
word
is the result of the evolution of
the primary meaning of the word (the etymology of
the word);
while complete homonyms are
often brought into being by coincidence.
Hyponymy
?
Hyponymy----the sense
relation between a more general, more inclusive
word and a more specific word.
?
Superordinate: the word
which is more general in meaning.
?
Hyponyms: the word which is
more specific in meaning.
?
Co-hyponyms: hyponyms of
the same superordinate.
4
Hyponymy
?
Superordinate: flower
?
Hyponyms: rose, tulip,
li
ly, chrysanthemum, peony, narcissus,
…
?
Superordinate: furniture
?
Hyponyms: bed, table, desk,
dresser, wardrobe, sofa, …
?
This kind of
vertical semantic relation links words in a
hierarchical work.
Sense
relations between sentences
?
(1)
X is
synonymous with Y
?
(2)
X is inconsistent with Y
?
(3)
X entails
Y
?
(4)
X
presupposes Y
?
(5)
X is a contradiction
?
(6)
X is
semantically anomalous
X is synonymous
with Y
?
X: He was a bachelor
all his life.
Y: He never got married all his life.
?
X: The boy
killed the cat.
Y: The cat was killed by
the boy.
?
If X
is true, Y is true; if X is false, Y is false.
X is inconsistent with Y
?
X: He is single.
?
Y: He has a wife.
?
X: This is my
first visit to Beijing.
?
Y:
I have been to Beijing twice.
?
If X is true, Y is false;
if X is false, Y is true.
X entails Y
?
X: John married a blond
heiress.
?
Y: John married a
blond.
?
X: Marry
has been to Beijing.
?
Y: Marry has been to China.
?
Entailment is a
relation of inclusion. If X entails Y
,
then the meaning of X is included in Y
.
?
If X is true, Y is
necessarily true; if X is false, Y may be true or
false.
X presupposes Y
?
X: His bike needs
repairing.
?
Y: He has a
bike.
?
Paul has
given up smoking.
?
Paul once
smoked.
?
If X is
true, Y must be true; If X is false, Y is still
true.
X is a contradiction
?
*My unmarried sister is
married to a bachelor.
5
-九大行星
-九大行星
-九大行星
-九大行星
-九大行星
-九大行星
-九大行星
-九大行星
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