What is Semantics

What is Semantics?

?

Semantics is the study of the meaning of

words

,

phrases

and

sentences

.

Geoffrey Leech (1974, 1981).

Semantics: The Study of Meaning

. Seven types of meaning:

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Conceptual meaning

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Connotative meaning

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Social meaning

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Affective meaning

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Reflected meaning

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Collocative meaning

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Thematic meaning

gs of meaning?

1.1 Conceptual vs. associative

meaning

1.2 Connotation and denotation

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home

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Conceptual meaning

(

概念意义

)

is also called “denotative”

（外延义）

and it

is concerned with the relationship between a word and the thing it refers to.

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Associative meaning

(

联想意义

)

is the total of all the meanings a person thinks of when they hear

the word.

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Conceptual meaning

is

meaning given in the dictionary.

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Associative meaning

is the meaning which a word suggests or implies.

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Connotative meaning

(

内涵意义

) is that what is communicated by virtue of what language refers

to.

They may vary according to culture, historical period and the experience of the individual, and thus

are indeterminate and open-ended.

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Social

meaning

(

社会意义

)

is

sometimes

defined

stylistic

meaning,

“…is

that

which

a

piece

of

language conveys about the social circumstances of its use.”

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Dialect:

the language of a geographical region or of a social class.

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Time:

the language of the 18th c., etc.

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Province:

language of law, of science, of advertising, etc.

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Status:

polite, colloquial, slang, etc.

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Modality:

language of memoranda,

lectures, jokes, etc.

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Singularity:

the style of Dickens, etc.

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Affective

meaning

(

感情意义

)

is

concerned

with

the

expression

of

feelings

and

attitudes

of

speakers or writers. Affective meaning cannot stand on its own. It depends on conceptual meaning,

stylistics meaning, etc.

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Reflected meaning (

反射意义

)

means that

arises in cases of multiple conceptual meaning, when

one sense of a word forms part of our response to another sense.

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Collocative

meaning

(

搭配意义

)

means

that

associations

a

word

acquires

on

account

of

the

meanings or words which tend to occur in its environment.” Some, mainly synony

ms, share the same

conceptual

meaning,

but

are

used

or

collocated

differently;

therefore

the

meaning

is

also

quite

different.

eg.

girl

boy

boy

man

Pretty

woman

handsome

vessel

flower

overcoat

garden

airliner

village

typewriter

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Thematic meaning (

主位意义

)

is

“what

is communicated

by

the way

in which

the

message

is organized

in

terms

of order

and

emphasis.”

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Connotation and denotation can be used in two different ways:

grammatical

and

logical

.

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In

grammar

,

a

word’

s

denotation

(

指示意义

)

is

whatever

the

word

directly

refers

to,

roughly

equivalent to its lexical definition. Thus, the word “atheist”

denotes

a person who denies the existence

of gods. One possible connotation (

内涵意义

)

for “atheist” might be someone who is immoral and

wicked.

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“

west wind”(

西风

)

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Chinese will associate it

with

coldness

,

sadness

,

desolation

and

departure

, because the “west wind” usually blows in late

autumn and winter in China.

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But people live in Britain : West wind is described as an

agreeable

figure associated with

spring

and

flowers

by Chaucer on the first page of The Canterbury Tales:

When the sweet showers of April have pierced

The drought of March, and pierced it to the root,

And every vein is bathed in that moisture

Whose quickening force will engender the flower;

And when

the west wind

too with its sweet breath

Has given life in every wood and field

To tender shoots.

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夏雨给大地带来了喜悦

送走了土壤干裂的三月

沐浴着草木的丝丝经络

顿时百花盛开

生机勃勃

西风轻吹留下清香缕缕

田野复苏吐出芳草绿绿

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In late winter and early spring the west wind usually blows in Britain, so it is regarded as a signal of

spring

; a symbol of

hope

,

power

and

revolution

.

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In

logic

,

the

denotation

of

a

term

is

the

list

of

a

class

of

objects

referred

to

by

the

word.

The

connotation of a word is the list of attributes implied by the word.

e.g.

denotes London, New York etc.

city

connotes largeness, populousness.

2. The Referential Theory

2.1 The Referential Theory

2.2 The Semantic Triangle

2.3 Sense and Reference

2.1 The Referential Theory

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A: “What is a desk?”

B: “This is a desk”

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The referential theory

(

指称理论

)

is the theory of meaning which relates the meaning of a word to

the thing it refers to.

A: “what is a desk?”

B: “It is a piece of furniture with four legs.”

2.2 The Semantic Triangle

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The

semantic

triangle

is

the

indirect

relation

between

a

word

and

a

thing

it

refers

to

and

it

is

mediated by

concept

.

concept

word

----------------- thing

Ogden and Richards “semantic triangle”

2.3 Sense and Reference

?

Chen yan is Alice.

Do Chen yan and Alice have the same meaning?

Chen yan is Alice.

?

Yes

, because they both refer to the same person.

?

No

, because one is my Chinese name, the other is my English name.

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The Morning Star is the Evening Star.

object.

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Sense

(

涵义

)

is a set of properties possessed by a name.

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Reference

(

指称

)

is

the

symbolic

relationship

that

a

linguistic

expression

has

with

the

concrete

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The

sense

of an expression is the thought it expresses, while its

reference

is the object it represents.

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Every word has a sense, but not every word has a reference.

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The referential theory:

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The semantic triangle:

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Sense and reference:

meaning = reference

meaning = concept

meaning =sense + reference

3. Sense Relations

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Synonymy

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Antonymy

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Hyponymy

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In everyday talk, we frequently give the meanings of words in terms of their relationships.

liberty

freedom

shallow

the opposite of deep

daffodil

it is a kind of flower

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Synonymy

(

同义关系

)

Synonymy is for the sameness relation. The words in such a relation are called synonyms.