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Chapter Five Meaning

Chapter Five Meaning. Semantics is the study of the meaning of linguistic units, words and sentences in particular. Semantics is relatively young. It remains the least known area in linguistics, compared with phonetics, phonology, morphology and syntax. 1. Meanings of “MEANING”.

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Chapter Five Meaning

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  1. Chapter Five Meaning

  2. Semantics is the study of the meaning of linguistic units, words and sentences in particular. • Semantics is relatively young. It remains the least known area in linguistics, compared with phonetics, phonology, morphology and syntax.

  3. 1. Meanings of “MEANING” • C. K. Ogden and I. A. Richards • G. Leech

  4. Associative Meaning Geoffrey Leech (1974, 1981). Semantics: The Study of Meaning. Seven types of meaning: Conceptual meaning Connotative meaning Social meaning Affective meaning Reflected and meaning Collocative meaning Thematic meaning 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 4

  5. 3.1 Conceptual meaning Also called ‘denotative’ or ‘cognitive’ meaning. Refers to logical, cognitive or denotative content. Concerned with the relationship between a word and the thing it denotes, or refers to. 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 5

  6. 3.2 Connotative meaning The communicative value an expression has by virtue of what it refers to, over and above its purely conceptual content. A multitude of additional, non-criterial properties, including not only physical characteristics but also psychological and social properties, as well as typical features. 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 6

  7. Involving the ‘real world’ experience one associates with an expression when one uses or hears it. Unstable: they vary considerably according to culture, historical period, and the experience of the individual. Any characteristic of the referent, identified subjectively or objectively, may contribute to the connotative meaning of the expression which denotes it. 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 7

  8. 3.3 Social meaning What a piece of language conveys about the social circumstances of its use. Dialect: the language of a geographical region or of a social class. Time: the language of the 18th c., etc. Province: language of law, of science, of advertising, etc. Status: polite, colloquial, slang, etc. Modality: language of memoranda, lectures, jokes, etc. Singularity: the style of Dickens, etc. 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 8

  9. domicile: very formal, official residence: formal abode: poetic home: general steed: poetic horse: general nag: slang gee-gee: baby language 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 9

  10. 3.4 Affective meaning Reflecting the personal feelings of the speaker, including his attitude to the listener, or his attitude to something he is talking about. You’re a vicious tyrant and a villainous reprobate, and I hate you for it! I’m terribly sorry to interrupt, but I wonder if you would be so kind as to lower your voices a little.or Will you belt up. 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 10

  11. 3.5 Reflected meaning Arises in cases of multiple conceptual meaning, when one sense of a word forms part of our response to another sense. When you hear ‘click the mouse twice’, you think of Gerry being hit twice by Tom so you feel excited. Many taboo terms are result of this. 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 11

  12. 3.6 Collocative meaning The associations a word acquires on account of the meanings of words which tend to occur in its environment. pretty: girl, boy, woman, flower, garden, colour, village, etc. handsome: boy, man, car, vessel, overcoat, airliner, typewriter, etc. 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 12

  13. 3.7 Thematic meaning What is communicated by the way in which a speaker or writer organizes the message, in terms of ordering, focus, and emphasis. Mrs Bessie Smith donated the first prize. The first prize was donated by Mrs Bessie Smith. They stopped at the end of the corridor. At the end of the corridor, they stopped. 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 13

  14. 4. The Theory of Reference Words → Meaning: Words ‘name’ or ‘refer to’ things-- Platonic Words→Concepts→Things: Ogden & Richards thought/concept/image symbolizesrefers to symbol -------------------------------------- referent (word) stands for (object) 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 14

  15. 5. Sense ‘Meaning’ is not some kind of ‘entity’ separate from language. That words ‘have meaning’ means only that they are used in a certain way in a sentence. There is no ‘meaning’ beyond the meaning of individual words and sentences. 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 15

  16. ‘The meaning of a word is its use in the language’. (Ludwig Wittgenstein) Meaning is studied by making detailed analyses of the way words and sentences are used in specific contexts. Reference: how language refers to this external world Sense: the way people relate words to each other within the framework of their language 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 16

  17. The family tree 舅父 = ‘mother’s brother’ 叔叔 = ‘father’s younger brother’ 伯父 = ‘father’s elder brother’ 姨母 = ‘mother’s sister’ 姑母 = ‘father’s sister’ 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 17

  18. 6. Sense Relations Gradable Complementary Converse Synonymy Antonymy Hyponymy 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 18

  19. 6.1 Synonymy buy/purchase thrifty/economical/stingy autumn/fall flat/apartment tube/underground 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 19

  20. 6.2 Gradable antonymy good ----------------------- bad long ----------------------- short big ----------------------- small Can be modified by adverbs of degree like very. Can have comparative forms. Can be asked with how. 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 20

  21. 6.3 Complementary antonymy • odd : even • pass : fail • boy : girl • hit : miss alive : dead male : female present : absent innocent : guilty 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 21

  22. 6.4 Converse antonymy • teacher : student • above : below • before : after • host : guest • employer : employee buy : sell lend : borrow give : receive parent : child husband : wife 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 22

  23. 6.5 Hyponymy Inclusiveness A is included in / a kind of B. Cf.: chair and furniture, rose and flower Superordinate/hypernym: the more general term Hyponym: the more specific term Co-hyponyms: members of the same class 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 23

  24. Animalbird fish insect animal human animal tiger lion elephant ... 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 24

  25. 7. Componential Analysis HUMAN man (ADULT, MALE) woman (ADULT, FEMALE) boy (NON-ADULT, MALE) girl (NON-ADULT, FEMALE) 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 25

  26. 7.1 Animal words LINGUISTICS 26 2014/10/14

  27. 7.2 Domestic animals LINGUISTICS 27 2014/10/14

  28. 7.3 English motion verbs LINGUISTICS 28 2014/10/14

  29. 7.4 More complex ones father: PARENT (x, y) & MALE (x) x is a parent of y, and x is male. take: CAUSE (x, (HAVE (x, y))) x causes x to have y. give: CAUSE (x, (~HAVE (x, y))) x causes x not to have y. 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 29

  30. 8. Meaning & Syntactic Structure The meaning of a sentence is obviously related to the meanings of the words used in it, but it is also obvious that sentence meaning is not simply the sum total of the words. 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 30

  31. The cat is chasing the mouse. The mouse is chasing the cat. I have read that book. That book I have read. The daughter of Queen Elizabeth’s son is the son of Queen Elizabeth’s daughter. 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 31

  32. 8.1 Compositionality An integrated theory Katz & Fodor (1963): The structure of a semantic theory. A 40-page long paper published in Language. The method itself is years out of date but the debate about the principle of compositionality is by no means over (Cruse, 2004: 77). 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 32

  33. The idea behind the principle was to solve the problem of generating grammatical but incorrect sentences like Colorless green ideas sleep furiously. The purpose was to wage an attack on Chomsky’s basis assumption that correct sentences could be generated by syntactic transformations alone, disregarding the semantic rules at Surface Structure. 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 33

  34. Although many semanticists turned away from Chomsky by developing formal semantic theories by themselves, Chomsky did admit soon that semantic rules would be found at Deep Structure as well as Surface Structure (EST) and later on placed semantic rules/representation in the S-Structure altogether (since REST). Other ideas were also incorporated into Chomsky’s later models of grammar, e.g. the concept of projection. 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 34

  35. According to the principle of compositionality, each word in the lexicon is equipped with certain components and combinations of words into sentences must go through certain selection restrictions in order to produce acceptable sentences. Thus we can say colorful ball because 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 35

  36. colorful {Adj} a. (Color) [abounding in contrast or variety of bright colors] <(Physical Object) or (Social Activity)> b. (Evaluative) [having distinctive character, vividness, or picturesqueness] <(Aesthetic Object) or (Social Activity)> 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 36

  37. ball {NC} a. (Social Activity) (Large) (Assembly) [for the purpose of social dancing] b. (Physical Object) [having globular shape] c. (Physical Object) [solid missile for projection by engine of war] 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 37

  38. Then it is possible to work out four readings of the combinations of color and ball, and further combinations with other words (projections) will determine which of the four is the actual meaning in the sentence John hit the colorful balls and We had a colorful ball last night. 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 38

  39. 8.2. Noncompositional meaning Idioms: cannot be built up as the sum of its parts. Idioms are phrases derived by metaphor and other types of semantic extension. get up on the wrong side of the bed in the doghouse green with envy kick the bucket face the music 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 39

  40. kick the bucket: which? A. Because she got mad, that hen kicked a bucket. B. A cartoon painter about to kick a bucket of paint. C. the process of dying 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 40

  41. Frozen metaphors: a class of idiom-like expressions which may show some of the features of syntactic frozenness typical of idioms, such as resistance to modification, transformation, and so on, but which differ from idioms in an important respect: the effect of synonym substitution is not a complete collapse of the non-literal reading. 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 41

  42. The ball’s in your court now. on your side of the net A cat can look at a queen. mousean archbishop I can read her like an open book. decipher He has one foot in the grave. both feettomb one legcoffin 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 42

  43. I gave him a piece of my mind. partconceptual system He drives me up the wall. forcesroom partition He has a bee in his bonnet about it. hornethelmet 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 43

  44. 8.4 Collocations LINGUISTICS 44 2014/10/14

  45. 8.5 Clichés I’ve made my position absolutely clear. I’ve given an unambiguous exposition of my views. It’s raining dogs and cats. He arrived safe and sound. 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 45

  46. 8.6 Noun compounds pocket knife: knife that can be carried in the pocket kitchen knife: knife for use in the kitchen meat knife: knife for cutting meat tablecloth: cloth used to cover a table dishcloth: cloth used to wipe dishes 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 46

  47. 8.7 “Active zones” a red hat: whole hat is red a red book: outside covers are red a red apple: a significant portion of outer skin is red a yellow peach: inner flesh is yellow a pink grapefruit: inner flesh is pink 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 47

  48. a red traffic sign: symbols only are red a red pencil: (1) red on outside; (2) writes red red eyes: ‘white’ of eyes is red blue eyes: iris is blue 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 48

  49. 9. Propositional Logic Truth condition: conditions which must hold for the sentence to be used to make a true statement (at least if it is used literally). Thus, before we can truthfully say, on some occasion, The cat is on the mat, there must be some relevant feline occupying a specific position relative to an appropriate item of floor covering. 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 49

  50. Those aspects of the meaning of a sentence which determine its truth conditions are collectively known as the propositional content of the sentence. Two sentences with identical propositional content will yield statements with the same truth values on all occasions of use, as for instance, John caressed Mary and Mary was caressed by John. By the same token, if two sentences have different propositional content, there will necessarily exist some conceivable situation in which they will yield statements with opposite truth values. 2014/10/14 LINGUISTICS 50

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