Chapter 5 Semantics

1. Chapter 5Semantics

2. 5.1 Definition of Semantics • Semantics is the study of meaning in language. • Meaning has been studied for thousands of years by philosophers, logicians and linguists. E.g. Plato & Aristotle. • Scholars with different scientific backgrounds have different understandings of language meaning.

3. Philosophers concentrate on the relation between linguistic expressions and things, persons and events in the world to which these expressions refer. • Linguists aiming to study the way in which meaning in a language is structured; different types of meaning.

4. The meaning of meaning • C. K. Ogden & I. A. Richards (1923). The Meaning of Meaning. • John means to write. • A green light means to go.

5. Health means everything. • His look was full of meaning.

6. What is the meaning of life?

7. What does ‘capitalist’mean to you?

8. What does ‘cornea’mean? • The transparent, convex, anterior portion of the outer fibrous coat of the eyeball that covers the iris and the pupil and is continuous with the sclera.

9. 5.2 Approaches to Meaning 5.2.1 Meaning as naming 5.2.2 Meaning as concept 5.2.3 Meaning as behavior 5.2.4 Meaning as context 5.2.5 Meaning as truth conditions

10. 5.2.1 Meaning as naming • proposed by the ancient Greek scholar Plato. • The meaning of an expression is what it refers to, or names, is often called referential theory or naming theory. • Words are names or labels for things.

11. Limitations • -- Nouns only • -- the imaginary things? • -- the abstract notions? • -- the same thing with different names?

12. 5.2.2 Meaning as Concept • 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.

13. Ogden and Richards: Semantic triangle Thought (concept) Symbol (the word) Referent (object)

14. airplane

15. The symbol or word signifies an object 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.

16. Some words have no obvious referents. e.g. of, could, if, under … What is precisely the link between the symbol and concept? Limitation

17. 5.2.3 Meaning as behavior Behaviorists attempted to define meaning as“the situation in which the speaker utters it and the response it calls forth in the hearer”. (Boomfield 133:139) the story of Jack and Jill ( Jill is hungry. She sees an apple and by saying something gets Jack to fetch it for her.)

18. Jill Jack • S r--------s R • Meaning consists in the relationship between speech indicated by the small letters r…… s and the practical events represented by the capitalized letters S and R that precede and follow them respectively. • (meaning as speaker’s stimulus and hearer’s response)

19. Limitation • What if the listener does not cooperate or pretends not to understand?

20. 5.2.4 Meaning as contextThe contextualism Meaning should be studied in terms of situation, use, context—elements closely linked with language behavior. Two types of contexts are recognized: Situational context: spatio-temporal situation Linguistic context: the probability of a word’s co-occurrence or collocation.

21. Linguistic context • Linguistic context, some times known as co-text, is concerned with the probability of a word’s co-occurrence or collocation with another word, which forms part of the ‘meaning” of the word, and also the part of text that precedes and follows a particular utterance.

22. e.g. • Actually it is very light. This suitcase looks heavy but actually it is very light. • It is not easy. It is not easy if you ask her to stop.

23. Situational context refers to the particular spatiotemporal situation in which an utterance occurs, the main components of which include, apart from the place and time of the utterance, the speaker and the hearer, the actions they are performing at the time, the various objects and events existent in the situation. Situational context

24. Factors of the situational context • The setting (formal, informal) • The speaker and hearer (relationship, position…) • The activities the are engaged in at the time • The presence or absence of other participants • The presence of various external objects and events

25. 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.

26. 5.2.5 Meaning as truth conditions Knowing the meaning of a sentence is the same as knowing the condition under which the sentence is true or false. S is true if and only if P. sentence the set of conditions

27. For example • The Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776. • The Declaration of Independence was signed in 1976. • Truth conditions are applicable to declaratives or statements.

28. 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 Associative Meaning

29. 5.3.1 Sense and reference 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 way people relate words to each other within the framework of their language

30. The family tree • 舅父 = ‘mother’s brother’ • 叔叔 = ‘father’s younger brother’ • 伯父 = ‘father’s elder brother’ • 姨妈 = ‘mother’s sister’ • 姑妈 = ‘father’s sister’

31. Reference deals with the relationship between the linguistic element and the non-linguistic world of experience. What a linguistic form refers to in the real, physical world. chair car

32. 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, black tea and black hair.

33. 5.3.2 Seven types of meaning Leech (1974) recognizes 7 types of meaning in his book Semantics.

34. (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.

35. (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 properties, including not only physical characteristics but also psychological and social properties, as well as typical features.

36. 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.

38. Step mother

40. (3) Social meaning • What a piece of language conveys about the social circumstances of its use. It chiefly includes stylistic meaning of an utterance.

41. domicile: very formal, official • residence: formal • abode: poetic • home: general • steed: poetic • horse: general • nag: slang • gee-gee: baby language

42. (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 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. • Shut up.

43. Commendatory tough-minded resolute, firm shrewd childlike wiseman man of usual talent portly, stout, solid, plum slender, slim Derogatory ruthless obstinate sly, crafty childish wiseguy freak fleshy, fat, tubby lean, skinny, lanky, weedy, scraggy Affective meaning

44. (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’, would you think of Jerry being hit twice by Tom? • Reflective meaning is the product of people’s recognition and imagination.

45. (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.

46. (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.

47. 5.3.3 Semantic fields a set of words with an identifiable semantic connection. (lexical field) e.g. vegetable: tomato, onion, cucumber, eggplant… fruit: ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ color: ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ The meaning of a word is decided not by the word itself, but by relationships with other words in the same semantic field.

48. Lexical gap：The absence of a word in a particular place in a semantic field of a language. • sister – brother daughter – son cousin?

49. 5.3.4Componential analysis Componential analysis---- a way to analyze lexical meaning. The approach is based on the belief that the meaning of a word can be dissected into meaning components, called semantic features. For example,

50. Man: [+HUMAN, +ADULT, +ANIMATE, +MALE] • Boy: [+HUMAN, -ADULT, +ANIMATE, +MALE] • Woman: [+HUMAN, +ADULT, +ANIMATE, -MALE] • Girl: [+HUMAN, -ADULT, +ANIMATE, -MALE]