The Study of MeaningWord文件下载.docx
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The Study of MeaningWord文件下载.docx
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isamorefamiliartermthanphonology,morphology,orsyntax."
That'
sjustsemantics"
isacommonclaiminarguments.Eventheproverbialmanorwomaninthestreetknowsthatsemanticshastodowithmeaning.Linguisticsemanticsisthestudyofthesystematicwaysinwhichlanguagesstructuremeaning,especiallyinwordsandsentences.
Indefininglinguisticsemantics(whichwe'
llcall"
fromnowon),wemustinvokethewordmeaning.Justaswehavemanyeverydaynotionsofwhatsemanticsis,weusethewordsmeaningandtomeanindifferentcontextsandfordifferentpurposes.Forexample:
Thewordperplexitymeans'
thestateofbeingpuzzled.'
Rashhastwomeanings:
'
impetuous'
and'
skinirritation.'
InSpanish,espejomeans'
mirror.'
Ididnotmeanthatheisincompetent,justinefficient.
Themeaningofthecrossasasymboliscomplex.
Imeanttobringyoumypaperbutleftitathome.
WhatIsMeaning?
Linguistsalsoattachdifferentinterpretationstothewordmeaning.Becausethegoaloflinguisticsistoexplainpreciselyhowlanguagesarestructuredandused,itisimportanttodistinguishamongthedifferentwaysofinterpretingthewordmeaning.
Afewexampleswillillustratewhyweneedtodevelopaprecisewayoftalkingaboutmeaning.Considerthesesentences:
1.Iwenttothestorethismorning.
2.Alldogsareanimals.(Biologicallytrue.)
Thetruthofsentence1dependsonwhetherornotthespeakerisinfacttellingthetruthaboutgoingtothestore;
nothingaboutthewordsofthesentencemakesitinherentlytrue.Bycontrast,sentence2istruebecausetheworddogsdescribesentitiesthatarealsodescribedbythewordanimals.Thetruthof2doesnotdependonwhetherornotthespeakeristellingthetruth;
itdependssolelyonthemeaningofthewordsdogsandanimals.
Nowcomparethefollowingpairsofsentences:
3.Youaretooyoungtodrink.
-Youarenotoldenoughtodrink.(paraphrasing)
4.MatthewspentseveralyearsinnorthernTibet.
-MatthewwasonceinnorthernTibet.(2ndistheentailmentof1stsentence.)
Thesentencesof3basically"
saythesamething"
inthatthefirstdescribesexactlyIwhattheseconddescribes.Wesaytheyaresynonymoussentences,orthattheyparaphraseeachother.In4,thefirstsentenceimpliesthesecond,butnotviceversa.182
IfMatthewspentseveralyearsinnorthernTibet,hemusthavesetfootthereatsomepointinhislife.Ontheotherhand,ifMatthewwasonceinnorthernTibet,itisnotnecessarilythecasethathespentseveralyearsthere.Next,considerthefollowingsentences:
5Theunmarriedwomanismarriedtoabachelor.(semanticallycontradictary/illogical)
6Mytoothbrushispregnant.(semanticallyanomalous)
Sentences5and6arewellformedsyntactically,butthereissomethingamisswiththeirsemantics.Themeaningsofthewordsin5contradicteachother;
anunmarriedwomancannotbemarried,andcertainlynottoabachelor.Sentence5thuspresentsacontradiction.Sentence6isnotcontradictorybutsemanticallyanomalous:
toothbrushesarenotcapableofbeingpregnant.Todiagnosepreciselywhatiswrongwiththesesentences,weneedtodistinguishbetweencontradictoryandanomaloussentences.
Finally,examinesentences7and8:
7Isawherduck.(ambiguous)
8Heatethepie.(vague)
Sentence7maybeinterpretedintwoways:
duckmaybeaverbreferringtotheactofbendingoverquickly(whilewalkingthroughalowdoorway,forexample),oritmaybeanounreferringtoatypeofwaterfowl.Thesewordmeaningsgivethesentencetwodistinctmeanings.Becausetherearetwopossiblereadingsof7,itissaidtobeambiguous.Ontheotherhand,sentence8isnotambiguous,buthasanimprecisequalityatleastwhenconsideredoutofcontext.Whileweknowthatthesubjectof8isfemale,wecannotknowwhoitisthatshereferstoorwhichparticularpiewaseaten,althoughthestructureofthephrasethepieindicatesthatthespeakerhasaparticularoneinmind.Takenoutofcontext,8isthusvagueinthatcertaindetailsareleftunspecified;
butitisnotambiguous.
Theseobservationsillustratethatmeaningisamultifacetednotion.Asentencemaybemeaningfulandtruebecauseitstatesafactabouttheworldorbecausethespeakeristellingthetruth.Twosentencesmayberelatedtoeachotherbecausetheymeanexactlythesamethingorbecauseoneimpliestheother.Finally,whenwefeelthatthereissomethingwrongwiththemeaningofasentence,itmaybebecausethesentenceiscontradictory,anomalous,ambiguous,ormerelyvague.Onepurposeofsemanticsistodistinguishamongthesedifferentwaysinwhichlanguage"
means."
Linguistic,social,andaffectivemeaning
Forourpurposeswecaninitiallydistinguishthreetypes
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