5 SEMANTICS.docx
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5 SEMANTICS.docx
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5SEMANTICS
5SEMANTICS
5.1Whatissemantics?
Semanticscanbesimplydefinedasthestudyofmeaning.Thisdefinitionnaturallyleadstothequestion:
whatismeaning?
Meaningiscentraltothestudyofcommunication,butthequestionofwhatmeaningreallyisisdifficulttoanswer.Evenlinguistsdonotagreeamongthemselvesastowhatmeaningis.Andwhatmakesthematterevenmorecomplicatedisthatphilosophers,psychologists,andfsociologistsallclaimadeepinterestinthestudyofmeaning,al-•thoughtheydifferintheirfocusofinterest.ThephilosophersareInterestedinunderstandingtherelationsbetweenlinguisticexpressionsandwhattheyrefertointherealworld,andinevaluatingthetruthvalueoflinguisticexpressions.Thepsychologistsfocustheirinterestonunderstandingtheworkingsofthehumanmindthroughlanguage.Thisiswhyitisnotsurprisingtofindtenbooksallbearingthetitle"Semantics"buttalkingaboutdifferentthings.Inourdiscussion,wewilllimitourselvestothestudyofmeaningfromalinguisticpointofview.
5.2Someviewsconcerningthestudyofmeaning
5.2.1Thenamingtheory
Oneoftheoldestnotionsconcerningmeaning,andalsothemostprimitiveone,wasthenamingtheoryproposedbytheancientGreekscholarPlato.Accordingtothistheory,thelinguisticform;orsymbols,inotherwords,thewordsusedinalanguagearesimplylabelsoftheobjectstheystandfor.Sowordsarejustnamesorlabelsforthings.
Thelimitationsofthistheoryareobvious.Firstofall,thistheoryseemsapplicabletonounsonly,butverbs,adjectives,andadverbssuchas"think","hard","slowly"aredefinitelynotlabelsofobjects.Besides,withinthecategoryofnouns,therearenounswhichdenotethingsthatdonotexistintherealworldatallsuchas"ghost","dragon",and"unicorn",andalsonounsthatdonotrefertophysicalobjects,butabstractnotionssuchas"joy","im-pulse".
5.2.2Theconceptualistview
Amoresophisticatedandseeminglymoreplausibleviewthannamingisonethatrelateswordsandthingsthroughthemediationofconceptsofthemind.Thisconceptualistviewhasbeenheldbysophilosophersandlinguistsfromancienttimes.Thisviewholdsthatthereisnodirectlinkbetweenalinguisticformandwhatitrefersto(i.e.,betweenlanguageandtherealworld);rather,intheinterpretationofmeaningtheyarelinkedthroughthemediationofconceptsinthemind.ThisisbestillustratedbytheclassicsemantictriangleortriangleofsignificancesuggestedbyOgdenandRichards:
Inthediagram,theSYMBOLorFORMreferstothelinguisticelements(words,phrases),theREFERENTreferstotheobjectintheworldofexperience,andTHOUGHTorREFERENCEreferstoconcept.Forexample,theword"dog"isdirectlyassociatedwithacertainconceptinourmind,i.e.,whata"dog"islike,butitisnotdirectlylinkedtothatparticulardogmentionedinthesentence"Thedogovertherelooksunfriendly",i.e.,thereferentinthisparticularcase.Thus,thesymbolorawordsignifies"things”Byvirtueoftheconceptassociatedwiththeformofthewordinthemindsofthespeakerofthelanguage;andtheconceptlookedatfromthispointofviewisthemeaningoftheword.
Thistheoryavoidsmanyoftheproblemsthenamingtheoryhasencountered,butitalsoraisesacompletelynewproblemofitsown.Forwhatispreciselythelinkbetweenthesymbolandtheconceptremainsunclarified.Somescholarshavesuggestedthatthelinkissimplyapsychologicalone—whenwethinkofaname,wethinkofaconcept.Butthisdoesnotanswerthequestionsatisfactorily,foritisnotclearwhatexactlyismeantby"thinkingofconcept."Peopledonotactuallytrytoseetheimageofsomethingintheirmind'seyeeverytimetheycomeacrossalinguisticsymbol.
5.2.3Contextualism
Duringtheperiodroughlyfrom1930to1960,linguistsgavepreeminencetotheempiricalorobservableaspectinsteadofthetheoreticalaspectintheirscientificinvestigationofmeaning.Thistendencymanifesteditselfinanattempttobasemeaningoncontext.Ithasattractedthoselinguistswhohavebeenworkingtowardtheidealofscientificobjectivity.Theyholdthatmeaningshouldbestudiedintermsofsituation,use,context—elementscloselylinkedwithlanguagebehaviour.ArepresentativeofthisapproachwasJ.R.Firth,theleadingBritishlinguistoftheperiod.Heheldtheviewthat'Weshallknowawordbythecompanyitkeeps,'andthat'Byregardingwordsasacts,events,habits,welimitourinquirytowhatisobjectiveinthegrouplifeofourfellows."FirthhadbeeninfluencedbytheworksofMalinowski,aPolishanthropologistandofWittgenstein,aGermanphilosopher.Theybelievedrespectivelythat"languageshouldbetreatedasamodeofaction,notaninstrumentofreflection"andthat"Foralargeclassofcases...themeaningofawordisitsuseinthelanguage."
Thecontextualistviewofmeaningisbasedonthepresumptionthatonecanderivemeaningfromorreducemeaningtoobservablecontexts.Twokindsofcontextarerecognized:
thesituationalcontextandthelinguisticcontext.
Everyutteranceoccursinaparticularspatiotemporalsituation!
themaincomponentsofwhichinclude,apartfromtheplaceandtimeoftheutterance,thespeakerandthehearer,theactionstheyareperformingatthetime,thevariousobjectsandeventsexistentinthesituation.Thelinguisticcontext,sometimesknownascontext,isconcernedwiththeprobabilityofaword'sco-occurrenceorcollocationwithanotherword,whichformspartofthe"meaning"oftheword,andalsowiththepartoftextthatprecedesandfollowsaparticularutterance.
Forexample,themeaningoftheword"black"differsinthetwocollocationsof"blackhair"and"blackcoffee".Andthemeaningoftheword"seal"inthesentence"Thesealcouldnotbefound"cannotbedeterminedunlessthecontextinwhichthesentenceoccursisrestored.
5.2.4Behaviorism
ThecontexfualistviewwasfurtherstrengthenedbyBloomfield,whodrewonbehavioristpsychologywhentryingtodefinethemeaningoflinguisticforms.Behavioristsattemptedtodefinethemeaningofalanguageformasthe"situationinwhichthespeakeruttersitandtheresponseitcallsforthinthehearer."(Bloomfield,1933)Thistheory,somewhatclosetocontextualism,islinkedwithpsychologicalinterest.ThisviewofmeaningproposedbyBloom-fieldisillustratedbyhisstoryaboutJackandJill,representedbythefigurebelow.Bloomfieldarguedthatmeaningconsistsintherelationbetweenspeechindicatedbythesmalllettersr••••••sandthepracticaleventsrepresentedbythecapitalizedlettersSandRthatprecedeandfollowthemrespectively:
JillJack
S___________r••••••s___________R
WhenJillseesanappleandwantstohaveit,shehasaphysicalstimulus,(representedbythecapitalletterS),whichgivesrisetoaverbalresponse(r)toJill.Forinstance,shemightsaytoJack"I'mthirsty".WhatshesaysresultsinaverbalstimulustoJack(representedbythesmallletters).Thisstimulus,initsturn,leadstoanon-verbalresponsefromJack,suchaspickingtheappleforher.
5.3Lexicalmeaning
5.3.1Senseandreference
Senseandreferencearetwotermsoftenencounteredinthestudy^ofwordmeaning.Theyaretworelatedbutdifferentaspectsofmeaning
Senseisconcernedwiththeinherentmeaningofthelinguisticform.Itisthecollectionofallthefeaturesofthelinguisticform;itisabstractandde-contextualized.Itistheaspectofmeaningdictionarycompilersareinterestedin.Forexample,theword"dog"is|giventhedefinition"adomesticatedcaninemammal,occurringin|manybreedsthatshowagreatvarietyinsizeandform".(CollinsIDictionaryoftheEnglishLanguage,1979)ThisdoesnotrefertoIanyparticulardogthatexistsintherealworld,butappliestoanyanimalthatmeetsthefeaturesdescribedinthedefinition.Sothisisthesenseoftheword"dog".
Referencemeanswhatalinguisticformreferstointhereal,physicalworld;itdealswiththerelationshipbetweenthelinguisticelementandthenon-linguisticworldofexperience.Ifwesay"Thedogisbarking",wemustbetalkingaboutacertaindogexistentinthesituation;theword"dog"referstoadogknowntoboththespeakerandthehearer.Thisisthereferenceoftheword"dog"inthisparticularsituation.Obviously,linguisticformshavingthesamesensemayhavedifferentreferencesindifferentsituations.Ontheotherhand,therearealsooccasions,whenlinguisticformswiththesamereferencemightdifferinsense.Averygoodexampleisthetwoexpressions"morningstar"and"eveningstar".Thesetwodifferinsensebutasamatteroffact,whattheyrefertoisthesame:
theverysamestarthatweseeinthesky.
5.3.2Majorsenserelations
5.3.2.1Synonymy
SynonymyreferstothesamenessorclosesimilarityofmeaningWordsthatarecloseinmeaningarecalledsynonyms.
Englishisrichinsynonymsforhistoricalreasons.IntheEnglishvocabularytherearetwocategoriesofwords:
nativewordsandborrowed(loan)words.ThenativewordsarethosethatwereoriginallyusedinthespeechofthenativeinhabitantsoftheBritishIsles,i.e.,theAnglo-Saxons,althoughtheywereactuallymigrantsfromthenorthernpartofEurope.Theninitslonghistoryofdevelopment,theEnglishlanguagehastakeninalargenumberofwordsfromotherlanguages,mostlyEuropeanlanguages,suchasFrench,Latin,Greek,Italian,andGerman.Mostoftheborrowedwordshavebeennaturalized.Therefore,weoftenfindinEnglishpairs,ortripletsofwordsbearingmoreorlessthesamemeaning.Butbecauseoftheirdifferentorigins,thereareoften
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