meaningconceptual.docx
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meaningconceptual.docx
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meaningconceptual
Chapter5Meaning
ThesubjectconcerningthestudyofmeaningiscalledSEMANTICS.Morespecifically,semanticsisthestudyofthemeaningoflinguisticunits,wordsandsentencesinparticular.
Meaninghasalwaysbeenacentraltopicinhumanscholarship,thoughtheterm"semantics"hasonlyahistoryofalittleoverahundredyears.TherewerediscussionsofmeaningintheworksoftheGreekphilosopherPlatoasearlyasinthefifthcenturybeforeChrist.InChina,LaoZihaddiscussedsimilarquestionsevenearlier.Thefact
thatovertheyearsnumerousdictionarieshavebeenproducedwithaviewtoexplainingthemeaningofwordsalsobearswitnesstoitslongtradition.Nevertheless,semanticsremainstheleastknownareainlinguistics,comparedwithphonetics,phonology,morphologyandsyntax.
5.1Meaningsof"meaning"
Onedifficultyinthestudyofmeaningisthattheword"meaning"itselfhasdifferentmeanings.IntheirbookTheMeaningofMeaningwrittenin1923,C.K.OgdenandI.A.Richardspresenteda"representativelistofthemaindefinitionswhichreputablestudentsofmeaninghavefavoured"(p.186).Thereare16majorcategoriesofthem,withsub-categoriesalltogether,numbering22.
G.Leechinamoremoderatetonerecognizes7typesofmeaninghisSemantics(p.23),firstpublishedin1974,asfollows:
1.ConceptualmeaningLogical,cognitive,ordenotativecontent
Associativemeaning
2.ConnotativemeaningWhatiscommunicatedbyvirtueofwhatlanguage
refersto.
3.SocialmeaningWhatiscommunicatedofthesocial,circumstancesof
languageuse.
4.AffectivemeaningWhatiscommunicatedofthefeelingsandattitudesofthespeaker/writer.
5.ReflectedmeaningWhatiscommunicatedthroughassociationwithan-
othersenseofthesameexpression.
6.CollocativemeaningWhatiscommunicatedthroughassociationwith
wordswhichtendtooccurintheenvironmentofan-
otherword.
7.ThematicmeaningWhatiscommunicatedbythewayinwhichthemessageisorganizedintermsoforderandemphasis,
Leechsaysthatthefirsttypeofmeaning--conceptualmeaning---makesupthecentralpart.Itis"denotative"inthatitisconcernedwiththerelationshipbetweenawordandthethingitdenotes,orrefersto.Inthissense,conceptualmeaningoverlapstoalargeextentwiththenotionofREFERENCE.Buttheterm“connotative”usedinthenameofthesecondtypeofmeaningisusedinasensedifferentfromthatinphilosophicaldiscussions.PhilosophersuseCONNOTATION,oppositetoDENOTATION,tomeanthepropertiesoftheentityaworddenotes.Forexample,thedenotationofhumanisanypersonasJohnandMary,anditsconnotationis“biped”,“featherless”,“rational”,etc.InLeech’ssystem,however,asisthecaseindailyconversation,“connotative”referstosomeadditional,especiallyemotive,meaning.Thedifferencebetweenpoliticianandstatesman,forexample,isconnotativeinthattheformerisderogatorywhilethelatterisfavourable.Thistypeofmeaningandthefollowingfourtypesarecollectivelyknownasassociativemeaninginthesensethatanelementaryassociationisttheoryofmentalconnectionsisenoughtoexplaintheiruse.Thelasttype,thematicmeaning,ismoreperipheralsinceitisonlydeterminedbytheorderofthewordsinasentenceandthedifferentprominencetheyeachreceive.
Butevenwhen"meaning"isunderstoodinthefirstsenseabove,therearestilldifferentwaystoexplainthemeaningofaword.Ineverydayconversation,thereareatleastthefollowingfourways.Supposeyoudonotknowtheworddesk,andaskwhatitmeans.Onemaypointtotheobjectthewordstandsfor,andanswer"Thisisadesk”.Alternativelyhemaydescribetheobjectas"apieceoffurniturewithaflattopandfourlegs,atwhichonereadsandwrites".Orhemayparaphraseit,sayingthat"adeskisakindoftable,whichhasdrawers".IfheisateacherofEnglish,thenhemaymoreoftenthannotgiveyouitsChineseequivalent书桌.Thefirstmethodisusuallyusedbyadultstochildren,sincetheirvocabularyissmallanditisdifficulttoexplaintotheminwords.Thesecondandthethirdaretheusualmethodsadoptedinmonolingualdictionaries,whichsometimesmaya1soresorttothefirstbyillustratingwithpictures.Andthefourthisthekindofexplanationprovidedbybilingualdictionariesandtextbookforteachingforeignlanguages.
5.2Thereferentialtheory
Thetheoryofmeaningwhichrelatesthemeaningofawordtothethingitrefersto,orstandsfor,isknownasthereferentialtheory.Thisisaverypopulartheory.Itisgenerallypossible,aswehaveshownintheprevioussection,toexplainthemeaningofawordbypointingtothethingitrefersto.Inthecaseofpropernounsanddefinitenounphrases,thisisespeciallytrue.Whenwesay"ThemostinfluentiallinguistNoamChomskyteachesatMIT",wedouse"themostinfluentiallinguist"and"NoamChomsky"tomeanaparticularperson,and"MIT"aparticularinstitutionofhigherlearning.
However,therearealsoproblemswiththistheory.Oneisthatwhenweexplainthemeaningofdeskbypointingtothethingitrefersto,wedonotmeanadeskmustbeoftheparticularsize,shape,colourandmaterialasthedeskwearepointingtoatthemomentofspeaking.Weareusingthisparticulardeskasanexample,aninstance,ofsomethingmoregeneral.Thatis,thereissomethingbehindtheconcretethingwecanseewithoureyes.Andthatsomethingisabstract,whichhasnoexistenceinthematerialworldandcanonlybesensedinourminds.Thisabstractthingisusuallycalledconcept.
Atheorywhichexplicitlyemploysthenotion"concept"isthesemantictriangleproposedbyOgdenandRichardsintheirTheMeaningofMeaning.Theyarguethattherelationbetweenawordandathingitreferstoisnotdirect.Itismediatedbyconcept.Inadiagramform,therelationisrepresentedasfollows:
concept
thing
word
Nowifwerelatethisdiscussionwiththefourwaysofexplainingthemeaningofawordmentionedinthelastsection,wemaysaythatthefirstmethodofpointingtoanobjectcorrespondstothedirecttheoryoftherelationbetweenwordsandthings,whilethesecondcorrespondstotheindirecttheory.Bysayingdeskis"apieceoffurnitureaflattopandfourlegs,atwhichonereadsandwrites",weareinresortingtotheconceptofdesk,orsummarizingthemainfeatures,thedefiningproperties,ofadesk.Andthethirdandfourthmethodsareevenmoreindirect,byinvolvingtheconceptofanotherword,tableor书桌。
LeechalsousesSENSEasabriefertermforhisconceptualmeaning.Thisusageisjustifiableinthatasatechnicalterm"sense"maybeusedinthesamewayas"connotation"isusedinphilosophy.Itmayrefertothepropertiesanentityhas.Inthissense,"sense"isequivalentto"concept".Thedefinitionofdeskas"apieceoffurniturewithaflattopandfourlegs,atwhichonereadsandwrites"mayalsobecalledthesenseofdesk.Sothedistinctionbetween"sense"and"reference"iscomparabletothatbetween"connotation"and"denotation".Theformerreferstotheabstractpropertiesofanentity,whilethelatterreferstotheconcreteentitieshavingtheseproperties.Inotherwords,Leech'sconceptualmeaninghastwosides:
senseandreference.
Thereisyetanotherdifferencebetweensenseandreference.Tosomeextent,wecansayeverywordhasasense,i.e.someconceptualcontent,otherwisewewillnotbeabletouseitorunderstandit.Butnoteverywordhasareference.Grammaticalwordslikebut,if,anddonotrefertoanything.AndwordslikeGod,ghostanddragonrefertoimaginarythings,whichdonotexistinreality.Whatismore,itisnotconvenienttoexplainthemeaningofawordintermsofthethingitrefersto.Thethingawordstandsformaynotalwaysbeathandatthetimeofspeaking.Evenwhenitisnearby,itmaytakethelistenersometimetoworkoutitsmainfeatures.Forexample,whenoneseesacomputerforthefirsttime,onemaymistakethemonitorforitsmaincomponent,thinkingthatacomputerisjustlikeaTVset.Thereforepeoplesuggestthatweshouldstudymeaningintermsofsenseratherthanreference
5.3Senserelations
Wordsareindifferentsenserelationswitheachother.Somewordshavemoresimilarsensesthanothers.Forexample,thesenseofdeskismorecloselyrelatedtothatoftablethantochair.Converselywecansaythesenseofdeskismoredifferentfromthatofchairthanfromtable.Andthesenseofdeskisincludedinthesenseoffurniture,orthesenseoffurnitureincludesthatofdesk.Asaresultthesenseofawordmaybeseenasthenetworkofitssenserelationswithothers.Inotherwords,sensemaybedefinedasthesemanticrelationsbetweenonewordandanother,ormoregenerallybetweenonelinguisticunitandanother.Itisconcernedwiththeintra-linguisticrelations.Incontrast,aswealludedtoearlier,referenceisconcernedwiththerelationbetweenawordandthethingitrefersto,ormoregenerallybetweenalinguisticunitandanon-linguisticentityitrefersto.
Therearegenerallythreekindsofsenserelationsrecognized,namely,samenessrelation,oppositenessrelationandinclusivenessrelation.
5.3.1Synonymy
SYNONYMYisthetechnicalnameforthesamenessrelation.Englishissaidtoberichinsynonyms.Itsvocabularyhastwomainsources:
Anglo-SaxonandLatin.Therearemanypairsofwordsofthesetwosourceswhichmeanthesame,e.g.buyandpurchase,worldanduniverse,brotherlyandfraternal.
Buttotalsynonymyisrare.Theso-calledsynonymsareallcontextdependent.Theyalldifferonewayoranother.Forexample,they
maydifferinstyle.Inthecontext"LittleTom__________a
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