Chapter 5 Semantics.docx
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Chapter 5 Semantics.docx
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Chapter5Semantics
Chapter5:
Meaning
DefinitionsofSemantics
⏹Semanticscanbesimplydefinedasthestudyofmeaning.(Dai&He,2002,p.67)
⏹TermcoinedbyBréal(1897)forthesubdisciplineoflinguisticsconcernedwiththeanalysisanddescriptionoftheso-called‘literal’meaningoflinguisticexpressions.(Bussmann,1996,p.423)
⏹Semanticsisthestudyoflinguisticmeaning:
themeaningofwords,phrases,andsentences.(Wen,P.210)
⏹Semanticsisthestudyofmeaning,ormorespecifically,thestudyofthemeaningoflinguisticunits,wordsandsentencesinparticular.
⏹Semanticsanswersthequestion“whatdoesthissentencemean”.Inotherwords,itistheanalysisofconventionalmeaningsinwordsandsentencesoutofcontext.
⏹Thenwhatismeaning?
⏹Manyphilosophers,psychologists,andsociologistsallclaimadeepinterestinthestudyofmeaning.
⏹Thephilosophersareinterestedinunderstandingtherelationsbetweenlinguisticexpressionsandwhattheyrefertointherealworld,andevaluatingthetruthvalueoflinguisticexpressions.
⏹Thepsychologistsfocustheirinterestonunderstandingtheworkingsofthehumanmindthroughlanguage.
⏹Nowwewillstudythemeaningsofmeaningfromalinguisticpointofview.
5.1Meaningsof‘Meaning’
⏹ScholarslikeFerdinanddeSaussurehavestressedthatthestudyoflinguisticmeaningispartofthegeneralstudyoftheuseofsignsystems,andthisgeneralstudyiscalledsemiotics.
⏹Semioticiansinvestigatethetypesofrelationshipthatmayholdbetweenasignandtheobjectitrepresents,orindeSaussure’sterminology,betweenasignifier(theformwhichthesigntakes)anditssignified(theconceptitrepresent).
⏹Onebasicdistinction,duetoC.S.Peirce,isbetweenicon图标,index标记andsymbol符号.
⏹Icon-Aniconiswherethereisasimilaritybetweenasignandwhatitrepresents,i.e.betweenaportraitanditsreal-lifeobjectoradiagramofanengineandtherealengine.
⏹Anindexiswherethesigniscloselyassociatedwithitssignified,ofteninacausalrelationship;thussmokeisanindexoffire.
⏹ThemajorityoftrafficsignsareIndexsignsastheyrepresentinformationwhichrelatestoalocation(eg,a'slipperyroadsurface'signplacedonaroadwhichispronetoflooding)
⏹Asymbolhasnologicalmeaningbetweenitandtheobject.Thereisonlyaconventionallinkbetweenthesignanditssignified,asintheuseofinsignia(徽章)todenotemilitaryranks,orperhapsthewaythatmourningissymbolizedbythewearingofblackclothesinsomecultures,andwhiteclothesinothers.Flagsarealsogoodexamplesofsymbolswhichrepresentcountriesororganisations.
⏹Question:
Whichkindarewords?
⏹1.Thenamingtheory
⏹GreekscholarPlato
⏹Thelinguisticformorsymbols,inotherwords,thewordsusedinalanguagearesimplylabelsoftheobjectstheystandfor.Sowordsarejustnamesorlabelsforthings.
⏹Reference(referentialtheory):
⏹Thetheoryofmeaningwhichrelatesthemeaningofawordtothethingitrefersto,orstandfor,isknownasthereferentialtheory.
⏹Referenceistherelationbywhichawordpicksoutoridentifiesanentityintheworld.
⏹Wordsarebutsymbols,manyofwhichhavemeaningonlywhentheyhaveacquiredreference.Referenceistherelationshipbetweenlanguageandtheworld.
⏹“Bymeansofreference,aspeakerindicateswhichthingsintheworld(includingpersons)arebeingtalkedabout.”(HurfordandHeasley1983:
25)
⏹Onlywhenaconnectionhasbeenestablishedbetweenthelinguisticsignandareferent,i.e.anobject,aphenomenon,aperson,etc.doesthesignbecomemeaningful.
⏹Problems:
⏹1)Somewordsaremeaningful,buttheyidentifynoentitiesintherealworld,suchasthewordsdragon,phoenix,unicorn,mermaid,ghost,and,or,hard,slowly,think,etc.
⏹2)Itisnotpossibleforsomewordstofindreferentsintheworld,suchasthewordsbut,and,of,however,the,etc.
⏹3)SpeakersofEnglishunderstandthemeaningofaroundtrianglealthoughthereisnosuchgraph.
⏹2.Theconceptualistview
⏹Thisviewrelateswordsandthingsthroughthemediationofconceptsofthemind.
⏹Whenweexplainthemeaningofdeskbypointingtothethingitrefersto,wedonotmeanadeskmustbeoftheparticularsize,colorandmaterialasthedeskwearepointingto.Thereissomethingbehindtheconcretethingwecansee.Thisisabstract,whichhasnoexistenceinthematerialworldandcanonlybesensedinourminds.
⏹Itholdsthatthereisnodirectlinkbetweenalinguisticformandwhatitrefersto;rather,intheinterpretationofmeaningtheyarelinkedthroughthemediationofconceptsinthemind.ThisisbestillustratedbythesemantictriangleortriangleofsignificancesuggestedbyOgdenandRichardsinTheMeaningofMeaning(1923).
⏹Theyarguethattherelationbetweenawordandathingitreferstoisnotdirect.Itismediatedbyconcept.Inadiagramform,therelationisrepresentedasfollows:
⏹Semantictriangle
⏹concept(meaning)
⏹symbol/wordreferent/thing
(soundandspelling)
⏹Concept,whichisbeyondlanguage,istheresultofhumancognition,reflectingtheobjectiveworldinthehumanmind.Itisuniversaltoallmenalikeregardlessofculture,race,languageandsoonwhereasmeaningbelongstolanguage,soisrestrictedtolanguageuse.
⏹Aconceptcanhaveasmanyreferringexpressionsastherearelanguagesintheworld.Eveninthesamelanguage,thesameconceptcanbeexpressedindifferentwords.
⏹Eg.Much,many–thesameconcept
⏹Collocation:
different
⏹Muchtime,muchmoney,muchwater
⏹Manypeople,manybooks,manybuildings
⏹Synonymouspairsaregoodexamples.
⏹Sense(concept):
⏹Sensereferstothepropertiesanentityhas.Inthissense,itisequivalentto“concept”.
⏹Senseistherelationbywhichwordsstandinhumanmind.Itismentalrepresentation,theassociationwithsomethinginthespeaker’sorhearer’smind.
Thedifferencebetweensenseandreference:
⏹1)Sensereferstotheabstractpropertiesofanentity,whilereferencereferstotheconcreteentitieshavingtheseproperties.
2)Tosomeextent,wecansaythateverywordhasasense,butnoteverywordhasareference.
⏹Thusitisreasonableforustosuggestthatweshouldstudymeaningintermsofsenseratherthanreference.
⏹Forexample:
desk
⏹1)byusinganobjectorpicture
⏹2)apieceoffurniturewithaflattopandfourlegs,atwhichonereadsandwrites
⏹3)akindoftable,whichhasdrawers
⏹4)书桌
⏹Thefirstmethodisthereferentialtheorybydirectlypointingtothethingitrefersto,whilethelastthreemethodsareindirectbyresortingtotheconceptofdesk.
3.Contextualism
⏹RepresentativelyproposedbytheBritishlinguistJ.R.FirthwhohadbeeninfluencedbythePolishanthropologistMalinowskiandtheGermanphilosopherWittgenstein.
⏹Thistendencyattemptstobasemeaningoncontext.
⏹Itholdsthatmeaningshouldbestudiedintermsofsituation,use,context–elementscloselylinkedwithlanguagebehavior.…themeaningofawordisitsuseinthelanguage.
⏹J.R.Firth–“Weshallknowawordbythecompanyitkeeps.”
⏹Thisviewisbasedonthepresumptionthatonecanderivemeaningfromorreducemeaningtoobservablecontexts.Twokindsofcontextarerecognized:
thesituationalcontextandthelinguisticcontext.Thespecificmeaningofawordisdeterminedbydifferentfactorsinthetwosituations.
ØExamples:
Ø“BlackAir”and“blackcoffee”(linguisticcontext)
Thesealcouldnotbefound.(situationalcontext)
?
⏹4.Behaviorism
⏹Bloomfield:
⏹Behavioristsattemptedtodefinethemeaningofalanguageformasthe“situationinwhichthespeakeruttersitandtheresponseitcallsfrothinthehearer.”
⏹JillJack
⏹S______r……s______R
⏹Bloomfieldarguedthatmeaningconsistsintherelationbetweenspeechindicatedbythesmallletterr….sandthepracticaleventsrepresentedbythecapitalizedlettersSandRthatprecedeandfollowthemrespectively.
5.2TypesofMeaning
⏹G.Leechrecognizes7typesofmeaninginhisSemantics(1974):
⏹1)conceptualmeaning–alsodenotativeinthatitisconcernedwiththerelationshipbetweenawordandthethingitdenotes,orrefersto.
⏹Associativemeaning
⏹2)connotative–someadditional,especiallyemotive,meaning(philosophy–thepropertiesoftheentityaworddenotes,eg.human)
⏹3)social–thesocialcircumstancesoflanguageuse
⏹4)affective–feelingsandattitudes
⏹5)reflected–throughassociationwithanothersenseofthesameexpression
⏹6)collocative–throughassociationwithwordswhichtendtooccurintheenvironmentofanotherword
⏹7)thematic–bythewayinwhichthemessageisorganizedintermsoforderandemphasis
⏹AccordingtoLeech,theconceptualmeaningisthemostimportant.
5.3SenseRelations
⏹Sense–thesemanticrelationsbetweenonelinguisticunitandanother.Thesenseofawordcanbyseenasthenetworkofitssenserelationswithothers.
⏹Itdenotestherelationshipinsidethelanguage(intra-linguisticrelations),whichisdifferentfromthereferencewhichconcernswiththerelationbetweenawordandthethingitrefersto.
⏹Generallyspeaking,therearethreekindsofsenserelations,namely,samenessrelation,oppositenessrelationandinclusivenessrelation.
⏹5.3.1Synonymy:
samenessrelation
⏹EnglishisrichinsynonymsduetoitsheavyborrowingsfromLatin.
⏹1)Totalsynonymyisrare(absolutesynonyms).
⏹Theyarewordswhichareidenticalinmeaninginallitsaspects,I.e.bothingrammaticalandlexicalmeanings.Theyareinterchangeableineveryway.
⏹E.g.scarlet-fever/scarlatina猩红热
⏹composition/compounding
⏹2)Relative
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