1、Topic 6,Semantics,Chapter 5 Semantics,Definition The study of meaning. What is meaning?,2. Some views concerning the study of meanings.,2.1. The naming theory. (Plato) 2.2. The conceptualist viewThought/reference (concept)Symbol/form Referent,2.3. Contextualism,The seal could not be found. The zoo k
2、eeper became worried.The seal could not be found. The king became worried. “black coffee” vs. “black hair”,2.4. Behaviorism (Bloomfield),The meaning of words is the situation in which the speaker utters and the response it calls forth in the hearer. Jill JackS-r -s-R,3. Lexical meaning,Sense: the in
3、herent meaning of the linguistic forms, the collocation of all the features of linguistic forms; abstract and de-contextualized. Aspect of meaning found in the dictionary.Reference: what a linguistic form refers to in the real physical world; it deals with the relationship between the linguistic ele
4、ment and the non-linguistic world of experience.,Reference with different sense,the same reference but different sense i.e. morning starevening star the same star in the sky but appears in different places in the morning and evening: the Venus.,Reference with little sense,Certain proper names appear
5、 to have only references. A name like Christ Jones may point out a certain person, its reference, but little linguistic meaning. But some names may have both sense and reference. i.e. Chinese names.,Reference with little sense,Certain proper names appear to have only references. A name like Christ J
6、ones may point out a certain person, its reference, but little linguistic meaning. But some names may have both sense and reference. i.e. Chinese names.,With sense but no reference,Some linguistic forms may have sense but no reference.The king of France is bald.By the year 3,000, our descendents wil
7、l have left earth.,4. Major sense relations,4.1. synonymydialectal synonymsstylistic synonymssynonyms with emotional and evaluative differencescollocational synonymssemantically different synonyms 4.2. polysemy 4.3. homonymy,Antonymy,Gradable antonymsComplementary antonymsRelational antonyms,Exercis
8、es,1.Distinguish what kinds of antonyms the following couples words are.good-bad expensive-cheap parentoffspring hotcold legalillegal largersmallerpoorrich fastslow husbandwife asleepawake rude-polite pass fail,Exercise,2. Decide whether the following are examples of polysemy or of homonymy. a. bark
9、 (of a dog vs. of a tree) b. fork ( in a road vs. instrument of eating) c. tail ( of a coat vs. of an animal) d. steer ( to guide vs. young desexed bull) e. Youve tried the rest. Now try the best. My aching limbs cried out for rest.,f. I cant see the reason for it. What did you see? g. She chose a r
10、ed and black dress. The dancers all wore national dress. h. Dont patronize me! 照顾 I always patronize this place. 光顾 Key: a-h, b-p, c-p, d-h, e-h, f-p, g-p, h-h,Exercise,In the following examples, mark whether what is intended is sense (S) or reference (R). a. Extinguish has the same meaning as put o
11、ut. b. When he said my ex, he meant Helen. c. If you look out the window, youll see who I mean. d. What do you mean, youve been seeing my sister? srrs,5. Sense relations between sentences,5.1. X is synonymous with Y. In this case we say Y paraphrases X. The horse threw the rider.The rider was thrown
12、 by the horse.It is easy to play sonatas on this piano.This piano is easy to play sonatas on.On this piano it is easy to play sonatas .Sonatas are easy to play on this piano.,Booth assassinated Lincoln.It was Booth who assassinated Lincoln.The person who assassinated Lincoln was Booth.The students g
13、ave money to the beggar.The students gave the beggar money.,5.2. X is inconsistent with Y.John is married.John is a bachelor. 5.3. Entailment.Cordy assassinated Marat.Marat is dead.,5.4. Contradiction,The truth of one sentence necessarily implies the falseness of another sentence, for example:Elizab
14、eth II is queen of England.Elizabeth II is a man.Scott is a baby.Scott is an adult.,6. Analysis of meaning,6.1. Componential analysisa way to analyze lexical meaning A way proposed by the structural semanticists to analyze word meaning. The approach is based upon the belief that the meaning of a wor
15、d can be dissected into meaning components called semantic features. Man +Human +Adult +Male Woman +Human +Adult -Male,Componential analysis-nouns,father=PARENT(x, y) & MALE (x).x is a parent of y, and x is male. mother=PARENT(x, y) & MALE (x) son=CHILD (x, y) & MALE(x) daughter=CHILD (x, y) & MALE
16、(x),Componential analysis-verbs,Take=CAUSE (x, (HAVE (x, y).x causes x to have y Give=CAUSE (x, (HAVE (x, y) Die=BECOME (x, (ALIVE(x) Kill=CAUSE (x, (BECOME (y, (ALIVE(y),State what semantic property or properties that distinguish between the classes.a) bachelor, man, son, paperboy, pope, chiefb) bu
17、ll, rooster, drake, rama) table, stone, pencil, cup, house, ship, carb) milk, alcohol, rice, mud,a) book, temple, mountains, road, tractorb) idea, love, charity, sincerity, bravery, feara) walk, run, skip, jump, hop, swimb) fly, skate, ride, cycle, canoe. hang-glide,6.2. Predication analysisa way to
18、 analyze sentence meaning,How and where can we derive the meaning of sentences? i. The meaning of a sentence is not the sum total of the meaning of all its components, that is the meaning of a sentence is not worked out by adding up all the meanings of its constituent words.cf. The man bit the dog.
19、The dog bit the man. ii. There are two aspects of sentence meaning: grammatical meaning and semantic meaning.,Grammatical meaning concerns whether a sentence is well formed or not. Its governed by the grammatical rules of a language -grammatical restrictions Whether a sentence is semantically meanin
20、gful is governed by rules called selectional restrictions , constraints on what lexical terms can go with what others. e.g. Green colorless clouds are sleeping furiously. Sincerity shook hands with the black apple.,Predication analysis,Linguists have proposed different ways to analyze the meaning of
21、 sentences. One of the ways we are going to discuss briefly is the predication analysis, put forth by the British linguist G. Leech. (Refer to textbook pp.108-110 for details)PredicationArguments No-place predication. One-place predication. Two-place predication.,7. Leechs Classification of Meanings
22、,The British linguist, G. Leech, puts forward a functional approach to semantics in his book “Semantics”91981). Leech divides meaning into seven types: 1.conceptual meaning 2. connotative meaning 3. social meaning 4. affective meaning 5. reflected meaning 6. collocative meaning 7. thematic meaning,7
23、.1.conceptual meaning,Conceptual meaning is also called denotative meaning, which is primary and basic in linguistic communication. It is given in a dictionary. For example, the definition of “pig” in a dictionary is “a domesticated animal with a long snout and thick fat body covered with coarse bri
24、stles.”,7.2. connotative meaning,Connotative meaning is the communicative value and expression by virtue of what it refers to over and above its purely conceptual content. In other words, connotative meaning refers to the emotional association which a word or a phrase suggests in peoples mind. It is
25、 the supplementary value which is added to the conceptual meaning. For example, the conceptual meaning of the word“ woman” is “human”, “adult”, but it also generally connotates “gentle”, “compassionate”, “hardworking” as well as “gentle”, “prone to tears” and “emotional”.,Cultural differences in con
26、notative meaning Connotative meaning varies for different people as a result of age, social position, etc. for example, the conceptual meaning of the word home, for most people, is place of their own, which also connotates “warm”, “sweet”, “comfortable”, but for those who do not like home, the conno
27、tative meaning may be different, it may mean“ cold”, and “perplexing”,7.3. social meaning,Social meaning is sometimes defined stylistic meaning, “is that which a piece of language conveys about the social circumstances of its use.”Some words may have the same conceptual meaning, but have different s
28、ocial meanings or stylistic meanings. e.g.steed (poetic language)horse (general language)nag (slang)gee-gee (baby language),7.4. affective meaning,Affective meaning is concerned with the expression of feelings and attitudes of speakers or writers. Affective meaning cannot stand on its own. It depend
29、s on conceptual meaning, stylistics meaning, etc. e.g. Jane is an angel of a girl. The man is a fox.,7.5. reflected meaning,It is the “meaning which arises in case of the case of multiple conceptual meaning, when one sense of a word forms part of our response to another sense.”Some polysemous words
30、can arouse peoples association of other things, and even become taboo words, for example, “gay” “cock” “intercourse,7.6. collocative meaning,6. Collocative meaning “consists of the association a word acquires on account of the meanings or words which tend to occur in its environment.” Some, mainly s
31、ynonyms, share the same conceptual meaning, but are used or collocated differently; therefore the meaning is also quite different.,c.f.girl boyboy man Pretty woman handsome vesselflower overcoatgarden airlinervillage typewriter,7.7. thematic meaning,Thematic meaning is “what is communicated by the w
32、ay in which the message is organized in terms of order and emphasis.” So an active sentence has different meaning from its passive equivalent, although they seem to share the same conceptual meaning, such as in The first prize was won by John.John won the first prize. The differences may be concerned with new information and given information, focus of information, etc.,
