1、Modern English Lexicology,Unit 4 词的语义特征,apple,banana,potato,fruit,vegetable,Health food,Concept, categorization, subcategorization,(王寅)范畴化是一种基于体验，以主客体互动为出发点，对外界事物进行主观概括和类属划分的心智过程，是一种赋予世界以一定结构，并使其从无序转向有序的理性活动，也是人类认识世界的一个重要手段。范畴化是人类认识世界的一种基本认知方式。 对比和概括是范畴化过程的两个主要手段(有一定先天成分)。 范畴化具有体验性，规则性，无意识性，创造力，想象力等
2、特征。,第四章：词的语义特征,语义特征（semantic features）是对人类抽象活动的一种概括。，属于元语言（metalanguage ）。 用来描写任何语言的语义。 如：具有语义特征A，记作+A；不具有语特征A，记作-A。 “The analysis of word meaning is often seen as a process of breaking down the sense of a word into its minimal components”(Leech 1981:84) The meaning of words are made up of combinati
3、ons of their sense components. Minimal distinctive feature or properties. What make up the sense of word and in turn define the word.,A very simple example of this is provided by the words man, woman, boy, girl, and other, related words in English.,These words all belong to the semantic field the hu
4、man race, and the relation between them may be appropriately represented by a two-dimensional field diagram:,The dimensions of meaning themselves will be termed as semantic features and components.,Another way to represent these senses is to write formulae in which the dimensions of meaning are expr
5、essed by feature symbols like HUMAN and ADULT. The meanings of the individual items can then be expressed by combinations of these features:,These formulae are called the COMPONENTIAL DEFINITIONS of the items concerned: they can be regarded, in fact, as formulated dictionary definitions.,These formu
6、lae are called the COMPONENTIAL DEFINITIONS of the items concerned: they can be regarded, in fact, as formulated dictionary definitions. The term COMPONENTIAL ANALYSIS has often been used for the method of analysis illustrated here, that of reducing a words meaning to its ultimate contrastive elemen
7、ts. It bears some resemblance to the mathematical process of factorizing a number, e.g. 10=125.,The meaning of words is not an un-analyzable whole. There are smaller than the meaning or word. Word is regarded as a complex of different semantic features and components. Componential analysis refers to
8、 an approach by linguists to describe meaning of words and phrases. A process aiming at breaking down the meaning of a word into minimal distinctive features or properties. The analyzing process of word meaning by breaking down the sense of word into its minimal components, or sense components.,A pa
9、rticular characteristic of componential analysis is that it attempts as far as possible to treat components in terms of binary opposites, (one particular feature in a contrasting pair) e.g. MALE and FEMALE.,6. subtle / delicateA. There is a very subtle difference between “citizen rights” and “human
10、rights”.B. This is a delicate situation. We must handle it with great care.C. She looked very delicate, but she was very energetic and had a strong will. Delicate: 需要谨慎处理和对待 becoming ill easily; not strong 容易生病的; 不强壮的 Subtle: 有洞察、领悟事物细微差别和微妙关系的能力 not easy to detect or describe; fine; delicate /organ
11、ized in a clever and complex way巧妙的/able to see and describe fine and delicate differences; sensitive 敏锐的,6. subtle / delicateA. There is a very subtle difference between “citizen rights” and “human rights”.B. This is a delicate situation. We must handle it with great care.C. She looked very delicat
12、e, but she was very energetic and had a strong will.,Subtle: adj.a. not easy to notice, understand, or explaindifficult to understand难理解微妙的e.g. subtle differences in meaningb. clever in arrangement, esp. so as to deceive people 精妙的e.g. a subtle planc. very clever in noticing and understandinge.g. a
13、subtle mind,Delicate: adj.a. needing careful handling, esp. because easily broken or damaged e.g. Be careful with those wine glasses theyre very delicate.b. needing careful treatment in order to avoid failure or troublee.g. a delicate situationThe negotiations are at a very delicate stage.c. easily
14、made ille.g. a delicate childd. finely made in a way that shows great skille.g a delicate piece of workmanshipe. (of a taste, smell, etc.) pleasing but not strong and perhaps not easy to recognize.e.g. a delicate flavour / smell,Subtle : -understandableDelicate : +breakable,第四章：词的语义特征,描述如下：,+,+,+,+,
15、+,+,+,+,+,+,+,+,+,+,-,+,+,-,-,-,-,+,-,+,+,+,+,+,-,+,+,+,+,-,-,+,+,-,+,+,-,-,+,+,+,+,+,+,Componential analysis enables us to have an exact knowledge of the conceptual meaning of words. Two words are synonymous if they contain all the same sense components, e.g. both father and male parent can be give
16、n the same definition +HUMAN +ADULT +MALE +MARRIED even though they clearly differ in connotation, the one (Which one? And what exactly?) having connotative meaning, the other evoking no association.,Semantic features usually used to distinguish nouns include ANIMATE, MALE, VEGETABLE, ADULT, ABSTRAC
17、T, COUNTALBE, etc. Semantic features to distinguish verbs include DYNAMIC, STATIVE, CAUSATIVE, VOLITIVE, COMPLETIVE DURATIVE, etc.,Five types of dynamic verb: Activity verb: Abandon, ask, call, help, learn, listen, look at, play, say, work, write Process verb: Change, deteriorate, grow, mature, slow
18、 down, widen Sense verb: ache, feel, hurt, itch Transitional verb: arrive, die, fall, land, leave, lose Momentary verb: hit, jump, kick, knock, nod, tap,Two types of stative verb: Sense and cognition verb: abhor (痛恨），adore（崇拜），astonish, believe, desire, detest（厌恶）, feel, hate, like , love, realize,
19、recall, know Relational verb: Apply to (everyone), be, belong to, concern, consist of, contain, cost, depend on, deserve equal, seem, belong to , consist of,Kill=causeXdieY die=causeXdieX The flowers have died. The frost killed the flowers. Look=seeX+volitive See =seeX-volitive John was looking inte
20、ntly at the pictures on the wall and didnt see him. My dog was walking . I was walking my dog.,Dynamic vs. stative,How to distinguish dynamic and stative verbs? Consider learn and know.1. Be able to be used in progressive aspect or not? (1) He is learning English. (dynamic)(2) * He is knowing Englis
21、h. (stative)2. Be able to be used in pseudo-cleft sentence or not?(3) What I did was to learn English. (dynamic)(4) * What I did was to know English. (stative),3. Be able to be used in embedded sentence or not?(5) I persuade her to learn English. (dynamic)(6) * I persuade her to know English. (stati
22、ve)4. Be able to be used in imperative sentence or not? Kick the ball!* Own the house .,Dynamic adjectives can be used in imperative sentences and progressive aspects and embedded sentences. Consider: (1) a. Be careful. (dynamic)b. * Be tall. (stative)(2) a. He is being cruel. (dynamic)b. * He is be
23、ing clever. (stative) (3) a. I told the girl to be honest.b. * I told the girl to be short.,A knowledge of the semantic features of words helps us to choose the right word or collocation. Some words require a human subject while some do not. For example, verbs of perception and cognition usually tak
24、e a human subject as in John forgave your rudeness, but a tree or a door cannot forgive unless used metaphorically. Question: Now could you express such semantic feature of forgive? +HUMAN SUBJECT -,Advantages of CA,1.Componential analysis helps to characterize sense relations (such as synonymy, ant
25、onymy, polysemy, and hyponymy) and therefore enables us to have an exact knowledge of the conceptual meaning of words. For example, 1)father/ male parent -( synonyms in denotation, containing all the same sense components) Human + Adult + Male + Married + Older generation Cf. He was a father to thes
26、e poor children. The wish is father to the thought. (愿望是思想之父。),2)“sh” (叔), “ji”(舅) and “uncle”“sh” + Human + Male + Older generation + Different lineality + Paternal side + Junior to father “ji”+ Human + Male + Older generation + Different lineality + Maternal side + Junior senior to father “uncle”
27、+Human + Male + Older generation + Different lineality + Maternal or paternal side + Junior or senior to father 3) man (as a polysemant) A.Human + Adult + Male (as in “I have always regarded him as a man of integrity.”) B.Human + Adult Male (as in “All men must die.”) C.Human (as in “Man must change
28、 in a changing world.”),2.Componential analysis helps in word choice and collocation. e.g. cost+ Inanimate subject; spend+Animate subject look+Volitive adverb; see- Volitive adverb elapse+Subject referring to time (e.g. A month / week elapsed.*A bicycle elapsed.) frighten+ Animate object (e.g. Tom f
29、rightenedme. *Tom frightened the lamp.),admire+ Animate subject (e.g. Olga admires the teacher. *Virtue admires Olga.) stick+ Momentary (e.g. He put the key in his pocket. He stuck the key in his pocket.*He stuck the key slowly / carefully in his pocket.) In dictionaries like Longman codes are suppl
30、ied to show usage based on semantic analysis. e.g. usu. sing., usu. in negatives, no pass., not in progressive forms, A, F, after n., no comp., etc.,Some disadvantages of CA,Componential analysis works well with groups of words that share certain fairly obvious semantic properties, but it is impossi
31、ble to extend componential analysis to the entire vocabulary for the following reasons. 1)Not all words can be analyzed on the basis of semantic opposition. e.g. friendship, love, kindness, beauty, happiness, hostility , etc. +Abstract only? window, door, cloud, mountain, home, etc. +Physical object
32、?,2) Sense components are not enough to define a word. e.g. man Human + Adult + Male biologically Cf. man (as in “Be a man!”)? man (to a kid: with beard, a coarse voice, in pants, etc.)?,3) Some rules have exceptions. e.g. angry + Animate ? an angry scene (acceptable) sleepless +Animate ? a sleeples
33、s night (acceptable) impossible +With inanimate noun ? Youre the most impossible person Ive ever met,The chief drawback of componential analysis is the impossibility of making a list of the infinite number of semantic features. On the basis of semantic opposition Not fit into such sets of contrasts,
34、 Kindness, window, cloud. abstract,physical objects The analysis of word meaning into its sense components is not enough. Be a man! Many words often used figuratively without observing the normal “usage rules”. Threaten ones enemy. Threaten ones security.,4) Incapable of analyzing the various associ
35、ative meaning of words e.g. threaten +Animate object They did so only to threaten their enemy. (acceptable) ? What youve done has threatened my security. (figurative) comb +Hair He rarely combs his air. ? They combed the island for signs of a shipwreck. (figurative),Main types of Word meaning,One di
36、fficulty in the study of meaning is that the word meaning itself has different meanings. It is often accepted that word meaning can be classified into the following types: Grammatical meaning Lexical meaning Denotative meaning Associativemeaning Contextual meaning,1) Grammatical meaning,Grammatical
37、meaning is the component of meaning identical in individual forms of different words. For instance, the tense meaning in the word forms of verbs ( worked, studied, taught, etc), or the plural meaning ( girl, girls, child, children, etc ). Word class Inflectional paradigm,2) Lexical meaning:,Lexical
38、meaning is the meaning of an isolated word in a dictionary. This component of meaning is identical in all the forms of the word. For example, The word-forms : go, goes, went, gone, going, possesses different grammatical meanings of tenses, persons, and so on. In each of these forms we find the same
39、lexical meaning expressing the process of movement. Denotative meaning Associative meaning,A denotative meaning: the conceptual meaning . The central factor in linguistic communication. The referential meaning given in the dictionary,denotative meaning is the same meaning for all speakers of a given
40、 language. That is to say, it is the extensional meaning of a word. The word book, for example, can be understood by anyone who is engaged in any profession. So denotative meaning is called the dictionary meaning.,Associative meaning is the secondary meaning supplemented to the conceptual meaning. I
41、t differs from conceptual meaning in that it is open-ended and indeterminate, liable to influence of such factors as culture, experience and religion. Reflected meaning. First, reflected meaning is the meaning which arises in cases of multiple conceptual meaning, when one sense of a word forms part
42、of our response to another sense. On hearing, in a church service, the synonymous expressions The comforter and The Holy Ghost, both referring to the third person of the Trinity, we may have different reactions to these terms. The comforter sounds warm and comforting, while the holy ghost sounds awe
43、some.,B. Associative meaning/Reflected Meaning,In a church service, the synonymous expressions The Comforter and The Holy Ghost, both refer to the Third Person of the Trinity, but the reactions to these terms can be conditioned by the everyday non-religious meanings of comfort and ghost.,a connotati
44、ve meaning: the emotional association which a word or a phrases suggests in one mind.,Connotative meaning is the intentional meaning which a word suggests or implies. It includes the stylistic reference and the emotive charge proper to the word. Wine glasses, goblets are similarly shaped like drinki
45、ng vessels, but the words do not mean the same thing. The speaker uses one word rather than the other to give additional, connotational meaning. In a simpler example, march, stagger, stroll, bounce. Each of these words contains the content of walk. But the connotative meaning adds extra meaning,I do
46、nt want my daughter to marry a Red. African countries are going red. You must be green to believe that. The passengers turned green with sea-sickness. He was in the blues because of his failure in the exam. I always suspected he was yellow/yellow-bellied.,Associative meaning of “Woman” If the word w
47、oman is defined conceptually by three feature (+human, -male, +adult), then the three properties “human“, “adult, and “female “ must provide a criterion of the correct use of that word.,But there is a multitude of additional, non-criterial properties that we have learnt to expect a referent of woman
48、 to possess.,They include not only physical characteristics (biped, having womb), but also psychological and social properties (gregarious, subject to maternal instinct), and may extend to features which are merely typical rather than invariable concomitants of womanhood (capable of speech, experien
49、ced in cookery, skirt-or-dress-wearing).,Still further, connotative meaning can embrace the putative(推定的)properties of the referent, due to the viewpoint adopted by an individual, or a group of people or a whole society.,So in the past woman has been burdened with such attributes (frail, prone to tears, cowardly, emotional, irrational, inconstant) as the dominant male has been pleased to impose on her, as well as with more becoming qualities such as gentle, compassionate, sensitive, hard-working.,
