1、 5 Semantics Semantics is the study of meaning in language.(p.104)It stands at the very center of the linguistic quest to understand the nature of language and human language ability because expressing meanings is what languages are all about.Meaning in Communication Linguistic meaning Sentence mean
2、ing Lexical meaningGrammatical meaning Speakers meaning Paralinguistic meaning Non-linguistic meaning Approaches to meaning 104 1.The Naming Theory/referential theoryPlato命名说 Definition:the meaning of an expression is what it refers to,or names.The conceptualist view 2.The conceptualist view illustr
3、ated by the semantic triangle/triangle of significance.Definition:The interpretation of meaning is linked through the mediation of concepts in the mind.Problem:What is the link?Triangle of Reference by Ogden&RichardsContextualism3.Contextualism:Meaning should be studied in terms of situation,use,con
4、text.Wittgenstein:the meaning of a word is its use in the language.J.R.Firth:“We shall know a word by the company it keeps.”Context Linguistic context:co-text,words collocation.Eg.Black coffee,black tea,black people Situational contextParticipants(Personalities,Verbal action,Nonverbal action etc.)Ac
5、tionsObjects and eventsDeictic featuresBehaviorism 107 4.BehaviorismBloomfield“situation in which the speaker utters it and the response it calls forth in the hearer.”S Jill rs Jack Rtruth-conditional theory 109 5.Meaning as truth conditions:truth-conditional theory/semantics 真值理论draws on formal log
6、ic 形式逻辑.Knowing the meaning of a sentence means knowing the conditions under which the sentence is true or false.Problems 109-110:Leechs“Seven Meanings”1.conceptual meaning 2.connotative 3.social 4.affective 5.reflective 6.collocative 7.thematic Associative meaning Denotation and ConnotationDenotati
7、on is a straightforward,literal meaning of the word every member of the language speaking community will agree on.指称意义Connotation is not the basic meaning of the word but some emotive or evaluative meanings associated with the word by individual language users in their mind.内涵意义Leechs“Seven Meanings
8、”111-1.Conceptual meaning(denotative meaning/cognitive meaning,central meaning,core meaning)概念义-词的核心意义.2.Connotative meaning(above its purely conceptual content.)内涵/附加义Leechs“Seven Meanings”112 e.g.pig,dog,cat,etc.old(and worn out),blue(and down-hearted),tall(and handsome)An ass:a stupid foolish per
9、sonA pig:a dirty,greedy or ill-mannered personA monkey:a child who is full of annoying playfulness and trick A parrot:a person who repeats,often without understanding,the words or actions of another Compared with conceptual meaning,connotative meaning is peripheral,unstable,indeterminate and open-en
10、ded 3.Social meaning 社会义社会义p.113 About the contexts or the social circumstances of language use,as reflected in dialects,slangs,jargons and other styles of language use.e.g.steedhorse gee-gee diminutive tiny wee Leechs“Seven Meanings”1134.Affective meaning/emotive(the feelings and attitudes of the s
11、peaker/writer)感情义感情义 e.g.nigger,fascist,politician,statesman,cop5.Reflective/reflected meaning反映义(association with another sense of the same expression)e.g.intercourse,nucleur 6.Collocative meaning搭配义搭配义 p.116:The associations of a word gets because of the meanings of words which tend to occur in it
12、s linguistic context.Meticulous,fussy;pretty,handsome,etc.Full(moon),complete victoryThematic meaning主题义主题义p.116 Meaning that arises out of the way in which the writer or speaker organizes his message.Its mainly a matter of choice b/t alternative grammatical constructions.Jack was presented with a g
13、old medal.A gold medal was presented to Jack.The Olympic Committee presented Jack with a gold medal.Sense&reference(110)Sense（意义意义)is concerned with the inherent meaning of the linguistic form,the collection of all the features of the linguistic form.It is abstract and de-contextualized,the dictiona
14、ry meaning.E.g.:dog:a domesticated canine mammal,occurring n many breeds that show a great variety in size and form.Sense&reference(110)Reference（所指）语义（所指）语义 What a linguistic from refers to in the real physical world;it deals with the relationship b/t the linguistic elements&the non-linguistic worl
15、d of experience.E.g.:The dog is barking.Sense&reference(add)Linguistic forms having the same sense may have different references in different situations.Linguistic forms with the same reference might differ in sense.morning star 启明星,evening star冥王星Major sense relationshomonymy 121 Homonymy 同音/形异义,in
16、cluding:Homophones同音词:rain/reign,night/night,Homographs同形词:bow v./n.,tear v./n.Complete homonyms:fast adj./adv.,scale n./v.Major sense relations polysemy121-2 Polysemy一词多义：When a word has two or more meanings that are related conceptually or historically,its polysemous,or polysemic.Lexicographers de
17、cision Etymology&Meaning relation Polysemic words belong to One entry,whereas homonyms should be assigned to separate entries.Major sense relations synonymy 122 The meaning differences among synonymsDialect(AmE,BrE,Austral.,NZ,etc.)Register(Accounting,Music,Logic,Military,Law,etc.)Style(archaic,euph
18、emism,taboo,slang,poetic,pompous,etc.)Formality(formal,informal,neutral,etc.)Attitude(Derogatory,Appreciative,etc.)Collocation(full moon,blond hair)Major sense relationsantonymy 123 Antonymy 反义词反义词 is the oppositeness of meaning.Two antonyms share all but one semantic feature.man vs.woman:+/-female
19、Major sense relationsantonymy 1231.Gradable antonyms 可分等级反义词可分等级反义词 High-low,rich-poor,old-young2.Complementaries 互补反义词互补反义词(ungradable antonyms)dead-alive,male-female,sleep-awake3.Relational opposites关系反义词关系反义词 teacher-student,buy-sell,let-rent,above-below Major sense relations:Hyponymy 124 Hyponym
20、y下义关系involves the notion of meaning inclusion.The meanings of a hyponym下义词and its co-hyponyms并列并列下义词are included in the meaning of their superordinate 上上义词.HyponymyMajor sense relations:Hyponymy 124-5 Bird nightingalesparrowhawkSuperordinate/hyperonymhyponymsMajor sense relations meronymycarWheel en
21、ginedoorpistonvalveEtc.Major sense relationsmeronymy 125 Meronymy is a term used to describe a part-whole relationship b/t lexical items整体部分关系 Meronymy vs.hyponymy:Part-whole vs.general-specificQuestions Distinguish between denotative and connotative meaning,and give examples of each.What distinctio
22、n can we draw between sense and reference?What is the difference between lexical and grammatical meaning?Questions Give an opposite for each of the following words.Then divide the pairs into different types of opposite relations and explain how they differ.parent,bad,fat,above,short,male,husband,str
23、ong,black,buy,married,old,open.Explain and exemplify hyponymySemantic fields 语义场语义场 117-8 Also called lexical field,is a set of words with an identifiable semantic connection.Words can be classified into sets according to their meaning.Lexical gap(词汇空缺):the absence of a word in a particular place in
24、 a semnatic field of a language.E.g.:cousin=female or male?,cow+bull=?Semantic fields 语义场语义场 118Markedness and unmarkedness 有、无标记性The less marked members of the semantic field1.are easier to learn;2.typically consists only more morpheme3.cannot be described by another member;4.tend to be used more f
25、requently;5.are broader in meaningComponential analysis 118 CA（成分分析）is a way proposed by the structural semanticists to analyze word meaning.The approach is based on the belief that the meaning of a word can be dissected into meaning components,called semantic features（语义特征）（语义特征）.Componential analy
26、sis Binary features and redundancy rules are often used in CA.Bachelor+human+adult+unmarried/-married+male Spinster+human+adult+unmarried/-married+female Questions Discussion:Give a critical account of componential analysis.(cf:120)Exercises 2,5,7,8 on page 134Sentence meaning 127-131Semantic roles
27、语义角色:Who did what to whom,with whom,and for whom，including,Agent 行为者，patient 动作承受者/受事，experiencer经历者,beneficiary受益者,instrument工具,location场所 语义角色语义角色vs.语法角色语法角色 The semantic role of a noun phrase differs from its syntactic roleSemantic relations b/t sentences1.Entailment 131 A kind of meaning inclusi
28、on.Given two sentences p and q,we say p entails q,if,whenever p is true,q is also true,and if q is false,p is also false.If p is false then we cant say anything about q;it can either be true or false.“Henry murdered his wife”entails“Henrys wife is dead.”2.Presupposition We say p presupposes 预设 q,if,
29、whenever p is either true or false,q is always true.If q is true,p could be either true or false.If q is false,then p does not have truth value真值.“The king of France is bald”presupposes“There is a king of France”.Semantic relations b/t sentences1323.Synonymy 同义 He killed the dog=The dog was killed b
30、y him.4.Inconsistency 自相矛盾 a.He is a bachelor.b.He is married.5.semantically anomalous语义反常 Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.Etc.Questions Explain the ambiguity of the following sentences a)The long drill was boring.b)It takes a good ruler to make a straight line.c)He saw that gasoline can explo
31、de.d)The lamb is too hot to eat.e)Old men and women will be served first.f)They are moving sidewalks.Questions g)John loves Richard more than Martha.h)We laughed at the colourful ball.i)He was knocked over by the punch.j)I said I would file it on Thursday.k)I cannot recommend visiting professors too
32、 highly.See more on p.133:2Questions Whether a entails b,b entails a or neither entails the other.a.This chalk looks funny.b.The light is bad.a.I invited some of my friend.b.I didnt invite all of my friends.a.John got 40 on all his papers.b.John failed his exams.Questions What are the presuppositions that the following sentences may contain?a.She regretted not accepting the gift from Tony.b.The Vice-chancellor forgot that the professors supported the student.c.He believes that Mary is home.d.She wants more popcorn.
