Chapter5Meaning5.1Meaningsof“meaning”1.Meaning:Meaningreferstowhatalanguageexpressesabouttheworldweliveinoranypossibleorimaginaryworld.2.Connotation:Theadditionalmeaningthatawordorphrasehasbeyonditscentralmeaning.3.Denotation:Thatpartofthemeaningsofawordorphrasethatrelatesittophenomenaintherealworldorinafictionalorpossibleword.4.Differenttypesofmeaning(RecognizedbyLeech,1974)(1)Conceptualmeaning:Logical,cognitive,ordenotativecontent.(2)Associativemeaninga.Connotativemeaning:Whatiscommunicatedbyvirtueofwhatlanguagerefersto.b.Socialmeaning:Whatiscommunicatedofthesocialcircumstancesoflanguageuse.c.Affectivemeaning:Whatiscommunicatedofthefeelingsandattitudesofthespeaker/writer.d.Reflectedmeaning:Whatiscommunicatedthroughassociationwithanothersenseofthesameexpression.e.Collocativemeaning:Whatiscommunicatedthroughassociationwithwordswhichtendtooccurintheenvironmentofanotherword.(3)Thematicmeaning:Whatiscommunicatedbythewayinwhichthemessageisorganizedintermsoforderandemphasis.5.Thedifferencebetweenmeaning,concept,connotation,anddenotationMeaningreferstotheassociationoflanguagesymbolswiththerealworld.Therearemanytypesofmeaningaccordingtodifferentapproaches.Conceptistheimpressionofobjectsinpeople’smind.Connotationistheimpliedmeaning,similartoimplication.Denotation,likesense,isnotdirectlyrelatedwithobjects,butmakestheabstractassumptionoftherealworld.5.2Thereferentialtheory1.Thereferentialtheory:Thetheoryofmeaningwhichrelatesthemeaningofawordtothethingitrefersto,orstandsfor,isknownasthereferentialtheory.2.ThesemantictriangletheoryOgdenandRichardspresentedtheclassic“SemanticTriangle”asmanifestedinthefollowingdiagram,inwhichthe“symbol”referstothelinguistelements(word,sentence,etc.),the“referent”referstotheobjectintheworldofexperience,andthe“thought”or“reference”referstoconceptornotion.Thusthesymbolofawordsignifies“things”byvirtueofthe“concept,”associatedwiththeformofthewordinthemindofthespeakerofthelanguage.Theconceptthusconsideredisthemeaningoftheword.Theconnection(representedwithadottedline)betweensymbolandreferentismadepossibleonlythrough“concept.”Concept/notionThought/reference----------------------SymbolobjectWordstandsforrealitySignifierreferentCodesignified5.3Senserelations5.3.1SynonymySynonymyisthetechnicalnameforthesamenessrelation.5.3.2AntonymyAntonymyisthenameforoppositenessrelation.Therearethreesubtypes:gradable,complementaryandconverseantonymy.1.GradableantonymyGradableantonymyisthecommonesttypeofantonymy.Theyaremainlyadjectives,e.g.good/bad,long/short,big/small,etc.2.ComplementaryantonymyThemembersofapairincomplementaryantonymyarecomplementarytoeachother.Thatis,theydivideupthewholeofasemanticfiledcompletely.Notonlytheassertionofonemeansthedenialoftheother,thedenialofonealsomeanstheassertionoftheother,e.g.alive/dead,hit/miss,male/female,boy/girl,etc.3.ConverseantonymyConverseantonymsarealsocalledrelationalopposites.Thisisaspecialtypeofantonymyinthatthemembersofapairdonotconstituteapositive-negativeopposition.Theyshowthereversalofarelationshipbetweentwoentities,e.g.buy/sell,parent/child,above/below,etc.5.3.3HyponymyHyponymyinvolvesusinthenotionofmeaninginclusion.Itisamatterofclassmembership.Thatistosay,whenxisakindofy,thelowertermxisthehyponym,andtheuppertermyisthesuperordinate.Twoormorehyponymsofthesameonesuperordinatearecalledco-hyponyms,e.g.underflower,therearepeony,jasmine,tulip,violet,rose,etc.,floweristhesuperordinateofpeony,jasmine,etc.,peonyisthehyponymofflower,andpeony,jasmine,tulip,violet,rose,etc.areco-hyponyms.5.4ComponentialanalysisSymbolizesReferstoComponentialanalysisdefinesthemeaningofalexicalelementintermsofsemanticcomponents.Thatis,themeaningofawordisnotanunanalyzablewhole.Itmaybeseenasacomplexofdifferentsemanticfeatures.Therearesemanticunitssmallerthanthemeaningofaword.E.g.Boy:[+human][-adult][+male]Girl:[+human][-adult][-male]Son:child(x,y)&male(x)Daughter:child(x,y)&-male(x)Take:cause(x,(have(x,y)))Give:cause(x,(-have(x,y)))5.5Sentencemeaning5.5.1Anintegratedtheory1.Compositionality:Aprincipleforsentenceanalysis,inwhichthemeaningofasentencedependsonthemeaningsoftheconstituentwordsandthewaytheyarecombine.2.Selectionrestrictions:Restrictionsonthechoiceofindividuallexicalunitsinconstructionwithotherunits.E.g.thewordbreathewilltypicallyselectananimatesubject(boy,man,woman,etc.)notanabstractoraninanimate(table,book,etc.).Theboywasstillbreathing.Thedeskwasbreathing.5.5.2Logicalsemantics1.Prepositionallogic/prepositionalcalculus/sententialcalculus:Prepositionallogicisthestudyofthetruthconditionsforpropositions:howthetruthofacompositepropositionisdeterminedbythetruthvalueofitsconstituentpropositionsandtheconnectionsbetweenthem.2.Predicatelogic/predicatecalculus:Predicatelogicstudiestheinternalstructureofsimplepropositions.
