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Semantics

Semantics. Main Contents. Semantics Ogden and Richards’ The Meaning of Meaning Leech’s seven types of Meaning The Referential Theory vs. The Conceptual Theory Sense relations Componential Analysis Sentence Meaning. 1. semantics. the study of meaning , specially

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Semantics

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  1. Semantics

  2. Main Contents • Semantics • Ogden and Richards’ The Meaning of Meaning • Leech’s seven types of Meaning • The Referential Theory vs. The Conceptual Theory • Sense relations • Componential Analysis • Sentence Meaning

  3. 1. semantics • the study of meaning, specially the meaning of linguistic units, words and sentences in particular.

  4. 2. The Meaning of “Meaning” • Ogden and Richards (1923):奥格登和理查兹《意义的意义》 The Meaning of Meaning P-186: They summarized 16 major categories and 22 subcategories of definitions:

  5. Examples of “Meaning” • What is the meaning of the word “desk”? • Whom do you mean?/I do not mean that one, I mean this one? • I didn’t quite catch your meaning, could you explain it again?

  6. What do you mean by saying that? • What does “Konbanwa” / “Merci” mean in English? • What is the meaning of this sentence in such a situation? e.g. —xxx同学学习怎么样？ —为人不错。

  7. “意思”、“意义” • “节约”就是不浪费的意思。 • 这句话是什么意思？ • 大家的意思是一起团聚团聚。 • 这件礼物不过是我们大家的一点小意思，请你收下！（a token of regard) • 这个话题有点意思。

  8. Summary of Important Ones • 1.reference • 2.concept • 3.synonym • 4.paraphrase • 5.translation equivalent • 6.intention • 7.implicature

  9. 3. Leech’s Seven Meanings • Leech— a British modern linguist, 《语义学》Semantics (1974) P-23: Seven Types of Meaning • Principles of Pragmatics 《语用学原则》 • Style in Fiction 《文体分析》 (at SISU on Sep, 2005)

  10. Seven Types of Meaning • 1. Conceptual Meaning 概念意义 • 2.Connotative Meaning 内涵意义 • 3. Social Meaning 社会意义 • 4. Affective Meaning 感情意义 • 5. Reflected Meaning 反映意义 • 6. Collocative Meaning 搭配意义 • 7. Thematic Meaning 主题意义 Associative Meaning 联想意义

  11. Conceptual Meaning • 关于逻辑、认知或外延内容的基本意义。又叫“外延意义”（denotative meaning),也通常是词典给出的定义，概念意义不会因人、因文化而异；可分解成若干“语义成分”。E.g. • women: [HUMAN] [FEMALE] [ADULT] • Pig: [ANIMALE] [DOMESTICATED]…

  12. Connotative Meaning • 附加在概念意义之上，通过语言所指事物传递的意义。内涵意义因人、因文化而异。E.g. • Woman: housewife, gentle, cry, fragile, weak, dependent hesitant, Pig: fat, lazy, dirty, greedy, docile

  13. Social Meaning • 指关于语言运用的社会环境的意义，主要代表是“文体风格意义”Stylistic Meaning: e.g. • horse (common) • steed (formal/poetic) • nag (slang) • gee (colloquial/child language) • 称谓：老婆，媳妇，堂客，屋里的，孩子他 妈，内人，爱人，夫人，老伴儿，老婆子 policeman cop

  14. Degrees of formality: • Frozen — formal— consultative — casual — intimate (Martin Joos The Five Clocks ) • Formal— informal— literary— archaic— slang

  15. Affective Meaning • 通过概念意义、内涵意义、语调或言辞等表达的关于讲话者或作者的感情和态度的意义e.g. • appreciative/commendatory meaning • prerogative /derogatory meaning e.g. “The emotive component of meaning ” 《高级英文写作教程》第2课

  16. Reflected Meaning • 通过与同一个词的另一个意义的联想来传递的意义。E.g. Comforter (comfort) “圣灵” The Holy Ghost 多义词 Intercourse, cock Bottom up 干杯！ 屁股朝天！

  17. Childish/womanish/boyish/ • Childlike/womanly/manly • 褒贬视语境而定： • “son of bitch”— crude vulgarity — friendliness, intimacy “讨厌”

  18. Collocative Meaning • 通过与另一些词同时出现的词的联想来传递的意义，指适合在某一个上下文语境中的意义。E.g. • pretty vs. handsome • white elephant, white lie（白) • green on the job, green fruit, green with envy, green-eyed

  19. Color terms: • Mr Brown is a very white man. He is looking rather green. But he has been feeling blue lately. When I saw him, he was in a brown study. I hope he’ll soon be in the pink again.

  20. 1+1≠2 • 猫步≠猫在散步 • 秋波≠秋天的菠菜

  21. Thematic Meaning 主题意义 • 说话者或写文章的人借助组织信息的方式（语序强调手段，信息焦点的安排）来传递的一种意义。 • Two hooligans beat Xiao ming yesterday. • Xiao Ming was beaten yesterday. • I went to the Great Wall last year. • Last year I went to the Great Walll. • Green house

  22. 4. Meaning Theories • 1) The Referential Theory Meaning of a word ——the thing or entity it refers to or stands for. (referent) (direct correspondence) Word Thing

  23. Problems of referential theory: • Many words in the language have no referents in the real world. • Different linguistic expressions with the same referent may mean differently. Abstract entities Imagined entities Entities not at now and here

  24. 2)The Conceptual Theory Meaning of a word——the concept it provokes in the mind. This theory holds that words and things are related through the mediation of concepts of the mind.

  25. The Semantic Triangle advanced by Ogden and Richards. 语义三角 Concept Thing Word Indirect correspondence

  26. Thought or Reference 思想、所指意义 Concept 符号 所指事物 Symbol Referent Linguistic forms such as words or sentences The object, etc, in the world of experience

  27. Sense（意义） vs. Reference（指称） • S: the abstract properties of an entity • R: the concrete entities • Every word has a sense; • Not every word has a reference • S: intra-linguistic relation • R: Extra-linguistic relation Non-linguistic

  28. 5. Sense Relations • Semantics is to study sense relations within the language system, having nothing to do with the objective world. • 传统语义学的出发点是从语言内部去研究各种意义关系。

  29. synomymy Sameness • 2）Sense relations in terms of words: antonymy Oppositeness 上义关系 Inclusiveness hyponymy meronymy

  30. Synonymy (context-dependent): “No total or absolute synonyms exist.” 1) differences in style 2) differences in connotations 3) differences in dialects

  31. Synonym (by 戴炜栋） • Dialectal synonym autumn/fall; lift/elevator • Stylistic synonym old man, daddy, dad, father, male parent Kid, chiid, offspring Kick the bucket, pop off, die, pass away, decease • Emotive or evaluative synoym Collaborator/accomplice • Collocational synonym accuse…of, charge…with, rebuke…for Rotten tomato, addled eggs, rancid bacon, sour milk

  32. Degree: relative/gradable 等级 Different norms Gradable • Antonymy: Cover term: unmarked or marked 互补 denial of one=assertion of the other Complementary degree: absolute No cover term 反向 Converse 关系对立 Relational opposites

  33. superordinate Plant 上义词 • Hyponymy: vegetable tree flower Hyponym 下义词 rose lotus tulip lily cabbage carrot …… Cohyponyms同下义词

  34. Hyponymy Musical instruments piano flute guitar violin tuba trombone

  35. Hyponymy fish snapper salmon bass sole trout snapper salmon bass sole trout chinook spring coho king sockey

  36. E-C Differences: 汉语：“属＋种差”＝具体词＋概括词 Genus + Species 笔：铅笔、毛笔、钢笔、圆珠笔 酒：白酒、红酒、高梁酒、苞谷酒、 葡萄酒 菜：白菜、菠菜、空心菜、韭菜、木耳菜 馆：餐馆、宾馆、体育馆、殡仪馆、博物馆 羊：山羊、绵羊、小羊、公羊、母羊 笑：微笑、大笑、傻笑、爆笑、讥笑、嘲笑、 哈哈笑、咯咯笑、皮笑肉不笑

  37. 伯伯 叔叔 舅舅 姑父 姨夫 国家 uncle Country state nation land 稻 谷 米 饭 高 Rice 山

  38. ？！ More Examples • E-C differences :

  39. Meronymy • D. Meronymy （部分-整体关系）Meronymy is part-whole relationship between lexical items. e.g. a "finger" is a part of a "hand", a "hand" is a part of an "arm", an "arm" is a part of a "body". Linguistics call the part-whole relation meronymy, from "meros" (part) + "nym" (name). Therefore, "finger" is a meronym of "hand", "hand" is a meronym of "arm", "arm" is a meronym of "body".

  40. Types of meronymy • 1. component — object (branch — tree, page — book) • 2. member — collection (tree — forest, fish — shoal) • 3. portion — mass (slice — cake, strand — hair) • 4. stuff — object (aluminum — airplane, gold — ring) • 5. feature — activity (paying — shopping ) • 6. place — area (Cambridge — Massachusetts) • 7. phase — process (adolescence — growing up)

  41. homonymy （同形同音异义）: I drove to the bank this morning. (fair 1, fair 2; case 1, case • homophony（同音异义）: flour-flower sweet-suite waist-waste meet-meat • Homography（同形异音异义）: lead(铅）lead（引导） wind （风）wind (蜿蜒） • Polysemy （多义性）: operation “（外科）手术”、“（机器） 操作”、“（商）经营”、“（复）军事演习、作战”、“（数）运算” • ‘打’ 电话/饭/字/人/火/听/灯/水/草/盹/颤, etc.

  42. Supplements • Polysemy • Homonymy: ----homographs --homophones

  43. Polysemy • A word has more than one meaning out of context (the meanings are related to one another) • Court: ‘enclosed area’, ‘retinue of a sovereign’, ‘judicial tribunal’ • Bug: ‘insect’, ‘enthusiast’, ‘electronic device for eavesdropping’

  44. Homonymy • Two words sound and are written the same but are different in meaning • Bark1: ‘outer covering of wood’ • Bark2: ‘harsh sound, uttered by a dog’ • Swallow1: ‘to ingest’ • Swallow2: ‘a type of bird’

  45. Homophones • Flower vs. flour • Bee vs. be

  46. 6. Componential Analysis 成分分析 • ——to analyze the word meaning in terms of semantic features（语义特征）or semantic components（语义成分）, which are semantic units smaller than the meaning of word.

  47. sex • Noun: age [+HUMAN] [+MALE]/[-MALE] [+Adult]/[-ADULT]

  48. Girl: [+HUMAN][-MALE][-ADULT] • Boy: [+HUMAN][+MALE][-ADULT] • Woman: [+HUMAN][-MALE][+ADULT] • Man: [+HUMAN][+MALE][+ADULT]

  49. father= PARENT (x, y) & Male (x) daugher= CHILD (x, y) & -MALE (x) • Verbs: take= CAUSE (x, (have (x, y)) kill=Cause (x, (become(y, (-ALIVE (y))))

  50. Problems of CA: • 1) polysemous words (man/animal) • 2) binary taxonomies • 3) not universal • 4) vivacious circle: metalanguage

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