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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 meaningSentence meani
2、ng Lexical meaningGrammatical meaningSpeakers meaningParalinguistic 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.,Problems with naming as meaning,conj.,prep,adv,imaginary o
3、bjects or abstract notions such as“but,for,slowly,ghost,sadness”?,Lexical and structural meaning,Grammatical meaning(syntactic and morphological)Functional wordsLexical meaning Content wordsIt is arguable that the functional words have any referent in the physical world.,The conceptualist view,2.The
4、 conceptualist view illustrated 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&Richards,Contextualism,3.Contextualism:Meaning should be studied
5、 in terms of situation,use,context.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 peopleSituational contextParticipants(Personalities,Verbal a
6、ction,Nonverbal action etc.)ActionsObjects and eventsDeictic features,Behaviorism 107,4.BehaviorismBloomfield“situation in which the speaker utters it and the response it calls forth in the hearer.”S Jill rs Jack R,truth-conditional theory 109,5.Meaning as truth conditions:truth-conditional theory/s
7、emantics 真值理论draws on formal logic 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 meaning2.connotative3.social 4.affective5.reflective6.collocative7.thematic,Associative meaning,Denot
8、ation and Connotation,Denotation 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
9、mind.内涵意义,Leechs“Seven Meanings”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 han
10、dsome),An ass:a stupid foolish person,A pig:a dirty,greedy or ill-mannered person,A 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 periphera
11、l,unstable,indeterminate and open-ended,3.Social meaning 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”113,4.Affective meaning/emotive(t
12、he feelings and attitudes of the speaker/writer)感情义 e.g.nigger,fascist,politician,statesman,cop,5.Reflective/reflected meaning反映义,(association with another sense of the same expression)e.g.intercourse,nucleur,6.Collocative meaning搭配义 p.116:,The associations of a word gets because of the meanings of
13、words which tend to occur in its linguistic context.Meticulous,fussy;pretty,handsome,etc.Full(moon),complete victory,Thematic meaning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 construction
14、s.Jack was presented with a gold medal.A gold medal was presented to Jack.The Olympic Committee presented Jack with a gold medal.,Sense&reference(110),Sense（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 d
15、e-contextualized,the dictionary 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What a linguistic from refers to in the real physical world;it deals with the relationship b/t the linguistic elements
16、&the non-linguistic world 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 relationshomo
17、nymy 121,Homonymy 同音/形异义,including: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
18、 polysemic.Lexicographers decisionEtymology&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
19、,Law,etc.)Style(archaic,euphemism,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 is the oppositeness of meaning.Two antonyms share all but one semantic featu
20、re.man vs.woman:+/-female,Major sense relationsantonymy 123,1.Gradable antonyms 可分等级反义词 High-low,rich-poor,old-young2.Complementaries 互补反义词(ungradable antonyms)dead-alive,male-female,sleep-awake3.Relational opposites关系反义词 teacher-student,buy-sell,let-rent,above-below,Major sense relations:Hyponymy 1
21、24,Hyponymy下义关系involves the notion of meaning inclusion.The meanings of a hyponym下义词and its co-hyponyms并列下义词are included in the meaning of their superordinate 上义词.,Hyponymy,Major sense relations:Hyponymy 124-5,Bird,nightingale,sparrow,hawk,Superordinate/hyperonym,hyponyms,Major sense relations meron
22、ymy,car,Wheel,engine,door,piston,valve,Etc.,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-specific,Questions,Distinguish between denotative and connotative meaning,and give examples of
23、 each.What distinction 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,
24、short,male,husband,strong,black,buy,married,old,open.Explain and exemplify hyponymy,Semantic fields 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
25、 particular place in a semnatic field of a language.E.g.:cousin=female or male?,cow+bull=?,Semantic fields 语义场 118,Markedness 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.ten
26、d to be used more frequently;5.are broader in meaning,Componential 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）.,Com
27、ponential analysis,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 134,Sentence meaning 127-13
28、1,Semantic roles 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vs.语法角色 The semantic role of a noun phrase differs from its syntactic role,Semantic relations b/t sentences1.Entailment 131,A kind of meani
29、ng inclusion.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 presuppos
30、es 预设 q,if,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 sentences132,3.Synonymy 同义 He killed the dog=The dog
31、 was killed by 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 gaso
32、line can explode.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
33、 professors too highly.See more on p.133:2,Questions,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.,
