Chapter 5 Semantics.docx

1、Chapter 5 SemanticsChapter 5: MeaningDefinitions of Semantics Semantics can be simply defined as the study of meaning. (Dai & He, 2002, p. 67) Term coined by Bral (1897) for the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the analysis and description of the so-called literal meaning of linguistic ex

2、pressions. (Bussmann, 1996, p. 423) Semantics is the study of linguistic meaning: the meaning of words, phrases, and sentences. (Wen, P. 210) Semantics is the study of meaning, or more specifically, the study of the meaning of linguistic units, words and sentences in particular. Semantics answers th

3、e question “what does this sentence mean”. In other words, it is the analysis of conventional meanings in words and sentences out of context. Then what is meaning? Many philosophers, psychologists, and sociologists all claim a deep interest in the study of meaning. The philosophers are interested in

4、 understanding the relations between linguistic expressions and what they refer to in the real world, and evaluating the truth value of linguistic expressions. The psychologists focus their interest on understanding the workings of the human mind through language. Now we will study the meanings of m

5、eaning from a linguistic point of view.5.1 Meanings of Meaning Scholars like Ferdinand de Saussure have stressed that the study of linguistic meaning is part of the general study of the use of sign systems, and this general study is called semiotics. Semioticians investigate the types of relationshi

6、p that may hold between a sign and the object it represents, or in de Saussures terminology, between a signifier (the form which the sign takes) and its signified (the concept it represent). One basic distinction, due to C. S. Peirce, is between icon 图标, index 标记and symbol 符号. Icon - An icon is wher

7、e there is a similarity between a sign and what it represents, i.e. between a portrait and its real-life object or a diagram of an engine and the real engine. An index is where the sign is closely associated with its signified, often in a causal relationship; thus smoke is an index of fire. The majo

8、rity of traffic signs are Index signs as they represent information which relates to a location (eg, a slippery road surface sign placed on a road which is prone to flooding) A symbol has no logical meaning between it and the object. There is only a conventional link between the sign and its signifi

9、ed, as in the use of insignia (徽章) to denote military ranks, or perhaps the way that mourning is symbolized by the wearing of black clothes in some cultures, and white clothes in others. Flags are also good examples of symbols which represent countries or organisations. Question: Which kind are word

10、s? 1. The naming theory Greek scholar Plato The linguistic form or symbols, in other words, the words used in a language are simply labels of the objects they stand for. So words are just names or labels for things. Reference (referential theory): The theory of meaning which relates the meaning of a

11、 word to the thing it refers to, or stand for, is known as the referential theory. Reference is the relation by which a word picks out or identifies an entity in the world. Words are but symbols, many of which have meaning only when they have acquired reference. Reference is the relationship between

12、 language and the world. “By means of reference, a speaker indicates which things in the world (including persons) are being talked about.”(Hurford and Heasley 1983:25) Only when a connection has been established between the linguistic sign and a referent, i.e. an object, a phenomenon, a person, etc

13、. does the sign become meaningful. Problems: 1) Some words are meaningful, but they identify no entities in the real world, such as the words dragon, phoenix, unicorn, mermaid, ghost, and, or, hard, slowly, think, etc. 2) It is not possible for some words to find referents in the world, such as the

14、words but, and, of, however, the, etc. 3) Speakers of English understand the meaning of a round triangle although there is no such graph. 2. The conceptualist view This view relates words and things through the mediation of concepts of the mind. When we explain the meaning of desk by pointing to the

15、 thing it refers to, we do not mean a desk must be of the particular size, color and material as the desk we are pointing to. There is something behind the concrete thing we can see. This is abstract, which has no existence in the material world and can only be sensed in our minds. It holds that the

16、re is no direct link between a linguistic form and what it refers to; rather, in the interpretation of meaning they are linked through the mediation of concepts in the mind. This is best illustrated by the semantic triangle or triangle of significance suggested by Ogden and Richards in The Meaning o

17、f Meaning (1923). They argue that the relation between a word and a thing it refers to is not direct. It is mediated by concept. In a diagram form, the relation is represented as follows: Semantic triangle concept (meaning) symbol/word referent/thing(sound and spelling) Concept, which is beyond lang

18、uage, is the result of human cognition, reflecting the objective world in the human mind. It is universal to all men alike regardless of culture, race, language and so on whereas meaning belongs to language, so is restricted to language use. A concept can have as many referring expressions as there

19、are languages in the world. Even in the same language, the same concept can be expressed in different words. Eg. Much, many the same concept Collocation: different Much time, much money, much water Many people, many books, many buildings Synonymous pairs are good examples. Sense (concept): Sense ref

20、ers to the properties an entity has. In this sense, it is equivalent to “concept”. Sense is the relation by which words stand in human mind. It is mental representation, the association with something in the speakers or hearers mind. The difference between sense and reference: 1) Sense refers to the

21、 abstract properties of an entity, while reference refers to the concrete entities having these properties.2) To some extent, we can say that every word has a sense, but not every word has a reference. Thus it is reasonable for us to suggest that we should study meaning in terms of sense rather than

22、 reference. For example: desk 1) by using an object or picture 2) a piece of furniture with a flat top and four legs, at which one reads and writes 3) a kind of table, which has drawers 4) 书桌 The first method is the referential theory by directly pointing to the thing it refers to, while the last th

23、ree methods are indirect by resorting to the concept of desk.3. Contextualism Representatively proposed by the British linguist J. R. Firth who had been influenced by the Polish anthropologist Malinowski and the German philosopher Wittgenstein. This tendency attempts to base meaning on context. It h

24、olds that meaning should be studied in terms of situation, use, context elements closely linked with language behavior. the meaning of a word is its use in the language. J. R. Firth “We shall know a word by the company it keeps.” This view is based on the presumption that one can derive meaning from

25、 or reduce meaning to observable contexts. Two kinds of context are recognized: the situational context and the linguistic context. The specific meaning of a word is determined by different factors in the two situations. Examples: “Black Air” and “black coffee” (linguistic context) The seal could no

26、t be found. (situational context) ? 4. Behaviorism Bloomfield: Behaviorists attempted to define the meaning of a language form as the “situation in which the speaker utters it and the response it calls froth in the hearer.” Jill Jack S _ r s _ R Bloomfield argued that meaning consists in the relatio

27、n between speech indicated by the small letter r . s and the practical events represented by the capitalized letters S and R that precede and follow them respectively.5.2 Types of Meaning G. Leech recognizes 7 types of meaning in his Semantics (1974): 1) conceptual meaning also denotative in that it

28、 is concerned with the relationship between a word and the thing it denotes, or refers to. Associative meaning 2) connotative some additional, especially emotive, meaning (philosophy the properties of the entity a word denotes, eg. human) 3) social the social circumstances of language use 4) affecti

29、ve feelings and attitudes 5) reflected through association with another sense of the same expression 6) collocative through association with words which tend to occur in the environment of another word 7) thematic by the way in which the message is organized in terms of order and emphasis According

30、to Leech, the conceptual meaning is the most important.5.3 Sense Relations Sense the semantic relations between one linguistic unit and another. The sense of a word can by seen as the network of its sense relations with others. It denotes the relationship inside the language (intra-linguistic relati

31、ons), which is different from the reference which concerns with the relation between a word and the thing it refers to. Generally speaking, there are three kinds of sense relations, namely, sameness relation, oppositeness relation and inclusiveness relation. 5.3.1 Synonymy: sameness relation English

32、 is rich in synonyms due to its heavy borrowings from Latin. 1) Total synonymy is rare (absolute synonyms). They are words which are identical in meaning in all its aspects, I.e. both in grammatical and lexical meanings. They are interchangeable in every way. E.g. scarlet-fever / scarlatina 猩红热 composition / compounding 2) Relative