语言学五章之后.docx

1、语言学五章之后 Chapter 5 Semantics 1. What is semantics? 2. Some views concerning the study of meaning 3. Lexical meaning 4. Major sense relations 5. Sense relations between sentences 6. Analysis of meaning 1. What is semantics? Semantics-the study of language meaning. What is meaning? Meaning is central t

2、o the study of communication.2. Some views concerning the study of meaning Naming theory (Plato) 命名论 The conceptualist view概念论 Contextualism (Firth) 情景论 Behaviorism (Bloomfield)行为论 Naming theory (Plato) Words are names or labels for things. It was proposed by the ancient Greek scholar Plato. Limitat

3、ions:1) Applicable to nouns only. 2) There are nouns which denote things that do not exist in the real world, e.g. ghost, dragon, unicorn独 角兽, 3) There are nouns that do not refer to physical objects but abstract notions, e.g. joy, impulse, hatred The conceptualist view The conceptualist view holds

4、that there is no direct link between a linguistic form and what it refers to (i.e. between language and the real world); rather, in the interpretation of meaning they are linked through the mediation of concepts in the mind. Ogden and Richards: semantic triangle Thought/reference/concept Symbol/form

5、 Referent/object in the world of experience word/phrase/sentence The symbol or form refers to the linguistic elements (words and phrases); The referent refers to the object in the world of experience; Thought or reference refers to concept. Semantic triangle 语义三角: a particular model of meaning propo

6、sed by the American linguists Ogden & Richards in the 1920s in The Meaning of Meaning which claims that meaning is essentially a threefold relationship between linguistic form, concept & referent. 三角形说明以下几点: ). Concept (概念)/ Thought是和 Referent (所指物)/Thing相互联系的。这种联系是直接的联系。 Concept 是在客观事物的基础上概括成的； 换 句

7、话说， Concept 是客观事物在人们头脑中的 反映。因此，在三角形中 Concept 和 Referent 之间画了一条实线，表示 A concept refers a referent.概念是反映客观事物的。 2). Concept和Symbol/Word 之间也有直接的联系。 Concept 是抽象的，它要通过Symbol才能表达出来； 换句话说，词是用来表达概念的。因此，在三角形中 Concept 和 Symbol 之间画了一条实线，表示 A word symbolizes a concept .词是表达概念的。 3). Symbol和 Referent之间没有直接的,必然的联系；也

8、就是说，它们之间的联系带有“任意性” 或是“约定俗成”的 因此，Symbol和 Referent之间画了一条虚线，表示 A word stands for a referent.词是代表所指事物的。 正 是由于Symbol和 Referent之间没有必然的联系，所以同 一事物可以用不同的词来表示。 如： “狗” 英：dog; 德： hund；西： pero. 如果客观事物与词之间有直接 的,必然的联系，那么某一事物就必然只有一个名称 The contextualism Meaning should be studied in terms of situation, use, context e

9、lements closely linked with language behavior. meaning is context, that is, meaning is found in the context within which a linguist John expression Firth. is uttered. A representative of this approach was the British Two types of contexts are recognized: Situational context: spatiotemporal 时 空 a sit

10、uation in which an utterance occurs. Its main components include the time & place, the speaker,hearer, the actions they are performing, & the various objects,events existed in the situation ; also settings; medium etc.situation ; also settings; medium etc. Linguistic context: the probability of a wo

11、rds cooccurrence共现or collocation搭配with another word eg. 1. “black ” in black hair & black coffee, or black sheep differs in meaning; “The president of the United States ” can mean either the president or presidency in different situation. 2. A. The seal could not be found. The zookeeper became worri

12、ed.(seal: an aquatic mammal海豹) B. The seal could not be found. The king became worried.(seal: the kings stamp 玉玺) Behaviorism Behaviorists attempted to define meaning as “the situation in which the speaker utters it and the response it calls forth in the hearer ” . The meaning of an expression is th

13、e stimulus 刺激 that causes the utterance in a particular situation. Close to contextualism, it is linked with psychological interest. It is illustrated by Bloomfield s “ stimulus and respond ” story about Jack and Jill: See P71 JillJackS_r-s_R 3. Lexical meaning Sense 意义& reference 所指 are both concer

14、ned with the study of word meaning. They are two related but different aspects of meaning. Sense- is concerned with the inherent meaning of the linguistic form. It is the collection of all the features of the linguistic form; it is abstract and decontextualized. It is the aspect of meaning dictionar

15、y compilers are interested in. Reference-what a linguistic form refers to in the real, physical world; it deals with the relationship between the linguistic element and the non-linguistic world of experience. eg. “cat”: a small animal with soft fur and sharp teeth and claws, often kept as a pet or i

16、n buildings to catch mice and rats.Your cat is very lovely.Note: Linguistic forms having the same sense may have different references in different situations; - I was once bitten by a dog. - Mind you. There is a dog over there. on the other hand, there are also occasions, when linguistic forms with

17、the same reference might differ in sense, e.g. morning star: Venus ; evening star: the same star in the sky 水星和金星只能在黄昏或黎明前后见到，分别称为“昏星”和“晨星”。金星为晨星时“启明”，为昏星时叫长庚 星。民间统称为太白星或太白金星。 4. Major sense relations Synonymy Antonymy Polysemy Homonymy Hyponymy Synonymy Synonymy refers to the sameness or close simi

18、larity of meaning. Words that are close in meaning are called synonyms. 1) Dialectal synonyms- synonyms used in different regional dialects, e.g. British English American English Autumn fall Lift elevator Luggage baggage Lorry truck Railroad railway Sidewalk pavement Chemist druggist Help servantpav

19、ement druggist servant 2) Stylistic synonyms- words may have similar denotative meaning, but different stylistic meanings. Formal - informal eg. die/pass away/pop off/decease kid, child, offspring; start, begin, commence; room,chamber 3) Synonyms that differ in their emotive or evaluative meaning, e

20、.g. small/little; politician/statesman,4) Collocational synonyms, some words are only collocationally restricted, i.e. they occur only in conjunction with other words. eg.rancid (bacon or butter)/addled(egg);deep/profound (profound sympathy, but deep water);broad/wide (wide road, broad accent)accuse

21、of, chargewith, rebukefor; rancid (bacon or butter)/addled(egg);deep/profound (profound sympathy, but deep water);broad/wide (wide road, broad accent) accuseof, chargewith, rebukefor; 5) Semantically different synonyms, many words are close to each other but slightly different in meaning, eg. /adult

22、/ripe/perfect; govern /control /determine /require; amaze/ astound, These are also called near synonyms. Antonymy Antonyms: the oppositeness of meaning. Words that are opposite are antonyms. Gradable antonyms-there are often intermediate forms between the two members of a pair, e.g. oldyoung, hot-co

23、ld, tall-short, Complementary antonyms-the denial of one member of the pair implies the assertion of the other, e.g. alive-dead, male-female, Relational opposites-exhibits the reversal of the relationship between the two items, e.g. husband-wife, father-son, doctor-patient, buy-sell, let-rent, emplo

24、yeremployee, give-receive, above-below, in-out, updown Gradable antonyms Gradable antonyms -there are often intermediate forms between the two members of a pair, e.g. old-young, hot-cold, tall-short, members of a pair, e.g. old-young, hot-cold, tall-short, Complementary antonyms Complementary antony

25、ms -the denial of one member of the pair implies the assertion of the other, e.g. alive-dead, male-female, Polysemy Polysemy-the same one word may have more than one meaning, e.g. mouth: sea. an organ of the human body; the entrance to a cave;the place where the river joins the Homonymy Homonymy- th

26、e phenomenon that words having different meanings have the same form, e.g. different words are identical in sound or spelling, or in both. Homophone - when two words are identical in sound, e.g. rain-reign, night/knight, Homogragh - when two words are identical in spelling, e.g. tear(n.)-tear(v.), l

27、ead(n.)-lead(v.), Complete homonym- when two words are identical in both sound and spelling, e.g. ball, bank, watch, scale, fast, Hyponymy Hyponymy下义词-the sense relation between a more general, more inclusive word and a more specific word. Superordinate上义词: the word which is more general in meaning.

28、 Hyponyms下义词: the word which is more specific in meaning. Co-hyponyms并列下义词: hyponyms of the same superordinate. Superordinate: flower Hyponyms: rose, tulip郁金香, lily百合, chrysanthemum菊花, peony牡丹, narcissus水 仙, Superordinate: furnitureHyponyms: bed, table, desk, dresser, wardrobe, sofa, 5. Sense relati

29、ons between sentences (1) X is synonymous with Y (2) X is inconsistent with Y (3) X entails Y (4) X presupposes Y (5) X is a contradiction (6) X is semantically anomalous X is synonymous with Y X: He was a norphan. Y: He hasnt got any parents. If X is true, Y is true; if X is false, Y is false. X is

30、 inconsistent with Y X: He is single. Y: He has a wife. If X is true, Y is false; if X is false, Y is true. X entails Y Entailment蕴含: two propositions which differ only in that an argument of one is hyponymous to an argument of the other. She saw a girl entails she saw a child. Hyponymy involves ent

31、ailment. eg. This is a rose entails This is a flower. He likes swimming entails He likes sports.Examples: X: He saw a girl.Y: He saw a child. X: Marry has been to Beijing.Y : Marry has been to China. Entailment is a relation of inclusion. If X entails Y, then the meaning of X is included in Y. If X is true, Y is necessarily true; if X is false, Y may be true or false. X presupposes Y the kind of meaning which the speaker doesnt assert but assumes the hearer can identify from the sentence. eg. I am glad that you came yesterday. -You came