Chapter Five
Word Meaning
1.Introduction
The Study of Meaning
•Semantics（语义学）:
-The meaning of words:Lexical semantics
-The meaning of sentences:Propositional meaning(命题意义）,compositional meaning（组合意义）
-Linguistic semantics
Logical semantics
Philosophical semantics
•Pragmatics（语用学）:
-
The meaning of utterances
Semantic Meaning
•Semantics is the study of meaning in language.
-Meaning has been studied for thousands of years by philosophers,logicians and linguists.
•Logicians and philosophers
-have tended to concentrate on a restricted range of sentences(typically,statements,or
'propositions')within a single language.
•The linguistic approach
-is broader in scope,aiming to study the properties of meaning in a systematic and objective
way,with reference to as a wide range of utterances and languages as possible.
语义概说
•什么是语义
•语义是指语言形式所表达的信息内容
语义研究的历史
语义研究是语言学的重要组成部分，研究语音、词汇、语法都离不开对意义的探讨。
n传统语言学是重视语义的。
n结构主义语言学忽视语义研究。
n转换生成语言学早期也忽视意义，六十年代中叶以后，开始认识到语义的重要性。各学派开展了一场句法和语义问题大讨论，语义学获得发展。
语义研究划分为语文学、传统语义学和现代语义学三个时期。
语文学时期，在古希腊苏格拉底和柏拉图等人在语义研究方面主要是注释古书。
-我国的语文学时期的语义研究叫作训诂学。
传统语义学时期是从十九世纪开始的。语义研究是词汇学的重要内容。
-1838年德国学者莱西希主张把词义研究建成一门独立的学科。他把这门学科叫做意义学。
-1893年法国语言学家布雷阿尔首先使用语义学这个术语，并于1897年出版了《语义学探索》一书。
现代语义学时期，从二十世纪二十年代开始，形成了众多的流派或理论模式。
1.结构语义学代表人物德国语言学家特里尔，他提出了语义场的理论。
2.解释语义学代表人物美国语言学家乔姆斯基，是转换生成语言学的一个组成部分。
3.生成语义学代表人物乔姆斯基的学生莱可夫、麦考莱、罗斯、波斯塔尔等。这是转换生成语言学的一个分支，是对标准理论的一种修正方式。
4.菲尔默的语义理论
2.Vocabulary and Sense
2.1Word and Vocabulary
1
•
Word is a minimum free form:-the smallest unit that can constitute a complete utterance by itself.•Vocabulary is the pool of all the words in a language.
-It includes all kinds of words,bound phrases,abbreviations and idioms.
•The relation between word and vocabulary is the relation of individual and collective .
-"vocabulary "is uncountable noun,while "word"is countable noun.
2.2Basic vocabulary and General lexicon Basic vocabulary and its features
General lexicon and its features
The relation of basic vocabulary and general lexicon
（1）基本词汇及其特点
基本词汇是语言中全体基本词的总汇。
•••••基本词是词汇中的核心，是构成语言的基础，是一种语言的词汇中最常用的那部分词。
•基本词汇的特点:
-1.全民常用性
-2.稳定性
-3.能产性
（2）一般词汇及其特点
一般词汇是指语言中基本词汇以外的词。
•一般词汇的特点：
°1.非全民性
°2.发展变化快
°3.构词能力不强
•一词汇包括新词、古词、方言词、行业语、外来词等。
（3）基本词汇和一般词汇的关系
互相区别互相联系互相转化
unequal2.3Sense and Its Property
2.3.1The meaning of meaning
•  C.K.Ogden &I.A.Richards (1923).The Meaning of Meaning .
•A green light means to go.
•What is the meaning of life?
•Geoffrey Leech (1974,1981).Semantics:The Study of Meaning .Seven types of meaning:
-Conceptual meaning （概念意义）
-Connotative meaning （内涵意义）
-Social meaning
-
Affective meaning （情感意义）
-Reflected and meaning （反射意义）
-Collocative meaning （搭配意义）
-Thematic meaning （主位意义）
Step mother &Cinderella
•domicile:very formal,official
•residence:formal
•abode:poetic
•home:general
•steed:poetic
•horse:general
•nag:slang
•gee-gee:baby language
（4）Affective meaning
•Commendatory•Derogatory
•褒义词•贬义词
•tough-minded
•resolute,firm
•shrewd
•childlike
•wise man •man of usual talent •portly,stout,solid
•slender,slim •ruthless
•obstinate
•sly,crafty
•childish
•wise guy
•freak
•fleshy,fat,tubby
•lean,skinny,lanky,weedy,scraggy
(5)Reflected meaning
•It arises from the cases of multiple conceptual meaning.It is the meaning that conveyed by another sense of the same word form.
•When you hear'click the mouse twice',you think of Gerry being hit twice by Tom so you feel excited.
•Many taboo terms are result of this.
(6)Collocative meaning
•The associations a word acquires on account of the meanings of words which tend to occur in its environment.
-pretty:girl,boy,woman,flower,garden,colour,village,etc.
-handsome:boy,man,car,vessel,overcoat,airliner,typewriter,etc.
(7)Thematic meaning
•What is communicated by the way in which a speaker or writer organizes the message,in terms of ordering,focus,and emphasis.
-Mrs Bessie Smith donated the first prize.
-The first prize was donated by Mrs Bessie Smith.
-They stopped at the end of the corridor.
-At the end of the corridor,they stopped.
2.3.2The Theory of Reference（指称）
•Words→Meaning:Words'name'or'refer to'things--Platonic
•Words→Concepts→Things:Ogden&Richards
thought/concept/image
symbolizes refers to
symbol
(word)stands for
Semantic triangle
语义三角
referent (object)
•由词的语音形式固定下来的人们对客观事物或它们之间关系的认识与评价。
2.3.3Sense——the meaning of a word
•Ludwig Wittgenstein（维特根斯坦）:'The meaning of a word is its use in the language'.•Meaning is studied by making detailed analyses of the way words and sentences are used in specific contexts.
-Reference:how language refers to this external world
-Sense:the way people relate words to each other within the framework of their language
•'Meaning'is not some kind of'entity'separate from language.
-That words'have meaning'means only that they are used in a certain way in a sentence.
-There is no'meaning'beyond the meaning of individual words and sentences.
The family tree
•舅父='mother's brother'
•叔叔='father's younger brother'
•伯父='father's elder brother'
•姨母='mother's sister'
•姑母='father's sister'
•Generalization of word meaning
•Universality
•Ambiguity
•Nationality
2.3.4properties of word meaning
3.The semantic polymerization
•Monosign（单义词）and polysemous word（多义词）
•Extension of word meaning
•Sense Relations
•Synonymy（同义关系）
•Antonymy（反义关系）
•Hyponymy（上下位关系）
3.1Monosign and polysemous word
••Monosign refers to the words that only have one meaning.
-At the beginning,a word is mostly produced in the monosemous form.
-But some meanings which related to the first produced meaning of the word also expressed in this word gradually,in this way,polysemous word came into being.
Polysemy
Polysemy refers to the fact that the same one word may have more than one meaning.
•A word having more than one meaning is called a polysemious word.•EX:"invent"
•Edison invented the electric light bulb.
•He is inventing false news.
•Although a polysemious word has many meanings,it does not mix up in use.•The contexts play very important role.
Meaning of polysemious word
•The first meaning of polysemious word called original meaning（本义）.
•The meaning that derived from original meaning called derivational meaning（派生义）.
•The meanings of polysemious word of these items uses regularly and is in the centre of the word,then this item is central meaning（中心意义）,or major meaning（主要意义）.
3.2Extension of word meaning
•Extension is the way of derivation of word meaning.
•It is classified into Metaphor（隐喻）and Metonymy（转喻）.
-Metaphor and metonymy are not the only way of extension of word meaning,but also the way of
understanding the world in cognitive linguistics.
3.2.1Conceptual Metaphor Theory
•Metaphors are actually cognitive tools that help us structure our thoughts and experiences in the world around us.
-Metaphor is a conceptual mapping（映射）.
-The mapping involves two types of correspondence between target and source domain,which are both grounded in our experiences in the world.
The nature of the mapping:
Target domain:what is actually being talked about.
Source domain:the domain used as a basis for understanding target.
(1)Structural Metaphor
-Provides rich highly structured,clearly delineated source domain to structure target domain. Example:
•ARGUMENT IS WAR:
--------Your claims are indefensible.
He attacked every weak point in my argument.
His criticisms were right on target.
I demolished his argument.
I've never won an argument with him.
You disagree?OK,shoot!
If you use that strategy,he'll wipe you out.
He shot down all of my arguments.
(2)Orientational Metaphor
•Gives a concept a spatial orientation
-
Characterized by a co-occurrence in our experience
-Grounded in an experiential basis,which link together the two parts of the metaphor -The link verb"is",part of the metaphor,should be seen as the link of two different co-occurring experiences.
•For example,
•MORE IS UP
•This metaphor is grounded in the co-occurrence of two different kinds of experiences: -adding more of a substance,
-perceiving the level of the substance rise.
•Examples:
•HAPPY IS UP;SAD IS DOWN
-That boosted my spirits
-I'm feeling down
-I'm depressed
•CONSCIOUS IS UP;UNCONSCIOUS IS DOWN

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