英语词汇学Unit04Wordmeaning.ppt

English Lexicology Unit 4,Word Meaning,Contents,The meaning of words The motivation of words 词的理据 Classification of word meanings Analysis of word meanings,The meaning of words,What is “meaning”? philosophy, logic, linguistics What is “semantic meaning”? Sentence meaning and word meaning What is “word meaning”? Three conceptions of word meaning Semantic triangle,What is “meaning”?,An easy question, but hard to answer. 一个有意义的活动 意义=value, purpose, importance What is the meaning of this word? meaning=the idea or sense that the word represents The meaning of “meaning” could be explored from the aspects of philosophy, logic, linguistics, etc, with different aims.,Difference between linguistic study and other studies on meaning,The linguistic approach aims to study the properties of meaning in a systematic and objective way, with reference to as wide a range of utterances and languages as possible, thus broader in scope. Logicians and philosophers have tended to concentrate on a restricted range of sentences (typically, statements, or propositions) within a single language.,Ogden & Richards 1923, Meaning of Meaning,John means to write. “intends”（意图） A green light means go. “indicates”（表述） Health means everything. “has importance”（重要性） His looks was full of meaning. “special importance”（特别强调） What is the meaning of life? “point, purpose” （观点、意图） What does “capitalist” mean to you? “convey”（传递） What does “cornes” mean?（“眼角膜”） “referring to in the real world”（现实所指）,What is “semantic meaning”?,In broad sense, semantic meaning represents mans mind and thought. In narrow sense, semantic meaning refers to word meaning or sentence meaning.,Sentence meanings,1) His typewriter has bad intentions. Anomalous 2) My unmarried sister is married to a bachelor. Contradictory 3)John was looking for the glasses. Ambiguous 4) A. The needle is too short. B. The needle is not long enough. Synonymous,What is “word meaning”?,Word meaning is referential meaning. Word meanings are what we sought and what should be provided in comprehensive dictionaries of a language. (p.67),Three conceptions of word meaning,1词 (words) 事物 (things) Words name or refer to things. (Platonic) 2词 (words) 概念 (concepts) 事物 (things)：词义三角(Semantic triangle) Ogden & Richards 3刺激 (stimuli) 词语 (words) 反应 (responses) Bloomfield 布龙菲尔德,Semantic triangle,Semantic triangle (Ogden & Richards),The motivation of words 词的理据,How do words get meaning? Conventionality and Motivation Onomatopoeic motivation Morphologic motivation Semantic motivation Etymologic motivation Analogical Motivation,How do words get meaning?,Conventionality Most English words are conventional, arbitrary symbols. There is no connection between the word form and its meaning. Motivation Some English words are motivated symbols. There is some connection between the word form and its meaning.,Conventionality,dom (Russion),fang zi (Chinese),maison (French),house (English),casa (Spanish),Arbitrary (任意的): you can use a word to mean any thing, and the thing becomes the meaning of the word by conventionality.,Onomatopoeic motivation拟声,Words motivated phonetically are called echoic or onomatopoeic words, whose pronunciation suggests the meaning. They show a close relation of sound and meaning. Many onomatopoeic words imitate natural sounds.,Onomatopoeic words,miaow,woof,Quack,hiss,More Onomatopoeic words,Apes gibber. Bears growl Bulls bellow Cats mew ( purr) Eagles scream. Frogs croak. Goats bleat.,Asses bray. Beetles drone. Camels grunt. Ducks quack. Flies buzz. Geese cackle (gabble). Horses neigh ( snort).,Morphologic motivation 形态,Morphologic motivation means that the meaning of some words can be inferred from the meaning of the affixes, roots, or other parts of the words. teacher = teach (action) + -er (actor) airmail = mail by air Caution: black market market with black colour (black market: The illegal business of buying or selling goods or currency in violation of restrictions such as price controls or rationing. A place where these illegal operations are carried on. ),Semantic motivation 语义,It refers to the mental associations suggested by the conceptual meaning of a word. It explains the connection between the literal sense and figurative sense of the word. Metonymy (借代) Synecdoche (提喻),Metonymy (借代),1) use a persons name to refer to the things related He read Shakespeare. 2) use a container to refer to what is inside The kettle is boiling 3) use part of body organs to refer to their functions Dont let your heart rule your head. 4) use the place name to refer to the product produced there. I could do with a cup of canary. (Canary is a place where this kind of wine is produce.) 5. Use prominent features to refer to the person concerned The blue eyes walked into the room.,Synecdoche (提喻),A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole (as hand for sailor), the whole for a part (as the law for police officer), the specific for the general (as cutthroat for assassin), the general for the specific (as thief for pickpocket), or the material for the thing made from it (as steel for sword).,Etymologic motivation 词源,The origins of words throw light on their meanings. All the words commonized from proper names can be explained in terms of their origins. 专有名词普通化 pen (origin: feather) walkman (origin: a brand of this device) 火车 (origin:火车开动时火车头在冒烟并排放蒸汽，表示这种车要有“火”),Motivation by analogy,Words are created in imitation of other words telethon, talkathon: from marathon Colour analogy black list, white list, gray list Number analogy First family, first lady, the Fourth world Place and space analogy landscape: moonscape, marscape surnrise: earthrise; earthquake: starquake,Classification of word meanings -Geoffrey N. Leech,conceptual meaning 概念意义 connotative meaning内涵意义 social meaning 社会意义 affective meaning 情感意义 reflective meaning 联想意义 collocative meaning 搭配意义 thematic meaning 主题意义,Conceptual meaning-Denotation,The denotative meaning is also called the conceptual meaning. It is the denotative in that it is concerned with the relationship between a word and the thing it denotes, or refers to.,The linguistic symbol: HOUSE,房子，case,The referent:,The thing is the denotation of the word,Connotation,The connotative meaning refers to the emotional association a word carries. For example, mother, denoting a female parent, is often associated with love, care, tenderness, warmth, support, etc. These connotation are not given in the dictionary, but associated with the word in the mind of readers or speakers.,The denotation of a word is the thing in the real world the word is linked to. The connotation of a word refers to the emotional associations that a word may carry.,Denotation and Connotation,The denotation of home is a place where one lives.,The connotation of home: Where we love is home, a place where our feet may leave, but never our heart.,words that carry emotion honesty, courage, traitor, deceit love, hate, fear, joy, sorrow, damn, shit sincere, hypocritical, wonderful, skinny words that do not carry emotion in, on, at, within so, but, since, because, though a, an, the he, she, my, mine book, lamp, desk, window, door add, subtract, swim, run, read,Words with/without Emotion,Connotative meaning,Negative There are 2,000 vagrants in the city. Neutral There are 2,000 people with no fixed addresses in the city. Positive There are 2,000 homeless in the city. All three of these expressions refer to the same people, but they will invoke different emotive associations in the readers mind: a vagrant is a public nuisance, while a homeless person is a worthy object of pity and charity.,Social or Stylistic Meaning,Social meaning is that which a piece of language conveys about the social circumstance of its use. Under different social circumstances, we have different styles. Martin Joos (1967) recognized five different styles using the criterion of formality Frozen，Formal，Consultative，Casual，Intimate,Stylistic Meaning,The frozen and formal styles occur in written report. Consultative, casual, and intimate styles occur in everyday use. Consultative style is a polite and fairly neutral style, used when we are talking to a person whom we do not know well. Casual and intimate styles are used in conversation between friends. We can simplify the styles into three levels: formal, neutral, and informal,Affective Meaning,Affective meaning is concerned with the attitudes of the speaker or writer. In English, some words can express the speakers approval or disapproval of the persons or things he is talking about. Words that show speakers approval are purr words. Words that show speakers disapproval are snarl words.,Affective Meaning,Snarl words are marked derog. (=derogatory). Purr words are marked apprec.(=appreciatory).,Reflective meaning,Reflective meaning is the meaning which arises in cases of multiple conceptual meanings, when one sense of a word forms part of our response to another sense. It is the product of peoples recognition and imagination. Thus: Taboo words (禁忌词) avoided Euphemism (委婉语) needed. pass away, bathroom, senior citizens,Collocative meaning,Collocative meaning consists of the associations a word acquires on account of the meaning of words which tend to occur in its environment. pretty: girl, boy, woman, flower, garden, color, village handsome: boy, man, car, woman, overcoat, typewriter,Thematic meaning,The meaning arising out of the way in which the writer or speaker organizes his message is called thematic meaning. sentence sequence, emphasis, focus of information (1) Tomorrow I plan to have an outing. (2) I plan to have an outing tomorrow. (1) and (2) seem to answer different questions: S1 When will you have an outing? S2 What will you do tomorrow?,Analysis of word meanings,Componential Analysis (语义成分分析法) Semantic Field Theory (语义场理论),Componential Analysis,All lexical items can be analyzed into a set of semantic features or semantic components which may be universal. This semantic theory is called Componential Analysis (CA).,Semantic Features,In making componential analysis, it is import