语言学教程.Meaning.ppt

Chapter Five Meaning,1. The meaning of meaning,C. K. Ogden & I. A. Richards (1923). The Meaning of Meaning. John means to write. A green light means to go.,Meaning has been studied for thousands of years by philosophers, logicians and linguists. E.g. Plato & Aristotle. 荀子：名无固宜，约之以命，约定俗成谓之宜，异于约则谓之不宜。名无固实，约之以命实，约定俗成谓之实名。名有固善，径易而不拂，谓之善名。物有同状而异所者，有异状而同所者，可别也。,The Naming Theory,Plato: Meaning is what a linguistic sign refer to. The earliest rational thinking about meaning. A plain understanding and conforms to the intuition of ordinary people. It is too simple to regard meaning as a direct connect between a linguistic sign and an object in the outer world.,The Semantic Triangle,Ogden & Richards: Words Concepts Things: thought/concept/image symbolizes refers to symbol referent (word) stands for (object),airplane,Contextualism,Ludwig Wittgenstein: The meaning of a word is its use in the language. Recognizes the significance of Context and hence gives birth to a new branch of linguistics pragmatics. The total denial of meaning out of context would agnosticism.,Behaviorism Jill Jack S _ rs _ R The Truth-condition Theory Cognitivism,Geoffrey Leech (1974, 1981). Semantics: The Study of Meaning. Seven types of meaning: Conceptual meaning Connotative meaning Social meaning Affective meaning Reflected and meaning Collocative meaning Thematic meaning,Associative Meaning,(1) Conceptual meaning,Also called denotative or cognitive meaning. Refers to logical, cognitive or denotative content. Concerned with the relationship between a word and the thing it denotes, or refers to.,(2) Connotative meaning,The communicative value an expression has by virtue of what it refers to, over and above its purely conceptual content. A multitude of additional, non-criterial properties, including not only physical characteristics but also psychological and social properties, as well as typical features.,Involving the real world experience one associates with an expression when one uses or hears it. Unstable: they vary considerably according to culture, historical period, and the experience of the individual. Any characteristic of the referent, identified subjectively or objectively, may contribute to the connotative meaning of the expression which denotes it.,Step mother,(3) Social meaning (Stylistic meaning ),What a piece of language conveys about the social circumstances of its use. Dialect: the language of a geographical region or of a social class. Time: the language of the 18th c., etc. Province: language of law, of science, of advertising, etc. Status: polite, colloquial, slang, etc. Modality: language of memoranda, lectures, jokes, etc. Singularity: the style of Dickens, etc.,伍谦光：,表示个性的风格（如某人的个人特殊风格）,方言,不同历史时期的语言,不同的交际手段（口头语或书面语）,不同的交际方式（独白、对话等）,较为持久的风格,篇章风格,较为短暂的风格,不同行业的用语（如法律用语、科技用语等）,不同使用层次的用语（正式的、口语化用语、俚语等）,作家有意识创造的特殊风格,domicile: very formal, official residence: formal abode: poetic home: general steed: poetic horse: general nag: slang gee-gee: baby language They chucked a stone at the cops, and then did a bunk with the loot. After casting a stone at the police, they absconded with the money.,The five clocks by Martin Joos,Frozen Formal Consultative Casual Intimate formal Informal,Visitors would make their way at once to the up- per floor by way of the staircase. Visitors should go up the stairs at once. Would you mind going upstairs right away，please？ Time you all went upstairs now. Up you go，chaps！,(4) Affective meaning,Reflecting the personal feelings of the speaker, including his attitude to the listener, or his attitude to something he is talking about. Youre a vicious tyrant and a villainous reprobate, and I hate you for it! She is an angel of a wife. Im terribly sorry to interrupt, but I wonder if you would be so kind as to lower your voices a little. Will you belt up?,Colorful meaning,Commendatory tough-minded resolute, firm shrewd childlike wise man man of usual talent portly, stout, solid, plum slender, slim,Derogatory ruthless obstinate sly, crafty childish wise guy freak fleshy, fat, tubby lean, skinny, lanky, weedy, scraggy,(5) Reflected meaning,Arises in cases of multiple conceptual meaning, when one sense of a word forms part of our response to another sense. When you hear click the mouse twice, you think of Gerry being hit twice by Tom so you feel excited. Many taboo terms are results of this. cock, intercourse, erection,(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. Semantics,Semantics is the study of meaning in language. Static meaning: semantics dynamic meaning: pragmatics lexical meaning: lexical semantics Sentential meaning: formal / logical semantics,Three approaches to lexical semantics the contextual / holistic approach the componential / localistic approach the conceptual approach Reference and sense Reference: how language refers to this external world Sense: the way people relate words to each other within the framework of their language,3. Sense Relations: the contextual approach,dog,cat,animal,bark,tail,head,kennel,tiger,house,man,zoo,3.1 Synonymy,Absolute synonymy nearly / almost Were very nearly / almost home. He looks almost / nearly Chinese. big / large He made a large / big mistake.,Propositional synonymy,begin / commence The lecture began / commenced at 9 oclock. autumn / fall Steed, horse, nag, gee-gee Abode, residence, domicile, home,Near synonymy,kill, murder, execute, assassinate laugh, chuckle, giggle, guffaw, snigger, titter walk, stroll, saunter, stride, amble anxious, nervous, worried, apprehensive, fearful brave, courageous, plucky, bold, heroic calm, placid, tranquil, peaceful, serene,He wasnt murdered, he was executed. They didnt chuckle, they tittered. He was plucky, but not heroic. X or rather Y He was murdered, or rather, executed. He was murdered, or rather, beaten up. He was murdered, or rather, deprived of life.,6.2 Antonymy Gradable antonymy,good - bad long - short big - small Can be modified by adverbs of degree like very. Can have comparative forms. Can be asked with how.,Complementary antonymy,alive : dead male : female present : absent innocent : guilty,odd : even pass : fail boy : girl hit : miss,A pair of complementaries bisects some conceptual domain, without allowing any “sitting on the fence”.,Converse antonymy,buy : sell lend : borrow give : receive parent : child husband : wife up: down north: south back: front,teacher : student above : below before : after host : guest employer : employee go: come rise fall dress: undress,6.3 Hyponymy,Inclusiveness A is included in / a kind of B. Cf.: chair and furniture, rose and flower Superordinate: the more general term Hyponym: the more specific term Co-hyponyms: members of the same class,Animal bird fish insect animal human animal tiger lion elephant .,6.3 Polysemy and Homonymy,position The ship was identified, and its name and position were reported to the coastguard. Are you sensible of the dangers of your position? I learnt of the position through a newspaper advertisement. He claims that the writer never consciously formulated his own theoretical position.,杨柳青青江水平，闻郎江上唱歌声。 东边日出西边雨，道是无晴却有晴。 刘禹锡 Father (reprovingly): Do you know what happens to liars when they die? Johnny: Yes, sir, they lie still. Your argument is sound, nothing but sound. Why are parlimentary reports called“ Blue Books?” Because they are never red (read),7 days, without 7-UP, makes one weak. Haier and Higher. Why should a man never tell his secrets in a corn- field? Why is an old man like a window? Why is bread like the sun? Why is a wick of a candle like Athens?,A localist believes that the meaning of a word is a self-sufficient entity which in principle is finitely describable. Opposed to holists, they will typically say that meaning should not be regarded as a set of relations, because such relations are merely a consequence of the words mening.,4. Componential Analysis: the localistic approach,Semantic feature,tigress hen aunt maiden doe mare debutante widow ewe vixen girl woman doctor dean professor bachelor parent baby child,HUMAN man (ADULT, MALE) woman (ADULT, FEMALE) boy (NON-ADULT, MALE) girl (NON-ADULT, FEMALE),Animal words,Domestic animals,English motion verbs,More complex ones,chair: (OBJECT, FUNITURE, FOR SITTING, WITH BACK) father: PARENT (x, y) & MALE (x) x is a parent of y, and x is male. take: CAUSE (x, (HAVE (x, y) x causes x to have y. give: CAUSE (x, (HAVE (x, y) x causes x not to have y.,Problems of the theory,Semantic features are drawn from a finite inventory, and in the strongest version are psychologically realistic. Almost impossible to specify the semantic atoms. Difficult to distinguish the subtle differences in many cases. Fuzziness and vagueness of the word meaning,Bachelor: (HUMAN, ADULT, MALE, UNMARRIED) Spinster (HUMAN, ADULT, FEMALE, UNMARRIED) Mother: PARENT (x, y) & FEMALE (x) x is a parent of y, and x is male. But what does parent exactly mean?,5. The logic basic of formal semantics,Truth condition: conditions which must hold for the sentence to be used to make a true statement (at least if it is used literally). Thus, before we can truthfully say, on some occasion, The cat is on the mat, there must be some relevant feline occupying a specific position relative to an appropriate item of floor covering.,Those aspects of the meaning of a sentence which determine its truth conditions are collectively known as the propositional content of the sentence. Two sentences with identical propositional content will yield statements with the same truth values on all occasions of use, as for instance, John caressed Mary and Mary was caressed by John. By the same token, if two sentences have different propositional content, there will necessarily exist some conceivable situation in which they will yield statements with opposite truth values.,Proposition: a statement, with a truth value (true or false), eg The earth is flat. The earth goes around the sun. All teachers are female.,5.1 Logical relations,Not/: P And : PQ Or : PQ, PQ If then : PQ Equals to : P Q,Truth value table of logic connectives,Discrepancies between propositonal logic and ordinary language,John and Bill