ChapterEightSemantics---WordMeaningandSentenceMeaning.doc

Chapter Eight Semantics - Word Meaning and Sentence Meaning 0. Introduction0.1 Definition: Semantics is the study of linguistic meaning: the meaning of words, phrases, and sentences.0.2 Sub-branches: i. Lexical semantics: Lexical semantics deals with word meaning.ii. Sentence semantics: Sentence semantics deals with sentence meaning. ii. Two types of meaning:In general, we may say that a linguistic form has two types of meaning: denotation（外延意义）and connotation（内涵意义）.A. The denotative meaning of a linguistic form is the person, object, abstract notion, event, or state which the word or sentence denotes.B. The connotation of a linguistic form has to do with its overtones of meaning, that is, what the linguistic form suggests. Such overtones may be good or bad, and thus we can speak of a positive connotation褒义内涵 and a negative connotation贬义内涵.b. Some words do not have negative connotations when they are used generally. Nevertheless, in some contexts, they may take on additional meaning.Examples: boy, thirteen c. The connotation of a word is language-specific. For example, an English word and a Chinese equivalent may have the same denotative meaning but different connotations. Examples: propaganda, imperialism 2. Lexical semantics词汇语义学 Introduction: Lexical semantics is concerned with word meaning. There are two influential theories to describe the meaning of a word: Componential Analysis成分分析 and Semantic field语义场.2.1 Componential Analysis2.1.0 What is Componential Analysis?Following the theory of Componential Analysis, we define the meaning of a word as a set of semantic components or semantic features with the values: plus (+) or minus (-). 2.1.1 General and specific semantic featuresA. Some semantic components are general, which can occur in a large number of different words, such as human and male. B. Some semantic features are specific because they can only appear in a few words, such as horseness and cowness. 2.1.2 Redundant semantic featuresSome features need not be specifically mentioned because they are predictable. Such features are called redundant features. For example,A word that is +human is +animate. (包容性) A word that is +animal is -human. (否定性) A word that is +male is -female. (否定性) 斜体为redundant features。 2.1.3 Semantic class语义系统2.2 Semantic field2.2.0 What is a semantic field? 1) Basic assumption: The basic assumption underlying the theory of semantic field is that words do not exist in isolation; rather, they form different semantic fields. 2) Definition: Words that belong to the same semantic class are in the same semantic field.For example, 3) Definition of meaning by the theory of semantic field: According to the theory of semantic field, the meaning of a word is decided by its relationships with other words in the same semantic field. 2.2.1 Sense relationships1) Hyponymy（上下义关系） A. ExamplesB. Definition:The relationship between the term on the higher level and the terms on one level below is said to be hyponymy. In simple words, hyponymy is a kind of relationship between general terms and specific terms (between higher terms and lower terms, between superordinates and subordinates / hyponyms). C. Description of hyponymy:If the meaning of B is included in the meaning of A, then A and B show a hyponymic relation and B can be described as a kind of A. In other words, the meaning of a specific term is included in the meaning of its general term and the specific term is an illustration of the general term. For example, blue and color F. There is variability across languages as to the exact nature of particular hyponymic relationships.For example, dentist and 牙医，beer and 啤酒 Chapter Eight Semantics - Word Meaning and Sentence Meaning 3) Synonymy （同义关系）A. Definition: In English, there are quite a few words that sound different but have the same or nearly the same meaning. They are called synonyms. The relationship between synonyms is called synonymy. B. Why are perfect synonyms very rare? There are three reasons.a. Some synonyms have the same denotative meaning but show differences in connotative meaning. For example, famous and notorious are synonymous since both of them mean well-known, that is, they have the same denotative meaning. But famous shows positive attitude while notorious shows negative attitude. The former has appreciative value while the latter has pejorative value. b. As far as the denotative meaning is concerned, words which appear to be synonyms at first glance are used to refer to slightly different sets of concepts or occur in different situations of use. For example, the nouns salary and wage are synonyms because both refer to the money given for work. Actually, they are used in different situations. Salary usually pertains to money received by white-collar workers or by executives in managerial positions or by professionals. It is paid monthly. By contrast, wage is the amount of money that is regularly paid to someone or to a group of people for a particular type of work, especially manual or unskilled work. c. Some words are the same in meaning but have different collocations. For example, both accuse and charge mean bring a charge against sb. But accuse is followed by of while charge is followed by with.True synonymy is rare. However, the notion of synonym is useful because it helps describe similarity between the meanings of different terms in the lexicon. 4) Antonymy（反义关系）A. Definition:When a pair of words are opposite in meaning, they are antonyms. The relation between them is called antonymy. B. Attention: The basic features of an antonymous pair are the same except one semantic feature. C. Three types of antonyms A complementary pair does not have comparative and superlative forms. Complementary pairs are thus also called nongradable antonyms非等级性反义词. Different from complementary pairs, gradable pairs of antonyms have comparative and superlative forms.In a gradable pair, the negative of one word is not synonymous with the other. For example, not hot cold. In gradable pairs of antonyms, very often one is marked and the other unmarked. The unmarked member is more neutral than the marked one and is thus used in questions of degree.For example: old / young big / small long / short 2.3 Lexical ambiguity词汇歧义2.3.0 Introduction:Two types of semantic ambiguity: structural ambiguity and lexical ambiguityA. The semantic ambiguity which is caused by ambiguous structures is structural ambiguity. In this case, the same sentence may have two or more interpretations depending on the hierarchical arrangement of its constituents.B. The semantic ambiguity which is caused by ambiguous words is called lexical ambiguity. Lexical ambiguity is created either by polysemy or homonymy. 2.3.1 Polysemy 一词多义A word is polysemic if it has more than one meaning.For example: He is very hard. The word hard may mean hard-working or hard to deal with. More examples: Lets look at the table. This is a crane. 2.3.2 Homonymy（同音同形异义词）When two or more words are the same in pronunciation or in spelling or in both but different in meaning, they are called homonyms. There are three types of homonyms: perfect homonyms, homographs（同形异义词），and homophones (同音异义词). Perfect homonyms are words which are the same in both pronunciation and spelling but different in meaning. For example, bank (银行、河岸), bear (容忍、生（孩子）)，sound (声音、完美的) Homographs are words which are the same in spelling, but different in pronunciation and meaning. For example, bow /b u/ means 弓, but bow /bau/ means 鞠躬. Homophones are words which are the same in pronunciation, but different in spelling and meaning. For example, tail / tale, to / two / too, pair / pear, see / sea, I / eye, piece / peace, 3. Sentence semantics句子语义学Definition: Sentence semantics deals with the meaning of a sentence.Three areas: The following sections will first i. discuss what should be taken into consideration when we decide the meaning of a sentence;ii. secondly, describe various semantic roles of a word or a phrase in a sentence;iii. thirdly, explain how sentence semantics accounts for semantic anomaly. 3.1 What is essential for determining sentence meaning? 1) What is the meaning of a word? The meaning of a word is defined as a set of semantic features or a set of sense relations with other words. 2) How can we reach the meaning of a sentence? Four aspects: the meaning of individual words: When we interpret the meaning of a sentence, we must rely on the meaning of individual words that make up a sentence. But is it enough for us to add up the meanings of individual words of a sentence so as to reach the meaning of the sentence? Obviously not. For example, The boy hit the ball. The ball hit the boy. the word order / linear order: It is clear that the above two sentences contain exactly the same words but they convey quite different meanings. In this case, the difference in meaning is due to the word order, namely, the linear order or words. the hierarchical order: In addition to the essential function of a linear order of words in determining the meaning of a sentence, the hierarchical order is also important. For example, She gave a bike to her brother in Shanghai. Chapter Eight Semantics - Word Meaning and Sentence Meaning 3.2 Semantic roles语义功能1) Agent（施事者、施动者）： The agent is the doer of an action.例句： The man hit the ball.The ball was hit by the man. 4) Instrument（工具格）：举例：The man was hit with a piece of iron bar. This key can open the door to the garden.5) Cause（动因格）：举例：The man was hit by a piece of iron bar. The wind destroyed some houses. 8) Locative（方位格）：A locative indicates the location of an action or state. 举例：Heilongjiang is cold in winter. John planted the garden with flowers. The flowers give a pleasant look to the garden . John is working in the garden . 9) Temporal（时间格）：A temporal is the time at which the action or state occurs. 举例 Tomorrow is my birthday.It is my birthday tomorrow. The summer of 1990 was exceptionally hot. It was exceptionally hot in the summer of 1990. 3.3 Grammatical functions and semantic roles3.4 Semantic anomaly词义反常Exercises 1. Write down the underlined part and after it write whether you think it is, in its context, used to show the speakers approval (a positive connotation) or disapproval (a negative connotation) of neither (neutral). (a) He was a stubborn animal. (b) He was a spirited animal. KEY: (a) stubborn (disapproval-negative connotation) (b) spirited (approval positive connotation) (l) He was a bastard.KEY: (l) bastard (disapproval-negative connotation)3. Each of the following lists of terms form a semantic field. Identify a general term for each semantic field (it man be a word in the list). (a) affable, sociable, well-mannered, amiable, warm, cordial KEY: friendly (b) acquire, get, receive, obtain, gain, buy, steal (c) whisper, chatter, babble, mumble, talk, mutter (d) road, way, street, freeway, avenue, thoroughfare, motorway, turnpike KEY:(b) get (c) talk (d) road (e) stink, aroma, perfume, fragrance, scent(f) acquaintance, pal, chum, mate, buddy (g) quarrel, row, dispute, feud (h) dwell, reside, stay, lodge, board, inhabit, live KEY: (e) smell (f) friend (g) quarrel (h) live 4. Identify the word that does not belong to the same semantic field as the others in the list: (a) misleading, deceitful, disappointed, deceptive, delusive (b) mixture, blend, combination, association, composite, compound (c) occasional, infrequent, rare, scatter, never, sporadic, uncommon KEY:(a) disappointed (b) association (c) never 5. The follow