大学英语新编语言学教程Chapter 5 Semantics

Chapter5SemanticsContentsWhatisSemantics12MeaningsofMEANING3SenceandReference4Majorsemanticrelationsamongwords5Majorsemanticrelationsamongsentences6AnalysisofMeaning5.1WhatisSemantics?

ThedefinitionofsemanticsSemanticscanbesimplydefinedasthestudyofmeaning.Semanticsisthestudyofthemeaningoflinguisticunits,wordsandsentencesinparticular.Whatisthe“MEANING”?

Meanings“ofmeaning”OnedifficultyinthestudyofMEANINGisthattheword“meaning”itselfhasdifferentmeanings.SeventypesofmeaningrecognizedbyG.LeechinhisSemantics(1974,p.23)ConceptualmeaningConnotativemeaningSocialmeaningAffectivemeaningReflectedmeaningCollocativemeaningThematicmeaning概念意义内涵意义社会意义感情意义反映意义搭配意义主题意义Leechsaysthefirsttypeofmeaning–conceptualmeaning–makesupthecentralmeaning,itisconcernedwiththerelationshipbetweenawordandthethingsitdenotes.Inthissense,conceptualmeaningoverlapstoalargeextentwiththenotionofREFERENCE.利奇认为，第一种意义是概念意义，它是词义的核心，它表示词和它所指事物之间的关系。从这种意义上说，概念意义在很大程度上与指称意义相交叉。SenseandreferenceLeech’sconceptualmeaninghastwosides:senseandreference.P66Senseisconcernedwiththeinherentmeaningoflinguisticform,thecollectionofallitsfeatures,itisabstractandde-contextualized.Itistheaspectofmeaningdictionarycompilersareinterestedin.意义指的是语言形式的内在意义。它是语言形式所有特征的集合，是抽象的，而且与语境无关，是词典编纂者所感兴趣的方面Referencemeansalinguisticformreferstointherealphysicalworld;itdealswiththerelationshipbetweenthelinguisticelementandnon-linguisticworldofexperience.指称意指语言形式在现实的物质世界中的所指的事物，它涉及的是语言成分和非语言的经验世界之间的关系。Leechalsousessenseasabriefertermforhisconceptualmeaning.Inthissense,“sense”isequivalentto“concept”.Thedefinitionof“desk”as“apieceoffurniturewithaflattopandfourlegs,atwhichonereadsandwrites”mayalsocalledthesenseofthedesk.Awordhavingreferencemusthavesense.Explainthedifferencebetweensenseandreferencefromthefollowingfouraspects:幻灯片9Tosomeextent,Everywordhasasense,i.e.someconceptualcontent;otherwiseitcannotbeusedorunderstood.Andthewordslike

God,ghostanddragonrefertothe

imaginarythings,whichdonotexistinreality.Awordhavingsensemightnothavereference.Butnoteverywordhasareference.Therearelinguisticexpressionswhichcanneverbeusedtorefer,forexample,thewordsso,very,maybe,if,notandall.Thesewordsdoofcoursecontributemeaningtothesentencestheyoccurinandthushelpsentencesdenote,buttheydonotthemselvesidentifyentitiesintheworld.Theyareintrinsicallynon-referringitems.Acertainsensecanberealizedbymorethanonereference.Someexpressionswillhavethesamereferentacrossarangeofutterances,e.g.TheEiffelTowelorthePacificOcean,

such

expressionsaresometimesdescribedashavingconstantreference.Othershavetheirreferencetotallydependentoncontext,expressionslikeI,you,she,etc.aresaidtohavevariablereference.Acertainreferencecanbeexpressedbymorethanonesense.Therearecaseswhenareferencecanbeexpressedbymorethanonesense.Eveningstar(aplanet-usuallyVenus-seenatsunsetinthewesternsky)

andmorningstar(aplanet-usuallyVenus-seenjustbeforesunriseintheeasternsky)nearlyalwaysreferstoVenus.Buteachofthempresentsaparticularemotionaltemperamentandaparticularsenseofvalues,meaning,idealsandappreciations.Conceptualist/MentalismView(概念论)Conceptualistviewholdsthatthereisnodirectlinkbetweenalinguisticformandwhatitrefersto(i.e.betweenlanguageandtherealworld;rather,intheinterpretationofmeaningtheyarelinkedthroughthemediationofconceptsinourmind.MentalismorConceptualismfollowsSaussure’s“sign”theory,andconsidersthelinguisticsigntoconsistofasignifierandsignified,i.e.,asoundimageandaconcept,linkedbyapsychological“associative”bondConceptSignifiersignifiedThisisbestillustratedbytheclassicsemantictriangleortriangleofsignificance)Atheorywhichexplicitlyemploysthenotion“concept”isthesemantictriangleproposedbyOgdenandRichardsinTheMeaningofMeaning.Accordingtothe“semantictriangle”theory,therelationbetweenawordandathingitreferstoisnotdirect.Itismediatedbyconcept.THOUGHT/REFERENCESYMBOL/FROMREFERENT

AcertainconceptinourmindDOGparticulardog(Thedogovertherelooksunfriendly)Contexualism

语境论Theyholdthatmeaningshouldbestudiedintermsofsituation,use,context-elementscloselylinkedwithlanguagebehavior.ArepresentativeofthisapproachisJ.R.Firth,theleadingBritishlinguistoftheperiod.Thecontextualistviewofmeaningisbasedonthepresumptionthatonecanderivemeaningfromorreducemeaningtoobservablecontexts.Twokindsofcontextarerecognized:thesituationalcontextandthelinguisticcontext.BehaviorismBehavioristattemptedtodefinethemeaningofalanguagefromas“thesituationinwhichthespeakeruttersitandtheresponseitcallsforthinthehearer.”Thistheory,somewhatclosetothecontextualism,islinkedwithpsychologicalinterestThisviewofmeaningproposedbyBloomfieldisillustratedbyhisstoryaboutJackandJill.Majorsemanticrelationsamongwords-certainrelationsbetweenlexicalitemsSynonymyAntonymyPolysemyHomonymyHoponymySynonymyreferstothesamenessorclosesimilarityofmeaning.Dialectalsynonyms-synonymsusedindifferentregionaldialects(BrE&AmE)Stylisticsynonyms-synonymsdifferentinstyle,ordegreeofformalitySynonymsthatdifferintheiremotiveorevaluativemeaningCollocationalsynonymsSemanticallydifferentsynonymsThesenserelationshipbetweenKid,childandoffspring________.Thesenserelationshipbetweenbuyandpurchase

is________Thesenserelationshipbetweenautumnandfall

is_________________.Thesenserelationshipbetweenthriftyandstingy

is_________________.“Kids”and“children”aresynonymsdespitetheirstylisticdifferencestylistic

(casual,neutral,formal)synonymydialectalsynonymyemotivesynonymy(T)AntonymyThetermantonymyisusedforoppositenessofmeaning;wordsthatareoppositeinmeaningareantonyms.Gradableantonyms(两极之间):someantonymsaregradablebecausethereareoftenintermediateformsbetweenthetwomembersofapair.itisthematterofthedegreeofthetwoextremes.Complementaryantonyms（非此即彼）;Apairofcomplementaryantonymsischaracterizedbythefeaturethatthedenialofonememberofthepairimpliestheassertion(肯定)oftheother.Itisthematterofeitheroneortheother.Relationalopposites（关系颠倒）-converseantonymy：Pairofwordsthatexhibittherehearsaloftherelationshipbetweenthetwoitemscalledrelationalopposites.Thesenserelationshipbetween(bigandsmall)/(longandshort)/(wideandnarrow)Thesenserelationshipbetween(husbandandwife)/(teacherandstudents)(borrowandlend)/(overandunder)/(beforeandafter)Thesenserelationshipbetween(deadandalive)/(maleandfemale)(presentandabsent)/(relinquishandretain)（放弃/保存）Gradableantonyms/opposites-gradability

Converseantonyms(relationalopposites)Complementaryantonyms-complementarityPolysemyThesameonewordmayhavemorethanonemeaningSuchwordiscalledapolysemicorpolysemousword.Thewordscreenhasmanydifferentmeaningssuchasinafirescreen,atelevisionscreen.Thisiscalled________.boot/trunk_________________.(靴子/行李箱)polysemypolysemouswordsHomonymy同音异义Homonymyreferstothephenomenonthatwordshavingdifferentmeaningshavethesameform,i.e.differentwordsareidenticalinsoundorspelling,orinboth.Homophones(identicalsound)Homographs(identicalspelling)Completehomonyms(identicalsoundandspelling)Thephenomenonthatwordshavingdifferentmeaningshavethesameformiscalled________.Thesenserelationshipbetweenseeandseais_________.tale/tail:_________.flour-flower:________.homonymyhomonymyhomonymshomonymyHyponymyHyponymyreferstothesenserelationsbetweenamoregeneral,moreinclusiveandamorespecificword.Thewordwhichismoregeneralinmeaningiscalledthesuperordinate

(上坐标词),andthemorespecificwordsarecalleditshyponyms(下位词).Thesenserelationshipbetweenfurnitureanddeskis________.Thesenserelationshipbetweencolorandyellowis_________.Termslike“desk”and“stool”(凳子)are________oftheterm“furniture”satellite/moon

fabric/rayon(人造纤维):________ThemeaningrelationshipbetweenMANandGROWN-UPhyponymousbecausethesemanticfeaturesofMANareincludedinthoseofGROWN-UP.hyponymyhyponymyhyponymshyponymy(T)Semantically,BEEFisexcludedinMEAT.“Tulip”,“rose”,and“violet”areallincludedinthenotionof“flower”,thereforetheyaresuperordinatesof“flowers”.tree-maple,birch(桦树):_________(F)hyponymy(F)Majorsemanticrelationsamongsentences(certainrelationshipsbetweensentencesandalsotheconstituentsofthesamesentence)Ofthefivesemanticrelationsamongsentences:paraphrase;entailment;contradiction;presupposition;andtautology.(赘述)Themeaningofasentenceistheresultofthemeaningsofthewordsusedinitanditssyntacticstructure.句子意义是词语意义和句子结构共同作用的结果Logicalsemanticsstudieshowthetruthofacompositepropositionisdeterminedbythetruthvalueofitsconstituentpropositionsandtheconnectionsbetweenthem.逻辑语义学研究成分命题真值及成分命题之间的关系如何决定复合命题真值。Paraphrase(真真假假)1)XissynonymouswithYIntermsoftruthcondition,ifXistrue,Yistrue,andifXisfalse,Yisfalse.(twosentencesmutuallyentaileachother)EntailmentisanentailmentofX)Intermsoftruthcondition,ifXistrue,YisnecessarilytrueIfXisfalse,YmaybetrueorfalsePresupposition(YisaprerequisiteofX)Intermsoftruthcondition,ifXistrue,YmustbetrueifXisfalse,Yisstilltrue.Contradiction/tautology(赘述绝对真理)Iftwosentencescannotbetrueatthesametimeandinthesamesituation,theycanbecontradictoryofeachother.Theunnecessaryandusuallyunintentionaluseof

twowordstoexpressonemeaningThesenserelationshipbetween“Johnplaystheviolin”and“Johnplaysamusicalinstrument”is_________.2)“Semanticsisthescientificstudyofmeaning”isa_________.3)Inthefollowingpairofsentences,Sentence(b)presupposesSentence(a):Johnmanagedtofinishintime.(b)Johntriedtofinishitintime.entailmenttautology(T)A:Isawaboy.B:Isawachild.__________从逻辑上讲,如果A为真,B一定为真;如果A为假,B可能为真,可能为假.(我没看到一个男孩,那么B可真可假有可能看到一个女孩)AentailsBA:Tom

has