英语语言学Chapter5Meaning.ppt

1、Chapter 5,Meaning,Semantics,Semantics (语义学) : Semantics is a branch of linguistics on the study of meaning which consists of word meaning and sentential meaning.,1. Meanings of “meaning” 2. The referential theory 3. Sense relations 4. Componential analysis 5. Sentence meaning,The “Meaning” theories:

2、 The Naming theory ( 命名论) : The naming theory, one of the oldest notions concerning meaning, was proposed by the ancient Greek scholar Plato. According to this theory, the words used in a language are taken to be names or labels of the objects they stand for. The Conceptualist theory (概念论): The conc

3、eptualist theory holds that there is no direct link between a linguistic form and what it refers to ; rather, in the interpretation of meaning, they are linked through the mediation of concepts in the mind, i. e. the meaning of a word is its concept. Contextualism (语境论): Contextualism is based on th

4、e presumption that one can derive meaning from or reduce meaning to observable contexts. Two kinds of contexts are recognized, the situational context and the linguistic context. Behaviourism(行为主义论) : Behaviorism refers to the attempt to define the meaning of a language form as the situation in whic

5、h the speaker utters it and the response it calls forth in the hearer. (Bloomfield, 1933),1. Meanings of “meaning” :G. Leechs 7 types of meaning,2. The referential theory,The theory of meaning which relates the meaning of a word to the thing it refers to, or stands for, is known as the referential t

6、heory.,Sense (意义): Leech uses “sense” as a term for his conceptual meaning. As an aspect of lexical meaning, “sense” is concerned with the inherent meaning of the linguistic form. It is the collection of all the features of the linguistic form; it is abstract and de-contextualized. Reference (所指) :

7、Reference means what a linguistic form refers to in the real, physical world; it deals with the relationship between the linguistic element and the non-linguistic world of experience. Concept(概念)：is generally accepted that there is something behind the concrete thing we can see with our eyes. And it

8、 is abstract, which has no existence in the material world and can be sensed in our minds. This abstract thing is usually called concept.,The Conceptualist theory (概念论): The conceptualist theory holds that there is no direct link between a linguistic form and what it refers to ; rather, in the inter

9、pretation of meaning, they are linked through the mediation of concepts in the mind, i. e. the meaning of a word is its concept. The notion “concept” is the semantic triangle proposed by Ogden and Richards in their The Meaning of Meaning.,concept,word,thing,The distinction between “sense” and “refer

10、ence” is comparable to that between “connotation” and “denotation”. The former refers to the abstract properties of an entity, while the latter refers to the concrete entities having these properties. In other words, Leechs conceptual meaning has two sides: sense and reference. We can say that every

11、 word has a “sense”, but not every word has a “reference”.,Contextualism (语境论): Contextualism is based on the presumption that one can derive meaning from or reduce meaning to observable contexts. Two kinds of contexts are recognized, the situational context and the linguistic context. Behaviourism(

12、行为主义论) : Behaviorism refers to the attempt to define the meaning of a language form as the “situation in which the speaker utters it and the response it calls forth in the hearer.” (Bloomfield, 1933),Leonard Bloomfield(1887-1949) Bloomfieldian Age: 1933-1950 Behaviourism: stimulus-response reinforce

13、ment, stimulus-response His formula for practical stimulus and speech stimulus: S r.s R (S: practical stimulus, r: substitute reaction; s: substitute stimulus, R: external practical reaction),When one individual is stimulated, his speech can make another individual react accordingly. The division of

14、 labour and all human activities based on the division of labour are dependent on language. The distance between the speaker and hearer, two separate nervous systems, is bridged up by sound waves.,For Bloomfield, linguistics is a branch of psychology. He puts forward his theory of Behavriourism in l

15、inguistics. Behaviourism is a principle of scientific method, based on the belief that human beings cannot know anything they have not experienced. Behaviourism in linguistics holds that children learn language through a chain of Stimulus-Response Reinforcement, and the adults use of language is als

16、o a process of Stimulus-Response. When the behaviourist methodology entered linguistics via Bloomfields writings, the popular practice in linguistic studies was to accept what a native speaker says in his language. There is a belief that a linguistic description was reliable when based on observatio

17、n of unstudied utterances by speakers.,2. Sense relations,1) Synonymy 2) Antonymy 3) Hyponymy,1) Synonymy,Synonymy (同义关系): Synonymy refers to the sameness or close similarity of meaning. Synonyms (同义词): Words that are close in meaning are called synonyms.,2) Antonymy,Antonymy (反义关系): Antonymy refers

18、 to the oppositeness of meaning. It is established by two words with opposite and contradictory meanings within the same category. There are three main sub-types: gradable antonymy complementary antonymy converse antonymy.,Complementary antonyms (互补反义词): A pair of complementaryantonyms is characteri

19、zed by the feature that the denial of one member of the pair implies the assertion of the other. In other words, it was not a matter of degree between two extremes, but a matter of either one or the other. Examples: alive-dead; male-female, present-absent; innocent- guilty; pass-fail. These type of

20、adjectives cannot be modified by “very”. Gradable antonyms (等级反义词) : Some antonyms are gradable because there are often intermediate forms between the two members of a pair. Gradable antonym is a matter of degree. Examples: good-bad; long-short; big-small; hot-cold; These type of adjectives can be m

21、odified by “very”. Converse antonyms(反向反义词): it is a special type of antonymy in that the members of a pair do not constitute positive-negative opposition. They show the reversal of a relationship between two entities. This type of antonymy is also known as relational opposites. It is typically seen

22、 in reciprocal social roles, kinship relations, temporal and special relations. Examples: buysell; lendborrow; givereceive; parentchild; husbandwife; hostguest; employeremployee; In such type of antonymy, one antonym presupposes the other. The comparative degrees also belong to this type since they

23、involve a relation between two entities.,3) Hyponymy,Hyponymy (上下义关系) : Hyponymy refers to the sense relation between a more general, more inclusive word and a more specific word.,Superordinate (上义词) : In case of hyponymy, the word which is more general in meaning is called the superordinate. Hypony

24、ms (下义词) : In case of hyponymy, the more specific words are called its hyponyms. Co-hyponyms (并列下义词) : A group of hyponyms of the same superordinate are called co-hyponyms to each other.,A superordinate may be missing sometimes. The following group of words do not have a superordinate: red, green, y

25、ellow, blue, white. Hyponyms may also missing. The following words do not have their hyponyms: uncle, cousin.,Other sense relations,Polysemy (一词多义) : Polysemy refers to the phenomenon that the one word may have more than one meaning. Homonymy (同音/同形异义现象) : Homonymy refers to the phenomenon that diff

26、erent words are identical in sound or spelling, or in both. 1) Homophones (同音异义词) : When two words having different meaning are pronounced alike, they are called homophones. noknow, hearhere, deer-dear 2) Homographs (同形异义词) : When two words having different meaning are spelt alike, they are called homographs. 3) Complete homonyms (完全同音同形异义词): When two words pronounced alike and spelt alike but have different meanings, they are known as complete homonyms.,Componential Analysis,Componential Analysis (语义成分分析法) : Componen