6 Semantics

Chapter 6 Semantics · Teaching Objectives · · To get the students acquainted with various views on the meaning of “meaning” · · To help the students identify sense relations between words and those between sentences · · To let the students learn to analyze the meaning of words and that of sentences from a semantic point of view Main points ·  Classification of “meaning” ·   The referential Theory ·   Sense relations ·   Analysis of lexical meaning · Sentence meaning · Key concepts · Sense Reference · Synonymy Antonymy · Hyponymy Semantic component · Predication Argument · Conceptualism Contextualism · Componential analysis · Predication analysis 6.1 Classification of Meaning ·  6.1.1 The traditional approach · Fries (1952) makes a distinction between lexical meaning and structural meaning · lexical meaning: expressed by such meaningful parts of speech as n., v., adj., adv.. · structural meaning: grammatical, the distinction between subject and object, oppositions of definiteness, tense and number, and between different sentence types. Examples · I dreamed a beautiful dream last night. · I pity her having to work such long hours. · It is a pity. · Do you mind closing the door? · Close the door! · The door is closed. 6.1.2The functional approach Leech’s classification (1981) 1.Conceptual Meaning 2.Associative Meaning · Connotative Meaning · Social Meaning · Affective Meaning · Reflected Meaning · Collocative Meaning 3.Thematic Meaning Conceptual meaning · --logical, cognitive or denotative content　(dictionary definition) · e.g. home:the house, apartment or place where you live door: the large flat object that you open and close at the entrance to a building ,room or vehicle. Connotative meaning · --what is communicated by virtue of what language refers to. · e.g. 　Dragon:　social status, power · Pig : uncleanliness, unpleasant smells · Milk: health, strength Social meaning · --what is communicated of the social circumstances of language use (stylistic meaning of words) e.g. offspring, child, kid male parent, father, dad, old man Affective meaning · --what is communicated of the feelings and attitudes of the speaker /writer. · e.g. · He is a statesman/politician. · My home is a hell. · My home is a heaven. Reflected meaning · What is communicated through association with another sense of the same expression · e.g. · 40 years ago: Human language is a tool of social intercourse??. · Now: Human language is a tool of social communication. Collocative meaning · What is communicated through association with words which tend to occur in the environment of another word · consider that /consider doing · stop doing/stop to do · remember to /remember doing · meaning doing/mean to do · concerned about/concerned with Thematic meaning · --what is communicated by the way in the which the message is organized in terms of order and emphasis · e.g. · I met her in the street yesterday. · It was yesterday that I met her in the street. 6.1.3The pragmatic approach   Palmer (1976), Lyons (1977),Austin (1962) & Searl (1969): speech act theory (see in chapter 7) · Sentence meaning--the meaning of a sentence is often studied as the abstract, intrinsic property of the sentence, abstract, and decontextulized, · Utterance meaning--concrete, and contextualized. Utterance meaning is based on sentence meaning; it is the realization of the abstract meaning of a sentence in a real situation of communication, or simply a context. Examples · 1. It’s hot in here. situation 1: A and B are talking about the weather. situation 2: A wants B to turn on the electrical fan. · 2. It’s the taste. · situation 1: The food is horrible. · situation 2: The food is delicious. · 3. The lights! · situation 1: Please turn on the lights. · situation 2: Please turn off the lights. 6.2 The Referential Theory ·   concept ·   ·   ·   word thing Semantic Triangle · For example, the word “dog” is directly associated with a certain concept in our mind, i.e., what a “dog” is like, but it is not directly linked to that particular dog in the sentence “ The dog over there looks unfriendly”, i.e., the referent in this particular case. · Thus , the symbol of a word signifies “things” by virtue of the concept associated with the form of the word in the minds of the speaker of the language; and the concept looked at from this point of view is the meaning of the word. 6.3 Sense Relations 6.3.1 Sense & Reference Sense is concerned with the inherent meaning of the linguistic form, the collection of all the features of the linguistic form, abstract and de-contextualized, the aspect of meaning dictionary compilers are interested in. Reference · Reference means what a linguistic form refers to in the real , physical world, dealing with the relationship between the linguistic element and non-linguistic world of experience. 6.3.2 Major Sense Relations between Words · Synonymy—the sameness or close similarity of meaning. Words that are close in meaning are called synonyms. · Dialectal Synonyms—synonyms used in different regional dialects. Examples · British English American English · autumn fall · lift elevator · luggage baggage · lorry truck · petrol gasoline · flat apartment · windscreen windshield · torch flashlight · Stylistic Synonyms—synonyms differing in style or degree of formality · old man, daddy, dad, father, male parent · start, begin, commence [kə'mens]  · kid, child, offspring · chap, pal, friend, companion · kick the bucket, pop off, die, pass away, decease · Synonyms that differ in their emotive or evaluative meaning · politician, statesman · economical, frugal, thrifty, mean, miserly, stingy · like, love, admire, adore, worship Collocational Synonyms—Synonyms that differ in their collocation, in the words they go together with · accuse…of…, charge… with…, rebuke… for… · rotten tomato, addled eggs, · rancid bacon or butter, sour milk · Semantically Different Synonyms—Synonyms that differ in what they mean · surprise, amaze(confusion and bewilderment), astound(difficulty in believing) · escape (get away from sth. unpleasant or dangerous), flee (to get away hurriedly)   Polysemy · Polysemy—the same word may have more than one meaning :“table” · 1)a piece of furniture · 2)all the people at a table · 3)the food that is put on a table · 4)a thin flat piece of stone, metal, wood, etc. · 5)orderly arrangement of fats, figure, etc. · 6)part of a machine-tool on which the work is put to be operated on · 7)a level area, a plateau Homonymy · Homonymy—the phenomenon that words having different meanings have the same form, i.e., different words are identical in sound or spelling, or in both. · homophones: rain /reign, night /knight, piece /peace, leak / leek · homographs: bow v. / bow n. tear v. / tear n lead v. /lead n · complete homonyms: fast adj. /fast v. scale n. /scale v. ball n. / ball n Hyponymy · Hyponymy—the sense relation between a more general and more inclusive word and a more specific word. · superordinate: flower · hyponyms: rose, tulip, carnation, lily · superordinate:animal · hyponyms:dog, cat, tiger, wolf, elephant        Antonymy · Antonymy—the oppositeness of meaning; words that are opposite in meaning are antonyms. · Gradable Antonyms—there are often intermediate forms between the two members of a pair, a matter of degree. · old/young, (middle-aged, mature, elderly) · hot/cold (cool, warm, lukewarm) · rich/poor, fast/slow, beautiful/ugly, tall/short, clever/ stupid, near/ far · Complementary Antonyms—the denial of one member of the pair implies the assertion of the other, a matter of either one or the other · alive/dead, pass/ fail, · male/ female, hit/miss · ‘Converse Antonyms—the reversal of a relationship between two entities · push/pull,come/go,ascend/descend, fill/empty, inflate/deflate · own/belong to, above/below, husband/wife, employer/employee 6.3 Analysis of Lexical Meaning · Componential Analysis—a way to analyze lexical meaning · Componential analysis is a way proposed by structural semanticists to analyze word meaning. · The approach believes that the meaning of a word can be dissected into meaning components, called semantic features Examples teacher:+HUMAN+ADULT+INSCHOOL +TEACHING FOR A LIVING · typewriter:-ANIMATE+INSTRUMENT +MACHINE+IN OFFICE+TYPE +PRINT · chopsticks: -ANIAMTE +INSTRUMENT -MACHINE +IN KITCHEN+STICK- FOOD+PAIR Examples · Father: PARENT (x, y) & MALE (x) · Mother: PARENT (x, y) & FEMALE (x) · Son: CHILD (x, y) & MALE (x) · Daughter: CHILD (x, y) & -MALE (x) · Verbs can also be analysed in this way, for example, · take = CAUSE (x, (HAVE (x, y) ) ) · give = CAUSE (x, (~HAVE (x, y))) · die = BECOME (x, ( ~ALIVE (x) ) ) · kill = CAUSE (x, (BECOME (y, (~ALIVE (y))))) · murder = INTEND (x, ( CAUSE (x, (BECOME (y, (~ALIVE (y))))))) 6.5 Sentence Meaning http://www.enmajor.com/cn/Html/M/Linguistics/7928603514145.html 1.An integrated theory Their basic idea is that a semantic theory consists of two parts: a dictionary and a set of projection rules. The dictionary provides the grammatical classification and semantic information of words. The grammatical classification is more detailed than the traditional parts of speech. For example, hit is not just a verb, but a transitive verb, written as Vtr; ball is not just a noun, but a concrete noun, written as Nc. Terms like Vtr and Nc are called grammatical markers; or syntactic markers. The semantic information is further divided into two sub-types: the information which has to do with the more systematic part, or is of a more general nature, is shown by semantic markers, such as (Male), (Female), (Human), (Animal). The information which is more idiosyncratic, word-specific, is shown by distinguishers · For example, the word bachelor has the following distinguishers: · a. [who has never married] · b. [ young knight serving under the standard of another knight] · c. [who has the first or lowest academic degree] · d. [ young fur seal when without a mate during the breeding time] · The projection rules are responsible for combining the meanings of words together. · SELECTION RESTRICTIONS: some selection restrictions as constraints on the combination process enclosed in angle brackets, in addition to grammatical markers, semantic markers and distinguishers, as follows: · colorful {Adj } · a. (Color) [ abounding in contrast or variety of bright colors] · < or > · b. (Evaluative) [having distinctive character, vividness, or picturesqueness] < or > · Given that ball has the following three readings · ball {Nc} · a. (Social Activity) (Large) (Assembly) [for the purpose of social dancing] · b. (Physical Object) [having globular shape] · c. (Physical Object) [solid missile for projection by engine of war] · four readings of colorful ball: · a. (Social Activity) (Large) (Assembly) (Color) [abounding in contrast or variety of bright colors ] [for the purpose of social dancing] · b. (physical Object) (Color) [abounding in contrast or variety of bright colors] [having globular shape] · c. (physical Object) (Color) [abounding in contrast or variety of bright colors] [solid missile for projection by engine of war] · d. (Social Activity) (Large) (Assembly) (Evaluative) [having distinctive character, vividness, or picturesqueness] [for the purpose of social dancing] · the meanings of the whole sentence will be composed as shown below: · a. [ some contextually definite ] ( Physical Object ) ( Human ) (Adult) (Male) (Action) (Instancy) (Intensity) [ collides with an impact] [ some contextually definite ] (Physical Object) (Color) [abounding in contrast or variety of bright colors] [ having globular shape] · b. [ some contextually definite ] ( Physical Object) (Human ) (Adult) (Male) (Action) (Instancy) (Intensity) [collides with an impact ] [ some contextually definite ] ( Physical Object) (Color) [abounding in contrast or variety of bright colors] [solid missile for projection by engine of war] · c. [ some contextually definite ] ( Physical Object) (Human) (Adult) (Male) (Action) (Instancy) (Intensity) [strikes with a blow or missile] [some contextually definite] (Physical Object) (Color) [abounding in contrast or variety of bright colors] [having globular shape] · d. [ some contextually definite ] ( Physical Object ) (Human) (Adult) (Male) (Action) (Instancy) (Intensity) [ strikes with a blow or missile] [some contextually definite] (Physical Object) (Color) [ abounding in contrast or variety of bright colors] [solid missile for projection by engine of war] · problems in this theory · First, the distinction between semantic marker and distinguisher is not very clear. · Second, there are cases in which the collocation of words cannot be accounted for by grammatical markers, semantic markers or selection restrictions. · The most serious defect concerns the use of semantic markers like (Human) and (Male), which, more usually called semantic components as we mentioned in the last section, are elements of an artificial meta-language. · 2. logical semantics · PROPOSITIONAL LOGIC, also known as propositional calculus or sentential calculus, is the study of the truth conditions for propositions: how the truth of a composite proposition is determined by the truth value of its constituent propositions and the connections between them. · (and) only when and as long as both conjuncts are true, the composite proposition will be true. · (or) only when and as long as one of the constituents is true, the composite proposition will be true · (if…then) unless the antecedent is true and the consequent is false, the composite proposition will be true. · (if and only if…then) The condition for the composite proposition to be true , if and only if both constituent propositions are of the same truth value, whether true or false · PREDICATE LOGIC, also called predicate calculus, which studies the internal structure of simple propositions: an argument and a predicate · An argument is a term which refers to some entity about which a statement is being made. · A predicate is a term which ascribes some property, or relation, to the entity, or entities, referred to. Examples · Tom is smoking. TOM (SMOKE) (One-place predication) · It is hot. (BE HOT) (No-place predication) · John likes ice-cream. JOHN, ICE-CREAM (LIKE) (Two-place predication) · He gave Marry a novel. HE, MARRY, NOVEL (GIVE) (Three-place predication) Assignment · What have you learned from Leech’s classification of meaning? Further reading 李福印.（2007）. 语义学概论(修订版).北京:北京大学出版社.