语言学Chapter_5_Meaning_共98页文档
英语语言学Chapter 5_semantics
5. Sense & Reference
• Sense and reference are the two terms often encountered in the study of word meaning. They are two related but different aspects of meaning. • Sense– the inherent meaning of the linguistic form. It is the collection of all the features of the linguistic form. • Reference: What a linguistic form refers to in the real, physical world.
18
„Colorful‟ meaning
• Commendatory • tough-minded • resolute, firm • shrewd • childlike • wiseman • man of usual talent • portly, stout, solid, plum • slender, slim • • • • • • • • • Derogatory ruthless obstinate sly, crafty childish wiseguy freak fleshy, fat, tubby lean, skinny, lanky, weedy, scraggy
27
Differences:
• (1) • (2) • (3) linguistic forms having the same sense may have different references in different situations. e.g. I was once bitten by a dog. Mind you. There is a dog over there. Sometimes linguistic forms with the same reference might differ in sense. “朝阳” & “夕阳” “主任” &
英语语言学第五章semantics
16
6.3 Complementary antonymy
The members of a pair complementary to each other. They divide the whole of a semantic field completely. The assertion of one means the denial of the other and the denial of one means the assertion of the other. There is no intermediate ground between the two. Distinction between gradable and complementary contrary and contradictory
3
3.2 Connotative meaning
the emotional association which a word or a phrase suggests in one’s mind. It is the supplementary value added to the purely denotative meaning of a word. Mother a female parent connotes love, care and tenderness. Dogs have different connotative meaning between Chinese and English.
9
3.7 Thematic meaning
determined by the order of the words and the different prominence they each receive.
语言学5._Meaning
2015/12/14 2
Teaching Procedures
1. Introduction 2. Meanings of ―meaning‖ 3. Lexical meaning 3.1 Sense and reference 3.2 Major sense relations 3.3 Componential analysis 4. Sense relations between sentences 4.1 An integrated theory 4.2 Logical semantics 5. Task
Teaching difficulties: sense relations between sentences,
different types of antonymy
Teaching Methods & Strategies:
teacher presentation and class discussion
2015/12/14
10
Guess:
What does ‗cornea’ mean?
• The transparent, convex, anterior portion of the outer fibrous coat of the eyeball that covers the iris and the pupil and is continuous with the sclera.
英语语言学五
(3)From connotative meaning to collocative meaning are collectively known as associative meaning in the sense that an elementary associationist theory of mental connections is enough to explain their use.
内涵意义到搭配意义合起来称作 联想意义，因为解释这些意义需要依 靠一种关于思维关系的基本的联想理 论。
(4)Thematic meaning is more peripheral since it is only
determined by the order of the words in a sentence and the different prominence they each receive.
• 这种理论的其中之一问题就是，
当我们通过实物书桌来解释 desk时，我们并不意味着书桌 必须具有当时当地那张书桌所 有的尺寸、形状、颜色和质料， 而是用它作一个实例，作某种 更普遍的东西的一个例子。也 就是说，在我们肉眼所见实物 之外存在的某种东西。这种东 西是抽象的，没有物质存在， 只能通过我们的思维来感知。 这种抽象之物即一般所谓概念。
把词语意义跟它所指称或所代表的事物联系起来的理论，叫作 指称论。这是一种很流行的理论。通过指明词语所代表事物 来解释词义一般来说是可能的。
One problem of this theory is that when we explain the meaning of desk by pointing to the thing it refers to, we do not mean a desk must be of the particular size, shape, color and material as the desk we are pointing to at the moment of speaking. We are using this particular desk as an example, of something more general. That is, there is something behind the concrete thing we can see with our eyes. And something is abstract, which has no existence in the material world and can only be sensed in our minds. This abstract thing is usually called CONC1974, 1981). Semantics: The Study of Meaning. Seven types of meaning:
语言学_Chapter 5_Semantics
32
天亮前后，东方地平线上有时会看到一颗 特别 明亮的“晨星”，人们叫它“启明 星”；而在 黄昏时分，西方余辉中有时会 出现一颗非常明 亮的“昏星”，人们叫它 “长庚星”。这两颗 星其实是一颗，即金 星．在中国民间称它为 “太白”或“太白 金星”。古代神话中，“太 白金星”是一 位天神。古希腊人称金星为“阿 佛洛狄 忒”，是代表爱与美的女神。而罗马人 把 这位女神称为“维纳斯”，于是金星也被 称 为维纳斯了
14
M is conventional
15
What is meaning? M is conventional
A green light means ...
16
What is meaning?
Pavlov (巴甫洛夫) Meaning is Stimulus-response
17
M is flexible and imitational
25
4. Problems with the naming theory
1. The theory seems applicable to nouns only. 2. There are nouns which denote things that do not exist in the real world at all. 3. There are nouns that do not refer to physical objects, but abstract notions. 4. Some words may have different meanings in different contexts. 5. The same reference may have different names.
语言学教案Chapter 5 Meaning
Chapter 5 Meaning5.1 Meanings of “meaning”5.2 The referential theory5.3 Sense relations5.3.1 Synonymy5.3.2 Antonymy5.3.3 Hyponymy5.4 Componential analysis5.5. Sentence meaning5.5.1 An integrated theory5.5.2 Logical semanticsSemantics: the study of the meaning of linguistic units, words and sentences in particular.5.1 Meanings of “meaning”Ogden & Richards: 16 major categories of meaning, with 22 sub-categories Ogden, C. K. & I. A. Richards. 1923. The Meaning of Meaning[M]. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Leech: 7 types of meaningLeech, G. 1981[1974]. Semantics: The study of Meaning [M]. Harmondsworth: Penguin.●Conceptual meaning (概念意义): similar to reference (指称)●Connotative meaning (内涵意义): some additional, especially emotive meaning.E.g. c.f. politician & statesmanNote: Connotation and denotation in philosophyCONNOTATION (内涵)DENOTATION (外延)E.g. human●Thematic meaning (主题意义)Question: How to explain the meaning of a word in the conceptual meaning?E.g. DESK1) to point to a desk directly2) to describe it as “a piece of furniture with a flat top and four legs, at which one reads and writes.3) to paraphrase it as “a desk is a kind of table, which has drawers”4) to give the Chinese equivalent 书桌5.2 The referential theoryProblems:The concrete thing pointed at differs from the abstract concept behind the thing.The object pointed at does not directly correspond to the concept.CONCEPTSemantic triangleconceptword thingC.f. Sense & reference1) Sense: the abstract properties of an entity——concept ——connotation Reference: the concrete entities having these entities ——denotation2) Every word has a sense, but not every word has a reference.E.g. grammatical words like but, if, and5.3 Sense relations●Sense●ReferenceThree kinds of sense relations: sameness relation, oppositeness relation, and inclusiveness relation5.3.1 SynonymySYNONYMY: the sameness relation●Stylistic differenceE.g. Little Tom ___________ a toy bear. c.f. buy & purchase●Connotative difference.E.g. “I’m thrifty. You are economical. And he is stingy.”●Dialectical differenceE.g. c.f. autumn & fall5.3.2 AntonymyAntonymy: the oppositeness relation(1) Gradable antonymyE.g. good: bad, long: short, big: smallgradable---comparative and superlative degree; lexicalizationE.g. good & badgraded against different norms---no absolute criterionE.g. c.f. a big car & a small planeone member of a pair, usually the term for the higher degree, serves as the cover term E.g. How old are you?C.f. Unmarked & marked●Unmarked: the term is more often used●Marked: the term is less used, odd, or unusual(2) Complementary antonymyE.g alive:dead, male:femaleNOTE 1: Not only the assertion of one means the denial of the other, the denial of one also means the assertion of the other.NOTE 2: No comparative or superlative degrees are allowed.E.g. alive, dead, 半死不活*John is more dead than Mary.C.f. John is more mad than stupid.C.f. Gradable and complementary1. The difference between the gradable and the complementary is somewhat similar tothat between the contrary and the contradictory.In logic, a proposition is the contrary of another if it is impossible for both to true, or false.E.g. The coffee is hot.The coffee is cold.A proposition is the contradictory of another if it is impossible for both to be true, orfalse.E.g. This is a male cat.This is a female cat.a b a bgradable complementary2. The norm in complementary is absolute.E.g. male & female3. There is no cover term for the two members of a pair.E.g. Is it a boy or a girl?*How male is it?Exception: true & false (Pp 167)(3) Converse antonymyE.g. buy: sell, lend: borrowX buys something from Y. == Y sells something to X.RELATIONAL OPPOSITES5.3.3 HyponymyHYPONYMYSUPERORDINATEHYPONYMSCO-HYPONYMSflowerrose peony jasmine chrysanthemum tulip violet carnationAUTO-HYPONMYlivingplant animalbird fish insect animalhuman animaltiger lion elephant …5.4 Componential analysisSEMANTIC FEATURES/SEMANTIC COMPONENTS: semantic units smaller than the meaning of a word. (Pp 170)E.g. boy: HUMAN, YOUNG, MALEwoman: HUMAN, ADULT, FEMALEYOUNG: ～ADULTFEMALE: ～MALEE.g. father = PARENT (x, y) & MALE (x)mother = PARENT (x, y) & ～MALE (x)son = CHILD (x, y) & MALE (x)die = BECOME (x, (～ALIVE(x)))kill = CAUSE (x, (BECOME (y, (～ALIVE (y)))))murder = INTEND (x, (CAUSE (x, (BECOME (y, (～ALIVE (y)))))))➢Synonyms: words or expressions with the same semantic componentsE.g. bachelor, unmarried man: HUMAN, ADULT, UNMARRIED➢Antonyms: words with contrasting semantic componentsE.g. cold & hot, give & take➢Hyponyms: words which have all the semantic components of anotherE.g. boy & girl are hyponyms of childSense relations between sentences:E.g.1.a. * John killed Bill but Bill didn’t die.b. * John killed Bill but he was not the cause of Bill’s death.c. * John murdered Bill without intending to.EntailmentE.g. a. John killed Bill.b. Bill died.Difficulties1) Polysemous words will have different sets of semantic components.2) The difference between the semantic components differs.C.f. MALE and FEMALE (absolute) & ADULT and YOUNG (relative)boy and man (clear-cut)& girl and woman (vague)3) There may be words whose semantic components are difficult to ascertain. Question: How to express the semantic features?METALANGUAGE (原语言): a language used for talking about another language 5.5. Sentence meaning1) The sentence meaning is not merely a sum of word meaning, and it is related to word order.E.g. a. The man chased the dog.b. The dog chased the man.2) Sentences have thematic meaning.E.g. a. I’ve already seen that film.b. That film I’ve already seen.3) The sentence meaning is connected with its syntactic structure.E.g. The son of Pharaoh’s daughter is the daughter of Pharaoh’s son.5.5.1 An integrated theoryPrinciple of COMPOSITIONALITYsystematic informationgrammatical classificationdictionary idiosyncratic information Semantic theory semantic informationprojection rules●Dictionary: to provide the grammatical classification and semantic information ofwords➢Grammatical classificationGrammatical markers/syntactic markersSystematic information✧Systemic part —Semantic markers: (Male), (Female), (Human), (Animal)✧Idiosyncratic information —Distinguishers(辨义成分)E.g. bachelora. [who has never married];b. [young knights 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].●Projection rules: responsible for combining the meanings of words togetherSNP VPDet N V NPthe man hits Det Nthe Adj Ncolorful ballSelection restrictionsProblems1. The distinction between semantic marker and distinguisher is not very clear.E.g. (Young)2. The collocation of words may not be accounted for by grammatical markers, semantic markers or selection restrictions.E.g. a. He said hello to the nurse and she greeted back.b. My cousin is a male nurse.c. ? My cousin is a female nurse.3. The use of semantic markers like (Human), (Male) and (Adult), is elements of an artificial meta-language.5.5.2 Logical semanticssentence meaningPREPOSITIONAL LOGIC(命题逻辑)/ PROPOSITIONAL CALCULUS(命题演算)/ SENTENTIAL CALCULUS(句子演算):proposition≈sentence meaningTruth value: truth or falsePredicate logic (Pp 180)p (simple proposition)one-place connective: negation ～or ﹁two-place connective: conjunction &disjunction ∨implicationequivalence ≡orConnective conjunction: similar to the English “and”Connective disjunction: similar to the English “or”Connective implication/conditional implication: corresponds to the English “if…then”Connective equivalence/bicond itional: corresponds to “iff…then”C.f. Antonyms & “not”●With complementary antonyms, the denial of one is the assertion of the other.●With gradable, that is not necessarily the case.E.g. John isn’t old.John is old.C.f. Conjunction & “and”●ConjunctionE.g. He missed the train and arrived late.●“And”E.g. He arrived late and missed the train.*He missed the train and arrived late.C.f. Implication & “if…then”●ImplicationE.g. If he is an Englishman, he speaks English.If snow is white, grass is green.E.g. If snow is black, grass is green.●“If…then”E.g.? If snow is white, grass is green.*If snow is black, grass is green.In sum, propositional logic, concerned with the semantic relation between propositions, treats a simple proposition as an unanalyzed whole.E.g. All men are rational.Socrates is a man.Therefore, Socrates is rational.PREDICATE LOGIC/PREDICATE CALCCULUS studies the internal structure of simple propositions.Question: How to analyze Socrates is a man?Argument (主目): a term which refers to some entity about which a statement is being madePredicate (谓词): a term which ascribes some property, or relation, to the entity, or entities, referred toSocrates is the argument, and man is the predicate.Token: M(s)Note: A simple proposition is seen as a function (函数) of its argument. The truth value of a proposition varies with the argument.M(s) =1, M(c) =0E.g. John loves Mary.L (j, m)John gave Mary a book. G (j, m, b)kill: CAUSE (x, (BECOME (y, (～ALIVE (y)))))C (x, (B (y, (～A (y)))))All men are rational.1. All is the universal quantifier and symbolized by an upturned A—∀in logic.2. The argument men does not refer to any particular entity, which is known as avariable and symbolized as x, y.Notation: ∀x (M(x) R(x))“For all x, it is the case that, if x is a man, then x is rational.”Some men are clever.Some is the existential quantifier and symbolized by a reversed E—∃Notation: ∃x (M(x) & C(x))C.f. Universal quantifier & existential quantifier1.Quantifiers2.Implication connectiveE.g.All men are rational.There is no man who is not rational.Notation: ∀x (M(x) R(x)) ≡～∃x(M(x) & ～R(x))(1) ∀x(P(x))≡～∃x(～P(x))～∀x (P(x))≡∃x (～P(x))∃x (P(x)) ≡～∀x (～P(x))～∃x (P(x)) ≡∀x (～P(x))(2) ∀x(M(x) R(x))M(s)∴R(s)(3) ∀x(M(x)) R(x))R(s)∴R(s)(4) ∃x (M(x) & C(x))M(s)∴C(s)。
胡壮麟语言学Chapter 5
EX.
Which of the following pairs would be described as the “unmarked” member?
big/small fast/slow few/ many long/short old/young strong/weak thick/thin
A proper noun only uses its referential meaning. e.g. Byron is a great poet. Unless it is used figuratively:
He is another Byron.
Grammatical words (function words) are used only in their conceptual meanings. e.g. but, if, the, etc.
Determiners (the, my, this ,these, his, etc) signal a referential meaning Determiners (a, an, some, all, any, no) signal a conceptual meaning.
Review
Review
Classification of meaning (Functional Approach) conceptual meaning
connotative meaning associative meaning
social meaning
dog-loyalty dad-father
affective meaning slender-skinny reflected meaning collocative meaning thematic meaning intercoursecommunication
语言学第五章5_semantics
Formal <------------------------------> Informal
23
(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.
20
Some words may have the same conceptual meaning, but have different social meaning and stylistic meaning.
21
domicile: very formal, official residence: formal abode: poetic home: general
Pragmatics: