词汇学 教案 Chapter 5-7

Chapter 5 Word Meaning and Componential Analysis5.1 Word Meaning1. What is ‘word meaning’?Word meaning can be defined as a reciprocal relation between name and meaning. ‘Meaning’ is what the form stands for.Eg: desk: something you sit at and you do your workThere are two aspects to the meaning of a word: denotation and connotation. The process by which the word refers to the referent is called "denotation". For example, the denotation of "dog" is "canine quadruped". The denotative meaning of a word usually refers to the dictionary definition of a word. As opposed to denotation, connotation refers to the emotional aspect of a word. For example, the connotation of "dog" might include "friend", "helper", "competition", etc.2. What is reference?It is the relationship between language and the world. By means of reference, a speaker indicates which things in the world (including persons) are being talked about. In other words, only when a connection has been established between the linguistic sign and a referent, i.e., an object, a phenomenon, a person, etc. does the sign become meaningful.The reference of a word to a thing outside the language is arbitrary and conventional.3. What is concept?It is the general idea or meaning which is associate with a word or symbol in a person’s mind.What’s the relationship between meaning and concept?1)They are both related directly to referents and are notions of the words butbelong to different categories.2)Concept, which is beyond language, is the result of human cognition,reflecting the objective world in the human mind. Concept is universal to all men alike regardless of culture, race, and language and so on.3)But meaning belongs to language, so is restricted to language use. A conceptcan have as many referring expressions as there are languages in the world.Even in the same language, the same concept can be expressed in different words.Meaning is closely related to a concept, but they are not identical. A concept is the base of the meaning of a word. A word is used to label a concept. It acts as the symbol for that concept. The concept is abstracted from the person, thing, relationship, idea, event, and so on, that we are thinking about. We call this the referent. The word labels the concept, which is abstracted from the referent; the word denotes the referent, but does not label it. This approach to meaning can be diagrammed as follows: word - concept – referentThe formula shows that the word refers to the referent through a concept.A concept is an abstraction from things of the same kind.4. What is sense?The sense of an expression is its place in a system of semantic relationships withother expressions in the language.What’s the difference between reference and sense?1) Sense denotes the relationships inside the language.2) Every word that has meaning has sense but not every word has reference.5.2 Motivation1. What is motivation?Motivation deals with the connection between name and sense2. Types of motivationA. Onomatopoeic MotivationIt means the imitation of sounds by sounds. Onomatopoeia is derived from Greek onomatopoeia "word-making": onoma, -matos "name" + poieo "make". Various other terms have been suggested, such as echoism (Jespersen) and "phonaesthetic function" (Firth). Onomatopoeic motivation means defining the principle of motivation by sound. The sounds of such words as cuckoo, ding-dong, swish, buzz, seem to be appropriate to their senses. For examples: p101But it has to be pointed out that onomatopoeic words constitute only a small part of the vocabulary. The forms of words normally have only a conventional relationship with what they refer to. According to Stephen Ullmann, onomatopoeic formation can be divided into primary onomatopoeia and secondary onomatopoeia.B. Morphological motivationWords which were formed by means of morphological structure belong to the category of motivation by morphology.C. Semantic MotivationSemantic motivation means that motivation is based on semantic factors. It is a kind of mental association. When we speak of the bonnet or the hood of a car, of a coat of paint, or of potatoes cooked in their jackets, these expressions are motivated by the similarity between the garments and the objects referred to. In the same way, when we say the cloth for the clergy, silk for a Q. C., or "town and gown" for "town and university", there is semantic motivation due to the fact that the garments in question are closely associated with the persons they designate. Both types of expression are figurative: the former are metaphorical, based on some similarity between the two elements, the latter are metonymic, founded on some external connection.1) MetaphorMetaphor is a figure of speech containing an implied comparison, in which a word or phrase ordinarily and primarily used of one thing is applied to another, as in "He has a heart of stone.", "The curtain of night has fallen."2) MetonymyMetonymy is the device in which we name something by one of its attributes, as in crown for king, the turf for horse-racing, the White House for the President.3) SynecdocheSynecdoche means using a part for a whole, an individual for a class, a material for a thing or the reverse of any of these - for example, bread for food, the army for a soldier, copper for penny.D. Etymological motivationEtymological motivation denotes that the origins of words often throw light on their meanings.E.g.: Pen originally refers to ‘a heavy quill or feather’. Today the writing tool is still “pen”, but a meaning is not exac tly the same as what it used to mean.5.3 Motivation and cultural backgroundWords that epitomizes cultural history are called culturally-bound words or allusive words. A culturally-bound word condenses a fund of meanings into a shorter term. "Quixotic", for example, is an epitome of a great book by Cervantes. The word derived from Don Quixote, the hero of the satirical romance, has come to mean "extravagantly chivalrous or romantically idealistic; visionary; impractical or impracticable". Another example is the Faustian spirit: that heaven-storming, adventurous thirst for the infinite which led Faust to sell his soul to the devil in return for universal knowledge and experience.The spiritual history not merely of a decade, but of a whole epoch may be summed up in an allusive word. Sometimes a great poet, a dramatist or a novelist gives a name to the spirit of an age - as Goethe did with Faust, Shakespeare with Hamlet. Even a poet's own name may come to express a quality and temper for which we have no other single word. Virgilian Pity, for example, carries a wealth of meaning: poignant, sensitive sadness over the tragedy implicit in most human life; the feeling of regret over vanished beauty and the doom visited on great-hearted courage in the face of malign destiny.Culturally-bound words present a challenge to anyone who likes to bring history up into the vivid present.5.4 Types of meaningWord meaning is made up of various components which are interrelated and interdependent. These components are commonly described as types of meaning. Types of Meaning: Grammatical Meaning & Lexical MeaningLexical Meaning: Conceptual Meaning & Associative MeaningAssociative Meaning: Connotative Meaning & Stylistic Meaning & Affective Meaning & Collocative Meaning1.Grammatical Meaning & Lexical Meaning1)Grammatical meaning indicates grammatical concept or relationships such aspart of speech of words, singular and plural meaning of nouns, tense meaning of verbs and their inflectional paradigm.2)Lexical meaning is the meaning of an isolated word in a dictionary. Thiscomponent of meaning is identical in all the forms of the word.2.Conceptual Meaning & Associative Meaning1)Conceptual meaning is meaning given in the dictionary and forms the core ofword meaning.2)Associative meaning is the secondary meaning supplemented to theconceptual meaning. It differs from the conceptual meaning in that it is open-ended and indeterminate, liable to the influence of such factors as culture, experience, religion, etc.a. Connotative MeaningIt refers to the overtones or associations suggested by the conceptual meaning. What connotations do you think “home”,and “mother” might have?b. Stylistic MeaningIn some dictionaries, these stylistic features are clearly marked as ‘formal, i nformal, literary, archaic, slang’ and so on.c. Affective MeaningAffective meaning expresses the speaker’s attitude towards the person or thing in question. Words that have emotive values may fall into two categories: appreciative and pejorative/derogative. Words of positive overtones are used to show appreciation or the attitude of approval; those of negative connotations imply disapproval, contempt or criticism.d. Collocative MeaningIt is that part of the word meaning suggested by the words with which it co-occurs. Pretty and handsome share common ground in the meaning "good-looking", but may be distinguished by the range of nouns with which they are likely to co-occur.5.5 Componential Analysis1. What is componential analysis?The analysis of word meanings/componential analysis is often seen as a process of breaking down the sense of a word into its minimal components, which are known as semantic features or sense components. Componential analysis is on the basis of semantic contrast. The linguistic meaning of a word is the set of abstracted characteristics necessary to distinguish the category which the word names from all other categories. These abstracted characteristics are known as semantic features. Semantic features are used to describe semantic universals that may characterize all languages.Semantic features are established on the basis of binary opposition.. Eg: +ADULT (adult), - ADULT (young).Sense components are conventionally enclosed in square brackets or parenthesis or without. They are all written in capital letters or in small letters with the letter in capital to distinguish them from lexical items.man [ +MALE, +ADULT, +HUMAN]woman [ -MALE, +ADULT, +HUMAN]boy [ +MALE, -ADULT, +HUMAN]girl [ - MALE, -ADULT, +HUMAN]bullock [+MALE, +ADULT, - HUMAN]cow [ - MALE, +ADULT, - HUMAN]In making componential analysis, it is important to focus on the distinguishing features, i.e. features which can distinguish one word from another.Eg: Between boy, chair, dictionary and hope, thought, problem, the distinguish feature is [+CONCRETE]2. The advantages and disadvantages of componential analysis.Chapter 6 Sense Relation6.1 PolysemyThe same word may have two or more different meanings. This is known as "polesemy"; such a word is "polesemic". The word "flight", for example, may mean "passing through the air", "power of flying", "air of journey", "unit of the Air Force", "volley", "digression", "series of steps", etc.1. Two approaches to polysemy1) Diachronic approach: It is assumed to be the result of growth and development of the semantic structure of one and same word. The first meaning is the primary meaning. Later meanings are called derived meanings.2) Synchronic approach: Synchronically, polysemy is viewed as the coexistence of various meanings of the same word in a historical period of time. The basic meaning of a word is called the central meaning. The derived meanings are secondary in comparison.2. Sources of polesemyPolesemy can arise in a number of ways. According to Stephen Ullmann, there are five sources. But here we will confine ourselves to the examination of the three most important ones, since the other two (Homonyms Reinterpreted and Foreign Influence) are rare or not quite normal in English.A. Shifts in applicationB. Specialization in a social milieuC. Figurative language3. Two processes of development1) Radiation 2) Concatenation1) RadiationSemantically, radiation is the process which the primary or central meaning stands at the center while secondary meanings radiate from it in every direction like rays. All the meanings are independent of one another, but can all be traced back to the central meaning.2) ConcatenationAnother process, as opposed to radiation, is called "concatenation". It means that a word moves gradually away from its original sense as a result of successive semantic changes until, in many cases, there is not a trace of connection between the sense that is finally developed and the primary sense.A good example is "candidate". The word derived from the Latin candidates which originally meant "a person dressed in white"; then, "a white-robed seeker for office", from the Roman custom of wearing one's freshest robes when asking the suffrages of the people. In the current use of "candidate", the idea of "white attire" has completely disappeared, leaving only the sense of "an applicant for office", which has no obvious connection with the primary meaning of the word.6.2 HomonymyHomonyms are generally defined as words different in meaning but either identical both in sound and spelling or identical only in sound or spelling.1. Types of homonyms: perfect/absolute homonyms; homographs; homophones. Of the three types, homophones constitute the largest number and are most common.2. Origins of homonyms: change in sound and spelling; borrowing; shortening3. Differentiation of homonyms from polysemants4. Rhetoric features of homonyms(1) --Why should a man never tell his secrets in a cornfield?--Because it has so many ears.(2) On Sunday they pray for you and on Monday they prey on you.From the above examples, we can see that homonyms are often employed to create puns for desired effect of humor or irony for stylistic purposes.6.3SynonymySynonymy is a term used in semantics to refer to a major type of sense relation between lexical items: lexical items which have the same meaning but differ in morphemic structure, phonological form and usage are synonyms, and the relationship between them is one of synonymy.1.Definition of synonymsSynonyms are words different in sound and spelling but most nearly alike or exactly the same in meaning.Synonyms share a likeness in denotation as well as part of speech, for a verb cannot have an adjective as its synonym.2. Types of synonyms1) Absolute synonymsAbsolute synonyms are words whose meaning is fully identical in any context so that one can always be substituted for the other without the slightest change in meaning.2) Relative synonymsSynonyms which denote different shades of meaning or different degrees of a given quality are called relative synonyms.3. Sources of synonyms1)BorrowingEnglish is particularly rich in synonyms for the historical reason that its vocabulary has come from two different sources, from Anglo-Saxon on the one hand and from French, Latin and Greek on the other. Since English is considered to be a Germanic language from a historical point of view, with Anglo-Saxon as an earlier stage of its development, the "Anglo-Saxon" words are often considered to be "native" while those from French, Latin or Greek are "foreign", "borrowed" from these languages. Examples of this kind can be divided into types:Doublets:Native Words Borrowed Wordsbrotherly fraternalbodily corporalhomely domestichouse mansionTriplets:Anglo-Saxon French Latinkingly royal regaltime age epochrise mount ascendfast firm secure2) Dialects and regional English3) Figurative and euphemistic use of words4) Coincidence with idiomatic expressions4. Discrimination of synonymsTo sum up, the differences between synonyms may boil down to three areas: denotation, connotation, and application.1)Difference in range and intensity of meaning2)Difference in stylistic features3)Difference in emotive coloring4)Difference in application6.4 Antonymy1. Types of AntonymsThe term "antonymy" is used for "oppositeness of meaning"; words that are in opposition are antonyms.1) Antonyms classified on the basis of the morphological structureTraditionally words that are opposite in meaning are classified into root (or absolute) antonyms and derivational antonyms. Root antonyms are words of different roots, e.g. clear - vague, large - small, happiness - sadness, up - down, etc. Derivational antonyms are words of the same roots with negative affixes (mostly prefixes) added to them, e. g. pleasant - unpleasant, polite - impolite, honest - dishonest, pre-war - post-war, useful - useless, hopeful - hopeless, etc.2) Antonyms classified on the basis of semantic contrastA. ContrariesContraries (or contrary terms) show a type of oppositeness of meaning, illustrated by such pairs as wide/narrow, old/young, big/ small, etc. They can be seen in terms of degrees of the quality involved. Thus a road may be wide or very wide and one road may be wider than another. This shows that the semantic polarity in contraries is relative and the opposition is gradual.Sapir handled contrary terms in terms of gradability. This means that contraries can be placed at both extremes of a scale, between which there may be gradable lexical items. For example, between the antonymic pair beautiful - ugly, there may be such gradable adjectives as pretty - good-looking - plain. One may also grade the intensity of feeling as in love - attachment - liking - indifference - antipathy - hate. It can be seen from above that contraries always imply comparison with some norm. Contraries are also known as graded antonyms.B. ComplementariesComplementaries (or complementary terms) represent a type of binary semantic contrast which admits of no gradability between the items, e. g. male/female, boy/girl, single/married, etc. Male is said to be "the complementary of" female, and vice versa. In such a relationship, the assertion of one of the items implies the denial of the other.C. ConversivesConversives (or converse terms) display a type of oppositeness of meaning,illustrated by such as buy - sell, give - receive, parent - child, debtor - creditor, above - below, etc. Buy is said to be "the converse of" sell and vice versa: If A sells a watch to B, B buys a watch from A. The same applies to the pair above - below: If A is above B, B is below A. In such a relationship, found especially in the definition of reciprocal social roles, spatial relationship and so on, there is an interdependence of meaning, such that one member of the pair presupposes the other member. In this respect, "converseness" contrasts with complementarity, where there is no such symmetry of dependence.2. Some of the Characteristics of Antonyms1)Words which are polysemantic can have more than one antonym.2)Antonyms differ in semantic inclusion. Pairs of antonyms are seen asunmarked and marked terms respectively, on the grounds that one member is more specific than the other and the meaning of the marked term is found in that of the unmarked.3)The markedness is also applied to adjectives such as tall--short, old-youngwhere the second term is more restricted in distribution than the first.3. The Use of Antonyms1)Antonym have various practical uses and have long proved helpful andvaluable in defining the meanings of a given word.2)Antonyms are useful in enabling us to express economically the opposite of aparticular thought, often for the sake of contrast.3)Antonyms are often used to form antithesis to achieve emphasis by puttingcontrasting ideas together.6.5HyponymyLexical items which have the same phonological or spelling form, but differ in meaning are called homonyms. Such a linguistic phenomenon, i.e. identity of form and diversity of meaning is referred to as homonymy.1. HomographsWords that have the same spelling, but differ in sound and meaning are called homographs, e.g. bow/bau/v. (bend the head or body in respect) - bow/bau/n. (a device for shooting arrows); lead/li:d/v. (guide or direct) - lead/led/n. (a heavy, soft, malleable, bluish-gray chemical element); wind/waind/v. (turn or make revolve) - wind/wind/n. (air in motion); sewer/'sjua/n. (a pipe or drain, usually underground, used to carry off water and waste matter) - sewer/'saua/n. (a person or thing that sews.)2. HomophonesWords that have the same phonological form, but differ in spelling and meaning are called homophones, e.g. air - heir, sea - see, ore - oar, cent - scent.3. Full homonymsWords that are identical in sound and spelling but different in meaning are called full (or perfect) homonyms, e.g. ball n. (a round object used in games) - ball n. (a gathering of people for dancing); match n. (a short thin stick, usually of wood, with a head covered by chemicals) - match n. (a game or sports event).6.6 Semantic FieldSemantic field is concerned with the vocabulary of a language as a system ofinterrelated lexical networks. Trier saw vocabulary as ‘an integrated system of lexemes interrelated in sense.’Chapter 7 Changes in Word Meaning7.1 Types of Change1. Extension of Meaning (Generalization of Meaning)The word "generalization" is a term of Latin origin referring to the stretching of meaning. Most words begin as specific names for things. With the passage of time, this precise denotation is lost and the word's meaning is extended, generalized, or blurred.E.g. Manuscript: (original) handwriting( writing by hand only); (present) any author’s writing whether written by hand or typed with a type-writer or a word-processor.A large proportion of polysemic words of modern English have their meanings extended sometime in the course of development. Some words are generalized to such a degree that they can mean almost everything."Thing" once meant "a political or judicial assembly". Any case, matter, or cause brought before the Thing came to be referred to as a thing; and eventually this meaning of "matter" was extended to cover any "affair" or "business, whether before a court or not. Next the meaning was still further widened to cover "anything done", or "whatever is to be done". From that it was generalized to mean "anything that exists or can be thought about". We now use "thing" as a highly generalized word-of-all-work to apply to whatever we cannot label with a more specific term.2. Narrowing of Meaning"Specialization" is also a term of Latin origin referring to "shrinking of meaning". When a word is equally applicable to a number of different objects which resemble each other in some respects, or to a vague or general category of ideas, it may at any moment become specialized by being used to name one of those objects or to express one of those ideas.1) When a common word is turned into a proper noun, the meaning is narrowed accordingly.2) For economy, some phrases are shortened and only one element of the original, usually an adjective, is left to retain the meaning of the whole. Such adjectives have thus taken on specialized meanings.3) Some material nouns are used to refer to objects made of them and thus have a more specific sense.3. Elevation of MeaningWhen the meaning narrows toward a more favorable meaning, it is called elevation or amelioration. It is the process by which words rise from humble beginnings to positions of importance. Some words early in their history signify something quite low or humble, but change as time goes by to designate something agreeable or pleasant.Marshal: a keeper of horses --- a high ranking army officerConstable: a keeper of horses --- a policeman4. Degradation of MeaningWhen the meaning of a word narrows toward an unfavorable meaning it is called degeneration or pejorative change. It is a process whereby words of good origin or affective neutrality fall into ill reputation or come to be used in a derogatory sense. 5. Transference of MeaningSome words which were used to designate one thing but later changed to mean something else have experienced the process of semantic transfer, known as transference or transfer of meaning.Types of transference: associated transfer; transfer between abstract and concrete meanings; transfer between subjective and objective meanings; synesthesia.6. Euphemism 委婉语When people use euphemisms there is a semantic change involved as the expressions used often have little to do with the referents. Euphemistic terms are found used in every aspect of society.Restroom, bathroom, lounge, John, convenience, comforts room and powder room are all euphemistic terms for “toilet” which itself is a euphemistic term.7.3 Causes of Change1. Extra-linguistic factors: historical reason; class reason; psychological reason1) Historical reasonA word is retained for a name though the meaning has changed because the referent has changed. (e.g. pen )2) Class reasonnguage records the speech and attitude of different social classes, sodifferent social varieties of language have come into being.b.The attitude of classes have made inroads into lexical meaning, particularly inthe case of elevation and degradation.c.Quite a number of words that denote different sorts of working people or theiroccupations have deteriorated and now have taken on a pejorative sense.3) Psychological reasona.The associated transfer of meaning and euphemistic use of words, etc. areoften due to psychological factors.b.People change word meaning owing to various psychological motives: love,respect, courtesy, suspicious, pessimism, sarcasm, irony, contempt, hatred, etc.c.The fact that some low, humble and despised occupations often take on moreappealing names is all due to psychological reasons.d.Religious influence is another kind of psychological need.2. Linguistic factors1) One type of such change occurs when a phrase is shortened to one word which retains the meaning of the whole.2) The influx of borrowings has caused some words to change in meaning.3) The change of meaning is brought about by analogy.。