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Chapter 5 Semantics1. (1) Naming theory proposed by the ancient Greek scholar Plato. According to this theory, thelinguistic forms or symbols, in other words, the words used in a language are simply labels of the objects they stand for. So words are just names or labels for things.(2) A more sophisticated and seemingly more plausible view than naming theory is one thatrelates words and things through the mediation of concepts of the mind. This conceptualist view has been held by some philosophers and linguists from ancient times. This view holds that there is no direct link between a linguistic form and what it refers to (i. e., between language and the real world); rather, in the interpretation of meaning they are linked through the mediation of concepts in the mind.(3) During the period roughly from 1930 to 1960, linguists gave pre-eminence to the empiricalor observable aspect instead of the theoretical aspect in their scientific investigation of meaning. This tendency manifested itself in an attempt to base meaning on context. It has attracted those linguists who have been working toward the ideal of scientific objectivity.They hold that meaning should be studied in terms of situation, use, context –– elements closely linked with language behaviour.(4) The contextualist view was further strengthened by Bloomfield, who drew on behavioristpsychology when trying to define the meaning of linguistic forms. Behaviorists attempted to define the meaning of a language form as the “situation in which t he speaker utters it and the response it calls forth in the hearer.” (Bloomfield, 1933) This theory, somewhat close to contextualism, is linked with psychological interest.2. The major types of synonyms are dialectal synonyms, stylistic synonyms, emotive or evaluativesynonyms, collocational synonyms, and semantically different synonyms.3. (1) Homonymy refers to the phenomenon that words having different meanings have the sameform, i.e., different words are identical in sound or spelling, or in both.When two words are identical in sound, they are homophones.When two words are identical in spelling, they are homographs.When two words are identical in both sound and spelling, they are complete homonyms.Below are examples of each kind:Homophones: rain/reign night/knight piece/peace leak/ leekHomographs: bow v./bow n. tear v./tear n, lead v./lead n.Complete homonyms: fast a./fast v. scale n./scale v.(2) While different words may have the same or similar meaning, the same one word may havemore than one meaning. This is what we call polysemy, and such a word is called a polysemic word. There are many polysemic words in English, The fact is the more commonly used a word is, the more likely it has acquired more than one meaning. Take the word “table” for example. It is a very common word in English. If we look it up in any dictionary, we will find that it has at least the following seven meanings:①a piece d furniture②all the people seated at a table③the food that is put on a table④a thin flat piece of stone, metal, wood, etc.⑤orderly arrangement of facts, figures, etc.⑥part of a machine-tool on which the work is put to be operated on⑦a level area, a plateau(3) Hyponymy refers to the sense relation between a more general, more inclusive word and amore specific word. The word which is more general in meaning is called the superordinate, and the more specific words are called its hyponyms. Hyponyms of the same superordinate are co-hyponyms to each other, e.g.Superordinate: flowerHyponyms: lose, tulip, carnation, lily, morning glory ...Superordinate: animalHyponyms: dog, cat, tiger, lion, wolf, elephant, fox, bear ...Superordinate: furnitureHyponyms: bed, table, desk, dresser, wardrobe, settee ...Hyponymy is a relation of inclusion; in terms of meaning, the superordinate includes all its hyponyms.4. They can be gradable antonyms, complementary antonyms and relational oppositeGradable antonyms: literate/illiterate wide /narrow poor/richComplementary antonyms: vacant/occupiedRelational opposite: north/south, doctor/patient, father/daughter, above/below5. “T om's wi fe is pregnant” presuppos es “To m has a wife.”“My sist er will soon be divorced” presuppos es “My sister is a marri ed woman.”“He likes seafood” is e ntailed by “He likes crabs.”“They are going to have another baby” presuppos es “They have a child.”6. They both base on the belief that the meaning of a word can be dissected into meaning components.7. Grammaticality refers to the grammatical well-formedness of a sentence. The violation of the selectional restrictions, i.e., constrains on what lexical items can go with what others, might make a grammatically meaningless.8. The man sells ice-cream.MAN, ICE-CREAM (SELL)Is the baby sleeping?BABY (SLEEP)It is snowing.(BE SNOW) 此句和It is hot. (BE HOT) 不同，It is snowing. 应写成(SNOW)。
Chapter 5 Morphology(形态学,词法学)5.1 what is morphology？什么是形态学？Morphology is one of subbranches of linguistics，and also a branch of grammar.形态学即使语言学的分支，也是语法的分支。
Morphology studies the internal structure of words，and the rules by which words are formed.形态学研究词的内部结构和构词规则。
可分为两个分支：inflectional morphology and lexical/derivational morphology屈折形态学和词汇或派生形态学5.2 morphemes (词素,语素)最简单的定义Morpheme is a minimal meaningful grammatical unit.语素是最小的有意义的语法单位。
Morphemes are the smallest meaningful units in the grammatical system of a language.语素是在语音的语法系统中最小的意义单位。
1 minimal: smallest,it can not further be divided.2 meaningful: can not be further divided without destroying its meaning3 grammatical: not only lexical morphemes like ,but also grammatical ones,5.3 Classification of morphemes 语素的分类Semantically：morphemes ：root morphemes and affixational morphemes根据语义，语素可分为词根和词缀Structurally：morphemes ：free morphemes and bound morphemes根据结构，语素可分为自由语素和粘着语素5.3.1 interrelations between free morphemes，bound morphemes，roots and affixes自由语素、粘着语素、词根和词缀的相互关系1）Free morphemes are those which can exist as individual words.eg.book，store.自由语素是那些独立存在的单词。
Chapter 5 Meaning1. Define the following terms1) conceptual meaning2) connotation3) sense4) synonymy5) antonymy6) semantic components2. What are the major semantics schools?3. What are the possible categories of synonyms?4. How do you understand semantic change?5. Explain antonyms in details.KEYS TO CHAPTER 51. Define the following terms1) Conceptual meaning is concerned with the relationship between a word and the thing it denotes, or refers to.2) Connotation is the properties of the entity a word denotes.3) Sense is the abstract properties of an entity.4) The sameness relation is called the sameness relation.5) Antonymy refers to the oppositeness relation.6) Semantic components are semantic units smaller than the meaning of a word.2. What are the major semantics schools?1) The naming theory: One of the oldest notions concerning meaning, and also a very primitive one, It was proposed by the ancient Greek scholar Plato. According to this theory, the linguistic forms or symbols used in a language are taken to be labels of the objects they stand for. So words are just names or labels for things.2) The conceptualist view: It holds that there is no direct link between a linguistic form and what it refers to. In the interpretation of meaning, they are linked through the mediation of concepts in the mind.3) Contextualism: It is based on the presumption(假定) that one can derive推导) meaning from or reduce meaning to observable可观测的) contexts. Two kinds of context are recognized: the situational context and the linguistic context .For example, the meaning of the word "seal" in the sentence "The seal could not be found" can only be determined ac-cording to the context in whichthe sentence occurs:4) BehaviorismThe contextualist view was further strengthened by Bloomfield. He drew on behaviorist psychology when he tried to define the meaning of linguistic forms. Behaviorists attempted to de-fine the meaning of a language form as " the situation in which the speaker utters it and the response it calls forth in the hearer". This behaviorist theory is somewhat close to contextualism. It is linked with psychological interest.3. What are the possible categories of synonyms?Synonymy can be divided into the following groups:Dialectal synonyms (地域性同义词): Dialectal synonyms are words which have more or less the same meaning and are used in different regional dialects such as petroleum in British English and gasoline in American English. Dialectal synonyms can also be found within British, or American English itself. For example, "girl" is called "lass" or "lassie" in Scottish dialect.Stylistic synonyms文体同义词): Stylistic synonyms are words which have the same meaning but differ in style, or degree of formality. Some of the stylistic synonyms tend to be more formal, others tend to be casual , and still others are neutral in style, for example, old man, daddy, dad, father, male parent.Synonyms that differ in their emotive or evaluative meaning :感性或评价方面不同的同义词They are words that have the same meaning but express different emotions of the user. The emotions of the user indicate the attitude or bias of the user toward what he is talking about, such as thrifty and miser.Collocational synonyms搭配上的区别的同义词): Some synonyms differ in their collocation. That is, they go together with different words, for example: accuse. . . of, charge. . . with, rebuke. .-for.Semantically different synonyms(语意上的差别): They refer to the synonyms that differ slightly in what they mean. For example, "amaze" and "astound" are very close in meaning to the word "surprise," but they have very subtle differences in meaning. While amaze suggests confusion and bewilderment, "astound" implies difficulty in believing.4. How do you understand semantic change?Semantic change refers to the change of meaning of a word. The major types of semantic change are as follows: (1) Semantic broadening refers to the process in which the meaning of a word becomes more general or inclusive than its historically earlier denotation. For example, the word “holiday” was originally used to mean a day of religious significance because it was a “holy day”. Today everyone enjoys a holiday, whether he or she is religious or not. (2) Semantic narrowing is the reverse process in which the meaning of a word becomes less general or inclusive than its historically earlier meaning. For example, the word “liquor” in contemporary English is an alcoholic drink, but it was once synonymous with “liquid”, be it alcoholi c or not. (3) Semantic shift refers to the process in which a word loses its former meaning and acquires a new, sometimes related meaning, e.g. the word “silly”. Quite surprisingly, a “silly” person was a happy person in Old English, and a naive person in Middle English, but a foolish person in Modern English.5. Explain antonyms in details.Antonymy refers to the oppositeness of meaning. Words that are opposite in meaning are called antonyms.1) Gradable antonyms渐进性关系反义: Some antonyms are gradable because there are often intermediate forms between the two members of a pair such as old/young, hot/cold.2) Complementary antonyms完全反义: a pair of complementary antonyms is characterized by the feature that the denial of one member of the pair implies the assertion of the other.3) Relational opposites相关对立反义: pairs of words that exhibit the reversal of a relationship between the two items.。
