胡壮麟语言学教程课件Part5

语言学教程胡壮麟（第四版）第5章Chapter 5 Meaning第一部分Meanings of “meaning”一、The Study of Meaning：1. Meaning:refers to what a language expresses about the world we live in or any possible or imaginary world.2. Connotation: opposite to denotation, means the properties of the entity a word denotes. For example, the connotation of human is "biped", "featherless", and "rational", etc.3. Denotation: involves the relationship between a linguistic unit and the non-linguistic entity it refers to. So it is equivalent to referential meaning. For example, the denotation of human is any person such as John and Mary.二、Seven types of meaning (Recognized by Leech) 三大类七种论述1.Conceptual meaning:Logical, cognitive, or denotative content of language. It is the essential part of language and similar to literal meaning.E.g. What's this? It's a … (desk, boy, dog…). When you answer this question, you are expressing the conceptual meaning of language.Associative meaning: same in conceptual meaning but different in implication.2.Connotative meaning:What is communicated by virtue of what language refers to.E.g. “mother” implies love, “blue” implies depressed.3.Social meaning:What is communicated of the social circumstances of language use. It mainly involves dialect and status.E.g. Different style of words like horse and pony imply different social circumstances of language use.4.Affective meaning:What is communicated of the feelings and attitudes of the speaker/ writer. It involves the choice of commendatory or derogatory meanings of words.E.g. The difference between statesman and politician is connotative because the former is commendatory and the latter is derogatory .5.Reflected meaning:What is communicated through association with another sense of the same expression.E.g. Click the mouse twice. (Mouse may remind you of either the part of a computer or a kind of animal who is clicked twice by Tom in the cartoon Tom and Jerry.)6.Collocative meaning:What is communicated through association with words which tend to occur in the environment of another word.E.g. Different meanings of paper are expressed in its collocation with "exam, white and daily"7.Thematic meaning:What is communicated by the way in which the message is organized in terms of order and emphasis.E.g. I hit a dog. A dog was hit by me.1第二部分Referential theory1.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 theory. We explain the meaning of a word by pointing to thething it refers to.E.g. proper nouns and definite noun phrases.Problem with this theory: the meaning of desk:When we explain the meaning of desk by pointing to the t hing it refers to, we don’t 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.2.Semantic triangle:A th eory which employs the notion “concept”. Ogden and Richards presented the classic “Semantic Triangle”. They argue that the relation between a word and a thing it refers to is not direct. It is mediated by the concept. In a diagram form, the relation can be showed as follows:conceptword thingAnd 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 concept.3.Sense and referenceSense and reference are two sides of meaning. Although they are different, they are closely to each other.1. 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. Sense refers to the main features, the defining properties an entity has.2. 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.E.g. The sense of desk: a piece of furniture with a flap top andfour legs, at which one reads and writes. Sense is equivalent to concept. The concept of desk may also be called the sense of desk. The concrete entities a particular desk in the world is reference.3. The distinction between sense and reference:① It is comparable 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.① Every word has a sense, or we will not be able to use it or understand it. But not every word has a reference. Grammatical words like but, if, and don’t refer to anything. Words like God, ghost, and dragon refer to imaginary things, which don’t exist in reality. Abs tract words like love don’t have a concrete entities in the world.① Words are in different sense relations with each other. Sense may be defined as the semantic relations between one word and another, or more generally between one linguistic unit and another. In contrast, reference is concerned with the relation between a word and the thing it refers to, or more generally between a linguistic unit and a non-linguistic entity it refers to.第三部分sense RelationsThere are three kinds of sense relations, namely, sameness relation, oppositeness relation and inclusiveness relation.1. Synonymy 同义关系Synonymy is the technical name for the sameness relation. Synonymy refers to the sameness or close similarity of meaning.e.g. buy and purchase. Synonym refers to the words that are closed in meaning.But total synonymy is rare. It can be divided into two sub-types: absolute synonymy (they are identical in meaning.) andrelative synonymy (they are similar in meaning.).The so-called synonymy are all context dependent. E.g.Little Tom ____ a toy bear. (buy/ purchase)1) dialectal synonyms: synonyms used in different regional dialects.There are dialectal differences.E.g. Autumn is British while fall is America.2) stylistic synonyms: they may differ in style.E. g. kid, child, offspring; start, begin, commence.3) synonyms that differ in their emotive or evaluative meaning.E. g. thrifty-economical-stingy4)collocational synonyms:E. g. accuse…of, charge…with.5) semantic synonyms:E. g. amaze, surprise.2. Antonymy 反义关系Antonymy is the name for oppositeness relation. There are three sub-types: gradable, complementary, and converse antonymy.1) Gradable antonymyGradable antonymy is the commonest type of antonymy. There are often intermediate forms between the two members of a pair. They are mainly adjectives, e.g. good / bad, big / small, etc. They have three characteristics:First, they are gradable. That is, the members of a pair differ in terms of degree. E.g. big, medium, small.Second, antonymy of this kind are graded against different norms. E.g. big dog, small dog; big cat, small cat.Third, one member of a pair, usually the term for the higher degree, serves as the cover term. E.g. old covers young, highcovers low.2) Complementary antonymyThe members of a pair in complementary antonymy are complementary to each other. Not only the assertion of one means the denial of the other, the denial of one also means the assertion of the other.E.g. alive / dead, boy / girl, etc.There is no intermediate forms between the two. The adjectives of this kind can’t be modified by very, and they don’t have comparative or superlative degrees either. The norm in this type is absolute, and there is no cover term for the two members of a pair.3) Converse antonymyConverse antonyms are also called relational opposites. This is a special type of antonymy, because the members of a pair don’t constitute a positive-negative opposition. They show the reversal of a relationship between two entities, e.g. buy / sell. The comparative degrees like bigger: smaller, longer: shorter.3. Hyponymy 上下义关系The sense relation between a more general, more inclusive word and a more specific word. Inclusiveness意义内包关系: Superordinate: the word which is more general in meaning.Hyponyms: the word which is more specific in meaning.Co-hyponyms: hyponyms of the same superordinate.Hyponymy involves us in the notion of meaning inclusion. It is a matter of class membership. That is, when x is a kind of y, the lower term x is the hyponym, and the upper term y is the superordinate. E.g. under flower, there are peony, tulip, violet, rose, etc., flower is the superordinate of rose, peony, etc., peony is the hyponym of flower, and peony, tulip, violet, rose, etc. areco-hyponyms.4. Polysemy 多义现象Polysemy means the same one word may have more than one meaning. A word having more than one meaning is called a polysemic word. Historically polysemy can be understood as the growth and development or change in the meaning of words.E.g. “table” may mean a piece of furniture, all the people seated at a table, or the food that is put on a table, etc.5. Homonymy 同音异义Homonymy means different in meaning but either identical both in sound and spelling or identical only in sound or spelling. There are three kinds of homonyms:①Full hom onyms: words identical both in sound and spelling, but different in meaning.E.g. bear (n. a kind of animal), bear(v. to give birth to a baby)②Homophones: words identical only in sound but different in spelling and meaning.E.g. dear (a loved person), deer (a kind of animal)③Homographs: words identical only in spelling but different in sound and meaning.E.g. tear (n.), tear (v.)6. Sense relations between sentences 句子之间的涵义关系1) X is synonymous with Y X与Y同义X: The boy killed the cat.Y: The cat was killed by the boy.If X is true, Y is true; if X is false, Y is false.2) X is inconsistent with Y X与Y不一致X: He is single.Y: He has a wife.If X is true, Y is false; if X is false, Y is true.3) X entails Y X 蕴含在Y里X: Marry has been to Beijing.Y: Marry has been to China.Entailment is a relation of inclusion. If X entails Y, then the meaning of X is included in Y.If X is true, Y is necessarily true; if X is false, Y may be false.4) X presupposes Y X预设YX: His bike needs repairing.Y: He has a bike.If X is true, Y must be true; If X is false, Y is still true.5) X is a contradiction X是矛盾的* My unmarried sister is married to a bachelor.6) X is semantically anomalous X是异常的* The man is pregnant.第四部分Componential analysisSemantic components: the meaning of a word is not an unanalysable whole. It is a way to analyze lexical meaning. The approach is based on the belief that the meaning of a word can be dissected into meaning components, called semantic features.It may be seen as a complex of different semantic features. There are semantic units smaller than the meaning of a word. For example, the meaning of the word boy may be analysed into three components: HUMAN, YOUNG and MALE.优：①By showing the semantic components of a word in this way, we may better account for sense relations. Two words, or two expressions, which have the same semantic components will be synonymous with each other. For example, bachelor and unmarried man.②And these semantic components will also explain sense relations between sentences.弊：①O ne difficulty is that many words are polysemous. They have more than one meaning, consequently they will have different sets of semantic components.②Some semantic components are seen as binary taxonomies.③There may be words whose semantic components are difficult to ascertain.第五部分Sentence meaning一、Sentence meaning 句子意义The meaning of a sentence is obviously related to the meanings of the words used in it, but it is also obvious that the sentence meaning is not simply the sum total of the words. Sentences using the same words may mean quite differently if they are arranged in different orders. E.g.The man chased the dog. (人追狗。

Chapter OneInvitations to Linguistics1.1 Why Study Language⏹Language⏹Features⏹Function⏹Language learning⏹first language leaning⏹second language learning1.2 What Is Language⏹Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.⏹System: elements in language are arranged according to certain rules.⏹Arbitrary: There is no intrinsic connection between the word and its meaning.⏹Symbolic nature of language: words are associated with objects, actions, ideas by convention.1.3 Design Features of Language⏹Design features are features that define our human language.⏹Design Features of Language(1)⏹Arbitrariness: the fact that the forms of linguistic signs bear no natural relationship to their meaning.⏹arbitrariness at different levels of a language⏹1) arbitrary relationship between the sound of a morpheme and its meaning⏹2) arbitrariness at the syntactic levelapples, pears and bananas⏹pears, apples and bananasb) He came in and sat down.⏹He sat down and came in.⏹He sat down after he came in.⏹c) She got married and had a baby.⏹She had a baby and got married.⏹d) 屡战屡败⏹屡败屡战⏹3) arbitrariness and convention⏹arbitrariness⏹→ language creative⏹convention⏹→ learnabili ty;⏹→ learning a language laborious1.3 Design Features of Language(2)⏹Duality: the property of having two levels of structures⏹1) sound— secondary units⏹2) meaning — primary units1.3 Design Features of Language(3)⏹Creativity(productivity): Users can understand and produce sentences they have never heard before.⏹1) Words can be used in new ways to mean new things.⏹mouse bridge⏹2) Its potential to create endless sentences by recursiveness （递归性）⏹e.g. a. Smith believes that the earth is flat⏹ b. Brown believes that Smith believes that the earth is flat⏹ c. Smith believes that Brown believes that Smith believes that the earth is flat⏹ d. Brown believes Smith believes that Brown believes that Smith believes that the earth is flat⏹山里有座庙，庙里有个和尚，老和尚在念经，念的什么经：山里有座庙，庙里有个和尚，老和尚在念经，念的什么经：山里有座庙，庙里有个和尚，老和尚在念经，念的什么经……1.3 Design Features of Language(4)⏹Displacement means that human languages enable their users to symbolize objects, events and concepts which arenot present (in time or space) at the moment of communication.1.3 Design Features of Language(5)⏹Cultural transmission: language is passed on through teaching and learning, rather than by instinct.1.4 Origin of Language⏹The bow-wow theory汪汪理论: imitate the sounds of the animals. onomatopoeic⏹The pooh-pooh theory噗噗理论: instinctive sounds of pain, anger and joy. interjection⏹The yo-he-ho theory哟嗬哟理论: rhythmic grunts produced when working . chantsOrigin of Language⏹The divine-origin theory⏹“So he (God) took some soil from the ground and formed all the animals and all the birds. Then he brought them to the man to see what he would name them, and that is how they got their names. So the man named all the birds and the animals,…”（Genesis，Chapter11：6）⏹The invention theory⏹ a. imitative b. cries of nature⏹ c. grunts of men working together⏹The evolution theory1.5 Functions of Language(1)⏹Jakobson⏹"Linguistics and Poetics: Closing Statement"⏹All acts of communication, be they written or oral, are contingent on six constituent elements: context, message, addresser, addressee, contact and code⏹Each of the constituent elements of the communicative act has a corresponding function; thus:⏹referential，poetic，emotive，phatic, conative and metalingual⏹context⏹REFERENTIAL⏹Addresser message addressee⏹EMOTIVE POETIC CONA TIVE⏹contact⏹PHA TIC⏹code⏹METALINGUAL⏹Referential : to convey message and information⏹Emotive: to express attitudes, feelings and emotions⏹Poetic: to indulge in language for its own sake⏹Conative: to persuade and influence others through commands and requests⏹Phatic: to establish communion with others⏹Metalingual: to clear up intentions and meanings1.5 Functions of Language(2)⏹Halliday: three metafunctions of language:⏹1) ide ational function is to organize the speaker’s or the writer’s experience of the real or imaginary world, i. e. language refers to real or imagined persons,things actions,events,states,etc.达意功能指组织说话者或作者现实或虚构世界的体验，即语言指称实际或虚构的人、物、动作、事件、状态等。

Chapter 5 Meaning5.1 Meanings of “meaning”1. Meaning: Meaning refers to what a language expresses about the world welive in or any possible or imaginary world.2. Connotation: The additional meaning that a word or phrase has beyond itscentral meaning.3. Denotation: That part of the meanings of a word or phrase that relates itto phenomena in the real world or in a fictional or possible word.4. Different types of meaning (Recognized by Leech, 1974)(1) Conceptual meaning: Logical, cognitive, or denotative content.(2) Associative meaninga. Connotative meaning: What is communicated by virtue of whatlanguage refers to.b. Social meaning: What is communicated of the social circumstancesof language use.c. Affective meaning: What is communicated of the feelings andattitudes of the speaker / writer.d. Reflected meaning: What is communicated through association withanother sense of the same expression.e. Collocative meaning: What is communicated through association withwords which tend to occur in the environment of another word.(3) Thematic meaning: What is communicated by the way in which the messageis organized in terms of order and emphasis.5. The difference between meaning, concept, connotation, and denotationMeaning refers to the association of language symbols with the real world.There are many types of meaning according to different approaches.Concept is the impression of objects in people’s mind.Connotation is the implied meaning, similar to implication.Denotation, like sense, is not directly related with objects, but makes the abstract assumption of the real world.5.2 The referential theory1. The referential theory: The theory of meaning which relates the meaningof a word to the thing it refers to, or stands for, is known as thereferential theory.2. The semantic triangle theoryOgden and Richards presented the classic “Semantic Triangle”as manifested in the following diagram, in which the “symbol”refers to the linguist elements (word, sentence, etc.), the “referent” refers to the object in the world of experience, and the “thought”or “reference”refers to concept or notion. Thusthe symbol of a word signifies “things” by virtue of the “concept,”associated with the form of the word in the mind of the speaker of the language. The concept thus considered is the meaning of the word. The connection (represented witha dotted line) between symbol and referent is made possible only through“concept.”Concept / notionThought / reference----------------------Symbol objectWord stands for realitySignifier referentCode signified5.3 Sense relations5.3.1 SynonymySynonymy is the technical name for the sameness relation.5.3.2 AntonymyAntonymy is the name for oppositeness relation. There are three subtypes: gradable, complementary and converse antonymy.1. Gradable antonymyGradable antonymy is the commonest type of antonymy. They are mainly adjectives, e.g. good / bad, long / short, big / small, etc.2. Complementary antonymyThe members of a pair in complementary antonymy are complementary to each other. That is, they divide up the whole of a semantic filed completely.Not only the assertion of one means the denial of the other, the denialof one also means the assertion of the other, e.g. alive / dead, hit / miss,male / female, boy / girl, etc.3. Converse antonymyConverse antonyms are also called relational opposites. This is a special type of antonymy in that the members of a pair do not constitutea positive-negative opposition. They show the reversal of a relationshipbetween two entities, e.g. buy / sell, parent / child, above / below,etc.5.3.3 HyponymyHyponymy involves us in the notion of meaning inclusion. It is a matter of class membership. That is to say, when x is a kind of y, thelower term x is the hyponym, and the upper term y is the superordinate.Two or more hyponyms of the same one superordinate are calledco-hyponyms, e.g. under flower, there are peony, jasmine, tulip, violet,rose, etc., flower is the superordinate of peony, jasmine,etc., peonyis the hyponym of flower,and peony, jasmine, tulip, violet, rose, etc.are co-hyponyms.5.4 Componential analysisComponential analysis defines the meaning of a lexical element in terms of semantic components. That is, the meaning of a word is not an unanalyzable whole. It may be seen as a complex of different semantic features. There are semantic units smaller than the meaning of a word. E.g.Boy: [+human][-adult][+male]Girl: [+human][-adult][-male]Son: child (x, y) & male (x)Daughter: child (x, y) & -male (x)Take: cause (x, (have (x, y)))Give: cause (x, (-have (x, y)))5.5 Sentence meaning5.5.1 An integrated theory1. Compositionality: A principle for sentence analysis, in which themeaning of a sentence depends on the meanings of the constituentwords and the way they are combine.2. Selection restrictions: Restrictions on the choice of individuallexical units in construction with other units. E.g. the wordbreathe will typically select an animate subject (boy, man, woman,etc.) not an abstract or an inanimate (table, book, etc.). The boywas still breathing. The desk was breathing.5.5.2 Logical semantics1. Prepositional logic / prepositional calculus / sentential calculus:Prepositional logic is the study of the truth conditions forpropositions: how the truth of a composite proposition isdetermined by the truth value of its constituent propositions andthe connections between them.2. Predicate logic / predicate calculus: Predicate logic studies theinternal structure of simple propositions.。