SEMANTICS

SemanticsSemanticsSemantics is the study of the meaning of linguistic units, words and sentences in particular.Semantics = Theory of MeaningIts goal is to reveal how language are matched with their proper meanings by the speakers of that language.Lexical semantics—the study of word meanings. it deals not only with the meanings of individual words but also the relationship between the meanings of different words.Compositional semantics—is concerned exclusively with the meanings of phrases and sentences.History of Semantics1893 - French linguist Breal coined ―semantique‖.1897 – Breal first use it as the science of meaning.1900 – Its English version came out.1980s – semantics began to be introduced into China.One of the most famous books on semantics is The Meaning of Meaning(1923). Semantic Triangle 语义三角Concept（meaning）refers tosymbolizesSymbol Thing（word）（referent）stands forThe Referential Theory 指称论Concept (Meaning): the mental image, the abstraction or generalization of objects of the same kind.Referent (Thing): the physical entity or actual object, event, idea or whatever if denoted by a word, phrase or expression.Concept VS. Referent (Thing)A referent may exist in the physical world.The concept is abstracted from the referent and labeled by a word.Sense 语义Sense is the inherent meaning of the linguistic form independent of situational context.It’s abstract and de-contextualized.Sense RelationsSense relations between wordsWords are in different sense relations with each other.There are generally 5 kinds of sense relations:1) synonymy 同义2) antonymy 反义3) hyponymy 上下义4) polysemy 一词多义5) homonymy 同音同形异义1. SynonymyIt is the sameness or close similarity of meaning.Words that are close in meaning are called synonyms.2. AntonymyIt is the oppositeness of meaning.Words that are opposite in meaning are antonyms.Oppositeness can be found on different dimensions:Gradable antonymyComplementary antonymyConverse antonymy (relational opposites)Gradable antonymy 分级反义词good/ bad, long /short, narrow/ wideThe members of a pair differ in terms of degree. The denial of one is not necessarily the assertion of the other. There are often intermediate forms between them.Not good≠badHot ---warm---cool---coldComplementary antonymy 互补反义词alive/ dead, male/ female, present/ absent, pass/ fail , boy/ girlIt is characterized by the feature that the denial of one member of the pair implies the assertion of the other and the assertion of one means the denial of the other.Converse antonymy 换位反义词(relational opposites关系对立反义词)buy/ sell, lend/ borrow, before /after,teacher/ student, above /belowThe members of a pair do not constitute a positive-negative opposition. They show the reversal of a relationship between two entities.ExerciseClassify the following pairs of antonyms:Gradable antonymyComplementary antonymyConverse antonymymarried-single male-female hot-coldgive-take big-small awake-asleepnorth-south logical-illogical win-losebuy-sell doctor-patient above-below3. Hyponymy上下义关系It is the sense relation between two words in which the meaning of one word is included in the meaning of another word.HyponymyMusical instruments ---piano flute guitar violin tuba tromboneFish---snapper salmon bass sole troutSalmon---chinook spring coho king sockey4. PolysemyA word is polysemic if it has more than one meaning.Wood:family treea geographical area with many trees5. HomonymyWhen two or more words are the same in pronunciation or in spelling or in both but different in meaning, they are called homonyms.3 types of homonyms:perfect homonyms(同音同形异义词)homographs（同形异义词）homophones (同音异义词).Perfect homonymsPerfect homonyms are words which are the same in both pronunciation and spelling but different in meaning.bank (银行、河岸)bear (容忍、生（孩子）)sound (声音、完美的)HomographsHomographs are words which are the same in spelling, but different in pronunciation and meaning."bow" /bəʊ/ -----"弓―"bow" /bau/ -----"鞠躬"HomophonesHomophones are words which are the same in pronunciation, but different in spelling and meaning.tail / taleto / two / toopair / pearsee / seaI / eyepiece / peace。

chapter5semantics语言学语义学是对语言单位，尤其是词和句子意义的研究。

1.“意义”的意义G.Leech提出7种意义：概念意义，内涵意义，社会意义，感情意义，反射意义，搭配意义，主题意义。

G.Leech的概念意义包括两个方面：涵义和指称。

涵义和指称的区别类似内涵与外延：前者指一个实体的抽象属性，后者指拥有这些属性的具体实体。

每个单词都有涵义，即概念意义，否则他们无法使用或理解，但并非每个单词都有指称。

2.指称论（命名论）：该理论把词语意义与词所指或词所代表的事物联系起来。

该理论对于解释专有名词或在现实中有所指的名词时很有效。

但其无法指称抽象概念。

有时同一东西会有不同词语的表达。

3.概念论。

代表是语义三角说。

该理论认为，词和所指事物之间没有直接关系，而是以抽象的概念为中介。

4，语境论认为应该在具体语境中研究词的意义. 语境包括情景语境和上下文两种。

5.行为主义理论认为词的意义是说话者说话得情景及听话人的反应6.意义关系词语词之间的主要意义关系：相同关系，相反关系，包含关系a.同义关系。

完全同义关系很少，所谓的同一都依赖语境，并总在某方面不同。

（方言，内涵，文体等）b.反义关系主要包括：等级反义关系，互补反义关系，关系反义关系。

1）等级反义的特点：第一，否定一方并不必然是肯定另一方，还有中间状态；第二，没有绝对评判标准，标准随对象而改变。

第三，通常用其中表示较高程度的词来覆盖整个量级。

覆盖性词被称为“无标记的”，即一般性的；被覆盖词被称为“有标记的”，即特殊的。

一般使用覆盖性词语。

一旦使用被覆盖词语，表示有某种特殊的、不一般的情况。

第四，可用very修饰，可有比较级最高级2）互补反义关系，第一，肯定一方意味着否定另一方。

反之亦然。

第二，不用very修饰，没有比较级最高级。

第三，评判标准绝对。

没有覆盖性词语3）关系（反向）反义关系，表现两个实体间的一种反向关系，不构成肯否定对立。

一个预设着另一个的存在。

semantics知识点总结Semantics is the study of meaning in language. It is concerned with how words and sentences are interpreted, how meaning is assigned to linguistic expressions, and how meaning is inferred from language. In this summary, we will explore some key concepts and topics in semantics, including the following:1. Meaning and reference2. Sense and reference3. Truth-conditional semantics4. Lexical semantics5. Compositional semantics6. Pragmatics and semantics7. Ambiguity and vagueness8. Semantic changeMeaning and referenceMeaning is a fundamental concept in semantics. It refers to the content or interpretation that is associated with a linguistic expression. The study of meaning in linguistics is concerned with understanding how meaning is established and conveyed in language. Reference, on the other hand, is the relationship between a linguistic expression and the real world entities to which it refers. For example, the word "dog" refers to the concept of a four-legged animal that is commonly kept as a pet. The study of reference in semantics is concerned with understanding how words and sentences refer to objects and entities in the world.Sense and referenceThe distinction between sense and reference is an important concept in semantics. Sense refers to the meaning or concept associated with a linguistic expression, while reference refers to the real world entities to which a linguistic expression refers. For example, the words "morning star" and "evening star" have the same reference - the planet Venus - but different senses, as they are used to describe the planet at different times of the day. Frege, a prominent philosopher of language, introduced this important distinction in his work on semantics.Truth-conditional semanticsTruth-conditional semantics is an approach to semantics that seeks to understand meaning in terms of truth conditions. According to this view, the meaning of a sentence isdetermined by the conditions under which it would be true or false. For example, the meaning of the sentence "The cat is on the mat" is determined by the conditions under which this statement would be true - i.e. if there is a cat on the mat. Truth-conditional semantics has been influential in the development of formal semantics, and it provides a formal framework for analyzing meaning in natural language.Lexical semanticsLexical semantics is the study of meaning at the level of words and lexical items. It is concerned with understanding the meanings of individual words, as well as the relationships between words in a language. Lexical semantics examines how words are related to each other in terms of synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, and other semantic relationships. It also explores the different senses and meanings that a word can have, and how these meanings are related to each other. Lexical semantics plays a crucial role in understanding the meaning of sentences and discourse.Compositional semanticsCompositional semantics is the study of how the meanings of words and sentences are combined to create complex meanings. It seeks to understand how the meanings of individual words are combined in sentences to produce the overall meaning of a sentence or utterance. Compositional semantics is concerned with understanding the rules and principles that govern the composition of meaning in natural language. It also explores the relationship between syntax and semantics, and how the structure of sentences contributes to the interpretation of meaning.Pragmatics and semanticsPragmatics is the study of how language is used in context, and how meaning is influenced by the context of language use. Pragmatics is closely related to semantics, but it focuses on the use of language in communication, and how meaning is affected by factors such as the speaker's intentions, the hearer's inferences, and the context in which the language is used. While semantics is concerned with the literal meaning of linguistic expressions, pragmatics is concerned with the implied meaning that arises from the use of language in context.Ambiguity and vaguenessAmbiguity and vagueness are common phenomena in natural language, and they pose challenges for semantic analysis. Ambiguity refers to situations where a linguistic expression has multiple possible meanings, and it is unclear which meaning is intended. For example, the word "bank" can refer to a financial institution or the edge of a river. Vagueness, on the other hand, refers to situations where the boundaries of a linguistic expression are unclear or indistinct. For example, the word "tall" is vague because it is not always clear what height qualifies as "tall". Semantics seeks to understand how ambiguity and vagueness arise in language, and how they can be resolved or managed in communication.Semantic changeSemantic change refers to the process by which the meanings of words and linguistic expressions evolve over time. Over the course of history, languages undergo semantic change, as words acquire new meanings, lose old meanings, or change in their semantic associations. Semantic change can occur through processes such as metaphor, metonymy, broadening, narrowing, and generalization. Understanding semantic change is important for the study of historical linguistics and the diachronic analysis of language.ConclusionSemantics is a rich and complex area of study that plays a fundamental role in understanding the meaning of language. It encompasses a wide range of topics and concepts, and it has important implications for fields such as philosophy of language, cognitive science, and natural language processing. By exploring the key concepts and topics in semantics, we can gain valuable insights into how meaning is established and conveyed in language, and how we can analyze and understand the rich complexity of linguistic expressions.。

Chapter 5 Semantics 语义学、定义1. semantics 语义学：Semantics can be simply defined as the study of meaning in language. 语义学可以简单地定义为对意义的将研究。

二、知识点5.2 Different views of meaning 意义研究的不同观点521 The naming theory命名论(by 希腊Scholar Plato)The naming theory命名论：Words are just names or labels for thin gs词语只不过是其代表的事物的名字或标记。

Eg. desk—a piece of furniture with a flat top and four legs.The limitations of this theory 局限性：1. This theory seems applicable to nouns only这一理论看起来仅适用于名词(Some words are definitelynot lables of object：eg. jump, quickly, pretty, an d, i n,hearted, thi nk, hard, slowly …)2. There are nouns which denote things that do not exist in the real world： ghost,grago n, un icorn麒麟.有些名词是指世界中根本就不存在的事物。

3. Nouns that do not refer to physical object, but abstract notions such asjoy and impulse有些名词并不是指实物性的物体，而是指：joy, impulse 刺激，这样的抽象概念。

语义学一．语义学（Semantics）的定义：研究语言单位的意义，尤其是词语和句子的意义。

二．词汇意义（Lexical Meaning）：1）意义与指称（sense and reference）：意义与指称是语言研究中的两个术语，它们之间既相互联系，又相互区别。

意义（sense）是一系列抽象语义特征的集合，与语境无关，可以在字典中查到。

而指称（reference）是语言形式在现实物质世界中所指的事物；它涉及语言形式与非语言的现实世界之间的关系。

意义与指称是意义的两个相关但不同的方面，例如“morning star”和“evening star”的意义虽然不同，但其指称一样，都指代天空中的同一颗星星。

2）外延意义（denotative meaning）：指词语所指称的外部世界的事物、状态、抽象情感。

例如：dog(狗)的外延意义是指“一种四肢、有毛、会汪汪叫的哺乳动物”，这种意义在任何国家、任何时代都不会改变。

3）内涵意义（connotative meaning）：指源于语言使用者的个人经历、情感、评价、语境等外部因素的意义。

例如dragon一词，在汉语文化中象征着“高贵”、“权利”，但在某些英语国家文化中，其内涵意义则为“残暴”和“邪恶”。

三．意义关系（Sense Relationship）：1）同义关系（Synonymy）：方言同义词（Dialectal synonyms）：意义相同但方言有差异的词，例如：autumn（BrE）= fall（ArE）。

文体同义词（Stylistic synonyms）：意义相同但在文体上或者正式程度上有差别的词，例如：buy（较为随意）——purchase（较为正式）。

搭配同义词（Collocational synonyms）：指意义上相同，但是搭配不相同的词。

例如：provide和supply，provide sth. for sb.和supply sth. to sb.在情感或评价意义方面存在差异的同义词（Synonyms with different emotive or evaluative meaning）：意义相同，但在情感或评价意义方面存在差异的词，例如：politician （政客）含贬义色彩，statesmen（政治家）含褒义色彩。

Chapter 5 Meaning1. Semantics(语义学)Semantics is the study of meaning of the linguistic units, words and sentences in particular. (语义学是对语言单位，尤其是词和句子的意义的研究。

)2. Meanings of “meaning”1). Meaning:Meaning refers to what a language expresses about the world we live in or any possible or imaginary world.（意义是指语言所表达的关于现实世界或者想象中的世界的想法。

）2). Connotation: （内涵）Connotation means the properties of the entity a word denotes.(内涵指的是一个词所指称的实体的特征。

)3). Denotation: （外延）Denotation involves the relationship between a linguistic unit and the non-linguistic entity to which it refers. Thus it is equivalent to referential meaning. (外延涉及语言单位与非语言实体之间的关系。

在这个意义上，它跟指称意义是一样的。

)3. 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 ofthe real world.4. The referential theory1). DefinitionThe 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.(把词语意义跟它所指称或代表的事物联系起来的理论，叫做指称理论)2). The semantic triangle （语义三角）Ogden and Richards presented the classic “Semantic Triangle”as manifested in the following diagram。

Chapter 5 Semantics 语义学1.What is semantics？什么是语义学？Semantics can be simply defined as the study of meaning in language.语义学可定义为对语言意义的研究。

2.Some views concerning the study of meaning语义研究的几种主要理论1)The naming theory 命名论It was proposed by the ancient Greek scholar Plato. According to this theory, the linguistic forms or symbols, in other words, the words used in a language are taken to be labels of the objects they stand for. So words are just names or labels for things.命名论是最原始的语义理论，是古希腊学者柏拉图提出的。

该理论把词看作是该词所指事物的名称或标记。

2)The conceptualist view 意念论The conceptualist view holds that there is no direct link between a linguistic form and what it refers to; rather, in the interpretation of meaning they are linked through the mediation of concepts in the mind.意念论认为，语言形式及其所代表的对象之间（即语言与现实世界之间）没有直接联系；确切地说，在理解语义时，是通过大脑中存在意念这一中介物来联系的。