1,Chapter Five Semantics,2,Teaching Focus,1. What is semantics? 2. Meanings of “meaning” 3. Sense and reference 4. Sense relations 5. Componential analysis - a way to analyze lexical meaning 6. Predication analysis - a way to analyze sentence meaning,3,1. What is semantics?,Semantics is the study of meaning in language. Or specifically, it is the study of the meaning of linguistic units, words and sentences in particular.,4,Different focus of the study in semantics: Logical semantics/philosophical semantics: Logicians and philosophers have tended to concentrate on a restricted range of sentences (typically, statements, or propositions) within a single language. Linguistic semantics: The linguistic approach is broader in scope, aiming to study the properties of meaning in a systematic and objective way, with reference to as wide a range of utterances and languages as possible.,5,2. Meanings of “Meaning”,The word “meaning” has different meanings. It has been studied for thousands of years by philosophers, logicians and linguists. The naming theory: Plato & Aristotle Words are just names or labels for things. Can you show the limitations of this theory?,6,The semantic triangle: C. K. Ogden & I. A. Richards (1923) The Meaning of Meaning. 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. thought/reference (concept) symbolizes refers to symbol/form referent (word, phrase) stands for (object),7,Geoffrey Leech (1974, 1981). Semantics: The Study of Meaning. Seven types of meaning: Conceptual meaning Connotative meaning Social meaning Affective meaning Reflected meaning Collocative meaning Thematic meaning,Associative meaning,8,(1) Conceptual meaning,It makes the central part of meaning. Refers to logical, cognitive or denotative content. Concerned with the relationship between a word and the thing it denotes, or refers to.,9,(2) Connotative meaning,The communicative value an expression has by virtue of what it refers to, over and above its purely conceptual content. A multitude of additional, non-criterial properties, including not only physical characteristics but also psychological and social properties, as well as typical features.,10,Involving the real world experience one associates with an expression when one uses or hears it. Unstable: they vary considerably according to culture, historical period, and the experience of the individual. Any characteristic of the referent, identified subjectively or objectively, may contribute to the connotative meaning of the expression which denotes it.,11,(3) Social meaning,What a piece of language conveys about the social circumstances of its use. Dialect: the language of a geographical region or of a social class. Time: the language of the 18th c., etc. Province: language of law, of science, of advertising, etc. Status: polite, colloquial, slang, etc. Modality: language of memoranda, lectures, jokes, etc. Singularity: the style of Dickens, etc.,12,domicile: very formal, official residence: formal abode: poetic home: general steed: poetic horse: general nag: slang gee-gee: baby language,13,(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. Youre a vicious tyrant and a villainous reprobate, and I hate you for it! Im terribly sorry to interrupt, but I wonder if you would be so kind as to lower your voices a little. or Will you belt up.,14,(5) Reflected meaning,Arises in cases of multiple conceptual meaning, when one sense of a word forms part of our response to another sense. When you hear click the mouse twice, you think of Gerry being hit twice by Tom so you feel excited. Many taboo terms are result of this.,15,(6) Collocative meaning,The associations a word acquires on account of the meanings of words which tend to occur in its environment. pretty: girl, boy, woman, flower, garden, colour, village, etc. handsome: boy, man, car, vessel, overcoat, airliner, typewriter, etc.,16,(7) Thematic meaning,What is communicated by the way in which a speaker or writer organizes the message, in terms of ordering, focus, and emphasis. Mrs Bessie Smith donated the first prize. The first prize was donated by Mrs Bessie Smith. They stopped at the end of the corridor. At the end of the corridor, they stopped.,17,3. Sense and reference,Sense and reference are two terms often encountered in the study of word meaning. They are two related but different aspects of meaning. 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. It is the aspect of meaning dictionary compilers are interested in.,18,Reference means what a linguistic form refers to in the real, physical world; it deals with the relations