Chapter 5 Semantics

Objectives

1. To learn about conceptions of meaning

2. To learn about Componential Analysis and Semantic fields

3. To compare and contrast sense and reference

4. To study the sense relations between words and sentences

Definition of semantics It is the branch of linguistics and logic. The two

main areas are lexical semantics, concerned with the analysis of word meanings and relations between them, and logical semantics, concerned with matters such as sense and reference and presupposition and implication.

Part 1. Views on Meaning

1. Naming theory2. The conceptualist view 3. Contextualism4. Behaviorism

1. Naming Theory

Words are names or labels for things. Cratylus by Plato (427-347

BC)

Limitations: 1) Applicable to nouns only. 2) There are nouns which denote things that do not exist in the real world, e.g. ghost, dragon, unicorn, phoenix… 3) There are nouns that do not refer to physical objects but abstract notions, e.g. joy, impulse, hatred…

2. The Conceptualist View

There is no direct link between a linguistic form and what it refers to (i.e. between language and the real world);

Rather, the two are linked through the mediation of concepts in the mind.

Semantic Triangle

(thing)

In the Triangle,

Symbol is something painted, written or spoken we

use to represent another thing.

Referent (thing) so represented by the symbol is that

which is being referred to . It may be real or unreal.

The theory states that there is no direct connection of symbol and referent, but an indirect connection in our minds. For each word there is a related concept.

Question for discussion

Can concepts exist apart from the word?

Have you ever conceived ideas, images, or pictures that you find no words for? Real-world examples of concepts which came before the words that described or named them: hovercraft, Internet or where the symbols have changed, but not the concepts they refer to (radio for wireless, Hoover for vacuum cleaner, 电话 - 德律风 ). This suggests that the concept is independent of particular language symbols.

Tip:

3. Contextualism

One can derive meaning from or reduce meaning to observable contexts.

(J.R. Firth)

Two kinds of context are recognized:

A. Situational context: e.g. “The seal could not be found.”

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B. Linguistic context: e.g. black tea, black coffee, black sheep

According to the contextualist view, isolated language units (like words, phrases) are not entities (therefore, meaningless). What constitutes an entity (meaning) is the value of something ， and value comes from relations, which constitute a system. Therefore, language units become entities (are meaningful) only when they interact with one another in a system.

In the Chinese chess game, any chess piece can take the place of any other chess piece under the condition that both players have agreed to certain terms. This clearly demonstrates the importance of a system to meaning.

4. Behaviorism

Meaning is “the situation in which the speaker utters it and the response it calls forth in the hearer”.

(L. Bloomfield, 1933)

The contextualist view was further strengthened by Bloomfield, who drew on behaviorist psychology when he tried to define the meaning of linguistic forms. This theory is somewhat close to contextualism.

When food is presented, the dog will salivate. If every time Mr. Pavlov is paired with food, Mr. Pavlov will elicit response of salivation– now called a conditioned Response.

If a=a, no new message is conveyed; but if a=b, the equation has been imbued with the value of human knowledge (Gottlob Frege,1848-1925 )

The story of Jack and Jill

Suppose Jack and Jill are walking down the lane. Jill is hungry. She sees an apple in a tree. She makes a noise with her larynx, tongue and lips. Jack vaults the fence, climbs the tree, takes the apple, brings it to Jill, and places it in her hand. Jill eats the apple. (Bloomfield, 1933:22)

Jill’s hunger and her sight of an apple (S). Her request of Jack to bring it her (r) = Jack's hearing of her (s). His action of bringing her the apple (R).

Jill Jack

S_________r ……. s _________R

Limitations of Behaviorism

Bloomfield’s behaviorist model leads to obvious problems:

Jack doesn’t bring Jill the apple because of a quarrel years before, or he brings several apples and a glass of beer.

What is meaning?

What is the meaning of “desk”? (denotation)

I didn’t mean to hurt you. (intend)

Life without faith has no meaning. (value)

It was John I mean not Harry (refer to )

Seven different meanings

According to G. Leech (1981), there are at least

7 types of lexical meaning.

1. Denotative meaning

2. Connotative meaning

3. social meaning4. affective meaning5. reflected meaning

6.collocative meaning

7. thematic meaning

1. Denotative meaning

is the dictionary meaning, the most direct or specific meaning, the meaning that is given explicitly rather than by suggestion of a word or expression.

2. Connotative meaning is “the communicative value an expression has by

virtue of what it refers to” (Leech 1981: 12).

It embraces the properties of the referent and is, therefore, peripheral.

e.g. dog = loyalty

Connotative meaning is subject to culture and experience. 　

Social meaning (sometimes termed stylistic meaning) is what is conveyed about the social circumstances of the use of a linguistic expression, including regional or/and social overtones and formality.

e.g. 计程车（ Taiwan ） 令郎婚否？ (letter writing)

Affective meaning is what is communicated of the feeling or attitude of the speaker/writer toward what is referred to. Statesman is commending in sense while politician is derogatory.

Reflected meaning is what is communicated through association with another sense of the same expression. In order to avoid reflected meaning some expressions are deliberately replaced by others.

e.g.

Chicken thighs are labeled as drumsticks in Western supermarkets, and chicken breast is called white meat. Words that have a taboo meaning tend to be replaced. Cock is now substituted by rooster.

Collocative meaning is the associated meaning a word acquires in line with the meaning of words which tend to co-occur with it. Both pretty and handsome mean good-looking but they differ in collocative meaning. Pretty co-occurs with someone or something feminine: girl, woman, flower, skirt, etc. Handsome often collocates with someone or something masculine ： boy, man, car, overcoat.

Other examples: rancid bacon/butter; rotten egg; sour milk.

Thematic meaningis conveyed by different ways of organizing the information (order, means of emphasis, the position of focus).

e.g.

(1a) They stopped at the end of the road.

(1b) At the end of the road, they stopped.

(2a) My brother owns the largest book-shop in

London.

(2b) The largest book-shop in London belongs to my brother.

Awareness of the existence of these types of associative meaning is important in the correct use of words.

In writing and translation, knowledge of social meaning directly affects communication. Whether the writer/speaker means to be polite or rude, formal or informal, directly determines the choice of words. And the appropriate use of a word is based on the mastery of all types of meaning.

Important Message

Halliday defines “theme” as the element which serves as the point of departure of the message, and “rheme” as the remainder of the message, i.e., what the speaker states about.

What is theme and what is rheme?

Compare the two sentences below:

1. John sat in the front seat. Subject Predicate Adverbial

Theme Rheme

2. In the front seat sat John.

Adverbial Predicate Subject

Theme Rheme John is the grammatical subject in both

sentences, but theme in 1 and part of rheme in 2.

Part 2. Componential Analysis

--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.

Representations of semantic components Geoffrey Leech

Binary taxonomy +LIVE = alive ， -LIVE = dead

Multiple taxonomy *METAL = gold ， #METAL = silver@METAL = copper

Polarity ^SIZE = large ， vSIZE = small

Relation >PARENT = is the parent of<PARENT = is the child of

Hierarchy 1LENGTH = inch, 2LENGTH = foot3LENGTH = yard

Inverse opposition {POSSIBLE = possible }POSSIBLE = necessary

father =[+MALE >PARENT]

daughter = [-MALE <PARENT]

grandfather =[+MALE >PARENT>PARENT]

Man: [+HUMAN+ADULT+ANIMATE +MALE]

Boy: [+HUMAN -ADULT +ANIMATE +MALE]

Woman: [+HUMAN +ADULT +ANIMATE -

MALE]

Girl: [+HUMAN -ADULT +ANIMATE -MALE]

father = PARENT (x, y) & MALE (x)

mother = PARENT (x, y) & U MALE (x)

take = CAUSE (x , (HAVE (x, y )))

give = CAUSE (x , (― HAVE (x, y )))

NB: x is a parent of y, and x is male.

x causes x to have y.

Part 3. Semantic field

The semantic field of a word is the set of sememes (distinct meanings) expressed by the word. It is a term to refer to the phenomenon that vocabulary is an integrated system interrelated in sense and can be divided into semantically related sets or fields.

The semantic field of a given word shifts over time — For example, the English word “man” used to mean “human being” exclusively, while today it predominantly means “adult male”, but its semantic field still extends in some uses to the generic “human”.

Overlapping semantic fields are problematic, especially in translation. Polysemous words are often untranslatable, especially with all their connotations. Such words are frequently loaned instead of translated.

---Examples include “chivalry” (literally “horsemanship” but knightly virtues, honor and courtly love ), Bla-ma (ocean monk - the living incarnation of the bodhisattva of compassion-至高无上者或至尊导师 ).

Part 4. Sense and Reference

The reference of a word is the thing it refers to.

e.g.

“Give the guy sitting next to you a turn.” the guy refers to a specific person, i.e. the male one sitting next to you. This person is the phrase’s reference.

Cf. J.S. Mill: denotation

The sense is that part of the expression that helps us to determine the thing it refers to. In the example above, the sense is every piece of information that helps to determine that the expression is referring to the male human sitting next to you and not any other object. This includes any linguistic information as well as situational context, environmental details, and so on.

Cf. J.S. Mill: connotation

Two aspects of meaning:

Reference is the relation by which a word picks out or identifies an entity in the world. Some words are meaningful, but they identify no entities in the real world, e.g. dragon, phoenix, unicorn, mermaid, but, and, of, however, the, etc.

Cf. nonsense

Sense is the relation by which words stand in the human mind. It is a mental representation, the association with something in the speaker’s or hearer’s mind.

Linguistic forms having the same reference may differ in sense.

e.g.

1. Phosphorus is a body illuminated by the sun.

2. Hesperus is a body illuminated by the sun.

The morning star = The evening star?Ignorant people would attach a truth value to each of the terms. i.e. Only one sentence is true and the other must be false. Therefore ， the sense of the sentence cannot be the reference of the same sentence.

A: Somebody came across this word in a book and told Bertie about it, and Bertie told me about it. B: Who is Bertie? A: Russell.

Bertie

RussellR =

S = Closeness

s = ordinariness

Linguistic forms having the same sense may have different references in different situations.

e.g.1. I was once bitten by a dog. 2. Mind you. 3. There is a dog over there.

dog

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4.1 Sense Relations between Words

1. Synonymy

2. Antonymy

3. Polysemy

4. Homonymy

5. Hyponymy

1. Synonymy

--- refers to the sameness or close similarity of meaning. Words that are close in meaning are called synonyms, categorized as:

taxi—cab

petrol—gas dialectal synonyms

kid—child—offspring start—begin—commence

stylistic synonyms

rotten—rancid—sour collocational synonyms

2. Antonymy

--- refers to the relationship between a word having a meaning opposite to that of another word. Antonyms are divided into 3 categories:

a. Gradable

b. Complementary

c. Relational

a. Gradable antonyms

---are those that have intermediate forms at the two ends of the spectrum.

b. Complementary antonyms

---are pairs of words that express absolute opposites. In this pair, the denial of one member implies the assertion of the other.

c. Relational antonyms

--- pairs of words that exhibit the reversal of the relationship between two items.

Work in pairs and give 4 examples of each type.

3. Polysemy

---the case that the same one word may have more than one meaning.

e.g. “table” may mean:1) a piece of furniture2) all the people seated at such furniture3) the food that is put on such furniture4) orderly arrangement of facts, figures, etc.

4. Homonymy

--- the phenomenon that words having different meanings have the same sound or spelling, in both.

1) Homophone When two words are identical in sound, they are

homophones. e.g. rain-reign, night/knight, …2) Homograph When two words are identical in spelling, they

are homographs. e.g. tear(n.)-tear(v.), lead(n.)-lead(v.), …

3) Complete homonym When two words are identical in both sound and

spelling, they are complete homonyms. e.g. ball, bank, watch, scale, fast, …

NB:

A polysemous word is the result of the evolution of the primary meaning of the word (the etymology of the word); while complete homonyms are often brought into being by coincidence.

e.g.

Fun → elbow end of the humerus → practical joke → trick → cheat → counterfeit

5. Hyponymy

--- the sense relation between a more general, more inclusive word (superordinate) and a more specific word (hyponym).

Example of Hyponymy

flower (superordinate)

rose tulip chrysanthemum lily (co-hyponyms)

6. Meronymy

Meronymy is a term used to describe a part-whole relationship between lexical items. We can identify this relationship by using sentence frames like “X is part of Y”, or “Y has X” , as in “a page is part of a book”, or “A book has pages”.

How does meronymy differ from hyponymy?

Hyponymy has to do with inclusiveness. For example, bird is the superordinate to crow, hawk, duck, and we cannot say “A bird has crows, or hawks”, and so on.

Metonymy differs from hyponymy in transitivity. Hyponymy is always transitive, for example bird is the superordinate to hawk, hawk is the superordinate to sparrowhawk, and thus bird is the superordinate to sparrowhawk. But metonymy may or may not be so. A transitive example is: nail is a metonym of finger, and finger of hand. We can see that nail is a metonym of hand. A non-transitive example is : pane is a metonym of window, and window of room; but pane is not a metonym of room.

7. Metonymy

-- a figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated.

e.g. Washington = United States government

carrot and stick =a policy of offering a combination of rewards and punishment to induce behavior

4.2 Sense relations between sentences

1)   X is synonymous with Y2)   X is inconsistent with Y3)   X entails Y4)   X presupposes Y5)   X is a contradiction6)   X is semantically anomalous

1) Synonymy

e.g.

X: He was a bachelor all his life.

Y: He never got married.

X: The gardener killed the plant.

Y: The plant was killed by the gardener.

If X is true, Y is true; If X is false, Y is false.

2) Inconsistency

e.g.

X: He is single.

Y: He has a wife.

X: This is my first visit to Beijing.

Y: I have been to Beijing twice.

If X is true, Y is false;If X is false, Y is true.

3) Entailment

Entailment is a relation of inclusion. If X entails Y, then the meaning of X is included in Y, e.g.

X. The gardener killed the plant.

Y. The plant is dead.

X: Mary has been to France.

Y: Mary has been to Europe.

If X is true, Y is necessarily true;If X is false , Y may be true or false.

Lexical Entailment

Syntactic Entailment

Modification, complementation

X. He walked to school slowly.

Y. He walked to school.

Z. He walk.

X entails Y and Z; Y entails Z, but not vice versa.

Mutual Entailment

John is a bachelor.

John is unmarried.

4) Presupposition

X: Let’s call it a day. Y: We have been doing something.X: Paul has given up smoking. Y: Paul once smoked.Cf.The present King of France is bald.

If X is true, Y must be true;If X is false, Y is still true.

6) Anomaly

e.g.

*The man is pregnant.

*The table has bad intentions.

*Sincerity shakes hands with the black apple.

*My unmarried sister is married to a bachelor.

*The orphan’s parents are pretty well-off.

The argument and the predicate are self-contradictory or incompatible.

Part 5 Predication analysis

-- a way to analyze sentence meaning

NB:

Unlike word meaning, sentence meaning

is not the sum of the individual words. Rather,

sentence meaning is two-fold: grammaticality and selectional restrictions.

*Dog have chasing those cat.*The he me gave book.*He will gone Beijing yesterday.

*Colorless ideas sleep curiously.*Sincerity shook hands with black

apples.

Key concepts in the analysis

Predication

---the abstraction of the meaning of a sentence,

consisting of argument (s) and predicate.

Argument

--- a logical participant in a predication, largely identical with the nominal elements in a sentence.

Predicate

--- something said about an argument or it states the logical relation linking the arguments in a sentence.

All the following are said to have the same predication TOM(SMOKE):

1) Tom smokes.

2) Tom is smoking.

3) Tom has been smoking.

4) Tom used to smoke.

5) Tom, smoke!

6) Does Tom smoke?

Predications are classified according to the number of nominal elements contained in a predication, e.g.

No-place predication : It is raining.

One-place predication: Tom smokes.

Two-place predication: Kids like apples.

Three-place predication: The student has returned

the book to the library.

Question for discussion

Look at the following sentence:

Dogs bark.

Does the fact that there is more than one dog make ‘bark’ the correct choice? Or does the fact that some animals ‘bark’ make ‘dogs’ the right choice?