大學英語新編語言學教程Chapter 5 Semantics

Chapter5SemanticsContentsWhatisSemantics12MeaningsofMEANING3SenceandReference4Majorsemanticrelationsamongwords5Majorsemanticrelationsamongsentences6AnalysisofMeaning5.1WhatisSemantics?

ThedefinitionofsemanticsSemanticscanbesimplydefinedasthestudyofmeaning.Semanticsisthestudyofthemeaningoflinguisticunits,wordsandsentencesinparticular.Whatisthe“MEANING”?

Meanings“ofmeaning”O(jiān)nedifficultyinthestudyofMEANINGisthattheword“meaning”itselfhasdifferentmeanings.SeventypesofmeaningrecognizedbyG.LeechinhisSemantics(1974,p.23)ConceptualmeaningConnotativemeaningSocialmeaningAffectivemeaningReflectedmeaningCollocativemeaningThematicmeaning概念意義內涵意義社會意義感情意義反映意義搭配意義主題意義Leechsaysthefirsttypeofmeaning–conceptualmeaning–makesupthecentralmeaning,itisconcernedwiththerelationshipbetweenawordandthethingsitdenotes.Inthissense,conceptualmeaningoverlapstoalargeextentwiththenotionofREFERENCE.利奇認為，第一種意義是概念意義，它是詞義的核心，它表示詞和它所指事物之間的關系。從這種意義上說，概念意義在很大程度上與指稱意義相交叉。SenseandreferenceLeech’sconceptualmeaninghastwosides:senseandreference.P66Senseisconcernedwiththeinherentmeaningoflinguisticform,thecollectionofallitsfeatures,itisabstractandde-contextualized.Itistheaspectofmeaningdictionarycompilersareinterestedin.意義指的是語言形式的內在意義。它是語言形式所有特征的集合，是抽象的，而且與語境無關，是詞典編纂者所感興趣的方面Referencemeansalinguisticformreferstointherealphysicalworld;itdealswiththerelationshipbetweenthelinguisticelementandnon-linguisticworldofexperience.指稱意指語言形式在現(xiàn)實的物質世界中的所指的事物，它涉及的是語言成分和非語言的經驗世界之間的關系。Leechalsousessenseasabriefertermforhisconceptualmeaning.Inthissense,“sense”isequivalentto“concept”.Thedefinitionof“desk”as“apieceoffurniturewithaflattopandfourlegs,atwhichonereadsandwrites”mayalsocalledthesenseofthedesk.Awordhavingreferencemusthavesense.Explainthedifferencebetweensenseandreferencefromthefollowingfouraspects:幻燈片9Tosomeextent,Everywordhasasense,i.e.someconceptualcontent;otherwiseitcannotbeusedorunderstood.Andthewordslike

God,ghostanddragonrefertothe

imaginarythings,whichdonotexistinreality.Awordhavingsensemightnothavereference.Butnoteverywordhasareference.Therearelinguisticexpressionswhichcanneverbeusedtorefer,forexample,thewordsso,very,maybe,if,notandall.Thesewordsdoofcoursecontributemeaningtothesentencestheyoccurinandthushelpsentencesdenote,buttheydonotthemselvesidentifyentitiesintheworld.Theyareintrinsicallynon-referringitems.Acertainsensecanberealizedbymorethanonereference.Someexpressionswillhavethesamereferentacrossarangeofutterances,e.g.TheEiffelTowelorthePacificOcean,

such

expressionsaresometimesdescribedashavingconstantreference.Othershavetheirreferencetotallydependentoncontext,expressionslikeI,you,she,etc.aresaidtohavevariablereference.Acertainreferencecanbeexpressedbymorethanonesense.Therearecaseswhenareferencecanbeexpressedbymorethanonesense.Eveningstar(aplanet-usuallyVenus-seenatsunsetinthewesternsky)

andmorningstar(aplanet-usuallyVenus-seenjustbeforesunriseintheeasternsky)nearlyalwaysreferstoVenus.Buteachofthempresentsaparticularemotionaltemperamentandaparticularsenseofvalues,meaning,idealsandappreciations.Conceptualist/MentalismView(概念論)Conceptualistviewholdsthatthereisnodirectlinkbetweenalinguisticformandwhatitrefersto(i.e.betweenlanguageandtherealworld;rather,intheinterpretationofmeaningtheyarelinkedthroughthemediationofconceptsinourmind.MentalismorConceptualismfollowsSaussure’s“sign”theory,andconsidersthelinguisticsigntoconsistofasignifierandsignified,i.e.,asoundimageandaconcept,linkedbyapsychological“associative”bondConceptSignifiersignifiedThisisbestillustratedbytheclassicsemantictriangleortriangleofsignificance)Atheorywhichexplicitlyemploysthenotion“concept”isthesemantictriangleproposedbyOgdenandRichardsinTheMeaningofMeaning.Accordingtothe“semantictriangle”theory,therelationbetweenawordandathingitreferstoisnotdirect.Itismediatedbyconcept.THOUGHT/REFERENCESYMBOL/FROMREFERENT

AcertainconceptinourmindDOGparticulardog(Thedogovertherelooksunfriendly)Contexualism

語境論Theyholdthatmeaningshouldbestudiedintermsofsituation,use,context-elementscloselylinkedwithlanguagebehavior.ArepresentativeofthisapproachisJ.R.Firth,theleadingBritishlinguistoftheperiod.Thecontextualistviewofmeaningisbasedonthepresumptionthatonecanderivemeaningfromorreducemeaningtoobservablecontexts.Twokindsofcontextarerecognized:thesituationalcontextandthelinguisticcontext.BehaviorismBehavioristattemptedtodefinethemeaningofalanguagefromas“thesituationinwhichthespeakeruttersitandtheresponseitcallsforthinthehearer.”Thistheory,somewhatclosetothecontextualism,islinkedwithpsychologicalinterestThisviewofmeaningproposedbyBloomfieldisillustratedbyhisstoryaboutJackandJill.Majorsemanticrelationsamongwords-certainrelationsbetweenlexicalitemsSynonymyAntonymyPolysemyHomonymyHoponymySynonymyreferstothesamenessorclosesimilarityofmeaning.Dialectalsynonyms-synonymsusedindifferentregionaldialects(BrE&AmE)Stylisticsynonyms-synonymsdifferentinstyle,ordegreeofformalitySynonymsthatdifferintheiremotiveorevaluativemeaningCollocationalsynonymsSemanticallydifferentsynonymsThesenserelationshipbetweenKid,childandoffspring________.Thesenserelationshipbetweenbuyandpurchase

is________Thesenserelationshipbetweenautumnandfall

is_________________.Thesenserelationshipbetweenthriftyandstingy

is_________________.“Kids”and“children”aresynonymsdespitetheirstylisticdifferencestylistic

(casual,neutral,formal)synonymydialectalsynonymyemotivesynonymy(T)AntonymyThetermantonymyisusedforoppositenessofmeaning;wordsthatareoppositeinmeaningareantonyms.Gradableantonyms(兩極之間):someantonymsaregradablebecausethereareoftenintermediateformsbetweenthetwomembersofapair.itisthematterofthedegreeofthetwoextremes.Complementaryantonyms（非此即彼）;Apairofcomplementaryantonymsischaracterizedbythefeaturethatthedenialofonememberofthepairimpliestheassertion(肯定)oftheother.Itisthematterofeitheroneortheother.Relationalopposites（關系顛倒）-converseantonymy：Pairofwordsthatexhibittherehearsaloftherelationshipbetweenthetwoitemscalledrelationalopposites.Thesenserelationshipbetween(bigandsmall)/(longandshort)/(wideandnarrow)Thesenserelationshipbetween(husbandandwife)/(teacherandstudents)(borrowandlend)/(overandunder)/(beforeandafter)Thesenserelationshipbetween(deadandalive)/(maleandfemale)(presentandabsent)/(relinquishandretain)（放棄/保存）Gradableantonyms/opposites-gradability

Converseantonyms(relationalopposites)Complementaryantonyms-complementarityPolysemyThesameonewordmayhavemorethanonemeaningSuchwordiscalledapolysemicorpolysemousword.Thewordscreenhasmanydifferentmeaningssuchasinafirescreen,atelevisionscreen.Thisiscalled________.boot/trunk_________________.(靴子/行李箱)polysemypolysemouswordsHomonymy同音異義Homonymyreferstothephenomenonthatwordshavingdifferentmeaningshavethesameform,i.e.differentwordsareidenticalinsoundorspelling,orinboth.Homophones(identicalsound)Homographs(identicalspelling)Completehomonyms(identicalsoundandspelling)Thephenomenonthatwordshavingdifferentmeaningshavethesameformiscalled________.Thesenserelationshipbetweenseeandseais_________.tale/tail:_________.flour-flower:________.homonymyhomonymyhomonymshomonymyHyponymyHyponymyreferstothesenserelationsbetweenamoregeneral,moreinclusiveandamorespecificword.Thewordwhichismoregeneralinmeaningiscalledthesuperordinate

(上坐標詞),andthemorespecificwordsarecalleditshyponyms(下位詞).Thesenserelationshipbetweenfurnitureanddeskis________.Thesenserelationshipbetweencolorandyellowis_________.Termslike“desk”and“stool”(凳子)are________oftheterm“furniture”satellite/moon

fabric/rayon(人造纖維):________ThemeaningrelationshipbetweenMANandGROWN-UPhyponymousbecausethesemanticfeaturesofMANareincludedinthoseofGROWN-UP.hyponymyhyponymyhyponymshyponymy(T)Semantically,BEEFisexcludedinMEAT.“Tulip”,“rose”,and“violet”areallincludedinthenotionof“flower”,thereforetheyaresuperordinatesof“flowers”.tree-maple,birch(樺樹):_________(F)hyponymy(F)Majorsemanticrelationsamongsentences(certainrelationshipsbetweensentencesandalsotheconstituentsofthesamesentence)Ofthefivesemanticrelationsamongsentences:paraphrase;entailment;contradiction;presupposition;andtautology.(贅述)Themeaningofasentenceistheresultofthemeaningsofthewordsusedinitanditssyntacticstructure.句子意義是詞語意義和句子結構共同作用的結果Logicalsemanticsstudieshowthetruthofacompositepropositionisdeterminedbythetruthvalueofitsconstituentpropositionsandtheconnectionsbetweenthem.邏輯語義學研究成分命題真值及成分命題之間的關系如何決定復合命題真值。Paraphrase(真真假假)1)XissynonymouswithYIntermsoftruthcondition,ifXistrue,Yistrue,andifXisfalse,Yisfalse.(twosentencesmutuallyentaileachother)EntailmentisanentailmentofX)Intermsoftruthcondition,ifXistrue,YisnecessarilytrueIfXisfalse,YmaybetrueorfalsePresupposition(YisaprerequisiteofX)Intermsoftruthcondition,ifXistrue,YmustbetrueifXisfalse,Yisstilltrue.Contradiction/tautology(贅述絕對真理)Iftwosentencescannotbetrueatthesametimeandinthesamesituation,theycanbecontradictoryofeachother.Theunnecessaryandusuallyunintentionaluseof

twowordstoexpressonemeaningThesenserelationshipbetween“Johnplaystheviolin”and“Johnplaysamusicalinstrument”is_________.2)“Semanticsisthescientificstudyofmeaning”isa_________.3)Inthefollowingpairofsentences,Sentence(b)presupposesSentence(a):Johnmanagedtofinishintime.(b)Johntriedtofinishitintime.entailmenttautology(T)A:Isawaboy.B:Isawachild.__________從邏輯上講,如果A為真,B一定為真;如果A為假,B可能為真,可能為假.(我沒看到一個男孩,那么B可真可假有可能看到一個女孩)AentailsBA:Tom

has