1、the study of word meaning what is meaning? what is meaning? lecture outline ntypes of word meaning qgrammatical and lexical meaning qleechs seven types of meaning nsemantic field nmeaning relations of words qsynonymy qantonymy qmeronymy qhyponymy qpolysemy qhomonymy 6.2 main types of word meaning 6.

2、2.1 grammatical meaning nword-class ninflectional paradigm (詞形變化) 6.2.2 lexical meaning nlexical meaning is dominant in content words, whereas grammatical meaning is dominant in function words. 6.2 main types of word meaning 6.2.1 grammatical meaning nfunction words (or grammatical words) are words

3、that have little lexical meaning or ambiguous meaning, but instead serve to express grammatical relationships with other words within a sentence, or specify the attitude or mood of the speaker. nword-class qthe part of speech of the word. ninflectional paradigm詞形變化詞形變化 qthe set of grammatical forms

4、of a word nthe forms for noun, verb and adj? qthe grammatical meaning is the same in identical set of individual forms of different words qthe lexical meaning of a word is the same throughout the paradigm 6.2 main types of word meaning 6.2.2 lexical meaning nalso known as the dictionary definition,

5、is the meaning of the term in common usage. nlexical meaning is different from grammatical meaning in two respects: a. lexical meaning of a word is the same in all the forms of one and the same word while the grammatical meaning varies from one word- form to another; b. every word has a different le

6、xical meaning, whereas the grammatical meaning is the same in identical sets of individual forms of different words. example nthe wedding of prince william, duke of cambridge, and catherine middleton took place on friday, 29 april 2011 at westminster abbey in london. prince william, second in the li

7、ne of succession to queen elizabeth ii, first met catherine middleton in 2001, whilst both were studying at the university of st andrews. nnews outlets widely estimated that the wedding was watched by a global television audience of upwards of two billion people. 24.5 million watched the event in th

8、e uk. nleechs seven types of (lexical) meaning ngeoffrey leech (1974, 1981) proposes in semantics: the study of meaning seven types of meaning: qconceptual meaning qconnotative meaning qsocial meaning qaffective meaning qreflected meaning qcollocative meaning qthematic meaning associative meaning an

9、 example? nwhat is the meaning of “mother”? nmother/mom/ma/ n母親、媽媽、娘、額娘、母后、慈母 (1) conceptual meaning nalso called denotative（外延）（外延） or cognitive meaning. qrefers to logical, cognitive or denotative content. qconcerned with the relationship between a word and the thing it denotes, or refers to. ne.g

10、. chair: a piece of furniture for one person to sit on, having a back and, usually, four legs. n man: +human, +male, +adult, (2) connotative meaning (內涵意義) nthe communicative value an expression has by virtue of what it refers to, over and above its purely conceptual content. qa multitude of additio

11、nal, non-criterial properties, including not only physical characteristics but also psychological and social properties, as well as typical features. ninvolving the real world experience one associates with an expression when one uses or hears it. qunstable: they vary considerably according to cultu

12、re, historical period, and the experience of the individual. nany characteristic of the referent, identified subjectively or objectively, may contribute to the connotative meaning of the expression which denotes it. nfor example: lamb means “docile, gentle and obedient” nwhat does “mother” mean? nan

13、d “stepmother”? stepmother nfierce, ruthless, cruel, cold, vicious, rough, violent n devil, evil, ugly nmotherly, kind, tender, mild, considerate, perfect, nice, brave. ntalkative, sensitive, beautiful (3) social meaning nwhat a piece of language conveys about the social circumstances of its use. qd

14、ialect: the language of a geographical region or of a social class. qtime: the language of the 18th c., etc. qprovince/area: language of law, of science, of advertising, etc. qstatus: polite, colloquial, slang, etc. qmodality: language of memoranda, lectures, jokes, etc. nfor example: ndomicile: ver

15、y formal, official nresidence: formal nabode: poetic nhome: general nsteed: poetic nhorse: general nnag: slang ngee-gee: baby language (4) affective meaning nreflecting the personal feelings of the speaker, including his attitude to the listener, or his attitude to something he is talking about. qyo

16、ure a vicious tyrant and a villainous reprobate, and i hate you for it! qim terribly sorry to interrupt, but i wonder if you would be so kind as to lower your voices a little. qwill you belt up. qmary is an angel. colorful meaning ncommendatory ntough-minded nresolute, firm nshrewd nchildlike man of

17、 unusual talent portly, stout, solid, plump nslender, slim nderogatory nruthless nobstinate nsly, crafty nchildish nfreak nfleshy, fat, tubby nlean, skinny, lanky, weedy, scraggy (5) reflected meaning narises in cases of multiple conceptual meaning, when one sense of a word forms part of our respons

18、e to another sense. qtaboo terms: water closet wash room; the qgay-homosexuality (6) collocative meaning nthe associations a word acquires on account of the meanings of words which tend to occur in its environment. qpretty: girl, boy, woman, flower, garden, colour, village, etc. qhandsome: boy, man,

19、 car, vessel, overcoat, airliner, typewriter, etc. qman and wife, bread and butter, a piece of cake (7) thematic meaning nwhat is communicated by the way in which a speaker or writer organizes the message, in terms of ordering, focus, and emphasis. ntheme/rheme (given/new information) qmrs bessie sm

20、ith donated the first prize. qthe first prize was donated by mrs bessie smith. (these two sentences express the same conceptual meaning, but they have different communicative values ) qthey stopped at the end of the corridor. qat the end of the corridor, they stopped. semantic field and semantic rel

21、ations nsemantic field (語義場語義場)： nthe vocabulary of a given language is not simply a listing of independent items，but is organized into areas, or fields, within which words interrelate and define each other in various ways. e.g. red, green, blue, white, gray, orange, rose, olive, purple, lemon, etc

22、- semantic field of colors; father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, cousin etc. - semantic field of kinship; sorrow, grief, anguish, woe, regret, etc. - field of distressing emotions, doctors, physician, surgeon, dentist, oculist, anesthetist, nurses - the semantic field the med

23、ical profession. sense relations nsynonymy nantonymy nhyponymy nmeronymy nhomonymy complementary gradable converse directional cow/bull, sow/boar, ewe/ram, mare/stallion etc. form a pattern indicating a meaning related to sex. pairs of words can be formed into certain patterns to indicate sense rela

24、tions. duck/ducking, pig/piglet, dog/puppy, lion/cub, etc. form another pattern indicating a relationship between adult and young. narrow/wide, male/female, buy/sell, etc. show a different pattern related to opposition. in fact, when we are talking of sense relations, we are talking of synonymy, ant

25、onymy, hyponymy, polysemy, homonymy, etc. 5.2.2 synonymy: sameness of meaning nin what ways the following pairs are called synonyms? nbuy/purchase nthrifty/economical/stingy nautumn/fall nflat/apartment ntube/underground nare synonyms entirely identical in meaning? nsynonyms may differ in the follow

26、ing aspects: n1. difference in origin nsome english synonyms may belong to words of different linguistic origin, e.g. anglo- saxon frenchlatin askquestioninterrogate bellystomachabdomen holysacredconsecrated timeageepoch some synonyms belong to different geographic varieties: british englishamerican

27、 english liftelevator petrolgasoline autumnfall tubesubway n2. differences in the shades of meaning namaze- astound - to fill with great surprise but: differ in the degree of incredibility: qamaze: difficulty of belief; astound: extreme difficulty of belief ne.g. anger, rage, fury, indignation, wrat

28、h; refuse, decline, reject 3. differences in socio-expressive meaning naccording to the differences in emotional flavor: napproval: steed, charger nneutral: horse; ndisapproval: nag, plug 4. differences in stylistic meaning nsome lexemes can tell us something about the social relationship between th

29、e speaker and the hearer and the context in which they are used. ndifferent styles: formal, literary, colloquial, familiar, slang 5. differences in collocation and distribution e.g. accuse of, charge with, rebuke for, reproach with/for the word has two senses. or, the word has two meanings he is a m

30、an of sense. but not, *he is a man of meaning. synonyms: rhetorical effect nall thoughts, all passions, all delights, whatever stirs the mortal frame, all are but ministers of love, and feed his sacred flame. n一切思想、激情和歡樂， 凡把這肉身激動的一切 都只不過是愛神的使者使者， 使他的圣火燒得烈。 noft in my waking dreams do i live oer agai

31、n that happy hour, when midway on the mount i lay, beside the ruind tower. n 在我醒時的出神中，我常 一遍遍重溫那幸福幸福時刻； 當時我在那山的半腰上， 在倒了的塔邊躺著。 nthe moonshine stealing oer the scene, had blended with the lights of eve; and she was there, my hope, my joy, my own dear genevieve! n 月光悄悄地照到了那里， 同茫茫暮色暮色融匯在一處； 我希望和歡樂也在那里， 我

32、親愛的熱內薇芙！ nshe leand against the armed man, the statue of the armed knight; she stood and listend to my lay, amid the lingering light. 她倚著那位武裝的男子，她倚著那位武裝的男子， 那是全副武裝的騎士像；那是全副武裝的騎士像； 在將去未去的光線之中在將去未去的光線之中 她站在那兒聽我唱。她站在那兒聽我唱。 nst genevieve (sainte genevive) (nanterre, c. 419/422 - paris 502/512), in latin

33、 sancta genovefa, from germanic keno (kin) and wefa (wife), is the patron saint(守護 神)of paris in roman catholic and eastern orthodox tradition. 項鏈莫泊桑 n因為在婦女，美麗、豐韻、嬌媚，就是她們的出身；天生的聰明， 優美的資質，溫柔的性情，就是她們惟一的資格。 n（這三個詞意思相同，用在一起可以互相補充，使內容表達得更 充分；在節奏上，選用三個同義詞，恰好與下文三個偏正短語構 成比較勻稱的結構形式，使上下句獲得對偶的特點） 由于傷心、悔恨、失望、困苦

34、，她常常整天整天地哭泣。 n（連用四個同義詞，可以加重語氣） 夜會的日子到了，路瓦栽夫人得到成功。她比所有的女賓都漂亮、 高雅、迷人，她滿臉笑容，興高采烈。 n（三個同義詞后一個比前一個語意更強，“高雅”不只是漂亮， 還包含人物的一種氣質，“迷人”則是前二項所達到的效果，正 是路瓦栽夫人所期盼的。同義聯用，更好地表達了路瓦栽夫人虛 榮心得到滿足時的幸福感） identify the synomyms in the following sentences nwhy must it be? should it be, really? she choked and stifled. nthe dea

35、n, who was a man of great culture and learning, was extremely fond of clocks. nthey arrived at the hotel in peasant carts crammed with children, cats, cages in which indian birds hopped and skipped. nan icy perspiration now sprang to his forehead, his lips trembled and suddenly his throat felt parch

36、ed and dry. antonymy: oppositeness of meaning nantonymy: the relationship of oppositeness of meaning. naccording to morphology, antomyms can be divided into root antonyms and derivative antonyms naccording to the semantic relationship, antonyms can be divided into four categories: nroot antonyms: nb

37、ig-small, tall-short nderivative antonyms: nhappy-unhappy antonymy n1. complementary antonyms (contradictory antonyms) qlexemes or expressions whose crucial semantic features are mutually exclusive. qe.g. alive/ dead, qmale/ female, present/ absent, qpass/ fail , boy/ girl antonymy n2. gradable anto

38、nyms: lexemes or expressions whose crucial semantic features are located at the different ends of on continuum. ne.g., hot -warm -cool - cold ngood - bad nlong - short nbig - small nfeatures: qcan be modified by adverbs of degree like very. qcan have comparative forms. qcan be asked with how. 3. con

39、verse antonymy also relational opposites: pairs of expressions whose crucial semantic features display a reciprocal relationship. one member of the pair presupposes the other. nbuy : sell nlend : borrow ngive : receive nparent : child nhusband : wife nteacher : student nbefore : after nhost : guest

40、nemployer : employee 4. directional antonyms nan implication of motion in one of two opposed directions with respect to one given place. nup-down narrive-depart ncome-go rhetorical effect of antonyms na word before is worth two behind. nmore haste, less speed. na fall into a pit, a gain in your wit.

41、 n吃一塹，長一智。 na friend is easier lost than found. n得朋友難，失朋友易。 n to err is human, to forgive divine. nan idle youth, a needy age. n 少壯不努力，老大徒傷悲 nsooner or later, the truth comes to light. n真相遲早會大白 ntrick or treat n萬圣節一到，孩子們到鄰居家要糖吃，敲開門說：萬圣節一到，孩子們到鄰居家要糖吃，敲開門說： trick or treat (不招待就使壞不招待就使壞)，使壞的方式有時在門，使壞的方

42、式有時在門 口撒面粉，或者在鄰居的花園里用衛生紙繞來繞去?？谌雒娣?，或者在鄰居的花園里用衛生紙繞來繞去。 n rain or shine 風雨無阻“ nup and down 往返 to and fro 來來回回 back and forth 前前后后 far and forth 到處，遠處 far and near 注意事項 dos and donts 執政黨與在野黨 young and old 老老少少 day and night 日日夜夜 oxymoron 矛盾修飾詞矛盾修飾詞 nyou shall see sweet silent rhetoric and dumb silence s

43、peaking in his eyes. n -ben jonson qalthough she doesnt say anything, you can see her sweet eyes conveying much more meaning than words. q“雙目含情，悄無言而工辭令，暗無聲而具辯才” （錢鐘書） nliving death, visible darkness, a clever fool nan open secret, cruel kindness ni despise its very vastness and power. it has the poo

44、rest millionaires, the littlest great men, the haughtiest beggars, the plainest beauties, the lowest skyscrapers, the dolefulest (陰沉 的、寂寞的) pleasures of any town i ever saw. n -o. henry meronymy (部分整體關系）部分整體關系） and hyponymy （下義（下義 關系）關系） nmeronymy na part-whole relationship between lexical items. nt

45、hree types: nx is a meronym of y if x is a part of y. nx is a meronym of y if x is a substance of y. nx is a meronym of y if x is a member of y. ne.g., root, trunk, branch and leaf are meronyms of a tree nwhat are the meaning relations between the following pairs? nface-body npage-book nbeijing-chin

46、a ncork-bottle nhand-foot hyponymy nhyponymy: a specific-general semantic relationship between lexical items. it is such a relationship that the former is included in the later. nsuperordinate: the more general term. it may have many hyponyms. hyponyms (like cat, dog, pig, cow, etc.) having the same

47、 superordinate are called co-hyponyms. nthis sense relation may be also shown by the diagram: example: who is fido? nfido is the most lovable creature i know. nfido is the only animal i have ever killed. nfido is one of our three dogs. nfido is the fastest hound ive ever seen. nfido is a basset (矮腳長

48、耳獵狗). nwork in pairs and provide hyponyms for the following words nvegetable nflower nlaugh nvehicle nclothes n nsmirk ngrin nsneer nridicule ngiggle nchuckle nrisus nburst into laughter nsmile polysemy (一詞多義一詞多義) and homonymy（同形（同形/音異音異 義）義） npolysemy: a lexical item which has a range of different

49、but closely related meanings. npolysemy can be said to be the result from the change of meaning. q e.g. chip - electronic circuit - a kind of food - a piece of wood qthe meaning of “table” and “head”?the meaning of “table” and “head”? n普遍意義vs特殊意義 qcase，fire qthe fire in the sitting-room (爐火) n抽象意義vs

50、具體意義 qbeauty is but skin deep. qshe is a real beauty. qstage: she went on the stage at the age of 14. n字面意義vs比喻意義 qa mirror reflects light. qtheir actions reflect their thought. nhomonymy: refers to cases where lexemes with the same phonological or morphological shape have different meanings. nhomonyms: unrelated sense of the same word. they may have identical pronunciation but do