1、6.2 Main Types of Word Meaning6.2.1 Grammatical meaning Grammatical meaning consists of word-class and inflectional paradigm (詞形變化). 1. Word-class:Word-class is traditionally known as the part of speech of the word.e.g. modern : adj., modernize: v, modernization: n 2.Lexical meaning is dominant in c

2、ontent words, whereas grammatical meaning is dominant in function words, but in neither case is grammatical meaning absent. The two kinds of meaning can be demonstrated by nonsense verse: Lewis Carrolls Jabberwocky, in Through the Looking Glass”, 1871 .(first stanza) Twas brillig,and the slithy tove

3、s Did gyre and gimble in the wabe All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome rath outgrabe.”. nNonsense sentences or verses are not strings of random words put together. The words are combined according to regular rules of syntax with grammatical signals, i.e. function words, except that the content

4、 words are arbitrarily invented without lexical meaning and what is left is only grammatical meaning2. Inflectional paradigm詞形變化詞形變化e.g. cat-cats, mouse-mice; great- greater to walk-walked, to writewrites, wrote, written The set of grammatical forms of a word are called its paradigm. Nouns are decli

5、ned, verbs are conjugated (動(dòng)詞)變化, and gradable可分級(jí)的 adjectives have degrees of comparison. The lexical meaning of a word is the same throughout the paradigm; that is, all the word-forms of one and the same word have the same lexical meaning, yet the grammatical meaning varies from one word-form to an

6、other; On the other hand the grammatical meaning is the same in identical set of individual forms of different words, e.g. played, sang, worked, etc. desks, data, boxes, etc.6.2.2 Lexical meaningAnother component of word meaning is lexical meaning, which is different from grammatical meaning in two

7、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 lexical meaning, whereas the grammatical meaning is the same in identical sets of individual forms of different

8、 words.1. Denotative meaningnDenotative meaning / conceptual meaning. It i s t h e c e n t r a l f a c t o r i n l i n g u i s t i c communication. One of the functions of words is to designate or describe something, such as an object, a property, a process or a state of affairs. .Denotative meaning

9、 involves the relationship between a linguistic unit (esp. a lexical item) and the non-linguistic entities to which it refers. (Crystal 1980) e.g. chair: a piece of furniture for one person to sit on, having a back and, usually, four legs.The denotative meaning is used when the emphasis is on the re

10、lationship between language, on the one hand, and the things, events, or processes, which are external to the speaker and his language, on the other. The denotative meaning of a word is its definition given in a dictionary. e.g. water (a chemist), edema ( a physician) Characters of denotative meanin

11、g/cognitive meaning a. Such a meaning is the basic meaning expressed in communication. It has been written in the dictionary. It has not any direct connection with the natural objects and phenomena. It never varies according to different people.e.g. woman pig tigerb. Denotative meaning is the reflec

12、tion and summary of the natural things.e.g.manuscript- manu (hand) + script (write)-something written by hand barn- the place for storing wheat; now the place to keep and kind of cereal or to keep cattle. wife- woman, now refers to woman who has got married. The original meaning still exist in words

13、 like housewife, midwife. c. Some polysemic words can have different meanings in different denotative meanings.e.g. operation - 外科手術(shù)，機(jī)器操作，經(jīng)營(yíng)，軍外科手術(shù)，機(jī)器操作，經(jīng)營(yíng)，軍事演習(xí)，運(yùn)算事演習(xí)，運(yùn)算 2. Connotative meaning Connotative meaning refer to the emotional association which a word or a phrase suggested in ones mind; it i

14、s the supplementary value which is added to the purely denotative meaning of a word.e.g. mother-female parent; love, care, tenderness January- the first month of the year; cold weather, holiday rose- a garden flower which has a lot of petals and a pleasant smell. loveCharacteristics of Connotative m

15、eaning:a. Connotative meaning does not exist alone. It is something that lives together with the denotative meaning. It can be different among different people of different age, country, community and time.e.g. home Christmas Road b. The connotative meaning is not limited to one speech community or

16、one language. e.g. white- to most Chinese and westerners, certain similar favorable connotations: morally or spiritually pure; spotless, innocent.清白無暇，結(jié)白。 fox- cunning lamb- docile, gentle and obedientc. Because connotation may vary among different people or people of different age groups, the conno

17、tation of words can increase gradually. But connotations are relatively unstable, as compared with denotation, which changes too, but not so quickly. female- denotation: woman, girl; connotation: in the past, frail ; being looked down upon, contempt. traditional- pass down from generation, now, stal

18、e. outdated (derogatory) 3. Social or stylistic meaning .Social meaning is that which a piece of language conveys about the social circumstances of its use.“Language must be adjusted to fit different context or situations: (1) the social relationship between the speakers or correspondents (which may

19、 be that of friend to friend, or professor to student);(2) the occasion (which may be a class reunion or an official reception);n(3) Subject matter (which may be about serious political issues or about films, swimming or food), n(4) the mode of discourse (spoken or written). n Martin Joos (1967): Fi

20、ve Clocksa. Oratorical or frozen:b. Deliberate or formal: occur in written report or in dignified public speech prepared beforehand with written draft. Words marked in dictionaries as formal, literary, poetic or archaic are to be used in these two styles.c. Consultative: Consultative style is a poli

21、te and fairly neutral style; it is used when we are talking to a person whom we do not know well, or to someone who is senior to ourselves in terms of age or social position. Common words are used in this style.d. d.Casual: Casual style is used in conversation between friends or in personal letters,

22、 when the language is informal, familiar, relaxed, warm and friendly.e. Intimate: Intimate style is used in conversation between the most close relationship like husband and wife. A word or meaning labeled colloquial or informal is appropriate in the causal or intimate styleIntimate causal consultat

23、ive formal frozen cute pretty attractive comely to guzzle to swig to drink to imbibe to quaff nutty crazy insane demented scare frightened apprehensive affrightedon the ball smart intelligent perceptive astuteto play like to act like to pretend to feignhorse nag steed gee-geehome residence domicile

24、abodethrow cast diminutive tiny wee4. Affective meaning Affective meaning is concerned with the expression of feelings and attitudes of the speaker or writer. There are a small number of words in English.e.g. (chiefly interjections) Aha! Alas! Hurrah!) scholar, masterpiece, generous (purr words) gan

25、g, niggardly, boast (snarl words) Therefore affective meaning is one of the objective semantic features proper to words as lexical items, for it forms part of the word meaning, independent of the associations of the individual. Affective meaning is not a solo meaning. It is reflected by the denotati

26、ve, connotative or stylistic meaning and sometimes by the use of intonation, tone and interjection.e.g. Youre vicious tyrant and a villainous reprobate, and I hate you for it! Jane is an angel of a girl. That fellow is an ass. Im terribly sorry to interrupt, but I wonder if you would be so kind as t

27、o lower your voices a little. Will you belt up.Words with affective meaning are usually marked dero (=derogatory) in dictionaries if they are snarl swords, while the purr words are marked apprec (=appreciatory). Here are some pairs of bias words: A B slender skinny statesman politician confidence co

28、mplacency plump fat There are three classes into which all the women past seventy that ever I knew were to be divided:1) That dear old soul 2) That old woman 3) That old witch.5. Reflected meaning(聯(lián)想意義）聯(lián)想意義）: the meaning when we associate one sense of an expression with another.e.g. water closet was

29、h room; the arms and legs limbs; Your products are of bad quality your products are not up to standard. You are welcome to any book in my room.Our response to one sense of a lexeme may be affected by another sense of that lexeme. Gay is scarcely used in its old sense of merry as it now involves homosexuality and