英語語言學(xué)實用教程課件.ppt

1、Lecture 7,The meaning of English (I,Review,What are common means of cohesion in English? What do we mean by conversational repair,Contents,7.1 The notion of semantics 7.2 Semantic properties 7.3 Semantic relations 7.4 Sense and reference,7.1 The notion of semantics,Semantics is the study of the mean

2、ing of language (and the communication of meaning through language,The meaning of mean,ASK: What does mean mean in each of the following sentences? (1) What does tall mean? (2) A nod means agreement. (3) I know the place you mean. (4) Your presence would mean a lot to me. (5) I am sorry. I didnt mea

3、n to be late. (6) The boy wasnt meant to be there,1)What does tall mean? (signify) (2)A nod means agreement. (indicate) (3)I know the place you mean. (refer to) (4)Your presence would mean a lot to me. (matter) (5)I am sorry. I didnt mean to be late. (intend) (6)The boy wasnt meant to be there. (sup

4、posed to) More: (7)He was meant to become a journalist rather than a lawyer. (destined) (8)He doesnt know the meaning of the word fear.(sense) (9)If thats the case, his sacrifice no longer hasany meaning. (significance,Approaches to the study of meaning,traditional approach structuralist approach fu

5、nctional approach pragmatic approach cognitive approach,Traditional approach,A. Naming/labeling vs. convention “moon,PP. 111-112 No. 10,Presentation Session,The naming of people in English,Structuralist approach,Treats meaning as semantic structures formed by semantic components/ semantic features -

6、 componential analysis (語義成分分析,Componential analysis,CA is a process that breaks down the meaning of a word into its minimal distinctive features or properties (semantic components /features) using feature symbols (metalanguage 元語言). woman-+HUMAN MALE +ADULT boy-+HUMAN +MALE ADULT girl- +HUMAN - MAL

7、E -ADULT,Functional approach,Geoffrey Leech (1983), Semantics. Treats meaning with reference to its function in context, to show how linguistic, situational and social contexts affects the meaning of language,Seven types of meaning -conceptual meaning: logical, cognitive, denotative content -associa

8、tive meanings: connotative meaning social/stylistic meaning affective meaning reflected meaning collocative meaning -thematic meaning,a. Conceptual meaning (概念意義,The conceptual or denotative meaning of a linguistic form is the person, object, abstract notion, event or state which the word or sentenc

9、e denotes. e.g. school, hospital,b. Connotative meaning,Definition: it is the communicative value/subjective interpretation attached to its purely conceptual meaning. e.g.: The man is a fox. statesman, politician,Characteristics,Connotations are relatively unstable. They vary considerably according

10、to society, historical period, and the experience of the individual. The connotative meaning can be the same /different in different languages or cultures. e.g.: fox, machine BUT: dragon, dog, elephant (White Elephant,ASK: What does white elephant mean in English,A B C Positive connotation Neutral N

11、egative connotation stout fat corpulent investigator detective spy decease die pegged out slim thin skinny strong-minded firm pig-headed public servant government employeebureaucrat,Connotation,c. Social/stylistic meaning,It refers to what language conveys about the social circumstances of its use.

12、It relates to peoples recognition of different dimensions and levels of style with the same language,社會/文體意義,steed (poetic) residence (formal) horse (general) abode (poetic) nag (slang) home (general) gee-gee (baby language) domicile (very formal, official) throw (general) tiny (colloquial) chuck (c

13、asual, slang) diminutive (very formal) cast (literal,biblical) wee (colloquial,dialectal,d. Affective meaning,It has to do with the personal feelings of the speaker, including his attitude to the listener, or his attitude to something he is talking about. Its often explicitly conveyed through concep

14、tual or connotative content of the words used,情感意義,Youre a vicious tyrant and villain and I hate you!” I am terribly sorry to interrupt, but I wonder if you would be so kind as to lower your voices a little. Shut up! Keep your mouth shut,e. Reflected meaning,Reflected meaning: the meaning which aris

15、es in cases of multiple conceptual meaning, when one sense of a word is so strong that it forms part of our response to another sense. Example: words having a taboo meaning, such as gay, intercourse,反映意義,f. Collocative meaning,It refers to the associations a word acquires on account of its mutual ex

16、pectancy with some other words which tend to occur in its environment. Example: pretty and handsome pretty girl, boy, woman, flower, etc. handsome boy, man, car, vessel, etc. cows may wander, but may not stroll. one trembles with fear, but quiver with excitement,搭配意義,g. Thematic Meaning,It refers to

17、 what is communicated by the way in which a speaker or writer organizes the message, in terms of ordering, focus, and emphasis. e.g.: (1) He is familiar to me. (2) Im familiar with him,主位意義,a. A man is waiting in the hall. b. Theres a man waiting in the hall. a. My brother owns the largest betting-s

18、hop in London. b. The largest betting-shop in London belongs to my brother. a. What I need is a ticket. b. A ticket is what I need,Pragmatic approach,Treat meaning as what is communicated through language, taking into account the context, language user, communicative conventions and principles, etc,

19、Im in a bath,Son: The phone is ringing,Dad, the phone is ringing,ASK: What does the father mean,Cognitive approach,Meaning extensions of words seen as metaphorical or metonymic processes. To be detailed in next lecture,7.2 Semantic properties,Words are seen as composed of universal semantic properti

20、es or features. P. 105 Discuss PP. 107-108 No. 2,7.3 Semantic relations,A. Synonymy B. Antonymy C. Hyponymy （上下義關(guān)系） D. Meronymy (部分-整體關(guān)系,Synonymy,Absolute synonymy: same in meaning; grammatically/stylistically/ contextually substitutable Synonymy in a loose sense: buy-purchase fall-autumn wide-broad

21、 handsome-pretty reach-arrive at/in mature-ripe influence-effect /affect,Antonymy,a. gradable opposites b. complementary opposites c. relational opposites,a. Gradable opposites,tall-short long-short old-young -allow of intermediate states -take -er/-est -one in unmarked use How tall/old is he? Hes t

22、hree months old. -relative/fuzzy a big mouse, a small elephant a big pearl/ball/house/mountain/country,Discuss,PP. 109-110 No. 5,b. Complementary opposites,alive-dead male-female boy-girl present-absent true-false hit-miss,c. Relational/converse opposites,buy-sell lend-borrow parent-child teacher-st

23、udent above-below before-after,Hyponymy （上下義關(guān)系,Hyponymy is a relation of inclusion. A hyponym or a specific word includes the meaning of a more general word e.g. dog and cat are hyponyms of animal,Superordinates, hyponyms, co-hyponyms,Living Things,Animal,Plant,Creature,Insect,Vegetable,Flower,Tree,

24、Horse,Dog,Snake,上義詞,下義詞,同屬下義詞,Meronymy （部分-整體關(guān)系,Meronymy is part-whole relationship between lexical items. e.g. a finger is a part of a hand, a hand is a part of an arm, an arm is a part of a body. Linguistics call the part-whole relation meronymy, from meros (part) + nym (name). Therefore, finger i

25、s a meronym of hand, hand is a meronym of arm, arm is a meronym of body,Discuss PP. 108-109 No. 3,Homonymy, homophony, homography and polysemy,homonymy （同形同音異義）: I drove to the bank this morning. homophony（同音異義）: flour-flower sweet-suite waist-waste meet-meat Homography（同形異音異義）: lead(鉛）lead（引導(dǎo)） wind

26、 （風(fēng)）wind (蜿蜒） Polysemy （多義性）: operation “（外科）手術(shù)”、“（機器） 操作”、“（商）經(jīng)營”、“（復(fù)）軍事演習(xí)、作戰(zhàn)”、“（數(shù)）運算” 打 電話/飯/字/人/火/聽/燈/水/草/盹/顫, etc,Practice,What is the semantic relation between the following pairs of words? (a) shallow/ deep (b) mature/ ripe (c) table/furniture (d) single/married (e) move/run (f) parent/child (

27、g) school-college (h) body-belly,Semiotic triangle (Ogden and Richards 1923,Symbol/Word Referent/Object/Thing,Reference/Thought/Concept,Stand for,Refer to,Symbolize,7.4 Sense and reference,Sense 意義: abstract conceptual property/content Reference 所指: concrete entity A word may have sense but no refer

28、ence, like but, to. ASK: Do we have other words that have sense but not reference,the man who married my sister the man who is my brother-in-law The Morning Star is the Evening Star The Morning Star is the Morning Star. Whats the difference,Assignments,P. 107 No. 1 P. 113 No. 1 P. 115 No. 8, 9,Lectu

29、re 8,The meaning of English (II,What do “sense” and “reference” mean respectively? Use an example to illustrate,Review,Major contents,8.1 Semantic categorization 8.2 Semantic extension 8.3 Sentence semantics 8.4 Semantic roles,8.1 Semantic categorization,The notion of “prototype” P. 133 No. 2,8.2 Se

30、mantic extension,1. Metaphor foot/腳：foot of the hill 山腳；the foot of the bed 床腳 head/頭：核彈頭nuclear head；頭條新聞；headline,Some metaphors,Conceptual metaphors: win an argument; indefensible arguments PP. 127-128 No. 2, 3 Orientational metaphors: P. 128 No. 4,Metonymy （轉(zhuǎn)喻,one word or phrase is substituted f

31、or another with which it is closely associated. e.g. Washington for the United States government; the sword for military power; olive branch for peace (Arafat: a gun in one hand and an olive branch in the other) I like to read Jack London. Hes going to meet his Waterloo,Presentation Session,Metonymy

32、 in English PP. 130-131 No. 8,Synecdoche (提喻,a part is used for the whole (as hand for labor), the whole for a part (as the law for police officer), the specific for the general (as cutthroat for assassin), the general for the specific (as thief for pickpocket), the container for the contained (as b

33、ottle for wine), or the material for the thing from which it is made (as Cotton suits you). 一帆風(fēng)順；貪杯 I met a couple of new faces yesterday. representational metaphor what else,A. Radiation （輻射） An important process by which words extend their meaning is called radiation. The primary or central meanin

34、g appears at the centre in the form of a hub and secondary meanings radiate out from the centre like the spokes of a wheel. Each of the secondary meanings is independent of all the rest, and may be traced back to the central signification. Take power for example. Its central meaning is ability to ac

35、t. It may refer to (1) control over ones subordinates; (2) delegated authority; (3) physical strength; (4) mechanical energy; (5) moral or intellectual force; (6) a person of influence; etc,B. Concatenation （串聯(lián),Another process, as opposed to radiation, is called concatenation. It means that a word m

36、oves gradually away from its original sense as a result of successive semantic changes until, in many cases, there is not a trace of connection between the sense that is finally developed and the primary sense. For example, candidate originally meant a person dressed in white. Then, a white-robed se

37、eker for the office, now an applicant for office, which is no longer related to the original idea,8.3 Sentence semantics,John loves Mary. /Mary loves John. The meaning of a sentence is not the sum of the meanings of the words that make up the sentence. lexical meaning vs. grammatical/structural mean

38、ing,Meaning and truth of a sentence,Truth conditions,Relations between sentences,A. Entailment (蘊涵） B. Presupposition （前提，預(yù)設(shè)） C. Inconsistency （矛盾） D. Synonymy （同義） E. Implicature （隱含，含意,A. Entailment,X) She saw a girl. (Y) She saw a child. (X) He is in love. (Y) He has a girlfriend. When we say X e

39、ntails B, we mean: If X is true, Y must be true. (because “a girl” entails “a child”) If X is false (e.g. She saw a teacher/boy), Y may be true or false. If Y is true, X may be true (e.g. a girl) and false (e.g. a boy). If Y is false (e.g. a teacher), X must be false,B. Presupposition,X) Jacks wife

40、fell ill. (Y) Jack had a wife. (X) I lost 1 million pounds. (Y) I once had 1 million pounds. (X) I opened the door. (Y) The door was shut. When we say X presupposes Y, we mean: If X is true, Y is also true. If X is to be true, Y must be true; If X is false (e.g. Jacks wife went to work), Y can still

41、 be true; If Y is false (i.e. Jack had no wife), X must be false,C. Inconsistency,X) Jack is in town. (Y) He is away on business. (X) Tom is married to Mary. (Y) He is a bachelor. (X) John passed the exam. (Y) He was failed by the teacher. When we say X is inconsistent with Y, we mean: Either X is t

42、rue or Y is true. Either X is false or Y is false. X and Y cannot be true or false at the same time,D. Synonymy,X) Jack is still single. (Y) He is a bachelor. (X) The boy killed the dog. (Y) The dog was killed by the boy. (X) Jack sits on the left of Tom. (Y) Tom sits on the right of Jack. When we s

43、ay X is synonymous with Y, we mean: When X is true, Y must be true. When X is false, Y must be false. X and Y share the same truth conditions. (真值條件,E. Implicature,X: I cut a finger when I was preparing the dish. Y: I cut one of my finger. X: Jack dated a woman last night. Y: Jack dated a woman who

44、was neither his sister nor his mother. A: Are you coming to the lecture this afternoon? (X) B: Im not feeling well. Y: Im not going to the lecture this afternoon. What can we say about the relation between X and Y,Meaningfulness and semantic ill-formedness,A. Redundancy （冗余，羨余） B. Tautology (同義反復(fù)） C

45、. Semantic anomaly （語義畸形,A. Redundancy,It refers to the situation in which an utterance contains more information than is necessary for successful communication. e.g. She is a student. les jaunes tudientes la grande salle She is a female student. He is a single bachelor. He repeated the sentence again,B. Tautology It refers to the situation where the information contained in an argument （題元）