Chapter 6 Semantics

English Linguistics: An Introduction

Chapter 6 Semantics

0. Warm-up Questions 1. Definition 2. Meanings of Meaning 3. Types of Meaning 4. Word Meaning 5. Sentence Meaning

0. Warm-up Questions

What is the meaning of meaning? What is the relationship among meaning, word and the

referent? What are the different relations between words in terms

of meaning? What are the affecting factors of a sentence meaning?

1. Definition

The subject concerning the study of meaning is called semantics. More specifically, semantics is the study of meaning of linguistic units, words and sentences in particular. (p93)

2. Meanings of Meaning2.1 Nominalism Words are just names or labels for things.2.2 Conceptualism Language and the real world are linked

through the mediation of concepts (semantic triangle).

2.4 Behaviorism Meaning consists in the relation between

speech and physical entities and events. (S-r-s-R figure)

2.3 Contextualism Meaning can be derived from observable

contexts.

3 Types of Meaning3.1 The traditional approach (Fries 1952) Lexical: “meaningful” parts of speech (n. v.

a. adv.) Structural: other parts of speech,

grammatical functions (SVOC), grammatical categories (tense, mood, etc)

3.2 The functional approach (Leech 1981) Conceptual: logical, cognitive, or denotative

content / basic, criterial (The word woman has three criterial semantic features: +human, +adult, -male.)

Connotative: by virtue of what language refers to / referent (additional and non-criterial properties of WOMEN: skirt wearing, sensitive, emotional, etc)

3 Types of Meaning3.2 The functional approach (Leech 1981) Social: of the social contexts of language

use / stylistic (father, dad, daddy) Affective: of the feelings and attitudes of

the speaker/writer / emotive, evaluative (statesman and politician, collaborator and accomplice)

Reflected: through association with another sense of the same expression / associative (Comforter, Holy Spirit, Rooster/cock)

3 Types of Meaning3.2 The functional approach (Leech 1981) Collocative: through association with co-

occurrent words / collocational (rotten tomatoes, addled eggs, rancid butter and sour milk)

Thematic: through the message organization in terms of order and emphasis / organizational (This book I have not read. I and you, you and I)

3 Types of Meaning3.3 The pragmatic approach (Palmer 1976 and Lyons 1977) Sentence meaning: the conventional content

or literal meaning of a sentence Utterance meaning: the realization of the

sentence meaning in a context

4. Word Meaning4.1 Sense vs. reference (Gottlob Frege

1892) Sense: the inherent, abstract and

decontextualized meaning of words, including all their features. For example, a dog is a domesticated canine mammal, occurring in many breeds that show a great variety in size and form.

Reference: what a linguistic form refers to in the real physical world. The word dog in “The dog is barking” refers to a dog known to both the speaker and the listener.

4. Word Meaning4.1 Sense vs. Reference (Gottlob Frege

1892) Relations between the two Sense means the abstract properties of an

entity; Reference means the concrete entities with such properties.

Every word has a sense, but not every word has a reference. (prep, art, etc)

Linguistic forms having the same sense may have different references in different situations. (This book is easier than that book.)

Linguistic forms with the same reference may differ in sense. (Morning star and evening star, 总书记、国家主席和军委主席 )

4. Word Meaning4.2 Sense Relations Synonymy: sameness or close similarity of

meaning dialectal synonyms: Autumn/fall, lift/elevator,

lorry/truck stylistic synonyms: Daddy/father,

start/commence, die/pass away emotive/evaluative synonyms:

Collaborator/accomplice, statesman/politician collocational synonyms: Rotten tomatoes,

addled eggs and rancid butter semantic synonyms: Amaze/astound/surprise

4. Word Meaning4.2 Sense Relations Antonymy: contrast or oppositeness of

meaning gradable/comparative antonyms: Old/young,

hot/cold complementary/absolute antonyms:

Alive/dead, male/female relational/converse antonyms:

Husband/wife, teacher/student, buy/sell

4. Word Meaning4.2 Sense Relations Hyponymy: meaning inclusion Hyponymy is a matter of class membership.

The upper term, i.e. the class name, is called superordinate, and the lower terms, the members, hyponyms. The members of the same class are co-hyponyms. Both a superordinate and hyponyms may be missing, e.g. beard, moustache and whiskers lack a superordinate, and uncles ( 伯伯、叔叔、舅舅、姑父、姨父 ) and rice （稻、谷、米、 饭） .

4. Word Meaning4.2 Sense Relations Polysemy: the same one word with more

than one meaning The English language has an interesting

history. (Kind) BASIC is the language most programmers

learn first. (Variety) A dictionary is an invaluable aid in learning

a new language. (System)

4. Word Meaning4.2 Sense Relations Homonymy: different words identical in

sound or spelling, or in both homophones: night/knight, rain/reign,

piece/peace, leak/leek homographs: bow (v. /n.), tear (v. /n.), lead

(v. /n.) complete homonyms: fast 快速的 / 禁食 , scale

鳞 / 刻度

5. Sentence Meaning

5.2 Principle of Compositionality

5.1 Grammaticality and Meaningfulness Grammaticality: grammatical/structural

meaning, governed by grammatical rules Meaningfulness: semantic meaning,

governed by selectional restrictions

Meanings of sentence components Structural meaning (word order, hierarchical

structure) Thematic meaning

5. Sentence Meaning5.3 Sense Relations X is synonymous with Y. X: He was a bachelor all his life. Y: He never married all his life. X is inconsistent with Y. X: John is married. Y: John is a bachelor. X entails Y. (Y is an entailment of X) X: He has been to France. Y: He has been to Europe.

5. Sentence Meaning5.3 Sense Relations X presupposes Y. (Y is a prerequisite of X) X: John’s bike needs repairing. Y: John has a bike. X is a contradiction. X: My unmarried sister is married. X is semantically anomalous. X: The table has bad intentions. X is a tautology.

X: The orphan has no father.