英語語言學實用教程PPT課件

1、Review What are common means of cohesion in English? What do we mean by conversational repair?第1頁/共77頁Contents7.1 The notion of semantics7.2 Semantic properties7.3 Semantic relations7.4 Sense and reference第2頁/共77頁7.1 The notion of semanticsSemantics is the study of the meaning of language (and the c

2、ommunication of meaning through language).第3頁/共77頁The meaning of meanASK: 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 mean to be late.(6) The

3、boy wasnt meant to be there. 第4頁/共77頁(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. (supposed to)More:(7)

4、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)第5頁/共77頁Approaches to the study of meaningtraditional approachstructuralist approachfunctional approac

5、hpragmatic approachcognitive approach 第6頁/共77頁Traditional approach A. Naming/labeling vs. convention“moon”第7頁/共77頁 PP. 111-112 No. 10第8頁/共77頁Presentation Session The naming of people in English第9頁/共77頁Structuralist approachTreats meaning as semantic structures formed by semantic components/ semantic

6、 features - componential analysis (語義成分分析）. 第10頁/共77頁Componential analysisCA is a process that breaks down the meaning of a word into its minimal distinctive f e a t u re s o r p ro p e r t i e s ( s e m a n t i c c o m p o n e n t s / f e a t u re s ) u s i n g f e a t u re s y m b o l s (metalangu

7、age 元語言).woman-+HUMAN MALE +ADULT boy-+HUMAN +MALE ADULT girl- +HUMAN - MALE -ADULT第11頁/共77頁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.第12頁/共77

8、頁Seven types of meaning -conceptual meaning: logical, cognitive, denotative content -associative meanings: connotative meaning social/stylistic meaning affective meaning reflected meaning collocative meaning -thematic meaning第13頁/共77頁a. Conceptual meaning (概念意義)The conceptual or denotative meaning o

9、f a linguistic form is the person, object, abstract notion, event or state which the word or sentence denotes.e.g. school, hospital 第14頁/共77頁b. Connotative meaning Definition: it is the communicative value/subjective interpretation attached to its purely conceptual meaning. e.g.: The man is a fox. s

10、tatesman, politician 第15頁/共77頁Characteristics Connotations are relatively unstable. They vary considerably according 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: dra

11、gon, dog, elephant (White Elephant)ASK: What does white elephant mean in English?第16頁/共77頁 A B CPositive connotation Neutral Negative connotation stout fat corpulent investigator detective spy decease die pegged out slim thin skinny strong-minded firm pig-headed public servant government employeebur

12、eaucratConnotation:第17頁/共77頁c. Social/stylistic meaningIt refers to what language conveys about the social circumstances of its use. It relates to peoples recognition of different dimensions and levels of style with the same language.（社會/文體意義）第18頁/共77頁steed (poetic) residence (formal)horse (general)

13、 abode (poetic) nag (slang) home (general)gee-gee (baby language) domicile (very formal, official) throw (general) tiny (colloquial)chuck (casual, slang) diminutive (very formal)cast (literal,biblical) wee (colloquial,dialectal)第19頁/共77頁d. Affective meaning It has to do with the personal feelings of

14、 the speaker, including his attitude to the listener, or his attitude to something he is talking about. Its often explicitly conveyed through conceptual or connotative content of the words used.（情感意義）第20頁/共77頁 “Youre a vicious tyrant and villain and I hate you!” I am terribly sorry to interrupt, but

15、 I wonder if you would be so kind as to lower your voices a little. Shut up! Keep your mouth shut!第21頁/共77頁e. Reflected meaning Reflected meaning: the meaning which arises in cases of multiple conceptual meaning, when one sense of a word is so strong that it forms part of our response to another sen

16、se. Example: words having a taboo meaning, such as gay, intercourse（反映意義）第22頁/共77頁f. Collocative meaning It refers to the associations a word acquires on account of its mutual expectancy with some other words which tend to occur in its environment. Example: pretty and handsome pretty girl, boy, woma

17、n, 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）第23頁/共77頁g. Thematic Meaning It refers to what is communicated by the way in which a speaker or writer organizes the message, in terms of ordering, focu

18、s, and emphasis. e.g.: (1) He is familiar to me. (2) Im familiar with him.（主位意義）第24頁/共77頁 a. A man is waiting in the hall. b. Theres a man waiting in the hall. a. My brother owns the largest betting-shop in London. b. The largest betting-shop in London belongs to my brother. a. What I need is a tick

19、et. b. A ticket is what I need.第25頁/共77頁Pragmatic approach Treat meaning as what is communicated through language, taking into account the context, language user, communicative conventions and principles, etc.第26頁/共77頁Im in a bath.Son: The phone is ringingDad, the phone is ringing!ASK: What does the

20、 father mean?第27頁/共77頁Cognitive approach Meaning extensions of words seen as metaphorical or metonymic processes. To be detailed in next lecture第28頁/共77頁7.2 Semantic propertiesWords are seen as composed of universal semantic properties or features.P. 105DiscussPP. 107-108 No. 2第29頁/共77頁7.3 Semantic

21、relationsA. SynonymyB. AntonymyC. Hyponymy （上下義關(guān)系）D. Meronymy (部分-整體關(guān)系）第30頁/共77頁SynonymyAbsolute synonymy: same in meaning; grammatically/stylistically/ contextually substitutable Synonymy in a loose sense: buy-purchase fall-autumn wide-broad handsome-pretty reach-arrive at/in mature-ripe influence-

22、effect /affect 第31頁/共77頁Antonymya. gradable oppositesb. complementary oppositesc. relational opposites第32頁/共77頁a. Gradable oppositestall-short long-short old-young-allow of intermediate states-take -er/-est-one in unmarked use How tall/old is he? Hes three months old.-relative/fuzzy a big mouse, a s

23、mall elephant a big pearl/ball/house/mountain/country第33頁/共77頁Discuss PP. 109-110 No. 5第34頁/共77頁b. Complementary oppositesalive-dead male-female boy-girlpresent-absent true-falsehit-miss第35頁/共77頁c. Relational/converse oppositesbuy-sell lend-borrow parent-child teacher-studentabove-below before-after

24、 第36頁/共77頁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第37頁/共77頁Superordinates, hyponyms, co-hyponymsLiving ThingsAnimalPlantCreatureInsectVegetableFlowerTreeHorseDogSnake（上義詞）（下義

25、詞）（同屬下義詞）第38頁/共77頁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 is a meronym

26、of hand, hand is a meronym of arm, arm is a meronym of body.第39頁/共77頁Discuss PP. 108-109 No. 3第40頁/共77頁Homonymy, homophony, homography and polysemyhomonymy （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-meatHomography（同形異音異義）: lead(鉛）lead（引導(dǎo)） w

27、ind （風）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、作戰(zhàn)”、“（數(shù)）運算”打 電話/飯/字/人/火/聽/燈/水/草/盹/顫, etc.第41頁/共77頁PracticeWhat 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

28、/child(g) school-college (h) body-belly 第42頁/共77頁Semiotic triangle (Ogden and Richards 1923) Symbol/Word Referent/Object/ThingReference/Thought/Concept Stand forRefer toSymbolize第43頁/共77頁 Sense 意義: abstract conceptual property/content Reference 所指: concrete entity A word may have sense but no refere

29、nce, like but, to. ASK: Do we have other words that have sense but not reference?第44頁/共77頁 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?第45頁/共77頁Assignments P. 107 No. 1 P. 113 No. 1 P.

30、115 No. 8, 9第46頁/共77頁Lecture 8The meaning of English (II)第47頁/共77頁 What do “sense” and “reference” mean respectively? Use an example to illustrate.Review:第48頁/共77頁Major contents 8.1 Semantic categorization8.2 Semantic extension8.3 Sentence semantics8.4 Semantic roles 第49頁/共77頁8.1 Semantic categoriza

31、tionThe notion of “prototype”P. 133 No. 2第50頁/共77頁8.2 Semantic extension1. Metaphorfoot/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第51頁/共77頁Some metaphors Conceptual metaphors: win an argument; indefensible argumentsPP. 127-128 No. 2, 3 Orientational metaphors: P

32、. 128 No. 4第52頁/共77頁第53頁/共77頁 Metonymy （轉(zhuǎn)喻） one word or phrase is substituted for 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

33、 read Jack London. Hes going to meet his Waterloo.第54頁/共77頁Presentation Session Metonymy in English PP. 130-131 No. 8第55頁/共77頁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 assassi

34、n), the general for the specific (as thief for pickpocket), the container for the contained (as bottle for wine), or the material for the thing from which it is made (as Cotton suits you). 一帆風順；貪杯 I met a couple of new faces yesterday. representational metaphor what else?第56頁/共77頁 A. Radiation （輻射）

35、An important process by which words extend their meaning is called radiation. The primary or central meaning 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 ma

36、y be traced back to the central signification. Take power for example. Its central meaning is ability to act. 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. 第5

37、7頁/共77頁B. Concatenation （串聯(lián)） Another process, as opposed to radiation, is called concatenation. It means that a word moves 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 deve

38、loped and the primary sense. For example, candidate originally meant a person dressed in white. Then, a white-robed seeker for the office, now an applicant for office, which is no longer related to the original idea.第58頁/共77頁8.3 Sentence semanticsJohn loves Mary. /Mary loves John.The meaning of a se

39、ntence is not the sum of the meanings of the words that make up the sentence. lexical meaning vs. grammatical/structural meaning第59頁/共77頁Meaning and truth of a sentence Truth conditions第60頁/共77頁Relations between sentencesA. Entailment (蘊涵）B. Presupposition （前提，預(yù)設(shè)）C. Inconsistency （矛盾）D. Synonymy （同義

40、）E. Implicature （隱含，含意）第61頁/共77頁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 entails 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

41、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.第62頁/共77頁 B. Presupposition(X) Jacks wife 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

42、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 be true;If Y is false (i.e. Jack had no wife), X must be false.第63頁/共77頁C. Inconsistency(X) Jack is in town. (Y) He is away on business.(X) Tom is married

43、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 true or Y is true.Either X is false or Y is false.X and Y cannot be true or false at the same time.第64頁/共77頁D. Synonymy(X) Jack is still single. (Y) He i

44、s 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 say 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）第

45、65頁/共77頁E. ImplicatureX: 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 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

46、 this afternoon.What can we say about the relation between X and Y?第66頁/共77頁Meaningfulness and semantic ill-formednessA. Redundancy （冗余，羨余）B. Tautology (同義反復(fù)）C. Semantic anomaly （語義畸形）第67頁/共77頁A. RedundancyIt 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 salleShe is a female student.He is a single bachelor.He repeated the sentence again.第68頁/共77頁B. TautologyIt refers to the situation where the information contained in an argument （題元）includes the