大學(xué)英語新編語言學(xué)教程Chapter 5 Semantics

Chapter5SemanticsContentsWhatisSemantics12MeaningsofMEANING3SenceandReference4Majorsemanticrelationsamongwords5Majorsemanticrelationsamongsentences6AnalysisofMeaning5.1WhatisSemantics?

ThedefinitionofsemanticsSemanticscanbesimplydefinedasthestudyofmeaning.Semanticsisthestudyofthemeaningoflinguisticunits,wordsandsentencesinparticular.Whatisthe“MEANING”?

Meanings“ofmeaning”O(jiān)nedifficultyinthestudyofMEANINGisthattheword“meaning”itselfhasdifferentmeanings.SeventypesofmeaningrecognizedbyG.LeechinhisSemantics(1974,p.23)ConceptualmeaningConnotativemeaningSocialmeaningAffectivemeaningReflectedmeaningCollocativemeaningThematicmeaning概念意義內(nèi)涵意義社會意義感情意義反映意義搭配意義主題意義Leechsaysthefirsttypeofmeaning–conceptualmeaning–makesupthecentralmeaning,itisconcernedwiththerelationshipbetweenawordandthethingsitdenotes.Inthissense,conceptualmeaningoverlapstoalargeextentwiththenotionofREFERENCE.利奇認(rèn)為，第一種意義是概念意義，它是詞義的核心，它表示詞和它所指事物之間的關(guān)系。從這種意義上說，概念意義在很大程度上與指稱意義相交叉。SenseandreferenceLeech’sconceptualmeaninghastwosides:senseandreference.P66Senseisconcernedwiththeinherentmeaningoflinguisticform,thecollectionofallitsfeatures,itisabstractandde-contextualized.Itistheaspectofmeaningdictionarycompilersareinterestedin.意義指的是語言形式的內(nèi)在意義。它是語言形式所有特征的集合，是抽象的，而且與語境無關(guān)，是詞典編纂者所感興趣的方面Referencemeansalinguisticformreferstointherealphysicalworld;itdealswiththerelationshipbetweenthelinguisticelementandnon-linguisticworldofexperience.指稱意指語言形式在現(xiàn)實的物質(zhì)世界中的所指的事物，它涉及的是語言成分和非語言的經(jīng)驗世界之間的關(guān)系。Leechalsousessenseasabriefertermforhisconceptualmeaning.Inthissense,“sense”isequivalentto“concept”.Thedefinitionof“desk”as“apieceoffurniturewithaflattopandfourlegs,atwhichonereadsandwrites”mayalsocalledthesenseofthedesk.Awordhavingreferencemusthavesense.Explainthedifferencebetweensenseandreferencefromthefollowingfouraspects:幻燈片9Tosomeextent,Everywordhasasense,i.e.someconceptualcontent;otherwiseitcannotbeusedorunderstood.Andthewordslike

God,ghostanddragonrefertothe

imaginarythings,whichdonotexistinreality.Awordhavingsensemightnothavereference.Butnoteverywordhasareference.Therearelinguisticexpressionswhichcanneverbeusedtorefer,forexample,thewordsso,very,maybe,if,notandall.Thesewordsdoofcoursecontributemeaningtothesentencestheyoccurinandthushelpsentencesdenote,buttheydonotthemselvesidentifyentitiesintheworld.Theyareintrinsicallynon-referringitems.Acertainsensecanberealizedbymorethanonereference.Someexpressionswillhavethesamereferentacrossarangeofutterances,e.g.TheEiffelTowelorthePacificOcean,

such

expressionsaresometimesdescribedashavingconstantreference.Othershavetheirreferencetotallydependentoncontext,expressionslikeI,you,she,etc.aresaidtohavevariablereference.Acertainreferencecanbeexpressedbymorethanonesense.Therearecaseswhenareferencecanbeexpressedbymorethanonesense.Eveningstar(aplanet-usuallyVenus-seenatsunsetinthewesternsky)

andmorningstar(aplanet-usuallyVenus-seenjustbeforesunriseintheeasternsky)nearlyalwaysreferstoVenus.Buteachofthempresentsaparticularemotionaltemperamentandaparticularsenseofvalues,meaning,idealsandappreciations.Conceptualist/MentalismView(概念論)Conceptualistviewholdsthatthereisnodirectlinkbetweenalinguisticformandwhatitrefersto(i.e.betweenlanguageandtherealworld;rather,intheinterpretationofmeaningtheyarelinkedthroughthemediationofconceptsinourmind.MentalismorConceptualismfollowsSaussure’s“sign”theory,andconsidersthelinguisticsigntoconsistofasignifierandsignified,i.e.,asoundimageandaconcept,linkedbyapsychological“associative”bondConceptSignifiersignifiedThisisbestillustratedbytheclassicsemantictriangleortriangleofsignificance)Atheorywhichexplicitlyemploysthenotion“concept”isthesemantictriangleproposedbyOgdenandRichardsinTheMeaningofMeaning.Accordingtothe“semantictriangle”theory,therelationbetweenawordandathingitreferstoisnotdirect.Itismediatedbyconcept.THOUGHT/REFERENCESYMBOL/FROMREFERENT

AcertainconceptinourmindDOGparticulardog(Thedogovertherelooksunfriendly)Contexualism

語境論Theyholdthatmeaningshouldbestudiedintermsofsituation,use,context-elementscloselylinkedwithlanguagebehavior.ArepresentativeofthisapproachisJ.R.Firth,theleadingBritishlinguistoftheperiod.Thecontextualistviewofmeaningisbasedonthepresumptionthatonecanderivemeaningfromorreducemeaningtoobservablecontexts.Twokindsofcontextarerecognized:thesituationalcontextandthelinguisticcontext.BehaviorismBehavioristattemptedtodefinethemeaningofalanguagefromas“thesituationinwhichthespeakeruttersitandtheresponseitcallsforthinthehearer.”Thistheory,somewhatclosetothecontextualism,islinkedwithpsychologicalinterestThisviewofmeaningproposedbyBloomfieldisillustratedbyhisstoryaboutJackandJill.Majorsemanticrelationsamongwords-certainrelationsbetweenlexicalitemsSynonymyAntonymyPolysemyHomonymyHoponymySynonymyreferstothesamenessorclosesimilarityofmeaning.Dialectalsynonyms-synonymsusedindifferentregionaldialects(BrE&AmE)Stylisticsynonyms-synonymsdifferentinstyle,ordegreeofformalitySynonymsthatdifferintheiremotiveorevaluativemeaningCollocationalsynonymsSemanticallydifferentsynonymsThesenserelationshipbetweenKid,childandoffspring________.Thesenserelationshipbetweenbuyandpurchase

is________Thesenserelationshipbetweenautumnandfall

is_________________.Thesenserelationshipbetweenthriftyandstingy

is_________________.“Kids”and“children”aresynonymsdespitetheirstylisticdifferencestylistic

(casual,neutral,formal)synonymydialectalsynonymyemotivesynonymy(T)AntonymyThetermantonymyisusedforoppositenessofmeaning;wordsthatareoppositeinmeaningareantonyms.Gradableantonyms(兩極之間):someantonymsaregradablebecausethereareoftenintermediateformsbetweenthetwomembersofapair.itisthematterofthedegreeofthetwoextremes.Complementaryantonyms（非此即彼）;Apairofcomplementaryantonymsischaracterizedbythefeaturethatthedenialofonememberofthepairimpliestheassertion(肯定)oftheother.Itisthematterofeitheroneortheother.Relationalopposites（關(guān)系顛倒）-converseantonymy：Pairofwordsthatexhibittherehearsaloftherelationshipbetweenthetwoitemscalledrelationalopposites.Thesenserelationshipbetween(bigandsmall)/(longandshort)/(wideandnarrow)Thesenserelationshipbetween(husbandandwife)/(teacherandstudents)(borrowandlend)/(overandunder)/(beforeandafter)Thesenserelationshipbetween(deadandalive)/(maleandfemale)(presentandabsent)/(relinquishandretain)（放棄/保存）Gradableantonyms/opposites-gradability

Converseantonyms(relationalopposites)Complementaryantonyms-complementarityPolysemyThesameonewordmayhavemorethanonemeaningSuchwordiscalledapolysemicorpolysemousword.Thewordscreenhasmanydifferentmeaningssuchasinafirescreen,atelevisionscreen.Thisiscalled________.boot/trunk_________________.(靴子/行李箱)polysemypolysemouswordsHomonymy同音異義Homonymyreferstothephenomenonthatwordshavingdifferentmeaningshavethesameform,i.e.differentwordsareidenticalinsoundorspelling,orinboth.Homophones(identicalsound)Homographs(identicalspelling)Completehomonyms(identicalsoundandspelling)Thephenomenonthatwordshavingdifferentmeaningshavethesameformiscalled________.Thesenserelationshipbetweenseeandseais_________.tale/tail:_________.flour-flower:________.homonymyhomonymyhomonymshomonymyHyponymyHyponymyreferstothesenserelationsbetweenamoregeneral,moreinclusiveandamorespecificword.Thewordwhichismoregeneralinmeaningiscalledthesuperordinate

(上坐標(biāo)詞),andthemorespecificwordsarecalleditshyponyms(下位詞).Thesenserelationshipbetweenfurnitureanddeskis________.Thesenserelationshipbetweencolorandyellowis_________.Termslike“desk”and“stool”(凳子)are________oftheterm“furniture”satellite/moon

fabric/rayon(人造纖維):________ThemeaningrelationshipbetweenMANandGROWN-UPhyponymousbecausethesemanticfeaturesofMANareincludedinthoseofGROWN-UP.hyponymyhyponymyhyponymshyponymy(T)Semantically,BEEFisexcludedinMEAT.“Tulip”,“rose”,and“violet”areallincludedinthenotionof“flower”,thereforetheyaresuperordinatesof“flowers”.tree-maple,birch(樺樹):_________(F)hyponymy(F)Majorsemanticrelationsamongsentences(certainrelationshipsbetweensentencesandalsotheconstituentsofthesamesentence)Ofthefivesemanticrelationsamongsentences:paraphrase;entailment;contradiction;presupposition;andtautology.(贅述)Themeaningofasentenceistheresultofthemeaningsofthewordsusedinitanditssyntacticstructure.句子意義是詞語意義和句子結(jié)構(gòu)共同作用的結(jié)果Logicalsemanticsstudieshowthetruthofacompositepropositionisdeterminedbythetruthvalueofitsconstituentpropositionsandtheconnectionsbetweenthem.邏輯語義學(xué)研究成分命題真值及成分命題之間的關(guān)系如何決定復(fù)合命題真值。Paraphrase(真真假假)1)XissynonymouswithYIntermsoftruthcondition,ifXistrue,Yistrue,andifXisfalse,Yisfalse.(twosentencesmutuallyentaileachother)EntailmentisanentailmentofX)Intermsoftruthcondition,ifXistrue,YisnecessarilytrueIfXisfalse,YmaybetrueorfalsePresupposition(YisaprerequisiteofX)Intermsoftruthcondition,ifXistrue,YmustbetrueifXisfalse,Yisstilltrue.Contradiction/tautology(贅述絕對真理)Iftwosentencescannotbetrueatthesametimeandinthesamesituation,theycanbecontradictoryofeachother.Theunnecessaryandusuallyunintentionaluseof

twowordstoexpressonemeaningThesenserelationshipbetween“Johnplaystheviolin”and“Johnplaysamusicalinstrument”is_________.2)“Semanticsisthescientificstudyofmeaning”isa_________.3)Inthefollowingpairofsentences,Sentence(b)presupposesSentence(a):Johnmanagedtofinishintime.(b)Johntriedtofinishitintime.entailmenttautology(T)A:Isawaboy.B:Isawachild.__________從邏輯上講,如果A為真,B一定為真;如果A為假,B可能為真,可能為假.(我沒看到一個男孩,那么B可真可假有可能看到一個女孩)AentailsBA:Tom

has