Semasiology • Semasilogy is branch of lexicology which deals with the study of meaning. It comes from the two Greek words σημασία (semasia) "signification, meaning" σημαίνω (semaino) "indicate, signify“). • Sometimes the term "semantics" is used synonymously. But most often the latter stands for the meaning of one particular word in all its varied aspects and nuances (i. e. the semantics of a word = the meaning of a word). • When we speak of semasiology in general, we usually refer to the study of word-meaning proper, since words play a crucial (= extremely significant or important) part in the structure of language. • At the same time semasiology has for its subject morphology and syntax. In other words S. deapls with the exploration of the semantics sentences and of such elements as suffixes, prefixes, etc.
Word-meaning Two approaches • In present-day linguistics there are two approaches to the study of word-meaning – referential approach and functional approach. R. approach studies the w-meaning by establishing the interdependence between words and the things or concepts they denote. Functional approach deals with the study of the meaning of a linguistic unit through its relation to other linguistic units.
Referential approach • Up to now more or less significant studies of meaning have been based on RA. The essence of this approach is that it distinguishes between the three components closely connected with meaning: the sound form of the linguistic sign, the concept underlying this sound-form, and the actual referent, that is that object of extralinguistic reality, to which this sign refers.
Basic triangle
![The place of meaning • It is clearly seen that the sound-form [dʌv] is](https://present5.com/presentation/196686334_285888999/image-5.jpg "The place of meaning • It is clearly seen that the sound-form [dʌv] is")
The place of meaning • It is clearly seen that the sound-form [dʌv] is connected with our concept of the referent and through it with the referent, i. e. the actual bird Any referential approach proceeds from the implication that meaning is in some way or other connected with the referent.
The place of meaning • It is seen that the sound-form is not identical (=exactly equal; the same) with its meaning, since the sound-form [dʌv] is used to denote a pearl-grey bird. • There is no inherent (неотъемлемый, присущий) connection between the soundcluster (звукоряд, набор звуков) • The connection is arbitrary and conventional
Форма слова и значение связаны условно и произвольно • • Connection of sound-form and meaning (1) Cf. Russian golub’ French pigeon German Taube Turkish güvercin Swedish duva Latin columbam Arabic ﺣﻤﺎﻣﺔ
Connection of sound-form and meaning (2) • Let us now compare the identical soundclusters: • Russian [kot] male cat and English [kot] = a small usually swinging bed for a child • French [bel] beautiful and Kabardian [bel] = spade • Russian [ʃɪp] thorn and English [ʃɪp] a vessel
Connection of sound-form and meaning (3) • Let us now point to the homonyms Seal a substance, esp. wax placed over an envelope, document Seal any of numerous carnivorous = flesh-eating or predatory (= an organism that lives by preying on other organisms) marine mammals
Connection of sound-form and meaning (4) One more proof. • If the sound-form were inherently connected with the meaning a slightest change in soundform would necessarily bring about the change of meaning cf. : OE lufian [luvian] has been transformed into love. But the meaning remained the same
Сonnection of meaning and concept • Meaning is very closely connected with the underlying concept, but they are different: • - concept is a category of human cognition • - concepts are almost the same for the whole of humanity whereas the meanings are different in different languages • Words expressing identical concepts may have different meanings
Сonnection of meaning and concept (2) • compare two English words house and home and a Russian word дом A home doesn’t have to be a house, it can be anyplace in the world. A home is a place you love, where you feel you belong and where you feel happy to be there. A house is a building which accomodates you-It is just a building and you do not neccesarilly care about it. It takes a lot of living in a house to turn it into a home.
Let us take synonyms • Big and large • Die, kick the bucket, to join the majority, to pass away, to check out (To settle one's bill and leave a hotel or other place of lodging) – выписаться • ребенок: малышка, голопуз, отпрыск, сосун, малолетний, клоп, малолеток, малолетка
Meaning and concept • • Content of concept six One+ five Three plus three Ten minus four • meaning of six is identical with the meaning of these word groups
Meaning and referent • meaning is linguistic the denoted object is extralinguistic. • One and the same object can be denoted by more than one word, e. g. apple
Meaning in RA • Some equate meaning to the concept (they substitute meaning for concept) • Others identify meaning with the referent • Their point of view – unless we have a knowledge of the referent we cannot give a definition of a word • If salt is sodium chloride ( what is love, hate? )
Meaning in referential approach • We have just shown that meaning is closely connected by not identical with its soundform concept of referent. At the same time iven those who accept this view disagree as to the nature of meaning. • Some regard meaning as the interrelation of the three points of the triangle, but not as an objectively existing part of the linguistic sign
Definition of meaning • In russian linguistics there is a famous opinion given by Alexander Smirnitsky A certain reflection in our minds of objects, phenomena or relations that makes part of the linguistic sign – its so-called inner-facet, and the sound –form is its outer facet. Meaning is to be found in all linguistic units
Meaning and referent • There a lot of words that have distinct meaning but do not refer to any existing thing • Such words have meaning which is understood by the speaker-hearer but the objects they denote do not exist • GIVE EXAMPLES
Functional approach to meaning • The meaning of linguistic unit may be studied only through its relation to other linguistic units and not through its relation to either concept or referent. • We know that the meaning of move and movement is different because the function in speech differently. In other words their language behaviour is different.
Functional approach • If we compare the contexts in which these two words are found, it turns out that they occupy different positions in relation to other words. Cf. : • To move a chair • We moved to Italy, on the one hand • Movement of sth • Slow movement, on the other hand.
Functional approach • Since they have different distribution we are bound to conclude that they differ in meaning. • Let us now compare different meanings of one and the same word • E. g. take the tram, the taxi, the bus and to take to somebody.
Functional approach • From the above it follows that in the FA: 1. Semantic investigation is confined to the analysis of the difference or sameness of meaning 2. Meaning is understood essenatially as the function of the use of linguistic units
Two approaches • The two approaches should not be set against each other. • It is quite natural that any linguistic investigation starts with the collecting of larger number of samples of contexts. Then, when we start studying the contexts, the meaning or meanings of words will emerge from the contexts.
Continued • After that phase it seems but logical to pass to the referential approach and try to formulate the meaning identified in this way
Types of meaning (grammatical meaning) • Fathers, interests, pictures, materials, springs Denote different objects of reality, but they have something in common (Please answer) Gr meaning – a component of meaning recurrent in identical sets of individual forms of different words ( tense-forms, the case meaning of various nouns)
Lexical meaning • Lexical meaning is a component of meaning proper to the words as a linguistic unit, i. e. recurrent in all the forms of this words. • Lexical meaning is the meaning proper to the given linguistic unit in all its forms and distributions • Information vs сведения ( in what meaning do they differ? )
Part-of speech-meaning • Nouns, adjectives, verbs on the one hand articles, prepositions, conjunctions. • Table, love, sugar ( in all their forms ) that is why we may say that substantiality can be found in all the nouns. • The part- of- speech meaning of the words that possess only one form (preposition , some adverbs) is observed in their distribution only (come in here, there and in on under the tab le
Stylistic reference • The greater part of the literary layer of Modern English vocabulary are words that do not possess any specific stylistic reference. They are normally referred to as neutral words. • Neutral words are subdivided into to subgroups: standard colloquial and literary words ( bookish words).
Stylistic reference • parent – father- dad • Father is neutral , dad is colloquial and parent is bookish. • Chum (coll) vs friend, rot (coll. ) vs nonsence. • Presume (literary or bookish word) suppose • Anticipate vs. to expect.
Stylistic reference • Literary words are not homongeneous General-literary (bookish words) Harmony, calamity, alacrity And terms or scientific words: - renaissance, genocide, teletype Poetic words and archaisms Whilome – ‘formerly’, aught – ‘anything’
Stylistic reference • Ere ‘before’, albeit ‘although’ fare ‘walk’, tarry ‘remain’ nay ‘no’ - barbarisms and foreign words: - Bon mot a clever or witty saying, apropos, faux pas, bouquet
Stylistic reference • Colloquial words are subdivided into: - 1. common colloquial words - 2. Slang – words which are often regarded as a violation of the norms of Standard English governor father, missus for wife , dotty for insane - Professionalisms words used in narrow groups bound by the same occupation
Stylistic reference lab for laboratory, math for mathematics a buster for a bomb - Jargonisms, i. e. words marked by their use withing a partuclar social group and bearing a secret and cryptic character - A sucker – a person who is easily deceived, a squiffer – a concertina - Vulgarisms or coarse words bloody, hell, damn
Stylistic reference • Stylistic reference and emotive charge are closely connected and to a certain degeree interdependent.
Meaning in morphemes • One important feature that distinguishes a morpheme from a word is that morphemes do not possess grammatical meaning Compare the word man and the morpheme man- in man-ful , man-ly. We cannot find the gr. meaning of case and number as we can find in the word man
Meaning in morphemes • Many English words consist of a single rootmorpheme. So, when we say that morphemes possess lexical meaning, this refers to rootmorphemes only. Thus, the lexical meaning of the word boy and the lexical meaning of the morpheme boy – in boyhood, boyish is practically the same.
Meaning in morphemes Thus we should once again state that morphemes are devoid of any grammatical meaning As for their lexical meaning it can be analysed into denotational and connotational components. The connotational component of meaning may be found not only in rootmorphemes but in affixational morphemes
Meaning in morphemes • Thus endearing and diminutive suffixes bear a heavy emotive charge. - ette (kitchenette) - ie (y) dearie, girlie - ling duckling Let us now compare the deviational morphemes with the same denotation meaning
Meaning in morphemes woman-ly woman-like woman – ish The denotational meaning in all these morphemes is one and the same ( it is similarity cf. Russian подобный). But the connot-l meaning differs and ranges from the positive evaluation in –ly to the derogaroty ish
Meaning in morphemes Stylistic reference can also be found in morphemes of different types. Chlor-ine, rhomb- oid, efferve-scence The stylistic value of derivational morphemes is bookish or scientific.
Functional (part-of speech) meaning The lexical meaning of the affixal morphemes is as a rule of a more generalizing character. The suffix – er carries the meaning the agent, the doer of the action, the suffix – less… Root morphemes do not possess the part-ofspeech meaning ( manly, manliness, to man) In derivational morphemes the lexical and the p sp meaning may be so blended as to be almost inseparable.
Part of speech meaning (continued) in morphemes -er and –less the lexical meaning is just as clealy perceived as their part-of-speech meaning. In some other morphemes, however, e. g. ment or - ous ( cf movement and laborious) it is the part of speech meaning that prevails, the lexical meaning is very vaguely felt.
Differential meaning Morphemes possess very specific meanings, which are typical of morphemes – differential and distributional meanings In words consisting of two or more morphemes one of them always has differential meaning. In bookshelf the morpheme –shelf serves to distinguish the word from other words containing the morpheme book- ( bookcase, book-counter)
continued cf. the morpheme note in notebook. So we say it possesses a differential meaning which distinguishes notebook from exercise-book copybook. So Differential meaning is the semantic component that serves to distinguish one word from all others containing identical morphems
continued Denotational and differential meaning are not mutually exclusive. Thus in bookshelf, the morpheme –shelf possesses denotational meaning which the dominant component of meaning. But sometimes it is next to impossible to ascribe any denotational meaning to the morpheme cran- in cranberry.
continued • We say that it possesses only differential meaning ( blackberry, gooseberry) Disputable moment of morphological analysis • Do such words as deveive, receive, perceive consist of two component morphemes. If we assume that -ceive can be singled out it follows that the meaning of re, per, de is only differential, since there is no denotational meaning proper to them.
Distributional meaning • It is the meaning of the order and arrangemet of morphemes making up the word. It is found in all words containing more than one morpheme • Singer consists of two moprhemes. Both of them have denotational meaning. One more element of meaning is the patter of arrangement of the component moprhemes. • A different arrangement makes the word meaningless
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Lecture II 26.02.12 (Lexicology).ppt