Language and Extralinguistic World Lecture 1 Overview

Language and Extralinguistic World Lecture 1

Overview • notions of a linguistic sign, concept and denotatum; • relations between linguistic sign, concept and denotatum; • difference between the denotative and connotative meanings of a linguistic sign; • mental concept of a linguistic sign; • relations of polysemy and synonymy • ambiguity of translation equivalents.

Basic Elements Denotatum Mental concept Language sign

Language Sign is a sequence of sounds (in spoken language) or symbols (in written language) which is associated with a single concept in the minds of speakers of that or another language.

Language Sign Vrouw Frau Femeie Kobieta

Mental Concept is an array of mental images and associations related to particular part of the extralinguistic world (both really existing and imaginary), on the other hand, and connected with a particular language sign, on the other

Mental Concept Meet Mr. X. He is an engineer.

THUS Differences in relations between language signs and mental concepts translation difficulties

Mental Concept Elements • • Lexical meanings Connotations Associations Grammatical meanings

Lexical Meaning is the general mental concept corresponding to a word or a combination of words.

Lexical Meaning Pipe 1. A hollow cylinder or tube used to conduct a liquid, gas or finely divided products. 2. A device for smoking consisting of a tube of wood, clay or other material with a small bawl at one end. 3. A birdcall. 4. A vertical cylindrical vein of ore.

Connotation is an additional, contrastive value of the basic usually designative function of the lexical meaning. Example: To avoid = to back out Fish = fish in oil field ?

Association is a more or less regular connection established between the given and other mental concepts in the minds of the language speakers

Translation Challenges Ambiguity of translation equivalents Polysemy and Synonymy