LEXICAL SEMANTICS TYPES OF MEANING 1 THE CONCEPT

LEXICAL SEMANTICS. TYPES OF MEANING 1) THE CONCEPT AND DEFINITION OF MEANING AND USE. 2) THE SCOPE OF THE WORD’S MEANING

Key words: • semantics, lexical meaning, inner (semantic) structure, outer (or phonetic) structure, indispensable inherent property, ‘meaning’ and ‘use’, domain of pragmatics, static and dynamic meanings

Q: What part of lexicology studies meaning? What is lexical meaning in the most general sense accepted by many scholars? • Semantics is commonly defined as the study of meaning. However there is no general agreement either about what meaning is and about the way it should be described. • Many scholars agree at least that lexical meaning is the specific kind of ‘content’ produced by the reverberation of objective reality in the human consciousness which constitutes the inner (semantic) structure of linguistic units with respect to which their material form is the outer (or phonetic) structure.

What is meant by the opposition of meaning and use in Russian linguistics? • Meaning is an indispensable inherent property of the word as the basic unit of language. According to St. Ullmann, “…there is usually in each word a hard core of meaning which is relatively stable and can only be modified by the context within certain limits. ” It is important to distinguish between the meaning of the word as its inherent property and different uses of words.

What is meant by the opposition of meaning and use in Russian linguistics? • The meaning of a word cannot be entirely separated from the linguistic circumstances of its actual use in speech. From this point of view the notions of ‘meaning’ and ‘use’ appear to be closely interrelated since ‘the lexical meaning proper’ depends on ‘use’. Within the Russian tradition the word’s meaning is viewed as the integral part of its semantic content. While in the British tradition no distinction is made between ‘meaning’ and ‘use’.

What is to be taken into consideration while discussing meaning in terms of pragmatics? • When lexical meaning is regarded as an important factor in communication, we are entering the domain of pragmatics. And meaning is regarded as something which is performed rather than something that exists in a static way. It involves action (the speaker producing an effect on the hearer) and interaction (the meaning being ‘negotiated’ between speaker and hearer on the basis of their mutual knowledge).

Thus in the British tradition we come across the following terms used in the analysis of meaning: Static • Found in dictionaries • Denotative • Isolated meaning • Conventionalized • Regulated by authority Dynamic • Found in actual use • Connotative • meaning deriving from context • Creative • negotiated between users

How is meaning analyzed in terms of British tradition? Static • Base-meaning • Predictable • Impersonal/ generalized Dynamic • extended meaning • Unpredictable • personal/ particular

2) THE SCOPE OF THE WORD’S MEANING • Scope 1 [uncountable] the range of things that a subject, activity, book etc deals with: the need to define the scope of the investigation

Key words: • Scope, bilateral unit, symbol, referent, thought of reference, Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, concept of linguistic relativity, fairly uniform picture of reality, ‘maps of the world, ’ lexical system, reference, sense, shaping reality, lexical and semantic divisions, lexical sets, lexicalsemantic mismatches, field theory of semantics, value, object words, dictionary words, signification, denotation, connotation

Q: What are the most important characteristics of the word? • A word is a bilateral unit: it has both expression and content (or meaning). Words are endowed with the power of individual reference to objects of reality, and this is how they derive their ‘meaningfulness’.

How are names and things related acc to C. K. Ogden and I. A. Richards? • C. K. Ogden and I. A. Richards saw this relationship as a triangle: 1) symbol, 2) referent, 3) thought of reference; the symbol is a linguistic element – a lexical item, a word, a sentence, an utterance, etc. The referent is an object of our experience, a fact of the outer world which is encompassed by a given symbol. And the thought of reference is the concept, the permanent association in our mind that mirrors the referent as a generalized entity.

How are names and things related acc to C. K. Ogden and I. A. Richards? • According to this theory, the relationship between names and things is viewed not as a direct link but as a link via concepts of our mind. This inevitably involves variation in people’s perceptions and attitudes. Reality may be and is actually seen differently by people speaking different languages. The question is: to what extent does the way we perceive the world depend on the language we use?

To what extent does the way we perceive the world depend on the language we use? • One of the answers is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis: “…the world in which we live is to a large extent unconsciously built on the language habits of the group”. This extreme view is also known as the concept of linguistic relativity. A classical example of relativity of languages are colour terms, in spite of the fact that there is a natural system of the rainbow.

Do we agree with the concept? Are ‘maps of the world’ even if couched in different languages compatible and interpretable? • Whatever the differences between the languages, we all have a fairly uniform picture of reality in its essential aspects. ‘Maps of the world’ even if couched in different languages are compatible and interpretable. There are definitely universal features shared by cultures and languages.

How is the relationship between the symbol and referent regulated by the lexical system of a given language? • The relationship between the symbol and referent is not only regulated by linguistic relativity but also by the lexical system of a given language. Words acquire certain aspects of meaning as units within a system. That is why we distinguish between reference (what is in the world) and sense (what is in language).

Do lexical and semantic divisions coincide in different languages? • The outer world can be perceived as a conceptual space or a semantic set representing everything around us. Every language has its own way in shaping reality, i. e. in assigning meanings to its units. As a result, lexical and semantic divisions do not coincide in different languages. The same concept can be differently expressed in terms of lexical sets.

Semantic vs lexical sets • Semantic sets derive from reality, lexical sets present words. The business of lexicology therefore is to investigate how conceptual divisions are covered by words in different languages. The lexical-semantic mismatches between languages are easy to illustrate as they present a difficulty in learning a foreign language. E. g. p 107

Semantic vs lexical sets • Thus the scope of the word’s meaning is determined not only by its reference but also by its relations to other items within language vocabulary.

What is value in terms of the field theory? What is the difference between object words and dictionary words? • Languages can be compared from the point of view of how they divide conceptual space or a semantic field (if we take a particular thematic area). The field theory of semantics goes back to de Saussure’s notion of value. The notion of value is the quality lexical items acquire with respect to other items within the vocabulary system. Thus there are object words and dictionary words. Object words are easy to define as you can simply point to their referents. It is not so easy with dictionary words as they require simple words to be defined.

Which types of words illustrate different types of relationship between expression and content? • In this connection we can speak about different types of relationship between expression and content (form and meaning). Type 1 are cases like 2, 13, 1001; side by side with the specific national expression there is a secondary semiotic system. Type 2 are object words. Type 3 are abstract notions most of which are dictionary words.

Why are type 3 words most difficult for EFL learners? • Type 3 are abstract notions most of which are dictionary words. This type of words depends on the particular linguistic expression to the greatest extent. Thus we may assume that flat and плоский have the same scope of meaning. But a detailed analysis of their semantics shows that the English word is broader in meaning: Life seemed flat to him; the beer tastes flat.

What is signification (denotation, connotation)? • Languages are structured (organized) in a certain way. The part of the word’s semantics which depends on this structure is described as signification. Another part of the word’s meaning is denotation. Denotation is the relationship between a linguistic unit and the non-linguistic entities to which it refers. Thus it is equivalent to referential meaning.

Denotation vs connotation • Denotation is opposed to connotation. E. g. the denotation of a dog is a name of an animal, its connotation might include helper, friend etc. When words are used literally in their primary meanings, denotation and signification coincide.

Denotation vs connotation • When words are used to refer to a new object or concept, they acquire a new dimension. Their denotation is extended to bring about original shades of meaning. This is how connotations are produced in speech. E. g. he is a reporter with a nose for news; she has a nose for scandal.

Thus the relationship between words and things may be described by way of the following contrasts: • Sense • Reference • What is in world language • Lexical sets • Semantic sets • Signification • Denotation

The relationship between words and things • The notions in the right column suggest that every language exists in a particular environment and mediates a particular world-view. It should accordingly be considered in a broad context of culture, way of life, the environment in which it exists.