MODERN ENGLISH LEXICOLOGY Semantics (Semasiology). Word Meaning and

MODERN ENGLISH LEXICOLOGY Semantics (Semasiology). Word Meaning and its Aspects

Problems for discussion Semasiology as the branch of linguistics; Approaches to the study and defining word meaning; Types of meaning; Nomination; Motivation;

What is Semantics? Semantics (Greek semantikos, “significant”), the study of the meaning of linguistic signs - words, expressions, and sentences.

How did Semantics develop? Michel Jules Alfred Breal, a French philologist, in 1883 proposed a “science of significations” that would investigate how sense is attached to expressions and other signs. He proposed to call it la semantique. 1890 – Semantics: Studies in the Science of Meaning. 1897 – Essai de Semantique. Saussure, Ferdinand de (1857-1913), a Swiss linguist, developed the linguistic theory known as structuralism. 1916 – Cours de Linguitique

Theories of the 19- 20th centuries В. Гумбольдт; А.А. Потебня, 1862, «Мысль и язык»; Бодуэн де Куртенэ ( «Значение слов, семасиология», 1876 – 1877); Г. Пауль («Принципы истории языка», 1880); М.М. Покровский («Семасиологические исследования в области древних языков», 1895); Н.В. Крушевский; Й. Трир, К. Хейзе, Б. Потье, В.Порциг, Ш.Балли; В.В. Виноградов, А.А. Смирницкий, О.С. Ахманова, Н.Н. Амосова, К.А. Левковская, И.В. Арнольд, А.А. Уфимцева, Э.М. Медникова

What does Semantics investigate? What is the meaning of (the word) X? What is a sign? How do signs possess significance? How do signs make reference to things and ideas? How does meaning change according to logical, psychological, sociological criteria? How are words interdependent in the language? How do words derive their significance from the system as a whole?

Word Meaning In Russia the problem of word meaning was investigated by: Ал-др Аф. Потебня (1835 – 91); Ив. Ал-др. Бодуэн де Куртенэ (1845 – 1929); Лев Вл. Щерба (1880 – 1944); Викт.Вл. Виноградов (1894 - 1969); Ал.Ив. Смирницкий (1903 – 1954).

Main approaches to the definition of meaning Analytical (referential) Functional (contextual) Operational definition of meaning definition of meaning definition of meaning

Analytical (referential) definition of meaning Terms: Referent – object, denoted by the word; Concept (thought, reference) – the reflection in the mind of essential features and relations of real objects and phenomena; Word (symbol, name, sign).

Analytical (referential) definition of meaning Purpose: to explain how referent, concept, symbol are related; to investigate how an object gets its name; to link the notion of meaning with the process of naming the objects, processes or phenomena of concrete reality.

The triangular scheme of meaning of the German mathematician and philosopher Gotlieb Frege (1848-1925): concept MEANING sign referent

The basic triangle of English scholars C.K. Ogden and I.A. Richards thought (reference) symbol (name) referent (object)

The present-day form of the semantic triangle

Functional (contextual) definition of meaning Meaning is the use of the word in the language. cat: ________ catches mice. I bought fish for my _____.

Operational definition of meaning Meaning - information conveyed from the speaker to the listener in the process of communication. “John came at 6 o’clock” besides the direct meaning may imply: John was 2 hours late, John was punctual as usual , it was a surprise for John to come, John came earlier, John was not expected at all, etc.

Types of meaning Meaning lexical grammatical lexico-grammatical denotational connotational stylistic emotional evaluative intensifying

Definitions (1) lexical meaning is the realization of concept or emotion by means of a definite language system. The LM is recurrent in all the forms of the word: go, goes, went, is going. Grammatical meaning - the component of meaning recurrent in identical sets of individual forms of different words (the tense meaning in the word-forms of different words - asks, goes, returns; asked, went, returned). The lexico-grammatical meaning is the common denominator of all the meanings of words belonging to one part-of-speech. Words belonging to one lexico-grammatical class are characterized by a common system of grammar forms, common formulas of semantic and morphological structure and a characteristic set of derivational affixes.

Definitions (2) The denotational meaning expresses the conceptual content of the word. This component of meaning makes the communication possible. The connotative component is the emotive charge and the stylistic value of the word. The stylistic connotation is the associations concerning the situation in which the word is uttered, the social circumstances (formal :: familiar), the social relationships between the interlocutors (polite :: rough), the type and purpose of communication (learned :: poetic :: official, etc.). E.g. dollar :: buck.

Definitions (3) The evaluative connotation expresses the speaker’s approval or disapproval of the object spoken. The emotive connotation indicates the emotional attitude of a speaker to the thing denoted thanks to the association of the referent of the denotative meaning with emotions. Intensifying connotation indicates the increasing of the components of the denotative meaning. It expresses exaggeration.

The stages of nomination Nomination – the process of giving a name to the object or phenomena of the extra-linguistic world. The stages: (1) An originator creates a new word for an object or phenomena  socialization – the word becomes widely spread among native speakers  lexicalization – the word becomes established as a lexical item in the form of a verb, noun, etc.

Motivation Motivation is the relationship existing between the morphemic or phonemic composition and structural pattern of the word on the one hand, and its meaning on the other (Arnold I.V., pp. 28 – 29). There’re 3 main types of motivation: phonetical morphological semantic.

Phonetical Motivation In the case of phonetical motivation there’s a certain similarity between the sounds that make up the word and those referred to by the sense. Words with definite sound clusters are sound imitative - they imitate the sounds of nature, noises produced by animals, birds, wind, rain, etc.: bang, buzz, cuckoo, swish, sizzle, boom, splash.

Morphological Motivation Morphological motivation implies a direct connection between the lexical meaning of the component morphemes, the pattern of their arrangement and the meaning of the word - the prefix ex- when added to human nouns means «former»: ex-filmstar, ex-president, ex-wife. The degree of morphological motivation: endless - completely morphologically motivated; cranberry - partly morphologically motivated; cry – non-motivated morphologically.

Semantic Motivation Semantic motivation is based on the co-existence of direct and figurative meaning of the same word. SM implies a direct connection between the central and marginal meaning of the word. This connection may be regarded as a metaphoric extension of the central meaning based on the similarity of different classes of referents denoted by the word: mouth - «the opening on the face through which a person or animal can take food into the body and speak or make sounds». Metaphorically it can be applied to any opening or outlet (the mouth of the river/cave/furnace).