英语词汇学charpter6-2 The study of word meaning ppt.ppt

The study of word meaning,What is meaning?,What is meaning?,Lecture outline,Types of word meaningGrammatical and lexical meaningLeechs seven types of meaningSemantic fieldMeaning relations of wordsSynonymyAntonymyMeronymyHyponymyPolysemy Homonymy,6.2 Main Types of Word Meaning,6.2.1 Grammatical meaning word-class inflectional paradigm(词形变化)6.2.2 Lexical meaningLexical meaning is dominant in content words,whereas grammatical meaning is dominant in function words.,6.2 Main Types of Word Meaning,6.2.1 Grammatical meaning Function words(orgrammatical words)arewordsthat have littlelexicalmeaningor ambiguousmeaning,but instead serve to expressgrammaticalrelationships with other words within asentence,or specify the attitude or mood of the speaker.word-class the part of speech of the word.Inflectional paradigm词形变化The set of grammatical forms of a wordThe forms for noun,verb and adj?The grammatical meaning is the same in identical set of individual forms of different wordsThe lexical meaning of a word is the same throughout the paradigm,6.2 Main Types of Word Meaning,6.2.2 Lexical meaningAlso known as thedictionarydefinition,is themeaningof the term in common usage.Lexical meaning is different from grammatical meaning in two respects:a.Lexical meaning of a word is the same in all the forms of one and the same word while the grammatical meaning varies from one word-form to another;b.Every word has a different lexical meaning,whereas the grammatical meaning is the same in identical sets of individual forms of different words.,Example,Thewedding of Prince William,Duke of Cambridge,and Catherine Middletontook place on Friday,29 April 2011 atWestminster Abbeyin London.Prince William,second in the line of succession toQueen Elizabeth II,first metCatherine Middletonin 2001,whilst both were studying at theUniversity of St Andrews.,News outlets widely estimatedthat the wedding was watched by a global television audience of upwards of two billion people.24.5 million watched the event in the UK.,Leechs Seven Types of(lexical)Meaning,Geoffrey Leech(1974,1981)proposes in Semantics:The Study of Meaning seven types of meaning:Conceptual meaningConnotative meaningSocial meaningAffective meaningReflected meaningCollocative meaningThematic meaning,AssociativeMeaning,An example?,What is the meaning of“mother”?Mother/mom/ma/母亲、妈妈、娘、额娘、母后、慈母,(1)Conceptual meaning,Also called denotative（外延）or cognitive meaning.Refers to logical,cognitive or denotative content.Concerned with the relationship between a word and the thing it denotes,or refers to.e.g.chair:a piece of furniture for one person to sit on,having a back and,usually,four legs.man:+Human,+Male,+Adult,(2)Connotative meaning(内涵意义),The communicative value an expression has by virtue of what it refers to,over and above its purely conceptual content.A multitude of additional,non-criterial properties,including not only physical characteristics but also psychological and social properties,as well as typical features.,Involving the real world experience one associates with an expression when one uses or hears it.Unstable:they vary considerably according to culture,historical period,and the experience of the individual.Any characteristic of the referent,identified subjectively or objectively,may contribute to the connotative meaning of the expression which denotes it.,For example:lamb means“docile,gentle and obedient”What does“mother”mean?And“stepmother”?,Stepmother,Fierce,ruthless,cruel,cold,vicious,rough,violent devil,evil,ugly,Motherly,kind,tender,mild,considerate,perfect,nice,brave.Talkative,sensitive,beautiful,(3)Social meaning,What a piece of language conveys about the social circumstances of its use.Dialect:the language of a geographical region or of a social class.Time:the language of the 18th c.,etc.Province/Area:language of law,of science,of advertising,etc.Status:polite,colloquial,slang,etc.Modality:language of memoranda,lectures,jokes,etc.For example:,domicile:very formal,officialresidence:formalabode:poetichome:generalsteed:poetichorse:generalnag:slanggee-gee:baby language,(4)Affective meaning,Reflecting the personal feelings of the speaker,including his attitude to the listener,or his attitude to something he is talking about.Youre a vicious tyrant and a villainous reprobate,and I hate you for it!Im terribly sorry to interrupt,but I wonder if you would be so kind as to lower your voices a little.Will you belt up.Mary is an angel.,Colorful meaning,Commendatory tough-mindedresolute,firmshrewdchildlikeman of unusual talentportly,stout,solid,plumpslender,slim,Derogatory ruthlessobstinatesly,craftychildishfreakfleshy,fat,tubbylean,skinny,lanky,weedy,scraggy,(5)Reflected meaning,Arises in cases of multiple conceptual meaning,when one sense of a word forms part of our response to another sense.Taboo terms:water closet wash room;theGay-homosexuality,(6)Collocative meaning,The associations a word acquires on account of the meanings of words which tend to occur in its environment.pretty:girl,boy,woman,flower,garden,colour,village,etc.handsome:boy,man,car,vessel,overcoat,airliner,typewriter,etc.man and wife,bread and butter,a piece of cake,(7)Thematic meaning,What is communicated by the way in which a speaker or writer organizes the message,in terms of ordering,focus,and emphasis.Theme/Rheme(given/new information)Mrs Bessie Smith donated the first prize.The first prize was donated by Mrs Bessie Smith.(These two sentences express the same conceptual meaning,but they have different communicative values)They stopped at the end of the corridor.At the end of the corridor,they stopped.,Semantic field and Semantic relations,Semantic field(语义场)：the vocabulary of a given language is not simply a listing of independent items，but is organized into areas,or fields,within which words interrelate and define each other in various ways.,e.g.red,green,blue,white,gray,orange,rose,olive,purple,lemon,etc-semantic field of colors;father,mother,son,daughter,brother,sister,uncle,aunt,cousin etc.-semantic field of kinship;sorrow,grief,anguish,woe,regret,etc.-field of distressing emotions,doctors,physician,surgeon,dentist,oculist,anesthetist,nurses-the semantic field the medical profession.,Sense Relations,SynonymyAntonymyHyponymy Meronymy Homonymy,ComplementaryGradableConverseDirectional,Cow/bull,sow/boar,ewe/ram,mare/stallion etc.form a pattern indicating a meaning related to sex.,Pairs of words can be formed into certain patterns to indicate sense relations.,Duck/ducking,pig/piglet,dog/puppy,lion/cub,etc.form another pattern indicating a relationship between adult and young.,Narrow/wide,male/female,buy/sell,etc.show a different pattern related to opposition.,In fact,when we are talking of sense relations,we are talking of synonymy,antonymy,hyponymy,polysemy,homonymy,etc.,5.2.2 Synonymy:sameness of meaning,In what ways the following pairs are called synonyms?buy/purchasethrifty/economical/stingyautumn/fallflat/apartmenttube/underground,Are synonyms entirely identical in meaning?Synonyms may differ in the following aspects:1.Difference in originSome English synonyms may belong to words of different linguistic origin,e.g.,Some synonyms belong to different geographic varieties:,2.Differences in the shades of meaningAmaze-astound-to fill with great surprise But:differ in the degree of incredibility:Amaze:difficulty of belief;astound:extreme difficulty of belief e.g.anger,rage,fury,indignation,wrath;refuse,decline,reject,3.Differences in socio-expressive meaning,According to the differences in emotional flavor:Approval:steed,chargerNeutral:horse;Disapproval:nag,plug,4.Differences in stylistic meaning,Some lexemes can tell us something about the social relationship between the speaker and the hearer and the context in which they are used.Different styles:formal,literary,colloquial,familiar,slang,5.Differences in collocation and distribution,e.g.accuse of,charge with,rebuke for,reproach with/for The word has two senses.Or,The word has two meanings He is a man of sense.But not,*He is a man of meaning.,Synonyms:rhetorical effect,All thoughts,all passions,all delights,Whatever stirs the mortalframe,All are but ministers of Love,And feed his sacred flame.一切思想、激情和欢乐，凡把这肉身激动的一切 都只不过是爱神的使者，使他的圣火烧得烈。,Oft in my waking dreams do I Live oer again that happy hour,When midway on the mount I lay,Beside the ruind tower.在我醒时的出神中，我常 一遍遍重温那幸福时刻；当时我在那山的半腰上，在倒了的塔边躺着。,The moonshine stealing oer the scene,Had blended with the lights of eve;And she was there,my hope,my joy,My own dear Genevieve!月光悄悄地照到了那里，同茫茫暮色融汇在一处；我希望和欢乐也在那里，我亲爱的热内薇芙！,She leand against the armed man,The statue of the armed Knight;She stood and listend to my lay,Amid the lingering light.她倚着那位武装的男子，那是全副武装的骑士像；在将去未去的光线之中 她站在那儿听我唱。,St Genevieve(Sainte Genevive)(Nanterre,c.419/422-Paris 502/512),in Latin Sancta Genovefa,from Germanic keno(kin)and wefa(wife),is the patron saint(守护神)of Paris in Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox tradition.,项链莫泊桑,因为在妇女，美丽、丰韵、娇媚，就是她们的出身；天生的聪明，优美的资质，温柔的性情，就是她们惟一的资格。（这三个词意思相同，用在一起可以互相补充，使内容表达得更充分；在节奏上，选用三个同义词，恰好与下文三个偏正短语构成比较匀称的结构形式，使上下句获得对偶的特点）由于伤心、悔恨、失望、困苦，她常常整天整天地哭泣。（连用四个同义词，可以加重语气）夜会的日子到了，路瓦栽夫人得到成功。她比所有的女宾都漂亮、高雅、迷人，她满脸笑容，兴高采烈。（三个同义词后一个比前一个语意更强，“高雅”不只是漂亮，还包含人物的一种气质，“迷人”则是前二项所达到的效果，正是路瓦栽夫人所期盼的。同义联用，更好地表达了路瓦栽夫人虚荣心得到满足时的幸福感）,Identify the synomyms in the following sentences,Why must it be?Should it be,really?She choked and stifled.The dean,who was a man of great culture and learning,was extremely fond of clocks.They arrived at the hotel in peasant carts crammed with children,cats,cages in which Indian birds hopped and skipped.An icy perspiration now sprang to his forehead,his lips trembled and suddenly his throat felt parched and dry.,Antonymy:oppositeness of meaning,Antonymy:the relationship of oppositeness of meaning.According to morphology,antomyms can be divided into root antonyms and derivative antonymsAccording to the semantic relationship,antonyms can be divided into four categories:,Root antonyms:Big-small,tall-shortDerivative antonyms:Happy-unhappy,Antonymy,1.Complementary antonyms(contradictory antonyms)lexemes or expressions whose crucial semantic features are mutually exclusive.e.g.alive/dead,male/female,present/absent,pass/fail,boy/girl,Antonymy,2.Gradable antonyms:lexemes or expressions whose crucial semantic features are located at the different ends of on continuum.E.g.,hot-warm-cool-coldgood-badlong-shortbig-smallFeatures:Can be modified by adverbs of degree like very.Can have comparative forms.Can be asked with how.,3.Converse antonymyAlso relational opposites:pairs of expressions whose crucial semantic features display a reciprocal relationship.One member of the pair presupposes the other.,buy:selllend:borrowgive:receiveparent:childhusband:wife,teacher:studentbefore:afterhost:guestemployer:employee,4.Directional antonyms,An implication of motion in one of two opposed directions with respect to one given place.Up-downArrive-departCome-go,Rhetorical effect of antonyms,A word before is worth two behind.More haste,less speed.A fall into a pit,a gain in your wit.吃一堑，长一智。A friend is easier lost than found.得朋友难，失朋友易。To err is human,to forgive divine.An idle youth,a needy age.少壮不努力，老大徒伤悲 Sooner or later,the truth comes to light.真相迟早会大白,trick or treat 万圣节一到，孩子们到邻居家要糖吃，敲开门说：trick or treat(不招待就使坏)，使坏的方式有时在门口撒面粉，或者在邻居的花园里用卫生纸绕来绕去。rain or shine 风雨无阻“up and down 往返to and fro 来来回回back and forth 前前后后far and forth 到处，远处far and near 注意事项dos and donts 执政党与在野党young and old 老老少少day and night 日日夜夜,Oxymoron 矛盾修饰词,You shall see sweet silent rhetoric and dumb silence speaking in his eyes.-Ben JonsonAlthough she doesnt say anything,you can see her sweet eyes conveying much more meaning than words.“双目含情，悄无言而工辞令，暗无声而具辩才”（钱钟书）Living death,visible darkness,a clever foolAn open secret,cruel kindness,I despise its very vastness and power.It has the poorest millionaires,the littlest great men,the haughtiest beggars,the plainest beauties,the lowest skyscrapers,the dolefulest(阴沉的、寂寞的)pleasures of any town I ever saw.-O.Henry,Meronymy(部分整体关系）and Hyponymy（下义关系）,Meronymya part-whole relationship between lexical items.Three types:X is a meronym of Y if X is a part of Y.X is a meronym of Y if X is a substance of Y.X is a meronym of Y if X is a member of Y.,e.g.,root,trunk,branch and leaf are meronyms of a tree,What are the meaning relations between the following pairs?Face-bodyPage-bookBeijing-ChinaCork-bottle Hand-foot,Hyponymy,Hyponymy:a specific-general semantic relationship between lexical items.It is such a relationship that the former is included in the later.Superordinate:the more general term.It may have many hyponyms.Hyponyms(like cat,dog,pig,cow,etc.)having the same superordinate are called co-hyponyms.This sense relation may be also shown by the diagram:,Example:Who is Fido?,Fido is the most lovable creature I know.Fido is the only animal I have ever killed.Fido is one of our three dogs.Fido is the fastest hound Ive ever seen.Fido is a basset(矮脚长耳猎狗).,Work in pairs and provide hyponyms for the following wordsVegetableFlowerlaughvehicle Clothes,SmirkGrinSneer Ridicule GiggleChuckleRisusBurst into laughterSmile,Polysemy(一词多义)and Homonymy（同形/音异义）,Polysemy:a lexical item which has a range of different but closely related meanings.Polysemy can be said to be the result from the change of meaning.e.g.chip-electronic circuit-a kind of food-a piece of wood The meaning of“Table”and“Head”?,普遍意义vs特殊意义Case，fireThe fire in the sitting-room(炉火)抽象意义vs具体意义Beauty is but skin deep.She is a real beauty.Stage:she went on the stage at the age of 14.字面意义vs比喻意义A mirror reflects light.Their actions reflect their thought.,Homonymy:refers to cases where lexemes with the same phonological or morphological shape have different meanings.Homonyms:unrelated sense of the same word.They may have identical pronunciation but do not share common semantic features.Homographs:words which are written in the same way but differ in meaning and sometimes in pronunciation or derivation.E.g.,homophones:words with identical pronunciation but with different spellings and meaningse.g.air,heir;bear,bare;dear,deer;pair,pear;son,sun;compliment,complement;ensure,insure;principal,principle;stationary,stationery,etc.,Collect some advertisements which makes use of homonymy or polysemy.More sun and air for your son and heir.（海滨浴场的广告语）7 days without 7-Up make one weak.不打不相识,Money doesnt grow on trees But it blossoms at our branches 钱不能长在树上，在我们“行”就能。这是英国劳埃德银行(Lloyd Bank)做的户外广告。第二句中的branch就是一个多义词，承接第一句中的trees，可以理解为“树枝”；更深层的含义就是广告中的银行分行、支行的意思。所以广告的真正含义是告诉人们到劳埃德银行来存款就能使自己的钱增值。,Im More satisfied.摩尔香烟，我更满意。Ask for More.再来一支，还是摩尔（香烟广告）。,Rhetorical effect,On Sunday they pray for you and on Monday they prey on you.讽刺西方教堂里的绅士、太太、小姐们貌似虔诚的丑恶嘴脸。Learn some craft when young,that when old you may live without craft.趁年轻时学一点手艺，以便在年老时可不靠行骗为生。,诗歌、歇后语青荷盖绿水，芙蓉披红鲜；下有并根藕，上生并目莲。【青阳渡】晋乐府“芙蓉”和“夫容”，“藕”和“偶”，“莲”和“怜”各谐音双关。,竹枝词 刘禹锡 杨柳青青江水平,闻郎江上唱歌声。东边日出西边雨,道是无晴还有晴。正是一场太阳雨后,两岸杨柳摇曳,青翠欲滴,江面水位初涨,平静如镜.少女心情抑郁地漫步在岸边,忽然,一阵悠扬的歌声从江上随风飘来,仔细一听,原来是久无音讯的情郎思恋自己的情歌.