Chapter3PARTONE.ppt

1、Chapter 3 Word Meaning and Semantic Relations (I),Preview,I. Words: the unity of sound and meaning II. Meaning and Motivation III. Classifications of Words IV. Main Types of Word Meaning,I. Words: the unity of sound and meaning,1) What Is a Word? According to Leonard Bloomfield a word is a minimum f

2、ree form, that is to say, a word is the smallest form that may appear in isolation.,1) What Is a Word?,There are two types of linguistic forms: the bound form, and the free form. A free form is one which can occur as a separate word. A bound form is one which cannot occur on its own as a separate wo

3、rd, such as “anti-”, “-ize”, “-tion” and “-ous”.,1) What Is a Word?,Besides, words have a close relation with both the concepts in our minds and the objects in the world of experience. Referent: objects in the world of experience,2) Two Aspects of a Word,Every word has two aspects: the external aspe

4、ct sound, and the internal aspect meaning. It should be a unity of sound and meaning.,2) Two Aspects of a Word,Question: What is the relation between sound and meaning of a word? The relation between the meaning of a word and its sound is arbitrary or conventional. The majority of the words in the v

5、ocabulary of any language are conventional symbols.,Task Two: Discuss in groups and try to explain the meanings of following words. hiss, sizzle, quack, moo, woof, meow , purr, baa, pitter-patter, Houyhnhnm,From the above words we can find that in the English language, there are quite a few onomatop

6、oeias which imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to.,II. Meaning and Motivation, What Is Motivation Motivation is the relationship between the structure of a word and its meaning. As we know, the relationship between the word-form and meaning is conventional and arbit

7、rary, and most words can be said to be non-motivated or opaque, i.e., the connection of sign and meaning does not have a logical explanation., What Is Motivation,Nevertheless, English does have words whose meanings can be explained to a certain extent. To be brief, there are mainly three motivations

8、 of word-structure in terms of meaning., Three Types of Motivations:,a) Phonetic / Onomatopoeic Motivation In modern English one may find out some words whose sounds suggest their meaning, for these words were coined in imitation of the sounds associated with the things named. They are onomatopoeic

9、words.,Task Three: Listen to the song “Onomatopoeia” sung by Todd Rundgren.,Onomatopoeia every time I see ya My senses tell me hubba And I just cant disagree again I get a feeling in my heart that I cant describe Its sort of lub, dub, lub, dub A sound in my head that I cant describe Its sort of zoom

10、, zip, hiccup, drip Ding, dong, crunch, crack, bark, meow, whinnie, quack,Onomatopoeia in proximity to ya Rearrange my brain in a strange cacophony I get a feeling somewhere that I cant describe Its sort of uh, uh, uh, uh A sound in my head that I cant describe Its sort of whack, whir, wheeze, whine

11、 Sputter, splat, squirt, scrape Clink, clank, clunk, clatter Crash, bang, beep, buzz Ring, rip, roar, retch Twang, toot, tinkle, thud Pop, plop, plunk, pow Snort, snuk, sniff, smack Screech, splash, squish, squeak Jingle, rattle, squeal, bong Honk, hoot, hack, belch,b) Grammatical Motivation Words w

12、hich were formed by means of grammatical structure belong to the category of motivation by grammar or morphology. They are compounds or derivations, such as “motherland”, “reading-lamp” and “writer”.,c) Motivation by Meaning / Semantic Motivation Semantic motivation refers to the mental associations

13、 suggested by the conceptual meaning of a word. It explains the connection between the literal sense and figurative sense of the word.,Task Four: Discuss in pairs and explain the meanings of the words in bold.,1. Everything that goes into my mouth seems to make me fat, while everything that comes ou

14、t of my mouth embarrasses me. The refiner is never far from the mouth of the furnace when his gold is in the fire. 2. A torn jacket is soon mended; but hard words bruise the heart of a child. When I was a ten-year-old book worm and used to kiss the dust jacket pictures of authors as if they were ico

15、ns, it used to amaze me that these remote people could provoke me to love. 3. Maintenance department will check all eyewash station regularly to ensure all the equipments in good conditions. This does not mean that the proposals.are so much eyewash.,III. Classifications of Words,Words can be classif

16、ied from different angles. a) Notional words (full words) vs. functional words (form-words) full words: nouns, adjectives, verbs, numerals, adverbs functional words: articles, prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns, pronominal adverbs (代副詞), etc., The confidentiality shall remain in effect throughout

17、the term of this contract and for a period of three years thereafter. 就是說保密條款在整個(gè)合同期以及合同期滿后的三年內(nèi)有效。thereafter = after that (time, event, etc.) I enclose a notice wherein arrangements are detailed. 這里的wherein 完全可以換成in which.,b) Popular words vs. learned words,Popular words are words usually used in ord

18、inary conversations. They are concerned with common things of life, and are a part of everyday vocabulary. Learned words are those comparatively seldom used in ordinary conversations but used in books. The meanings of learned words are known to every educated person, but there is little opportunity

19、to use them at home.,III. Classifications of Words,“l(fā)ively” vs. “vivacious” She was no longer the alert, vivacious American beauty who had charmed and delighted all who came in contact with her.,c) Abstract words vs. concrete words Abstract words are those which refer to states, events, feelings, et

20、c. e.g. difficulty, meeting, happiness, passion, thought, work, religion, administration, catharsis Concrete words are those which are concerned with objects, things, etc. e.g. beer, car, milk, oil,III. Classifications of Words,III. Classifications of Words,d) Transparent words vs. opaque words Moti

21、vated words: axe, book, tree, table, work Non-motivated words: cuckoo, ping-pong, motherland, blackbird,III. Classifications of Words,e) Polysemic words vs. monosemic words polysemic words: a range of different meanings monosemic words: a single meaning In English, polysemy is the rule, but monosemy

22、 is the exception.,III. Classifications of Words,f) native words vs. loan-words Native words are Anglo-Saxon words still retained in Modern English, whereas loan-words are words taken from different languages.,IV. Main Types of Word Meaning,Word meaning can be classified according to different persp

23、ectives. Mainly, there are six perspectives, that is, then word meaning can be classified into six types.,IV. Main Types of Word Meaning,a) Grammatical meaning Grammatical meaning is the component of meaning identical in individual forms of different words, for instance, the tense meaning in the wor

24、d-forms of verbs (worked, studied, taught. etc.), or the case meaning (boys, words), or the plural meaning (girl, girls, child, children, etc.).,b) Lexical meaning Lexical meaning is the meaning of an isolated word in a dictionary. This component of meaning is identical in all the forms of the word,

25、 The word forms go, goes, went, gone, going possess different grammatical meanings, but same lexical meaning that express the process of movement.,IV. Main Types of Word Meaning,c) Contextual meaning The context generally shows in what sense the word is used, in its primary sense or its figurative s

26、ense. When used literally, words have their original meaning; when used figuratively, words have symbolic meaning.,IV. Main Types of Word Meaning,IV. Main Types of Word Meaning,Task Five: Read the following sentences and explain the words in bold. A trained watchdog can make a very good family pet.

27、The auditor is a watchdog and not a bloodhound.,IV. Main Types of Word Meaning,d) Denotative meaning Denotative meaning is the same meaning for all speakers of a given language. That is to say, it is the extensional meaning of a word. So denotative meaning is called the dictionary meaning. e) Connotative meaning Connotative meaning is the intentional meaning which a word suggests or implies.,IV. Main Types of Word Meaning,f) Stylistic meaning St