簡明語言學教程Chapter5Semantics

Chapter5Semantics5.1WhatisSemantics?Definition

ofSemantics:

Semanticscanbesimplydefinedasthestudyofmeaning.Definitionofmeaning:Thephilosophers:relationsbetweenlinguisticexpressionsandwhattheyrefertointherealworld,andinevaluatingthetruthvalueoflinguisticexpressions.Thepsychologists:

understandingtheworkingsofthehumanmindthroughlanguage.5.2Someviewsconcerningthestudyofmeaning

Thenamingtheory(命名論)

ThenamingtheorywassuggestedbytheancientGreekscholar

Plato.

Accordingtothistheory,wordsarejustnamesorlabelsforthings.Limitations:

1)Applicabletonounsonly.2)Therearenounswhichdenotethingsthatdonotexistintherealworld,e.g.ghost,dragon,phoenix…3)Therearenounsthatdonotrefertophysicalobjectsbutabstractnotions,e.g.joy,impulse,hatred…Theconceptualistview

(概念論)Thisviewholdsthatthereisnodirectlinkbetweenalinguisticformandwhatitrefersto(i.e.,betweenlanguageandtherealworld);rather,intheinterpretationofmeaningtheyarelinkedthroughthemediationofconceptsinthemind.

Thought/ReferenceSymbol/FormReferent(thesemantictriangle語義三角suggestedbyOgdenandRichards)

deskContextualism(語境理論)Theyholdthatmeaningshouldbestudiedintermsofsituation,use,context--elementscloselylinkedwithlanguagebehavior.e.g.blackwhiteblackhair黑頭發(fā)blackcoffee清咖啡blacktea紅茶whitesnow白雪whitecoffee加牛奶的咖啡whitelie善意的謊話whiteelephant昂貴而無用的東西Thesealcouldnotbefound.

Thesealcouldnotbefoundintheoffice.(stamp)

Thesealcouldnotbefoundinthezoo.(marineanimal)Behaviorism

(行為主義理論)Behavioristsattemptedtodefinethemeaningofalanguageformasthe"situationinwhichthespeakeruttersitandtheresponseitcallsforthinthehearer."Stimulus—Response(刺激--反響理論)(proposedbyBloomfield)JillJackSr……sR5.3Lexicalmeaning5.3.1SenseandReference

(意義和所指語義)

Senseandreferencearetwotermsoftenencounteredinthestudyofwordmeaning.Theyaretworelatedbutdifferentaspectsofmeaning.---Sense:thecollectionofallthefeaturesofthelinguisticform;itisabstractandde-contextualized.e.g.theword‘dog’,words‘cow’/‘bull’,‘duck’/duckling---Reference:dealswiththerelationshipbetweenthelinguisticelementandtherealworld5.3.2Majorsenserelations

主要的意義關系

Synonymy

(同義現(xiàn)象):thesamenessorclosesimilarityofmeaningWordsthatarecloseinmeaningarecalledsynonymsi.Dialectalsynonyms--synonymsusedindifferentregionaldialects方言同義詞ii.Stylisticsynonyms--synonymsdifferinginstyle文體同義詞iii.Synonymsthatdifferintheiremotiveorevaluativemeaning

表情意義和評價意義不同的同義詞iv.Collocationalsynonyms

搭配同義詞v.Semanticallydifferentsynonyms

語義不同的同義詞Polysemy

(多義詞，多義現(xiàn)象)e.g.Weeatwhatwecanandwecanwhatwecannoteat.Isawasawhangingonthewall.Thatpupilhasaverybrightpupil.Homonymy(同音異義詞)--Homophones〔同音異義詞〕:rain/reign,night/knight,piece/peace,leak/leek,flour/flower--Homographs〔同形異義詞〕:bowv./bown.tearv./tearn.leadv./leadn--Completehomonyms〔完全同形異義詞〕:fastadj./fastv.scalen./scalev.Hyponymy(下義關系):referstothesenserelationbetweenamoregeneral,moreinclusivewordandamorespecificword.--Thewordwhichismoregeneralinmeaningiscalledthesuperordinate〔上坐標詞，上義詞〕--Themorespecificwordsarecalleditshyponyms〔下義詞)--Hyponymsofthesamesuperordinateareco-hyponyms(并列下義詞)toeachotherMusicalinstruments

pianofluteguitarviolintubatromboneFishsnappersalmonbasssoletroutchinookspringcohokingsockey

Antonymy

(反義現(xiàn)象)i.

Gradableantonyms可分等級的反義詞e.g.oldvs.young,hotvs.coldii.

Complementaryantonyms互補反義詞e.g.deadvs.alive,malevs.femaleiii.

Relationalopposites關系反義詞e.g.husbandvs.wife,buyvs.sell,fathervs.son5.4Senserelationsbetweensentences

XissynonymouswithY.(X與Y同義)e.g.X:Iamanorphan.Y:Iamachildandhavenofatherormother.

X:Hewasabachelorallhislife.Y:Henevergotmarriedallhislife.IfXistrue,Yistrue;ifXisfalse,Yisfalse.XisinconsistentwithY.(X與Y不一致)e.g.X:Iamanorphan.Y:Ihaveafather.

X:ThisismyfirstvisittoBeijing.Y:IhavebeentoBeijingtwice.IfXistrue,Yisfalse;ifXisfalse,Yistrue.XentailsY(YisanentailmentofX)蘊涵關系

e.g.IamanorphanentailsIhavenofather.XpresupposesY(YisaprerequisiteofX)前提預設

e.g.Isyourfatherathome?presupposes

Youhaveafather.Xisacontradiction

矛盾關系e.g.Thisorphanhasafather.*Myunmarriedsisterismarriedtoabachelor.Xis

semanticallyanomalous

語義異常e.g.Theorphan’sfatherdrinksheavily.*Themanispregnant.

*Thetablehasbadintentions.

*Sincerityshakeshandswiththeblackapple.5.5AnalysisofmeaningComponentialanalysis成分分析Predication

analysis述謂結構分析Componentialanalysis〔成分分析〕---awaytoanalyzelexicalmeaningTheapproachisbasedonthebeliefthatthemeaningofawordcanbedissectedintomeaningcomponents,calledsemanticfeatures.Forexample,e.g.man：+HUMAN,+ADULT,+ANIMATE,+MALEwoman:+HUMAN,+ADULT,+ANIMATE,-MALEfather:+HUMAN,+ADULT,+ANIMATE,+MALEboy:+HUMAN,-ADULT,+ANIMATE,+MALEsentencemeaningThemeaningofasentenceisnotthesumtotalofthemeaningsofallitscomponents.e.g“Thedogbitestheman〞issemanticallydifferentfrom“Themanbitesthedog〞thoughtheircomponentsareexactlythesame.

TwopointsaboutsentencemeaningTherearetwoaspectstosentencemeaning:GrammaticalmeaningSemanticmeaninge.g.*Helikeplayingbasketball.*Thetreesareflyinghappilyinthesky.selectionalrestrictions選擇限制---theconstraintsonwhatlexicalitemscangowithotheritems.(tojudgewhetherasentenceissemanticallymeaningful)e.g.*Thetreesareflyinghappilyinthesky.GeoffreyLeechProfessorofLinguisticsandModernEnglishLanguageatLancasterUniversityfrom1974to1996.Hehaswritten,co-authoredorco-edited25booksintheareasofEnglishgrammar,literarystylistics,semantics,computationallinguistics,corpuslinguisticsandpragmatics.Predicationanalysis

(述謂結構分析)---awaytoanalyzesentencemeaningPredication述謂結構argument(s)(nominalelements)變元

predicate(arelationalelement)謂詞e.g.MyfriendTonylikesapples.The