词汇学5-词的意义

WordMeaningOverviewWordMeaningConventionality&MotivationMaintypesofwordmeaningWordMeaningMeaningsofmeaningMeaningiselusive(difficulttodefineordescribe)intheEnglishlanguageanddoesnotseemtobestable.Weuselanguagetotalkaboutthingsintheworldaroundus,thereisobviouslyaconnectionofsomesortbetweenwordsandexpressionsandthingstheycanbeusedtoreferto.Wehavesomekindofmentalconceptionsofthethingsinourworldandthattheseconceptionsarelinkedbothtothewordsinourlanguageandtothethingsthemselves.1.Whatisthemeaningof‘word’?2.Lifewithoutfaithhasnomeaning.3.Whatdoyoumeanbytheword‘concept’?4.Darkcloudsmeanrain.Symbol:thelinguisticelement,thatis,theword,sentence,etc.Referent:theobjectintheworldofexperienceThought/reference:conceptAccordingtothetheoryofsemiotictriangle,thereisnodirectlinkbetweensymbolandreferent(betweenlanguageandtheworld)__thelinkisviathought(theconceptsofourminds).Wheneverwehaveaword,therewillbeaconcept,fromwhichthemeaningofawordisderived.Partofthewordmeaningisthereference.Referenceistheconventionalorarbitraryrelationshipbetweenlanguageandtheworld.Concept:Thoughmeaningandconceptarecloselyrelated,theybelongtodifferentcategories:Conceptistheresultofhumancognitionwhilemeaningistheresultoflanguageuse.Sense:Sensedenotestheintrinsicsemanticrelationshipinsidethelanguage.Itisnotconcernedwiththeconnectionbetweenwordsandwhatthesewordsindicateintheworld.Thesenseofanexpressionisitsplaceinasystemofsemanticrelationshipswithotherexpressionsinthelanguage.ConventionalityDifferentlanguagescanusedifferentsymbols(words)tosignifythesamething.housemaisonかすく(家屋)fangzi(房子)Anotherconvincingevidenceoftheconventionalorarbitrarynatureoftheconnectionbetweensymbolandmeaningisasetofhomophones:write,rightandriteTheyarepronouncedthesamebutconveydifferentmeanings.What’sinaname?ThatwhichwecallaroseBytheothernameWouldsmellassweet------Shakespeare’sRomeoandJuliet“wordshavenomeaning;peoplehavemeaningforthem.”---EricPartridgeTosumup,MostEnglishwordsareconventional,arbitrarysymbols;consequently,thereisnointrinsicrelationbetweenthesound-symbolanditssense.MotivationMotivationreferstotheconnectionbetweenword-symbolanditssense.Fromthepointofviewofmotivation,thegreatmajorityofEnglishwordsarenon-motivated,however,thereisasmallgroupofwordsthatcanbedescribedasmotivated.Thatis,adirectconnectionbetweenthesymbolanditssensecanbeobserved.PhoneticmotivationWordsmotivatedphoneticallyarecalledechoicwordsoronomatopoeicwords,whosepronunciationsuggeststhemeaning.Thesoundsofsomewordssuggesttheirmeaningsbecausetheyarecreatedbyimitatingthenaturalsounds,suchasthecriesofanimals:bow-wow,moo,miaowButtheseechoicwordsarelargelyconventional,becausedifferentlanguagesmayusedifferentformstoindicatethesesounds.汪汪哞哞喵喵Exceptimitatingthecriesofanimals,manyechoicwordsrefertothenoisesthatresemblethoseassociatedwiththeobjectoractiontobenamed.雷声隆隆rumble,roll溪水潺潺babble,purlMorphologicalmotivationMorphologicalmotivationtriestoestablishtheconnectionofmeaningofthewordtoitsformfrommorphologicalpointofview.Wecanworkoutthemeaningofawordifweknowthemeaningofthemorphemesthatconstitutethatword.readable,anticancer,kilogram,modernizeCompoundwordsmaybemorphologicallymotivated.good-looking,headache,daydreamNotallcompoundsaremotivated.eggplant,Indiansummer,dogdaysWecannotinferthemeaningsofwordslikethese.SemanticmotivationSemanticmotivationexplainstherelationshipsbetweentheliteralsenseandthefigurativesensethroughassociations.Thefigurativemeaningcanbereadilyunderstoodbythosewhoknowtheliteralmeaning.astonyheart,hourhand/minutehandlegofthedeskEtymologicalmotivationEtymologicalmotivationmeansthatthemeaningsofwordscanbeexplainedwithreferencetoetymologicalinformation.Veryoften,thehistoryofthewordcanexplainwhyaformhasacquiredaparticularmeaning.Japan,China,WalkmanMainTypesofWordMeaningWordmeaningismadeupofvariouscomponentswhichareinterrelatedandinterdependent.Thesecomponentsarecommonlydescribedastypesofmeaning.LexicalandgrammaticalGrammaticalmeaningGrammaticalmeaningmaybedefinedasthecomponentofmeaningrecurrentinidenticalsetsofindividualformsofdifferentwords.Wordswiththesimilarlexicalmeaningcanhavedifferentgrammaticalmeanings,andwordswithdifferentlexicalmeaningscanhavethesamegrammaticalmeaning.Grammaticalmeaningisinuse.Itconsistsofword-classandinflectionalparadigm.modern,modernize,modernizationcat-cats,mouse-mice;high-higher,good-better;towrite,writes,wrote(tensemeaning)thecasemeaning(boy’s,girl’s)LexicalmeaningLexicalmeaningisidenticalinalltheformsofthewordwhilethegrammaticalmeaningvariesfromoneword-formtoanther.Everywordhasadifferentlexicalmeaning,whereasthegrammaticalmeaningisthesameinidenticalsetsofindividualformsofdifferentwords.DenotativemeaningThedenotative(extensional)orconceptualmeaningofawordisitsdefinitioninadictionary.Denotative(conceptual)meaningisoftendescribedasdictionarymeaningorliteralmeaningofaword.Itisthecoreofthemeaningofaword.Itisrelativelyconstantandstable,becauseitisthemeaningagreeduponbyallthemembersofthesamespeechcommunity.Itisthecentralfactorinlin