Lecture-8-Main-Types-of-Word-Meaning

MainTypesofWordMeaning&ComponentialAnalysisMaintypesofwordmeaningWordmeaningcanbeclassifiedaccordingtodifferentperspectives.Thesemeaningsarenotfoundineveryword.Somewordspossesssomeofthemanddevoidofothers.MaintypesofwordmeaningSometypesofmeaningsmayappearmoreprominentincertainwordsthaninothers.Somemeaningsareconstant,andothersmaybetransient暂时的,existingonlyinactualcontexts.Alltheseformpartofthestudyofsemanticsandproveofgreatimportanceintheuseofwords.MainTypesofWordMeaningGrammaticalmeaningandlexicalmeaningConceptualmeaningandassociativemeaningConnotativemeaning内涵意义StylisticmeaningAffectivemeaning情感意义SocialmeaningCollocativemeaningGrammaticalMeaningandLexicalMeaningGrammaticalmeaningLexicalmeaningGrammaticalMeaningGrammaticalmeaningcontainsword-classandinflectionalparadigm(范例）.Itreferstothatpartofthemeaningofthewordwhichindicatesgrammaticalconceptorrelationships.ExamplePartofspeechofwordsNouns,verbs,adjectives,adverbsSingularandpluralmeaningofnounsTensemeaningofverbsandtheirinflectionalvariantsGrammaticalmeaningbecomestransparentonlywhenwordsareusedinconnectedspeechE.g.Thedogischasingaball.Differentlexemesorlexicalitems,whichhavedifferentlexicalmeanings,mayhavethesamegrammaticalmeaning.ExampleThetensemeaninginthewordformsofverbs(worked,studied,taught,etc.)Thecasemeaning(boy’s,girl’s)Thepluralmeaning(pen,pens,child,children,etc.)LexicalMeaningLexicalmeaningisthemeaningofanisolatedwordinadictionary.Thiscomponentofmeaningisidenticalinalltheformsoftheword.Inanotherword,thesamelexemehavingthesamelexicalmeaningmayhavedifferentgrammaticalmeaningExampleForgetForgetsForgotForgottenForgettingWhenyouarelookingupawordinthedictionaryItliststhefunctionofthewords,thedefinitiondoesatleasttwothings:Itdescribesthelexicalmeaningoftheword.Thenitgivesthepartofspeechoftheword----thewordclassWhenweuseawordinasentenceWehavetotaketwofactorsintoconsideration:thelexicalmeaningtheword-classGrammaticalmeaningandlexicalmeaningGrammaticalmeaningsurfacesonlyinuse.Lexicalmeaningisconstantinallthecontentwordswithinorwithoutcontext.Functionalwordshavelittlelexicalmeaning.Buttheypossessstronggrammaticalmeaning.LexicalmeaningmaybesubdividedintothetwotypesofmeaningConceptualmeaningAssociativemeaningConceptualmeaningConceptualMeaning(alsocalledreferentialmeaning所指意义,denotativemeaning外延意义orcognitivemeaning认识意义)Itisthemeaninggiveninthedictionaryandformsthecoreofword-meaning.ConceptualmeaningConceptualmeaningisconstantandrelativelystable.Itformsthebasisforcommunication.Thesamewordgenerallyhasthesameconceptualmeaningtoallthespeakersinthesamespeechcommunity.ExampleThesunrisesintheeast.Sun----‘aheavenlybodywhichgivesofflight,heat,andenergy’ItisaconceptwhichisunmistakabletoanyonewhospeaksEnglish.Ambiguity语义的确定与不确定是相对的。语义的不确定性首先表现为语义的模糊性精确性是有条件的，因而是相对的。模糊性寓于精确性之中，精确性只是模糊性的特殊表现以英语中的“bald”为例Webster‘sNewCollegiateDictionary把它定义为：“lackinganaturalorusualcoveringasofhair,vegetation,etc.但问题是如何去量化”bald“的值使之达到natural或usual的值呢？natural或usual的值又是什么呢？对于一个连续体上的两个极端端点的确立有时并不困难如果一个人的头上一根头发也没有，我们会毫不迟疑地说：Heisbald.“但是如果他的头上有一根头发呢？或许我们还会使用“bald”。如果他的头上有两根，三根，四根……以此类推，我们还会使用bald一词吗？如果我们把bald和notbald的分界值人为地定在100根，那么，这就意味着头上有99根头发的人是bald,而头上有101根头发的人是notbald。如果我们这样做，这种主观的划分将是荒唐可笑的。事实上，语义的模糊性和精确性只有与人的认识相联系才有意义。客观世界本身无所谓精确和模糊。无论它是精确的还是模糊的都会以其特有的规律运动着，而人的认识却有“知”与“不知”，以及“知多”和“知少”的问题，因此精确性和模糊性属于认识论的范畴。“经验世界”在解析意义中的优先地位。但是人们对经验世界的理解会存在的量与质的差异。对经验世界认识上的差异导致对话语意义性的不同的价值判断。一个符合语言系统的话语是否有意义首先要看它是否反映了“经验世界”是否与人们对“经验世界”的认识相吻合。1.Cametheyintoyesterdayheclassroom.2.Heswitchedontheblanketandslept.3.Hesleptstandingononetoe.4.Hesleptawake.5.Heturnedontheclothes.但是对意义的解析虽然以经验世界为优先参照，但是经验世界不是唯一参照。当学生被要求去创造一种语境使得以上的话语有着合理的意义时，学生会在“可能的世界”或“假想的世界”中寻求对话语语义的解析。AssociativemeaningAssociativemeaningisthesecondarymeaningsupplementedtotheconceptualmeaning.Itdiffersfromtheconceptualmeaninginthatitisopen-endedandindeterminate.AssociativemeaningItisliabletotheinfluenceofsuchfactorsas:CultureExperiencereligionGeographicalregionClassbackgroundEducation,etc.NidalistssixsourcesofassociativemeaningsThepersonswhousesuchlexemesThesettingsinwhichsuchlexemesaregenerallyemployedTheoccurrenceofsuchlexemesinpriortextsContamination拼凑fromlinguisticcollocationsContaminationfromhomophones同音字CulturalvaluesassociatedwiththereferentsofthelexemesThesecanbedividedintofourcategoriesConnotativeStylisticAffectivecollocativeConnotativeMeaningOppositetothedenotativemeaning,connotativemeaningreferstotheovertonesorassociationssuggestedbytheconceptualmeaning.Connotativemeaningistraditionallyknownasconnotations.ConnotativeMeaningItisnotanessentialpartoftheword-meaning,butsocialandculturalvaluesthatmightoccurinthemindofparticularusersofthelanguage.E.g.mother,denotinga‘femaleparent’Itisalsoassociatedwithlove,care,tenderness,forgiveness,forgiving,etc.ConnotativeMeaningTheseconnotationsarenotgiveninthedictionary,butassociatedwiththewordinactualcontexttoparticularreadersorspeakers.Examplehome----adwellingplace(conceptualmeaning)Whenreaderscomeacrossthe