Words--meaning-and-vocabulary3

Words,meaningandvocabulary:AnintroductiontomodernEnglishlexicology3Theword3.ThewordThischaptercovers:thenotionof‘word’ingeneralwordmeaningpolysemy–thesamewordwithtwoormoredifferentmeaningshomonymy–twoormorewordswiththesameshapemultiwordlexemes3.1ThenotionofwordDifficultiesinthedefinitionofthewordTheworddefinedCharacteristicsofwordsAmbiguityinthenotionofword3.1.1Difficultiesinthedefinitionoftheworda.Theterm‘word’isusedtodesignateanintermediatestructuresmallerthanawholephraseandyetgenerallylargerthanasinglesoundsegment.Maybedifferentlydefineddependingonwhetherwefocusonitsrepresentation,thethoughtwhichitexpresses,orpurelyformalcriteria.A.onwritingtraditionsthatseparatebysequencesoflettersorcharactersB.theinvisibleunitofthoughtasthemostessentialcriterionC.purelyformalcriteriaonwritingtraditionsthatseparatebysequencesoflettersorcharactersproblems:notalwayscorrespondstofunctionalrealitiese.g.inanewwastepaperbasketthefirsttwospacesdonothavethesamevalueasthelasttwobecausethegroup‘wastepaperbasket’,althoughrepresentedbythreewords,constitutesasemanticunits,whilesuchaunitdoesnotexistforagroup‘anewwaste’.theinvisibleunitofthoughtasthemostessentialcriterionproblems:delimitation(threealternatives:a.representedinwritingrepresentsathoughtunitorapsychologicalunitse.g.abstractnouns:courage,faith;adj.:tall,shortb.formsoneblockbutincludestwounitsofthoughte.g.farmer,rethinkc.psychologicalunitexceedsthelimitofthegraphologicalunite.g.allofasudden;asusualpurelyformalcriteriaBloomfield(1933/5:178):Awordisaminimalfreeform.Itisviewedasaformwhichcanoccurinisolationandhavemeaningbutwhichcannotbeanalysedintoelementswhichcanalloccuraloneandalsohavemeaning.Problems:awordcanbedefinedfromphonological,lexicalandgrammaticalpointsofview.e.g.findsthephonologicalwordandtheorthographicwordcorrespondtothegrammaticalword‘thirdpersonsingularoffind’3.2.1TheworddefinedThisbook—aworkingtool.Word:asanuninterruptibleunitofstructureconsistingofoneormoremorphemesandwhichtypicallyoccursinthestructureofphrases.Morpheme:theultimategrammaticalconstituent,theminimalmeaningfulunitoflanguage.3.1.3CharacteristicsofwordsThewordisanuninterruptibleunit.Thewordmayconsistofoneormoremorphemese.g.dog,dogs,birthday,windyThewordoccurstypicallyinthestructureofphrases.Itisalsoanimportantcharacteristicofeachwordthatitshouldbelongtoaspecificwordclassorpartofspeech.3.1.4AmbiguityinthenotionofwordGenericwordse.g.plant—tree—acacia/E`keIFE/(洋槐)Nevercompletelyhomogenousintheirmeaninge.g.tableintherestaurant;thetableofcontentsinabook;tableatschool;givemoneyunderthetableWithabstractwordssuchasdemocracy,equality,freedom,immortality,suchdifferenceinapplicationareevenmoremarked.Thenatureofthenon-linguisticworlditselfmaybeasourceofambiguity.e.g.ColourspectrumLackoffamiliaritywiththe‘referent’ofawordisahighlyvariablefactorfortheambiguity.Emotiveovertone:referstotheuseoflanguageeithertoexpressemotionortoarouseitinothers.Thisuseoflanguagemaybeopposedtothepurelycommunicativeone,whichisbasicallysymbolicorreferential.e.g.goodandbad,well3.1.4AmbiguityinthenotionofwordExercise3/2:Whatdoestheword‘bull’meanineachofthefollowingsentences?Bewareofthebull!Ithinktheelephantisabull.Stopactinglikeabullinachinashop!Therewasabullmarketonthestockexchangetoday.Welldone!You’vehitthebull’seye.Don’tgivemeallthatbull.I’mafraidthatyou’lljusthavetotakethebullbythehorns.3.2WordmeaningThelinguisticsignThewordasalinguisticsignDenotationandreferenceDenotationandsenseDenotationandconnotation3.2.1ThelinguisticsignDeSaussure:signified(concept/meaning);signifier(acousticimage/form)3.2.2ThewordasalinguisticsignWordmeaningandacousticimageWordmeaning:denotation,connotation,referenceandsense3.2.3DenotationandreferenceLexeme(coinedbyLyons1977),analogoustophonemeandmorpheme,consideredanabstractlinguisticunit(incapitals)withdifferentvariants(e.g.SINGasagainstsang,sung)therelationofdenotation:holdsbetweenalexemeandawholeclassofextra-linguisticobject;difficulttogiveconcreteexamplestherelationofreference:holdsbetweenanexpressionandwhatthatexpressionstandsforonparticularoccasionsofitsutterance.3.2.4DenotationandsenseSense:arelationshipwhichisinternaltothelanguagesystem,i.e.language-immanent(内在的)relationshipe.g.Thesenseofthewordtablewillvaryinthefollowingsentences:a.Don’tputyourfeetonthetable!b.Itwasfinalizedunderthetable.3.2.5DenotationandconnotationConnotationiscloselyassociatedwithsynonym.Synonymsmayhavethesamedenotation,i.e.cognitive,orconceptualmeaning,butdifferinconnotation.Denotationreferstotherelationshipbetweenalinguisticsignanditsreference.However,connotationsconstituteadditionalpropertiesoflexemes,e.g.poetic,slang,literary,rhetorical.(Sometimesitisdifficulttodrawalinebetweenthem.)3.3PolysymyDefinitionProblemsinherentintheconceptofpolysemy2.2.3EarlyModernEnglishperiod(1500-1800)Between1530andtheRestoration(oftheMonarchy,aftertheperiodoftheCommonwealth):fastestlexicalgrowthDictionariesappearedinthisperiod3.3.1DefinitionPolysemyreferstothesituationwherethesamewordhastwoormorediff