ChapterEightSemantics---WordMeani.docVIP

Chapter Eight Semantics --- Word Meaning and Sentence Meaning 0. Introduction 0.1 Definition: Semantics is the study of linguistic meaning: the meaning of words, phrases, and sentences. 0.2 Sub-branches: i. Lexical semantics: Lexical semantics deals with word meaning. ii. Sentence semantics: Sentence semantics deals with sentence meaning. ii. Two types of meaning: In general, we may say that a linguistic form has two types of meaning: denotation（外延意义）and connotation（内涵意义）. A. The denotative meaning of a linguistic form is the person, object, abstract notion, event, or state which the word or sentence denotes. B. The connotation of a linguistic form has to do with its overtones of meaning, that is, what the linguistic form suggests. Such overtones may be good or bad, and thus we can speak of a positive connotation褒义内涵 and a negative connotation贬义内涵. b. Some words do not have negative connotations when they are used generally. Nevertheless, in some contexts, they may take on additional meaning. Examples: boy, thirteen c. The connotation of a word is language-specific. For example, an English word and a Chinese equivalent may have the same denotative meaning but different connotations. Examples: propaganda, imperialism 2. Lexical semantics词汇语义学 Introduction: Lexical semantics is concerned with word meaning. There are two influential theories to describe the meaning of a word: Componential Analysis成分分析 and Semantic field语义场. 2.1 Componential Analysis 2.1.0 What is Componential Analysis? Following the theory of Componential Analysis, we define the meaning of a word as a set of semantic components or semantic features with the values: plus (+) or minus (-). 2.1.1 General and specific semantic features A. Some semantic components are general, which can occur in a large number of different words, such as human and male. B. Some semantic features are specific because they can only appear in a few words, such as horseness and cowness. 2.1.2 Redundant semantic featu