[英语学习]lexicology-chapter5-1.ppt

English Lexicology Chapter 5 Word meaning Part One Abstract This chapter attempts to expound the meanings of “meaning”, and the four types of motivation from a linguistic perspective . Main points The meanings of meaning Reference Concept Sense Four types of motivation Onomatopoeic motivation Morphological motivation Semantic motivation Etymological motivation A word is the combination of form and meaning. Form refers to the word’s pronunciation and spelling. For example, the word “cat” can be pronounced as /kAt/ and spelled as c a t. They consist the form of cat. Meaning is what the form stands for. E.g. cat /kAt/ is used to describe ‘a small four-legged animal with soft fur and sharp claws’. So it can be said that ‘a small four-legged animal with soft fur and sharp claws’ is the meaning of the word cat. But how can you distinguish the meaning of cat from that of squirrel or small dog? The meanings of “meaning” Reference (所指关系) Words are symbols, many of which have meaning only when they have acquired reference. Reference is the relationship between language and the world. Only when a connection has been established between the linguistic sign and a referent(所指物), i.e. an object, a phenomenon, a person, etc. does the sign become meaningful. The reference of the word to a thing outside the language is arbitrary and conventional. The word cat refers to a whole set of animals of the same species of “small four-legged animal with soft fur and sharp claws’ . One cat can be defined as “small four-legged animal with soft fur and sharp claws’ when it is compared to human beings and cars or clothes. But what will it be if there are various kinds and colors of cats and you still want to point out which one is yours? So the words my ,little, white, big-eye will help you a lot. Although reference is a kind of abstraction ,with the help of context ,it can refer to something specific. We can define them by the user, time, place, color, price, and