语言学Chapter-5-Meaning.pptx

Chapter 5 Meaning;Semantics;Besides the linguists, meaning has been studied for thousands of years by philosophers and logicians, e.g. Plato Aristotle. ;Logicians and philosophers have tended to concentrate on a restricted range of sentences (typically, statements, or ‘propositions’) within a single language. The linguistic approach is broader in scope, aiming to study the properties of meaning in a systematic and objective way, with reference to as wide a range of utterances and languages as possible.;The Meanings of “meaning”;His look is full of meaning.;What’s the meaning of life?;Study of Meaning;2. Geoffrey Leech. Semantics: The Study of Meaning. Seven types of meaning: Conceptual meaning Connotative meaning Social meaning Affective meaning Reflected meaning Collocative meaning Thematic meaning ;(1) Conceptual meaning 概念意义;(2) Connotative meaning 内涵意义;Note: In Leech’s system, “connotative” refers to some additional, especially emotive, meaning. 在交流过程中带感情色彩的意义。 e.g. politician/statesman ;In philosophy/logic: Connotation 内涵 (the properties of the entity a word refers to 词语所指实体的特征) Denotation 外延 (the relationship between a linguistic unit and the non-linguistic entities to which it refers) =conceptual meaning/reference e.g. human connotation: “biped” “featureless” “rational” denotation: any person John/Mary/… ;(3) Social meaning社会意义;e.g. domicile: very formal, official residence: formal abode: poetic home: general steed: poetic horse: general nag: slang;(4) Affective meaning感情意义;‘Colorful’ meaning;(5) Reflected meaning 反射/反映意义;(6) Collocative meaning搭配意义;(7) Thematic meaning 主位意义;In our daily conversation, there are at least four ways to explain the meaning of a word. “desk” 1) point to the object 2) describe the object as “a piece of furniture with a flat top and four legs, at which one reads and writes” 3) paraphrase: a kind of table 4) translation: 书桌;The Referential Theory; airplane;Conceptual meaning: Sense: the abstract properties of an entity Referenc