lecture 5 word meaning and componential analysis

splash whisper glimmer, glint, glisten, glitter








sniff, snore, snort 1. breath-noise snip, snap, snatch 2.quick separation or movement snake ,snail, sneak 3.creeping

It refers to the mental associations suggested by the conceptual meaning of a word. It explains the connection between the literal sense and figurative sense of the word.
Motivation
1. Onomatopoeic Motivation 2. Morphological motivation 3. Semantic Motivation 4. Etymological motivation
5.2.1. Onomatopoeic Motivation

Some words, called onomatopoeia, whose phonetic forms suggest their meanings as the words were created by imitating the natural sounds or noises.


Proper nouns, once they become common nouns, can be explained by their origins only.
a laconic answer (brief or short)


Laconic is derived from Lacons (the Spartans
What‘s the difference between reference and sense?

Sense denotes the relationships inside the language.

Reference denotes the relationship between words and the things, actions, events, and qualities they stand for.

sound symbolism.
5.2.2 Morphological motivation

Words which were formed by means of affixation and compounding belong to the category of motivation by morphology.

Lexical meaning itself has two components:
conceptual meaning 2. associative meaning
1.
5.3.2 Conceptual Meaning & Associative Meaning
5.1 What is ‘word meaning’?
the
thing or idea that the word represents
semantic
value that is conventionally associated with individual lexical items or words.
femaleparentoftenassociated?love?care?tenderness?forgivingetc
Lecture 5 Word Meaning and Componential Analysis
Li Zhigang
Teaching focus
1. Meanings of ‘meaning’ 2. Motivation of meaning 3. Types of meaning 4. Components of word meaning

It refers to the connection between the linguistic symbol and its meaning.
conventional and arbitrary.

Most words are non-motivated.

transparent and reasonably explicable.
Types of Meaning
Lexical Meaning
Grammatical Meaning
Conceptual Meaning
Associative Meaning
Connotative Meaning
Stylistic Meaning
Affective Meaning
Collocative Meaning

Compounds and derived words

readable
good-looking,
headache, daydream
bigwig,

egghead
A very important person ----an intellectual
5.2.3 Semantic Motivation
Lexical
is the meaning of an isolated word in a dictionary. This component of meaning is identical in all the forms of the word.
meaning

go, goes, went, gone, goihat has meaning ， has sense but not every word has reference.
but,
almost
dragon and phoenix
God,
Views on meaning
1.
2.
3.
4.
The Naming Theory Conceptualist view Contextualism Behaviorism
5.3 Types of meaning
Word meaning is made up of various components which are interrelated and interdependent.
These components are commonly described as types of meaning.

the situational context and the linguistic context.
―black art‖ and ―black coffee‖ (linguistic context)
The seal could not be found. (situational context)

Meaning belongs to language, so is restricted to language use.
5.1.3 What is
The
sense?
sense of an expression is its place in a system of semantic relationships with other expressions in the language.
reference 2. concept 3. sense
1.
5.1.1. reference
1.
It is the relationship language and the world.
between
2.
the linguistic sign and a referent
arbitrary

onomatopoeia
1.
primary onomatopoeia secondary onomatopoeia
2.
primary onomatopoeia

‗echo to the sense‘.
secondary onomatopoeia

Secondary onomatopoeia means that certain sounds and sound sequences are associated with certain senses in an expressive relationship.
Semantic Triangle
Concept
Refers to
evokes
symbol
Stands for
Referent
Contextualism

It holds that meaning should be studied in terms of situation, use, context – elements closely linked with language behavior. …
?
Behaviorism

Bloomfield
Jill Jack S __________ r ……… s __________R
Words
have no meaning; people have meaning for them.
Eric Partridge

5.2 Motivation
5.3.1 Grammatical Meaning & Lexical Meaning
Grammatical

meaning
(forget, forgets, forgot, forgotten, forgetting).
girls,
winters, tables,
joys
the grammatical meaning of plurality.

ping-pang, miaow, cuckoo, ticktuck, ha-ha
Apes gibber. Bears growl. Bulls bellow. Cats miaow (mew) ( purr). Eagles scream. Frogs croak. Dogs bark.

5.2.4. Etymological motivation

Etymological motivation denotes that the origins of words often throw light on their meanings.
E.g.: Pen originally refers to ‗a heavy quill or feather‘.
and conventional. and abstraction.
generalization
5.1.2 What is concept?

It is the general idea or meaning which is associated with a word or symbol in a person‘s mind.

metaphor
hand
---a helper tongue ---language
metonymy
He was the best pen of the day-pen author I am reading Shakespeare---Shakespeare Shakespeare‘s works
Concept
and meaning
the relationship between meaning and concept?

Concept, which is beyond language, is the result of human cognition, reflecting the objective world in the human mind.
The Naming Theory

Plato

linguistic symbols are just names or labels for things.
Conceptualist view
Thought / Reference
Symbol / Form
Referent

semantic triangle by Odgen and Richard.