胡壮麟《语言学教程》第五章Meaning

What is communicated by the way in which a speaker or writer organizes the message, in terms of ordering, focus, and emphasis.
Mrs Bessie Smith donated the first prize. The first prize was donated by Mrs Bessie Smith. They stopped at the end of the corridor. At the end of the corridor, they stopped.
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Step mother
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(3) Social meaning

What a piece of language conveys about the social circumstances of its use.
Dialect: the language of a geographical region or of a social class. Time: the language of the 18th c., etc. Province: language of law, of science, of advertising, etc. Status: polite, colloquial, slang, etc. Modality: language of memoranda, lectures, jokes, etc. Singularity: the style of Dickens, etc.

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(2) Connotative meaning

The communicative value an expression has by virtue of what it refers to, over and above its purely conceptual content.

A multitude of additional, non-criterial properties, including not only physical characteristics but also psychological and social properties, as well as typical features.

pretty: girl, boy, woman, flower, garden,
colour, village, etc. handsome: boy, man, car, vessel, overcoat, airliner, typewriter, etc.
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(7) Thematic meaning

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„Colorful‟ meaning
Commendatory tough-minded resolute, firm shrewd childlike wiseman man of usual talent portly, stout, solid, plum slender, slim
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3. The meaning of meaning

C. K. Ogden & I. A. Richards (1923). The Meaning of Meaning. John means to write. A green light means to go.

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Health means everything.
Chapter Five Meaning
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1. The Study of Meaning

Semantics:
The meaning of words: Lexical semantics The meaning of sentences: Propositional meaning, compositional meaning Linguistic semantics vs. Logical semantics/philosophical semantics

Arises in cases of multiple conceptual meaning, when one sense of a word forms part of our response to another sense.

When you hear „click the mouse twice‟, you think of Gerry being hit twice by Tom so you feel excited.

Associative Meaning
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(1) Conceptual meaning

Also called „denotative‟ or „cognitive‟ meaning.
Refers to logical, cognitive or denotative content. Concerned with the relationship between a word and the thing it denotes, or refers to.
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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.
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Geoffrey Leech (1974, 1981). Semantics: The Study of Meaning. Seven types of meaning:
Conceptual meaning Connotative meaning Social meaning Affective meaning Reflected and meaning Collocative meaning Thematic meaning

Reflecting the personal feelings of the speaker, including his attitude to the listener, or his attitude to something he is talking about.
You‟re a vicious tyrant and a villainous reprobate, and I hate you for it! I‟m terribly sorry to interrupt, but I wonder if you would be so kind as to lower your voices a little. or Will you belt up.

His look was full of meaning.
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What is the meaning of life?
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What does „capitalist‟ mean to you?
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What does „cornea‟ mean? The transparent, convex, anterior portion of the outer fibrous coat of the eyeball that covers the iris and the pupil and is continuous with the sclera.

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domicile: very formal, official residence: formal abode: poetic home: general
steed: poetic horse: general nag: slang gee-gee: baby language
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Derogatory ruthless obstinate sly, crafty childish wiseguy freak fleshy, fat, tubby lean, skinny, lanky, weedy, scraggy
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(5) Reflected meaning



The five clocks by Martin Joos
Frozen Formal Consultative Casual Intimate
Formal <------------------------------> Informal
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(4) Affective meaning


Pragmatics:

The meaning of utterances
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2. Semantic Meaning


Semantics is the study of meaning in language. Meaning has been studied for thousands of years by philosophers, logicians and linguists. E.g. Plato & Aristotle.

Any characteristic of the referent, identified subjectively or objectively, may contribute to the connotative meaning of the expression which denotes it.
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Involving the „real world‟ experience one associates with an expression when one uses or hears it.

Unstable: they vary considerably according to culture, historical period, and the experience of the individual.

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Biblioteka Baidu
4. The Theory of Reference


Words → Meaning: Words „name‟ or „refer to‟ things -- Platonic Words→Concepts→Things: Ogden & Richards thought/concept/image
symbolizes
symbol (word)
refers to
referent (object)
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stands for
airplane
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5. Sense

„Meaning‟ is not some kind of „entity‟ separate from language.

That words „have meaning‟ means only that they are used in a certain way in a sentence. There is no „meaning‟ beyond the meaning of individual words and sentences.

Many taboo terms are result of this.
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(6) Collocative meaning

The associations a word acquires on account of the meanings of words which tend to occur in its environment.