现代英语词汇学语义特征.ppt

Modern English Lexicology,Unit 4 词的语义特征,apple,banana,potato,fruit,vegetable,Health food,Concept, categorization, subcategorization,(王寅)范畴化是一种基于体验，以主客体互动为出发点，对外界事物进行主观概括和类属划分的心智过程，是一种赋予世界以一定结构，并使其从无序转向有序的理性活动，也是人类认识世界的一个重要手段。范畴化是人类认识世界的一种基本认知方式。 对比和概括是范畴化过程的两个主要手段(有一定先天成分)。 范畴化具有体验性，规则性，无意识性，创造力，想象力等特征。,第四章：词的语义特征,语义特征（semantic features）是对人类抽象活动的一种概括。，属于元语言（metalanguage ）。 用来描写任何语言的语义。 如：具有语义特征A，记作+A；不具有语特征A，记作-A。 “The analysis of word meaning is often seen as a process of breaking down the sense of a word into its minimal components”(Leech 1981:84) The meaning of words are made up of combinations of their sense components. Minimal distinctive feature or properties. What make up the sense of word and in turn define the word.,A very simple example of this is provided by the words man, woman, boy, girl, and other, related words in English.,These words all belong to the semantic field the human race, and the relation between them may be appropriately represented by a two-dimensional field diagram:,The dimensions of meaning themselves will be termed as semantic features and components.,Another way to represent these senses is to write formulae in which the dimensions of meaning are expressed by feature symbols like HUMAN and ADULT. The meanings of the individual items can then be expressed by combinations of these features:,These formulae are called the COMPONENTIAL DEFINITIONS of the items concerned: they can be regarded, in fact, as formulated dictionary definitions.,These formulae are called the COMPONENTIAL DEFINITIONS of the items concerned: they can be regarded, in fact, as formulated dictionary definitions. The term COMPONENTIAL ANALYSIS has often been used for the method of analysis illustrated here, that of reducing a words meaning to its ultimate contrastive elements. It bears some resemblance to the mathematical process of factorizing a number, e.g. 10=125.,The meaning of words is not an un-analyzable whole. There are smaller than the meaning or word. Word is regarded as a complex of different semantic features and components. Componential analysis refers to an approach by linguists to describe meaning of words and phrases. A process aiming at breaking down the meaning of a word into minimal distinctive features or properties. The analyzing process of word meaning by breaking down the sense of word into its minimal components, or sense components.,A particular characteristic of componential analysis is that it attempts as far as possible to treat components in terms of binary opposites, (oneparticularfeatureinacontrastingpair) e.g. MALE and FEMALE.,6. subtle / delicate A.There is a very subtle difference between “citizen rights” and “human rights”. B.This is a delicate situation. We must handle it with great care. C. She looked very delicate, but she was very energetic and had a strong will. Delicate: 需要谨慎处理和对待 becoming ill easily; not strong 容易生病的; 不强壮的 Subtle: 有洞察、领悟事物细微差别和微妙关系的能力 not easy to detect or describe; fine; delicate /organized in a clever and complex way巧妙的/able to see and describe fine and delicate differences; sensitive 敏锐的,6. subtle / delicate A. There is a very subtle difference between “citizen rights” and “human rights”. B.This is a delicate situation. We must handle it with great care. C.She looked very delicate, but she was very energetic and had a strong will.,Subtle: adj. a. not easy to notice, understand, or explain difficult to understand 难理解微妙的 e.g. subtle differences in meaning b. clever in arrangement, esp. so as to deceive people 精妙的 e.g. a subtle plan c. very clever in noticing and understanding e.g. a subtle mind,Delicate: adj. a. needing careful handling, esp. because easily broken or damaged e.g. Be careful with those wine glasses theyre very delicate. b. needing careful treatment in order to avoid failure or trouble e.g. a delicate situation The negotiations are at a very delicate stage. c. easily made ill e.g. a delicate child d. finely made in a way that shows great skill e.g a delicate piece of workmanship e. (of a taste, smell, etc.) pleasing but not strong and perhaps not easy to recognize. e.g. a delicate flavour / smell,Subtle : -understandable Delicate : +breakable,第四章：词的语义特征,描述如下：,+,+,+,+,+,+,+,+,+,+,+,+,+,+,-,+,+,-,-,-,-,+,-,+,+,+,+,+,-,+,+,+,+,-,-,+,+,-,+,+,-,-,+,+,+,+,+,+,Componential analysis enables us to have an exact knowledge of the conceptual meaning of words. Two words are synonymous if they contain all the same sense components, e.g. both father and male parent can be given the same definition +HUMAN +ADULT +MALE +MARRIED even though they clearly differ in connotation, the one (Which one? And what exactly?) having connotative meaning, the other evoking no association.,Semantic features usually used to distinguish nouns include ANIMATE, MALE, VEGETABLE, ADULT, ABSTRACT, COUNTALBE, etc. Semantic features to distinguish verbs include DYNAMIC, STATIVE, CAUSATIVE, VOLITIVE, COMPLETIVE DURATIVE, etc.,Five types of dynamic verb: Activity verb: Abandon, ask, call, help, learn, listen, look at, play, say, work, write Process verb: Change, deteriorate, grow, mature, slow down, widen Sense verb: ache, feel, hurt, itch Transitional verb: arrive, die, fall, land, leave, lose Momentary verb: hit, jump, kick, knock, nod, tap,Two types of stative verb: Sense and cognition verb: abhor (痛恨），adore（崇拜），astonish, believe, desire, detest（厌恶）, feel, hate, like , love, realize, recall, know Relational verb: Apply to (everyone), be, belong to, concern, consist of, contain, cost, depend on, deserve equal, seem, belong to , consist of,Kill=causeXdieY die=causeXdieX The flowers have died. The frost killed the flowers. Look=seeX+volitive See =seeX-volitive John was looking intently at the pictures on the wall and didnt see him. My dog was walking . I was walking my dog.,Dynamic vs. stative,How to distinguish dynamic and stative verbs? Consider learn and know. 1. Be able to be used in progressive aspect or not? (1) He is learning English. (dynamic) (2) * He is knowing English. (stative) 2. Be able to be used in pseudo-cleft sentence or not? (3) What I did was to learn English. (dynamic) (4) * What I did was to know English. (stative),3. Be able to be used in embedded sentence or not? (5) I persuade her to learn English. (dynamic) (6) * I persuade her to know English. (stative) 4. Be able to be used in imperative sentence or not? Kick the ball! * Own the house .,Dynamic adjectives can be used in imperative sentences and progressive aspects and embedded sentences. Consider: (1) a. Be careful. (dynamic) b. * Be tall. (stative) (2) a. He is being cruel. (dynamic) b. * He is being clever. (stative) (3) a. I told the girl to be honest. b. * I told the girl to be short.,A knowledge of the semantic features of words helps us to choose the right word or collocation. Some words require a human subject while some do not. For example, verbs of perception and cognition usually take a human subject as in John forgave your rudeness, but a tree or a door cannot forgive unless used metaphorically. Question: Now could you express such semantic feature of forgive? +HUMAN SUBJECT -,Advantages of CA,1.Componentialanalysishelpstocharacterizesenserelations(suchassynonymy,antonymy,polysemy,andhyponymy) andthereforeenablesustohaveanexactknowledgeofthe conceptualmeaningofwords.Forexample, 1)father/male parent-( synonymsindenotation, containing allthesamesensecomponents) Human+Adult+Male+Married+Oldergeneration Cf.Hewasafather tothesepoorchildren. Thewishisfather tothethought.(愿望是思想之父。),2)“sh”(叔),“ji”(舅)and“uncle” “sh”+Human+Male+Oldergeneration+Differentlineality+Paternalside+Juniortofather “ji”+Human+Male+Oldergeneration+Differentlineality+Maternalside+Juniorseniortofather “uncle”+Human+Male+Oldergeneration+Different lineality+Maternalorpaternalside+Juniororseniortofather 3) man(asapolysemant) A.Human+Adult+Male(asin“Ihavealwaysregardedhimasamanofintegrity.”) B.Human+AdultMale(asin“Allmenmustdie.”) C.Human(asin“Manmustchangeinachangingworld.”),2.Componentialanalysishelpsinwordchoiceandcollocation.e.g. cost+Inanimatesubject; spend+Animatesubject look+Volitive adverb; see-Volitiveadverb elapse+Subjectreferringtotime (e.g.Amonth/weekelapsed. *Abicycleelapsed.) frighten+Animateobject (e.g.Tomfrightenedme. *Tomfrightened thelamp.),admire+Animatesubject (e.g.Olgaadmirestheteacher. *Virtueadmires Olga.) stick+Momentary (e.g.Heput thekeyinhispocket. Hestuck thekeyinhispocket. *Hestuck thekeyslowly/carefullyinhispocket.) IndictionarieslikeLongmancodesaresuppliedtoshowusagebasedonsemanticanalysis. e.g.usu.sing.,usu.innegatives,nopass.,notinprogressiveforms,A,F,aftern., nocomp.,etc.,SomedisadvantagesofCA,Componentialanalysisworkswellwithgroupsofwordsthatsharecertainfairlyobvioussemanticproperties,butitisimpossibletoextendcomponentialanalysistotheentirevocabularyforthefollowingreasons. 1)Notallwordscanbeanalyzedonthebasisofsemanticopposition. e.g. friendship,love,kindness,beauty,happiness,hostility ,etc.+Abstractonly? window,door,cloud,mountain,home,etc.+Physicalobject?,2)Sensecomponentsarenotenoughtodefineaword.e.g.manHuman+Adult+Malebiologically Cf.man(asin“Beaman!”)? man(toakid:withbeard,acoarsevoice,inpants,etc.)?,3)Someruleshaveexceptions. e.g.angry+Animate?anangryscene(acceptable) sleepless+Animate?asleeplessnight(acceptable) impossible+Withinanimatenoun?YourethemostimpossiblepersonIveevermet,The chief drawback of componential analysis is the impossibility of making a list of the infinite number of semantic features. On the basis of semantic opposition Not fit into such sets of contrasts, Kindness, window, cloud. abstract,physical objects The analysis of word meaning into its sense components is not enough. Be a man! Many words often used figuratively without observing the normal “usage rules”. Threaten ones enemy. Threaten ones security.,4)Incapableofanalyzingthevariousassociativemeaningofwords e.g.threaten+Animateobject Theydidsoonlytothreatentheirenemy.(acceptable)? Whatyouvedonehasthreatenedmysecurity.(figurative) comb+HairHerarelycombshisair.?Theycombedtheislandforsignsofashipwreck.(figurative),Main types of Word meaning,One difficulty in the study of meaning is that the word meaning itself has different meanings. It is often accepted that word meaning can be classified into the following types: Grammatical meaning Lexical meaning Denotative meaning Associativemeaning Contextual meaning,1) Grammatical meaning,Grammatical meaning is the component of meaning identical in individual forms of different words. For instance, the tense meaning in the word forms of verbs ( worked, studied, taught, etc), or the plural meaning ( girl, girls, child, children, etc ). Word class Inflectional paradigm,2) Lexical meaning:,Lexical meaning is the meaning of an isolated word in a dictionary. This component of meaning is identical in all the forms of the word. For example, The word-forms : go, goes, went, gone, going, possesses different grammatical meanings of tenses, persons, and so on. In each of these forms we find the same lexical meaning expressing the process of movement. Denotative meaning Associative meaning,A denotative meaning: the conceptual meaning . The central factor in linguistic communication.The referential meaning given in the dictionary,denotative meaning is the same meaning for all speakers of a given language. That is to say, it is the extensional meaning of a word. The word book, for example, can be understood by anyone who is engaged in any profession. So denotative meaning is called the dictionary meaning.,Associative meaning is the secondary meaning supplemented to the conceptual meaning. It differs from conceptual meaning in that it is open-ended and indeterminate, liable to influence of such factors as culture, experience and religion. Reflected meaning. First, reflected meaning is the meaning which arises in cases of multiple conceptual meaning, when one sense of a word forms part of our response to another sense. On hearing, in a church service, the synonymous expressions The comforter and The Holy Ghost, both referring to the third person of the Trinity, we may have different reactions to these terms. The comforter sounds warm and comforting, while the holy ghost sounds awesome.,B. Associative meaning/Reflected Meaning,In a church service, the synonymous expressions The Comforter and The Holy Ghost, both refer to the Third Person of the Trinity, but the reactions to these terms can be conditioned by the everyday non-religious meanings of comfort and ghost.,a connotative meaning: the emotional association which a word or a phrases suggests in one mind.,Connotative meaning is the intentional meaning which a word suggests or implies. It includes the stylistic reference and the emotive charge proper to the word. Wine glasses, goblets are similarly shaped like drinking vessels, but the words do not mean the same thing. The speaker uses one word rather than the other to give additional, connotational meaning. In a simpler example, march, stagger, stroll, bounce. Each of these words contains the content of walk. But the connotative meaning adds extra meaning,I dont want my daughter to marry a Red. African countries are going red. You must be green to believe that. The passengers turned green with sea-sickness. He was in the blues because of his failure in the exam. I always suspected he was yellow/yellow-bellied.,Associative meaning of “Woman” If the word woman is defined conceptually by three feature (+human, -male, +adult), then the three properties human, adult, and female must provide a criterion of the correct use of that word.,But there is a multitude of additional, non-criterial properties that we have learnt to expect a referent of woman to possess.,They include not only physical characteristics (biped, having womb), but also psychological and social properties (gregarious, subject to maternal instinct), and may extend to features which are merely typical rather than invariable concomitants of womanhood (capable of speech, experienced in cookery, skirt-or-dress-wearing).,Still further, connotative meaning can embrace the putative(推定的)properties of the referent, due to the viewpoint adopted by an individual, or a group of people or a whole society.,So in the past woman has been burdened with such attributes (frail, prone to tears, cowardly, emotional, irrational, inconstant) as the dominant male has been pleased to impose on her, as well as with more becoming qualities such as gentle, compassionate, sensitive, hard-working.,beauty incarnate,b. stylistic meaning,stylistic meaning is that which a piece of language conveys about the social circumstances of its use. Common words, formal words, informal words. the social relationship between the speakers or correspondents The occasion Subject matter The mode of discouse,青楼艳妓 Butterfield 8 灵欲春宵 Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf,We have a scale of status usage, for instance, descending from formal and literary English at one end to colloquial, familiar, and eventual slang English at the other. We may contrast conceptual synonyms with respect to their varying stylistic overtones: Cant cannot Tired fatigued Ad advertisement Job position Leave depart,We may contrast conceptual synonyms with respect to their varying stylistic overtones: Steed ( poetic) domicile ( formal, official) Horse ( general) residence( formal) Nag ( slang) abode ( poetic) Gee-gee ( baby) home ( general) Cast ( literary) diminutive ( very formal) Throw (general ) tiny ( colloquial ) Chuck ( casual, slang ) wee ( colloquial, dialectal ),父皇，父亲大人，父亲，爸，爸爸，爹，爹爹，大，大大，Daddy 。 The style dimension of status is particularly important in distinguishing synonymous expressions. Here is an example in which the difference of status is maintained through a whole sentence, and it reflected in syntax as well as in vocabulary.,Affective meaning is often explicitly conveyed through the conceptual or connotative content of the words used. Someone who is addressed : You are a vicious tyrant and I hate you !” is left in little doubt as to the feelings of the speaker towards him. Affective meaning is largely a parasitic category in the sense that to express our emotions we rely upon the mediation of categories of meaning : conceptual, connotative, or stylistic. Emotional expression through style comes about.,c. Affective Meaning: concerned with the expressions of feelings and attitudes of the speaker or writer.,It is largely a parasitic category in the sense that to express our emotions we rely upon the mediation of other categories of meaning: conceptual, connotative, or stylistic.,little Small famous notorious slim/slender skinny determined pigheaded Statesman politician Confidence complacency Farmer peasant Publicity propaganda,Appreciative pejorative,Fastidious, fussy, particular critical , fault-finding , picky fad, vogue, style cunning, artful, sly clique, gang, group encourage instigate promote,Affective Meaning can depend on the context: He is bright and ambitious. Knowledge of inequality has stimulated envy, ambition and greed.,Someone who is addressed: You are a vicious tyrant and a villainous reprobate, and I hate you for it! is left in little doubt as to the feelings of the speaker towards him.,Hayakawa S.I.(1978) 在他所著的 “Language in Thought and Action”一书中描述了这样一个故事：一位著名的黑人社会学家外出旅行受到了一对白人夫妇的热情款待，为他提供食宿等便利条件。 见Geoffrey Leech的著作Semantics: the study of meaning. 1981. Second Edition. Penguin Books.P44.,可是这对白人夫妇总是称他为 “nigger”，使得这位黑人在感激这对夫妇的同时，又因被称为“nigger”内心又受到了伤害，因此在无法忍受的情况下，终于鼓足勇气要求白人夫妇不要使用“nigger”这一带有侮辱含义的词。下面是他们之间的部分对话：,“Whos insulting you, son?” said the man. “You are, sir-that name youre always calling me.” “What name?” “Uhyou know.” “I aint callin you no names, son.” “ I mean your calling me nigger.” “Well, whats insultin about that? You are a nigger, aint you?”,d. Collocative meaning:,It is that part of the word meaning suggested by the words with which it co-occurs. The torch flashes. The lantern gleams. The headlights dazzles. The stars twinkle. Embers glow. The sun shines. The wet road glistens. The gun barrel glints.,3) Contextual meaning:,The context generally shows in what sense the word is used, in its primary sense or its figurative sense. When used literally, words have their original meaning, when used figuratively, words have symbolic meaning. The meaning of the word is defined by the context. The context determines which meaning out of all the possible meaning is to be attached to the word. The country is opposed to the war.,Thematic meaning, or what is communicated by the way in which a speaker or writer organizes the message, in terms of ordering, focus, and emphasis.,5)Thematic meaning,It is often felt, for example, that an active sentence such (1) has a different meaning from its passive equivalent (2), although in terms of conceptual meaning, they seem to be the same: Task 4 Seeking for the difference (1) Mrs Bessie Smith donated the first prize. (2) The first prize was donated by Mrs Bessie Smith,Certainly, these have different communicative values in that they suggest different contexts: the active sentence answers an implicit question “ what did Mrs Bessie Smith donate?”, while the passive sentence answers an implicit question “ who was the first prize donated by?” or “ Who donated the first prize?” That is (1) in contrast to (2) suggests that we know who Mrs Bessie Smith is ( perhaps through a previous mention). The same truth condition, however, apply to each: “ it would be impossible to find a situation of which (1) was an accurate report while (2) was not, or vice versa.,Thematic meaning is mainly a matter of choice between alternative grammatical constructions, as in: I like Danish cheese best Danish cheese I like best Halliday, functionalist, puts forward coherence, theme, rheme. Theme