The meaning of the word, its types, aspects, features. Semantic structure of the word as a network of meanings
Meaning is a fuzzy term, hard to define. It is often ambiguous. Meaning appears through stages: generalization (concept), categorization (category), naming (name).
Operational approach to the definition of meaningappeared 20-25 years ago. Defines meaning through its role in communication. Operates with the sentence, studies words in action, in function.
Meaning – information passed from the speaker to the listener through communication.
Word meaning is characterized by:
· relative stability: meanings don’t change during long periods of time.
· relative flexibility: new objects appear while older ones are not used any more. People use the existing names for new concepts – new meanings appear.
Features of word meaning:
1. Meaning correlates with sign, referent, concept. Concepts are more or less similar across the languages. But languages construe situations differently (ходитьпомагазинам - responsibility; шоппинг - leisure).
2. Meaning appears through stages. Nomination is only possible for humans. Ways of naming: inventing a new word (google), borrowing, derivation, semantic derivation – giving a word another meaning (mouse, files, zip up).
3. Meaning is revealed through relations with other words. The concept may be one, but there can be a lot of words (swim, drift, float, sail, navigate are used in different situations).
4. Meaning is social. Language belongs to people and they change the meaning (ugly = aesthetically challenged).
5. Meaning is individual. A lot of things are subjective.
6. Meaning is stretchable.
Semantics studies word meaning.
There’s no direct connection between the sign & the meaning of the word.Real objects don’t belong to linguistic studies. Content is a unit of lexicology, meaning belongs to the language. The concepts are more or less the same for the humanity for a certain period of time. The meanings are different in languages, but the concepts are more or less the same.
Functional theory today: Meaning is triggered by the context, it is even constructed in the context.
Concept VS Meaning
Concept is a unit of mental lexicon, a category of human cognition.
Meaning is a linguistic notion.Meaning is a concept “captured” by a sign (word) in the process of naming. When a concept finds its “container”, it is verbalized.
word + concept = meaning
Varieties of meaning:
· grammatical (shows gr. paradigm)
· word-building (pattern)
· lexical
Lexical meaning consists of 3 aspects:
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· denotational (or conceptual) (link btw the W and the M)
· connotational (emotive charge + stylistic reference)
· pragmatic (the situation of communication)
Types of M:
· primary free
· secondary (derived) bound (can be found only in particular context –phrases, collocations, idioms, etc.)
Features of meaning: variability and stability
Sources of variability:
· Language economy: concepts change, but names do not (e.g. to dial the number)
· Algorithms of human thinking: metaphor and metonymy
X is understood in terms of Y: e.g. hands and face of a clock
· The situation of communicatione.g. to crush the shells of eggs
he developed a crush on the princess
a crush injury to the chest (проникающееранение)
The semantic structure of a word is a network of its meanings.
Билет.
Enumerate the grammatical categories of the finite verb in OE. What categories were missing as compared to ModE? When did they arise?
The verb system on OE was represented by two sets of forms: the finite and non-finite. The system of the OE verb was built up by four grammatical categories: person, number, tense and mood.
· PERSON (3 persons - Ic write, þu writes, hēwrīteð.)
· NUMBER was built up by the opposition of two number forms – singular and plural. (Ic write, wē – wrītað).
· TENSE was represented by 2 forms: Present, Past. There was no future tense in OE, it was expressed with the help of a preset tense verb + an adverb that denotes future or by a modal verb + infinitive ( sculan- shall/ willan – will)
· MOOD: 3 mood forms: indicative, imperative, oblique(subjunctive). The usage of indicative and imperative moods is the same as in NE, however, Oblique mood was used to express unreal events or to express so-called indirect speech, reflecting no person differences (present tense wrītað).
In the ME and NE developed three more grammatical categories –order, voice and aspect. New grammatical means for the formation, namely, analytical forms appeared. They developed from free word combinations of the OE verbs: habban, beon/wesan + infinitive, the combination lost its lexical meaning.
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· Order: habban+ past participle.
· Voice: beon + past participle.
· Aspect was formed in ME on the basis of free combination bēn + past participle.
The grammar categories tense and mood acquired new categorical forms: future tense: free combinations sculan (shall) willan (will) + inf. The category of mood in OE was represented by 3 mood forms (indicative, subjunctive and imperative) The subjunctive didn’t show the probability of the event but had 2 tense forms –past and present that developed into modern 2 subjunctive moods. I/he be present; i/he were present. The difference btw them now is the shade of probability.
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