Theories of Meaning

Prototypes

Prototypes
Prototypes are concepts that closely match the defining
characteristics of a particular concept.

Ex: l. An apple is a prototype for fruit.

2. Rose is a prototype for flower.
Prototypes are different for people belonging to
different cultures.
Ex: In Banginapally area a prototype for fruit could be a
mango.
 Linguistic Relativity

• Language affects the way people perceive and

experience the world around them.
• The study showed that Mandarian speakers more
likely to talk about the time vertically.

Ex: shang- (up) shang ge yue

(last month)
xia- (down) xia ge yue
(next month)
1.The Ideational Theory of Meaning
• This theory was developed by British
empiricist philosopher, John Locke.
• This theory explains that the meaning attached
to words can be separated from the words
themselves.
• This means that meaning originates in the
mind in the form of ideas.
• Words are just sensible signs for the
convenience of communication.
Contd…
• A mechanism for expressing thoughts and
thought is viewed as a succession of conscious
ideas.
• The ideational theory is mentalistic. Thus,
the meaning of a word is the mental image or
idea of the word or the expression generated in
the mind of the speaker or hearer.
 Criticism on this theory
• There is no attempt to define words and
expressions using physical associations. Rather,
the range of possible meanings ascribed to a given
word is that set of available feelings, images ideas
concepts, thoughts and inferences that can be
produced as a word is heard-(Gluckberg 1975:50).
• This ideational theory is perceived to be abstract
or imprecise because of dependence on mental
images for decoding the meaning of words. Ideas
may be too vague to comprehend.
 Criticism on this theory
• It is unthinkable that the mind can create an
image of what the senses cannot perceive.
• It may also be difficult to use the theory to
explain the mental image conjured by sentences.
Indeed, sentences derive their meaning more from
the word order. There are also many words
(especially the abstract ones) that do not have
specific physical realities, (happiness, beauty,
ugly, hate) let alone mental manifestations.
2. The referential Theory of Meaning
• This theory is associated with Ogden and
Richards (1923).
• According to the referential theory, the meaning
of a word is the object it refers to in the external
world. That actual object is the referent.
• The connection between the words or expressions
and their referents is through the process of
thought. The words or expressions are just
symbols.
CONT…

• The object denoted by a word is called its referent.

• Words are like labels.
• Examples:
• “John” denotes the person John.
 Problems of Ref. Theory

“Not every word refers to an actual thing.”

Some words don’t refer to anything that exists.
“Pegasus” does not denote anything real,
because there is no winged horse after all.
Also, consider the sentence “I saw nobody.”
But to what does “nobody” refer?
 Criticism of this theory
• There are many words without physical objects
they refer to. Such words as intelligent, ugly, rich,
poor etc, which do not have the concrete qualities
of nouns may not have referents.
• Again, polysemous words (i.e. words with more
than one meaning) may have the additional
problem of having more than one referent.
• The referential theory may not have a way to
explain the meaning of words in the categories
of adjectives, adverbs, prepositions and
conjunctions.
3.The Usage Theory of Meaning
• The German Scholar, Wittgenstein (1953),
developed this theory. It has been elaborated upon
by J. Firth and M.A. Haliday.
• The usage theory is also referred to as the
contextual or operational theory of meaning.
• According to the theory, the meaning of a word or
an expression is determined by the context of its
use.
• It is the effect created by a linguistic unit within a
given context that expresses its full meaning.