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Semantics (1)

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Semantics (1)

Uploaded by

michalinajarocka9
Copyright
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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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SEMANTICS AND

PRAGMATICS (I)
Class
01
CONENT
(1) Definitions of semantics
(2) Naming
(3) Concepts
(4) Sense and reference
(5) Deictics
(6) Types of meaning
SEMANTICS
• [uncount.] a system of communication consisting of sounds, words,
and grammar
• [uncount.] the way that someone speaks or writes, for example, the kind of
words and phrases that they use

• [count.] a system of communication used by people living in a particular


country
• [count.] a system of symbols and rules for writing instructions for computers
SEMANTICS
SEMANTICS
• Semantics focuses on the study of meaning
in a language:
it investigates literal meanings of words, phrases, and
sentences; it is concerned with how grammatical
processes build complex meanings out of simpler ones.
SEMANTICS
• Semantics is the study of the „toolkit” for meaning:
knowledge encoded in the vocabulary of the language and
in its patterns for building more elaborate meanings, up to
the level of sentence meanings.
NAMING
• What is the nature and
relationship of the signifier
and the signified?
signifier -> a word/sound… (=sing)
in the language
NAMING
signified -> an object in the real
world that a word/sound… (sing)
“refers to”, stands for” or
“denotes”

Words are „labels” or „names” for


things/objects/entities/phenomen
a etc.
NAMING
[bɪɡ 'æp.əl]
NAMING
[bɪɡ 'æp.əl]
NAMING
• Verbs: jog, run, sprint, dart ...

• Adjectives: early, attractive, true, false ...

• Prepositions: up, down, in front of, opposite, next to ...


NAMING: COLOUR
TERMS
• It is possible to label
colours, as it is done in
colour charts, and thus it
may be that the colour
terms (i.e. adjectives)
can be regarded as
names. (Palmer 1976:
20)
NAMING
‘realist’ view ‘nominalist’ view
objects called by the same objects have no features in
name have some common common but only the name
features

The words of a language often reflect not so much


the reality of the world, but the interests
of the people who speak it. (Palmer 1976: 22)
NAMING: SCIENTIFIC
LANGUAGE

• salt
• sodium chloride
• NaCl
NAMING: SCIENTIFIC
LANGUAGE
NAMING: DICTIONARY WORDS
AND OBJECT WORDS
• Object words are learnt ostensibly i.e. by pointing at
objects.

• Dictionary words have to be defined in terms of the object


words.
(Palmer 1976: 24)
CONCEP TS
a psychological
‘associative bond’
sound/image concept

signifier signified
CONCEP TS
CONCEP TS

cat,
gato,
kot…
CONCEP TS
SENSE AND REFERENCE

The world The world

Language Language
X Y
X(1), X(2)
SENSE AND REFERENCE
REFERENCE
DEICTICS
Words or phrases which
refer and substitute the
names of people/objects or
phenomena as well as the
phrases referring to time or
place.
T YPES OF MEANING

Given its essential role of language communication and


intersection with several language-oriented disciplines of
study, there is a great need to understand and appreciate
the nature of linguistic meaning (Mwikaki 2004).
T YPES OF MEANING
1. Grammatical meaning includes the meaning of (1) affixes
or function words, (2) grammatical functions, such as
subject, object, etc. and (3) different sentence types, such
as negations or interrogatives.

2. Lexical meaning reflects the meaning of lexemes that


belong to one of the four word classes (nouns, verbs,
adjectives, adverbs). It is the aspect of meaning usually
given in dictionaries.
SEVEN T YPES OF MEANING
BY GEOFFREY LEECH
1.Conceptual meaning
2.Connotative meaning
3.Social meaning
4.Affective meaning
5.Reflected meaning
6.Collocative meaning
7.Thematic meaning
CONCEP TUAL MEANING
[=COGNITIVE/DENOTATIVE/DESCRIP TIVE
MEANING]

Kiswahili English Features


[+human], • At the lexical
mtu person
[∓adult], [∓male] [=word/lexeme] level,
[+human], [-adult], conceptual meaning is
mtoto child
[∓male] a set of characteristic
elderly [+human], [+adult], features.
mzee
person [∓male] • Logical, cognitive or
[+human], [-adult], denotative content.
kijana youth
[∓male]
CONNOTATIVE MEANING

LAMB = innocence

What is communicated by virtue


of what language refers to.
[=secondary meanings of
expressions]
SOCIAL/ST YLISTIC MEANING

What is communicated of the social


circumstances of language use.
[expression conveys some information
about social characteristics]
AFFECTIVE MEANING
What is communicated of the feelings and attitudes of the
speaker/writer.

Affective meaning is more directly a reflection of the speaker’s


personal attitude or feelings towards the listener or the target
of the utterance. Such feelings or attitudes are usually negative
or insincere in nature. They are normally expressed through
such forms of language use as insults, flattery, hyperbole or
sarcasm. e.g. I’m terribly sorry to interrupt, but I wonder if you would
be so kind as to lower your voice. vs. Will you just shut up?!
REFLECTED MEANING

What is communicated via


association with another sense
of the same expression. [=one
word is correlated with
different senses]

The Comforter à comfort


COLLOCATIVE MEANING
pretty (girl, woman, boy, flower, village ...)
handsome (boy, man, car, vessel, airliner ...)

What is communicated via association with words which


tend to occur in the environment of another word.
[=familiar groupings of words that go together and covey
meaning by association]
THEMATIC MEANING
1.She has never read this book.
2.This book has never been read by her.
3.It is the book she has never read.
4.Never has she read this book.

What is communicated by the way in which a message is


structured. [=it is a preference between various grammar
structures; the same truth conditions but different focus]

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