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Semantics and the subject matter of semantics Semantics is generally defined as the study of meaning in language (Lyons, 1977: 1; Hurford, Heasley, 1983: 1) Saeed (2003: 3): “Semantics is the study of the meaning of words and sentences”.
Assoc Prof Dr Ho Ngoc Trung hongoctrung74@gmail.com 0913 30 64 84 Credits: 02 Coursebook: Understanding English Semantics by Nguyen Hoa Recommended reading: Lectures on Discourse Analysis by Ho Ngoc Trung Assessment: - Mid-term test - Assignment - To help students understand deeply about the meaning - To help students know about semantics and the subject matter of semantics, word meaning, dimensions of word meaning, sense relations, sentence meaning and utterance meaning - To enable students to know how to use words correctly according to different contexts Students have to take part in all the lessons prepare the lessons carefully and finish all home assignments make presentation Abbot, B (1999) The formal approach to meaning: Formal semantics and its recent developments Journal of foreign languages, 119: 1, 2-20 Austin, J L (1962) How to Do Things with Words Oxford: Clarendon Press Barcelona, A (ed.) (2000) Metaphor and Metonymy at the Crossroads: a Cognitive Perspective Mouton Berlin & New York Bloomfield, L (1930) Language London: Allen and Unwin Brown, G and Yule, G (1983) Discourse Analysis Cambridge: CPU Bruce, I (1998) The role of "sense" in Gottlob Frege's theory of meaning An essay University of New England, NSW, Australia Bybee, J (1985) Morphology Amsterdam: Benjamins Carnap, R (1937) The logical syntax of language New York: Harcourt Brace Carnap, R (1942) Introduction to semantics Cambridge, MA: MIT Press 10 Carnap, R (1956) Meaning and necessity, 2nd edn Chicago: Chicago university Press 11 Chomsky, N (2000) New horizona in the study of language and mind Cambridge: CUP 12 Delahunty, G P & Garvey, J J (1994) Language, grammar, communication New York: Mc Graw-Hill, Inc 13 Fauconnier, M (1985) Mental spaces: aspects of meaning contraction in natural language Cambridge, Mass-London: MIT Press 14 Frawley, Charles C (1992) Linguistic semantics Hillsdale, NJ: Laurence Erbaum Associates 15 Goddard, C (1998) Semantic analysis New York: OUP Semantics and the subject matter of semantics Semantics is generally defined as the study of meaning in language (Lyons, 1977: 1; Hurford, Heasley, 1983: 1) Saeed (2003: 3): “Semantics is the study of the meaning of words and sentences” Units of language: phonemes (phonology) morphemes (morphology) words Phrases (syntax) semantics Sentences / utterances (syntax) Discourse Three main approaches in semantics study: Lexical semantics: deals mainly with word meaning and relations between them (e.g word structure, differences and similarities in lexical semantic structure between different languages, the relationship of word meaning to sentence meaning and syntax) Formal/logical semantics: is concerned with relations between expressions, especially sentences which express propositions It considers proposition as the meaning of the sentence and is concerned with the truth conditions - - + + + + + + Cognitive semantics: meanings of expressions are mental The main points of cognitive semantics: Meaning is conceptualisation in a cognitive model Semantic models are mainly perceptually determined Semantic elements are based on spatial or topological objects Cognitive models are primarily imageschematic Semantics is primary to syntax and partly determines it Concept shows prototype effects 5.1 Denotative meaning 5.1.1 Conceptual meaning: refers to the logical sense of the utterance and is recognizable as a basic component of grammatical competence: Dog: a common animal with four legs, especially kept by people as a pet or to hunt or guard things Cat: a small animal with fur, four legs, a tail and claws, usually kept as a pet or for catching mice, or any member of the group of similar animals such as the lion 5.1.2 Referential: refers to objects or things: Look at that dog Open the door! 5.2 Connotative: is unstable, varies according to culture, historical period, and the experience of the individual Denotation Connotation new recent origin better improved excuse explanation weak reason house home skinny slender Denotation Connotation living accommodation material thin spiritual negative positive 5.3 Structural/associative meanings include: 5.3.1 Reflected meaning: a phenomenon whereby a single word or phrase is associated with more than one meaning In the case of Reflected meaning, more than one meaning surfaces at the same time ambiguity Chronic bronchitis Chronic: long-lasting / bad My dear old car: dear: lovely / expensive 5.3.2 Collocative meaning: It consists of the associations a word acquires on account of the meaning of words which tend to occur in its environment It is that part of the word meaning suggested by the words that go before or come after a word in question Heavy smoker (a person who smokes a lot) Heavy news (a piece of sad news) Heavy schedule (a very tight schedule) 5.3.3 Associative meaning: arises because of its association with other meanings: good vs bad 5.3.4 Thematic meaning: is communicated by the way in which a speaker or writer organizes the message in terms of ordering, focus, and emphasis Jenny often pairs me off with her cousin I am often paired off with Jenny’s cousin 5.3.5 Categorial meaning: is one part of grammatical meaning which words derive from being a member of one category rather than another Eg strength (n) strong (adj) strengthen (v) strongly (adv) DENOTATION The meaning a word acquires by virtue of what it refers to CONNOTATION The meaning a word acquires by virtue of where, when, how, and by whom, for what purpose and in what context it is or may be used STRUCTURALM EANING The meaning a word acquires by virtue of its membership in a system or a set CATEGORIAL MEANING The meaning a word acquires by virtue of grammatical classification Dances, dancing and danced have the same lexical meaning and different grammatical meaning: - Dances – 1st person sg, Present Simple, dancing – Participle 1; danced – Participle - The meaning of words is a combination of the lexical meaning and the grammatical meaning - It is sometimes difficult to draw a borderline between lexical and grammatical meaning - Lexical meaning is studied by lexical semantics and grammatical meaning is the concern of grammatical semantics - Grammatical meaning refers to that part of meaning of the word which indicates grammatical concept or relationships such as the word class, singular and plural forms of nouns, tense meaning of verbs and their inflectional forms (forget, forgets, forgot, forgotten, forgetting) - The relationship between sentence and utterance is like language to speech Eg: “I’ve got some homework to tonight” response to an invitation to go out excuse for not washing the dishes - An utterance is an act of speech or writing at a particular time and in a particular place - An utterance contains the meaning of the sentence, the meaning of the circumstances or context (the time, the place, the people involved, their background) - Discourse analysis is concerned with many aspects of linguistic performance as well as linguistic competence - Discourse analysis involves questions of style, appropriateness, cohesiveness, rhetorical force, topic structure, difference between written and spoken discourse, and so on ... (1992) Linguistic semantics Hillsdale, NJ: Laurence Erbaum Associates 15 Goddard, C (1998) Semantic analysis New York: OUP Semantics and the subject matter of semantics Semantics is generally... help students understand deeply about the meaning - To help students know about semantics and the subject matter of semantics, word meaning, dimensions of word meaning, sense relations, sentence... Saeed (2003: 3): ? ?Semantics is the study of the meaning of words and sentences” Units of language: phonemes (phonology) morphemes (morphology) words Phrases (syntax) semantics Sentences