Lecture 7
Meaning
Ferdinand de Saussure (1959): the
linguistic sign is a mental unit consisting of
two faces ： a concept and an acoustic
image.
 Concept: ―signifié‖ or ―thing meant‖
 Acoustic image: ―signifiant‖ or ―signifier‖
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Denotation，reference and sense
 The meaning of meaning
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Lexeme: coined by John Lyons, in analogy
to ―phoneme‖ or ―morpheme‖. It is
considered as an abstract linguistic unit
with different variants.
 sing vs. sang / sung
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Denotation
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The relation of denotation holds between a
lexeme and a whole class of extra-linguistic
objects.
Lyons (1977: 207) defines the denotation of a
lexeme as ―the relationship that holds between
that lexeme and persons, things, places,
properties, processes and activities external to
the language system‖.
Reference
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As opposed to denotation, the relationship of reference
holds between an expression and what that expression
stands for on particular occasions of its utterance.
Reference depends on concrete utterances, not on
abstract sentences.
It is a context-dependent notion and cannot relate
abstract lexemes to extra-linguistic objects.
Reference is not generally applicable to single word
forms and it is never applicable to single lexemes.
computer
 the computer, John’s computer, the two
portable computers on the table
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Sense
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Initially Lyons defined the sense of a word as its
―place in a system of relationships which it
contracts with other words in the vocabulary‖
(Lyons, 1968: 427).
Later (1977: 206), he defined sense as a
relationship between ―the words or expressions
of a single language, independently of the
relationship, if any, which holds between those
words or expressions and their referents or
denotata.‖
sense is a relationship which is internal to
the language system.
 Both
individual lexemes and larger
expressions have sense.
 The sense of an expression is a function
of the sense of the lexemes it contains and
their
occurrences
in
a
particular
grammatical construction.
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Don‘t put your feet on the table!
 It was finalized under the table.
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Denotation vs. sense
According to Lyons, some words may
have no specific denotation but still have
sense.
 There is no such animal as a unicorn.
There is no such book as a unicorn.
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Can you give other examples in which a
word has a sense but no denotation?
The meaning of meaning
C. K. Ogden (1889-1957) & I. A. Richards
(1893-1979), 1923, The Meaning of
Meaning .
 They listed 22 meanings of ―meaning‖.
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John means to write.
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A green light means to go.
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Health
everything.
means
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His look was full of
meaning.
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What is the meaning of life?
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What does ―capitalist‖ mean to you?
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What does ―cornea‖ mean?
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The transparent, convex, anterior portion of the outer
fibrous coat of the eyeball that covers the iris and the
pupil and is continuous with the sclera.
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Conceptual meaning is
sometimes also called
―denotative‖ meaning or
―cognitive‖ meaning. It
refers to the logical,
cognitive or denotative
content of a linguistic unit.
It is concerned with the
relationship between a
word and thing it denotes,
or refers to.
By ―connotative meaning‖, Leech refers
to the communicative value an
expression has by virtue of what it
refers to, over and above its purely
conceptual content.
 It is a multitude of additional, noncriterial properties, including not only
physical characteristics but also
psychological and social properties, as
well as typical features.
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The connotative meaning involves the ―real word‖
experience one associates with an expression
when one uses or hears it.
Compared with conceptual meaning, this
meaning is unstable: they vary considerably
according to culture, historical period, and the
experience of the individual.
Any characteristic of the referent, identified
subjectively or objectively, may contribute to the
connotative meaning of the expression which
denotes it.
Stepmother
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Social meaning refers to what a piece of language conveys
about the social circumstances of its use. The social meaning
of an expression varies according to
Dialect 方言, the language of a geographical region or of a
social class
Time 时间, the language of the 18th c., etc.
Province 使用域, the language of law, of science, of
advertising, etc.
Status 等级, polite, colloquial, slang, etc.
Modality 语气, language of memoranda, lectures, jokes, etc.
Singularity 特性, the style of Dickens, Hemingway, etc.
domicile: very formal, official
residence: formal
abode: poetic
home: general
 steed: poetic
horse: general
nag: slang
gee-gee: baby
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What are the social connotations of the
italicized words in the following sentences?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
We are away to sunnier climes.
I had to fork out a lot for that present.
Give mummy the doggie then.
If we do that, they‘ll call down fire and
brimstone on us.
Let‘s get rid of this little beastie.
I suppose muggins will have to do it.
Let me get you the aforementioned.
We‘ll meet upon the greensward.
Affective meaning reflects the personal feelings
of the speaker, including his attitude to the
listener, or his attitude to something he is talking
about. For example, to ask a person to be quiet,
you may say:
 I’m terribly sorry to interrupt, but I wonder if you
would be so kind as to lower
your voice a little, or
 Will you belt up.
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Reflected meaning arises in cases of
multiple conceptual meaning, when one
sense of a word forms part of our
response to another sense.
 ―The Comforter‖ vs. ―The Holy Ghost‖
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‗Colorful‘ meaning
Commendatory
 tough-minded
 resolute, firm
 shrewd
 childlike
 wiseman
 man of usual talent
 portly, stout, solid,
plum
 slender, slim
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Derogatory
ruthless
obstinate
sly, crafty
childish
wiseguy
freak
fleshy, fat, tubby
lean,
skinny,
lanky,
weedy, scraggy
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Collocative
meaning
refers
to
the
associations a word acquires on account of
the meanings of words which tend to occur in
its environment.
Pretty: girl, boy, woman, flower, garden,
colour, village, etc.
Handsome: boy, man, car, vessel, overcoat,
airliner, typewriter, etc.
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Thematic meanings refers to what is
communicated by the way in which a
speaker or writer organizes the message,
in terms of ordering, focus and emphasis.
Mrs. Bessie Smith donated the first prize.
The first prize was donated by Mrs. Bessie
Smith.
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In everyday conversation, there are four types of meaning of
―meaning‖:
the object it stands for: This is the commonest way of explaining
meaning and it‘s the way used when adults teach vocabulary to
children.
description of that object: You may describe a desk as ―a piece of
furniture with a flat top and four legs, at which one reads and writes‖.
paraphrase of the word: You may also say ―A desk is a kind of table
with drawers‖.
translation of the word: An English teacher may say to his Chinese
student: A desk is 书桌.
Why is it necessary to specify
―sense‖ as an aspect of meaning?
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Every word or expression has a sense, but not
every one has a reference or denotation.
Reference is an important aspect of meaning,
but not all meaning can be reduced to reference.
Reference has to do with the entities outside
language that a word picks out, whereas sense
has to do with the inherent meaning – the
notions that it evokes.
My neighbour is my neighbour.
 The Prime Minister is Mr. David Cameron.
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Why is it important to talk about
sense relation?
What does daffodil mean?
 What does desk mean?
 What does short mean?
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What are sense relations?
Sense relations refers to the relations
between different linguistic units.
 The sense of a word may be seen as the
network of its sense relations with others.
 Sense may be defined as the semantic
relations between one word and another,
or more generally between one linguistic
unit and another.
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Sameness relation
 Oppositeness relation
 Inclusiveness relation
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Synonymy
Strict vs. loose synonymy
 Distinguishing synonyms
 Why so many sonynyms
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Strict synonyms
In the strict sense, two words that are
synonymous with other are supposed to
be interchangeable in all possible contexts
of use: wherever one is used, the other
can be used instead.
 When we substitute one for another, there
won‘t be any difference in meaning, style
or connotation.
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Strict synonyms are rare in English.
 sky vs. heaven
 spirit vs. ghost
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Loose synonymy
It is cool in my room.
 It is chilly in my room.
 It is nippy in my room.
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Louisa remained cool under ferocious
cross-examination. (chilly? Nippy? ??)
 Lee got a cool reception when he got
home at midnight. (chilly? Nippy? ??)
 Fiona looked cool in her new Versace
jeans. (chilly? Nippy? ??)
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Distinguishing synonyms
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Some synonyms differ
dialects of English.
anyway
armpit
brew
child
frightening
money
nothing
sandwich
in that they belong to different
anyroad
oxter
mash
bairn
fleysome
brass
nowt
butty
Style / formality
argument
 beauty
 cross
 die
 praise
 western
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disputation
pulchritude
traverse
decease
eulogy
occidental
Connotation
Statesman, politician
 Thrifty, economical, stingy
 Slender, thin, skinny
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Collocation
deep vs. profound
 broad vs. wide
 cool, chilly, nippy
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Why so many synonyms?
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buy vs. purchase
world vs. universe
brotherly vs. fraternal
kingly, royal, regal
rise, mount, ascend
ask, question, interrogate
fast, firm, secure
holy, sacred, consecrated
Antonyms
ugly
fast
hot
long
love
rich
sweet
good
beautiful
slow
cold
short
hate
poor
sour
bad
above
before
buy
give
husband
teacher
parent
speak
asleep
dead
on
permit
forget
shot
true
win
awake
alive
off
forbid
remember
open
loose
lose
below
after
sell
receive
wife
student
child
listen
Gradable antonymy
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First, they are GRADABLE.
They differ in terms of degree; they can be modified by “very”;
they may have comparative and superlative degrees;
sometimes the intermediate degrees may be expressed by
another word.
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Second, antonyms of this kind are graded
against different norms.
Third, there is usually a cover term in pairs of
words like these.
Complementary antonymy
In this type, the members of a pair are
complementary to each other. That is to
say, the assertion of one is the denial of
the other, the denial of one is the assertion
of the other.
 They cannot be modified by ―very‖.
 They
don‘t
have
comparative
or
superlative degrees.
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Converse antonymy
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This type of antonymy is also known as
relational opposites.
It is typically seen in reciprocal social roles,
kinship relations, temporal and spatial relations.
In this type of antonymy, the members of a pair
do not constitute a positive-negative opposition.
They show the reversal of a relationship
between two entities.
Hyponymy
This is the term for the relation of
inclusiveness. It is a matter of class
membership.
 desk < furniture
 rose < flower
 tiger < animal
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Superordinate and hyponyms
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The name for the class, which is the upper
term in this sense relation, is called
SUPERORDINATE ( 上 坐 标 词 ), and the
lower terms, the members, HYPONYMS
( 下 义 词 ). A superordinate usually has
several hyponyms.
Auto-hyponym
chicken: cock, hen, chicken
 dog: dog, bitch, puppy
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Colored
Dear White Fella
Couple things you should know—
When I born, I black
When I grow up, I black
When I go in sun, I black
When I cold, I black
When I scared, I black
When I sick, I black
And when I die—I still black
You White Fella
When you born, you pink
When you grow up, you white
When you go in sun, you red
When you cold, you blue
When you scared, you yellow
When you sick, you green
And when you die, you grey
And you have the cheek
To call me colored
Other sense relations
Meronymy
 Homonymy
 polysemy
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Meronymy
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This kind ―part-of‖ relation is referred to as
meronymy. It can similarly be represented
by a hierarchy of superordinate and
subordinate terms, as we have seen in the
graph. Here the subordinate term is
referred to as ―meronym‖.
Homonymy
mail, file, nail, fine, mine, bat, nut, light,
court, board, ruler, bear
 ate vs. eight, key vs. quay, aural vs. oral,
Basque vs. bask, right vs. write, leek vs.
leak
 tear (n.) vs. tear (v.), lead (v. ) vs. lead (n.),
wind (n.) vs. wind (v.)
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Semantic ambiguity
Where is the mail?
 Did you see the bat?
 I’m going to the bank this afternoon.
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Polysemy
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Polysemy is a relationship that holds between
different senses of the same word. In this case,
the same spoken and written form has more
than one meaning, and the meanings are related
to each other. As a rule, polysemy is a result of
one meaning being extended metaphorically
over time to create new shades of meaning (new
senses). Conventionally each of these senses is
numbered and listed under the head word in a
dictionary.
LDCD (p. 806)
Ambiguity
The leg was broken.
 The president said that lack of intelligence
was the problem.
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Define:
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Conceptual meaning, denotation, connotation,
reference,
sense,
synomymy,
gradable
antonymy, complementary antonymy, converse
antonymy, relational opposites, hyponymy,
superordinate, meronym, homonymy, polysemy
Discuss:
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1. What are the different types of antonyms?
2. Some people maintain that there are no true antonyms. Do you
agree? Why? What type of meaning are we talking about when we
say two words are synonymous with each other?
3. There is a saying that ―to some extent, any two words of the same
part of speech may become antonyms, as long as the meaning
difference between them is what needs to be emphasized in the
particular context.‖ What‘s your opinion? Discuss in relation to the
two examples:
You have to peel a raw potato but you can skin a boiled one.
He is no statesman, but a mere politician.
Find out the associative meaning in each of
the following words for animals:
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1. fly
2. bull
3. dog
4. hare
5. bat
6. cat
7. eagle
a. blindness
b. majesty
c. fidelity
d. deceit
e. timidity
f. insignificance
g. strength