Classification of word meaning

I.
In the general framework of lexical meaning two components (aspects)
can be singled out: denotation and connotation. The two components
are closely connected with the process of naming (nomination).

The
denotational
meaning (denotation)
is the component of the lexical meaning signifying or identifying the
notion or the object and reflecting some essential features of the
notion named. The denotational meaning makes the communication
possible, as it is essentially the same meaning for all speakers of
the language.

The
connotational meaning (connotation)
is
complementary meaning which is added to the word denotational meaning
and which serves to express all sorts of evaluative, emotional,
expressive, imagery and pragmatic overtones. Connotation includes:

1. the
   emotive charge:
   daddy
   – father;
   thick – stout (полный,
   тучный)
   –
   buxom (упитаннный,
   пухлый)
   – fat – obese – plump,
   face – snout (рыло),
   muzzle (морда);

2. evaluation
   (positive
   or negative): clique
   (a
   small group of people who seem unfriendly to other people)
   – group (a
   set of people),
   new – modern – newfangled (disapproving
   excessively modern);
   

However,
evaluation can enter denotation. The word friend
meaning ‘ally’ is featured by positive rational evaluation:
friend
– “a country that has a good
relationship with another country”. In this case evaluation makes
the part of denotation, has the marker good
in the dictionary definition, and bases on the integral features of
the referent.

1. expressiveness
   (intensity):
   to
   love – to adore;
   magnificent – gorgeous – splendid – superb;
   

2. imagery
   – I heard
   what she said,
   but it didn’t sink
   into
   my mind until much later;
   a 15% tariff on bearing
   import (from
   to
   bear “to
   sell shares in expectation of a drop in price, in order to make a
   profit by buying them back again after a short time);

3. stylistic
   value
   – to
   start – to begin – to commence;
   beholder (archaic,
   literary)
   – spectator;
   colloquial vocabulary
   – cut it out,
   to be kidding,
   hi,
   stuff;
   special
   literary vocabulary (bookish words):
   cordial,
   fraternal,
   anticipate,
   aid,
   sanguinary,
   celestial;

4. cultural
   information
   – black
   cat,
   green eyes (cf.
   green-eyed monster).
   

The
Russian word combination черная
кошка
denotes
a black cat as well as the English one.
However,
a black cat is believed to bring bad luck and disaster according to
some Russian superstition, that’s why
it has negative connotation. The English culture relates black cats
to luck, unexpected happiness, so a Russian is often surprised to see
a black cat wishing “Good Luck” on English postcards. As for
green
eyes,
they are associated with jealousy after Iago’s words: “It
is the
green-eyed
monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on” (Othello,
II,
i. 165).

II.
According
to the way of nomination
meanings are divided into direct
(primary,
proper meaning)
and
indirect (figurative,
transferred,
secondary,
derived).

Direct
meaning
is the meaning which characterizes the referent without the help of a
context, in isolation (to
query
= ‘to ask a question’).

Indirect
meaning
is the meaning formed from the direct meaning according to the models
of semantic derivation (metaphor, metonymy). It is realized only in
definite contexts: to
query the bill
= ‘to express one’s doubts about the charge’; a good head
for figures / per head
(metonymy).

In
their turn direct meanings are divided into extended
(general)
and
narrow (special).

General
meaning is
the meaning correlating to generic concept:
ship = ‘a vessel’.

Narrow
meaning
is the meaning correlating to specific concept: ship
= ‘nautical a large sailing vessel with three or more square-rigged
masts’.

According
to connection with referents
direct
meanings are divided into
concrete
and
abstract.

Concrete
meanings
indicate at a referent:
tongue
(the
body organ of taste).

Abstract
meanings
indicate at quality features in the abstract from referents: tongue
(speech).

III.
According
to frequency
meanings are divided into
main
(primary,
central)
and
secondary
(peripheric).

Main
meaning
is
the meaning which possesses the highest frequency at the present
stage of vocabulary development. For the noun table
the first meaning is the main one: ‘a
piece of furniture’ – 52%;
‘an
orderly arrangement of facts’ (table of contents) – 35%, other
meanings –
13%
of the uses of this word.

Secondary
meanings
are less frequent.

IV.
According
to their genetic characteristic
(in diachrony)
meanings are divided into
etymological,
original,
archaic,
obsolete and
present-day.

Etymological
meaning is
the earliest known meaning. Today the noun urchin
means “a mischievous roguish child, esp. one who is young, small,
or raggedly dressed”, but its etymological meaning is ‘a
hedgehog’.

Archaic
meaning is
the meaning superseded at present by a newer one but still remaining
in certain collocations. The archaic meaning of the adjective brave
is “fine, excellent, admirable”. Its use is limited to some
phrases among which is a
brave new world.
Another example is the quick
and the dead or
Time
and tide wait for no man (≈ время
не ждёт).

Obsolete
meaning is
the meaning which went out of use. The obsolete meaning of the verb
taste
is “to examine by touch, to feel; to test or try”.

Original
meaning is
a meaning serving as basis for the derived ones. The original meaning
if the word land
is “soil, hard territory”, as opposed to water.

Present-day
meaning is
a meaning which is most frequent in the present-day language: quick
= “lasting a comparatively short time; brief”.

V.
According
to the style and sphere of language
in
which they may occur
meanings are divided into stylistically
neutral and
stylistically coloured.

Neutral
meanings are
found in the words of general use: to
begin,
father.

Stylistically
coloured meanings
mark a certain style, and
in their turn are divided into
bookish and
colloquial,
for example,
dad
is a colloquial word and to commence
is a literary word. Bookish meanings can be poetical, scientific or
learned, literary. Colloquial meanings can be literary colloquial,
familiar colloquial, slang.

VI.
According
to realization
of meaning in language
system meanings are divided into dictionary
and
speech.

Dictionary
meanings
are registered in dictionaries, they are most frequent ones.

Speech
meanings
are revealed in speech, they are seldom found in dictionaries.

According
to their combinability language
meanings are divided into and free
(context-independent)
and
bound
(context-dependent).

Free
meanings
are
realized in free word combinations and associated with the given
lingual sign: to
settle (урегулировать),
small (маленький).

Bound
meanings
depend on the grammatical form or lexical components of the
word-combination they enter: to
meet smb’s demand/ requirement,
to settle the bill/ debt (платить);
small
passions (мелочный),
small trickery (мелкий),
small cold (слабый),
small wind (тихий),
small (слабый)
current.

Speech
meanings are also divided into usual
and
occasional (nonce
words).

Usual
meanings intersect
dictionary meanings.

Occasional
meanings
occur in words invented and used for a particular occasion.
Consider the following: “Ellen relaxed her
about-to-push hand
and looked at him” (I. Levin)
or “Germany is the world’s largest goods exporter after China
despite high labour costs and a strongish
euro” (Economist
25/10/2010).

Meanings are analysed with the
help of componential analysis.

Componential
analysis
is the investigation method which proceeds from the assumption that
word meaning can be decomposed into elementary semantic components,
or semantic features/ semes.

Seme
is the smallest unit of meaning. For instance, the meaning of the
word boy
can
be represented with the help of the following semes: ‘human’,
‘male’, ‘non-adult’. Wife
can be analyzed into the following semes ‘human’, ‘female’,
‘adult’, ‘married’.

Componential analysis bases
itself on differential oppositions like the below ones.

man
:
woman = boy :
girl = bull :
cow – sex

man
:
boy = woman :
girl = cow :
calf – age

man
:
bull = woman :
cow = girl :
calf – human / non-human beings

Differential oppositions can
be easily applied to such clear-cut semantic groups as terms of
kinship or words denoting colours, but they are hard to distinguish
for other classes of words. It’s a certain limitation of the
method.

There
exist different models of componential analysis. One of them is
showed in Table 2. It consists in forcing all features into a binary
pattern, when two opposing sides to a single feature are represented
as ‘plus’ (if the feature is present in the meaning of the word)
and ‘minus’ (if the feature in question is absent).

Table
2.

Semantic features Words	with a back	raised above ground	for one person	to sit on	with arms	of solid material
chair	+	+	+	+	–	+
armchair	+	+	+	+	+	+
stool	–	+	+	+	–	+
sofa	+	+	–	+	+	+
pouffe	–	+	+	+	–	–

The
next model of componential analysis suggests that meanings are
analysed in terms of semantic markers and distinguishers.

Semantic
marker (integral
seme)
is a semantic feature which the word has in common with other lexical
items. Semantic markers reflect systemic
relations between the word and the rest of the vocabulary.

Semantic
distinguisher
(differential
seme)
is a semantic feature which differentiates the word from all other
words or which differentiates individual meanings of a polysemantic
word. Distinguishers reflect what is idiosyncratic about the word.

For
example, the semantics of the word bachelor
can be represented with the help of the following markers (they are
enclosed in round brackets) and distinguishers (they are enclosed in
square brackets):

1) (human) (male) [one who has
never been married];

2) (human) (male) [young
knight serving under the standard of another knight];

3) (human) [one who has the
first or lowest academic degree];

4) (animal) (male) [young fur
seal without a mate in the breeding season].

Acquiring
this specific information about the word meanings is the main aim of
the analysis under consideration. This information is of much value
when the translator chooses the appropriate synonym. Compare all
shades of meanings of the verbs of motion, showed in Table 3.

Table 3.

Synonyms	Common feature	Differential feature	Translation
stroll	“to walk”	“unhurriedly, leisurely”	прогуливаться (медленно и праздно)
stagger	“to walk”	“unsteadily”	идти шатаясь
pace	“to walk”	“with slow regular steps”	шагать
roam	“to walk”	“without a definite aim”	бродить
saunter	“to walk”	“in a leisurely way”	прогуливаться (медленно, неторопливо)

So, the semantic distinguisher
differentiates between the meanings of different words.

Besides,
awareness of the integral seme promotes translation of the unknown
meanings of the polysemantic word. In fact, derived meanings have
common integral semes with the main meaning. Translate the following
figurative meanings of the word sharp
considering its direct meaning, that is
“having a very thin edge or point that can cut things easily [≠
blunt]”:

sharp
voice,
sound,
intake of breath

sharp
feelings,
pain,

sharp
flavour,
taste,
cheddar cheese

sharp
mind,
intelligence

a
sharp suit,
clothes

a
sharp nose,
features

a
sharp increase in prices,
fall in unemployment.

All
the meanings are united or bound by the integral seme deep
(cutting)
of
the direct meaning, that is knife
– with a fine cutting edge,
not blunt.

Semes
can be explicit
and
implicit
(potential).
The explicit seme in the verb to
woo is
‘try to gain the love of (a woman), especially with a view to
marriage’,
and the implicit
seme in the phrase to
woo Japanese palates
[customers] is
‘seek
the favor, support, or custom of somebody’.

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• 

  1 слайд

  Word Meaning
  Lecture # 6
  Grigoryeva M.

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  2 слайд

  Word Meaning

  Approaches to word meaning

  Meaning and Notion (понятие)

  Types of word meaning

  Types of morpheme meaning

  Motivation

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  3 слайд

  Each word has two aspects:

  the outer aspect
  ( its sound form)
  cat

  the inner aspect
  (its meaning)
  long-legged, fury animal with sharp teeth
  and claws

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  4 слайд

  Sound and meaning do not always constitute a constant unit even in the same language

  EX a temple

  a part of a human head
  a large church

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  5 слайд

  Semantics (Semasiology)
  Is a branch of lexicology which studies the
  meaning of words and word equivalents

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  6 слайд

  Approaches to Word Meaning
  The Referential (analytical) approach

  The Functional (contextual) approach

  Operational (information-oriented) approach

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  7 слайд

  The Referential (analytical) approach
  formulates the essence of meaning by establishing the interdependence between words and things or concepts they denote

  distinguishes between three components closely connected with meaning:
  the sound-form of the linguistic sign,
  the concept
  the actual referent

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  8 слайд

  Basic Triangle
  concept (thought, reference) – the thought of the object that singles out its essential features
  referent – object denoted by the word, part of reality
  sound-form (symbol, sign) – linguistic sign
  concept – flower

  sound-form referent
  [rәuz]

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  9 слайд

  In what way does meaning correlate with
  each element of the triangle ?

  In what relation does meaning stand to
  each of them?

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  10 слайд

  Meaning and Sound-form
  are not identical
  different
  EX. dove — [dΛv] English sound-forms
  [golub’] Russian BUT
  [taube] German
  the same meaning

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  11 слайд

  Meaning and Sound-form
  nearly identical sound-forms have different meanings in different languages
  EX. [kot] Russian – a male cat
  [kot] English – a small bed for a child

  identical sound-forms have different meanings (‘homonyms)
  EX. knight [nait]
  night [nait]

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  12 слайд

  Meaning and Sound-form
  even considerable changes in sound-form do not affect the meaning

  EX Old English lufian [luvian] – love [l Λ v]

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  13 слайд

  Meaning and Concept
  concept is a category of human cognition

  concept is abstract and reflects the most common and typical features of different objects and phenomena in the world

  meanings of words are different in different languages

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  14 слайд

  Meaning and Concept
  identical concepts may have different semantic structures in different languages

  EX. concept “a building for human habitation” –
  English Russian
  HOUSE ДОМ

  + in Russian ДОМ
  “fixed residence of family or household”
  In English HOME

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  15 слайд

  Meaning and Referent

  one and the same object (referent) may be denoted by more than one word of a different meaning
  cat
  pussy
  animal
  tiger

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  16 слайд

  Meaning
  is not identical with any of the three points of the triangle –
  the sound form,
  the concept
  the referent

  BUT
  is closely connected with them.

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  17 слайд

  Functional Approach
  studies the functions of a word in speech
  meaning of a word is studied through relations of it with other linguistic units
  EX. to move (we move, move a chair)
  movement (movement of smth, slow movement)

  The distriution ( the position of the word in relation to
  others) of the verb to move and a noun movement is
  different as they belong to different classes of words and
  their meanings are different

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  18 слайд

  Operational approach
  is centered on defining meaning through its role in
  the process of communication

  EX John came at 6
  Beside the direct meaning the sentence may imply that:
  He was late
  He failed to keep his promise
  He was punctual as usual
  He came but he didn’t want to

  The implication depends on the concrete situation

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  19 слайд

  Lexical Meaning and Notion
  Notion denotes the reflection in the mind of real objects

  Notion is a unit of thinking
  Lexical meaning is the realization of a notion by means of a definite language system
  Word is a language unit

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  20 слайд

  Lexical Meaning and Notion
  Notions are international especially with the nations of the same cultural level

  Meanings are nationally limited

  EX GO (E) —- ИДТИ(R)
  “To move”
  BUT !!!
  To GO by bus (E)
  ЕХАТЬ (R)

  EX Man -мужчина, человек
  Она – хороший человек (R)
  She is a good person (E)

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  21 слайд

  Types of Meaning
  Types of meaning

  grammatical
  meaning

  lexico-grammatical
  meaning
  lexical meaning
  denotational
  connotational

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  22 слайд

  Grammatical Meaning
  component of meaning recurrent in identical sets of individual forms of different words

  EX. girls, winters, toys, tables –
  grammatical meaning of plurality

  asked, thought, walked –
  meaning of past tense

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  23 слайд

  Lexico-grammatical meaning
  (part –of- speech meaning)
  is revealed in the classification of lexical items into:
  major word classes (N, V, Adj, Adv)
  minor ones (artc, prep, conj)

  words of one lexico-grammatical class have the same paradigm

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  24 слайд

  Lexical Meaning
  is the meaning proper to the given linguistic unit in all its forms and distributions

  EX . Go – goes — went
  lexical meaning – process of movement

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  25 слайд

  PRACTICE
  Group the words into 3 column according to the grammatical, lexical or part-of –speech meaning
  Boy’s, nearest, at, beautiful,
  think, man, drift, wrote,
  tremendous, ship’s, the most beautiful,
  table, near, for, went, friend’s,
  handsome, thinking, boy,
  nearer, thought, boys,
  lamp, go, during.

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  26 слайд

  Grammatical
  The case of nouns: boy’s, ship’s, friend’s
  The degree of comparison of adj: nearest, the most beautiful
  The tense of verbs: wrote, went, thought

  Lexical
  Think, thinking, thought
  Went, go
  Boy’s, boy, boys
  Nearest, near, nearer
  At, for, during (“time”)
  Beautiful, the most beautiful

  Part-of-speech
  Nouns—verbs—adj—-prep

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  27 слайд

  Aspects of Lexical meaning
  The denotational aspect

  The connotational aspect

  The pragmatic aspect

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  28 слайд

  Denotational Meaning
  “denote” – to be a sign of, stand as a symbol for”

  establishes the correlation between the name and the object
  makes communication possible

  EX booklet
  “a small thin book that gives info about smth”

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  29 слайд

  PRACTICE
  Explain denotational meaning

  A lion-hunter
  To have a heart like a lion
  To feel like a lion
  To roar like a lion
  To be thrown to the lions
  The lion’s share
  To put your head in lion’s mouth

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  30 слайд

  PRACTICE

  A lion-hunter
  A host that seeks out celebrities to impress guests
  To have a heart like a lion
  To have great courage
  To feel like a lion
  To be in the best of health
  To roar like a lion
  To shout very loudly
  To be thrown to the lions
  To be criticized strongly or treated badly
  The lion’s share
  Much more than one’s share
  To put your head in lion’s mouth

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  31 слайд

  Connotational Meaning
  reflects the attitude of the speaker towards what he speaks about
  it is optional – a word either has it or not

  Connotation gives additional information and includes:
  The emotive charge EX Daddy (for father)
  Intensity EX to adore (for to love)
  Imagery EX to wade through a book
  “ to walk with an effort”

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  32 слайд

  PRACTICE
  Give possible interpretation of the sentences

  She failed to buy it and felt a strange pang.
  Don’t be afraid of that woman! It’s just barking!
  He got up from his chair moving slowly, like an old man.
  The girl went to her father and pulled his sleeve.
  He was longing to begin to be generous.
  She was a woman with shiny red hands and work-swollen finger knuckles.

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  33 слайд

  PRACTICE
  Give possible interpretation of the sentences
  She failed to buy it and felt a strange pang.
  (pain—dissatisfaction that makes her suffer)
  Don’t be afraid of that woman! It’s just barking!
  (make loud sharp sound—-the behavior that implies that the person is frightened)
  He got up from his chair moving slowly, like an old man.
  (to go at slow speed—was suffering or was ill)
  The girl went to her father and pulled his sleeve.
  (to move smth towards oneself— to try to attract smb’s attention)
  He was longing to begin to be generous.
  (to start doing— hadn’t been generous before)
  She was a woman with shiny red hands and work-swollen finger knuckles.
  (colour— a labourer involved into physical work ,constant contact with water)

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  34 слайд

  The pragmatic aspect of lexical meaning

  the situation in which the word is uttered,
  the social circumstances (formal, informal, etc.),
  social relationships between the interlocutors (polite, rough, etc.),
  the type and purpose of communication (poetic, official, etc.)

  EX horse (neutral)
  steed (poetic)
  nag (slang)
  gee-gee (baby language)

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  35 слайд

  PRACTICE
  State what image underline the meaning

  I heard what she said but it didn’t sink into my mind.
  You should be ashamed of yourself, crawling to the director like that.
  They seized on the idea.
  Bill, chasing some skirt again?
  I saw him dive into a small pub.
  Why are you trying to pin the blame on me?
  He only married her for her dough.

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  36 слайд

  PRACTICE
  State what image underline the meaning
  I heard what she said but it didn’t sink into my mind.
  (to understand completely)
  You should be ashamed of yourself, crawling to the director like that.
  (to behave humbly in order to win favour)
  They seized on the idea.
  (to be eager to take and use)
  Bill, chasing some skirt again?
  (a girl)
  I saw him dive into a small pub.
  (to enter suddenly)
  Why are you trying to pin the blame on me?
  (to blame smb unfairly)
  He only married her for her dough.
  (money)

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  37 слайд

  Types of Morpheme Meaning
  lexical
  differential
  functional
  distributional

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  38 слайд

  Lexical Meaning in Morphemes
  root-morphemes that are homonymous to words possess lexical meaning
  EX. boy – boyhood – boyish

  affixes have lexical meaning of a more generalized character
  EX. –er “agent, doer of an action”

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  39 слайд

  Lexical Meaning in Morphemes
  has denotational and connotational components
  EX. –ly, -like, -ish –
  denotational meaning of similiarity
  womanly , womanish

  connotational component –
  -ly (positive evaluation), -ish (deragotary) женственный — женоподобный

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  40 слайд

  Differential Meaning
  a semantic component that serves to distinguish one word from all others containing identical morphemes

  EX. cranberry, blackberry, gooseberry

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  41 слайд

  Functional Meaning
  found only in derivational affixes
  a semantic component which serves to
  refer the word to the certain part of speech

  EX. just, adj. – justice, n.

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  42 слайд

  Distributional Meaning
  the meaning of the order and the arrangement of morphemes making up the word
  found in words containing more than one morpheme
  different arrangement of the same morphemes would make the word meaningless
  EX. sing- + -er =singer,
  -er + sing- = ?

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  43 слайд

  Motivation
  denotes the relationship between the phonetic or morphemic composition and structural pattern of the word on the one hand, and its meaning on the other

  can be phonetical
  morphological
  semantic

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  44 слайд

  Phonetical Motivation
  when there is a certain similarity between the sounds that make up the word and those produced by animals, objects, etc.

  EX. sizzle, boom, splash, cuckoo

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  45 слайд

  Morphological Motivation
  when there is a direct connection between the structure of a word and its meaning
  EX. finger-ring – ring-finger,

  A direct connection between the lexical meaning of the component morphemes
  EX think –rethink “thinking again”

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  46 слайд

  Semantic Motivation
  based on co-existence of direct and figurative meanings of the same word

  EX a watchdog –
  ”a dog kept for watching property”

  a watchdog –
  “a watchful human guardian” (semantic motivation)

• 

• 

  48 слайд

  Analyze the meaning of the words.
  Define the type of motivation
  a) morphologically motivated
  b) semantically motivated

  Driver
  Leg
  Horse
  Wall
  Hand-made
  Careless
  piggish

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  49 слайд

  Analyze the meaning of the words.
  Define the type of motivation
  a) morphologically motivated
  b) semantically motivated
  Driver
  Someone who drives a vehicle
  morphologically motivated
  Leg
  The part of a piece of furniture such as a table
  semantically motivated
  Horse
  A piece of equipment shaped like a box, used in gymnastics
  semantically motivated

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  50 слайд

  Wall
  Emotions or behavior preventing people from feeling close
  semantically motivated
  Hand-made
  Made by hand, not machine
  morphologically motivated
  Careless
  Not taking enough care
  morphologically motivated
  Piggish
  Selfish
  semantically motivated

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  51 слайд

  I heard what she said but it didn’t sink in my mind
  “do down to the bottom”
  ‘to be accepted by mind” semantic motivation

  Why are you trying to pin the blame on me?
  “fasten smth somewhere using a pin” –
  ”to blame smb” semantic motivation

  I was following the man when he dived into a pub.
  “jump into deep water” –
  ”to enter into suddenly” semantic motivation

  You should be ashamed of yourself, crawling to the director like that
  “to move along on hands and knees close to the ground” –
  “to behave very humbly in order to win favor” semantic motivation

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Word Meaning Lecture # 6 Grigoryeva M.

Word Meaning Approaches to word meaning Meaning and Notion (понятие) Types of word meaning Types of morpheme meaning Motivation

Each word has two aspects: the outer aspect ( its sound form) cat the inner aspect (its meaning) long-legged, fury animal with sharp teeth and claws

Sound and meaning do not always constitute a constant unit even in the same language EX a temple a part of a human head a large church

Semantics (Semasiology) Is a branch of lexicology which studies the meaning of words and word equivalents

Approaches to Word Meaning The Referential (analytical) approach The Functional (contextual) approach Operational (information-oriented) approach

The Referential (analytical) approach formulates the essence of meaning by establishing the interdependence between words and things or concepts they denote distinguishes between three components closely connected with meaning: the sound-form of the linguistic sign, the concept the actual referent

Basic Triangle concept – flower concept (thought, reference) – the thought of the object that singles out its essential features referent – object denoted by the word, part of reality sound-form (symbol, sign) – linguistic sign sound-form [rәuz] referent

In what way does meaning correlate with each element of the triangle ? • In what relation does meaning stand to each of them? •

Meaning and Sound-form are not identical different EX. dove — [dΛv] English [golub’] Russian [taube] German sound-forms BUT the same meaning

Meaning and Sound-form nearly identical sound-forms have different meanings in different languages EX. [kot] Russian – a male cat [kot] English – a small bed for a child identical sound-forms have different meanings (‘homonyms) EX. knight [nait]

Meaning and Sound-form even considerable changes in sound-form do not affect the meaning EX Old English lufian [luvian] – love [l Λ v]

Meaning and Concept concept is a category of human cognition concept is abstract and reflects the most common and typical features of different objects and phenomena in the world meanings of words are different in different languages

Meaning and Concept identical concepts may have different semantic structures in different languages EX. concept “a building for human habitation” – English Russian HOUSE ДОМ + in Russian ДОМ “fixed residence of family or household” In English HOME

Meaning and Referent one and the same object (referent) may be denoted by more than one word of a different meaning cat pussy animal tiger

Meaning is not identical with any of the three points of the triangle – the sound form, the concept the referent BUT is closely connected with them.

Functional Approach studies the functions of a word in speech meaning of a word is studied through relations of it with other linguistic units EX. to move (we move, move a chair) movement (movement of smth, slow movement) The distriution ( the position of the word in relation to others) of the verb to move and a noun movement is different as they belong to different classes of words and their meanings are different

Operational approach is centered on defining meaning through its role in the process of communication EX John came at 6 Beside the direct meaning the sentence may imply that: He was late He failed to keep his promise He was punctual as usual He came but he didn’t want to The implication depends on the concrete situation

Lexical Meaning and Notion denotes the Lexical meaning is reflection in the realization of a mind of real objects notion by means of a definite language system Notion is a unit of Word is a language thinking unit

Lexical Meaning and Notions are Meanings are internationally limited especially with the nations of the same EX GO (E) —- ИДТИ(R) cultural level “To move” BUT !!! To GO by bus (E) ЕХАТЬ (R) EX Man -мужчина, человек Она – хороший человек (R) She is a good person (E)

Types of Meaning Types grammatical meaning of meaning lexico-grammatical meaning lexical meaning denotational connotational

Grammatical Meaning component of meaning recurrent in identical sets of individual forms of different words EX. girls, winters, toys, tables – grammatical meaning of plurality asked, thought, walked – meaning of past tense

Lexico-grammatical meaning (part –of- speech meaning) is revealed in the classification of lexical items into: major word classes (N, V, Adj, Adv) minor ones (artc, prep, conj) words of one lexico-grammatical class have the same paradigm

Lexical Meaning is the meaning proper to the given linguistic unit in all its forms and distributions EX. Go – goes — went lexical meaning – process of movement

PRACTICE Group the words into 3 column according to the grammatical, lexical or part-of –speech meaning • • Boy’s, nearest, at, beautiful, think, man, drift, wrote, tremendous, ship’s, the most beautiful, table, near, for, went, friend’s, handsome, thinking, boy, nearer, thought, boys, lamp, go, during.

• Grammatical 1. The case of nouns: boy’s, ship’s, friend’s 2. The degree of comparison of adj: nearest, the most beautiful 3. The tense of verbs: wrote, went, thought • Lexical 1. Think, thinking, thought 2. Went, go 3. Boy’s, boys 4. Nearest, nearer 5. At, for, during (“time”) 6. Beautiful, the most beautiful • Part-of-speech Nouns—verbs—adj—-prep

Aspects of Lexical meaning The denotational aspect The connotational aspect The pragmatic aspect

Denotational Meaning “denote” – to be a sign of, stand as a symbol for” establishes the correlation between the name and the object makes communication possible EX booklet “a small thin book that gives info about smth”

PRACTICE Explain denotational meaning • • A lion-hunter To have a heart like a lion To feel like a lion To roar like a lion To be thrown to the lions The lion’s share To put your head in lion’s mouth

PRACTICE • A lion-hunter A host that seeks out celebrities to impress guests • To have a heart like a lion To have great courage • To feel like a lion To be in the best of health • To roar like a lion To shout very loudly • To be thrown to the lions To be criticized strongly or treated badly • The lion’s share Much more than one’s share • To put your head in lion’s mouth

Connotational Meaning reflects the attitude of the speaker towards what he speaks about it is optional – a word either has it or not Connotation gives additional information and includes: The emotive charge EX Daddy (for father) Intensity EX to adore (for to love) Imagery EX to wade through a book “ to walk with an effort”

PRACTICE Give possible interpretation of the sentences • She failed to buy it and felt a strange pang. • Don’t be afraid of that woman! It’s just barking! • He got up from his chair moving slowly, like an old man. • The girl went to her father and pulled his sleeve. • He was longing to begin to be generous. • She was a woman with shiny red hands and workswollen finger knuckles.

PRACTICE Give possible interpretation of the sentences • She failed to buy it and felt a strange pang. (pain—dissatisfaction that makes her suffer) • Don’t be afraid of that woman! It’s just barking! (make loud sharp sound—-the behavior that implies that the person is frightened) • He got up from his chair moving slowly, like an old man. (to go at slow speed—was suffering or was ill) • The girl went to her father and pulled his sleeve. (to move smth towards oneself— to try to attract smb’s attention) • He was longing to begin to be generous. (to start doing— hadn’t been generous before) • She was a woman with shiny red hands and work-swollen finger knuckles. (colour— a labourer involved into physical work , constant contact with water)

The pragmatic aspect of lexical meaning the situation in which the word is uttered, the social circumstances (formal, informal, etc. ), social relationships between the interlocutors (polite, rough, etc. ), the type and purpose of communication (poetic, official, etc. ) EX horse (neutral) steed (poetic) nag (slang) gee-gee (baby language)

PRACTICE State what image underline the meaning • I heard what she said but it didn’t sink into my mind. • You should be ashamed of yourself, crawling to the director like that. • They seized on the idea. • Bill, chasing some skirt again? • I saw him dive into a small pub. • Why are you trying to pin the blame on me? • He only married her for her dough.

PRACTICE State what image underline the meaning • I heard what she said but it didn’t sink into my mind. • (to understand completely) • You should be ashamed of yourself, crawling to the director like that. (to behave humbly in order to win favour) • They seized on the idea. (to be eager to take and use) • Bill, chasing some skirt again? (a girl) • I saw him dive into a small pub. (to enter suddenly) • Why are you trying to pin the blame on me? (to blame smb unfairly) • He only married her for her dough. (money)

Types of Morpheme Meaning lexical differential functional distributional

Lexical Meaning in Morphemes root-morphemes that are homonymous to words possess lexical meaning EX. boy – boyhood – boyish affixes have lexical meaning of a more generalized character EX. –er “agent, doer of an action”

Lexical Meaning in Morphemes has denotational and connotational components EX. –ly, -like, -ish – denotational meaning of similiarity womanly , womanish connotational component – -ly (positive evaluation), -ish (deragotary) женственный женоподобный

Differential Meaning a semantic component that serves to distinguish one word from all others containing identical morphemes EX. cranberry, blackberry, gooseberry

Functional Meaning found only in derivational affixes a semantic component which serves to refer the word to the certain part of speech EX. just, adj. – justice, n.

Distributional Meaning the meaning of the order and the arrangement of morphemes making up the word found in words containing more than one morpheme different arrangement of the same morphemes would make the word meaningless EX. sing- + -er =singer, -er + sing- = ?

Motivation denotes the relationship between the phonetic or morphemic composition and structural pattern of the word on the one hand, and its meaning on the other can be phonetical morphological semantic

Phonetical Motivation when there is a certain similarity between the sounds that make up the word and those produced by animals, objects, etc. EX. sizzle, boom, splash, cuckoo

Morphological Motivation when there is a direct connection between the structure of a word and its meaning EX. finger-ring – ring-finger, A direct connection between the lexical meaning of the component morphemes EX think –rethink “thinking again”

Semantic Motivation based on co-existence of direct and figurative meanings of the same word EX a watchdog – ”a dog kept for watching property” a watchdog – “a watchful human guardian” (semantic motivation)

• PRACTICE

Analyze the meaning of the words. Define the type of motivation a) morphologically motivated b) semantically motivated • Driver • Leg • Horse • Wall • Hand-made • Careless • piggish

Analyze the meaning of the words. Define the type of motivation a) morphologically motivated b) semantically motivated • Driver Someone who drives a vehicle morphologically motivated • Leg The part of a piece of furniture such as a table semantically motivated • Horse A piece of equipment shaped like a box, used in gymnastics semantically motivated

• Wall Emotions or behavior preventing people from feeling close semantically motivated • Hand-made Made by hand, not machine morphologically motivated • Careless Not taking enough care morphologically motivated • Piggish Selfish semantically motivated

what she said but it didn’t sink in my mind “do down to the bottom” ‘to be accepted by mind” semantic motivation I heard Why are you trying to pin the blame on me? “fasten smth somewhere using a pin” – ”to blame smb” semantic motivation I was following the man when he dived into a pub. “jump into deep water” – ”to enter into suddenly” semantic motivation You should be ashamed of yourself, crawling to the director like that “to move along on hands and knees close to the ground” – “to behave very humbly in order to win favor” semantic motivation