Primary and secondary meaning of the word

LECTURE
1.

THE
WORD AND ITS MEANING

OUTLINE

1. The
   word and its main characteristics.

2. Types
   of meaning.

3. Semantic
   changes and their causes.

1. The
   word and its main characteristics.

Lexicology
is a branch of linguistics that deals with the vocabulary of the
language and characteristics of words as the main lexical units.
Lexical units comprise words and set expressions, or groups of words
of fixed character.

There are
over 200 definitions of a word but none is generally accepted. The
word reflects world mapping which is culturally and nationally
specific. Word use is also pre-determined by person’s social and
educational status, gender, age, etc.

The word
performs the following functions:

1. denotational
   (denotes things, qualities, actions,etc);

2. generalizing
   function (e.g. tree, house, animal);

3. emotive
   function (expresses our feelings and emotions);

4. structural
   function (performs a certain syntactic function, is a part of a
   sentence).

The word is
the smallest meaningful unit possessing the following features:

1. isolatability,
   i.e. ability of a word to function in communication alone, to make
   a sentence, e.g. ‘Help!’ This distinguishes a word from another
   meaningful unit – a morpheme, which cannot be used in isolation.
   It can function only as a part of a word.

2. indivisibility,
   i.e. a word cannot be further divided without breaking its meaning.
   Cf. asleep – a (sound) sleep, alive – a (quiet) life.

3. positional
   mobility, i.e. a word can change its position in a sentence. E.g.
   Suddenly they came up to a house. They came up to a house suddenly.
   Up to a house they suddenly came.

The word is
a two-facet unit combining meaning and form. The relationship between
the two is denoted by the term motivation. If the connection between
the meaning of a word and its form is clear and the form helps us to
understand the meaning, the word is considered motivated. If the
connection is conventional, the word is said to be non-motivated at
the present stage of language development.

There are
three types of motivation:

1. Phonetic
   , the sound form of the word helps us to understand its meaning,
   e.g. bang, bump, hiss, cuckoo, etc.

2. morphological,
   the morphemic composition of a word helps to understand its meaning,
   e.g. ex+ noun = former …; re+ verb = do again; verb+er = agent,
   doer of the action.

3. figurative
   meaning of a word becomes clear through its direct meaning, e.g. the
   leg of the table, the foot of the mountain, the eye of the needle.

The
meaning is not homogeneous. It is a system of systems:

1)
It combines lexical and grammatical meanings, e.g. actress is a
personal noun.

2)
Lexical meaning includes denotative and connotative ones.

3)
Denotative meaning is conceptual (what a word denotes), it is
divided into semantic

components
called semes, e.g. Father is a male parent. Denotative components may

be
culturally predetermined (cf. winter in Siberia and in Australia, it
is a season

between
autumn and spring but all other characteristics are different:
duration,

temperature,
etc.).

4)
Connotative meanings express the speaker’s attitude to the subject
of speech and may

be
as follows:

1. stylistic:
   chap, fellow, associate; child, infant, kid;

2. emotive:
   cool, awesome, terrific;

3. expressive:
   to trudge, to march, to gobble;

4. evaluative:
   clever, silly, good, bad(rational evaluation), scoundrel
   (emotional evaluation);

5. associative
   (a fir-tree – forest, New Year);

6. national
   and cultural (kilt – Scots);

7. pragmatic:
   Can you open the door?

5)
A word may be polysemantic, i.e. it may have several interrelated
denotative

meanings:

1. One
   of the meanings is called primary, this is the meaning in which the
   word made its first appearance in the language, all the other
   meanings which developed later are called secondary, e.g. chair as a
   piece of furniture (primary), chair as the head of some meeting,
   conference or chair as a department (secondary meanings).

2. One
   of the meanings is central, others are peripheral. As a rule,
   primary and central meanings coincide but it is not necessarily so.
   In the course of language development a secondary meaning may become
   the central one ousting the primary meaning to the periphery, e.g.
   revolution: primary meaning is that of rotary movement, revolving,
   secondary – social change (now central).

3. Meaning
   can be direct and indirect (figurative, transferred), e.g. white
   collar, blue collar, smoke screen, etc.

III.
Semantic changes and their causes.

1.Specialization,
or narrowing of meaning

e.g.
garage – a safe place

meat
– any food

2.Generalization,
or widening of meaning

e.g.
ready (in O.E. – ready for a ride, now – ready for any activity)

arrive
– to land at a shore

3.Elevation
of meaning (getting better, going higher)

e.g.
queen (in O.E. – woman)

knight
(in O.E. – young servant).

4.Degradation
of meaning (getting worse, lower)

e.g.
a spinster – a woman that spins wool

idiot
– a private person

5.
Transference of meaning. The name of one thing is used to name some
other things.

Transference
is further subdivided into metaphor, metonymy and euphemism.

1. Transference
   of meaning based on likeness is called a metaphor. Metaphors can be
   based on likeness of form (a head of cabbage), of position (the foot
   of the mountain), function (Head of the Department), size, quantity
   (ocean of troubles, storm of applause), etc. Sometimes a combination
   of several features makes up the foundation for a metaphor (a leg of
   a table – function, position, shape). Metaphors may involve
   transition from proper names to common ones, e.g. a Don Juan,
   Apollo, Vandals, Hooligans.

2. Transference
   of meaning based on associations of contiguity (being together) is
   called metonymy. We can use the name of a container for the thing it
   contains (Will you have another cup?), instrument for the agent (His
   pen knows no compromise), the place for the people who live or work
   there (Kharkiv greets the guests. The Kremlin agrees to the treaty),
   the name of a person for the things s/he made (He reads Byron), the
   name of a part for the whole (Who’s the moustache?)

3. Transference
   of meaning dictated by social conventions, norms, rules of behavior.
   A word or a word combination is used instead of the other word that
   is offensive, rude, or taboo.

e.g. to
die: to perish, to pass away, to join the silent majority, to meet
one’s maker, to be with the angels, to cross the Great Divide, etc.

toilet: WC,
bathroom, the necessary facilities, powder room, ladies/ gents,
public conveniences, cloakroom, throne room, porcelain collection,
Windsor Castle, etc.

Causes
of semantic changes may include linguistic and extra-linguistic ones.

The
latter are connected with social, political, economic, cultural and
scientific development.

e.g.
computer, space, feedback, bikini, villain, boor, etc.

The
former embrace differentiation of synonyms (e.g. time and tide),
borrowings (hound and dog), preserving the old meaning in idioms
(love token, token of respect), etc.

LECTURE 2.

PHRASEOLOGY

1. Set
   expressions, their features and origin.

2. Classification
   of phraseological units.

1. Set
   expressions, their features and origin.

Set
expressions are stable ready-made units with fixed integrate
structure. They are contrasted to free phrases and semi-fixed
combinations. A free phrase permits substitution of any of its
elements without any semantic change in the other element, e.g. to go
early: to work, get up, move, etc. early: to go late, quickly, down,
etc.

In
semi-fixed combinations there are some boundaries for the
substitution, e.g. go to school (market, college, court, etc.) is
used only with nouns of places where definite actions are performed.

Features
that make set expressions stable:

1. euphonic;

2. imaginative;

3. connotative.

Euphonic:
rhythm, rhyme, alliteration, e.g. safe and sound, stuff and nonsense,
by hook or by crook.

Semantic
stylistic features: simile, contrast, metaphor, synonymy, antonymy,
e.g. as like as two peas, as old as hills, more or less, from
beginning to end, a lame duck, arms race, to swallow a pill, proud
and hauty.

A bit of
expressions are connected with different spheres of people’s life,
nature, etc.

1. nature,
   e.g. out of the blue, as welcome as snow in May, to rain cats and
   dogs, etc.

2. agriculture,
   e.g. plough the sand, reap a rich harvest, sow wild oats, etc.

3. sports,
   e.g. fair play, to kick a goal, etc.

4. mythology,
   e.g. the apple of discord, Achilles’ heel, etc.

5. the
   Bible, e.g. Solomon’s judgement, forbidden fruit, etc.

6. folklore,
   e.g. peeping Tom, Calamity Jane, etc.

7. literature,
   e.g. to fight the windmills, a green-eyed monster, etc.

1. Classification
   of phraseological units.

There
are different approaches to studying and classifying phraseological
units.

1. The
   classification of V.V.Vinogradov is synchronic and semantic. It is
   based upon the type of motivation. He distinguishes:

   1. phraseological
      fusions, e.g. tit for tat. They represent the highest stage of
      blending, are not motivated nowadays, are specific for every
      language and cannot be literally translated;

   2. phraseological
      unities , e.g. to know where a shoe pinches, to rise to the bait,
      etc. They are clearly motivated, some of them are easily
      translated and even international;

   3. phraseological
      combinations, e.g. to meet the demands, to make friends. They are
      not only clearly motivated but also contain one component used in
      its direct meaning (demands, friends).

2. Larin’s
classification is also semantic but diachronic. He believes that each
unit goes through three stages in its development. First it is a free
word combination, then a motivated metaphoric phrase and then an
idiom with lost motivation, e.g. to give a sack, to give a cold
shoulder, to dance attendance on smb., etc.

Semantic
classifications of Vinogradov and Larin are open to criticism since
the degree of motivation may be different for different speakers
depending on their knowledge of history, customs and traditions,
level of education, etc. So they are subjective, not reliable enough.

1. N.Amosova’s
   approach is contextological. She defines phraseological units as
   units of fixed context characterized by a specific word-order and
   peculiar semantic relationship between the components.
   Phraseological units are divided into phrasemes and idioms.
   Phrasemes are always binary. One of their components has a
   phraseologically bound meaning, the other serves as the determining
   context, e.g. small change, small hours, small talk. In idioms the
   new meaning is created by the whole, each element having its own
   meaning weakened or lost. Idioms may be motivated and demotivated.

2. Koonin’s
   classification is functional: depends on the functions
   phraseological units fulfil in communication. There may be: a)
   nominating (e.g. a man of straw, a bull in a china shop); b)
   nominative communicative (verbal), e.g. to go round the bush, to
   pull one’s leg, etc.; c) communicative (sentences by form), e.g.
   Curiosity killed the cat; d) interjectional, e.g. Good heavens, a
   pretty kettle of fish, etc. Further classification depends on
   whether the units are changeable or unchangeable, what their
   structure is, etc.

LECTURES
3-5.

WORD-BUILDING.
STRUCTURE OF WORDS.

OUTLINE

1. Structural
   types of words.

2. Affixation.
   Classification of affixes. Suffixes and prefixes.

3. Conversion
   (zero derivation).

4. Compounding.
   Classification of compounds. Criteria of compounding. Borderline
   cases (semi-affixes).

5. Shortening.

6. Abbreviations.

7. Minor
   types of word-building.

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In this work multiple senses of lexical items will be analyzed. We will see how the meaning of the lexical item can be differ when it stands by itself and when it is used in context with a different word. English language is known for its variety of words and their use. So, we will observe how particular English words may vary in different contexts. Primary, secondary and idiomatic senses will be discussed in this work as well as the ambiguity caused by senses in the translation.

Key words: primary meaning, secondary meaning, idiomatic meaning, ambiguity.

Primary sense is the core, basic, literal meaning of a lexeme. A primary sense is generally the first meaning that comes to mind for most people when a lexeme is uttered alone. Usually it refers to an actual physical thing, an action, or a characteristic of a referent. (http://www.glossary.sil.org/term/primary-sense)

The primary sense is the meaning suggested by the word when it is used alone. It is the first meaning or usage which a word will suggest to most people when the word is said in isolation. It is the meaning learned early in life and is likely to have reference to a physical situation. But the same word may have a different meaning when used in context with other words. (Larson, M, L. (2012) “Meaning Based Translation” University Press of America. New York, 589 p.)

A secondary sense is a meaning that is more abstract than a primary sense of a lexeme but still shares some of its semantic components. Because it has a different range of reference, its usage contexts and collocates are different from those of a primary sense. For example, let’s take the word «make» in English. The primary meaning of make is to do something for example «She makes dinner”. The secondary meaning is to tuck something for example “She makes her bed every morning». Here the word «make» doesn’t mean that somebody is actually doing the bed, it means that she tucks the sheets and pillows.

Secondary Meaning or Secondary Sense.

A speaker of Russian will say that «язык» means the language, but the Russian speaker will also tell you that «язык» means:

– В мире существуют более 10 000 языков. (There are more than 10 000 languages in the world).

– Язык является мышечным органом во рту большинства позвоночных, который манипулирует пищей для жевания. (The tongue is a muscular organ in the mouth of most vertebrates that manipulates food for mastication).

– Язык колокола после удара должен мгновенно отскочить от звукового пояса, ане «прилипать» кнему. (The clapper after the shot should bounce off the sonic zone and not «stick» to it).

– ЯзыкПушкинапредставляетразительныепримерысемантическоймногоплановостислова (Pushkin’s language presents striking examples of semantic diversity of the word).

Translating the primary sense of a lexical item is usually much easier than a secondary sense. This is because the receptor language will often have a lexical equivalent for the primary meaning which very nearly matches the meaning of the lexical item in the source language. However, the secondary senses of those same two words will probably not match. (Larson, 2012: 113) A native speaker knows immediately by the other words which occur in the phrase or sentence which sense of the word is being signaled. Learners of a second language often have a great deal of trouble to use a word in its many secondary senses.

English	Russian
He called her name to see if she was home.	Он позвал её имя, чтобы посмотреть дома ли она.
Will you call the family to dinner?	Ты пригласишь свою семью на ужин?
She called her parents yesterday.	Она позвонила своим родителям вчера.

Any word used in a non-primary sense will probably not be translated by

the word in the receptor language which is equivalent to its primary sense, but

by a different word. For example, the primary sense of key would be translated

into Turkish with “anahtar.” But notice the following list which shows how they differ in translating secondary senses:

English	Russian
A sheet	Листок (бумаги)
A sheet	Простынь
A sheet	Парус

English	Russian
Лист	A Leaf
Лист	A sheet
Лист	Baking tray

Analyzing senses of words.

The process for discovering the various senses of words is rather complicated but can be very crucial for making dictionaries, learning a second language, and may also be helpful to the translator when no dictionaries are available which give an adequate description of the senses of words in the language. (Beekman and Callow: 1974) A translator who is truly bilingual in the source and receptor languages will usually recognize a non-primary sense.

Nevertheless, there is always the possibility that a literal translation of a word may be used in a secondary sense. This literal translation sets up a strange collocation and wrong meaning (Larson, 2012: 113)

Step 1. Collecting data.

One must first collect as many examples of the use of the word as possible. If a person knows the language he can simply think of all the possible combinations with other words. If not, he will need to find the word in as many texts as possible. A concordance done on the computer will greatly speed up the search, learning a language, or hoping to make a dictionary, will want to begin early in his research to collect data on each word of the language, building up more words and more examples of their co-occurrence with other words. The goal is to list as many collocate as possible. For our purposes, we shall now assume that we have found the following (Beekman and Callow 1974, chapter 11)

– They go to supermarket every day.	– Они ходят всупермаркет каждый день.
– They always go by bus.	– Они всегда ездят на автобусе.
– People come and go all the time.	– Люди приходят и уходят все время.
– She goes mad when something is wrong.	– Она сходит с ума, когда что-то идет не так.
– She always goes barefoot	– Она всегда ходит босиком
– We go to sleep at 9 o’clock	– Мы ложимся спать в 9 часов
– I will go 50 dollars per ticket, but no more	– Я заплачу только 50 долларов и не больше
– I could go abig steak right now	– Я бы сейчас съел большой стейк.
– A man with alot of go	– Человек с большой энергией.
– Thirty dollars? It’s ago!	– Тридцать долларов? Сделка!
– The boss gave us ago on our new project.	– Босс дал свое разрешение по поводу нашего нового проекта
– He goes into debt once in two months.	– Он залезает в долги один раз в три месяца.
– I can’t go his preaching.	– Я не могу выносить его исповедания.

Step 2. Sort the collocates into generic classes.

Each grammatical form should be analyzed separately. In this example, we

have used only intransitive verb forms. If the noun run occurred, this noun form would need to be separated and analyzed separately. One begins by making best guesses, refining the analysis as he goes.

– Movement or proceeding (go by bus, by train, got to amarket)

– To become as specified (go mad)

– to act so as to come into acertain state or condition: (to sleep, go into debt)

– to risk, pay, afford, bet, or bid: (go fifty dollars)

– Appreciate, desire, want (go abig steak)

– Energy spirit (a man with alot of go)

– Approval or permission (boss gave ago)

Step 3. Regroup the contexts according to the collocates which belong to the same generic classes as follows.

– Money and documents

– I will go 50 dollars per ticket, but no more

– The boss gave us a go on our new project.

– Thirty dollars? It’s a go!

– Moving or proceeding

• They always go by bus
• They always go to the market.

– Condition

• We go to sleep at 9 o’clock.
• He goes into debt once in two months.
• She goes mad when something is wrong.

– Energy spirit

• A man with a lot of go.

Step 4. List and label the senses of the words.

Once the data is reorganized by the generic classes of the collocates, it is much easier to see the senses of the word. For animate beings with legs, the meaning seems to be to move oneself from one place to another rapidly; for liquids, simply to flow, for vines, the meaning is to grow, etc.

Sense 1

To pay, risk, afford

Sense 2

To move on something, to move with your legs, to proceed

Sense 3

to act so as to come into a certain state or condition:

Sense 4

To have an energy or spirit.

A secondary sense will almost always need to be translated by a different word than the word which denotes the primary sense. In English there are many synonyms of the word difficult. All belong to a common set of words.

The two main rules about secondary senses are

1) the secondary senses of the source language can probably not be translated literally but will need to be understood in order to find a good equivalent.

2) the secondary sense of words in the receptor language will only mean what they are intended to mean if the context includes collocates which will signal the sense desired.

Conclusion

In this work we have learned what is a primary sense, what is a secondary and idiomatic sense. We have seen how words can change the meaning of the particular text. We have also learnt the process for discovering the various senses of words. So, the translator has to know all the senses of the words in order to make a good and effective translation.

References:

1. Barnwell K. (1980) “An analysis of strategies used in translating the short story.” High Wycombe: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
2. Beekman, John, and John Callow. (1974) “Translating the Word of God.” Zondervan Pub. House, Jun 1, 1974 — Religion — 399 p.
3. Eugene A. Nida. (1964) “Toward a Science of Translating” Leiden, E, J Brill Netherlands, 331 p.
4. Larson, M, L. (2012) “Meaning Based Translation” University Press of America. New York, 589 p.