-
Semasiology as a branch of linguistics. Types of word meaning:
grammatical, lexical (denotative and connotative meanings). Change
of lexical meaning: generalisation and specialization; elevation and
degradation of word meaning.
Semasiology (from
Gr. semasia “signification”) is a branch of linguistics whose
subject-matter
is the study of word meaning and the classification of changes in
the signification of words or forms, viewed as normal and vital
factors of any linguistic development.
The main objects of
semasiological study are: semantic
development of words, its causes and classification, polysemy and
semantic structure of words, semantic grouping and connections in the
vocabulary system, i.e. synonyms, antonyms, terminological systems
etc.?
As semasiology deals not with every kind of
meaning but with the lexical meaning only, it may be regarded as a
branch of Lexicology. Meaning is one of the most important word’s
characteristics. The two main types of meaning are the
grammatical and lexical
meaning.
Grammatical meaning
is the component of meaning recurrent in identical sets of individual
forms of different words (tenses, cases, etc.) For example,
time-relations are expressed by the tense-forms of the English verb
(e.g. worked, took, went, printed), the category of person denoted by
verb-forms (e.g. takes, speaks, writes).
Lexical
meaning is the meaning proper to the
given linguistic unit in all its forms and distributions. It is
recurrent in all the forms of the word (go-goes-went-going). The
lexical meaning of the word can be of two types: denotational
and connotational. Denotation
is the expression of the direct meaning proper of the word without
any emotive evaluation or stylistic colouring, e.g. a father, a
friend, a girl, a dog. Connotation is
the supplementary expressive meaning presented either by emotive
charge (e.g. a girlie, a doggy,
sheepish) or by stylistic reference,
compare: a girl (neutral denotation) ::
a maiden (poetic) :: a lass (folk) :: a chic (slang), a father
(neutral denotation) :: a parent (bookish) :: a dad (colloquial) :: a
governor (slang).
Change of lexical meaning: Broadening
(generalization) is the widening of a
word’s range of meanings, often by analogy or simplification. It is
also the transfer from concrete meaning to an abstract one: e.g.
journey was
borrowed from French with the meaning one day trip, now it means a
trip of any duration.
Narrowing of meaning (specialization). In this process a word
of wide meaning acquires a narrower, specialized sense: e.g. a
wife (originally meant simply ‘woman’ and now ‘a married
woman’), a girl (originally meant ‘a young person of either sex,
a child, a boy or a girl’ and now it denotes ‘a small child of
female sex’).
Pejoration (degradation,)
occurs as a word develops negative
connotations or loses positive ones: a churl (in Old English it meant
“a man”), a gossip (in Old English it meant “a good parent”),
and silly (in Old English it meant “happy”).
Amelioration (elevation):
word loses negative connotations or
gains positive ones, e.g. a minister (earlier it meant “servant”
and now it means “an important public official”), a knight
(earlier it meant “a title of rank” and now it means “a boy”).
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SEMASIOLOGY LEXICAL MEANING AND SEMANTIC STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH WORDS
SEMASIOLOGY branch of linguistics which studies the meaning of linguistic units, first of all, that of words and word equivalents. Lexical meaning reflects the concept expressed by the given word. The interrelation between the structural pattern of the word and its lexical meaning is called motivation.
TYPES OF MOTIVATION • Phonetical motivation is observed in words whose sound clusters imitate the sounds they signify, e. g. boom, cuckoo, hiss, titter, whisper, murmur, etc. • Morphological motivation is apparent in derived words and nonidiomatic compounds due to their word formation pattern, e. g. worker (work + er) = «one who works»; rewrite (re + write) = «write again or anew»; shoemaker (shoe + make + er) = «one who makes shoes»; bathroom (bath + room) = «room with a bath», etc. • Semantic motivation is the relationship between the direct and the trans ferredmeaning of the word, e. g. a mother tongue, a summit meeting, the mouth of a river, a green beginner, etc.
TYPES OF WORDS LEXICAL MEANING § Nominative meaning which is the direct meaning of the word, immediately referring to objects in extra linguistic reality. § Syntactically conditioned meaning which manifests itself in different colligations. Cf. ask smth. : : ask smb. about (after, for) smth. : : ask for smb. : : ask for smth. : : ask smb. to smth. ; consist in smth. : : consist of smth. : : consist with smth. § Phraseologically bound meaning which is idiomatic and manifests itself only in certain phraseological units, e. g. tall story, buy smth. for a song, catch a cold, a great gun, etc.
THE NOMINATIVE MEANING COMPONENTS • Denotation is the ex pressionof the direct meaning proper of the word without any emotive evalua tionor stylistic colouring, e. g. father, friend, girl, dog, begin, great, love. • Connotation is the supplementary expressive meaning presented either by emotive charge (e. g. girlie, doggy, tremendous, worship, sheepish or by sty listic reference (cf. girl (neutral denotation): : maiden (poet. ): : lass (folk. ): : chic (slang); father (neutr. ): : parent (book. ): : dad (col. ): : governor (slang); friend (neutr. ): : chum (col. ); begin (neutr. ): : commence (book. ); great/plea sure/ (neutr. ): : terrific /pleasure/ (col. ).
WORDS MAIN SEMANTIC STRUCTURES • Monosemy is the existence within one word of only one meaning. Mono semantic words are comparatively few in number. They are mainly scientific terms, e. g. biochemistry, cybernetics, molecule, radar, tungsten, etc. • Polysemy is the existence within one word of several connected meanings. One of them is the main (central) meaning, whereas the rest are associated (mar ginal meanings. ) Associated meanings of the word become evident in certain lexical and grammatical contexts. Polysemantic words constitute the bulk of the English vocabulary. E. g. face (n. ) 1. the front of the head /the main meaning/. 2. the expression of the countenance. 3. the main or front surface. 4. the surface that is marked, as of a clock. 5. appearance; outward aspect. 6. Dignity; self || respect/associated meanings//After Webster’s New World Dictionary/.
WORDS MAIN SEMANTIC STRUCTURES • Semantic diffusion is observed in words with a very wide conceptual volume. Such words denote, in fact, one concept, but can name an indefinitely large number of objects (referents). For instance, the word thing denotes «any object of our thought». Hence it can name various inanimate objects, living beings, facts, affairs, problems, possessions, pieces of writing, composition, etc.
TYPES OF MEANING The word retains its original meaning, but at the same time acquires several new ones. I. The direct meaning, subdivided into: § the primary (etymological) meaning, e. g. wall (n. ) < L. vallum «ram part», «fortification»; § the derived meaning: wall — «upright structure, forming part of a room or building». II. The secondary meaning, subdivided into: § the secondary denotative meaning: wall «inside surface of cavity or vessel», e. g. walls of the heart; reactor wall; § the figurative meaning, e. g. wall of partition /between persons/; wall of fire; wall of hostility.
CHANGE OF MEANING Semantic changes in denotation may lead to: § the extension (generalization) of meaning, e. g. barn OE bern «a place for storing barley» → «a covered building for storing grain, hay, etc. » § the narrowing (specialization) of meaning, e. g. voyage n. OF vayage «any trip or journey»→ «a journey by sea or water» Semantic changes in connotation may result in: § the pejorative development of meaning (degradation), e. g. knave n. OE cnafa «a boy», «a male servant» → «a tricky rascal, » «a rogue» § the ameliorative development of meaning (elevation), e. g. fame n. OF fame «common talk», «rumour» → «reputation, esp. for good»
TRANSFERENCE OF MEANING Linguistic metaphor is associating two referents which resemble each other. Metaphors may be based on various types of similarity, for example, similarity of shape, function, position, colour, temperature. E. g. the teeth of a saw, the key to a test, the foot of a mountain, cold reason, black in gratitude, to catch an idea, etc. Words denoting animals and their actions may be used metaphorically to denote human qualities. Such cases belong to zoosemy, e. g. a fox («a crafty person»), an ass («a stupid person»), to wolf «to eat greedily»), etc. Metaphoric epithets, denoting human qualities, are often applied to in animate objects: cruel heat, a sorrowful bush, a sullen sky, etc.
TRANSFERENCE OF MEANING Simile which is closely related to metaphor is a comparison of two refer ents. Main types of linguistic simi les § stable idiomatic similes, for instance, /as/ merry as a cricket, /as/ thin as a pole, like a bolt from the blue § comparative nominals. Collocations with comparative nominals, the latter func tioning as comparative epithets, are easily transformed into comparative con structions: the catlike creature → the creature is like a cat; the inky water → the water is like ink; his Quixotish behaviour → his behaviour is like that of Quixot; an apple-cheeked girl → the girl with cheeks like apples, etc.
TRANSFERENCE OF MEANING Linguistic metonymy is associating two referents which are in some way or other connected in reality. § synecdoche, the name of a part is applied to the whole (L. pars pro toto) or vice versa, (L. totum pro parte), e. g. a fleet of twenty sail; to earn one’s bread; I don’t want to provoke the police (a single policeman is meant), etc. § the symbol for the thing signified (from the cradle to the grave); § the instrument for the agent (the pen is stron ger than the sword ); § the container for the thing contained (the kettle is boil ing ); § the material for the thing made (a copper, a glass); § the name of a scientist (an author, an inventor, etc. ) § for physical units, inventions, etc. (ohm, volt, watt, diesel, a mauser, a sandwich); § the geographical name for the things produced there (astrakhan, china, champagne, madeira, jeans) § the proper name for a common one (Don Juan, a Quixot, a hooligan).
SEMASIOLOGY1. ASPECTS OF LEXICAL MEANING1. Denotational Aspect.
2. Connotational Aspect. 3. Pragmatic Aspect.
1. DENOTATIONAL ASPECT
In the general framework of lexical meaning several aspects can
be singled out. They are: the denotational aspect, the
connotational aspect and the pragmatic aspect. The denotational
aspect of lexical meaning is the part of lexical meaning which
establishes correlation between the name and the object,
phenomenon, process or characteristic feature of concrete reality
(or thought as such), which is denoted by the given word. The term
denotational is derived from the English word to denote which means
be a sign of or stand as a name or symbol for. For instance, the
denotational meaning of booklet is a small thin book that gives
information about something. It is through the denotational aspect
of meaning that the bulk of information is conveyed in the process
of communication. The denotational aspect of lexical meaning
expresses the notional content of a word. The denotational aspect
is the component of the lexical meaning that makes communication
possible.
2. CONNOTATIONAL ASPECT
The connotational aspect of lexical meaning is the part of
meaning which reflects the attitude of the speaker towards what he
speaks about. Connotation conveys additional information in the
process of communication. Connotation includes:
the emotive charge is one of the objective semantic features
proper to words as linguistic units that forms part of the
connotational component of meaning, for example, daddy as compared
to father.
evaluation, which may be positive or negative, for instance,
clique (a small group of people who seem unfriendly to other
people) as compared to group (a set of people);
imagery, for example, to wade to walk with an effort (through
mud, water or anything that makes progress difficult). The
figurative use of the word gives rise to another meaning, which is
based on the same image as the first to wade through a book;
intensity / expressiveness, for instance, to adore to love;
The correlation of denotational and connotational components of
some words is shown in Table 2.
Table 2. The correlation of denotational and connotational
components Word+part of speech lonely, adj. notorious, adj.
celebrated, adj. to glare, adj. Denotational component alone,
without company widely known widely known Connotational component
melancholy, sad for criminal act or bad traits of character for
special achievement in science, art, etc. 1. steadily, lastingly
Type of connotation
emotive connotation
to look
to glance, v. to stare, v. to gaze, v. to shiver, v.
to look to look to look to tremble
evaluative connotation, negative evaluative connotation,
positive connotation of duration 2. in anger, rage, etc emotive
connotation; connotation of cause briefly, passingly connotation of
duration steadily, lastingly in emotive connotation; surprise,
curiosity, etc. connotation of cause steadily, lastingly in emotive
connotation tenderness, admiration 1. lastingly connotation of
duration
to shudder, v.
to tremble
2. usu with the cold 1. briefly 2.with horror, disgust, etc.
connotation of cause connotation of duration connotation of
cause; emotive connotation
The above examples show how by singling out denotational and
connotational components we can get a sufficiently clear picture of
what the word really means. The schemes presenting the correlation
of two components of the words also show that a meaning can have
two or more connotational components. The given examples do not
exhaust all the types of connotations but present only a few:
emotive, evaluative connotations, and also connotations of
duration, cause, etc.
3. PRAGMATIC ASPECT
The pragmatic aspect is the part of lexical meaning that conveys
information on the situation of communication. Like the
connotational aspect, the pragmatic aspect falls into four closely
linked together subsections. 1) Information on the time and space
relationship of the participants. Some information which specifies
different parameters of communication may be conveyed not only with
the help of grammatical means (tense forms, personal pronouns,
etc), but through the meaning of the word. For example, the words
come and go can indicate the location of the speaker who is usually
taken as the zero point in the description of the situation of
communication. The time element when related through the pragmatic
aspect of meaning is fixed indirectly. Indirect reference to time
implies that the frequency of occurrence of words may change with
time and in extreme cases words may be out of use or become
obsolete. Thus, the word behold take notice, see (smth. unusual)
as
well as the noun beholder spectator are out of use now but were
widely used in the 17th century.
2) Information on the participants and the given language
community. The language used may be indicative of the social status
of a person, his education, profession, etc. The pragmatic aspect
of the word also may convey information about the social system of
the given language community, its ideology, religion, system of
norms and customs. Let us consider the following sentences: a) They
chucked a stone at the cops, and then did a bunk with the loot. b)
After casting a stone at the police, they absconded with the money.
Sentence A could be said by two criminals talking casually about
the crime afterwards. Sentence B might be said by the chief
inspector in making his official report.
3) Information on the tenor of discourse. The tenors of
discourse reflect how the addresser (the speaker or the writer)
interacts with the addressee (the listener or reader). Tenors are
based on social or family role of the participants of
communication. There may be situation of a mother talking to her
small child, or about her children, or a teacher talking to
students, or friends talking to each other.
4) Information on the register of communication. The conditions
of communication form another important group of factors. The
register defines the general type of the situation of communication
grading the situations in formality. Three main types of the
situations of communication are usually singled out: formal,
neutral and informal. Thus, the pragmatic aspect of meaning refers
words like cordial, fraternal, anticipate, aid to formal register
while units like cut it out, to be kidding, stuff, hi are to be
used in the informal register. The structure of lexical meaning see
in diagram 3.
Diagram 3. Structure of the lexical meaning
LEXICAL MEANING
Denotational aspect
Connotational aspect
Pragmatic aspect
Emotive charge Expressiveness
Evaluation Imagery
Information on the time and space Relationship of the
participants
Information on the participants and the given language
community
Information on the tenor of discourse
Information on the register of communication References: 1. .. .
.: , 2006. .- 18-21. 2. .. . .: , 1979. .- 20-22. 3. .. . -. 2006.
.- 61- 62. 4. .., .., .. . .; , 2006. . — 136-142.
3.1. The object of semasiology. Two approaches to the study of meaning.
3.2. Types of meaning.
3.3. Meaning and motivation.
3.1. The branch of lexicology which studies meaning is called » semasiology «. Sometimes the term » semantics » is used as a synonym to semasiology, but it is ambiguous as it can stand as well for (1) the expressive aspect of language in general and (2) the meaning of one particular word.
Meaning is certainly the most important property of the word but what is » meaning»?
Meaning is one of the most controversial terms in lexicology. At present there is no generally accepted definition of meaning. Prof. Smirnitsky defines meaning as » a certain reflection in the mind of objects, phenomena or relations that makes part of the linguistic sign, its so-called inner facet, whereas the sound form functions as its outer facet». Generally speaking, meaning can be described as a component of the word through which a concept is communicated, enabling the word to denote objects in the real world.
There are two approaches to the study of meaning: the referential approach and the functional approach. The former tries to define meaning in terms of relations between the word (sound form), concept (notion, thought) and referent (object which the word denotes). They are closely connected and the relationship between them is represented by » the semiotic triangle» (= the basic triangle) of Ogden and Richards (in the book » The Meaning of Meaning» (1923) by O.K. Ogden and I.A. Richards).
concept
 |
symbol referent
(sound form)
This view denies a direct link between words and things, arguing that the relationship can be made only through the use of our minds. Meaning is related to a sound form, concept and referent but not identical with them: meaning is a linguistic phenomenon while neither concept nor referent is.
The main criticism of this approach is the difficulty of identifying » concepts»: they are mental phenomena and purely subjective, existing in the minds of individuals. The strongest point of this approach is that it connects meaning and the process of nomination.
The functional approach to meaning is less concerned with what meaning is than with how it works. It is argued, to say that » words have meanings» means only that they are used in a certain way in a sentence. There is no meaning beyond that. Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), in particular, stressed the importance of this approach in his dictum: » The meaning of the word is its use in the language». So meaning is studied by making detailed analyses of the way words are used in contexts, through their relations to other words in speech, and not through their relations to concepts or referents.
Actually, the functional approach is basically confined to the analysis of sameness or difference of meaning. For example, we can say that in » take the bottle » and » take to the bottle » take has different meaning as it is used differently, but it does not explain what the meaning of the verb is. So the functional approach should be used not as the theoretical basis for the study of meaning, but only as complementary to the referential approach.
3.2. Word meaning is made up of different components, commonly known as types of meaning. The two main types of meaning are grammatical meaning and lexical meaning.
Grammatical meaning belongs to sets of word-forms and is common to all words of the given part of speech,
e.g. girls, boys, classes, children, mice express the meaning of » plurality».
Lexical meaning belongs to an individual word in all its forms. It comprises several components. The two main ones are the denotational component and the connotational component.
The denotational (= denotative) component, also called » referential meaning» or » cognitive meaning», expresses the conceptual (notional) content of a word; broadly, it is some information, or knowledge, of the real-world object that the word denotes. Basically, this is the component that makes communication possible.
e.g. notorious » widely-known», celebrated » known widely».
The connotational (connotative) component expresses the attitude of the speaker to what he is saying, to the object denoted by the word. This component consists of emotive connotation and evaluative connotation.
1) Emotive connotation (= » affective meaning», or an emotive charge),
e.g. In » a single tree » single states that there is only one tree, but » a lonely tree » besides giving the same information, also renders (conveys) the feeling of sadness.
We shouldn’t confuse emotive connotations and emotive denotative meanings in which some emotion is named, e.g. horror, love, fear, etc.
2) Evaluative connotation labels the referent as » good» or » bad»,
e.g. notorious has a negative evaluative connotation, while celebrated a positive one. Cf.: a notorious criminal/liar/ coward, etc. and a celebrated singer/ scholar/ artist, etc.
It should be noted that emotive and evaluative connotations are not individual, they are common to all speakers of the language. But emotive implications are individual (or common to a group of speakers), subjective, depend on personal experience.
e.g. The word » hospital » may evoke all kinds of emotions in different people (an architect, a doctor, an invalid, etc.)
Stylistic connotation, or stylistic reference, another component of word meaning, stands somewhat apart from emotive and evaluative connotations. Indeed, it does not characterize a referent, but rather states how a word should be used by referring it to a certain functional style of the language peculiar to a specific sphere of communication. It shows in what social context, in what communicative situations the word can be used.
Stylistically, words can be roughly classified into literary, or formal (e.g. commence, discharge, parent), neutral (e.g. father, begin, dismiss) and non-literary, or informal (e.g. dad, sack, set off).
3.3. The term » motivation » is used to denote the relationship between the form of the word, i.e. its sound form, morphemic composition and structural pattern, and its meaning.
There are three main types of motivation: phonetic, morphological and semantic.
1) Phonetic motivation is a direct connection between the sound form of a word and its meaning. There are two types of phonetic motivation: sound imitation and sound symbolism.
a) Sound imitation, or onomatopoeia: phonetically motivated words are a direct imitation of the sounds they denote (or the sounds produced by actions or objects they denote),
e.g. buzz, swish, bang, thud, cuckoo.
b) Sound symbolism. It’s argued by some linguists that the sounds that make up a word may reflect or symbolise the properties of the object which the word refers to, i.e. they may suggest size, shape, speed, colour, etc.
e.g. back vowels suggest big size, heavy weight, dark colour, front vowels suggest lightness, smallness, etc.
Many words beginning with sl- are slippery in some way: slide, slip, slither, sludge, etc. or pejorative: slut, slattern, sly, sloppy, slovenly; words that end in -ump almost all refer to some kind of roundish mass: plump, chump, rump, hump, stump.
Certainly, not every word with these phonetic characteristics will have the meaning suggested. This is, perhaps, one of the reasons why sound symbolism is not universally recognized in linguistics.
2) Morphological motivation is a direct connection between the lexical meaning of the component morphemes, the pattern of their arrangement and the meaning of the word.
Morphologically motivated words are those whose meaning is determined by the meaning of their components,
e.g. re-write » write again», ex-wife » former wife».
The degree of morphological motivation may be different. Words may be fully motivated (then they are transparent), partially motivated and non-motivated (idiomatic, or opaque).
a) If the meaning of the word is determined by the meaning of the components and the structural pattern, it is fully motivated: e.g. hatless.
b) If the connection between the morphemic composition of a word and its meaning is arbitrary, the word is non-motivated, e.g. buttercup » yellow-flowered plant».
c) In hammer -er shows that it is an instrument, but what is » hamming «? » Ham » has no lexical meaning in this word, thus the word is partially motivated. Cf. also cranberry.
Motivation may be lost in the course of time,
e.g. in OE wī fman was motivated morphologically: wī f + man » wife of a man»; now it is opaque; its motivation is said to be faded (woman).
3) Semantic motivation is based on co-existence of direct and figurative meanings of the same word,
e.g. butterfly – 1) insect; 2) showy and frivolous person.(= metaphorical extension of the direct meaning).
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