Word meaning part of something

Is there a single word that means: to like an aspect something larger, but to dislike the whole thing?

As an example, someone might say, «I’d like to be fit», meaning that they would genuinely like the benefits of being fit, but omitting the fact that the only thing stopping them from being fit is that they don’t like exercise. That is, they they would like to be fit if it didn’t involve exercise.

For simplicity, I’m going to use ‘half-like‘ as a place holder in a few more examples.

• «I’d half-like to buy that new car», meaning «I’d like to buy that new car (if I could find it cheaper)».

• «I’d half-like to be paid more», meaning «I’d like to be paid more (but I don’t want to work harder)».

• «I’d half-like to learn a language», meaning «I’d like to learn a language (but there’s so much to watch on TV)».

• «I’d half-like to retire», meaning «I’d like to retire (but I’d miss my colleagues)».

I’d prefer a non-judgemental term but any single word that has this meaning would be appreciated, even a word in another language.

As per comments, in spoken English, this can be expressed using stresses and pauses.

• «I would like to buy that car …», meaning the same as the above; the stress serving to draw attention to the implicit «but».

Also as per comments (thank you all), this can be expressed by adding a few extra words, for example «quite like», or «like the idea of …», or by making explicit the overriding «but …».

I’m coming to suspect that there may not be a single word that captures what I want, but that there might be several single words that capture different variations of what I want.

In the above samples, if the speaker is aware of the conflict between what they want and what they don’t want, then as per Jason and user888379, they could say «I’m ambivalent about …» or «I’m conflicted about …», and especially so if the desires are closely balanced.

But if the person doesn’t accept the conflict, then those constructs don’t work as well.

To rework the previous examples:

• «He half-wants to be fit.»
• «He’d half-like to buy that new car.»
• «He half-wants to be paid more.»
• «He half-wants to learn a language.»
• «He’d half-like to retire»

«Dreams of» might work, though it doesn’t distinguish between «can’t» and «could but won’t». «Dreams of» could even be used for a person who is working towards a goal, which isn’t the intent I want to convey.

«likes the idea of» could work too, though it isn’t perfect either. It doesn’t distinguish between a weak inclination towards something and a strong inclination countered by an even stronger disinclination.

«deluded», «denial» or more kindly, «unaware» are all potentially applicable, but they would describe the person themselves, rather than their half-want for something.

You could use «unrealistically wants», but it would be a clumsy construction, and perhaps imply an impossible desire, rather than one that would be possible, if the person wanted it a bit more.

«Supposedly wants» is maybe a better expression of this key concept I want to capture: the difference between ‘expressed opinion’ and ‘observed behaviour’, the «he’s just not that into you» factor, a word to describe someone complaining that they want something that is actually within their power to have, if they really wanted it as badly as they claim to want it.

1. The object of semasiology.
   Two approaches to the study of meaning.

2. Types of meaning.

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 wīfman
was
motivated morphologically: wīf
+ 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).

Соседние файлы в предмете [НЕСОРТИРОВАННОЕ]

• #
• #
• #
• #
• #
• #
• #
• #
• #
• #
• #

From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpart of somethingpart of somethingsome, but not all, of a particular thing
 Part of the money will be spent on a new playground.
 Part of the castle was destroyed by fire.
 For part of the day, you will be outside doing practical work.part of me/him etc
 Part of me hates him (=I partly hate him).(only) part of the story/problem/explanation etc
 Poor working conditions are only part of the problem. ► Don’t say ‘(the) most part of’. Say most of: We spent most of (NOT most part of) the morning shopping. → partExamples from the Corpuspart of me/him etc• No, he would not hurt her, and now she wanted to be him, to be part of him.• We’ve all grown up, but part of me is still curious about why girls want to be cheerleaders.• My hand was no longer part of me.• One part of me was contemptuous of the scribblers continually rescuing the world with their paper prescriptions.• Some part of him missed the big storm, had loved it, was waiting for its return.• The part of me which friendship and society claim must wait, or perish in waiting.

Presentation on theme: «Word Meaning Lecture # 6 Grigoryeva M.. Word Meaning Approaches to word meaning Meaning and Notion (понятие) Types of word meaning Types of morpheme meaning.»— Presentation transcript:

1

Word Meaning Lecture # 6 Grigoryeva M.

2

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

3

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

4

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

5

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

6

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

7

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

8

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]

9

Meaning and Sound-form are not identical different EX. dove — [d Λ v] English sound-forms [golub’] Russian convey one [taube] German and the same me aning

10

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

11

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

12

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 concept is almost the same for the whole humanity in one and the same period of its historical development meanings of words are different in different languages

13

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

14

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

15

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

16

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

17

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

18

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)

19

Types of Meaning types of meaning grammatical meaning lexico-grammatical meaning lexical meaning denotationa l connotational

20

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

21

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

22

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

23

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

24

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”

25

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

26

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

27

Types of Morpheme Meaning lexical differential functional distributional

28

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”

29

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

30

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

31

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.

32

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- = ?

33

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

34

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

35

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”

36

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)

Скачать материал

Скачать материал