Componential analysis

The task of “making sense” of chaotic /´kei tik / (хаотичний) and continuous sensory data requires processes of pattern recognition and most importantly the segmentation of the data into discrete, codable elements (as it is of analyzing chemical substances). The essential assumption of componential analysis is that the meaning of word is the sum of a number of elements of meaning which it possesses - semantic distinctive features - and that these elements are binary, i. e. marked as present or absent (+ or -).

We might take, as an example, a set of English words such as man, woman, boy, girl and show how a componential analysis can be used to specify the lexical entry for each.

The lexical entries would be:

+ human +human

MAN +adult WOMAN +adult

+male -male

+human +human

BOY -adult GIRL -adult

+male -male

A fuller entry for the item would include:

a) its pronunciation, b) syntactic information (noun, verb, etc.), c) morphological information, d) its semantic sense.

Filled out in this way, each entry would include both elements of De Saussure’s linguistic sign - acoustic image and concept - and, in addition, syntactic information which would be essential.

Дата добавления: 2014-01-11