Structural semantic

The Word.

A certain reflection in our mind of objects, phenomena or relations that makes part of the linguistic sign.

A sign is a two-facet unit comprising form (phonetic and orthographic), a linguistic symbol and reference which is more linguistic than a concept. A referent belongs to extra-linguistic reality, it is generalized in our minds as a concept and reflected in the meaning within the vocabulary.

Triangle of signification,

Semantic triangle,

Gotlieb Frege(1848-1925)

C.K. Ogden and I.A. Richards’ triangles:

Frege’s semiotic triangle,

O. and R.’s basic triangle

Referential approach:

		Two-facet Symbol

Word meaning –

ESSENTIAL WORD CHARACTERISTICS:

	Phonetic Structure Morphological Structure Grammatical Structure Syntactic Structure	Nominal Onomastic character Significant Indivisible Isolated

Types of Word

Eight kinds of words

The orthographic word

The phonological word

The morphological word

The lexical word

The grammatical word

The onomastic word

The lexicographical word

The statistical word

Motivation is the relationship btw. the phonetic or morphemic composition and structural pattern of the word on the one hand and its meaning on the other.

Three main types of motivation (inner word form):

Phonetical: a certain similarity btw. the sounds and the sense:

(bang, buzz, giggle, gurgle, hiss, purr),Cuckoo.

Sound imitative words (eco-words):

Babble, chatter, gabble, prattle; purr, moo, crow, bark, bleat.

Morphological motivation or word-building meaning:

ex ‘former’:

(ex-president, ex-wife); but expect, export( borrowed wds – no motivation )

re-‘again, back’(rebuild, reclaim, resell) but recover “get better”

Word-building meaning: V +-er =N:

Writer,receiver,bomber,rocker,knocker but number(OFr nombre) and smoker(a fuzzy set).

Semantic motivation:

coexistence of direct and figurative meanings of the same words:

(mouth of a river, cave, furnace), (jacket of a book, electric fire.)

Morphological and semantic motivation in compound words (eyewash, headache, watchdog).

First-nighter, honeymooner, two- seater, three-decker (a sandwich) are different in their motivation: lick-spittle “a flattering or a servile person”.Teenager”a person in his or her teens ” (historically traced).

Non-motivated words:

No connection btw. meaning and its form at the present stage of lg. development:

earn > (ge) earnian “to harvest”;

not > nought > OE nowiht <no-wiht “nothing”.

Faded motivation:lost in the history and not felt at present.

Folk etymology or mistaken motivation (a nightmare, may-day”SOS”).

Sound symbolism:

fl – quick movement:

flap, flip, flop, flitter, flimmer, flicker, flutter, flash, flush, flare;

(but flat, floor, flower)

gl(light, fire) – glare, glitter, glow, glimmer;

sl(mud)-sleet,slime,slush but sleep, slender.

TEST

1. Name as many approaches to the word definition as possible.

2. Enumerate types of a word.

3. Give examples of different motivations of words.

Lecture 3

Lexical Meaning and Semantic structure of English Words

Outline

1. Semantics and Semasiology

2. The lexical meaning versus notion

3. Denotative and connotative meaning

4. The semantic structure of polysemantic words

5. Contextual analysis

6. Componential analysis

SEMANTICS

¨The meaning of words and phrases

¨Study of Linguistic meaning

¨Study of relationship between the sign and the referent

WEBSTER’S UNABRIDGED DICTIONARY

¨ The study of linguistic development

Дата добавления: 2013-12-13