Lecture 3What is meaning?

Semantic fields• A semantic field4 is “the organization of related words and

expressions into a system which shows their relationship to one another.”

Semantic fields• Ex1. The semantic field of kinship terms: father, mother,

brother, sister, uncle, aunt, etc.

• Ex2. The semantic field of adjectives describing human emotional states: angry, sad, happy, depressed, afraid, etc.

• Ex3. The semantic field of drinking vessels: cup, mug, tumbler,

wine glass, beer glass, etc.

Ways of organising semantically similar items into semantic fields

• There are various ways according to which semantically similar items are related to one another:

(a) Items related by topics:• Types of fruit: apples, oranges, grapes, bananas, pears,

plums, etc.

• Pieces of furniture: seats, tables, beds, storage, etc.

Ways of organising semantically similar items into semantic fields

• Terms describing people whose weight is below normal: thin, bony, skinny, scrawny, underweight, emaciated, slender, slim, etc.

• Items which form pairs of antonyms: long/short, light/heavy, alive/dead, love/hate, approve/disapprove, approve/ disapprove, begin/end, inside/outside, upstairs/downstairs, etc.

Ways of organising semantically similar items into semantic fields

– Items which form pairs or trios of synonyms: smart/bright/intelligent, conserve/preserve/safeguard, fix/repair/mend, kind/sort/type/variety, happy/glad, etc.

– Items grouped as an activity or a process:

• Do the housework: clean the rooms, do the washing, iron the clothes, get the food, prepare a meal, wash up, etc.

Ways of organising semantically similar items into semantic fields

(g) Items classified according to 1. Sex:• Male: waiter, tiger, actor, host, landlord, sir, etc.• Female: waitress, tigress, actress, hostess, landlady, madam,

etc.

2. Age: grown-ups, adults, elderly people, middle-aged people, teenagers, children, infants, babies, etc.

Ways of organising semantically similar items into semantic fields

3. Age and sex:

• horse ⇒ stallion:[+male],[+fully grown]• dog ⇒ dog: [+male],[+fully grown]

• mare:[+female],[+fully grown]• bitch:[+female],[+fully grown]

• foal: [±male], [−fully grown]• puppy: [±male], [−fully grown]

Lexical gaps

• “The absence of a word in a particular place in a lexical field of a language” is called a lexical gap.

• For example, in English there is no singular noun that covers bull, cow and calf either as

horse covers stallion, mare and foal or as goat covers billy-goat, nanny-goat and kid.

Referent, reference and sense

• Distinction between referent, reference and sense1. A referent is an object or an entity in the real world or in the

world of your imagination,

• e.g. your school, your classmates, your teacher, anything you can see in the classroom right now, the idealistic working conditions you have ever dreamed of, etc. that is talked about.

Referent, reference and sense

• Several words, especially the so-called function words, have no obvious referents: the, could, in, since, and, etc.

Referent, reference and sense

2. The reference of a word or a linguistic expression is the relationship between that word or expression and the thing (book), the action (read), the event (graduate from university), the quality (sincerity), etc. it refers to.

• For example, the reference of Peter’s house is the relationship between this English noun phrase and the house that belongs to Peter.

Peter’s house the house that belongs to Peter

(in the Eng. language) REFERENCE (in the real world)

Referent, reference and sense

3. The sense of a word or a linguistic expression shows the internal relationship between that word or expression and others in the vocabulary of a language.

• Ex1. Teacher and student have the sense relationship of the former is the one who gives a lesson and the latter is the one who has the lesson given by the former.

• Ex2. A dog is chasing a cat has some sense. However, a dog is

human has no sense.

Referent, reference and sense

• 3. Ex3. The King of Vietnam is bald has some sense: its sense is constructed by its individual lexical components and its syntactic structure.

Referent, reference and sense

• 3. Ex3. The King of Vietnam is bald has some sense: its sense is constructed by its individual lexical components and its syntactic structure.

• However, this sentence has no reference: it does not refer to any real person because the King of Vietnam does not exist nowadays.

Distinction between variable reference, constant reference and co-reference

• When the same linguistic expression refers to different referents, it has variable reference, e.g.,

Distinction between variable reference, constant reference and co-reference

• When the same linguistic expression refers to different referents, it has variable reference.

• Ex1. There are as many potential referents for the phrase your left ear as there are people with a left ear in the world.

Distinction between variable reference, constant reference and co-reference

• When the same linguistic expression refers to different referents, it has variable reference.

• Ex1. There are as many potential referents for the phrase your left ear as there are people with a left ear in the world.

• Ex2. The referent of the phrase the present prime minister used in Britain in 1944 is Mr. Churchill and in 1982 is Mrs. Thatcher.

Distinction between variable reference, constant reference and co-reference

• When one linguistic expression refers to one and the same referent, it has constant reference, e.g.,

Distinction between variable reference, constant reference and co-reference

• When one linguistic expression refers to one and the same referent, it has constant reference, e.g.,

• the sun, the moon, Halley’s comet, the People’s Republic of China, Angola, the United Nations, FIFA, UNESCO, etc.

Distinction between variable reference, constant reference and co-reference

• When two or more linguistic expressions share the same referent, they have co-reference.

Distinction between variable reference, constant reference and co-reference

• When two or more linguistic expressions share the same referent, they have co-reference.

• Ex1. The morning star and the evening star both refer to the

planet called Venus.

Distinction between variable reference, constant reference and co-reference

• When two or more linguistic expressions share the same referent, they have co-reference.

• Ex1. The morning star and the evening star both refer to the planet called Venus.

• Ex2. In a conversation about Britain in 1982, the Prime

Minister and the leader of the Conservative Party share the same referent: Mrs Thatcher.

Distinction between variable reference, constant reference and co-reference

• When two or more linguistic expressions share the same referent, they have co-reference.

• Ex1. The morning star and the evening star both refer to the planet called Venus.

• Ex2. In a conversation about Britain in 1982, the Prime

Minister and the leader of the Conservative Party share the same referent: Mrs Thatcher.

• Ex3. If we are talking about a situation in which John is standing alone in the corner, John and the person in the corner share the same referent.

Distinction between variable reference, constant reference and co-reference

• When two or more linguistic expressions share the same referent, they have co-reference.

• Ex1. The morning star and the evening star both refer to the planet called Venus.

• Ex2. In a conversation about Britain in 1982, the Prime

Minister and the leader of the Conservative Party share the same referent: Mrs Thatcher.

• Ex3. If we are talking about a situation in which John is standing alone in the corner, John and the person in the corner share the same referent.

Exercise 6

• Exercise 6: What is identified by the word mean or meaning in the following examples, i.e. reference or sense? Write R for reference and S for sense.

• _____ 1. When Albert talks about “his former friend”, he means me.

• _____ 2. Daddy, what does logic mean? • _____ 3. Purchase has the same meaning as buy.

Exercise 6

• Exercise 6: What is identified by the word mean or meaning in the following examples, i.e. reference or sense? Write R for reference and S for sense.

• __R__ 1. When Albert talks about “his former friend”, he means me.

• _____ 2. Daddy, what does logic mean? • _____ 3. Purchase has the same meaning as buy.

Exercise 6

• Exercise 6: What is identified by the word mean or meaning in the following examples, i.e. reference or sense? Write R for reference and S for sense.

• __R__ 1. When Albert talks about “his former friend”, he means me.

• __S__ 2. Daddy, what does logic mean? • _____ 3. Purchase has the same meaning as buy.

Exercise 6

• Exercise 6: What is identified by the word mean or meaning in the following examples, i.e. reference or sense? Write R for reference and S for sense.

• __R__ 1. When Albert talks about “his former friend”, he means me.

• __S__ 2. Daddy, what does logic mean? • __S__ 3. Purchase has the same meaning as buy.

Thank you!