Lexis, Morphology & Semantics for English Language Teaching The meaning systems of English words 2: Word & Meaning

Lexis, Morphology & Semantics for English Language Teaching

The meaning systems of English words 2:

Word & Meaning

The meaning systems of English words 2

• What is a word?– phonological, orthographic, lexical, grammatical– content vs function; open-class vs closed-class– word “freedom” tests: mobility, interruptibility

• What is in a word?– word-parts– meanings / senses

• What is meaning?– meaning as naming vs sense-making– meaning as use in contexts

• normality profiles• types of abnormality• corrigibility: semantic vs grammatical


A word asa unit of meaningful sound

i. a unit of sound ii. meaningfuliii. with a beginning & an end

Who decides? By what standards?

“phonological word”



i. a unit of sound ii. meaningfuliii. with a beginning & an end

descriptiv-ism (vs prescriptiv-ism)

“phonological word”



Some phonological clues– main stress on one syllable

e.g. 'garden; en'joy

– phonotactic requirementse.g. “know” is pronounced “no” with the “k” and the “w” remaining silent;

no English word beginning with the sound “ng”

The writing system as the source of the “problems”?


Awordasameaningfulstringofletters

i. astringofletters ii. meaningfuliii. withabeginning&anend

descriptiv-ism (vs prescriptiv-ism)

“orthographicword”


A word asa meaningful string of letters

Some orthographic clues– spacing– other punctuations

e.g. hyphen: e-mail / emailcapitalising: e/English, c/Cantonesefull-stop, comma, etc


A word asa minimal free unit of meaning

i. a unit of meaning ii. a free-standing unitiii. a minimal unit

e.g. gardens; enjoyed

(in language-use contexts: ) inflected / grammatical forms of a

“lexical word”




e.g. gardener, enjoyment, rose garden, bear market

words derived from or

formed with

one or more “lexical words”


rose garden: a garden of roses

(attributive) This is a rose gardenrose garden.(predicative) A rose garden is a garden of rosesis a garden of roses.

rose garden: something ideal / perfecte.g. build a Rose Garden waste management facility for Hong Kong



(attributive) The Rose Garden facilityRose Garden facility …(attributive) The waste management facilitywaste management facility …(attributive) The Hong Kong facilityHong Kong facility …

(attributive) ??The Rose facility …(attributive) ??The Garden facility …



(attributive) The Rose Garden facilityRose Garden facility …(attributive) The waste management facilitywaste management facility …(attributive) The Hong Kong facilityHong Kong facility …

(attributive) ??The Rose facility …(attributive) ??The Garden facility …

(predicative) The facility is a facility of Hong Kongis a facility of Hong Kong.(predicative) The facility is a facility of waste is a facility of waste

managementmanagement.

(predicative) ??The facility is a facility of / for gardens.(predicative) ??The facility is a facility of / for roses.




rose garden

one “lexical word” (lexeme)


bear market: a falling stock market

bear market: a market to sell bears(as in fish market, handicrafts market )

bear market: a market for bears to shop in(as in ??? )

flea market: ???



i. a unit of ?meaning? (?function?)ii. a ?free-standing? unit (?not-so-

free?)iii. a minimal unit

e.g. the; of; for; but

“grammatical word”


What is a word?

Common senses of the word “word”• phonological word• orthographic word

Specialist senses of the word “word”• lexical word “content word”

– derivations & other new words– (grammatical) word-forms

• grammatical word “function word”


What is “in” a word?

• word-part(s):– a root with / without one or more affixes

(a free morpheme with / withoutone or more bound morphemes)

– free morphemes (e.g. in compound words)

• meaning(s) / sense(s):– lexical meaning(s) / sense(s)– grammatical (morphosyntactic)

meaning(s) / function(s)

dictionarycompilation

(vocabularyvocabulary)

lexicography etymology


Lexicology(the mental lexiconthe mental lexicon)

morphologymorphology lexicallexicalsemanticssemantics

wordstructure

wordmeaning


morphology semantics etymology

responsibleresponsi-ble

response-able respons-ive-able

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=responsible1599, "answerable (to another, for something)," from Fr. responsible, from L. responsus, pp. of respondere "to respond" (see respond). Meaning "morally accountable for one's actions" is attested from 1836. Retains the sense of "obligation" in the Latin root word. Responsibility is from 1787.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=respond


How free is this word?

• The mobility teste.g. The cat sat on the mat.

Sat on the mat the cat.The mat the cat sat on.On the mat the cat sat.

• The interruptibility test

e.g. The cat sat on the matThe big cat sat happily on the

small matThe big cat happily sat on the

small mat


Multi-word lexeme:raining cats & dogs

It is raining cats & dogs.Raining cats & dogs it is.

??It is raining dogs & cats.??Cats & dogs, it is raining.??It is raining many cats & few dogs.


Multi-word lexeme:chasing the dragon

Chasing the dragon is unhealthy.Unhealthy chasing the dragon is.

?? The dragon is unhealthy chasing.?? Chasing closely the flying dragon is

unhealthy.


Multi-word lexeme: kick the bucket

Wong Chim kicked the bucket yesterday.

?? He kicked the plastic bucket last week.?? The cockroach kicked the bucket.?? The couple had a car accident yesterday,

and kicked two buckets.


Multi-word lexeme: kick the bucket

Wong Chim kicked the bucket yesterday.

?? He kicked the plastic bucket last week.?? The cockroach kicked the bucket.?? The couple had a car accident yesterday,

and kicked two buckets.

lai chai (“pull firewood”)?? lai 2 chai


Eat, drink & be merry!

The “default” idiomatic meaning:[ jin zhao you jiao jin tian zui

today there-is wine today get-drunk ]e.g. He has an “eat, drink & be merry” attitude to life.

??Drink & be merry, eat!??Be merry, drink & eat!

??Eat a turkey, drink two bottles of champagne, &be merry for three hours.

??She ate like a pig, drank like a fish, & was as merry as a cricket.

??He is an eater, drinker & merry-maker.


(The “multi-word” lexeme)“Eat, drink & be merry!” (Tomorrow you may

die!)

- (arguably) used as an interjectionother examples: Oh! Wow!

- as an interjection: • a part of speech• not inflectional• tense-less

Non-idiomatic use & meaning:Eat, drink & be merry. Tomorrow you may diet.


What is meaning?

• the word “mean-ing” as a noun derived from the verb “mean”

e.g. I mean well, I mean no harm. (intention)

The alarm means danger.(conventional sign)

Smoke means fire.(natural sign)


What is meaning?

• meaning as referential– meaning as the thing referred to

– meaning as the concept expressed

“money” word conceptexpression expressed

thing referred to (referent)


What is meaning?

• meaning as referential– meaning as referent (the thing)

– meaning as reference (the concept)

symbol reference

(imputed)

referent


What is meaning?

• meaning as referential– meaning as naming (a thing in real life)– meaning as sensing (a thing in “real” life)

word sense(dragon) (idea of dragon)

(imputed) thing in real life (?dragon in real life?)


What is meaning?

• meaning as referential– meaning as naming (a thing in real life)– meaning as sensing (a thing in “real” life)


SENSE RELATIONS

(non-referential)(imputed)

thing in real life(?dragon in real life?)


What is meaning?

• meaning as referential– meaning as naming (a thing in real life)

– meaning as sensing (a thing in real life)


cognitive construal

(imputed) (semi-referential) thing in real life (?dragon in real life?)


What is meaning?

• meaning as– language use in context– contextual relations / normality profiles

e.g. A dog barks / bites

A cat mews / bites

? A dog sings

? A cat smiles


Some dimensions of meaning

QualityThis is a rather light package. It’s not heavy at all

?? This package weighs considerably. It’s not heavy at all.

This is an MA course. And it’s for primary school teachers.

?? This is an MA course. But it is for primary school teachers.



QualityThis is a rather light package. It’s not heavy at all.

???? This package weighs considerably. It’s not heavy at all.

This is an MA programme. And it’s for primary school teachers.

???? This is an MA programme. But it is for primary school teachers.

?? This is a programme for primary school teachers. But it is an MA programme.



IntensityIt isn’t just raining. It is pouring.

?? It isn’t just pouring. It is raining.

She didn’t just hurt him. She destroyed him.?? She didn’t just destroy him. She hurt him.

The lecture is too fast. It’s hard to understand.?? The lecture is too fast. It’s easy to understand.

The lecture is too slow. It’s hard to understand.?? The lecture is too slow. It’s easy to understand.


Meaning as (ab-)normality profiles

??This is a turtle, but it can swim.??This is a turtle, but it has a shell.

??This is a mouse, and it eats elephants.??This is a mouse, but it has a long tail.

??This is a cat, but it meows.??This is a cat, but it sleeps.


Some types of abnormalityin contexts of use

A sense of redunancy:??My dad is a man.

??She’s her students’ teacher.

??He fell down the stairs accidentally.

??The mother breast-fed her baby with milk.

??He drove the car to make it move.

??Draw pictures only.


Some types of abnormalityin contexts of use

A sense of semantic clash:??She’s a single wife.

??He’s a married bachelor.

??They are childless parents.

??She works busily in her leisure time.

??This water is boiling cold.

??These difficult concepts are easy to understand.


Corrigibility: semantic vs grammatical

??The colourless green idea is sleeping furiously.The beautiful green turtle is sleeping peacefully.The colourless gas is turning green alarmingly.

??She goes back to her office every morning at 9 am.She goes back home every evening at 7 pm.She goes in her office every morning at 9 am.

??She played him happily.She played with him happily.

??Two more minutes, and he will complete.Two more minutes, and he will complete it.Two more minutes, and he will finish.Two more minutes, and he’s done.


• What is a word?– phonological, orthographic, lexical, grammatical– content vs function; open-class vs closed-class– word “freedom” tests: mobility, interruptibility

• What is in a word?– word-parts– meanings / senses

• What is meaning?– meaning as naming vs sense-making– meaning as use in contexts

• normality profiles• types of abnormality• corrigibility: semantic vs grammatical

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Lexis, Morphology & Semantics for English Language Teaching The meaning systems of English words 2: Word & Meaning