英语专业本科词汇学教师ppt课件cha.ppt

1、Word Meaning and Semantic Features,Conventionality and Motivation,Relationship between sound-symbol and its sense: Arbitrariness Conventionality,Motivation: Definition: the connection between word-symbol and its sense. Three major types of motivation: Phonetic motivation: Words motivated phoneticall

2、y are called echoic words or onomatopoeic words, whose pronunciation suggests the meaning. pingpong, bang, buzz, hiss, bleat, jingle Morphological motivation: A word is morphologically motivated when a direct connection can be observed between the morphemic structure of the word and its meaning. han

3、dbag, international Semantic motivation: Semantic motivation refers to the mental associations suggested by the conceptual meaning of a word. It explains the connection between the literal sense and figurative sense of the word. the foot of the mountain the leg of a table,Main Types of Word Meaning,

4、Grammatical meaning: Grammatical meaning refers to that part of the meaning of the word which indicates grammatical concept or relationships such as part of speech of words, singular and plural meaning of nouns, tense meaning of verbs and their inflectional forms. Lexical meaning: Lexical meaning is

5、 related to the notion that the word conveys. Lexical meaning vs. grammatical meaning: The lexical meaning of a word is the same in all the forms of one and the same word while the grammatical meaning varies from one word-form to another. forget, forgets, forgot, forgotten, forgetting Every word has

6、 a different lexical meaning, whereas the grammatical meaning is the same in identical sets of individual forms of different words. tables, men, potatoes,Types of lexical meaning: Denotative meaning (conceptual meaning): The denotative meaning of a word is its definition given in a dictionary. mothe

7、r white Connotative meaning: Connotative meaning refers to the emotional association which a word or a phrase suggests in ones mind; it is the supplementary value which is added to the purely denotative meaning of a word. mother white,Social meaning (stylistic meaning): Social meaning is that which

8、a piece of language conveys about the social circumstances of its use. chamber/room, respond/answer Collocative meaning: the association a word acquires in its collocation. pretty, handsome (girl, boy, woman, man, flower, overcoat, car, garden, color, airline, typewriter, village) a piece of, a chun

9、k of, a cake of, a bar of, a slice of (meat, paper, chocolate, soap, wood) tremble, quiver (with excitement, with fear),Affective meaning: Affective meaning is concerned with the expression of feelings and attitudes of the speaker or writer. slim/skinny, famous/notorious Two kinds of words in terms

10、of affective meaning: Purr words: Purr words express the speakers approval of the person or thing he is talking about. Snarlwords: Snarlwords show disapproval or contempt on the part of the speaker. Affective meaning and context: He is bright and ambitious. One who is filled with ambition usually wo

11、rks hard. Knowledge of inequality has stimulated envy, ambition and greed. The reactionarys chief ambition is to become the emperor.,Componential analysis and semantic features,Semantic features: minimal components of the sense of a word. man: adult, male, human being woman: adult, female, human bei

12、ng,man: +Human + Adult + Male woman: +Human + Adult Male child: +Human + Adult bull: +Bovine + Adult + Male cow: +Bovine + Adult Male calf: +Bovine + Adult ram: +Ovine + Adult + Male ewe: +Ovine + Adult Male lamb: +Ovine + Adult boar: +Porcine + Adult + Male sow: +Porcine + Adult Male piglet: +Porci

13、ne + Adult,Advantages and disadvantages of componential analysis: Advantages: Componential analysis enables us to have an exact knowledge of the conceptual meaning of words. It has proved its usefulness in characterizing meaning relations such as synonymy, antonymy, and polysemy. Synonymy: mother: +

14、Human + Adult + Female + Married female parent: +Human + Adult + Female + Married Antonymy: mother: +Human + Adult + Female + Married father: +Human + Adult + Male/ Female + Married Polysemy: man: +Human + Adult + Male man: +Human A knowledge of the semantic features of words helps us to choose the

15、right word or collocation. *The Olympic Games was born one hundred years. *Let us catch time together to study.,Disadvantages: We cannot find a set of features that capture what is common in meaning across lexical items. The analysis of word meaning into its sense components is not enough. man: +Human + Adult + Male Be a man. Although a kno