英语语言学概论第五章笔记

1、Chapter 5 Semantics 语义学1.What is semantics?什么是语义学?Semantics can be simply defined as the study of meaning in language.语义学可定义为对语言意义的研究。2.Some views concerning the study of meaning语义研究的几种主要理论1The naming theory 命名论It was proposed by the ancient Greek scholar Plato. According to this theory, the linguis

2、tic forms or symbols, in other words, the words used in a language are taken to be labels of the objects they stand for. So words are just names or labels for things.命名论是最原始的语义理论,是古希腊学者柏拉图提出的。该理论把词看作是该词所指事物的名称或标记。2The conceptualist view 意念论The conceptualist view holds that there is no direct link be

3、tween a linguistic form and what it refers to; rather, in the interpretation of meaning they are linked through the mediation of concepts in the mind.意念论认为,语言形式及其所代表的对象之间(即语言与现实世界之间没有直接联系;确切地说,在理解语义时,是通过大脑中存在意念这一中介物来联系的。3Contextualism 语境论Contextualism is based on the presumption that one can derive

4、meaning from or reduce meaning to observable contexts. Two kinds of context are recognized: the situational context and the linguistic context.语境论以这样的假设为基础:人们可以从显而易见的语境中推知或归纳出语义。语境有两种:情景语境和语言语境。语境论认为语言的意义离不开使用语言的语境,语义不是抽象的,它存在于语境之中,它来自语境,取决于语境。4Behaviorism 行为主义论Behaviorists attempted to define the m

5、eaning of a language form as the “situation in which the sp eaker utters it and the response it calls forth in the hearer.” This theory, somewhat close to contextualism, is linked with psychological interest.语义的行为主义论和语义的语境论有相似之处,它也把语义放到语境中去研究,但它更注重人的心理活动,认为语言的意义存在于语言使用者在交际过程中对听到话语的反应。3.Sense and ref

6、erence 意义和所指They are two related but different aspects of meaning.它们是词汇意义的既相互联系又有所不同的两个方面。1Sense is concerned with the inherent meaning of the linguistic form. It is the collection of allthe features of the linguistic form; it is abstract and de-contextualized. It is the aspect of meaning dictionary

7、 compliers are interested in.意义关心的是语言形式的内在意义。它是语言形式所有特征的总和,它是抽象且脱离语境的。它是词典编写者们所感兴趣的语义方面。简单地说,意义是词汇内在的,抽象的,游离于语境之外的意义。2Reference means what a linguistic form refers to in the real, physical world; it deals with therelationship between the linguistic element and non-linguistic world of experience.所指是语

8、言形式在现实世界中所指称的东西;涉及语言成分和非语言的经验世界的关系。简单地说,所指是词汇在特定的语境中所指称的具体事物。4.Major sense relations 主要意义关系1Synonymy 同义关系Synonymy refers to the sameness or close similarity of meaning. Words that are close in meaning are called synonyms.同义现象指的是语义的相同或相近。词义相近的词叫同义词。According to the way they differ, synonyms can be di

9、vided into the following groups:aDialectal synonyms synonyms used in different regional dialects.British English and American English are the two major geographical varieties of the English language.方言同义词-用在不同地域方言中的同义词。英国英语和美国英语是英语的两大地理变体。示例:英国英语美国英语Autumn fallLift elevatorFlat departmentWindscreen

10、windshieldTorch flashlightbStylistic synonyms synonyms differing in style.Words having the same meaning may differ in style, or degree of formality. In other words, some words tend to be more formal, others casual, and still others neutral in style.文体同义词-在文体上有差异的同义词。有同样意义的词可能在文体上,或者在正式程度上有所不同。也就是说,有

11、些往往比较正式,有些比较随意,有些在问题上则是中性的。示例:Old man, daddy, dad, father, male parentStart, begin, commenceKid, child, offspringcSynonyms that differ in their emotive or evaluative meaningThere are words that bear the same meaning but express different emotions of the user, indicating the attitude or bias of the u

12、ser toward what he is talking about.情感意义或评价意义有所不同的同义词。有着相同的意义却表达了使用者的不同情感的词语,这些词暗示使用者对他所谈论的事情的态度或倾向。示例:Collaborator 合作者/ Accomplice 同谋者,帮凶Like, love, admire, adore, worshipEconomical, frugal, thrifty, mean, miserly, stingydCollocational synonyms synonyms differing in their collocation.Some synonyms

13、differ in their collocation, i.e., in the words they go together with. This is a matter of usage.搭配同义词-同义词在其搭配上各不相同,即能和这些不同的同义词相配的词各不相同。示例:Accuseof chargewith rebukeforeSemantically different synonyms synonyms that differ slightly in what they mean.语义上不同的同义词-同义词的意义非常接近,但却有细微差别。示例:Amaze 暗示困惑和迷惑astoun

14、d 暗示难以置信Escape 意味逃离不愉快或者危险的事flee 意味匆匆离开2Polysemy 多义关系The same one word may have more than one meaning. This is what we call polysemy, and such a word is called a polysemic word. The fact is the more commonly used a word is, the more likely it has acquired more than one meaning.同一个单词可能有一个以上的意义,这就是我们所

15、说的一词多义,这样的词叫多义词。一个词越常用,它就越可能获得一个以上的意义。示例:Table 一词最初只有一个意义,很可能指一块石板或木板,这叫做其原始意义。后来它逐渐获得了它现在所指称的其它意义。3Homonymy 同音/同形异义关系Homonymy refers to the phenomenon that word having different meaning have the same form, i.e., different words are identical in sound or spelling, or in both.When two words are ident

16、ical in sound, they are homophones.When two words are identical in spelling, they are homographs.When two words are identical in both sound and spelling, they are complete homonyms.同形异义是指意义不同的词有着相同的语言形式的现象,即不同的词发音上或拼写上,或者两个方面都相同。两个单词在发音上相同时,叫同音异义词。两个单词在拼写上相同时,叫同形异义词。两个单词在发音和拼写上都相同时,叫完全同形异义词。示例:同音异义词

17、:rain/ reign; night/ knight; piece/ peace同形异义词:bow v./ bow n.; tear v./ tear n.; lead v./ lead n.完全同形异义词:fast adj./ fast v.; scale n./ scale v.4Hyponymy 上下义关系Hyponymy refers to the sense relation between a more general more inclusive word and a more specific word. The word which is more general in m

18、eaning is called the super-ordinate, and the more specific words are called its hyponyms. Hyponyms of the same super-ordinate are co-hyponyms to each other.上下义关系是指一个具有一般性、包容性的词与一个更为具体的词之间的意义关系。意义更具有一般性的词叫上义词,意义更为具体的词叫下义词。同一个上义词的多个下义词叫并列下义词。示例:上义词:flower下义词:rose(玫瑰花, tulip(郁金香, carnation(康乃馨, lily(百合

19、花, morning glory (牵牛花上义词:animal下义词:dog, cat, tiger, lion, wolf, elephant, fax, bear5Antonymy 反义关系The term antonymy is used for oppositeness of meaning, words that are opposite in meaning are antonyms.反义关系用以指意义的相反。意义上相反的词叫反义词。aGradable antonyms 分级反义词Some antonyms are gradable because there are often

20、intermediate forms between the two members of a pair. So it is a matter of degree.一些反义词是级别上的对立,因为一对这样的反义词中间常有其它表示程度的词。意义相反实际上只是程度问题。示例:Old 和young 是反义词,但它们代表两个极端,中间还存在着代表年老和年轻的不同程度的其它语言形式,如middle-aged, mature, elderly.bComplementary antonyms 互补反义词A pair of complementary antonyms is characterized by t

21、he feature that the denial of one member of the pair implies the assertion of the other.互补反义词具有这样的特征,否定其中一个就意味着肯定另一个。也就是说,是一个非此即彼、非彼即此的问题。示例:Male/ female alive/deadcRelational opposites 关系反义词Pairs of words that exhibit the reversal of a relationship between the two items are called relational opposi

22、tes.在意义上现实出逆向关系的一对词语叫关系反义词。示例:Wife/ husband father/ son teacher/ pupil doctor/ patient buy/ sell above/ below5.Sense relations between sentences句子间的意义关系1X is synonymous with Y.X和Y 是同义关系示例:X: He is a bachelor all his life.Y: He never married all his life.如果X是真的,Y也是真的,如果X是假的,Y也是假的。2X is inconsistent w

23、ith Y.X和Y是前后矛盾关系示例:X: John is married.Y: John is a bachelor.如果X是真的,Y就是假的,如果X是假的,Y就是真的。3X entails Y (Y is an entailment of XX蕴涵Y (Y是X的蕴涵示例:X: John married a blond heiress (女继承人.Y: John married a blond.蕴涵是一种包含关系。如果X蕴涵Y,X的意义就为Y所包含。4X presupposes Y. (Y is a prerequisite of XX预示Y (Y是X的先决条件示例:X: Jo hns bi

24、ke needs repairing.Y: John has a bike.5X is a contradiction.X是个矛盾句示例:X: My unmarried sister is married to bachelor.X句子本身自相矛盾,它永远是假的。6X is semantically anomalous.句子X在语义上反常示例:X: The table has bad intentions.X 在语义上反常,它就是荒唐的。6.Analysis of meaning1Componential analysis a way to analyze lexical meaning语义成

25、分分析法-一种词义分析法The approach is based upon the belief that the meaning of a word can be dissected into meaning components, called semantic features. Plus and minus signs are used to indicate whether a certain semantic feature is present or absent in the meaning of a word, and these feature symbols are u

26、sually written in capitalized letters.一个单词的意义可以分析为被称作语义特征的意义成分。用加减号来表示某一语义特征在一个词义中是存在还是省缺,这些特征符号通常用大写字母来表示。One advantage of componential analysis is that by specifying the semantic features of certain words, it will be possible to show how these words are related in meaning.成分分析的一个好处是,通过列出某些单词的语义特征,

27、就可能显示这些单词在意义上有什么联系。示例:Man 和woman 这两个单词有+HUMAN, + ADULT, + ANIMATE这些共同的特征,但在MALE这一特征上不同。Man 和boy这两个单词有+HUMAN, +ANIMATE, +MALE这些共同的特征,但在ADULT 这一特征上不同。2Predication analysis a way to analyze sentence meaning述谓结构分析-一种句义分析法Linguists have proposed different ways to analyze the meaning of sentences. They mi

28、ght differ in their framework of analysis, but they share the aim to abstract the meaning of sentences. What we are going to introduce briefly is the predication analysis proposed by the linguist G Leech.语言学家们提出了不同的分析句子意义的方法。他们的分析基准体系可能有所不同,但他们的目标都是使句子意义抽象化。我们现在要介绍的是英国语言学家G里奇提出的述谓结构分析法。 In grammatic

29、al analysis, the sentence is taken to be the basic unit, and it is analyzed into such grammatical components as subject, predicate, and attribute. 对句子进行语法分析时， 句子被视为基本单位， 它被分析谓诸如主谓语和定语这样的语法成 分。 In semantic analysis of a sentence, the basic unit is called predication, which is the abstraction of the meaning of a sentence. This applies to all forms of sentence, including statements, imperative and interrogative forms. 对句子进行意义分析时，基本单位称为述谓，这是对句子意义的抽象化。这一方法适用于所 有句式，包