语义学初探.

1、语义学初探------从传统语言学的角度看本次课的主要内容介绍几种传统的语义观词汇意义句子意义传统语义学有关词汇分析的方法1.Whatissemantics?SimplydefinedasthestudyofmeaningNoagreementamonglinguistsPhilosophers,psychologists,andsociologistsallclaimadeepinterestphilosophersareinterestedinunderstandingtherelationsbetweenlinguisticexpressionsandwhattheyrefertointherealworld,andinevaluatingthetruthvalueoflinguisticexpressions;psychologistsfocustheirinterestonunderstandingtheworkingsofthehumanmindthroughlanguage.2.Someviewsconcerningthestudyofmeaning2.。

2、1thenamingtheory(命名论)thewords(orlinguisticforms,symbols)usedinalanguagearesimplylabelsoftheobjectstheystandfor,therefore,wordsarejustnamesorlabelsforthings.Limitations:a.applicabletonounsonly;b.withinthecategoryofnouns,therearenounswhichdenotethingsthatdonotexistintherealworldatallsuchasghost,dragon,andalsonounsthatdonotrefertophysicalobjects,butabstractnotionssuchasjoy,impulseetc.c.explanationofconceptDESK.2.2theconceptualistviewTHOUGHT/REFERENCE(concept)…………………………………………………………………..SYMBOL/FORM。

3、(word)REFERENT(thing)thereisnodirectlinkbetweenalinguisticformandwhatitrefersto(i.e.,betweenlanguageandtherealworld);rather,intheinterpretationofmeaningtheyarelinkedthroughthemediationofconceptsinthemind.Limitationthistheoryavoidsmanyoftheproblemsthenamingtheoryhasencountered,butitalsoraisesacompletelynewproblemofitsown.Forwhatispreciselythelinkbetweenthesymbolandtheconceptremainsunclarified.2.3contextualismBackground:Duringtheperiodroughlyfrom1930to1960,linguistsgavepreeminencetotheempiricalo。

4、robservableaspectinsteadofthetheoreticalaspectintheirscientificinvestigationofmeaning.Thistendencymanifesteditselfinanattempttobasemeaningoncontext.Ithasattractedthoselinguistswhohavebeenworkingtowardtheidealofscientificobjectivity.Theyholdthatmeaningshouldbestudiedintermsofsituation,use,context–elementscloselylinkedwithlanguagebehavior.Thecontextualistviewofmeaningisbasedonthepresumptionthatonecanderivemeaningfromorreducemeaningtoobservablecontexts.Twokindsofcontextarerecognized:thesituationalc。

5、ontextandthelinguisticcontext.Everyutteranceoccursinaparticularspatiotemporalsituation,themaincomponentsofwhichinclude,apartfromtheplaceandtimeoftheutterance,thespeakerandthehearer,theactionstheyareperformingatthetime,thevariousobjectsandeventsexistentinthesituation.Thelinguisticcontext,sometimesknownascontext,isconcernedwiththeprobabilityofaword’sco-occurrenceorcollocationwithanotherword,whichformspartofthe“meaning”oftheword,andalsowiththepartoftextthatprecedesandfollowsaparticularutterance.For。

6、example,themeaningoftheword“black”differsinthetwocollocationsof“blackhair”and“blackcoffee”.Andthemeaningoftheword“seal”inthesentence“Thesealcouldnotbefound”cannotbedeterminedunlessthecontextinwhichthesentenceoccursisrestored.2.4behaviorism(行为主义)20世纪初心理学领域开始转向用客观主义的方法来研究人和动物对刺激作出可观察到的反应或行为，反对讨论意识问题，提出“刺激——反应”模式，并认为意义就是言语活动所引发的行为。主要代表有Watson、Skinner等，Bloomfiled率先将其引入语言学中。a.strengthencontextualistviewb.drawonbehavioristpsychologywhentryingtodefinethemeaningoflinguisticforms.c.behavioristsattempted。

7、todefinethemeaningoflanguageformasthe“situationinwhichthespeakeruttersitandtheresponseitcallsforthinthehearer.”Thistheory,somewhatclosetocontextualism,islinkedwithpsychologicalinterest.Bloomfield’sstoryaboutJackandJill:JillJackS__________r……s__________RWhenJillseesanappleandwantstohaveit,shehasaphysicalstimulus,(representedbythecapitalletterS),whichgiverisetoaverbalresponse(r)toJill.Forinstance,shemightsaytoJack“I’mthirsty”.Whatshesaysresultsinaverbalstimulustojack(representedbythesmallletters)。

8、.Thisstimulus,initsturn,leadstoanon-verbalresponsefromJack,suchaspickingtheappleforher.Bloomfieldarguedthatmeaningconsistsintherelationbetweenspeechindicatedbythesmalllettersr……sandthepracticaleventsrepresentedbythecapitalizedlettersSandRthatprecedeandfollowthemrepectively.3.Lexicalmeaning3.1senseandreferencesenseisconcernedwiththeinherentmeaningofthelinguisticform:a.itisthecollectionofallthefeaturesofthelinguisticform;b.itisabstractanddecontextualized;c.itistheaspectofmeaningdictionarycompiler。

9、sareinterestedin.Forexample,theword“dog”isgiventhedefinition“adomesticatedcaninemammal,occurringinmanybreedsthatshowagreatvarietyinsizeandform”.Thisdoesnotrefertoanyparticulardogthatexistsintherealworld,butappliestoanyanimalthatmeetsthefeaturesdescribedinthedefinition.Sothisisthesenseoftheword“dog”.referencemeanswhatalinguisticformreferstointhereal,physicalworld;itdealswiththerelationshipbetweenthelinguisticelementandthenon-linguisticworldofexperience.Ifwesay“thedogisbarking”,wemustbetalkingabou。

10、tacertaindogexistentinthesituation;theword“dog”referstoadogknowntoboththespeakerandthehearer.Thisisthereferenceoftheword“dog”inthisparticularsituation.3.2majorsenserelations3.2.1synonymyItreferstothesamenessorclosesimilarityofmeaning.Wordsthatarecloseinmeaningarecalledsynonyms.Englishisrichinsynonymsforhistoricalreasons.nativewordsborrowed(loan)wordsNote:completesynonymsarerare.a.Dialectalsynonyms–synonymsusedindifferentregionaldialectsBritishEnglishAmericanEnglishautumnfallliftelevatorluggageba。