Title 4. SEMANTICS - LESSON 1. WORD MEANING & SENTENCE MEANING.docx ✅

A. LESSON 1: WORD MEANING & SENTENCE MEANING - Semantics: the study of MEANING in LANGUAGE. - Semantic theory is applicable to different languages. I – WORD MEANING: 1. Semantic features: the smallest units of meaning in a word (Nét nghĩa) - A word can be defined by listing its semantic features E.g.1. List the semantic features of the word “father”: [+human], [+male], [+mature], [+parental], [+paternal]. + If a word has a semantic feature, the symbol for that feature can be represented by [+…] + If a word doesn’t have a semantic feature, the symbol for that feature can be represented by [-…] 2. Characteristics of semantic features: - Firstly, some semantic features need not to be specifically mentioned → a redundancy rule E.g.2. If a word is [+human], it means that word is [+animate] - Secondly, some redundancy rules infer negative semantic features ([+], [-]) E.g.3. If a word is [+human], it means that word is [-inhuman] - Thirdly, different words may share the same semantic features E.g.4. “Doctor”, “engineer” share the same semantic features such as [+human], [+professional],.. - Fourthly, the same semantic feature can occur in words of different parts of speech E.g.5. “mother” (N) & “breast-feed” (V), “pregnant” (A) share the same semantic feature [+female] 3. The purpose of semantic features: - They define words E.g.6. “teacher”: [+human], [+professional], [+school], [+teach], [+student],… - They clarify how certain words relate to others E.g.7.
7.1. “darken”, “kill”, “beautify”: the verbs used to talk about the cause of sth 7.2. “hide”, “conceal” are synonyms - They decide the possible combination of the words E.g.8. Noam Chomsky’s famous classic example: Colorless green ideas sleep furiously - This sentence is grammatically and syntactically correct, but semantically incorrect: + “Colorless” ([-color]) & “green” ([+color]) + “Sleep” ([-conscious]) & “furiously” ([+conscious]) + “Ideas” ([+abstract]) & “sleep” ([+concrete]) → Semantically anomalous ⇒ Anomaly: semantic rules are broken Identify the semantic features of the following words: 1. Shrimp 2. Coconut 3. Bottle 4. Table Which ONE semantic feature do the following set of items share? a. bull, rooster, drake, ram, stallion b. boil, roast, stir-fry, braise, deep-fry c. coconut, pineapple, apple, dragonfruit d. dahlia, iris, daffodils, apricot blossom. e. idea, love, charity, sincerity, bravery, fear 4. Semantic field: (Trường từ vựng) - The organization of related words and expressions into a system which shows their relationship to one another (Richards et al., 1987) - A set of words with identifiable semantic affinities (Finegan, 1994) E.g.9. The semantic field of the feature “adjectives describing human emotional states”: angry, sad, happy, excited, afraid, worried, etc.
5. Denotation & connotation: - Denotation (denotative meaning): the core, central, referential meaning of the word found in a dictionary. - Connotation (connotative meaning): the additional meaning (emotions, attitudes, affective/evaluative associations, social/political class, culture, language users’ family, educational background,…) E.g.10. the word “child” - Denotative meaning: [+human], [+young], [+immature],… - Connotative meaning: + A positive case: [+affectionate], [+innocent],.. + A negative case: [+noisy], [+irritating],… 6. Literal meaning & Figurative meaning: (Nghĩa đen & Nghĩa liên tưởng) Literal meaning Figurative meaning The basic, usual meaning of a word The different meaning from its usual meaning, creat vivid mental images to readers & listeners E.g.11. the word “wing” Part of a building that projects from the main part E.g.12. the wings of a crow Extend activities and interests E.g.13. We hope college life will help him to spread his wings a bit II – SENTENCE MEANING & UTTERANCE MEANING: 1. Sentence meaning: a string of words that are put together, what a sentence means (aspects of meaning determined by the language system) 2. Utterance meaning: a piece of language used by a speaker on a particular occasion (aspect of meaning determined by the will of individual speakers, the circumstances, the particular occasion) E.g.14. A said to B: “Your clothes are becoming tighter.” - Sentence meaning: B’s clothes are so tight. - Utterance meaning: B is so fat (B is a very chubby person, he eats a lot, which proves his overweight)
⇒ Speakers can convey meaning quite vividly by using sentences. III – SENTENCES, UTTERANCES & PROPOSITIONS: 1. Utterances: any stretch of talk, by one person, before and after which there is silence on the part of that person; the use by a particular speaker on a particular occasion E.g.15. “Hello”, “Not much” are utterances (words are put between the quotation marks) 2. Sentences: a string of words put together by the grammatical rules of a language; the ideal realization; a grammatically complete string of words expressing a complete thought (partial) E.g.16. The men are happy (it cannot be a part of an utterance) - Any change in the words, or in the order, makes a different sentence E.g.17. The two following sentences are different: 17.1. Nam loves cats 17.2. Nam loves dogs 3. Propositions: that part of the meaning of the utterance of a declarative sentence which describes some state of affairs → A speaker who conveys a declarative sentence asserts a proposition. - The persons or things referred to the situation or action they are involved in. - Including a subject (S) and a word that adds some properties to the subject. + Who does that action? + What is that action? + The things or persons that are affected by that action? (roles in doing the action) + Where that action happen? + How is that action done? E.g.18. He ate some bananas - Who does that action? ⇒ He - What is the action? ⇒ ate - The things that are affected by the subject? ⇒ bananas