Chapter V

Semantics - Meaning
1. What is meaning?
• Possessing a meaning enables the word’s function as a unit of
communication.

 Meaning is the most important characteristics.

1. What is meaning?
• A component of the word through which a concept is communicated.

Traditionally: (Concept)
Thought or Reference

(Word) Symbol Referent

1. What is meaning?
(Concept)
Thought or Reference

(Word) Symbol Referent

No immediate relation between word and referent.

1. What is meaning?
• Concepts can only find their realization through words.

to hear/read a word
Thought Concept
1. What is meaning?
Semantics

The expressive aspect of language The meaning of one particular

in general word in all its varied aspects and
nuances

Semantics is a branch of linguistics

which specializes in the study of meaning
1. What is meaning?
“Semantics is the language’s avowed purpose.”

Mario Pei, The Study of Language

Semantics is a branch of linguistics which specializes in the study of

meaning
1. What is meaning?

The meaning of all the utterances of a speech community

The total experience of that community

1. What is meaning?
• Modern approach’s assumption:

The inner form of the word

Semantics structure
2. Polysemy. Semantic structure of the Word
• Semantic structure:
• Does not present an indissoluble unity.
• Does not necessarily stand for one concept
 Semantic structure of a word is a structured set of interrelated lexical
variants with different meanings.

• Most words coney several concepts.

 Polysemantic: a word with several meanings.
2. Polysemy. Semantic structure of the Word

1. Is polysemy an anomaly or a general rule in English

vocabulary?

2. Is polysemy an advantage or a disadvantage so far as

the process of communication is concerned?
2. Polysemy. Semantic structure of the Word
• Most English words are polysemantic.
• The wealth of expressive resources of a language largely depends on
the degree to which polysemy has developed in the language

• If: each word can coney two notions instead of one

 The expressive potential of the whole vocabulary increases twofold.
2. Polysemy. Semantic structure of the Word
• The number of sound combinations that human speech organs can
produce is limited.
Enriching the vocabulary

Adding new words
Constant development of polysemy

Polysemy and semantic structure exist only in language, not in speech.

2. Polysemy. Semantic structure of the Word
• Polysemy is inherent in the very nature of words and notions, as they
always contain a generalization of several traits of the object
• Polysemy and semantic structure exist only in language, not in
speech.
• It is very important to distinguish between the lexical meaning of a
word in speech and its semantic structure in language. The meaning
in speech is contextual
• Polysemy does not interfere with the communication function of the
language because in every particular case the situation and context,
i.e. the environment of the word, cancel all the unnecessary
meanings and make speech unambiguous.
2. Polysemy. Semantic structure of the Word

or
?

• Polysemy develops gradually

• More and more new meanings are either added to old ones.
• General tendency with English vocabulary at modern stage:
• Increase the total number of its meanings.
2. Polysemy. Semantic structure of the Word
Two levels of semantic structure’s analysis:
1. The semantic structure = A system of meanings.
2. Polysemy. Semantic structure of the Word
• Meaning II of Bar, n:

traditional
barrier
2. Polysemy. Semantic structure of the Word

 The implication of deficiency.

2. Polysemy. Semantic structure of the Word

 The centre holding together the complex semantic structure of this

word is not one meaning but a certain component that can be easily
singled out within each separate meaning.
2. Polysemy. Semantic structure of the Word
Two levels of semantic structure’s analysis:
2. The semantic structure of the word is “divisible”.

• Componential analysis:
• “a set of elements of meaning which are not part of the vocabulary of the
language itself” = a word’s meaning
2. Polysemy. Semantic structure of the Word

Of different meanings

semantic structure
analysis
Of semantic
component within
each separate meaning
3. Types of Semantic Components
• The leading semantic component?
3. Types of Semantic Components
• Denotative component: (denotation) expresses the conceptual
(notional) content of the word (also referential or extensional
component)
3. Types of Semantic Components
• Connotative component?
3. Types of Semantic Components
• Connotative component (connotation):
• The meaning of many words is subject to complex associations originating in
habitual contexts, verbal or situational,
• of which the speaker and the listener are aware,
• and which form the connotative component of meaning.
• In some words the realization of meaning is accompanied by additional
stylistic characteristics revealing
• the speaker’s attitude to the situation,
• the subject-matter,
• and to his interlocutor.
4. Meaning and Context
• Context is a powerful preventative against any misunderstanding of
meanings.
• Minimum context
• Second-degree context

• Current object of investigation:

The linear relationships between words in typical contexts.
4. Meaning and Context
• Singling out the different denotations within the semantic structure
of the word.
 Distinguishing between the different meanings and the different
usages of the word.
5. Semantic changes
• The older a word is, the better developed is its semantic structure.

Increasingly
more complex
Simple semantic
semantic structure
Monosemy structure
5. Semantic changes
5.2. Causes of Development of New Meanings
a. Historical or Extra-linguistic factors:
• Two ways for providing new names for newly created notions:
• Making new words.
• Borrowing foreign ones.
• …?
Applying some old word to a new object or notion.
5. Semantic changes
5.2. Causes of Development of New Meanings
a. Historical or Extra-linguistic factors:
• Well-established words can be used to denote newly-created objects
and phenomena.
5. Semantic changes
5.2. Causes of Development of New Meanings
b. Linguistic factors:
The development of new meanings
The influence of other words
(mostly of synonym)
A complete change of meaning
5. Semantic changes
5.2. Causes of Development of New Meanings
b. Linguistic factors:

Game?
5. Semantic changes
5.3. The Process of Development and Change of Meaning
• Stalls:
• “compartments in stables or sheds for the accommodation of animals”

 Transference: the development of a new meaning

5. Semantic changes
5.3. The Process of Development and Change of Meaning
• “Transference of meaning”?
Concept
Concept

Word Referent 1
Word Referent 2
5. Semantic changes
5.3. The Process of Development and Change of Meaning
• 2 types of transference:
• Metaphor
• Metonymy
 Distinguishable depending on the two types of logical associations
underlying the semantic process.
5. Semantic changes
5.4. Metaphor
• Specialization?
• Generalization?
5. Semantic changes
5.4. Metaphor
• Association of similarity or of contiguity
 The transfer of the name of one object to another and different one.
5. Semantic changes
5.4. Metaphor
• Metaphor’s definition:
• A transfer of the name based on the association of similarity
• A hidden comparison
• A method of description which likens one thing to another by referring to it as
if it were some other one
• e.g.: a fox – a cunning person

• If the transference of the name is based on the association of

contiguity, it is called metonymy.
5. Semantic changes
5.4. Metaphor

Specialization and Generalization Metaphor and Metonymy

A result gradual almost imperceptible A purposeful momentary transfer of a

change in many context name from one object to another
belonging to a different sphere of reality
5. Semantic changes
5.4. Metaphor
• Metaphor maybe based upon very different types of similarity:
• Similarity of shape: head of a cabbage, the teeth of a sow
• Similarity of function: the head of the school, the key to a mystery
• Similarity of position: foot of a page, foot of a mountain
• Similarity of behaviour and function: bookworm, wirepuller
• Similarity of position and partly shape and function: the leg of the table
• …
• Transition of proper name: Don Juan
5. Semantic changes
5.4. Metaphor
• Similarity of position and partly shape and function: the leg of the table
• Anthropomorphic metaphors are among the most frequent
• The word denoting parts of the human body are made to express a variety of
meanings.
• E.g.: head of an army/a procession/a house hold; eye of a needle; tongue of a
bell
• The transferred meaning is easily recognized from the context:
• … her feet were in low-heeled brown brogues with fringed tongues. (PLOMER)
5. Semantic changes
5.4. Metaphor
• Other bases of metaphor:
• Analogy between duration of time and space:
• Space relations upon psychological and mental notions:
 Metaphoric change from the concrete to the abstract:
• Span from OE span ‘maximum distance between the tips of thumb and little
finger used as a measure of length’
5. Semantic changes
5.4. Metonymy
• Metonymy is the transference based upon the association of
contiguity:
• A shift of names between things that are known to be in some way or other
connected in reality
• Conditioned by:
• Spatial
• Temporal
• Causal
• Symbolic
• Instrumental
• Functional
• …
5. Semantic changes
5.4. Metonymy
• Spatial relationship examples:
• ModE cash  French cassie ‘box’ whose meaning was lost due to the
invention of the word safe.
• The name of the place is used for the people occupying it: the chair  ‘the
chair man’, the bar  ‘the lawyers’, the pulpit  ‘the priests’.
• The names of the instrument are used for the people who play them: violin,
cello, saxophone
5. Semantic changes
5.4. Metonymy
• Causal relationship examples:
• ModE fear  ME feere  OE fær ‘danger’, ‘ unexpected attack’.
• States and properties serve as name for objects and people possessing them:
youth, authorities
• The name of an action can serve to name the result of the action: kill, slay
• Emotions may be named by the movement that accompany them: to frown
5. Semantic changes
5.4. Metonymy
• Symbolic relationship examples :
• Instrument for product: hand  ‘handwriting’
• Materials from which an article is made: glass, iron
5. Semantic changes
5.4. Metonymy
• Funtional relationship:
• The shift is between name of thing substituting one another in human
practice
• E.g: The early instrument for writing was a feather or more exactly a quill
• ModE quill  OE pen  Lat. penna ‘feather’
• Common names are used after the inventors: diesel, volt, watt
• Geographic names: china, cardigan, tweed
• Garments: mackintosh, Wellingtons