1. Semaseology
Lecture 6

2. Semaseology
6.1. Definition of Meaning 6.2. Types of Meaning 6.3. Motivation of Word 6.4. Semantic Change: Causes, Nature and Results 6.5. Polysemy 6.6. Types of Semantic Relations 6.7. Types of Synonyms 6.8. Types of Antonyms 6.9. Hyponymy Types of Homonyms

3. Definition of Meaning
Semasiology is the branch of lexicology that is devoted to the study of meaning. Meaning is a realization of a notion by means of definite language system.

4. Definition of Meaning Three aspects to study in the word meaning:
Firstly, content (lexical) words, such as road, swim, efficient NOT function (grammatical) words, such as in, which, these.
Secondly, descriptive meaning NOT connotational / emotive part of meaning.
Thirdly, the word meaning
1) an element of a language system with its connection with the other words in this system;
2) meaning which is linked with a certain class of objects in the external world.

5. Types of Meaning
The two main types of meaning: grammatical (categorical) meaning and lexical (material) meaning.
GM is the component of meaning recurrent in identical sets of individual forms of different words:
the tense meaning (asked, thought, walked);
the case meaning (girl's, boy's, night's);
the meaning of plurality (joys, tables, places).

6. Types of Meaning
The lexical meaning is the meaning proper to the given linguistic unit in all its forms and distributions. The word-forms go, goes, went, going, gone possess different grammatical meanings of tense, person, number, but in each form they have one and the same semantic component denoting 'the process of movement'.

7. Types of Meaning
Lexical meaning may be analyzed in three aspects: denotational, connotational, and pragmatic.
Denotational meaning – correlation between the name and the object, process or characteristic feature of concrete reality (or thought) which is denoted by the given word.
Denotation expresses a notion. Denotation is objective; it reflects objective reality through notions.

8. Types of Meaning
Connotational meaning – a personal attitude of the speaker to the object of speech, or it may characterize the role of the speaker in the process of communication.
It is subjective; it characterizes the speaker, his attitude, his social role, etc. Connotation may be emotional, e.g. daddy – father; evaluative, e.g. clique – group; expressive, e.g. a monkey (figuratively, about a person); stylistic, e.g. to pass away, to kick the bucket.
Pragmatic aspect brings information on the situation of communication: the time and space relationship of the participants; the register of communication (formal, informal, neutral).

9. Motivation of Word
Motivation denotes the relationship between the phonemic or morphemic composition and structural pattern of the word on the one hand, and its meaning, on the other.
Morphological motivation: a direct connection between the morphological structure of the word and its lexical meaning. Monomorphic words, e.g. dance, head are non-motivated.
Polymorphic words are motivated (the combined meaning of the morphemes and the meaning of the structural pattern of the word itself),
e.g. finger-ring VS ring-finger
the morphemes are phonetically identical with identical lexical meaning. The difference is in the arrangement of the component morphemes.

10. Motivation of Word
Phonetical motivation is a direct connection between the phonetical structure of the word and its meaning, e.g. swish, boo, whirr, boom, splash (a direct imitation of the sounds).
Semantic motivation is based on co-existence of direct and figurative meanings of the same word:
Foot – the part of your body that you stand on and walk on (direct);
– the lowest part of something (indirect, figurative): the foot of a mountain, tree.

11. Motivation of Word
In compound words motivation can be both semantic and morphological.
It is morphological if the meaning of the whole is based on the sum of direct meanings of the components, e.g. skateboard – a board with wheels used for skating.
It is semantic if the combination is used figuratively, e.g. chatterbox – someone who talks too much.

12. Semantic Change: Causes
Linguistic causes:
differentiation of synonyms. Land (OE) meant both “solid part of earth's surface” and “the territory of a nation”. Country was borrowed as its synonym in ME. The meaning of land was altered and “the territory of a nation” → country;
ellipsis, when a word or two fromm the phrase is omitted and the meaning of the whole phrase is transferred to the word which is preserved, e.g. to starve (OE) meant “to die” and was normally used in collocation with the word hunger. Later on to starve acquired the meaning “to die of hunger”;
fixed context: token vs sign. Token → restricted in use to a number of set expressions: love token, token of respect and also become specialized in meaning.

13. Semantic Change: Nature
There are two major kinds of association involved in various semantic changes: similarity of meanings and contiguity of meanings.
Similarity of meanings or metaphor: the semantic process of associating two referents, one of which in some way resembles the other. Hand – “a pointer of a clock or a watch” because of a similarity of one of the functions performed by the hand: “to point to something”.
Contiguity of meanings or metonymy: the semantic process of associating two referents one of which makes part of the other or is closely connected with it. Bench – “judges” because it was on the bench that judges used to sit in law courts.

14. Semantic Change: Results
The denotational aspect of meaning: restriction of meaning and extension of meaning.
Restriction of meaning: hound used to denote “dog of any breed”, now it denotes only “a dog used in the chase”. (specialization of meaning).
Extension of meaning: target originally meant “a small round shield” but now means “anything that is fired at”. (generalization of meaning).

15. Semantic Change: Results
The connotational aspect of meaning: amelioration of meaning and deterioration of meaning.
Deterioration of meaning implies the acquisition by the word of some derogatory emotive change. Boor originally meant “a peasant” and then acquired a derogatory connotational meaning and came to denote “a clumsy or ill-bred fellow”.
Amelioration of meaning implies the improvement of the connotational component of meaning. Minister originally denoted “a servant” but now – “a civil servant of higher rank, a person administering a department of state”.

16. Polysemy
If a word has only one meaning, it is monosemantic. Monosemantic words are few in number.
If a word has several meanings, then it is called polysemantic. Most English words are polysemantic.
Meanings are fixed and common to all people, who know the language system.
When speaking we use one of the meanings of a polysemantic word.
Thus, polysemy exists only in the language, not in speech.

17. Polysemy
The word in one of its meanings is termed a lexico-semantic variant of this word, e.g. the word fox has 4 lexico-semantic variants:
a wild animal like a dog with reddish-brown fur, a pointed face, and a thick tail;
someone who is clever and deceitful;
the skin and fur of a fox, used to make clothes;
someone who is sexually attractive (AmE).
All lexico-semantic variants of a word are linked together by a certain meaning – the semantic center of the word. The semantic center of the word is the part of meaning which remains constant in all the lexico-semantic variants of the word.
we can distinguish central (or basic) meaning of the word and all other meanings are marginal (or minor) meanings; direct indirect / figurative meaning.

18. Types of Semantic Relations
Four basic types: proximity, opposition, inclusion, equivalence.
Words are seldom the same semantically. They show both some semantic difference and similarity. Similarity in meaning is nearly always partial → the semantic proximity of words.
Evolution – the gradual development of something.
Growth – the process of increasing in size.
Increase – a rise in the size, amount, or degree of smth.
Extension – a part that is added to something to enlarge or prolong it.
These nouns have something in common and, on the other hand, possess certain features of semantic dissimilarity which makes possible to conclude that they are not absolutely identical in meaning.

19. Types of Semantic Relations
The contrast of semantic features → the semantic relation of opposition. The meaning of the word day is in contrast to the meaning of the word night. The relation of opposition implies the exclusion of the meaning of one word by another (antonymous relations).
Inclusion exists between two words if the meaning of one word contains some semantic features which make up the meaning of the other word (hyponymic relations).
Semantic equivalence means full similarity of meaning of two or more words. Semantic equivalence – seldom in words; much oftener in sentences, e.g. Jim swims well = Jim is good at swimming = Jim is a good swimmer.
Semantic equivalence in words is highly unstable (realization of the economy principle of the language system which has no need in words different in form but absolutely similar in meaning).

20. Types of Synonyms
Synonyms – words belonging to one part of speech, close in meaning and interchangeable at least in some contexts. The degree of semantic proximity is estimated in terms of the aspects of meaning, i.e. the denotational, the emotional, and the pragmatic aspect.
The highest degree of proximity is found in synonyms which have similar denotational aspects but differ either in the connotational or the pragmatic aspect of meaning:
The difference in connotation
famous – “known widely, having fame”
notorious – “widely known because of smth. bad, for example for being criminal, violent, immoral”. Thus, famous implies positive evaluation, notorious – negative.
The difference in the pragmatic
Synonymic pairs consisting of a native and a borrowed word. In most cases the native word is more informal, whereas the foreign word has a learned or abstract air, cf: brotherly – fraternal, bodily – corporal.

21. Types of Synonyms
Stylistic synonymy: no interchangeability in context because the underlying situations are different, e.g. dad – father.
Stylistic synonyms are similar in the denotational aspect of meaning, but different in the pragmatic (and connotational) aspect.
Ideographic synonymy: when the connotational and the pragmatic aspects are similar, but there are certain differences in the denotational aspect of meaning of two words, e.g. forest – wood, apartment – flat, shape – form. Though ideographic synonyms correspond to one and the same referential area, i. e. denote a set of closely related things, they are different in the denotational aspect of their meanings.

22. Types of Synonyms
Ideographic-stylistic synonyms differ both in the denotational and the connotational and/or the pragmatic aspects of meaning,
e.g. ask – inquire, expect – anticipate.
Each synonymic group comprises a synonymic dominant , the most general term potentially containing the specific features rendered by all the other members of the synonymic group, e.g. make – produce – create – fabricate – manufacture
Words denoting different things connected on extralinguistic grounds form lexical sets: cow, ox, horse (domestic animals).
Lexical sets may acquire a more specialized character, e.g. names of “musical instruments”: piano, organ, violin, drum; names of “parts of the car mechanism”: radiator, motor, handbrake, wheels → terminological sets.

23. Types of Antonyms
Antonyms are a class of words grouped together on the basis of the semantic relations of opposition. Antonyms are words belonging to one part of speech sharing certain common semantic characteristics and in this respect they are similar to such semantic classes as synonyms, lexical sets.
From the structural point of view, antonyms can be divided into antonyms of the same root, e.g. to button – to unbutton, cheerful – cheerless; and antonyms of different roots, e.g. day – night, empty – full.
From the semantic point of view, antonyms may be contradictories, contraries and incompatibles.

24. Types of Antonyms
Contradictories are mutually opposed, they deny one another and form a binary opposition; they are members of two-member sets: not dead = alive, not inside = outside.
Contraries are antonyms that can be arranged into a set according to the increasing difference in one of their qualities. The most distant elements of this set will be classified as contrary antonyms; they may have intermediate elements,
e.g. cold – cool – warm – hot
Incompatibles are antonyms which are characterized by the relations of exclusion.
morning – not afternoon, not evening, not night. The use of one member of this set implies the exclusion of the other members of the set. Incompatibles are members of the multiple-member sets while contradictories are members of two-member sets.

25. Hyponymy
Hyponymy is characterized by the semantic relations of inclusion. It is a relationship between specific and general lexical items where the meaning of the specific item is included in the meaning of the more general item. Hyponymy is a kind of asymmetrical synonymy; its basic organization is hierarchical.
The word vehicle is called hyperonym and is defined as a general term. The more specific term (car, tram, bus) is called hyponym and is included in the general term.

26. Types of Homonyms
Homonyms are words which are identical in sound and spelling, or, at least, in one of these aspects, but different in meaning.
Homonyms proper are homonyms which have the same pronunciation and spelling, but differ in meaning, e.g. can, can; sound, sound, sound; saw, saw, saw; fair, fair.
Homophones are words of the same phonological form but of different spelling and meaning, e.g. buy, bye, by; night, knight; scent, cent, sent; write, right, rite.
Homographs are words different in sound and in meaning but accidentally identical in spelling, e.g. lead(v), lead(n); wind(n), wind(v); row (n), row (n).

27. Thank you for attention