3 the referential-theory2
TRANSCRIPT
![Page 1: 3 the referential-theory2](https://reader035.vdocument.in/reader035/viewer/2022062707/557f8e82d8b42a2f198b4980/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
SemanticsSemantics
![Page 2: 3 the referential-theory2](https://reader035.vdocument.in/reader035/viewer/2022062707/557f8e82d8b42a2f198b4980/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
CONCEPTIONS OF CONCEPTIONS OF MEANINGMEANING
![Page 3: 3 the referential-theory2](https://reader035.vdocument.in/reader035/viewer/2022062707/557f8e82d8b42a2f198b4980/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
Meaning: words things
Chair
Car
Desk
Traditional concept since Plato
![Page 4: 3 the referential-theory2](https://reader035.vdocument.in/reader035/viewer/2022062707/557f8e82d8b42a2f198b4980/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
Meaning: words concepts things
Thought
ReferentSymbolOgden and Richards, 1923
Denies a direct link between words and things, arguing that the relationship can be made only through the use of our minds. For every word, there is an associated concept. This approach was criticized due to the difficulty to identify “concepts” for some words.
![Page 5: 3 the referential-theory2](https://reader035.vdocument.in/reader035/viewer/2022062707/557f8e82d8b42a2f198b4980/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
Desk
"a piece of furniture a flat top and four legs, at which one reads and writes"
![Page 6: 3 the referential-theory2](https://reader035.vdocument.in/reader035/viewer/2022062707/557f8e82d8b42a2f198b4980/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
Stimuli words responsesLeonard Bloomfield’s view (1933) is that something can be deduced solely from a study of the situation in which speech is used:
S - - - - - - - - - - - - - -> r . . . . . . . . . . . . s - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -> RThe stimulus
(S)Leads
someone to speak
(r)
Speech (s) The response (R)
is the result of (s)
![Page 7: 3 the referential-theory2](https://reader035.vdocument.in/reader035/viewer/2022062707/557f8e82d8b42a2f198b4980/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
Traditional vs. Modern Linguistics
Words “have meaning”, we can examine the meaning of individual words and sentences, but there is no meaning beyond that
Meaning is studied by making detailed analyses of the way words are used in specific contexts.
![Page 8: 3 the referential-theory2](https://reader035.vdocument.in/reader035/viewer/2022062707/557f8e82d8b42a2f198b4980/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
“The meaning of a word is its use in the language”
Ludwing Wittgenstein (1889-1951)
![Page 9: 3 the referential-theory2](https://reader035.vdocument.in/reader035/viewer/2022062707/557f8e82d8b42a2f198b4980/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
G. Leech in a more moderate tone recognizes 7 types of meaning his Semantics (p. 23), first published in 1974, as follows:
• Conceptual meaning: Logical, cognitive, or denotative content (what the words refers to)
• Connotative meaning: What is communicated by virtue of what language refers to.
• Social meaning: What is communicated of the social, circumstances of language use.
![Page 10: 3 the referential-theory2](https://reader035.vdocument.in/reader035/viewer/2022062707/557f8e82d8b42a2f198b4980/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
• Reflected meaning: What is communicated through association with another sense of the same expression.
• Collocative meaning: What is communicated through association with words which tend to occur in the environment of another word.
• Thematic meaning: What is communicated by the way in which the message is organized in terms of order and emphasis.
• Affective meaning: What is communicated of the feelings and attitudes of the speaker/writer.
![Page 11: 3 the referential-theory2](https://reader035.vdocument.in/reader035/viewer/2022062707/557f8e82d8b42a2f198b4980/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
Sense vs. ReferenceConnotation
Refers to the abstract properties of an entity
Sense = concept
"a piece of furniture with a flat top and four legs, at which one reads and writes"
denotation
concrete entities
![Page 12: 3 the referential-theory2](https://reader035.vdocument.in/reader035/viewer/2022062707/557f8e82d8b42a2f198b4980/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
The referential theory
The idea is that linguistic expressions have the meanings they do because they stand for things; what they mean is what they stand for. On this view, words are like labels; they are symbols that represent, designate, name, denote or refer to items in the world: the name “Adolf Hitler” denotes (the person) Hitler.
![Page 13: 3 the referential-theory2](https://reader035.vdocument.in/reader035/viewer/2022062707/557f8e82d8b42a2f198b4980/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
Objections to the theory
• Objection 1: Not every word does name or denote any actual object.
First, there are the “names” of nonexistent items like Pegasus or the Easter Bunny. “Pegasus” does not denote anything, because there is in reality no winged horse for it to denote.
![Page 14: 3 the referential-theory2](https://reader035.vdocument.in/reader035/viewer/2022062707/557f8e82d8b42a2f198b4980/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
• Objection 2: According to the Referential theory, a sentence is a list of names. But a mere list of names does not say anything.
Fred Martha Irving Phyllis
![Page 15: 3 the referential-theory2](https://reader035.vdocument.in/reader035/viewer/2022062707/557f8e82d8b42a2f198b4980/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
• Objection 3: There are specific linguistic phenomena that seem to show that there is more to meaning than reference. In particular, coreferring terms are often not synonymous; that is, two terms can share their referent but differ in meaning -- “John Paul” and “the Pope,” for example.
![Page 16: 3 the referential-theory2](https://reader035.vdocument.in/reader035/viewer/2022062707/557f8e82d8b42a2f198b4980/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
To some extent, we can say every word has a sense, i.e. some conceptual content, otherwise we will not be able to use it or understand it. But not every word has a reference. Grammatical words like but, if, and do not refer to anything. And words like God, ghost and dragon refer to imaginary things, which do not exist in reality.
It is not convenient to explain the meaning of a word in terms of the thing it refers to. The thing a word stands for may not always be at hand at the time of speaking. Even when it is nearby, it may take the listener some time to work out its main features. For example, chair:
Sense vs. Reference
![Page 17: 3 the referential-theory2](https://reader035.vdocument.in/reader035/viewer/2022062707/557f8e82d8b42a2f198b4980/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
Should we study meaning in terms of “sense” or “reference”?
![Page 18: 3 the referential-theory2](https://reader035.vdocument.in/reader035/viewer/2022062707/557f8e82d8b42a2f198b4980/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
Semantic Space
C. E. Osgood, G. Suci, 7 P. Tannenbaum, The measurement of Meaning (1957). Studied “affective” meaning – the emotional reactions attached to a word through a game called “20 questions”
![Page 19: 3 the referential-theory2](https://reader035.vdocument.in/reader035/viewer/2022062707/557f8e82d8b42a2f198b4980/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
“20 questions”Locate the concept “polite”“polite” in one point in the scale:
WeakRoughActiveSmallColdGoodTenseWet
StrongSmoothPassive LargeHotBadRelaxedDry
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
![Page 20: 3 the referential-theory2](https://reader035.vdocument.in/reader035/viewer/2022062707/557f8e82d8b42a2f198b4980/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
“20 questions”Locate the concept “MAN”“MAN” in one point in the scale:
WeakRoughActiveGoodTenseFast
StrongSmoothPassive BadRelaxedSlow
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
![Page 21: 3 the referential-theory2](https://reader035.vdocument.in/reader035/viewer/2022062707/557f8e82d8b42a2f198b4980/html5/thumbnails/21.jpg)
Semantic Structure:Words or Lexemes?Words or Lexemes?
Walk, walks, walking, walkedThese four “words” are variants of the same “word”
These four words are variants of the “lexeme” WALK
![Page 22: 3 the referential-theory2](https://reader035.vdocument.in/reader035/viewer/2022062707/557f8e82d8b42a2f198b4980/html5/thumbnails/22.jpg)
Semantic Structure:Words or Lexemes?
The term “word” is useless for the study of idioms. One idiom is a unit of meaning:
Kick the bucket = “die” (it has ONE single unit of meaning)
“kick the bucket” (this lexeme contains three words)
![Page 23: 3 the referential-theory2](https://reader035.vdocument.in/reader035/viewer/2022062707/557f8e82d8b42a2f198b4980/html5/thumbnails/23.jpg)
Semantic fields(A way to impose some order to vocabulary)
Vocabulary is usually organized into “fields” of meaning. Within each field, lexemes interrelate and define each other in specific ways:
House
Basement Ground floor First floor
Laundry Garage kitchen bedrooms
![Page 24: 3 the referential-theory2](https://reader035.vdocument.in/reader035/viewer/2022062707/557f8e82d8b42a2f198b4980/html5/thumbnails/24.jpg)
Practice
Organize these words in semantic fields, add more if necessary:
Living – vegetable – animal – human – tree – plant – flower – bird – fish – animal – insect