Lecture 6.

Lexical meaning and semantic structure of English words

PLAN
1. Word meaning. Referential and Functional approaches.
2. Types of meaning.
3. The semantic structure of polysemantic words. Componential analysis.
4. Contextual analysis.

1. Word meaning. Referential and Functional approaches.

The branch of linguistics concerned with the lexical meaning of words is called Semasiology.
The main objects of Semasiology are:
- semantic development of words, its causes and classifications;
- relevant distinctive features and types of lexical meaning;
- polysemy and semantic structure of words;
- semantic grouping and connections in the vocabulary system (synonyms, antonyms and
terminological system.

Referential approach. Word meaning is studied through establishing interrelations between words and
concepts they denote. Meaning is often understood as an object or phenomenon in the outside world
that is referred to by a word.
It distinguishes between 3 components closely connected with the meaning:
1) The sound form and the linguistic sign;
2) The concept which stresses the sound form;
3) The actual referent.
The complex and somewhat mysterious relationships between referent (object, etc. denoted by the
word), concept and word are traditionally represented by the following triangle:
Thought or Reference

(Word) (Object)

As can be seen from the diagram the sound-form of the linguistic sign, e.g. [dAv], is connected
with our concept of the bird which it denotes and through it with the referent, i.e. the actual bird. The
dotted line suggests that there is no immediate relation between word and referent: it is established
only through the concept.
The common feature of any referential approach is the implication that meaning is in some form
or other connected with the referent.
The mechanism by which concepts (i. e. mental phenomena) are converted into words (i. e.
linguistic phenomena) and the reverse process by which a heard or a printed word is converted into a
kind of mental picture are not yet understood or described.

Functional approach. In most present-day methods of lexicological analysis words are studied in
context; a word is defined by its functioning within a phrase or a sentence. The meaning of linguistic
unit is studied only through its relation to other linguistic units. So, meaning is viewed as the function
of a word in speech. The meaning of a word though closely connected with the underlying concept is
not identical with it.
 Concept is a category of human cognition. Concept is the thought of the object that singles out
the most typical, the most essential features of the object.
So, all concepts are almost the same for the whole of humanity in one and the same period of
its historical development. The meanings of words, however, are different in different languages. That
is to say, words expressing identical concept may have different semantic structures in different
languages. E.g. the concept of "a building for human habitation" is expressed in English by the word
house, in Ukrainian - дім, but their meanings are not identical as house does not possess the meaning
of "fixed residence of family or household" (домівка) which is part of the meaning of the Ukrainian
word дім; it is expressed by another English word home.
The difference between meaning and concept can also be observed by comparing synonymous
words and word-groups expressing the same concept but possessing linguistic meaning which is felt as
different in each of the units, e.g. big, large; to die, to pass away, to join the majority, to kick the
bucket; child, baby, babe, infant.
Concepts are always emotionally neutral as they are a category of thought. Language, however,
expresses all possible aspects of human consciousness. Therefore, the meaning of many words not
only conveys some reflection of objective reality but also the speaker's attitude to what he is speaking
about, his state of mind. Thus, though the synonyms big, large, tremendous denote the same concept
of size, the emotive charge of the word tremendous is much heavier than that of the other word.

2. Types of meaning.
Word-meaning is made up of various components. These components are described as types of
meaning. The two main ones are the grammatical and the lexical meaning.
Grammatical meaning is defined as the expression in speech of relationships between words
(category of case, person, number, etc.). The grammatical meaning is more abstract and more
generalized than the lexical meaning. It is recurrent in identical sets of individual forms of different
words as the meaning of plurality in the following words students, books, windows, compositions.
Lexical meaning is the realization of a concept or emotion by means of a definite language
system. It is identical in all the forms of the word (go, went, gone, will go – ‘process of movement’), it
is concrete, independent, not recurrent and refers to objects of extra-linguistic reality.

The conceptual content of a word is expressed in its denotative meaning. To denote is to serve
as a linguistic expression for a concept or as a name for an individual object. It is the denotational
meaning that makes communication possible.
 Connotation is the pragmatic communicative value the word receives depending on where,
when, how, by whom, for what purpose and in what contexts it may be used. There are four main types
of connotations: stylistic, emotional, evaluative and expressive/intensifying.
Stylistic connotation is what the word conveys about the speaker's attitude to the social
circumstances and the appropriate functional style (slay vs kill), evaluative connotation may show his
approval or disapproval of the object spoken of (clique vs group), emotional connotation conveys the
speaker's emotions (mummy vs mother), the degree of intensity (adore vs love) is conveyed by
expressive or intensifying connotation.
The interdependence of connotations with denotative meaning is also different for different
types of connotations. Thus, for instance, emotional connotation comes into being on the basis of
denotative meaning but in the course of time may substitute it by other types of connotation with
general emphasis, evaluation and colloquial stylistic overtone. E.g. terrific which originally meant
"frightening" is now a colloquialism meaning "very, very good" or "very great": terrific beauty, terrific
pleasure.

3. The semantic structure of polysemantic words. Componential analysis.

Polysemy is a characteristic feature of the English vocabulary due to the monosyllabic
character of English and predominance of root, non-motivated words. A word having several lexical
meanings is called polysemantic.
The process of enriching the vocabulary does not consist merely in adding new words to it, but,
also, in the constant development of polysemy. The system of meanings of any polysemantic word
develops gradually, mostly over the centuries, as more and more new meanings are either added to old
ones or oust some of them. So, the complicated processes of polysemy development involve both the
appearance of new meanings and the loss of old ones.
Thus, stone has the following meanings:
1) hard compact nonmetallic material of which rocks are made, a small lump of rock;
2) pebble;
3) the woody central part of such fruits as the peach and plum, that contains the seed;
4) Jewellery, short for gemstone;
5) a unit of weight, used esp. to Brit, a unit of weight, used esp. to express human body weight, equal
to 14 pounds or 6.350 kilograms;
6) a calculous concretion in the body, as in the kidney, gallbladder, or urinary bladder; a disease
arising from such a concretion.
My brother-in-law, he says gallstones hurt worse than anything. Except maybe kidney stones.
(King)
The bank became low again, and Miro crossed the brook by running lightly on the moss-
covered stones.
"Here," she said, and took off a slim silver necklace with an intricately carved pale jade stone
the size of a grape. (Hamilton)
Smoke curled lazily from the brown and gray rock chimney made of rounded river stones.
(Foster)

The greater the frequency of the word, the greater the number of meanings that constitute its
semantic structure. Frequency - combinability - polysemy are closely connected.
Polysemy is a phenomenon of language, not of speech. As a rule, the contextual meaning
represents only one of the possible lexico-semantic variants of the word. So, polysemy does not
interfere with the communicative function of the language because the situation and the context cancel
all the unwanted meanings, as in the following sentences:
The steak is tough.
This is a tough problem.
Prof. Holborn is a tough examiner.
 The semantic structures of different words have regular types of semantic ties and certain
meaning configurations:
Irradiation is a semantic process in which the primary meaning stands in the centre and the secondary
meanings proceed out of it in every direction. Each of them in independent but can be traced to the
centre.

Concatenation – linking together is the semantic process in which a meaning of a word moves
gradually away from its first meaning. The meanings are connected chain-like, one is giving rise to
another.

Pure cases of Irradiation and Concatenation are seldom observed, they as a rule are combined.

Componential analysis defines semantic markers and semantic distinguishes of a word. Semantic
markers show the characteristics this word has in common with other words. Semantic distinguishes
give features which single this word out of others.
E. g. baby – semantic markers: noun (countable), human, young.
– semantic distinguishes: very young, toothless.

4. Context. Contextual analysis.

One of the most important "drawbacks" of polysemantic words is that there is sometimes a
chance of misunderstanding when a word is used in a certain meaning but accepted by a listener or
reader in another. It is only natural that such cases provide stuff of which jokes are made, such as the
ones that follow:
Customer: I would like a book, please.
Bookseller: Something light!
Customer: That doesn't matter. I have my car with me.
In this conversation the customer is honestly misled by the polysemy of the adjective light
taking it in the literal sense whereas the bookseller uses the word in its figurative meaning - not
serious; entertaining.
 In lexical contexts, of primary importance are lexical groups combined with the polysemantic
words under consideration. The adjective heavy in isolation possesses the meaning "of great weight,
weighty".
When combined with the lexical group of words denoting natural phenomena as wind, storm, etc. it
means "striking, following with force, abundant", e.g. heavy rain, wind, storm, etc. In combination
with the words industry, arms, artillery and the like, heavy has the meaning "the larger kind of
something" as heavy industry, artillery.
In grammatical context it is the grammatical (mainly the syntactic) structure of the context
that serves to determine various individual meanings of a polysemantic word. Consider the following
examples:
1) I made Peter study;
He made her laugh;
They made him work (sing, dance, write...)
2) My friend made a good teacher. He made a good husband
In the pattern to make+N(Pr) + Vinf the word make has the meaning "to force", and in the pattern to
make+A+N it has the meaning "to turn out to be". Here the grammatical context helps to determine the
meaning of the word "to make".
So, linguistic (verbal) contexts comprise lexical and grammatical contexts. They are opposed to extra
linguistic contexts (non-verbal).
In extra-linguistic contexts the meaning of the word is determined not only by linguistic
factors but also by the actual situation in which the word is used.

Contextual analysis concentrates its attention on determining the minimal stretch of speech in which
the meaning of the word is used.
Lexical context – the meaning of the word is closely connected with the key word and depends on it
(black velvet, black gloves).
Syntactic context – the meaning depends on the stylistic pattern (to make smb. come).
Mixed context – lexico-syntactical ( in late summer, his late friend).
Boy’s, girl’s, Tom’s ball
He stops, speaks, sleeps
Oz ounce 28.35 gr
0.4536 kg pound
Stone 6.35 kg