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Reading Report w3 M. Zidan Ihsan ESP

This document discusses components and contrasts of meaning in semantics and pragmatics. It covers: 1. Components of meaning can be reduced to their ultimate contrastive elements through componential analysis. 2. Meaning relations include synonymy, polysemy, hyponymy, and incompatibility. 3. Semantic notation or "signees" provides a formal system to represent word meanings through symbols for core components.

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21 views2 pages

Reading Report w3 M. Zidan Ihsan ESP

This document discusses components and contrasts of meaning in semantics and pragmatics. It covers: 1. Components of meaning can be reduced to their ultimate contrastive elements through componential analysis. 2. Meaning relations include synonymy, polysemy, hyponymy, and incompatibility. 3. Semantic notation or "signees" provides a formal system to represent word meanings through symbols for core components.

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mzidanuli17
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M.

Zidan Ihsan
2210732022
Semantics and Pragmatics
Reading Report 3
Components and contrasts of meaning

Components of meaning
The analysis of word meanings is often seen as a process of breaking down a word to its
most minimal components. A simple example is the words man, woman, boy, girl, and other,
related words in English. These words have something in common, they all belong to the
semantic field ‘the human race’.
The definitions of adult, child, and man illustrate us to the fact that not all semantic
opposition relevant to a given semantic field. Child and adult are not specified for sex, man is
unspecified for both sex and adulthood, and the adjective female is unspecified for both
species and adulthood.
The term componential analysis has often been used for the method of analysis illustrated
here, that of reducing a word’s meaning to its ultimate contrastive element. It bears a similar
resemblance to the mathematical process of factorizing a number, and a useful informal
method of arriving at components of meaning is suggested by the analogy of arithmetical
proportions.

Meaning relations
The only words for semantic relatedness in general use in our language are synonym and
antonym. Although, the proportions above shows that there are no definitive answer to ‘what
is the antonym of woman?’ girl and man are equally suitable answers. Therefore a more
suitable useful notion of semantic contrastingness’ than antonymy is that of incompatibility.
We can say that two componential formulate are incompatible if the one contains at least one
feature contrasting with afeature in the other.

To put it simply, the main componential relationships can be separated into two pairs:
1. Synonymy and polysemy
a. Synonymy: more than one form having the same meaning
b. Polysemy: the same form having more than one meaning
2. Hyponymy and incompatibility are relations between two meanings:
a. Hyponymy is the inclusion of one meaning in another
b. Incompatibility is the exclusion of one meaning from another
It is very necessary to regard hyponymy and incompatibility as relations between senses
rather than between forms, because for the reason applied to entailment and inconsistency.
The semantic notation: signees
Signees refers to a more formalized system used in semantics, specifically within
componential analysis. It functions much like the symbols used in math or logic, aiming to
provide a clear and unambiguous way to represent word meaning.
Signees usually borrows structure from formal and systematic languages like math, with
symbols representing core meaning components. These letters or symbols stand for basic
meaning units and help us to understand and derive a meaning out of it. Essentially, it is a
tool in semantics for understanding how words acquire and their meanings. While it has
limitations, it can provide us a structured approach to the building blocks of word meaning.

Justifying a componential analysis


Justifying a componential analysis means showing that the contrasts and combinations of
meaning one has recognized are necessary and sufficient to explain relevant data. Words like
woman and man for example:
‘the secretary is a woman’ entails ‘the secretary is an adult’
‘I met two boys’ entails ‘I met two children’
The link between componential analysis and basic statements is made through the mediation
of such meaning relations as hypnomy and incompatability. As seen from the examples
above, if two propositions differ only in the substitution of a hypnoym for a a superordinate
tem, then one of the assertions entails the other. A similar sort of relation holds between
incompatibility and inconsistency.

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