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Introduction To English Semantics For 3 Year Student

1. It defines reference as the symbolic relationship between a linguistic expression and the object or concept it represents, and sense as the relationships inside the language. 2. Sense includes semantic properties, features, denotative meaning (denotation) which identifies concepts, and connotative meaning (connotation) which includes affective associations. 3. Reference depends on context while sense is independent of context. Sense indicates concepts but not complete thoughts like propositions.

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125 views11 pages

Introduction To English Semantics For 3 Year Student

1. It defines reference as the symbolic relationship between a linguistic expression and the object or concept it represents, and sense as the relationships inside the language. 2. Sense includes semantic properties, features, denotative meaning (denotation) which identifies concepts, and connotative meaning (connotation) which includes affective associations. 3. Reference depends on context while sense is independent of context. Sense indicates concepts but not complete thoughts like propositions.

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Thuỳ Mai
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© © All Rights Reserved
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UNIVERSITY OF DANANG

UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDIES


FACULTY OF ENGLISH

INTRODUCTION TO
ENGLISH SEMANTICS
For 3rd year Student

Chapter 3

2019
UNIT 3 MEANING – COMPONENTS OF MEANING

REFERENCE AND SENSE


A. Reference
I. Def. 25
the symbolic relationship that a linguistic
expression has with the concrete object or
abstraction it represents
Referent:
the concrete object or concept that an expression
represents


E.g. the beech tree over there 

reference
Linguistic expression meaning referent
09/12/21 2
The connection of language to the world

LANGUAGE
Linguisitc expressions:
The beech tree over there
My left ear
My dog

WORLD

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Reference: The referent:
the relationship part of the world:
between the expression touchable, visible and audible
(part of the language) The expression
and the referent part of the language:
(part of the world) readable and intelligible
II. Characteristics:
III. Types of reference
• Variable reference:
( potential referents)
E.g. The present British Prime Minister
• Constant reference:
(the same thing/ referent) E.g. The moon

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B. Sense
I. Def. p.28
II. Characteristics:
polysemy & homonymy.
III. Lexical decomposition
1. Semantic properties:
piece of information about a word, e.g.
assassinate
[agent: human, murderer
person killed: important person]
-The same semantic property in different words,
e.g. [female] helps to define tigress, hen, doe,
ewe, mare, actress, widow, woman, maiden
-The same semantic property in words of different
categories, e.g.
[+ ?] in breast-feed (V), pregnant (A),
09/12/21 [+ ?] in kill, darken, beautify 5
2. Semantic features:
Semantic categories/ properties that indicate the
relations or classes that a word may have or share
with other words.
E.g. as in an overlap between 2 or more words
man father bachelor
+ human + human + human
- A certain semantic category may imply others,
e.g. [human] implies [animate]
IF X is human, then X is animal
- redundancy rules:
One feature automatically contains another,
e.g. [+human]  [+ animate]
- Some semantic redundancy rules reveal negative
properties,
e.g. [ +human]  [- abstract]
IF X is human, then X is not abstract
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• 3. Denotative meaning ( Denotation):
type of meaning that can be described in terms of a
set of semantic properties which serve to identify
the concept associated with the word in question.

bachelor

+ human
+ animate
+ male
+ adult
+ unmarried

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4. Connotative meaning ( Connotation):
affective or evaluative associations that a word may
have besides denotative meaning
father Dad
+ human + human
+ animate + animate
+ male + male
+ adult + adult
+ married + married
+ neutral + informal

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C. Reference vs Sense
Reference Sense
- relationship between - relationships inside the
language & the world language
- The referent of an - The sense of an expression
expression is often a thing is not a thing at all
- not every expression has - Every expression that has
reference meaning has sense
- Depends on the particular - Independent of particular
context, occasion context, occasion
D. Sense vs Proposition
1. A proposition corresponds to a complete
independent thought
2. The sense of a single word or phrase only indicates
concepts, not complete thought

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E. Relationship between reference & utterance
- Both referring and uttering acts are performed
by particular speakers on particular occasions
- 2 separate utterances: 2 separate acts of
referring
- Acts of referring only actually happen in the
course of utterances, e.g.
mean: sense or reference?
“Occlaracy means the government by the mob”
(it always has this meaning regardless of the
situations of utterance)
“By Fred, I mean the fat man in the corner”
(the fat man in the corner may refer to a
09/12/21
different man in a different situation of utterance) 10
The End of Chapter 3

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