1、1,Chapter 5 Meaning,2,The subject concerning the study of meaning is called SEMANTICS. More specifically, semantics is the study of the meaning of linguistic units, words and sentences in particular. 研究意義的學科叫做語義學。更具體地說，語義學是研究語言單位的意義，尤其是詞和句子的意義的學科。,3,Meaning has been studied for thousands of years by

2、 philosophers, logicians and linguists. E.g. Plato & Lao Zi.,One difficulty in the study of MEANING is that the word “meaning” itself has different meanings. e.g. What is the meaning of life?,5.1 Meanings of “meaning”,Geoffrey Leech (1974, 1981). Semantics: The Study of Meaning. Seven types of meani

3、ng: Conceptual meaning （概念意義） Connotative meaning （內(nèi)涵意義） Social meaning （社會意義） Affective meaning （感情意義） Reflected meaning （反射意義） Collocative meaning （搭配意義） Thematic meaning （主位意義）,Associative Meaning （聯(lián)想意義）,1) Conceptual meaningcentral part of meaning It is “denotative” in that it is concerned with

4、the relationship between a word and the thing it denotes, or refers to . In this sense, conceptual meaning overlaps to a large extent with the notion of REFERENCE 這種意義是“外延”的，因為它關(guān)注詞語跟它所指示物之間的聯(lián)系。從這點看，概念意義在很大程度上與指稱相重合,Philosophers use CONNOTATION, opposite to DENOTATION, to mean the properties of the e

5、ntity a word denotes. 哲學家的“內(nèi)涵”跟“外延”相對，表示詞語所指稱實體的性質(zhì)。,(2) Connotative meaning,(3)From connotative meaning to collocative meaning are collectively known as associative meaning in the sense that an elementary associationist theory of mental connections is enough to explain their use. 內(nèi)涵意義到搭配意義合起來稱作聯(lián)想意義，

6、因為解釋這些意義需要依靠一種關(guān)于思維關(guān)系的基本的聯(lián)想理論。,(4)Thematic meaning is more peripheral since it is only determined by the order of the words in a sentence and the different prominence they each receive. 主位意義是更外圍的，因為它是由詞序和詞語重音所決定的。,5.2 The referential theory The theory of meaning which relates the meaning of a word to

7、 the thing it refers to, or stands for, is known as the REFERENTIAL THEORY, which is a very popular theory. It is generally possible to explain the meaning of a word by pointing to the thing it refers to. 把詞語意義跟它所指稱或所代表的事物聯(lián)系起來的理論，叫作指稱論。這是一種很流行的理論。通過指明詞語所代表事物來解釋詞義一般來說是可能的。,One problem of this theory

8、is that when we explain the meaning of desk by pointing to the thing it refers to, we do not mean a desk must be of the particular size, shape, color and material as the desk we are pointing to at the moment of speaking. We are using this particular desk as an example, of something more general. Tha

9、t is, there is something behind the concrete thing we can see with our eyes. And something is abstract, which has no existence in the material world and can only be sensed in our minds. This abstract thing is usually called CONCEPT.,這種理論的其中之一問題就是，當我們通過實物書桌來解釋desk時，我們并不意味著書桌必須具有當時當?shù)啬菑垥浪械某叽纭⑿螤?、顏色和質(zhì)料

10、，而是用它作一個實例，作某種更普遍的東西的一個例子。也就是說，在我們?nèi)庋鬯妼嵨镏獯嬖诘哪撤N東西。這種東西是抽象的，沒有物質(zhì)存在，只能通過我們的思維來感知。這種抽象之物即一般所謂概念。,A theory which explicitly employs the notion “concept” is the semantic triangle proposed by Ogden and Richards in the meaning of meaning. In a diagram form, the relation is represented as follows: concept word thing,Leech als