Componential analysis.

SEMANTICS

Semasiology or Semantics.

Denotation and Connotation.

Polysemy.

Componential analysis.

By definition Lexicology deals with words, word-forming morphemes (derivational affixes) and word-groups or phrases. All these linguistic units may be said to have meaning of some kind: they are all significant and therefore must be investigated both as to form and meaning.

Meaning is one of the most controversial terms in the theory of language. At first sight the understanding of this term seems to present no difficulty at all ? it is freely used in teaching, interpreting and translation. The scientific definition of meaning however just as the definition of some other basic linguistic terms, such as w o r d, s e n t e n c e, etc.

The part of lexicology that studies meaning and development of meaning is called semasiology.

2.1. Semasiology or Semantics?

The term semasiology (from Greek sema - 'sign' + semantikos - 'significant') was introduced into linguistic studies in 1825 when the classical scholar C. Reisig in his university lecture on Latin philology set up a new division of grammar (semasiology, etymology and syntax). He regarded semasiology as a historical discipline that should establish the principles of governing the development of meaning.

Several decades later, in 1883 Michel Breal - the French philologist - published an article on what he called ?intellectual laws? of language in which he argued that there ought to be a science of meaning which he proposed to call semasiology. In 1897 he published his book which soon spread to other languages and three years later in 1900 after its publication was translated into English under the title: Semantics: Studies in the Science of Meaning.

Another famous book on semantics is ?The meaning of meaning? by ?. K. Ogden and I. A. Richards published in 1923. The term semantics was first used to refer to the development and change of meaning.

So, SEMASIOLOGYis the study of meanings - dealing with the relationship between symbols (words, signs, etc.) and what they refer to(called 'referents') - and of behavior in reaction to non-verbal symbols and verbal symbols (words). 'Verbal' language is any spoken or written form of communication which is heard or read and which uses words as symbols.

There are two schools of thought in modern linguistics on the problem of meaning: relative or functional and denotational or referential approach. The relative approach is based on treating the language as a semiotic system - the theory of relations. Each sign achieves a meaning only in comparison with other signs, its neighbours, i.e. meaning can be studied only through context. It is an attempt to study the system of semantic relations between the words.

The denotational trend of semantic studies considers a word as a unit possessing its own meaning. The main problem is the relation between the word, its meaning and the thing in reality which it denotes. The basis of the denotational theory is the double nature (ideal and material) of the word. The material side of the word (symbol), its meaning, and the referent are connected with each other. The meaning of a word is the reflection of the objective reality in our consciousness. The word is a form of a notion's material existence.

Every word has two aspects: the outer aspect (its sound form) and the inner aspect (its meaning). The lexical meaning of a word is the realization of a notion by means of a definite language system. A word is a language unit, while a notion is a unit of thinking. The term notion was introduced into lexicology from logic and psychology. A notion denotes the reflection in the mind of real objects and phenomena in their essential features and relations. Notions, as a rule, are international.

Meanings can be nationally limited. The development of lexical meanings in any language, as well as the grouping of meanings in the semantic structure of a word, is determined by the whole system of every language.

Date: 2016-06-12; view: 496