Types of semantics. See what “Linguistic semantics” is in other dictionaries

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(1 Voted)

Kobozeva I.M.

Linguistic semantics

Kobozeva I.M. Linguistic semantics: Tutorial.- M.: URSS Editorial, 2000. - 352 p. (New linguistic textbook).EBook. Linguistics. Semantics and pragmatics

Abstract (description)

In the textbook Irina Mikhailovna Kobozeva "Linguistic semantics" outlines the main issues of semantics as a section of the course in the general theory of language. The first part contains an introduction to the subject, a brief outline of the history of semantic doctrines, including the latest, and introduces the concepts used in the semantic description of any significant linguistic formations, from a morpheme to a whole text. The second part is devoted to lexical semantics. It examines the main problems and methods of describing the content side of a word as a unit of language and speech. The third part analyzes the semantics of a sentence-statement, taking into account its three aspects: logical-semantic (propositional), communicative and pragmatic, and discusses the formal means (metalanguages) used to describe it. Problems of semantics are considered in the textbook from the point of view of the activity approach to language and in the context of the diverse tasks facing applied linguistics. A number of chapters of the textbook provide detailed illustrations of the ideas and methods presented based on the material of specific semantic research by the author.
The textbook is addressed not only to students of linguistic departments of philological faculties, but also to all those who, by the nature of their occupation, deal with the creation or analysis of texts in natural language: literary scholars, journalists, translators, copywriters, etc., as well as everyone whom interested in the structure and functioning of language.

Contents (table of contents)

I Introduction to the subject of linguistic semantics
1 Semantics as a linguistic discipline
1.1. Duality of the subject of semantics
1.1.1. Meaning and meaning are two aspects of content
1.1.2. Two concepts of semantics: narrow and broad
1.2. The place of semantics in the circle of traditional linguistic disciplines
1.3. The formation of semantics as an independent branch of linguistics
1.4. Main directions and schools of modern linguistic semantics
Literature
2 Meaning in the structure of a linguistic sign
2.1. General properties of a linguistic sign
2.2. On the nature of the connection between the signified and the signifier in a sign
2.3. Values "values"
Literature
3 Typology of meanings
3.1. Types of meanings distinguished by level of signifier
3.2. Types of values, distinguished by the degree of their generalization
3.3. Types of values, distinguished by the nature of the information transmitted
3.4. Types of values identified by connection with a specific type of knowledge
Literature

II Lexical semantics
1 Lexical semantics, lexicology and lexicography
2 Lexical and grammatical meaning
3 Components of lexical-semantic information
3.1. Significative component
3.2. Denotative component
3.2.1. (Virtual) lexeme denotation
3.2.2. Restrictions on the type of referent (actual denotation)
3.3. Pragmatic component
3.3.1. The attitude of the speaker to the signified
3.3.2. The attitude of the speaker to the addressee
3.3.3. Information about the pragmatic functions of the lexeme
3.3.4. Connotations of the lexeme
Literature
4 Lexico-semantic paradigmatics
4.1. Meaning of the word
4.2. Semantic field
4.3. Semantic field correlations
4.3.1. Synonymy
4.3.2. Hyponymy
4.3.3. Incompatibility
4.3.4. Part-whole correlation
4.3.5. Antonymy
4.3.6. Conversion
4.3.7. Correlations of semantic production
4.3.8. Associative relationships
Literature
5 Component analysis of lexical meaning
5.1. General idea of component value analysis
5.2. Early variants of componential meaning analysis
5.3. Principles of component analysis of meaning in the Moscow Semantic School
Literature
6 Thesaurus as a model of the paradigmatic structure of the language content plan
Literature
7 Lexical syntagmatics and means of its description
7.1. Ways to represent semantic relations
7.2. Semantic valences of a lexeme as semantic relations determined by its lexical meaning
7.3. Lexeme compatibility
7.4. The relationship between lexical syntagmatics and paradigmatics
Literature
8 Monosemy, polysemy, homonymy
8.1. On the way from actual meanings to usual ones: monosemy vs polysemy
8.2. From conventional meanings to virtual ones: polysemy vs homonymy
8.3. Semantic structure of a polysemantic word. Epidigmatics
8.4. The relationship between lexical paradigmatics and epidigmatics: a case study
Literature
9 Experiment in lexical semantics
9.1. Experimenting with consumption contests
9.2. Experiments using word denotation
9.3. Semantic tests
9.4. A specific example of a lexical-semantic experiment: identifying stereotypes of national characters through the analysis of connotations of ethnonyms
Literature

III Semantics of sentences and statements
1 Sentence as an object of semantic research
1.1. The meaning of the sentence and the meaning of the statement
1.2. Semantically correct and anomalous sentences
1.3. Logical-semantic relations between sentences
1.4. From semantic relations between sentences to the semantic structure of sentences: presupposition and assertion
Literature
2 Main components of a proposal content plan
2.1. Propositional component of sentence semantics
2.1.1. Predicate-argument or relational structure of a proposition
2.1.2. Operators, quantifiers and connectives
2.1.3. Referential aspect of propositional content
2.1.4. Reference of noun phrases with subject meaning
2.1.5. Reference of linguistic expressions with a positive meaning
2.1.6. Modal aspect of propositional content
2.1.7. Types and types of modality
2.1.8. Modal operators of possibility, necessity and ought
2.2. Communicative (packaging) component of sentence semantics
2.2.1. Emphasizing the special role of one of the participants in the situation
2.2.2. Actual (theorematic) division of the sentence
2.2.3. Given and new in the offer
2.2.4. Known and unknown in a sentence
2.2.5. Contrast
2.2.6. Empathy or point of view
2.2.7. Importance
2.3. Pragmatic (illocutionary) component of sentence semantics
Literature
3 Semantic metalanguages for describing the meaning of a sentence-statement
3.1. The type of meaning that the metalanguage is used to describe: linguistic or logical meaning?
3.2. Can and should everything in the meaning of a sentence be recorded by means of semantic language? (On the question of the completeness of the semantic description)
3.3. Dictionary of metalanguage
3.4. Syntax (grammar) of the metalanguage
3.5. Metalinguistic means for reflecting various aspects of the meaning of a sentence-statement
3.5.1. Propositional component in metalinguistic representation
3.5.2. Metalinguistic means for reflecting the referential aspect of propositional content
3.5.3. Metalinguistic means for representing a communicative (packaging) component
3.5.4. Metalinguistic means for representing the pragmatic (illocutionary) component of the semantics of a sentence-statement
4 Specific example: semantic description of general interrogative sentences in the Russian language
4.1. Semantic structure of a general interrogative sentence (OGS) and its reflection in semantic representation
4.1.1. On the primary and secondary functions of interrogative sentences
4.1.2. Structural-semantic unity of question and answer
4.1.3. General structure of the semantic representation of the question
4.1.4. Central and peripheral parts of the semantic representation of OB
4.1.5. On the form of semantic representation (interpretation)
4.2. Formal structure of a general question
4.3. Semantic description of the main types of general questions in the Russian language
4.3.1. Positive whether-questions
4.3.2. Simple Positive Questions (SPS)
4.3.3. Simple Negative Questions (SNV)
4.3.4. Negative whether-questions (not-whether questions)
Bibliography
Subject index

Clarified questions:

Meaning and meaning. 2 aspects of content.
2 concepts of semantics: narrow, broad.
The formation of semantics as an independent branch of linguistics.
The place of semantics in the circle of traditional linguistic disciplines.
Main directions and schools of modern linguistic semantics.
General properties of a linguistic sign.
On the nature of the connection between the signified and the signified.
Semantic triangle.
Actual, virtual meaning.
Denotative meaning.
Significative meaning.
Pragmatic meaning.
Connotative meaning.

13. Connotative meaning.

Noun number of def. connotations. Usually K. called. add. elements of meaning of a certain type - expressive, stylistic, evaluative. The concept of connotation is close to the concept of a stereotype of ideas associated with a given word.

K. yavl. a useful tool for describing the use of words and the mechanism by which new meanings are formed. The presence of K. may have nothing to do with the main. meaning. Yes, word donkey And donkey, denoting 1 and the same animal, have different K. For donkey- this is “the willingness to work uncomplainingly for the good of another,” and for donkey- this is “stubbornness” and “stupidity”. These K. make it possible to explain the formation of different figurative meanings for these words. K. and resp. they have secondary figurative meanings that are generally characteristic of names. animals (wolf, bear, elephant, etc.).

K. is also determined by linguistic and cultural specifics. For example, the Russian word has very bright K. mother-in-law.

Three types of such primary connections can be distinguished:

- referential, establishing reference relationships for objects designated in the text, as well as between text objects and entities available in the knowledge base;

Temporary;

Situational connections.

We distinguish between the terms " reference relation" And " referential connection". The referential relation fixes the connection between a word in the text (name) and the extra-linguistic entity designated by this word (referent, denotation). We believe that two names are referentially connected if these names in the text are associated with a common denotation (the names are coreferent), or if the denotations , associated with these names, are connected in the text by relations such as “class-subclass”, “class-individual”, “class or individual-property, or state, or role.” Identification of referential relations and referential connections is the fundamental task of discourse analysis of the text.

In the text, the referential relation can be specified:

· “objectively”, when the interpretation (lexical meaning) of the name coincides with the meaning of the name in the text;

· pronoun or place word (anaphor);

· metonymic shift, when the designated “participant” of the situation is given the name of some other participant in this situation;

· metaphor.

1. Meaning and meaning. 2 aspects of content

Semantics (S.), like any scientific discipline, has its own subject. But defining this subject is not as simple as it might seem. Although it can be said that S. studies the meaning of linguistic expressions, the question of what should be understood by meaning is not answered. generally accepted answer. Due to different understandings of the subject, the boundaries between S. and other languages are drawn differently. disciplines. To avoid the ambiguous term “meaning”, you can use the neutral term “content”, and say that S. is a section of language knowledge, studied. content of language units and those speech productions, cat. from these units are built. Now let us note that in many natures. sciences to denote the content of linguistic expressions of nouns. not one word, but (at least) 2: word And meaning in Russian language sense And meaning in English etc. Hence the disagreements in the understanding of meaning as an object S. And if the content of linguistic expressions has both min. 2 hypostases, then the subject of S. can be declared to be any of them.

The duality of the subject of S. can be shown by identifying the concepts embodied in words meaning And meaning rus. language, cat. we often use in everyday life life. This requires context (informative), in a cat. used these words. An example would be replacing these words with descriptive expressions (“The meaning of this inscription is not clear” can be replaced with “It is not clear what this inscription means.” And in the sentence “The significance of this event is enormous” cannot be replaced with “That means this event is huge."). Synonym. and sense. Dictionaries present these words as synonyms. However, the meaning of the definition is “that which is given.” phenomenon denotes”, and meaning as “meaning, internal. content something that can be comprehended by reason."

Compatibility sense And values with different types of content carriers shows that the concept values in ordinary consciousness it is associated with the proof of an existing sign system, the element or text of which is the bearer of meaning. Concept sense has no such evidence. At least 1 of the analyzed words can act as a carrier of content: 1) the name of the signs primarily (word, speech, poetry, element of the coat of arms, etc.), 2) title. objects of natural occurrence and spontaneous processes (face, nature, sleep, turmoil, etc.), 3) name. arts objects and controlled processes, for cats. the sign function acts as a complementary function. to their heads. functions.

If the type of information carrier is 1 and the same, then the method of their interpretation, the difference between meaning And meaning even easier to identify. For example, when they talk about meaning words, mean, among other things, its dictionary interpretation. When they talk about sense of the word, then, as a rule, they mean the set of those entities, cat. may be designated dan. in a word; or the representations of both factual and evaluative nature associated with it in the minds of speakers. Opr-i to meaning extremely rare. Meaning however, it has an extensive system of definitions, formed by thematic groups corresponding to the three hypostases of meaning, discussed above in connection with methods of interpretation content.

Because the meaning- this is the content stably attached to the sign, then it can be install and then know, at that time How meaning- something changeable, unregulated, - it is necessary search, trap, unravel and so on.

Conclusion: meaning And meaning in the minds of language speakers there are 2 close, but not identical concepts, cat. You can define the following:

MeaningHa- this is information associated with X, according to the generally accepted rules for using X as a means of transmitting information. MeaningX-a forY-a in T- this is information associated with X in the consciousness of Y during the time period T, when Y produces or perceives X as a medium for transmitting information.

2. Two concepts of semantics: narrow, broad

The content of linguistic expressions has 2 forms, embodied in everyday words of the Russian language meaning And meaning. Each of these 2 concepts can rightly be called a subject of semantics. Scientists studying S. understand its subject differently. But with all the possible differences in approaches to describing the content of the language, many directions of modern. S-ki can be reduced to 2 opposing each other concepts, the essence of the cat is due to the duality of the subject S-ki. These 2 concepts can be roughly called narrow And wide. Narrow K. makes it his subject meaning of language units and linguistic expressions constructed from them. At wide K. its subject, in addition, is And meaning of linguistic expressions in the specific conditions of their use. With a narrow interpretation of S., creatures are superimposed on the object of study. restrictions. Linguists who take this position refuse to analyze the content side of speech works and are interested only in that part of the content that is encoded by the language units that make up the given. speech segment. They proceed from the fact that in order to transmit and understand such information, people. He uses only his knowledge of the language and does not refer to information about the author or to the details of a specific situation. This approach simplifies matters, since it allows you to operate with sentences isolated from the context of their use. However, the downside of such simplification is a decrease in the completeness of understanding the meaning of the statement. In accordance with this K., only complete and ideally correct sentences can be interpreted, since the interpretation of incomplete sentences (such as “When did you come to Chita?” or “Where is Vasya Ivanov?” - “Did he get sick?”) requires turning to communication situations and knowledge about the world.

11. Significative meaning

linguistic expression (or simply significat) is information about the way in which an object or situation in the world (discourse) is reflected in the consciousness of the speaker. Significat are those properties on the basis of which these objects/prints are combined into a dan. class and contrasted with members of other classes. S. resp. to the “naive” concept of the entities called by this expression.

The concept of significat can be illustrated by the example of “Mom is sleeping.” S. name Mother includes the attributes “human being”, “female”, “parent of some X”. S. verb sleep includes such properties of situations given. class as “the physical state of a living being”, “a form of recovery”, “with the maximum possible shutdown of the latter’s systems without harm to the body.” The difference between denotation and signification is especially clear. is that the same actual denotation can be denoted by linguistic expressions with different significations. So, the woman indicated in the sentence. named after Mom, in other cases it can be called Elena Sergeevna, my boss’s wife, neighbor on the floor, Minister of Culture, etc. While the denotation is similar, these linguistic expressions differ in their significative meaning, because carry information about various properties of the referent (the proper name does not communicate any properties except gender and probable nationality).

3. Formation of semantics as a self. section of linguistics

At the first stage of S.'s transformation into a science, a conscious narrowing of the object of research was justified. However, over time, with the development of science itself, it had to be overcome. And it was. When a number of researchers came to the conclusion that the subject of S. should be interpreted more broadly. Kibrik proposed to formulate this requirement as one of the postulates of modern law. linguistics - postulate about the boundaries of S.: “To the region S. (in a broad sense) regarding all the info, which the speaker means when unfolding the utterance and which must be restored by the listener for the correct interpretation of this utterance.”

It is impossible to say exactly when it began, as with many other sciences. Reflections on the meaning and function of language are characteristic of any philosophical movement generally interested in language. Therefore, the origins of semantics are often found in ancient Greek. philosophy (Plato, Aristotle). The beginning of S. as self. disciplines associated with the appearance of English works. philosopher J. Locke and belongs to the middle. 19th century The name of the discipline was proposed in 1883 by the French. linguist M. Breal (in his “Essay on S.” 1897). As a synonym in the works of Russian. and German scientists used the term semasiology.

One of the chapters. reasons that forced people to pay attention to language, yavl. misunderstanding of the interlocutor. Therefore, in the study of language, the interpretation of individual signs or entire texts—one of the main types of activities in the field of interpretation—has long held an important place. At first, scientists and philosophers discussed the connection between signs (and words consisting of them) with things (objects). The problems of grammar were further developed in the (15th century) works of philosophers and grammarians of the Renaissance. A general theory of language as a sign system was formulated. In the 17th-18th centuries. the doctrine of meaning received further development. At this time, the idea of creating an artificial “ideal” language (“alphabet of human thoughts”) - Leibniz - became popular. During the same period, scientists went beyond the study of the relationship between word and object and turned to the relationship between the sentence of a language and the thought expressed with its help. Universal grammars appear, laying the foundations for the analysis of C statements of any language from the point of view of the thought it expresses, which has a definition. logical form. At 19 – mid. 20th century S's ideas did not develop. And only since the 60s. 20th century these ideas got a second life. Specials were carried out. research to summarize all the information previously studied in this area. In the 19th century a decisive turn took place in the history of linguistics - comparative history was established. point of view on language. During this period, the meanings of words were considered in the aspect of the changes that they underwent in the course of history. In addition, the problem of the relationship between human thinking and language received new coverage.

Linguistic S. at 19 and at the beginning. 20th century was an exclusively diachronic science. Its main task was to study the change and development of the meaning of individual words. Modern linguistic S. (from the 1st half of the 20th century) is a science that is almost exclusively synchronous. In the USA, starting from the 60s, S. has been recognized as a necessary component of a full description of a language. In general, the current era of linguistic development is the era of S. (because language is a medium of communication).

4. The place of semantics in the circle of traditional linguistic disciplines

Semantics(from the Greek semantikos - mean, meaning) - the science of meaning, a branch of linguistics that studies the content of language units and those speech works that are built from these units. Semiotics is the science of signs. Divided into 3 main ones. areas: syntax, semantics and pragmatism. Semantics studies the relationship between the signifier and the signified. This understanding of S. is not entirely appropriate. definition and tasks of linguistic semantics. Linguistic S. studies, among other things, the relationships between various signifieds, but also includes pragmatic tasks and some. etc. Linguistic meaning in the traditional sense is precisely the signified of the sign, what is communicated during verbal communication.

S. problems and S. concepts are discussed within the framework of various sciences. S. yavl. an integral part of not only linguistics, but also philosophy, logic and semiotics. Moreover, the term “S.” itself is understood differently within different sciences, partly because the concept of “s.” and related concepts (“meaning”, “S. structure”, etc.) are used in other sciences, in particular. in psychology and cultural studies. The solution of private linguistic problems is possible without resorting to philosophical, logical ones. and other problems with S-ki. However, it is hardly possible to understand the development and prospects of linguistic S as a whole without knowledge of adjacent areas. Suffice it to say that such sections and branches of linguistic S as the theory of reference and the theory of speech acts arose directly. the influence of philosophical and logical science, where the discussion of these problems began much earlier than in linguistics.

A huge role for the development of modern times. Semiotics played a role in the recognition of it as a separate and important science. It was within the framework of semiotics that the fundamentals were first comprehended and defined. goals, objectives and scope of synchronous research.

In the most general terms, we can say that philosophical S. phenomena. S. linguistic methodology, and logical S. develops formal metalanguages and, in general, a formal apparatus for research and description for linguists. In actual ideological connections of “different S-tics” are sometimes so strong that it is impossible. definitely qualify this or that research. as belonging only to philosophy, only to linguistics, etc.

10. Denotative meaning.

In semiotics the following are distinguished. dimensions of semiosis: semantics (denotative and significative meaning), syntactics (syntactic meaning) and pragmatics (pragmatic meaning).

Denot. meaning linguistic expression (aka denotation) is the information it conveys about extra-linguistic reality, about the real or imaginary world we are talking about. D. value appears in the language in 2 main ways. modifications – actual and virtual. The actual denotation of a linguistic expression (referent) is the object or situation that the speaker has in mind when using this expression in speech. Virtual denotation of the phenomenon. a set of objects in the world of discourse (objects, properties, situations, etc.) that can be called a given expression.

For example, the denotation of the sentence “Mom is sleeping” will be a subset of all sleep situations occurring at the time of speech, the subjects of which are someone’s mothers.

12. Pragmatic meaning

of a linguistic expression is the information it contains about the conditions of its use - the diverse aspects of the communicative situation in which it is used. These aspects include the attitude of the speaker to the denotation of the linguistic expression (in terms of various evaluative characteristics such as “good/bad”, “many/little”, “one’s own/someone else’s”, etc.), and the relationship between the speaker and the addressee ( e.g., degree of intimacy), and the setting of communication (e.g., official/informal) and the goal that the speaker wants to achieve with the help of his statement, and many others. other parameters, one way or another connected with the “I” of the subject of speech.

5. Basic directions and schools of modern linguistic semantics

Currently vr. in linguistic S-ke noun. a number of schools, cat. with all their originality, they can be reduced to 2 main. direction, called (according to W. Quine) strong (external) And weak (internal) S-coy. Both directions They consider the subject of S-ki to mean the units of language and linguistic expressions, but the meaning is understood differently.

Strong S.- a variant of logical C - a section of logic that considers the interpretation of the languages of logical calculus on a particular model of the world. In linguistics, ideas and the apparatus of formal logic are used to interpret natural expressions. language. Representatives of this direction. believe that to describe the meaning. linguistic development means to formulate a rule, according to the cat. it can be established that resp. this is true. world. The most influential school of “strong” S-ki is formal S., main the object of study is the cat. yavl. meaning of the sentence.

Weak S. considers the meaning of linguistic expressions mental entities, belonging not to the descriptive world, but to human consciousness. Linguistic meanings are not fragments of the world, but a way of representation and reflection in consciousness. In order to understand this mode of representation, which is inaccessible to direct observation, there is no need to turn to the world itself or its model. It is enough to examine the relationships between linguistic expressions within the language itself, established by the speakers of this language without taking into account the correspondence with the real or imaginary world. In short, it is enough to study intralingual relations and restrictions and, on this basis, compare their S-type representations to linguistic expressions. Thus, with this approach, language expressions are correlated not with the world, but with other expressions in the same or another language; they are translated into S language, translated into expressions in this language.

At the core cognitive science lie some key ideas of cognitive psychology - a branch of psychology that studies the processes associated with a person’s cognition of the world: the processes of obtaining, storing and processing information. Ch. the difference between this approach and other phenomena. the desire to “harmonize” their explanations of human language with what is known about the mind and brain both from other disciplines and from linguistics.

6. General properties of a linguistic sign

Properties of natural language is determined by the goals for the cat. they are used up. And they are used basically. to perform a communicative function, i.e. to ensure communication between people. Language, like any sign, is two-sided: it is a material-ideal unit. According to tradition, the material side of the name sign. meaning, and ideal – signified. A consequence of the communicative function of language. such a property of a sign as the presence stable connection between signifier and signified. If the same signifiers did not always correspond to the same signifieds, if this connection were not fixed by social tradition, then people would not understand each other.

Dr. important sacredness of natural signs. lang-a is a well-known complexity of their structure, decomposability into smaller elements. This holy language was introduced by Andre Martinet and called it division. The sacred dismemberment of linguistic signs is dictated by the need to transmit them with their assistance. a huge number of different messages relating to every conceivable aspect of humanity. life and activities (eg traffic lights). For a limited number of messages, it is convenient to use global, undivided signals. But if the language consisted only of global signs, people would need a science fiction book. memory to remember all messages.

These 2 provisions are about the properties of signs of natures. language can be called axioms of the linguistic sign ( axiom of stability of connection between the signified and meaning in the sign, And axiom of sign structure).

One more statement can also be considered an axiom: about the asymmetry of the plan of expression and the plan of content of a linguistic sign. We are talking about the absence of a one-to-one correspondence between signifiers and signifieds: the fact that the same signifier in different cases of its use can serve to convey different signifieds and vice versa. For example, prefix behind- may mean start of action ( behind sing) and location ( Behind Volga region). Coincidence of meanings among the meanings, cat. are not recognized as interconnected, called. homonymy(get out of the forest, get out of the people, get out of a difficult situation). Identity of signifiers with a difference in signifiers. synonymy(hippopotamus - hippopotamus; bosom - sworn denotes a high degree of intensity).

A word, as is known, can be separately subjected to two aspects of consideration - synchronous and diachronic.

Let's explain with an example. During the Soviet years the word appeared concrete worker, which is fixed in the language and, for a certain historical time, actually lives in the form of multiple, multi-temporal acts of its reproduction. This - diachronic aspect. On the other hand, the same word concrete worker at each given moment of direct verbal communication in the linguistic consciousness of a native speaker is associated as a derivative word, derived from the word concrete. In this case, it is essentially unimportant how this word was actually formed when it first appeared (The latter circumstance explains the presence of facts of re-decomposition, decorrelation, etc., which precisely contain the discrepancy between the historically authentic nature of the formation of the word and its synchronous word formation qualification). The main thing here is how this word is associated and presented to native speakers now, at the moment of speech. This - synchronic aspect.

7. On the nature of the connection between the signified and the signifier

A linguistic sign, like any sign, is two-sided: it is a material-ideal unit. According to tradition coming from F. de Saussure, the material side of the sign is called. meaning(significant), and ideal – signified(signify). The thesis he formulated about the conditionality of the connection between the signified and the signified was called principle of arbitrariness of sign. One of the ways to prove the conventionality or arbitrariness of the connection between the signifier and the signifier in a linguistic sign is to indicate that the same signifier in different languages corresponds. Meanings that are completely different from each other, and vice versa, that the same sequence of sounds in different languages serves as a plan of expression for meanings that are completely different from each other (for example, meaning in Russian. The corresponding meaning in Japanese is “pit”, and in Japanese it means “mountain”). However, in addition to the connection between the sound composition and the meaning of the word noun. other types of connection between the signifier and the signifier in language.

C. Pierce built a classification of signs, basically. on differences in relationships. m/y meaning and meaning of the sign, identified 3 types of signs

1) Iconic signs characterize the actual likeness I mean and I mean. For example, gestures in the “Apple” dance, imitating rope climbing, realistic images: a dog’s face on the gate, meaning. dog in the yard. Or diagrams in the usual sense (geometric figures, symbols of certain quantities).

2) Indexes- these are signs, basic. on attitude adjacency between the meaning and the meaning in real reality. So, smoke is an index of fire, heat is an index of disease.

3) Symbols- signs, in the cat. the connection between the signifier and the signifier is established arbitrarily, by agreement. For example, traffic light signals or something. icons, math symbols (square root).

Iconic signs and indexical in total. Sometimes the name. natural or natural. The symbols are the same name. conditional, conventional.

The sign belongs to the 1st of the indicated. Classes do not have an absolute character. A sign can simultaneously contain features of iconicity and features of indexicality.

In modern In linguistics, its iconicity is no longer associated so much with individual signs, but with the structure of the language as a whole and others. aspects. Iconicity is understood as the correspondence of the structure of the language to the conceptual structure of the actual one. peace, cat formed in the consciousness of a person on the basis of experience data. Within the framework of this general concept, such varieties as isomorphism and iconic motivation are distinguished.

Isomorphism– these are the corresponding parts of the meaning and meaning. I. Language and models of the world come down to the principle of “one form - one meaning.” THEM- this is the correspondence of relations between parts of the linguistic structure and parts of the conceptual structure that reflects reality.

Conclusion: in the relationship between the signifier and the signifier, only the relationship between the sound composition of a simple non-derivative word or morpheme and its signified is arbitrary, and even then only in the synchronic aspect and without taking into account onomatopoeic signs. As for the meaning of complex signs (derivatives and complex words, phrases and prepositions), such a parameter as structure (morphological, syntactic) turns out to be not random, not arbitrarily connected with the structure of the sign, being an iconic reflection of the latter.

8. Semantic triangle

As a rule, a sign contains 4 different types of information: about some fragment of the world; about the form in which this fragment of the world is reflected in human consciousness; about the conditions under which this sign must be burned; about how it is connected with other signs.

Philosophers and linguists who reflected on the phenomenon of the sign often used geom to represent its structure. figures. These figures can be raasm. like some kind of graphic sign models.

The first to become widespread. graphic the model of the sign was the so-called " N triangle" or "triug. reference" by Ogden and Richards (1923):

concept

meaning referent (subject)

It displays a known position: the form of the linguistic symbol. “thing” by means of a “concept” associated with form in the minds of L1 speakers. This simplified scheme ignores a number of important semiotic factors and allows us to consider a narrow understanding of “meaning”. One of them is called. substantial– in it, meaning appears as a material or ideal substance. Other – relational, meaning is interpreted as a relationship (between substances).

At substance understanding the meaning is identified with one of the vertices of the triangle, representing the information conveyed by the sign. This variant of S-whom treug-ka in relation to the word was proposed by G. Stern.

meaning

expresses subjective

understanding

word refer-t (subject)

J. Lyons offers a very similar figure, with the difference that word moved outside the triangle, which more accurately reflects the nature of the word as a sign (a two-sided entity).

meaning (concept)

referent form

G. Frege called meaning to each other, the vertex of the triangle, which relates to extra-linguistic reality, and not to its reflection in the consciousness of the speaker - the vertex, which in modern times. linguistic S-ke designation the term "denotation":

Sinn (= meaning)

(= value)

So, it became clear that with the help of graphic models of a sign it is possible to demonstrate the use of the term “meaning” found in works on semantics to denote one or another aspect of the information contained in a linguistic sign.

9. Actual, virtual meaning.

Types of values, distinguished by degree of generality

Dan. the aspect of the typology of meanings is associated with the opposition of two hypostases of language - language as a system and language as an activity. Let us first consider how types of meanings of different degrees of generality can be identified in a word. Eg. word fire. If the speaker pronounces this word without any... the listener learns very little context. The information value of such a message is very good. small, but the listener still learned something. What he knows matches the meaning of the word fire in the language system, cat. called virtual value. But listen. does not yet know what kind of fire we are talking about (fire, candle flame, artillery fuse or metaphorical “fire boils in the blood”). That. virtual value. in its volume it is extended, abstract, manifest. the most undefined. At the same time, VZ socially. Knowing only it, native speakers have little, but this is a little phenomenon. common to all people belonging to one linguistic community.

When a linguistic expression (word or sentence) in speech is considered, its meaning is specific, because every speaker or listener. invests quite clearly. content in what he says or perceives. So, if in natural situation word fire will be used as part of a holistic communication. units - a sentence (narp., Put out the fire), which appears in the definition. linguistic and situational context, then the information conveyed by it will be much more defined And concrete. This actual value. AZ is associated with a minimal (up to zero) degree of generalization of the information transmitted by it, and virtual. meaning - with max. AZ and OT of a linguistic sign are dialectically interconnected. VZ serves as a semantic basis for actual meanings.

The meanings of the preposition are the same as the meaning. units of lower levels - words and morphemes - have 2 modifications - virtual and actual. Oh virtual. zn. preposition I say when it is considered. out of context.

INTRODUCTION

The achievement of linguistics of the 20th century is the idea of language as a system and lexical meaning as a structure. The idea of lexical meaning as a structure was first expressed by L. Hjelmslev, who wrote about the possibility of decomposing meanings as units of content into figures - constituent elements that have no correlates in terms of expression.

The relevance of the work is determined by the importance of the chosen LSG in the study of linguistic pictures of the world of different languages, and the insufficient level of study of the selected linguistic units in the languages studied.

The subject of the study is the semantic features of the names of vehicles in English.

The purpose of the study is to study the semantic features of vehicle names in English.

To achieve this goal, it is necessary to solve the following problems:

1) determine the range of theoretical issues related to the research problem;

2) formulate the main provisions necessary for the analysis of practical material;

3) formulate a sample corpus and classify the data of the empirical material;

4) determine the main features, structure

5) identify and describe the main semantic features of the names of vehicles.

To solve the problems posed in the work, the following research methods are used: component analysis, quantitative comparative analysis.

The practical material for the study was the data obtained as a result of a continuous sample from the monolingual English dictionary `Longman Advanced American Dictionary'. In total, the sample size was 220 units naming vehicles.

This work consists of an Introduction, two chapters, a Conclusion and a List of References.

The introduction substantiates the relevance of the topic and defines the object and goals of our research. Chapter I discusses the basic theoretical principles necessary for further analysis of vehicle names.

Chapter II analyzes selected lexical-semantic groups of vehicle names and examines their semantic features.

The Conclusion formulates the conclusions of this course work and presents the results of the study.

THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS FOR STUDYING THE SEMANTICS OF A WORD

Semantics as a branch of linguistics

Semantics, in the broad sense of the word, is the analysis of the relationship between linguistic expressions and the world, real or imaginary, as well as this relationship itself (cf. an expression like the semantics of a word) and the totality of such relationships (so, we can talk about the semantics of a certain language). This relationship is that linguistic expressions (words, phrases, sentences, texts) denote what is in the world - objects, qualities (or properties), actions, methods of performing actions, relationships, situations and their sequences. The term "semantics" is derived from a Greek root associated with the idea of "designation" (cf. semantikos "denoting"). The relationship between natural language expressions and the real or imaginary world is studied by linguistic semantics, which is a branch of linguistics. Semantics is also one of the sections of formal logic that describes the relationship between expressions of artificial formal languages and their interpretation in a certain model of the world.

Semantics, as a branch of linguistics, answers the question of how a person, knowing the words and grammatical rules of any natural language, is able to convey with their help a wide variety of information about the world (including his own inner world), even if he encounters them for the first time with such a task, and to understand what information about the world contains any statement addressed to him, even if he hears it for the first time.

The semantic component has long been recognized as a necessary part of a complete description of a language - grammar. Different theories of language make their contribution to the formation of general principles of semantic description. For example, for generative grammars, the principles of constructing a semantic component were laid down by American linguists J. Katz and J. Fodor and further developed by R. Jackendoff, and, say, for grammars (models) of the “Meaning - Text” type, the corresponding component was developed by representatives of the Moscow semantic school: Yu .D. Apresyan, A.K. Zholkovsky, I.A. Melchuk and others. The semantic component necessarily includes a dictionary (lexicon), in which it is reported about each word what it means, i.e. each word is compared with its meaning in a given language, and the rules for combining (interaction) the meanings of words, according to which the meaning of more complex constructions, especially sentences, is formed from them.

The idea of the structure of meaning and the development of a communicative approach to the meaning of a word required the expansion of existing ideas about the scope of the meaning of a word. The so-called differential principle of identifying the components of meaning leads to the creation of a differential model of meaning, which assumes that meaning consists of a small number of components identified in systemic paradigmatic oppositions. This model, which confirms the hypothesis of the structural division of meaning, is insufficient at the current level of development of semasiology, since it reveals the irreducibility of actually functioning, “speech” meaning to a small number of semantic components.

An alternative approach includes in the concept of meaning all semantic features that stand out in a word - nuclear and peripheral. The need for a transition to integral semasiology was justified by research in various fields of theoretical and applied linguistics, based, in turn, on the understanding of meaning as a reflective phenomenon. The reflective concept of meaning assumes that meaning reflects a wide range of features, more or less significant, that appear in an object in different situations. Of great importance is the question of what meaning is to be described in linguistics. In its decision, one should focus on the meanings presented in the psyche of native speakers: “Semantic components, their set and interpretation should not cross the line of perception of the average native speaker, since otherwise the very purpose of this description, aimed primarily at a native speaker, is lost and the user of the language.” In linguistics, a systemic or general linguistic meaning is subject to description, which “should be understood as the coinciding part of the semantic competencies of all native speakers,” not excluding scientific and everyday knowledge, to the extent that they are generally known. It is this meaning that ensures mutual understanding between native speakers in the process of communication.

The understanding of language as a system in modern linguistics is concretized in the concept of a field model of language. In modern linguistics, a field is understood as “a set of linguistic (mainly lexical) units, united by a commonality of content (sometimes also by a commonality of formal indicators) and reflecting the conceptual, objective, similarity of the designated phenomena.”

The meaning of a word in the dictionary is described using a dictionary definition, or interpretation, which is an expression in the same natural language or in an artificial semantic language specially developed for this purpose, in which the meaning of the interpreted word is presented in more detail (explicitly) and, ideally , strictly.

The semantic component of a complete description of a language is a model of that part of language knowledge that is associated with the relationship between words and the world. In this model, empirically established phenomena such as equivalence (synonymy), ambiguity (polysemy), semantic anomaly (including inconsistency and tautology) of linguistic expressions should be explained. So, it is easy to check that the sentence is for all Russian speakers.

The word semantics comes from the ancient Greek language: σημαντικός sēmantikos, which means “significant”, and as a term it was first used by the French philologist and historian Michel Bréal.

Semantics is the science that studies the meaning of words(lexical semantics), many individual letters (in ancient alphabets), sentences - semantic phrases and texts. It is close to other disciplines such as semiology, logic, psychology, communication theory, stylistics, philosophy of language, linguistic anthropology and symbolic anthropology. A set of terms that have a common semantic factor is called a semantic field.

What is semantics

This science studies linguistic and philosophical meaning language, programming languages, formal logics, semiotics and conducts text analysis. It is related by:

with meaning words;
words;
phrases;
signs;
symbols and what they mean, their designation.

The problem of understanding has been the subject of much inquiry for a long period of time, but the subject has been dealt with mostly by psychologists rather than by linguists. But only in linguistics the interpretation of signs or symbols is studied, used in communities under certain circumstances and contexts. In this view, sounds, facial expressions, body language and proxemics have semantic (meaningful) content, and each of them includes several compartments. In written language, things like paragraph structure and punctuation contain semantic content.

Formal analysis of semantics intersects with many other areas of study, including:

lexicology;
syntax;
pragmatism;
etymology and others.

It goes without saying that the definition of semantics is also a well-defined field in its own right, often with synthetic properties. In philosophy of language, semantics and reference are closely related. Further related fields include philology, communications and semiotics.

Semantics contrasts with syntax, the study of the combinatorics of language units (without reference to their meaning) and pragmatics, the study of the relationships between the symbols of a language, their meaning, and the users of the language. The field of study in this case also has significant connections with various representational theories of meaning, including veritable theories of meaning, coherence theories of meaning, and correspondence theories of meaning. Each of them is associated with a general philosophical study of reality and the presentation of meaning.

Linguistics

In linguistics, semantics is subfield dedicated to the study of meaning, inherent in the levels of words, phrases, sentences and broader units of discourse (text or narrative analysis). The study of semantics is also closely related to the subjects of representation, reference and designation. The main research here is focused on studying the meaning of signs and studying the relationships between various linguistic units and compounds such as:

homonymy;
synonymy;
antonymy
metonymy;

The key problem is how to give more meaning to large chunks of text as a result of the composition of smaller units of meaning.

Montag grammar

In the late 1960s, Richard Montague (Semantics Wikipedia) proposed a system for defining semantic records in terms of lambda calculus. Montagu showed that the meaning of a text as a whole can be decomposed into the meanings of its parts and into relatively small rules of combination. The concept of such semantic atoms or primitives is fundamental for the language of the mental hypothesis of the 1970s.

Despite its elegance, Montague's grammar was limited by context-dependent variability in word meaning and led to several attempts to incorporate context.

For Montague, language is not a set of labels attached to things, but a set of tools, the importance of the elements of which lies in how they function, not in their attachment to things.

A specific example of this phenomenon is semantic ambiguity, meanings are not complete without some elements of context. No word has a meaning that can be identified independently of what else is in its vicinity.

Formal semantics

Derived from Montagu's work. A highly formalized theory of natural language semantics in which expressions are assigned labels (meanings), such as individuals, truth values, or functions from one to another. The truth of a sentence and, more interestingly, its logical relation to other sentences, is then assessed relative to the text.

True-conditional semantics

Another formalized theory created by philosopher Donald Davidson. The purpose of this theory is associating each natural language sentence with a description of the conditions under which it is true eg: "snow is white" is true if and only if snow is white. The task is to arrive at true conditions for any sentences from fixed meanings assigned to individual words and fixed rules for combining them.

In practice, conditional semantics is similar to an abstract model; Conceptually, however, they differ in that true-conditional semantics seeks to relate language to statements about the real world (in the form of metalingual utterances) rather than to abstract models.

Conceptual semantics

This theory is an attempt to explain the properties of argument structure. The assumption underlying this theory is that the syntactic properties of phrases reflect the meanings of the words that head them.

Lexical semantics

Linguistic theory that examines the meaning of a word. This theory understands that the meaning of a word is completely reflected in its context. Here the meaning of a word lies in its contextual relations. That is, any part of a sentence that makes sense and is combined with the meanings of other components is designated as a semantic component.

Computational semantics

Computational semantics focuses on the processing of linguistic meaning. Specific algorithms and architecture are described for this purpose. Within this framework, algorithms and architectures are also analyzed in terms of decidability, time/space complexity, required data structures and communication protocols.

Artificial semantics is a group of search keywords and phrases for creating content, i.e. creation of a semantic core, which can draw attention to the content or increase traffic to a web resource, etc. Basically, artificial semantics or text semantics are used to create content and advertising.

Semantics online

In computer science, the term semantics refers to the meaning of language constructs, as opposed to their form (syntax). She provides rules for interpreting syntax, which does not give a meaning directly, but constrains possible interpretations of what is declared. In ontology technology, the term refers to the meaning of concepts, properties, and relationships that formally represent real-world objects, events, and scenes in a logical approach, such as description logic typically implemented on the Internet.

The meaning of the concepts of description logic and roles is determined by their model-theoretic semantics based on interpretations. Concepts, properties and relationships defined in ontologies can be deployed directly in website markup, in graph databases in the form of triggers. The semantics of programming languages and other languages is an important problem and area of study in computer science. Various ways have been developed to describe programming languages formally, based on mathematical logic.

Semantic models

Online semantics refers to the expansion of the World Wide Web through implementation of added metadata using semantic data modeling methods. In the semantic web, terms such as semantic web and semantic data model are used to describe specific types of data model characterized by the use of directed graphs in which vertices represent concepts or entities of the world and their properties, and arcs denote relationships between them.

In the web, word analysis, link structure and network decomposition are few and include part, kind and similar links. In automated ontologies, links are computed as vectors without an explicit meaning. Various automated technologies are being developed to calculate the meaning of words: latent semantic indexing and vector support machines, as well as natural language processing, neural networks and predicate calculus methods.

Psychology

In psychology, semantic memory is memory for meaning - in other words, the aspect of memory that keeps only the essence, the general meaning of a remembered experience, while episodic memory is memory for ephemeral details - individual features or unique features of an experience. The term "episodic memory" was coined by Tulwig and Schacter in the context of "declarative memory", which involved the simple integration of factual or objective information about an object.

Memories may be passed down through generations or isolated to one generation due to cultural destruction. Different generations may have different experiences at similar points in their own timelines. This can create a vertically heterogeneous semantic network for certain words in a homogeneous culture.

Clarified questions:

Meaning and meaning. 2 aspects of content.
2 concepts of semantics: narrow, broad.
The formation of semantics as an independent branch of linguistics.
The place of semantics in the circle of traditional linguistic disciplines.
Main directions and schools of modern linguistic semantics.
General properties of a linguistic sign.
On the nature of the connection between the signified and the signified.
Semantic triangle.
Actual, virtual meaning.
Denotative meaning.
Significative meaning.
Pragmatic meaning.
Connotative meaning.

13. Connotative meaning.

K. is also determined by linguistic and cultural specifics. For example, the Russian word has very bright K. mother-in-law.

Three types of such primary connections can be distinguished:

- referential, establishing reference relationships for objects designated in the text, as well as between text objects and entities available in the knowledge base;

Temporary;

Situational connections.

In the text, the referential relation can be specified:

· “objectively”, when the interpretation (lexical meaning) of the name coincides with the meaning of the name in the text;

· pronoun or place word (anaphor);

· metonymic shift, when the designated “participant” of the situation is given the name of some other participant in this situation;

· metaphor.

1. Meaning and meaning. 2 aspects of content

Conclusion: meaning And meaning in the minds of language speakers there are 2 close, but not identical concepts, cat. You can define the following:

2. Two concepts of semantics: narrow, broad

11. Significative meaning

3. Formation of semantics as a self. section of linguistics

4. The place of semantics in the circle of traditional linguistic disciplines

10. Denotative meaning.

In semiotics the following are distinguished. dimensions of semiosis: semantics (denotative and significative meaning), syntactics (syntactic meaning) and pragmatics (pragmatic meaning).

For example, the denotation of the sentence “Mom is sleeping” will be a subset of all sleep situations occurring at the time of speech, the subjects of which are someone’s mothers.

12. Pragmatic meaning

5. Basic directions and schools of modern linguistic semantics

6. General properties of a linguistic sign

A word, as is known, can be separately subjected to two aspects of consideration - synchronous and diachronic.

7. On the nature of the connection between the signified and the signifier

C. Pierce built a classification of signs, basically. on differences in relationships. m/y meaning and meaning of the sign, identified 3 types of signs

2) Indexes- these are signs, basic. on attitude adjacency between the meaning and the meaning in real reality. So, smoke is an index of fire, heat is an index of disease.

Iconic signs and indexical in total. Sometimes the name. natural or natural. The symbols are the same name. conditional, conventional.

The sign belongs to the 1st of the indicated. Classes do not have an absolute character. A sign can simultaneously contain features of iconicity and features of indexicality.

8. Semantic triangle

Philosophers and linguists who reflected on the phenomenon of the sign often used geom to represent its structure. figures. These figures can be raasm. like some kind of graphic sign models.

The first to become widespread. graphic the model of the sign was the so-called " N triangle" or "triug. reference" by Ogden and Richards (1923):

meaning referent (subject)

meaning

expresses subjective

understanding

word refer-t (subject)

J. Lyons offers a very similar figure, with the difference that word moved outside the triangle, which more accurately reflects the nature of the word as a sign (a two-sided entity).

meaning (concept)

referent form

Sinn (= meaning)

(= value)

9. Actual, virtual meaning.

Types of values, distinguished by degree of generality

Between two poles there is an act. and Wirth. meanings - we can distinguish an intermediate stage - relatively actualized, or usual meaning. It's natural. is distinguished in this way for words and morphemes, but not for sentences. This is a meaning associated with something. class of homogeneous uses. All uses of a word or morpheme can be broken down into nex. Classes of homogeneous usage, and within each class a word or morpheme is recognized as having the same “meaning.” The ability to recognize the sameness of “meaning” in 2 different. uses of yavl. part of the linguistic ability of native speakers.