Lecture 8

MEANING

Models of the linguistic sign

I. Saussures approach
-language is a system of signs, sign and system are mutually conditioning, since a sign only derives its value from within the system on the basis of its relation to other signs. -the linguistic sign itself has two sides: a given notion (concept) that is associated in the brain with a certain phonic image (acoustic image). -the linguistic sign is binary, since it consists of two parts. -meaning (content) = a concept and therefore a mental entity.
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II.Ogden and Richards Semiotic Triangle

THOUGHT (reference)

SYMBOL (word)

(thing) REFERENT

Figure 2. Ogden and Richards triangle of signification

sign

concept -----------acoustic image

flower ----------FLOWER

-------------FLOWER

THE MEANING OF SIGNS

-Ogden and Richards' book entitled The Meaning of Meaning (published in 1949) where a list of 22 definitions of meaning is given. -John Lyons (1977, quoted in Lipka, 1990:46) distinguishes three kinds of meaning, namely descriptive meaning, social meaning and expressive meaning. For him, these are correlated with the descriptive, social and expressive functions of language. - Geoffrey Leech (1981) (quoted in Lipka, 1990:46) identifies meaning in the widest sense with communicative value. This comprehensive notion can be split up into three groups: 1. sense 2. associative meaning and 3. thematic meaning. The second category may itself be further divided into a number of subgroups, as shown in the following diagram: 1. conceptual meaning (sense) MEANING = a. connotative m. communicative 2. associative meaning b. stylistic m. value c. affective m. d. reflected m. e. collocative m. 3. thematic meaning Figure 3. Leech's classification of meaning
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CAUSES OF CHANGING OF MEANING

a) The influence of context: irrespective of its length, a new combination of words would exercise and spread an influence over the neighbouring words. Words are not isolated in human speech; they are connected and interconnected within the framework of sentences, i.e. organised lexical phonetical grammatical structures expressing our thoughts and feelings. Context: - general sense extralinguistic factors such as gestures, concrete situations, the social background of the speaker, etc.; - strict linguistic sense a determiner, phrase, sentence, passage or paragraph, which is so closely connected to a word as to affect its meaning. WORK = munc, efort fizic a. He gets good money for his work. b. His work is strenuous. (munc) c. A womans work is never done. (trebluial) d. What sort of work do you do? e. He went out to look for work. (lucru) f. Is he at home or at work? (serviciu) g. Get down to work! (treab, lucru) h. Shakespeares work is known all over the world. (oper)
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b) Stress By placing stress on different syllables of identical strings of sounds we can get different meanings of words belonging to different word classes. Thus, stress will differentiate -verbs from nouns, as in: im`port (vb) vs. `import (n) re`bel vs. `rebel miscon`duct vs. mis`conduct pro`ject vs. `project -nouns from adjectives, as in: `August (n) vs. au`gust (adj) `minute vs. mi`nute.

c) The process of passing from concrete to abstract CONCRETE a.TO GO: to proceed, to pass along, to move, to leave, to depart b.TO GO: to fail, to collapse, to give way ABSTRACT c.TO GO: to harmonize

d)

The process of passing from particular to general

FAMILY: - parents and children PARTICULAR -a group of persons connected by blood or marriage -a group of persons forming a household - any class or group of similar or related things GENERAL

e) Analogy (association)
stage I: originally, a word has a certain form (n) and a certain meaning (S): S (sense/meaning)

n (name) stage II: in the course of time, the linguistic item acquires a second meaning: S + S1 S S1

n (polysemous word)

n (change of meaning)
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DIRECTIONS

IN WHICH CHANGES OF MEANING OCCUR a) extension (generalization, widening) of meaning; b) narrowing (specialization).

Range:

Evaluation: c) elevation (amelioration): d) degradation (pejoration) of meaning.

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a) Extension of meaning = the sense may expand to include more referents than it formerly had

Contemporary ='belonging to the same time or period; modern, fashionable, up-to-date. Place (Latin platea), originally meant broad street a part of space any locality. Fee : Anglo-Saxon feoh (cattle)= one of the main means of making payments fees such as those to physicians, lawyers, etc. to escape = to get out of ones clothing, to lose ones cape while fleeing; nowadays to get oneself free from confinement or control.
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b) Narrowing of meaning = the process by which a word of extensive usage is restricted to a special object (it becomes 'specialized').The referential scope of the word is reduced.

- Channel = The Channel = the English Channel if used by English people. - River = a large amount of water that flows towards the sea; the River = the Thames (if in London), the Dimbovita (if in Bucharest) - Garage =any safe place; nowadays = the place where cars are kept.

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d) Degradation of meaning = the process according to which neutral words acquire deprecatory meaning. Hussy was once a perfectly respectable housewife, and 'wench' just meant 'young woman', but both terms now connote a woman of loose morals. Villain =a peasant French term 'villein' Latin villa, meaning farm-house; a slave attached to ones toiling place a term of contempt and was used in connection with a person who did not belong to the gentry a low fellow . Silly (derived from the German selig or the Anglo-Saxon soelig) = happy, poor, innocent; at present = foolish, stupid. Tart was a term of endearment: the girl was sweet like a jam-tart. Among the Cockneys in the 1860s it was a term of approval applied to a woman. Little ones were called tartlets. Australia = a sweetheart; pejorative meaning around 1900.

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d) Elevation of meaning = the process by which a word acquires a higher status than it initially had

Knight (Old English cniht) originally meant boy; nowadays it refers to 'man awarded a nonhereditary title (Sir) by a sovereign'. Minister was used initially to refer to a servant, whereas now it means an important public official. Nice ise derived from the Latin nescius meaning ignorant. The Old French nice meant foolish/simple. Nowadays the word means agreeable, delightful.
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