Daniel Montaño Crivelli: Language Systems.

28/04/2020

3rd Major Assignment: 16-4-2020

Answer the following questions as fully as possible – but in your own words.

1. What is denotation or denotative meaning? Provide examples.

Denotation is the literal meaning of a word. The denotative meaning is straight forward. I

will put an example: window. The denotative meaning of window is an opening in the wall.

E.g. I looked kids playing through the window. Another example: house. The denotative

meaning of house is a building where people live in. Denotative meaning conveys the exact

idea, without aiming to mean something else.

2. What is this kind of meaning usually contrasted with? Provide examples.

Denotation is contrasted with connotation. Connotation is the associate meaning of a word.

The implications of using determined words such as emotional weight, social factors, etc.

E.g. To learn a language is to have one more window from which to look at the world. In

this case, the connotative meaning of window is perspective. We are not referring literally

to an opening in the wall, as I mentioned in the previous part.

I shall emphasize that words do not always convey exact meaning, instead they

suggest (connote) additional ideas. I will write another example: Imagine a couple of lovers

having a good relationship. Suddenly, one of them claims we need to talk. The denotative

meaning of that phrase is simple: One person feels the necessity to hold a conversation with

the other. But that same phrase can connotate other meaning: they need to talk because

something is wrong, and they will break up.

Roger A. Dunne: Sistemas Lingüísticos, Sección 402, 16-4-20

 Daniel Montaño Crivelli: Language Systems. 28/04/2020

Connotation is heavily relied on for writing poetry as it conveys suggestive,

complex, and fresh ideas. Moreover, it is a consequence of evolution of language over time.

Like the changes undergone by words. Some of them acquired positive connotation and

others negative connotation.

Gay – This word is an adjective and the meaning of it is happy or bright and

attractive. However, nowadays is associated with the homosexual community. In that case

which is the denotative meaning? The first mentioned? The latter? At this point, it results a

bit confusing, but I think that the first meaning (happy or bright and attractive) is the

denotative meaning. Later on, people started associating it with the homosexual behaviour.

Thus, the phrase Daniel, you are so gay! denotates positive features (happiness, brightness,

attractiveness), but due to the current usage (connotation), can be understood as offensive.

Follower – before it was used for your supporters or sympathisers, people who

shared your ideology. Nowadays is used to refer to the people watching your activity on the

internet.

3. One way of determining the basic meaning of a word is what is known as semantic
feature analysis. What does this consist of? Provide examples.

I found several articles on the internet that approached the semantic feature analysis (SFA)

as a treatment for people with aphasia, a medical condition in which the affected cannot

think about words easily. People with aphasia have communication difficulties; they cannot

find the correct word. Thus, in order to treat this, they use SFA.

However, we will deviate from that definition because in this context it would not

be accurate. The idea is pretty simple. We accede to a language lexicon by semantic

Roger A. Dunne: Sistemas Lingüísticos, Sección 402, 16-4-20

 Daniel Montaño Crivelli: Language Systems. 28/04/2020

network activation. All the vocabulary in our mind is connected and gathered by semantic

webs. Instead of thinking about the lexical item on its own, we first think about its

semantical features and their relations with other similar terms. i.e. its properties, features

like colour, smell, function, etc. When we receive enough information of the key elements

of a lexical unit, we produce it. E.g. Let us analyse the semantic features of the word apple.

It is a fruit, it has skin, it has seeds, it grows on trees, and it is used for cider. The

information given by its semantic features is closely related with other lexical items. There

are a lot of fruits with skin, seeds, and grown on trees. In fact, the feature that is distinctive

of apple is that it is used for cider.

Moreover, SFA helps us to identify and explore the interrelationship of terms. We

can make charts in order to have a visual guide and master our comprehension of

vocabulary (as in the example below). This procedure is what helps people affected with

aphasia. They are not able to produce certain lexical items. Thus, in therapy the rely on

clues in order to exercise word retrieval. What is it used for? How does it look like?

Semantic feature analysis chart. From :

Roger A. Dunne: Sistemas Lingüísticos, Sección 402, 16-4-20

 Daniel Montaño Crivelli: Language Systems. 28/04/2020

4. Another way of doing this is through prototype theory. Provide examples of this and
explain how it is different from semantic field analysis.

There are categories. As I stated before, when we want to accede to a certain lexical

unit, we first think on their relationship with other units. The thing here is the way in which

we gather information. Prototype theory claims that meaning exists in relation with natural

categories (concepts). At the same time those concepts are based on specific artifacts. In

this theory, there is not an analysis of features. There are prototypes instead, an entity that

best represents the concept. E.g. Imagine I ask for an example of a musical instrument. It is

most likely that people answer guitar or violin more times than, piccolo or balalaika. There

is a prototype of musical instrument in our minds, a standard of what musical instrument

looks like. Thus, all the objects and ideas of instruments are related to it.

Moreover, the categories overlap with one another because there is not a clear

border that defines where a category ends and where the other starts. E.g. The concept of

musical instrument overlaps with the concept of music, playing music, sound, and

musician. There are basic categories. For example, dog is a basic category of species.

6. What is the technical difference between homonymy and polysemy? Provide examples.

Words convey meaning, but one word can convey more than one sense. Homonymy (as

mentioned by the Dr Nimer Abusalim in his YouTube video [link below]) is when two

words are either spelled the same or pronounced the same, but their meanings are not

related. E.g. Bank. The word bank can refer to the establishment in which you save your

money I need to go to the bank now, but also to the land alongside or sloping down to a

river or lake I walk along the river bank. The first concept has nothing to do with the latter.

Roger A. Dunne: Sistemas Lingüísticos, Sección 402, 16-4-20

 Daniel Montaño Crivelli: Language Systems. 28/04/2020

Thus, the meanings are not related, just the phonetic production and the written form are.

When two words sound the same but have different meaning, they are called Homophones.

E.g. Knight and night. When two words are similar in its written form, but have different

pronunciation and meaning, they are called Homographs. E.g. House, the noun /haʊs/, and

house, the verb /haʊz/.

On the other hand, Polysemy is one word that has related meanings. As well as

mentioned in the previous paragraph, those meanings can be similar in its written or spoken

form (or both), the difference is that their meanings are related by etymology or semantic

content. In words of Amanda McCaughren:

In polysemy meanings are usually etymologically and semantically related and have

often at one point been used in metaphors. In homonymy, they are etymologically

unrelated. A homonym is a word that has the same pronunciation and spelling as

another word but has a different meaning. (McCaughren, A. 2009)

An example of polysemy could be plain because it can be a noun (a flat area of land) Hight

mountains rise above the plain, an adjective (something that is not decorated or something

pretty obvious) She wore a plain black dress. Both meanings of plain are related, they

provide the idea of simplicity, soberness, avoiding irregularity.

Roger A. Dunne: Sistemas Lingüísticos, Sección 402, 16-4-20

 Daniel Montaño Crivelli: Language Systems. 28/04/2020

References

Abusalim, Nimer (2017) SEMANTICS-16: Sense Relations (Homonymy vs Polysemy).

YouTube video. Saved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x83Kc9APtvI

Amanda McCaughren (2009) Polysemy and Homonymy and their Importance for the Study
of Word Meaning. The : Vol 10: Iss. 1, Art. 7. Saved from:
https://arrow.tudublin.ie/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1124&context=itbj

Efstratiadou, Evangelia-Antonia & Papathanasiou, Ilias & Holland, Rachel & Archonti,
Anastasia & Hilari, Katerina. (2018). A Systematic Review of Semantic Feature
Analysis Therapy Studies for Aphasia. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing
Research. 61. 1-18. 10.1044/2018_jslhr-l-16-0330. From:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324629937_A_Systematic_Review_of_Se
mantic_Feature_Analysis_Therapy_Studies_for_Aphasia/

Roger A. Dunne: Sistemas Lingüísticos, Sección 402, 16-4-20