Chapter 5
Meaning

1．Define the following terms.

conceptual meaning：This is the first type of meaning recognized by Leech，which he defined as the logical，cognitive，or denotative content．In other words，it overlaps to a large extent with the notion of reference．But Leech also uses“sense”as a briefer term for his conceptual meaning．As a result，Leech's conceptual meaning has two sides：sense and reference.

denotation：In the philosophers' usage，denotation involves the relationship between a linguistic unit and the non-linguistic entities to which it refers．Thus it is equivalent to referential meaning．For example，the denotation of human is any person such as John and Mary.

connotation：In the philosophers' usage，connotation，opposite to denotation，means the properties of the entity a word denotes．For example，the connotation of human is“biped”，“featherless”，“rational”，etc.

reference：Reference is concerned with the relation between a word and the thing it refers to，or more generally between a linguistic unit and a non-linguistic entity it refers to.

sense：In contrast to reference，sense may be defined as the semantic relations between one word and another，or more generally between one linguistic unit and another．It is concerned with the intralinguistic relations.

synonoymy：Synonymy is the technical name for one of the sense relations between linguistic units，namely the sameness relation.

gradable antonymy：Gradable antonomy is the sense relation between two antonyms which differ in terms of degree．There is an intermediate ground between the two．The denial of one is not necessarily the assertion of the other．Something which is not“good”is not necessarily“bad”．It may simply be“so-so”or“average”.

complementary antonomy：Complementary antonomy is the sense relation between two antonyms which are complementary to each other．That is，they divide up the whole of a semantic field completely．Not only the assertion of one means the denial of the other，the denial of one also means the assertion of the other．Not only He is alive means“He is not dead”，He is not alive also means“He is dead”.

converse antonymy：Converse antonymy is a special type of antonymy in that the members of a pair do not constitute a positive-negative opposition．They show the reversal of a relationship between two entities．X buys something from Y means the same as Y sells something to X．X is the parent of Y means the same as Y is the child of X．It is the same relationship seen from two different angles.

relational opposites：This is another name for converse antonyms．As converse antonymy is typically seen in reciprocal social roles，kinship relations，temporal and spatial relations，these antonyms are also known as relational opposites.

hyponymy：Hyponymy，the technical name for inclusiveness sense relation，is a matter of class membership．For example，the meaning of desk is included in that of furniture，and the meaning of rose is included in that of flower.

superordinate：The upper term in hyponymy，i.e．the class name，is called superordinate，and the lower terms，the members，hyponyms．A superordinate usually has several hyponyms．Under flower，for example，there are peony，jasmine，chrysanthemum，tulip，violet，carnation and many others apart from rose.

semantic components：Semantic components，or semantic features，are semantic units smaller than the meaning of a word．For example，the meaning of the word boy may be analysed into three components：HUMAN，YOUNG and MALE.

compositionality：Compositionality refers to the principle that the meaning of a sentence depends on the meanings of the constituent words and the way they are combined.

propositional logic：Propositional logic，also known as propositional calculus or sentential calculus，is the study of the truth conditions for propositions：how the truth of a ‘composite'proposition is determined by the truth value of its constituent propositions and the connections between them.

proposition：A proposition is what is expressed by a declarative sentence when that sentence is uttered to make a statement.

predicate logic：Predicate logic，also called predicate calculus，studies the internal structure of simple propositions．In this logical system，propositions like Socrates is a man will be analyzed into two parts：argument and predicate．An argument is a term which refers to some entity about which a statement is being made．And a predicate is a term which ascribes some property，or relation，to the entity，or entities，referred to．In the proposition Socrates is a man，therefore，Socrates is the argument and man is the predicate.

logical connective：A logical connective is a logical element which helps to construct a composite proposition on the basis of simple proposition（s）．There are 5 usual logical connectives：the negative connective ～，the conjunctive ＆，the disjunctive connective ∨，the implicational（or conditional）connective → and the equivalent（or biconditonal）connective ≡.

2．Read the following passage from Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll，and discuss the meaning of mean in it.

“Don't stand chattering to yourself like that，“ Humpty Dumpty said，looking at her for the first time，“but tell me your name and your business.”

“My name is Alice，but—”

“It's a stupid name enough！”Humpty Dumpty interrupted impatiently.“What does it mean？”

“Must a name mean something？”Alice asked doubtfully.

“Of course it must，“ Humpty Dumpty said with a short laugh：“my name means the shape I am—and a handsome shape it is，too．With a name like yours，you might be any shape，almost.”

This“mean”means“refer to”．This is the way in which“mean”is used in the referential theory of meaning.

3．Analyse the poem below from the semantic point of view，taking a special account of sense relations.

Coloured

This poem is about the use of the word“coloured”．The author cleverly makes use of“coloured”in the sense of“different colours”to oppose the practive to refer to black people as“coloured”．This shows from another point of view that“coloured”is not a superordinate to“red”，“green”，“yellow”，etc.

4．Do the following according the requirements.

（a）Write out the synonyms of the following words：

youth；automobile；remember；purchase；vacation；big

（b）Give the antonyms of the following words，and point out in which aspect the two of each pair are opposite：

dark，boy，hot，go

（c）Provide two or more related meanings for the following：

bright，to glare，a deposit，plane

（a）youth（adolescent）；automobile（car）；remember（recall）；purchase（buy）；vacation（holidays）；big（large）

（b）dark（light：with respect to brightness）

boy（girl：with respect to sex）

hot（cold：with respect to temperature）

go（come：with respect to direction）

（c）bright（a．shining；b．intelligent）

to glare（a．to shine intensely；b．to stare angrily）

a deposit（a．minerals in the earth；b．money in the bank）

plane（a．a flying vehicle；b．a flat surface）

5．Some people maintain that there are no true synonyms．If two words mean really the same，one of them will definitely die out．An example often quoted is the disuse of the word“wireless”，which has been replaced by“radio”．Do you agree？In general what type of meaning we are talking about when we say two words are synonymous with each other？

It is true that there are no absolute synonyms．When we say two words are synonymous with each other，we usually mean they have the same conceptual meaning.

6．In the text，we did not mention antonyms like“friendly：unfriendly”，“honest：dishonest”，“normal：abnormal”，“frequent：infrequent”，“logical：illogical”and“responsible：irresponsible”．Which type of antonymy do they belong to？

In terms of etymology，they may all belong to the complementary type．But in practice，some are gradable now，especially“friendly：unfriendly”.

7．The British linguist F．R．Palmer argues in his Semantics（p.97）that“there is no absolute distinction between ［gradable antonyms and complementary antonyms］.We can treat male/female，married/single，alive/dead as gradable antonyms on occasions．Someone can be very male or more married and certainly more dead than alive.”Comment on it.

It is not advisable to tell beginners of linguistics that the distinction between gradable antonyms and complementary antonyms is relative．The expression“more dead than alive”is not a true comparative.

8．姜望琪（1991：79）claims that“To some extent，we can say that any two words of the same part of speech may become antonyms，as long as the meaning difference between them is what needs to be emphasized in the particular context.”He uses the two sentences below as examples．What do you think of the claim？

You have to peel a raw potato but you can skin a boiled one.

He's no statesman，but a mere politician.

This is a reasonable claim．As the author said in the paper，“man”can be the antonym of“woman”，but it can also be the antonym of“boy”in a situation when the age difference is important．When the difference between a man and an animal is important，“man”can also be the antonym of“dog”．And when the difference between something animate and something inanimate is important，then“man”can even be the antonym of“stone”．In the extreme cases，so-called synonyms may also become antonyms，for example，“You have to peel a raw potato but you can skin a boiled one”，“He's no statesman，but a mere politician”.

9．What is the superordinate term in the following list？

man，stallion，male，boy，bull，boar

The superordinate term is：male．In this list of words，all the other words belong to the male category，so male is the superordinate.

10．Basing yourself on the model of componential analysis，analyze the following words：

teacher，typewriter，chopsticks

Teacher：human，knowledgeable，instructive，respectable

Typewriter：machine，typewriting

Chopsticks：pair，eat，tool

11．Circle the two-place predicates in the list below：

attack（verb），die（verb），between，put，love（verb），in，cat，elephant，forget

attack，between，love，in，forget.

12．translate the following logical forms into English，where a=Ann，b=Bill，c=Carol，L=like，M=mother，and x and y are variables which may be translated as“someone”，“anyone”or“everyone”depending on the quantifier：

（a）M（a，b）

（b）L（b，c）＆ L（c，b）

（c）L（a，b）＆ ～L（a，c）

（d） x（L（x，b））

（e）～ x（L（x，c））

（f）～ x（ y（L（y，x）））

（a）Ann is Bill's mother.

（b）Bill loves Carol，and Carol loves Bill.

（c）Ann loves Bill，but Ann doesn't love Carol.

（d）Someone loves Bill.

（e）Not everyone loves Carol.

（f）There is no one who is loved by everyone. KYgd1OoaBAK7/26P8RWmDdfMC71psPX5B+oyJDAYpnwDBui7bed2iXG+raIQxAcH