语言学教案Chapter 5 Meaning(2)

word thing

C.f. Sense & reference

1) Sense: the abstract properties of an entity—— concept —— connotation Reference: the concrete entities having these entities —— denotation

2) Every word has a sense, but not every word has a reference.

E.g. grammatical words like but, if, and

5.3 Sense relations

Sense

Reference

Three kinds of sense relations: sameness relation, oppositeness relation, and

inclusiveness relation

5.3.1 Synonymy

SYNONYMY: the sameness relation

Stylistic difference

E.g. Little Tom ___________ a toy bear. c.f. buy & purchase

Connotative difference.

E.g. “I’m thrifty. You are economical. And he is stingy.”

Dialectical difference

E.g. c.f. autumn & fall

5.3.2 Antonymy

Antonymy: the oppositeness relation

(1) Gradable antonymy

E.g. good: bad, long: short, big: small

gradable---comparative and superlative degree; lexicalization

E.g. good & bad

graded against different norms---no absolute criterion

E.g. c.f. a big car & a small plane

one member of a pair, usually the term for the higher degree, serves as the cover term E.g. How old are you?

C.f. Unmarked & marked

Unmarked: the term is more often used

Marked: the term is less used, odd, or unusual

(2) Complementary antonymy

E.g alive:dead, male:female

NOTE 1: Not only the assertion of one means the denial of the other, the denial of

one also means the assertion of the other.

NOTE 2: No comparative or superlative degrees are allowed.

E.g. alive, dead, 半死不活

*John is more dead than Mary.

C.f. John is more mad than stupid.

C.f. Gradable and complementary

1. The difference between the gradable and the complementary is somewhat similar to