Lexical Semantics. An Introduction
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Transcript of Lexical Semantics. An Introduction
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Lecture 6. PlanHistory of lexicographyFamilies of dictionariesLexicology vs. lexical semanticsNew type of dictionary:
productivesystematicintegrated
Lexeme as the main unit of descriptionNew types of information in the lexical entry:
non-trivial semantic featuresconnotations
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Glosses
A gloss is the meaning of a less known word marked at the margin of a manuscript
Sumerian (XXV B.C.), Chinese (XX B.C.), Ancient Greek, Indian glosses
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First dictionaries: ChineseErya (III B.C.):a collection of direct glosses
to concrete passages in ancient texts
4300 words, 13000 hieroglyphsShuowen Jiezi (II B.C.):Explaining simple and compound
characters9353 characters + 1163 variants
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First dictionaries: LatinDe Significatu Verborum, Marcus Verrius Flaccus (I century),Sextus Pompeius Festus (II century, an
abridgment in 20 books, arranged alphabetically)
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First dictionaries: EnglishÉpinal Glossary (VII):
bilingual (Old English
to Latin) dictionary,
3200 words
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Glossary manuscripts, the earliest (1282) contains 174 words
The first printed Slavic dictionary:Annex to Grammar by Laurentius Zizanius (1596),1061 words
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Golden age of lexicographyIn postwar Europe, it was clearly understood
that the dictionary is the key to culture.Hence, in France, then Great Britain and the
US, an then in many other countries, lexicography becomes very active.
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Golden age of lexicography More than 90% of British households have at least one explanatory dictionary
Dictionaries are more popular than cookbooks (70%) or the Bible (80%)
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Families Families of dictionariesWebster, Random House, Barnhart, American
Heritage (USA)Oxford, Chambers, Collins, Hamlyn, Longman
(Great Britain)Le Robert, Larousse, Tresor (France)Duden, Langenscheidt (Germany) Academy of Sciences (USSR, than Russia)
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A dictionary familyLarge explanatory dictionarySmall explanatory dictionaryLearners dictionaryPhraseological dictionaryHistorical dictionaryRegional dictionaryDictionary of synonyms…
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Lexicology vs. lexical semanticsLexicology is much older: Diderot et
d’Alembert 1765Common interests:
what do lexical units meanwhether two or more given words are different
or are they variants of a single word polysemy or homonymy (lexical semantics) phonetic and morphological variants (lexicology)
what the system of lexicon is
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Lexical semantics ignored:separate word / morpheme / word
combinationetymology: aboriginal words / loanwordsfrequency of use: active / passivestyle: elevated / standard / colloquial / slang
etc.
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Traditional lexicology ignored:integrated description of languagemetalanguage for description of meaningsrules according to which lexical units interacthighly systematic organization of the lexicon
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New type of dictionary Active (productive) Systematic Integrated Reflecting the naïve picture of the
world Using special metalanguage Combining techniques of corpus
lexicography and experimental linguistics
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ProductiveComprehensive information on each
lexeme, necessary not only to understand its every occurrence in texts, but also to use it correctly in speech.
Hence new types of information needed to describe fully the linguistic competence of native speakers.
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SystematicThe semantic system of the human
language as a framework of repeated semantic oppositions.
They divide the lexicon into classes of lexemes, or lexicographic types (with many intersections), having common properties.
Words of same types react identically or very similarly to different linguistic rules.
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IntegratedThe description of the lexicon should be
coordinated with the description of the grammar as much as possible.
Different kinds of rules : MorphologicalSyntacticSemanticCommunicativePragmaticetc.
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Reflecting the NPW The NPW may differ from the scientific
picture of the world and from the NPWs of other languages
Reconstruction of naïve ethics, anatomy, psychology, teleology, time, space, etc. is based on linguistic data only
The reconstructed fragments serve as a theoretical basis for further lexicographic descriptions
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Metalanguage Special metalanguage should be used for
the analytic explications of the meaning It should be a sublanguage of the object
language, but use only simple words and constructions
No homonymy or synonymy is allowed The semantic metalanguage may be
easily reduced to a small number of semantic primitives
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Corpora and experimentsUnlike traditional dictionaries, new ones
should be based on large and balanced text corpora (collections of texts)
Linguistic experiments (putting words into different contexts and than evaluating the sentences) should also be widely used
Negative linguistic material is especially useful when demonstrating correct word usage
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Картотеки
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Lexeme as the unitA lexeme is a certain meaning of a given word
(monosemous words have one lexeme, polysemous words have several lexemes)
A complete description of the lexeme is the principal component of the integrated description of language
The description includes:Analytic explication in a special metalanguageRules of interaction of meaningsNon-trivial semantic featuresConnotationsPragmatic information
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Non-trivial semantic featuresSofa Stool
Armchair Table
Fridge Lamp
TV set Cube
objects with / without own anatomyobjects with a front: width and depth; left vs. right, in
front of vs. behind according to their own anatomyobjects without a front: width and length; left vs.
right, in front of vs. behind according to the observer’s point of view
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Non-trivial semantic featuresX is in front of Y = ‘X is situated on that side
of Y through which Y is normally used, and in a distance to Y which is comparable to the dimensions of Y’ [if Y is an object with a front]
X is in front of Y = ‘X is situated between Y and the observer, the dimensions of X and Y are comparable, and the speaker estimates the distance from X to Y as not long, comparable to the distance from X to the observer ’ [if Y is an object without a front]
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Non-trivial semantic featuresMy car was in front of the house.My car was in front of the lake.The lake was in front of the mountain.*The lake was in front of the bush.The picture was behind the mirror.The picture was behind the lamp.the top <bottom> of the cupboardthe top <bottom> of the cube
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Girl in front of the car
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Girl in front of the car
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ConnotationsAn inessential but settled feature of a notion that
reflects an evaluation of the referent in the language
The connotation of a lexeme is not part of its meaning and cannot be logically concluded from it
Therefore, not included into the explicationHelps explain the phraseology, figurative
meanings, semantic links between different lexemes, etc.
Connotations are often language-specific
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Connotations of DutchDutch bargain. A bargain settled over
drinks.Dutch courage. The courage exerted by
drink.Dutch defense. A sham, feigned defense. Dutch feast. Where the entertainer gets
drunk before his guest.Dutch headache. Hangover. Dutch treat. A meal, amusement, etc., at
which each person pays for himself.
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Boys will be boysBoys will be boys?Les garçons seront les garçons?Knaben werden Knaben ?Mal’chiki vsegda budut mal’chikami?Lexicographers will be lexicographers?Lamas will be lamas?Computers will be computers?Dictionaries will be dictionaries
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Boys will be boys (Wierzbicka)(a) everyone knows:
people of this kind do things like thisone would want them no to do things like this
(b) I know: someone can think:this is bad, they should not do it
(c) I think: one should not think this(d) one should know:
all people of this kind are the samethey want to do things like this because they want to feel something goodthey will do them because of thatthey cannot not do them
(e) I don’t want to think: this is bad(f) I don’t want to feel something bad because of this(g) I think: people of this kind are not bad
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Connotations of animalswolf: ‘cruelty’, ‘rapacity’, ‘greed’ in Russian,
English, Chinesecow: ‘stupidity’ in English, ‘overweight’ in
Russian, ‘strength, persistence’ in Chinesegoose: ‘wealth’ and ‘stupidity’ in English,
‘importance’ in Russian, ‘married bliss’ in Chinesesnake: ‘cunning, treachery’ in English and
Chinese, ‘danger’ in Russian, ‘immortality’ in Korean
elephant: ‘heaviness, awkwardness’ in Russian, ‘grace, elegance’ in Sanskrit
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Next lecture
Systematic lexicography. Lexicographic types. Lexicographic portraits.