The meaning of meaning Language Analysis 1: Unit 7

table “A piece of furniture with a flat top supported by legs” (Longman Advanced American Dictionary, 2 nd edn. 2007)

table word referent

Table Mountain is a flat-topped mountain forming a prominent landmark overlooking the city of Cape Town in South Africa. [from Wikipedia]

Ferdinand de Saussure

table signifier signified sign

1.I left my keys on the kitchen table 2.May I leave the table? but... 3.We need a new dining-room table. 4.I’d like to book a table for four, please. 5.There were plenty of chairs in the class, but no table. 6.That mountain looks like a table.

sense word referent

‘A sense … is some abstract representation of what the referents of a word have in common’. Murphy, M.L Lexical Meaning. Cambridge University Press (p. 37)

Componential analysis

Componential analysis: chair (object), (physical), (non-living), (artefact), (furniture), (portable), (something with legs), (something with a back), (something with a seat), (seat for one)

Componential analysis: chair (object), (physical), (non-living), (artefact), (furniture), (portable), (something with legs), (something with a back), (something with a seat), (seat for one) table (object),

‘The main fault of tree diagrams and similar representations is that they are designed to deal directly with external reality rather than with the way language mirrors external reality’. Bolinger, D. 1975, Aspects of Language, 2 nd edition. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, p. 209.

In one famous experiment, the sociolinguist Labov asked informants to name various containers. “They not only disagreed with one another over bowls, cups and vases, but were inconsistent from day to day. Certain shapes were clear in instances of particular containers, but others varied: something might be a bowl when full of potatoes, but a vase when it held flowers” (Aitchison, 1997, 65).

What – to you – is the “best example” of the following categories? How might your choice differ from that of a person from another culture that you are familiar with? 1. flower 2. vegetable 3. vehicle 4. dwelling 5. sport 6. woman’s clothing 7. musical instrument 8. profession

Sapir Whorf “We dissect nature along lines laid down by our native languages” (Whorf, 1956)

‘Second language is looking into the windows cut out by the first language’. Ushakova, T. N. (1994) ‘Inner speech and second language acquisition: a experimental-theoretic approach’, in Lantolf, J.P. and Appel, G. (eds), Vygotskian Approaches to Second Language Research, Hillsdale, NJ: Ablex, p. 154.