5.3 Lexical Meaning 1. sense and reference I like dogs. The dog over there is very lovely. 2. Major sense relations teacher VS student husband VS wife good VS bad

1. Sense and reference(涵义和所指） Sense and reference are two terms often encountered in the study of word meaning. They are two related but different aspects of meaning. Sense is concerned with the inherent meaning of the linguistic form. It is the collection of all the features of the linguistic form; it is abstract and de-contextualized. 涵义是关于语言形式的内部意义，是语言形式所有特点的集合，是抽象的和非语境化的。

E.g. dog: a domesticated canine mammal, occurring in many breeds that show a great variety in size and form. This does not refer to any particular dog that exits in the real world, but applies to any animal that meets the features described in the definition. So it is the sense of the word dog.

Reference means what a linguistic form refers to in the real, physical world; it deals with the relationship between the linguistic element and the non-linguistic world of experience. 所指，指一种语言形式在现实世界中所指代的事物，主要研究语言元素和非语言经验世界之间的关系。 E.g. The dog is barking. Here, the dog refers to a certain dog existent in the situation; and a dog known to the speaker and the hearer. This is the reference of the word “dog” in this particular situation.

Obviously, linguistic forms having the same sense may have different references in different situations. On the other hand, there are also occasions, when linguistic forms with the same reference might differ in sense. A very good example is the two expressions morning star and evening star. These two differ in sense but as a matter of fact, what they refer to is the same: the very same star that we see in the sky.

2. Sense Relations Gradable Complementary Converse Synonymy Antonymy Hyponymy Polysemy Homony Gradable Complementary Converse

1 Synonymy If two or more words, like “broad” and “wide”, share all the semantic properties to a significant degree, they are said to be synonymous. buy/purchase thrifty/economical/stingy autumn/fall flat/apartment tube/underground

The classification of synonyms 1. Dialectal synonyms (地域同义词) ----Synonyms used in different regional dialects. These are words with more or less the same meaning used in different regional dialects. Let’s take British English and American English for example. British English American English autumn fall lift elevator luggage baggage flat apartment lorry truck

The classification of synonyms 2. stylistic synonyms (风格同义词） ----Synonyms differing in style Words having the same meaning may differ in style, or degree of formality. old man, daddy, dad, father; start, begin, commence; kid, child, offspring; kick the bucket, pop off, die, pass away, decease.

The classification of synonyms 3. Synonyms that differ in their emotive or evaluative meaning (感情或评估同义词） These words that bear the same meaning but express different emotions of the user, indicating the attitude or bias of the user toward what he is talking about. E.g. collaborator VS. accomplice collaborator: a person working together others accomplice: a person who helps others to do something wrong.

The classification of synonyms 4. Collocational synonyms (固定搭配同义词） Some synonyms differ in their collocation. E.g. 1) accuse accuse …of charge charge … with rebuke rebuke… for. 2) tomatoes rotten tomatoes eggs addled eggs butter rancid butter milk sour milk

The classification of synonyms 5. Semantically different synonyms (语义不同同义词） ---synonyms that differ slightly in what they mean. E.g. amaze VS. astound surprise amaze---confusion and bewilderment astound--- difficulty in believing

2 Antonymy If two words, say “long” and “short”, are contradictory with regard to one or more important semantic properties, they are said to be antonymous. E.g. rich VS. poor heavy VS. light deep VS. shallow love VS. hate up VS. down come VS. go We should not be misled into thinking that words contrast each other only on a single dimension; in fact, oppositeness can be found on different dimensions and different kinds of antonyms have been recognized.

3 Gradable antonymy good ----------------------- bad long ----------------------- short Big ------------------------ small Some antonyms are gradable because there are often intermediate forms between the two members of a pair. So it is a matter of degree. Can be modified by adverbs of degree like very. Can have comparative forms. Can be asked with how.

4 Complementary antonymy alive : dead male : female present : absent innocent : guilty odd : even pass : fail boy : girl hit : miss

A pair of complementary antonyms is characterized by the feature that the denial of one member of the pair implies the assertion of the other. In other words, it is not a matter of degree between two extremes, but a matter of either one or the other.

4 Converse antonymy buy : sell teacher : student lend : borrow give : receive parent : child husband : wife teacher : student above : below before : after host : guest employer : employee

This 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. This type of antonymy is typically seen in reciprocal roles, kinship relations, temporal and spatial relations. It is in this sense that they are also known as relational opposites.

5.3 Lexical Meaning 1. sense and reference I like dogs. The dog over there is very lovely. 2. Major sense relations teacher VS student husband VS wife good VS bad

1. Sense and reference(涵义和所指） Sense and reference are two terms often encountered in the study of word meaning. They are two related but different aspects of meaning. Sense is concerned with the inherent meaning of the linguistic form. It is the collection of all the features of the linguistic form; it is abstract and de-contextualized. 涵义是关于语言形式的内部意义，是语言形式所有特点的集合，是抽象的和非语境化的。

E.g. dog: a domesticated canine mammal, occurring in many breeds that show a great variety in size and form. This does not refer to any particular dog that exits in the real world, but applies to any animal that meets the features described in the definition. So it is the sense of the word dog.

Reference means what a linguistic form refers to in the real, physical world; it deals with the relationship between the linguistic element and the non-linguistic world of experience. 所指，指一种语言形式在现实世界中所指代的事物，主要研究语言元素和非语言经验世界之间的关系。 E.g. The dog is barking. Here, the dog refers to a certain dog existent in the situation; and a dog known to the speaker and the hearer. This is the reference of the word “dog” in this particular situation.

Obviously, linguistic forms having the same sense may have different references in different situations. On the other hand, there are also occasions, when linguistic forms with the same reference might differ in sense. A very good example is the two expressions morning star and evening star. These two differ in sense but as a matter of fact, what they refer to is the same: the very same star that we see in the sky.

2. Sense Relations Gradable Complementary Converse Synonymy Antonymy Hyponymy Polysemy Homony Gradable Complementary Converse

1 Synonymy If two or more words, like “broad” and “wide”, share all the semantic properties to a significant degree, they are said to be synonymous. buy/purchase thrifty/economical/stingy autumn/fall flat/apartment tube/underground

The classification of synonyms 1. Dialectal synonyms (地域同义词) ----Synonyms used in different regional dialects. These are words with more or less the same meaning used in different regional dialects. Let’s take British English and American English for example. British English American English autumn fall lift elevator luggage baggage flat apartment lorry truck

The classification of synonyms 2. stylistic synonyms (风格同义词） ----Synonyms differing in style Words having the same meaning may differ in style, or degree of formality. old man, daddy, dad, father; start, begin, commence; kid, child, offspring; kick the bucket, pop off, die, pass away, decease.

The classification of synonyms 3. Synonyms that differ in their emotive or evaluative meaning (感情或评估同义词） These words that bear the same meaning but express different emotions of the user, indicating the attitude or bias of the user toward what he is talking about. E.g. collaborator VS. accomplice collaborator: a person working together others accomplice: a person who helps others to do something wrong.

The classification of synonyms 4. Collocational synonyms (固定搭配同义词） Some synonyms differ in their collocation. E.g. 1) accuse accuse …of charge charge … with rebuke rebuke… for. 2) tomatoes rotten tomatoes eggs addled eggs butter rancid butter milk sour milk

The classification of synonyms 5. Semantically different synonyms (语义不同同义词） ---synonyms that differ slightly in what they mean. E.g. amaze VS. astound surprise amaze---confusion and bewilderment astound--- difficulty in believing

2 Antonymy If two words, say “long” and “short”, are contradictory with regard to one or more important semantic properties, they are said to be antonymous. E.g. rich VS. poor heavy VS. light deep VS. shallow love VS. hate up VS. down come VS. go We should not be misled into thinking that words contrast each other only on a single dimension; in fact, oppositeness can be found on different dimensions and different kinds of antonyms have been recognized.

3 Gradable antonymy good ----------------------- bad long ----------------------- short Big ------------------------ small Some antonyms are gradable because there are often intermediate forms between the two members of a pair. So it is a matter of degree. Can be modified by adverbs of degree like very. Can have comparative forms. Can be asked with how.

4 Complementary antonymy alive : dead male : female present : absent innocent : guilty odd : even pass : fail boy : girl hit : miss

A pair of complementary antonyms is characterized by the feature that the denial of one member of the pair implies the assertion of the other. In other words, it is not a matter of degree between two extremes, but a matter of either one or the other.

4 Converse antonymy buy : sell teacher : student lend : borrow give : receive parent : child husband : wife teacher : student above : below before : after host : guest employer : employee

This 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. This type of antonymy is typically seen in reciprocal roles, kinship relations, temporal and spatial relations. It is in this sense that they are also known as relational opposites.

5 Hyponymy (上下义关系） Hyponymy refers to the sense relation between a more generally, more inclusive word and a more specific word. The word which is more general in meaning is called the superordinate (上义词），and the more specific words are called its hyponyms(下义词）. Hyponyms of the same superordinate are co-hyponyms to each other. A is included in / a kind of B. Cf.: chair and furniture, rose and flower Superordinate: the more general term Hyponym: the more specific term Co-hyponyms: members of the same class

flower Rose tulip carnation lily morning glory… furniture Bed table desk dresser wardrobe settee… Hyponymy is a relation of inclusion; in terms of meaning, the superordinate includes all its hyponyms.

Co-hyponyms Two hyponyms having the same superordinate are called co-hyponyms. Case study flower tulip violet rose

All hyponymy is transitive in the sense that there is a hierarchical relation between different terms. Case study: X vs. Y vs. Z If X is above Y and Y above Z, then X is above Z livestock ox sheep pig ram ewe lamb

6 Polysemy While different words may have the same or similar meaning, the same one word may have more than one meaning. This is what we call polysemy, and such a word is called a polysemic word. The fact is that the more commonly used a word is , the more likely it has acquired more than one meaning.

Table (1) a piece of furniture (2) all the people seated at a table (3) the food that is put on a table (4) a thin flat piece of stone, metal, wood, etc. (5) orderly arrangement of facts, figure, etc. (6) part of a machine-tool on which the work is put to be operated on (7) a level area, a plateau

Historically speaking, polysemy can be understood as the growth and development of or change in the meaning of words. We assume that at first the “table” had only one meaning; very likely if referred to a thin piece of stone, or wood. This is called its primary meaning. Later on it gradually came to acquire the other meanings it now represents.

7 Homonymy Homonymy (同音同形异义关系）refers to the phenomenon that words having different meanings have the same form, i.e. different words are identical in sound or spelling, or in both. When two words are identical in sound, they are homophones(同音异义词）. When two words are identical in spelling, they are called homographs( 同形异义). When two words are identical in both sound and spelling, they are complete homonyms.

Case study Homophones: rain/reign; night/knight; piece/peace; leak/leek. Homographs: bow v./bow n; tear v./tear n; lead v. /lead n. Complete homonyms: fast adj./fast v; scale n. scale v.

8. Semantic Field 1) The definition The organization of related words and expressions into a system which shows their relationships to one another. E.g. Kinship father, mother, brother, sister, uncle, aunt Color: red, green, blue, white, black, gray, orange, rose, olive, purple, lemon, etc.

2) The advantages of semantic field A. The meaning of one word in a semantic field is limited by the meaning of its neighbors. As a result, meaning is to a great extent determined by the position a word occupies in its semantic field. E.g. He is a captain. In merchant service: its subordinate is mate; In navy: its subordinate is commander（中校）; In army: its subordinate is lieutenant（中尉）. *海军/空军（上尉） I like lemon. A kind of color, lemon juice, lemon tree, a stupid person

B. Words in the same semantic field are likely to have a number of collocations in common. E.g. Pork, beef, mutton The making of their collocation using the following words. Stew, fry, roast, tasty, overdone, raw, and underdone. The words of a semantic field are joined together by a common concept, and they are likely to have a number of collocations in common.