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Polysemy

Structure of Lexical Meaning

Lexical and Grammatical Meaning

The word is a lexical-grammatical unity. Its content plane includes two types of meaning: lexical and grammatical.

Lexical meaning is individual, unique. It does not belong to any other word in the same language: bicycle – a vehicle with two wheels, handle-bars to guide it with, a seat, and two pedals to make it go. Grammatical meaning is general, standard. It belongs to a whole class of words and word-forms: bicycle – a noun in the common case, singular. It follows that by lexical meaning we designate the meaning proper to the given linguistic unit in all its forms and distributions, while by grammatical meaning we designate the meaning proper to sets of word-forms common to all words of a certain class

At the same time lexical and grammatical meanings co-exist in the word and are interdependent.

Word meaning is not homogeneous but is made of various components. The content plane of words includes denotative and connotative meanings. Denotative or referential meaning, the basic type of lexical meaning, is the word‘s reference to the object. This reference may be specific (The dog is trained) or generic (It‘s not a dog). ( Also individual and general).

Connotative meaning includes various additional meanings. As a rule, connotationco-exists with denotation. However, sometimes it comes to the fore and weakens the word‘s denotative meaning. Emotive meaning is association of the word with a certain emotion or evaluation For example, words with diminutive suffixes (daddy).

Stylistic meaning Words also may have a certain stylistic value. The element of meaning referring this or that word to the situation of communication or style in which it is typically used is called its stylistic value.This kind of connotation easily show itself in comparison of synonyms. For example, the three words child – kid – infant similar in their denotative meaning are different in their stylistic value. Kid is an informal word, while infant is formal.

Finally, we should mention that lexical meaning - BOTH denotative and connotative components of it – can be either usual (узуальное значение, закрепившееся в языке) or occasional (окказиональные значения), dependable on the context. Cf.: I saw a big furry animal in the yard.

By the end of this talk I had a much less furry sense of self-identification (Salinger).

The bulk of English words are polysemantic, they possess more than one meaning. Monosemantic words, i.e. words having only one meaning are comparatively few in number, are mainly scientific terms, such -as hydrogen, molecule and the like. In Russian linguistic tradition it is common to call separate meanings of a polysemantic word lexico-semantic variants (LSV).

Polysemy in diachronic terms implies that a word may retain its previous meaning or meanings and at the same time acquire one or several new ones. In the course of a diachronic semantic analysis of the polysemantic word table we find that of all the meanings it has in Modern English, the primary meaning is ‘a flat slab of stone or wood’, which is proper to the word in the OE period (OE. tabule from L. tabula); all other meanings are secondary as they are derived from the primary meaning of the word and appeared later than the primary meaning. The terms secondary and derived meaning are sometimes used as synonymous, but not always.

Synchronically we understand polysemy as the coexistence and interrelation of various meanings of the same word at a certain historical period of the development of the English language.

The relationship between the diachronic and synchronic evaluation of individual meanings may be different in different periods of the historical development of language because the structure of lexical meaning is constantly changing.

E.g.: monitor 1546, "senior pupil at a school charged with keeping order, etc.," from monitor "one who reminds, admonishes, or checks

The principal opposition in the semantic structure of a word as viewed synchronically is that of the central meaning and peripheral meanings. But synchronically there is no totally objective criterion to single out the central meaning, and we may find it difficult in some cases. Sometimes two or more meanings of the word may be felt as equally “central” in its semantic structure. E.g., the verb to get, which of the two meanings ‘to obtain’ (get a letter, knowledge, some sleep) or ‘to arrive’ (get to London, to get into bed).

The minimal stretch of speech which determines each individual meaning of a polysemantic word is the context. The context always eliminates polysemy. It may be verbal context (словесный) or situational context.

Almost all linguists recognize the fact that it can be further divided into smaller meaningful components. These get different names in works by different scientists but the most widely used term is seme. There exist different classifications of semes. According to V.G. Gak, lexical meaning comprises generic semes (архисемы, или семы родового значения), differential semes (дифференцирующие, или семы видового значения) and potential semes (потенциальные семы) that reflect potential, non-essential characteristics of the denotatum.


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