ГОС_1 / Lexicology / Lecture6 / The semantic structure of the word

The semantic structure of the word

Semasiology. The main trends in Modern English.

The part of Linguistics which studies the meaning of linguistic units is called Semasiology. The subject matter of semasiology is the semantic structure of a word & changes in it. There is no universally accepted definition of the term ‘meaning’. There are different approaches to the problem of word-meaning in modern Semasiology. The referentional or denotational approach & the functional or relative approach are among them.

The referentional approach is characterised by the thought that the essence of meaning lies in the interdependence between word, thing or referents & concept. This idea is expressed in the referentional model of meaning called the basic traingle.

Concept (notion)

Idea

‘house’ referent

word (sound form)

Let’s examine the place of meaning in this model.

The sound form of a word is not identical with its meaning, as one of the same meaning is conveyed with a help of different words in different languages:

English: dove;

German: taube;

Russian: голубка.

The meaning of the word is not identical with a concept either. Concept is the thought about the object that singles out only its essential features. Concept is a category of human cognition & is studied in logic, meaning belongs to the sphere of the language.

Notions are universal & international, meanings are usually nationally determined, the meanings of correlated words are not identical in different languages, e.g. the concept of a structure of human habitation is expressed in English by the word “house” & in Russian by the word “дом”. But the Russian word may also denote a fixed residence of a family or household. But this meaning is expressed in English by the word ‘home’.

Besides, within one language the meanings of synonyms which express one & the same notion differ in some components, e.g. child-baby-infant-kid.

Notions emotionally & stylistically neutral while meanings may be emotionally charged

& stylistically coloured. The meaning of a word can’t be identified with a referent to the object which the word denotes, as they belong to different spheres. One & the same thing may be denoted in speech by different words: e.g. apple, fruit, this, it & etc.

Thus, though closely connected with meaning all the points of basic traingle are not identical within the referentinal or denotational approaches. The meaning of a word is treated as the expression of a notion, or concept of things fixed in sounds. Meaning is the realization of the notion about the thing by means of linguistic sign. The referetional approach theory mables to understand a word as a two faced unit.

The functional approach is characterized by the aspiration that the meaning of a linguistic unit may be studied only through its relation to other linguistic units. Meaning is viewed as a function of distribution. Distribution is the position of a linguistic sign in relation to other linguistic signs, thus meaning is understood as the function of linguistic sign or their use in context.

This method of study which is based on the analysis of basic contexts is also called the contextual approach. Professor Mednikova calls the functional approach – textocentric while the referentional approach is called lexical-centric. The 2 approaches shouldn’t be set against each other. Each of them handles its own side of the problem & neither is complete without the other.