Chapter 5 MeaningS语言学分析和总结.docx

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ChapterFiveMeaning

SectionOnetheReferentialTheory

Q1.Whatissemantics?

Q2.Whatisthereferentialtheory?

Semantics

ThesubjectconcerningthestudyofmeaningiscalledSEMANTICS.Morespecifically,semanticsisthestudyofthemeaningoflinguisticunits,wordsandsentencesinparticular.

Meaninghasalwaysbeenacentraltopicinhumanscholarship,thoughtheterm“semantics”hasonlyahistoryofalittleoverahundredyears.TherewerediscussionsofmeaningintheworksoftheGreekphilosopherPlatoasearlyasinthefifthcenturybeforeChrist.InChina,LaoZihaddiscussedsimilar questions even earlier. The fact that over the years numerousdictionarieshavebeenproducedwithaviewtoexplainingthemeaningofwords also bears witness to its long tradition. Nevertheless, semanticsremains the least known area in linguistics, compared with phonetics,phonology,morphologyandsyntax.

Meaningsof“meaning”

Onedifficultyinthestudyofmeaningisthattheword“meaning”itself

hasdifferentmeanings.IntheirbookTheMeaningofMeaningwrittenin1923,

C.K.OgdenandI.A.Richardspresenteda“representativelistofthemaindefinitionswhichreputablestudentsofmeaninghavefavored”(p.186).Thereare16majorcategoriesofthem,withsub-categoriesalltogether,numbering22.

Thereferentialtheory

Thetheoryofmeaning,whichrelatesthemeaningofawordtothething,itrefersto,orstandsfor,isknownasthereferentialtheory.Thisisaverypopulartheory.Itisgenerallypossible,aswehaveshownintheprevioussection,toexplainthemeaningofawordbypointingtothethingitrefersto.

Inthecaseofpropernounsanddefinitenounphrases,thissespeciallytrues.Whenwesay“ThemostinfluentiallinguistNoamChomskyteachesatMIT”,wedouse“themostinfluentiallinguist”and“NoamChomsky”tomeanaparticularperson,and“MIT”aparticularinstitutionofhigherlearning.

Wordsareindif