LEXICAL MEANING
It is difficult to define what a 'word' is.
orthographic word = sequence of letters bounded by space or punctuation mark
but
postbox, post-box, post box; will not, won't
also are bring and brings different words?
and, of course, this doesn't help much when it comes to spoken language
'word' hard to define in terms of meaning (examples postbox etc. clearly single units of
meaning)
LEXEME = a basic contrasting unit of vocabulary
single words
parts of words
groups of words
bank, beautiful
anti-, -ology
red tape, red herring, kick the bucket
inflections treated as variants of same lexeme
man, men, man's, men's
derivatives are different lexemes
manly, manhood, mankind, man-made
MEANING RELATIONS
The open-choice principle: text the result of large number of complex choices, only
restraint grammaticality.
Syntagmatic relations and paradigmatic relations (de Saussure)
paradigmatic
(vertical, substitution)
syntagmatic (horizontal, co-occurrence)
The cat sat on the mat.
His dog slept under the table.
Every item in language has a paradigmatic relationship with every other item that can be
substituted for it (eg cat with dog – N with N) and a syntagmatic relationship with items
that occur in the same construction (eg cat with sat – N with V etc.)
The idiom principle
When we speak/write we don't really select one word at a time but choose semipreconstructed phrases that constitute single choices.
DLimon: Idiomatics handout 1
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Corpus evidence show that language is strongly patterned with words occurring
repeatedly in lexico-grammatical patterns: i.e., we speak in patterns or routines, not
words.
Even if we choose a single word, it carries with it collocational and syntactic constraints
– the selection of co-text is not free. There are preferred ways of saying things
e.g. bits and
e.g. this and
e.g. Ladies and
e.g. With very best
e.g. Having a lovely
LEXICAL MEANING
What do we mean by 'mean'?
What does it mean to 'know what a word means'?
Meaning is complex and multi-layered.
DENOTATIVE (referential, conceptual, cognitive)
What a word 'refers' to (an object, entity or state). The ‘dictionary’ definition.
cat
1 A cat is a small furry animal with a tail, whiskers and sharp claws. Cats
are often kept as pets.
2. Cats are lions, tigers and other wild animals in the same family
(Cobuild)
cat
1. a small domesticated carnivore, Felis domestica or F. catus, bred in a
number of varieties
2. any of several carnivores of the family Felidae, as the lion, tiger,
leopard or jaguar, etc.
(Webster’s)
CONNOTATIVE (associative)
The associations, possibly positive or negative, by which the basic meaning is enriched.
Often comprises socio-cultural (i.e. all members of a society or social group) and/or
personal associations. May be positive or negative.
These often change over time – meaning is not stable, static
e.g. in the past cats connected with the devil, evil, witchcraft
in different cultures: good/bad luck (black cat, black and white cat), nine lives
also: clean / fleas, independent, meow, yowl/yeowl
tom, queen, tabby, stray, feral, moggy, puss/pussy
cat and dog, cat and mouse
DLimon: Idiomatics handout 1
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RELATIONAL
Words do not exist in isolation; meanings are defined in terms of sense relations with
other words. (How do we know what 'dark' means if don't also know 'light', or
'poor/rich'?)
Relations of different types
SYNONYMY
same denotative meaning
e.g. motherly – maternal, freedom – liberty, search – seek
ANTONYMY
converseness / incompatibility (one excludes the other – not 'opposites')
e.g. mother – father, dead – alive, hot – cold, buy – sell
HYPONYMY
hypernym (superordinate) – hyponym
(one includes the other)
e.g. parent – mother, father
e.g. relations – mother, father, sister, brother, grandmother, cousin
MERONYMY
whole – part
e.g. family – mother, father, daughter
REPRESENTATIONAL
Addition to the denotative meaning of a further meaning; often a metaphorical extension.
e.g. cat fight, cat burglar, she’s such a cat, catsuit, catwalk, catmint/catnip, catnap,
catflap, copycat
e.g. mother ship, mother tongue, motherland, mother board, mother figure
DLimon: Idiomatics handout 1
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