Meaning is one of the most controversial terms in lexicology. At present there is no generally accepted definition of meaning. Prof. Smirnitsky defines meaning as "a certain reflection in the mind of objects, phenomena or relations that makes part of the linguistic sign, its so-called inner facet, whereas the sound form functions as its outer facet". Generally speaking, meaning can be described as a component of the word through which a concept is communicated, enabling the word to denote objects in the real world.
There are two approaches to the study of meaning: the referential approach and the functional approach. The former tries to define meaning in terms of relations between the word (sound form), concept (notion, thought) and referent (object which the word denotes). They are closely connected and the relationship between them is represented by "the semiotic triangle"
3.2. Word meaning is made up of different components, commonly known as types of meaning. The two main types of meaning are grammatical meaning and lexical meaning.
Grammatical meaning belongs to sets of word-forms and is common to all words of the given part of speech,
e.g. girls, boys, classes, children, mice express the meaning of "plurality".
Lexical meaning belongs to an individual word in all its forms. It comprises several components. The two main ones are the denotational component and the connotational component.
The denotational ( = denotative) component, also called "referential meaning" or "cognitive meaning", expresses the conceptual (notional) content of a word; broadly, it is some information, or knowledge, of the real-world object that the word denotes. Basically, this is the component that makes communication possible.
e.g. notorious "widely-known", celebrated "known widely".
The connotational (connotative) component expresses the attitude of the speaker to what he is saying, to the object denoted by the word. This component consists of emotive connotation and evaluative connotation.
1) Emotive connotation ( = "affective meaning", or an emotive charge),
e.g. In "a single tree" single states that there is only one tree, but "a lonely tree" besides giving the same information, also renders (conveys) the feeling of sadness.
We shouldn't confuse emotive connotations and emotive denotative meanings in which some emotion is named, e.g. horror, love, fear, etc.
2) Evaluative connotation labels the referent as "good" or "bad",
e.g. notorious has a negative evaluative connotation, while celebrated a positive one. Cf.: a notorious criminal/liar/ coward, etc. and a celebrated singer/ scholar/ artist, etc.
It should be noted that emotive and evaluative connotations are not individual, they are common to all speakers of the language. But emotive implications are individual (or common to a group of speakers), subjective, depend on personal experience.
e.g. The word "hospital" may evoke all kinds of emotions in different people (an architect, a doctor, an invalid, etc.)
Stylistic connotation, or stylistic reference, another component of word meaning, stands somewhat apart from emotive and evaluative connotations. Indeed, it does not characterize a referent, but rather states how a word should be used by referring it to a certain functional style of the language peculiar to a specific sphere of communication. It shows in what social context, in what communicative situations the word can be used.
Stylistically, words can be roughly classified into literary, or formal (e.g. commence, discharge, parent), neutral (e.g. father, begin, dismiss) and non-literary, or informal (e.g. dad, sack, set off).
3.3. The term "motivation" is used to denote the relationship between the form of the word, i.e. its sound form, morphemic composition and structural pattern, and its meaning.
There are three main types of motivation: phonetic, morphological and semantic.
1) Phonetic motivation is a direct connection between the sound form of a word and its meaning. There are two types of phonetic motivation: sound imitation and sound symbolism.
a) Sound imitation, or onomatopoeia: phonetically motivated words are a direct imitation of the sounds they denote (or the sounds produced by actions or objects they denote),
e.g. buzz, swish, bang, thud, cuckoo.
b) Sound symbolism. It's argued by some linguists that the sounds that make up a word may reflect or symbolise the properties of the object which the word refers to, i.e. they may suggest size, shape, speed, colour, etc.
e.g. back vowels suggest big size, heavy weight, dark colour, front vowels suggest lightness, smallness, etc.
Many words beginning with sl- are slippery in some way: slide, slip, slither, sludge, etc. or pejorative: slut, slattern, sly, sloppy, slovenly; words that end in -ump almost all refer to some kind of roundish mass: plump, chump, rump, hump, stump.
Certainly, not every word with these phonetic characteristics will have the meaning suggested. This is, perhaps, one of the reasons why sound symbolism is not universally recognized in linguistics.
2) Morphological motivation is a direct connection between the lexical meaning of the component morphemes, the pattern of their arrangement and the meaning of the word.
Morphologically motivated words are those whose meaning is determined by the meaning of their components,
e.g. re-write "write again", ex-wife "former wife".
The degree of morphological motivation may be different. Words may be fully motivated (then they are transparent), partially motivated and non-motivated (idiomatic, or opaque).
a) If the meaning of the word is determined by the meaning of the components and the structural pattern, it is fully motivated: e.g. hatless.
b) If the connection between the morphemic composition of a word and its meaning is arbitrary, the word is non-motivated, e.g. buttercup "yellow-flowered plant".
c) In hammer -er shows that it is an instrument, but what is "hamming"? "Ham" has no lexical meaning in this word, thus the word is partially motivated. Cf. also cranberry.
Motivation may be lost in the course of time,
e.g. in OE wīfman was motivated morphologically: wīf + man "wife of a man"; now it is opaque; its motivation is said to be faded (woman).
3) Semantic motivation is based on co-existence of direct and figurative meanings of the same word,
e.g. butterfly – 1) insect; 2) showy and frivolous person.( = metaphorical extension of the direct meaning).
The causes, or factors, that bring about semantic changes are classified into linguistic and extralinguistic. By extralinguistic causes we mean various changes in the life of a speech community; changes in social life, culture, science, technology, economy, etc. as reflected in word meanings,
e.g. mill originally was borrowed from Latin in the 1st c. B.C. in the meaning "a building in which corn is ground into flour". When the first textile factories appeared in Great Britain it acquired a new meaning - "a textile factory". The cause of this semantic change is scientific and technological progress.
Linguistic causes are factors that operate within the language system. They are:
1) Ellipsis. In a phrase made up of two words one of them is omitted and its meaning is transferred to the other one,
e.g. In OE sterven (MnE to starve) meant “to die, perish". It was often used in the phrase "sterven of hunger", the second word was omitted and the verb acquired the new meaning n die of hunger".
2) Discrimination of synonyms,
e.g. In OE land had two meanings: "1. solid part of Earth's surface; 2. the territory of a nation". In ME the word country was borrowed as a synonym to land. Then the second meaning of land came to be expressed by country and the semantic structure of land changed.
3) Linguistic analogy. If one member of a synonymic set takes on a new meaning, other members of the same set may acquire this meaning, too,
e.g. to catch acquired the meaning "understand"; its synonyms to get, to qrasp also acquired the same meaning.
- A necessary condition of anу semantic change is some connection or association between the old, existing meaning and the new one. There are two main types of association:
- Similarity of meaning or metaphor,
- Contiguity of meaning or metonymy, i.e. contact, proximity in place or time.
Metaphor is the semantic process of associating two referents, one of which in some way resembles the other. Metaphors may be based on similarity of shape, size, position, function, etc.
In various languages metaphoric meanings of words denoting parts of the human body are most frequent,
e.g. the eye of a needle "hole in the end of a needle", the neck of a bottle, the heart of a cabbage - the metaphoric meaning has developed through similarity of the shape of two objects; the foot of the hill - this metaphoric change is based on the similarity of position; the hand of the clock, the Head of the school - the metaphoric meaning is based on similarity of function.
A special group of metaphors comprises proper nouns that have become common nouns,
e.g. a Don Juan - "a lady-killer" , a vandal - "one who destroys property, works of art" (originally "Germanic tribe that in the 4th-5th c. ravaged Gaul, Spain, N. Africa, and Rome, destroying many books and works of art").
Metonymy is a semantic process of associating two referents which are somehow connected or linked in time or space. They may be connected because they often appear in the same situation,
e.g. bench has developed the meaning "judges" because it was on benches that judges used to sit,
or the association may be of material and an object made of it, etc.,
e.g. silver – 1) certain .precious metal; 2) silver coins; 3) cutlery; 4) silver medal,
or they may be associated because one makes part of the other,
e.g. factory/farm hands "workers" (because strong, skillful hands are the most important part of a person engaged in physical labour).
Common nouns may be derived from proper names through metonymic transference,
e.g. Wellingtons "high boots covering knees in front" (from the 1st Duke of Wellington, Br. general and statesman, who introduced them in fashion).
4.4. Results of semantic change may be observed in the changes of the denotative component and the connotative component of word meaning.
1) Changes of the denotative component are of two types:
- broadening (or generalization, = widening, = extension) of meaning, i.e. the range of the new meaning is broader, the word is applied to a wider range of referents,
e.g. to arrive, borrowed from French, originally meant "to come to shore, to land". In MnE it has developed a broader meaning "to come". Yankee – 1) a native of New England (originally); 2) a citizen of the USA (now).
(b) narrowing (or specialization, = restriction) of meaning.
The word comes to denote a more limited range of referents, fewer types of them,
e.g. meat in OE meant "any food", now it means "flesh of animals used as food" (i.e. some special food); in OE hound meant "a dog", now it is "a dog of special breed used in chasing foxes".
As a special group, we can mention proper names derived from common nouns,
e.g. the Border - between Scotland and England,
the Tower - the museum in London.
2) Changes in the connotative component of meaning are also of two types:
(a) degeneration (or degradation, = deterioration) of meaning, i.e. a word develops a meaning with a negative evaluative connotation which was absent in the first meaning,
e.g. silly "happy" (originally) - "foolish" (now);
(b) elevation (or amelioration) of meaning, i.e. the first meaning has a negative connotation and the new one has not,
e.g. nice originally "foolish" - now "fine, good".
In other cases the new meaning acquires positive connotation absent in the original meaning,
e.g. knight "manservant" (originally) - "noble, courageous man" (now)
The terms elevation and degeneration of meaning are inaccurate as we actually deal not with elevation or degradation of meanings but of referents.
