Lecture 3 semantic structure of the word

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1. Types of context.

2. Word-meaning in syntagmatics and paradigmatics.

3. Polysemy and ways of its development.

4. Types of lexical meaning.

5. Types of polysemy.

6. Types of semantic changes.

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1. Types of context

The modern approach to Semantics is based on the assumption that the inner form (or facet) of the word (i.e. its meaning) presents a structure, which is called the semantic structure of the word.

Each word has a hard core of meaning which stable, but can be modified by the context within certain limits. There can be distinguished two types of context: linguistic (verbal) and extra linguistic (non-verbal). Linguistic (verbal) contexts comprise lexical and grammatical contexts and are opposed to extra-linguistic (non-verbal) contexts. In extra-linguistic contexts the meaning of the word is determined not only by linguistic factors but also by the actual speech situation in which the word is used. Context is a good and reliable key to the meaning of the word.

The context can be lexical (the noun “mouth” – 1) opening through which people or animals take food in; 2) opening or outlet of bag, cave, river); grammatical (the verb “make” – 1) construct, produce something – She made coffee for us; 2) compel, cause – They made me tell the story); and mixed – lexico-grammatical.

2. Word-meaning in syntagmatics and paradigmatics

Linguistic relations of words are basically of two main types: syntagmatic and paradigmatic.

Syntagmatic relations define the meaning the word possesses when it is used in combination with other words in the flow of speech. For example, compare the meaning of the verb to get in he got a letter; he got tired; he got to London and he could not get the piano through the door.

Paradigmatic relations are those that exist between individual lexical items which make up one of the subgroups of vocabulary items, e.g. sets of synonyms, lexico-semantic groups, etc.

Paradigmatic relations define the word-meaning through its interrelation with other members of the subgroup. For example, the meaning of the verb to get can be fully understood only in comparison with other items of the synonymic set: get, obtain, receive, etc. (he got a letter; he received a letter; he obtained a letter) Comparing the sentences we may conclude that an item in a sentence can be usually substituted by one or more than one other items that have identical part-of-speech meaning and similar though not identical lexical meaning.

3. Polysemy and ways of its development

Most words possess several meanings. A word having several meanings is called polysemantic. Polysemy means that a word has two or more meaning. The word polysemy (from Greece “polus” – many and “sema” – meaning) means a plurality of meanings.

If the word has only one meaning it’s called mono-semantic, these are mainly scientific terms, such as hydrogen, molecule, synonym, some pronouns: this, my, both, numerals.

Most English words are polysemantic, i.e. possess more than one meaning. The actual number of meanings of the commonly used words ranges from five to about a hundred. For example the word table (стол) has at least nine meanings in Modern English: 1) a piece of furniture; 2) the people seated at a table; 3) sing. the food put on a table, meals; 4) a thin flat piece of stone, metal, wood, etc.; 5) pl. slabs of stone with words cut into them or written on them; 6) words cut into slabs of stone (the ten tables – десять заповедей); 7) an orderly arrangement of facts, figures, etc.; 8) part of a machine-tool on which the work is put to be operated on; 9) a level area, a plateau. In polysemantic words, however, we are faced not with the problem of analysis of individual meanings, but primarily with the problem of the interrelation and interdependence of the various meanings in the semantic structure of one and the same word. If we compare the nine meanings of the English word table and the meanings of the Russian word стол, we shall easily observe not only the difference in meanings but also the difference in the individual meanings.

table	стол
1. a piece of furniture	1. предмет обстановки
2. the people seated at a table	2. арх. застолица
3. the food put on a table, meals; cooking Note. This meaning is rare in Modern English. Usually the word board (or cooking) is used. (board and lodging, plain cooking)	3. пища (подаваемая на стол), еда Note. Commonly used, stylistically neutral. (стол и квартира, простой, сытный, вегетарианский стол)
4. a flat slab of stone or board	4. плита
5. slabs of stone (with words written on them or cut into them)	5. скрижали
6. Bibl. Words cut into slabs of stone (the ten tables).	6. заповеди
7. an orderly arrangement of facts, figures, etc.	7. таблица
8. part of a machine-tool	8. планшайба
9. a level area, plateau	9. плато

Meaning 1 (generally referred to as the main meaning) presents the centre of the semantic structure of the word and holds a kind of dominance over other meanings, whereas meanings 2-9 (called secondary meanings) are associated with special circumstances, aspects and instances.

As can be seen, only one of the meanings and namely the central meaning “a piece of furniture” may be described as identical. The denotational meaning ‘the food put on the table’ although existing in the words of both languages has different connotational components in each of them. The difference is still more pronounced if we consider all the meanings of the Russian word стол, e.g. “department, section, bureau” (адресный стол, стол заказов) not to be found in the semantic structure of the English word table.

The wealth of expressive resources of a language largely depends on the degree to which polysemy has developed in the language.

Polysemy is explained by the following: the word names an object of reality according to some of its quality or characteristic of its object. Very often the quality of one object is identical with a quality of another object, because of this one the same word is used to denote this object. For example, the word “glass” has the meanings “стакан” and “зеркало”, they are interconnected because both the object are made of the same material.

This very idea may be expressed differently: The world around us is varied and its objects are many. The means of the language on the other hand are limited, so one word denotes several objects.

The system of meanings of any polysemantic word develops gradually most over the centuries as more and more new meanings are added to old ones. All the meanings of the word taken together make up its semantic structure. As a rule context shows us which of the meanings of the word is used. For example, dull: a dull book (uninteresting); a dull student (slow in understanding, stupid); dull weather (not clear); a dull sound (not loud or distinct); a dull knife (not sharp); trade is dull (not active).

The meaning or meanings of polysemantic words are observed only in certain contexts. This can be illustrated by analysing different lexical contexts in which polysemantic words are used. For example, the adjective heavy in isolation is understood as meaning “of great weight, weighty” (heavy load, heavy table). When combined with the lexical group of words denoting natural phenomena such as wind, storm, snow, etc., it means “striking, falling with force, abundant” as can be seen from the contexts, (heavy rain, wind, snow, storm). In combination with the words industry, artillery it has the meaning “the larger kind of something” (heavy industry, heavy artillery).

A listener or a reader can misunderstand a word which is used in a certain meaning.

Customer: I would like a book, please.

Bookseller: Something light?

Customer: That doesn’t matter. I have my car with me.

In this conversation the bookseller means one thing and the customer takes the word in its other meaning. The customer takes the adjective “light” in the literal sense whereas the bookseller uses the word in its figurative meaning “not serious; entertaining”.