Appunti di linguistica inglese - Semantica

REFERENCE AND SENSE

REFERENCE is an external meaning relation, because it starts in our brain and goes outside in

the real and physical world.

Or it could also be a relation between a word and the entity that it “refers to”

▪ 1. in the physical world (denotation)

▪ 2. in our mental world (mentalistic)

SENSE in an internal meaning relations, that is that sense relations hold between words within the

vocabulary. The most obvious sense relations are SAMENESS (synonym) and OPPOSITENESS

(antonym).

SYNONYMY

Is a relationship of semantic identity, sameness of meaning:

1) between readings of a word -> this involves comparing words with their full range of

application.

2) between words -> this involves comparing words as they appear with a specific reading in a

specific sentence.

The relationship may be complete or partial

– Two items are synonymous if they may be substituted for each other in a given context (i.e. the

expression as a whole must retain its semantic value).

– The substitution must work in both directions

If I replace a word with another, the expression has to maintain the same meaning.

Ex. “this is a lovely desk” = “this is a nice desk”

Substitution must work in both direction ( )

There different types of synonyms:

1) COMPLETE SYNONYMY: two words are interchangeable and we can juxtapose the two

words)

2) PARTIAL SYNONYMY: words are interchangeable in most context but not in all of them.

3) NO SYNONYMY

The most used is partial synonymy.

TOTAL SYNONYMY

Synonymy must have the same range of meaning and must be substitutable for each other in all

relevant context.

PARTIAL SYNONYMY

Aurora, break of day, crack of dawn, dawn, daybreak, daylight, morning, sunrise -> they are

substitutable for each other in one or more context but they can’t be substitute by each other in all

context.

Ex. STRONG vs. POWERFUL

I want a strong coffee NOT I want a powerful coffee.

This car has a strong engine = This car has a powerful engine (it can be substitute)

Synonymy are rarely exactly interchangeable.

Ex. SHIMMER vs. GLITTER

Shimmer is to shine with a veiled or tremulous light.

Glitter is to sparkle with light.

WHY ARE THERE VERY FEW TRUE SYNONYMS?

1) Cognitive reasons: principle of least effort. Human beings are lazy. We can see this in

phonetics and in phonology.

Ex. NEXT WEEK ->in pronunciation is quickly and in become “nexweek”.

A CUP OF TEA -> become “a cupotea”

2. Depth of meaning (denotative, connotative, stylistic, collocative). It doesn’t have sense to have

copies of words in our vocabulary, why we can’t memorise lots of words.

The layers (strati) of meaning are wide.

For two words to share all the layers are impossible.

27.10.2016

True synonyms -> words that can be used interchangeable.

Denotative meaning -> the simplest form of meaning, the most literal and obvious meaning.

Depth of meaning -> how words are used in context.

• True synonymy is not common as synonyms are rarely exactly interchangeable > NEAR

SYNONYMY – Shimmer and glitter

• As verbs the difference is that shimmer is to shine with a veiled, tremulous, or intermittent light,

while glitter is to sparkle with light; to shine with a brilliant and broken light or showy luster

• As nouns the difference is that shimmer is a faint or veiled and tremulous gleam or shining; while

glitter is a bright, sparkling light; brilliant and showy luster; as, the glitter of arms; the glitter of royal

equipage.

STRICT VS. LOOSE SYNONYMY

Strict synonymy = true synonymy. Due to borrowing from language we have words that become

strict synonyms. Strict synonymy does not exist -> we can’t have words being strict synonymy for

a long period.

Example:

“Sky” = comes from Old Norse. When it was borrowed It came in competition with “Heaven”,

which comes from Old English.

They refer both to physical firmament or spiritual realm of God -> they have the same meaning.

These two words come to denote two different things:

- Sky denotes only the firmament.

- Heaven denotes only the spiritual realm.

Nowadays sky and heaven are not the same.

SYNONYMY EXERCISE

“Beg” = 1) to ask someone for food or money, because you do not have any.

Ex. Young children were begging on the streets.

2) to ask for something in a strong and emotional way.

Ex. I begged him not to leave.

-> it is more neutral than implore. It comes from Germanic.

• Suggests insistence, sometimes self-abasement -> She begged for mercy

“Entreat” = to try very hard to persuade someone to do something.

Ex. We would spend every meal time entreating (cercando di convincere) the child to eat

vegetables.

(convincere = è stato fatto / cercare di convincere = c’è un processo)

“Beseech” = to ask for something in a way that shows you need it very much (supplicare)

Ex. They beseech him to stay / Stay a little longer, I beseech you!

-> it is a middle way between beg and supplicate.

“Implore” = to ask someone to do or not do something in a very sincere, emotional and

determined way.

Ex. She implored her parents not to send her away to school.

-> it is more desperate than beg. It comes from Latin -> it is more formal.

“Supplicate” = to ask for something in a humble, prayerful way.

Ex. I knew I could not go on supplicating for more / She is supplicating God for forgiveness.

-> it is a Latin word (supplicare)

“Importune” = 1) to make repeated, forceful request for something, usually in a way that is

annoying or causing slight problems.

Ex. As a tourists you are importuned for money / The moment you step outside your hotel you are

importuned for money.

-> (importunare) in English it is neutral.

2) to ask for sex with someone in return for payment.

Ex. He was arrested for importuning a young boy outside the station.

Latin words -> used in a formal way. They belong to an high register.

Germanic words -> used in a informal way.

Ex. TO ASK vs. TO INTERROGATE/TO QUESTION

When we say two words are synonymy we are not precise, we “loose” synonymy. We have to be

carefully, when we look synonymy. Synonymy have a large part of the meaning that overlap. It is

difficult to set a limitation.

• Synonyms may overlap in meaning to a greater or lesser degree,

- though it is not clear how this might be measured, nor

- whether there is a limit at which the notion of synonymy becomes meaningless (i.e. at which

point we can say that two words are not synonymous anymore?)

Ex. “Loose” is a synonym of “vague” and “vague” is a synonym of “rambling” BUT loose and

rambling are NOT synonyms.

Loose and free are synonyms but it depends on the context: FREE DRINK NOT LOOSE DRINK

DISTINGUISHING SYNONYMS

1) Variations can be geographically, some synonym pairs differ in that they belong to different

dialects: we can have a national standard and a regional standard.

Ex. “Bigiare” is formal vs. “Fare fugone” – “Fare forca” are dialects.

They still exist but one is the National standard and one is the regional one.

2) Synonyms may be distinguished by the style or by the formality of the context in which they are

used.

3) Synonyms may share denotation but not connotation in referring to a particular entity; e.g.

divergent affective meanings.

DIATOPIC VARIATIONS

English vs. American English

English is the most varied languageBonnet (BE) Farm Pavement Lift, etc.

Bonnet (BE) Farm Pavement Lift, etc.

Hood (AE) Ranch Sidewalk Elevator, etc.: Scotland, Philippines etc.

DEGREES OF FORMALITY

Synonyms can be distinguished by style or formality.

Ex. “Argument” (less formal) vs. “Disputation” (formal)

Ex. “Die” (colloquial) vs. “Decease (formal)

-> denotational meaning is the same, but not the connotational meaning.

Ex. “Warning vs. Caveat” – “Praise vs. Eulogy” – “Western (Germanic) vs. Occidental (Latin)” –

“Give up vs. Renounce” – “Letter vs. Missive”.

DENOTATION VS. CONNOTATION

“Ambiguous vs. Equivocal” (deliberately)

“Famous (has positive connotation) vs. Notorious (is not so good, is disreputably)”

“Misuse (= incorrect use of something) vs. Abuse (= incorrect use of power)”

“Obtain vs. Procure (with effort)”

“Proud (between neutral and positive) vs. Haughty (= looking with disdain)”

“Recollection vs. Reminiscence (with pleasure)”

“Stimulate vs. Feign (with craftiness – you really deliberate stimulate)”

THE RICHNESS OF SYNONYMS DEPENDS ON:

1) the history of the language, which is the history of the country itself.

2) the borrowing process from other languages, when different countries get in touch, especially

from French and Latin.

Ex. French and Latin: “to ask” is a French word -> is short and colloquial.

“to interrogate” is a Latin word -> is long and formal.

The words from OE are generally shorter than their French or Latin synonyms, they also tend to

belong to the ordinary colloquial language whereas their Latinate synonyms belong to a more

formal context.

SUBSTITUTABILITY OF SYNONYMS

The fact that two words have the same meaning does not guarantee that they can be substitute.

For example IDIOMS and COLLOCATIONS.

Ex. Dead drunk = Completely drunk

Completely victory = NOT Dead victory

“Drunk” and “Silent” share inactivity ad stillness, connotations that are share with “death”, while

“victory” shares not this connotations. So “dead silent”, “dead drunk” and “complete victory” are

collocations.

In order to get to the core to the collocation we have to go back when it was used in the past, but

this is not always possible.

Ex. “Unrequited (non corrisposto)” / “Nonreciprocal”

Unrequited occurs with love: “unrequited love” is a collocation.

They are synonyms, they belong to the same register, so denotation is the same, the stylistic

meaning is the same, the collocation is the same however “nonreciprocal” is not very used in

English and it has nothing to do with feelings, passions and love. So potentially they could be

interchangeable.

In poetry we are more original and in poetry we found the least amount of collocation.

SENSE RELATIONS: SIMILARITY

• Relations between words sharing some semantic properties: Hyponymy and synonymy

• Relations that denote a part-whole relationship between objects in the real world: Meronymy

• Relations that allow similar metaphorical sense extensions: Regular polysemy

HYPONYMY

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