Name : Iyank Zona B

NIM

: C0313027

1. The difference of meaning studies based on :

a) Traditional Perspective
b) Descriptive Structural Perspective
c) Semantic Generative Perspective
2. What do you know about Semantic Paradigmatic, give some examples !
3. Whats the different in this term
a) Lexical and grammatical meaning
b) Referential and non-referential meaning
c) Denotation and connotation meaning
d) Conseptual and Assosiative
Answer

1. a) The study of word meaning constitutes the more traditional approach to

semantics which can be traced back to Aristotle and assumes that it is
possible to categorise words (or concepts) according to sets of necessary and
sufficient features. It is essentially paradigmatic in nature, as it contrasts the
semantic content of individual words in terms of their individual meaning
components, as we shall see further below. For that purpose, it applies a
technique known as componential analysis, which attempts to identify salient
features of meaning (in analogy to the features well later encounter when we
talk about phonology).
In contrast to this, the analysis of meaning in context can be seen as more
syntagmatic. Here, sometimes a further distinction is made between
sentence meaning and utterance meaning, where the former refers to the
literal meaning of the words as they are uttered and the latter to their
meaning in context, i.e. how they are meant to be interpreted in this
particular context. However, the second type may also be seen as belonging
to the realm of pragmatics, rather than semantics. Well largely focus on the
analysis of word meaning in our discussions, although well also look at some
issues in contextual meaning.
b) Structural semantics is the study of relationships between the meanings of
terms within a sentence, and how meaning can be composed from smaller
elements. However, some critical theorists suggest that meaning is only
divided into smaller structural units via its regulation in concrete social
interactions; outside of these interactions language may become
meaningless. Structural semantics is that branch that marked the modern

linguistics movement started by Ferdinand de Saussure at the break of the

20th century in his posthumous discourse titled Cours De Linguistique
Generale (A Course in General Linguistics). He posits that language is a
system of inter-related units and structures and that every unit of language is
related to the others within the same system. His position later became the
bedding ground for other theories such as Componential analysis and
Relational Predicates. Structuralism is a very efficient aspect of Semantics as
it explains the concordance in the meaning of certain words and utterances.
The concept of sense relations as a means of semantic interpretation is an
offshoot of this theory as well.
Structuralism has revolutionized semantics to its present state and it also
aids to the correct understanding of other aspects of linguistics. The
consequential fields of structuralism in linguistics are sense relations(both
lexical and sentencial) among others.
c) Generative semantics is the name of a research program within linguistics,
initiated by the work of various early students of Noam Chomsky: John R.
Ross, Paul Postal, and later James McCawley. George Lakoff was also
instrumental in developing and advocating the theory.The approach
developed out of transformational generative grammar in the mid-1960s, but
stood largely apart from, and in opposition to, work by Noam Chomsky and
his later students. This move led to a more abstract framework and lately to
the abandonment of the notion of the CFG formal grammar induced deep
structure.
A number of ideas from later work in generative semantics have been
incorporated into cognitive linguistics, Head-Driven Phrase Structure
Grammar (HPSG), Construction Grammar, and into mainstream Chomskyan
linguistics.
generative semanticists argued that interpretations were generated directly
by the grammar as deep structures, and were subsequently transformed into
recognizable sentences by transformations. This approach necessitated more
complex underlying structures than those proposed by Chomsky, and more
complex transformations as a consequence. Despite this additional
complexity, the approach was appealing in several respects. First, it offered a
powerful mechanism for explaining synonymity. In his initial work in
generative syntax, Chomsky motivated transformations using active/passive
pairs such as "I hit John" and "John was hit by me", which despite their
identical meanings have quite different surface forms. Generative
semanticists wanted to account for all cases of synonymity in a similar
fashionan impressively ambitious goal before the advent of more
sophisticated interpretive theories in the 1970s. Second, the theory had a
pleasingly intuitive structure: the form of a sentence was quite literally
derived from its meaning via transformations.

2. Semantic fields are much concerned with paradigmatic relations. Semantic

fields are assembled on the basis of paradigmatic relations. Semantic fields
are concerned with paradigmatic relations. Examples
- Chair, table, bed, stool etc. come under heading of furniture.
- Brother, sister, uncle, aunt etc. all belong to one semantic field
of relations.
- All the animals form one semantic field.
- The music instruments of all kinds make one semantic field.

3. a) Lexical meaning deals with a language's lexicon, or the collection of

words in a language. It is concerned with individual words (unlike
compositional semantics, which is concerned with meanings of sentences.)
Lexical meaning is composed of conceptual meaning and associative
meaning. Lexical meaning is relatively stable.
Grammatical meaning refers to that part of meaning which indicates
grammatical relationships or functions, such as tense meaning, singular
meaning, etc.. Words with the similar lexical meaning can have different
grammatical meanings, and words with different lexical meanings can have
the same grammatical meaning. Grammatical meaning is in use.
b) Referential meaning is the meaning that refers to an object[thing, action,
event, quality] or a notion[ opinion, meaning idea,concept ] outside the
language, or that refers to an entily in the external world, so referential
meaming is extra-linguistic, situational meaning the meaning that occurs in
a particular context. It is also called dictionary meaning. Referential meanings
must be realized [understood] in connection with the cultures. The same word
may have different referential meanings in different cultures. For example, in
British English the phrase to table a subject or a report means to suggest
it for consideration (by a committee) In American English to table a subject
or a report means to leave it until a later date for consideration. On the
other hand, non-referential meaning not refers to anything.
c) Denotation refers to the literal meaning of a word, the "dictionary
definition." For example, if you look up the word snake in a dictionary, you
will discover that one of its denotative meanings is "any of numerous scaly,
legless, sometimes venomous reptiles having a long, tapering, cylindrical
body and found in most tropical and temperate regions."
Connotation, on the other hand, refers to the associations that are connected
to a certain word or the emotional suggestions related to that word. The
connotative meanings of a word exist together with the denotative meanings.
The connotations for the word snake could include evil or danger.

d) Conceptual meaning is often described as dictionary meaning or literal

meaning of a word. It is the core of the meaning of a word. It is relatively
constant and stable, because it is the meaning agreed upon by all the
members of the same speech community.
Associative meaning is that part of meaning which has been supplemented to
the conceptual meaning. It is the meaning which arises of the associations a
word acquires. It is open-ended, unstable and indeterminate, because it
varies with culture, time, place, class, individual experiences, etc. Associative
meaning includes connotative, stylistic, affective and collocative meanings.