Lý thuyết của môn ngữ nghĩa ngữ dụng học của ngành ngôn ngữ Anh thuộc Đại học Mở. Được giảng viên của trường biên soạn và lưu hành nội bộ. Giúp cho các bạn sinh viên có một bản tóm tắt về môn học này để dễ dàng tiếp thu
Trang 1ĐẠI HỌC MỞ TPHCM NGÀNH NGÔN NGỮ ANH NGỮ NGHĨA – NGỮ DỤNG HỌC COURSE OUTLINE
PART 1: SEMANTICS
UTTERANCES & PROPOSITIONS
II SEMANTIC FEATURES / PROPERTIES
III SEMANTIC / LEXICAL FIELD
IV REFERENCE & SENSE
3 Speech event / situation
4 Direct & indirect speech act
5 Types of speech act
II THE COOPERATIVE MAXIMS
III IMPLICATURE
IV PRESUPPOSITION
Trang 2Hurford, J.R and B Heasley 1983 Semantics, A Course Book Cambridge University Press.
Hudson, G 2000 Essential Introductory Linguistics Blackwell Publishers Ltd.
Pecci, J.S 1999 Pragmatics Routledge.
Richards, J., Platt, J and Weber, H 1987 Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics Longman Group
Limited
Stageberg, N.C 1983 An Introductory English Grammar Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
To Minh Thanh 2007 Ngu Nghia Hoc Tieng Anh NXB DAI HOC QUOC GIA TP Ho Chi Minh.
Yule, G 1996 Pragmatics Oxford University Press.
Trang 3NGỮ NGHĨA HỌC UNIT 1
UNIT OUT LINE
I SENTENCES, UTTERANCES & PROPOSITIONS
1 Semantics
2 Pragmatics
3 Proposition
II SEMANTIC FEATURES / PROPERTIES
III SEMANTIC / LEXICAL FIELD
1 Semantics + study of language meaning (relation between language & object)
+ means to convey the meaning: sentence + sentence: A group of words linked by grammar & conveying a complete
meaning
Out of context / context free.
Ex:Money doesn’t make happiness
+ type of meaning studied: literal / linguistic / semantic meaning
2 Pragmatics + study of language use (relation between language & user)
+ means to convey the meaning: utterance + utterance: A sentence said by a speaker in a particular context.
Context bound / context dependent.
+In written language, an utterance is put between quotation marks
Ex: “I love you so much”
+ type of meaning studied: speaker / figurative / pragmatic meaning Note: Semantically = Literally; Pragmatically = Figuratively
3 Proposition: A proposition is that part of the meaning of the utterance of a declarative
sentence which describes some state of affairs (Hurford & Heasley, 1983: 19)
Some features of a proposition
A proposition must be meaningful
It must be an affirmative or negative sentence (declarative)
It must be true or false
Criterion to identify proposition: truth value (T /F) If the 1st utterance is true and the
2nd is also true, they are one proposition If the 1st utterance is true and the 2nd is false, they are different propositions
Ex: (1) John gave Mary a book
Mary was given a book by John (2 sentences; same proposition) (2) Isobel loves Tony
Tony loves Isobel (2 sentences; 2 different propositions) (3) “Dr Findlay caused Janet to die.”
“Dr Findlay killed Janet.” (2 utterances; 2 different propositions) (In the case Dr Findlay caused Janet to die, but not intentionally)
Trang 4(4) “Dr Findlay killed Janet”
“Dr Findlay caused Janet to die.” (2 utterances; same proposition)
III SEMANTIC PROPERTIES/ FEATURES
The literal meaning of the word ‘father’ is made up by different elements / units / components Each unit is a semantic feature / property / component The process of analyzing the meaning of a word into components is called componential analysis.
2 CHARACTERISTICS
a Primitive elements: Semantic feature are basic primitive concepts in linguistics They are left
undefined
Ex: human, male, animal, color etc
b The same semantic feature may be found in the meaning of different words
Ex: Father, mother, son, daughter, teacher baby … all share the same semantic feature
[+ human]
Mother, daughter, hen, bitch, swine … all share the same semantic feature
[+female]
c The same semantic feature may be found in words of different parts of speech.
Ex: [+female] is the common feature of mother (N), pregnant (Adj), breast-feed (V)
[+educational] is a semantic feature of the noun teacher, the adjective educated, the verb teach.
IV LEXICAL / SEMANTIC FIELD
A semantic field or a lexical field is the organization of related words and expressions into a system which
show their relationship to one another (Richards Platt & Weber 1987:53) In other words, it is a group of
words sharing the same Semantic property / Semantically related
Ex 1:
Human (B) Hypernym / Super-ordinate
Bachelor Father Mother Baby Uncle Sister
(A) Hyponyms
Hyponym is a word ‘whose referent is totally included in the referent of another term (hypo = below)
Hypernym is a word whose referent covers all the referents of its hyponyms (hyper = above).
Hyponymy is a one-way relation from hyponyms to hypernym.
Test: A (hyponym) is a kind of B (hypernym) We can say:
Hyponymy
Trang 5A bachelor is a kind of human Not: A human is a kind of bachelor.
A cat is an animal Not: An animal is a cat.
Students are required to do the exercises in the text book
NGỮ NGHĨA HỌC UNIT 2
UNIT OUT LINE
REFERENCE & SENSE
a Reference is the relationship between language and the world In other words, that is the
relationship between words and the things, actions, events, and qualities they stand for (Hurford
& Heasley, 1983: 25)
Ex: My son refers to a person; a dog refers to an animal (the speaker
establishes a relationship between an expression and an object)
b Referent is the thing the speaker is talking about, the object referred to.
Ex: This page (the page the speaker is reading; Ex: page 15)
The cassette player (the object on the table)
c Types of reference
Variable Reference: the same expression may be used to refer to different objects In other
words, the referent of an expression varies with the speaker For example:
“My mother” (referring to the mother of the speaker) may refer to different ladies depending
on different speakers
Same Reference / Co-reference: different expressions refer to the same object In other
words, the same object has different names
HCM City and Saigòn: both refer to the same city
My father is a teacher: both underlined groups of words refer to the same person
We chose John leader: John and leader refer to the same person
Constant Reference: one expression always refers to the same object, (regardless the
speaker)
Proper names, especially geographical names: John Smith, David, Vietnam, Cambodia …
Unique things: the sun, the moon, the earth, the east, the west, Halley’s Comet…
No reference: an expression which is meaningful but does not refer to anything.
Function words: and, but, if …
Imaginary characters: Batman, Dragon, Superman, Snow White, Tấm Cám …
The objects that do not exist now
Ex: The king of France is bald (France does not have any king nowadays)The Queen of Vietnam nowadays is a Cambodian (no VN queen now)
Trang 6d Sense is the relationship between semantically related expressions in the language to express the
meaning (synonyms, definition)
Ex: bachelor means unmarried man (the same sense)
“to buy” and “to purchase” have the same sense.
e Referring expression
Definition: A referring expression ‘is any expression used in an utterance to refer to someone or
something particular (Hurford & Heasley, 1983: 35) (On the part of the speaker)
Ex: + ‘My father” refers to a particular person =>my father => a referring expression.
+ “Fred hit me”; ‘Fred’ refers to a particular person =>my father => a referring expression.
+ “There is no Fred at this address”; “Fred” is not a referring expression because
in this case the speaker would not have any particular person in mind
Some clues of referring expression
Possessive: my friend, Paul’s hat …
Demonstrative: this book, that machine …
Proper name: Smith, David, Vietnam …
Personal pronouns (only when being uttered): I, You, He …
Constant reference (unique thing): the sun, the moon, the earth, the east, the west
Past tense: helps to recognize Referring Expression
Ex: I saw a boy yesterday
Yesterday, I met a singer
Not a referring expression
Something general: family, society, people …
Representative of social classes or species: the poor, the rich, the elephant, dogs, cats …
Profession/ Job: a singer, a teacher, a lawyer …
Ex: A singer in “SilBlack is a famous singer” is a RE because it
refers to a particular person
A singer in “My sister is a singer” is not a RE because it is a job in general.
Note: Whether an expression is a referring expression or not depends mainly on linguistic context and on
circumstances of the utterance.
Requirement: Students are required to do the exercises in the material (text book)
Trang 71 Denotative / Literal / Descriptive / Referential meaning
The denotative dictionary meaning
can be described by a set of semantic features describes something => called descriptive meaning refers us to something in the world => called referential meaning
Ex: A pig: a domestic animal, having 4 legs & a tail, hairy, usually raised for meat
A father: a male human, adult, married, having children …
2 Connotative / Figurative / Social / Affective meaning
The connotative + implied, additional meaning
+ shows people’s emotions and / or attitudes => affective meaning + may vary with individual or community => social meaning
+ may be used positively or negatively by speaker
Ex: + The word pig in “He is a pig” may means connotatively:
He is a pig => - Lazy
- Greedy
- Stupid
- Dirty
+ As connotative meaning, the word woman may means positively devotion,
patience, generosity …, and negatively frailty, inconstancy, irrationality …
B SENTENCE MEANING
1 Linguistic / literal meaning
The linguistic meaning of a sentence depends on:
- The meanings of the constituent words
- The syntactic functions of the units in the sentence (subject, object, )
- The semantic / participant roles of the noun phrases in the sentence.Compare the following sentences:
(1) The lion bit the hunter
(2) The hunter bit the lion.
(3) The hunter was bitten by the lion
First, to understand the meaning of the sentences, we must know the meanings of the words
‘lion, bite, hunter’ However, we can use exactly the same words to form different sentences with the same or different meanings
Trang 8(1) The lion bit the hunter # (2) The hunter bit the lion
semantic / participant roles which is the most important factor.
SEMANTIC or PARTICIPANT ROLES: the role performed by a noun phrase in relation to the verb
Types
Agent (A): the one that initiates an action (person/ animal + action verb)
Ex: Paul opened the door
Patient (P): the one that suffers from or is affected by the action (action verb)
Ex: Paul opens the door ; The door opened at the first blow of wind
Paul is boiling water ; Water boils at 100OC
Experiencer (E): the one that experiences a feeling/ sensation/ perception …
(a person / an animal + a non-action verb)
Ex: Paul loves Mary
I recognize that I’m wrong
The boy wants a candy
The teacher remembers meeting me somewhere
Stimulus (S): the one that causes a feeling / sensation (emotion verb)
Ex: Paul loves Mary
I’m afraid of ghost
The book of the teacher makes me very happy
The film interests me a lot
Recipient (R) (the receiver): the one that receives a physical object
Ex: He gave me a book last night
Benefactive (B) : the one that benefits from an action
Ex: I do all this for you
I sent him a gift for his son
Instrument (I): the one that is used to perform an action (implying a user)
Ex: I open the door with a hammer
Paul used a key to open the door
Cause (C): the one that causes an action to happen (not implying a user)
Ex: The door opened suddenly at the blow of the wind
Paul was hurt with a knife (implying someone using a knife to hurt him)
I
Paul was hurt by a knife (not implying the user of the knife)
C
Trang 9 Locative (L): the place where an action happens
Ex: I was born in Đà lạt
HCM city is a good place to live
Temporal (T): the time when an action happens
Ex: Yesterday, I saw you at the supermarket
Back to the 3 previous examples, we see:
(1) The lion bit the hunter # (2) The hunter bit the lion
S/A O/P S/A O/P
(2) The hunter bit the lion # (3) The hunter was bitten by the lion.
S/A O/P S/P O/A
The above sentences have different meanings because they have different semantic roles although
they may have the same syntactic functions (2) & (3)
(1) The lion bit the hunter = (3) The hunter was bitten by the lion
S/A O/P S/P O/A
The two sentences have the same meaning because they have the same semantic roles although the
syntactic functions are different
Trang 10NGỮ NGHĨA HỌC UNIT 4: TYPES OF MEANING (continued)
UNIT OUT LINE
II TYPES OF MEANING
1 Irony: Saying the opposite of one’s thought for emphasis, for fun or mocking.
Ex: + He is so kind that he let all the housework for me to do (He is not kind at all)
+ He is so intelligent that no examiner has agreed to pass him so far.(He is rather stupid.)
2 Sarcasm /’sa:kæzǝm/ : bitter irony; sneeringly ironical remarks to hurt somebody’s feelings.
Ex: + “The more I know about human beings, the more I want to be an animal”
(Jungle Boy) (Human beings are worse than animals!)
+ “Oh yes, we know how clever you are!” “Well, Mr Know-it-all, What’s
the answer this time?”
3 Simile /’sımılı/: direct / explicit comparison using comparison words ‘like, as’ or comparison form.
Ex: He eats like a tiger (he eats as much as a tiger does.)
He is as poor as a church mouse (he is very poor)
4 Metaphor /’metǝfǝ/: indirect / implied comparison (no comparison words ‘like, as’.
a Form of metaphor A = B (2 different objects are put on the same rank to compare usually
with ‘to be’) Ex: He is a pig ; he is a tail
A’s feature for B a noun as a verb Ex: He apes my betters
A noun as an adjective Ex: wavy hair; silky hand
A verb for one type used for another
Ex: Have you digested the lesson yet?
The committee shot my ideas down one by one
Trang 11b Types of metaphor
Dead metaphor: A metaphor used as a fixed expression or idiom
Its meaning is fixedUsually the speaker uses it naturally and unconsciouslyEx: the eye of a needle; the head quarter
Live metaphor Used consciously, intentionally by a speaker
With various figurative meanings
Its meaning depends on the situation Ex: ‘He is a pig’ (may mean fat; lazy; stupid; dirty; greedy etc.)
5 Synecdoche /sı´nekdǝki/ : substitution of the whole for the part & vice versa
Ex:+ Vietnam won the football match (VN is used to refer to VN football team;
whole for part)
+ I don’t want you to come under my roof (= my house) (part for whole)
6 Metonymy /mǝ´tɒnǝmi/: substitution of related words (not whole – part)
Ways to identify a metonymy
Container – Contained
Ex: - Very thirsty, he gulped down the whole bottle (= liquid in the bottle)
- As the teacher came in, the whole class stood up to greet him (all the students)
Author – Works
Ex: - Have you read Khái Hưng yet? (= the novels of Khái Hưng)
- This is not a Picasso (= a painting by Picasso)
- His words can be trusted (= the speaker)
Profession – Means
Ex: - I live on my pen (a writer)
- My Tyson lives on his gloves (a boxer)
Symbol - Reality / Concrete - Abstract
Ex: - He tries his best to win her heart (= her love)
- He succeeded to the crown (= the royal office)
- He has the tongue of king (= the talent of tasting food)
- She has an ear for music (= the talent for appreciating, enjoying … music)
Material – Object made of it
- All our glass is kept in the cupboard (= vessels and objects made of glass)
- You can get our gold in the upper drawer (= jewelry made of gold)
7 Personification: Endowing an inanimate object with human qualities
Ex: - The leaves are dancing in the morning wind (= moving)
- The waves tore the ship into pieces (= destroyed completely)
8 Hyperbole /haı´pɜ:bǝli/ (cường điệu): overstatement or exaggeration
Ex: - I’m so hungry that I can swallow a cow (= extremely hungry)
- I’ve invited millions of people to my party (= a lot of)
- I haven’t seen you for ages (= a long time)
9 Euphemism /’ju:fǝmızǝm/ (uyển ngữ, nói tránh)
avoid using some expressions because of taboo
Death Ex: my grandpa passed away (died)