Types of word meaning: lexical, grammatical, part-of-speech meaning. Denotational and connotational components of lexical meanings.

There are 2 main types of word-meaning:

· the grammatical meaning

· the lexical meaning.

They are found in all words.

The interrelation of these 2 types of meaning may be different in different groups of words.

GRAMMATICAL M-NG:

We notice, that word-forms, such as: girls, winters, joys, tables, etc. though denoting widely different objects of reality have something in common. This common element is the grammatical meaning of plurality, which can be found in all of them.

Gram. m-ng may be defined as the component of meaning recurrent in identical sets of individual form of different words, as, e.g., the tense meaning in the word-forms of verb (asked, thought, walked, etc) or the case meaning in the word-forms of various nouns (girl’s, boy’s, night’s, etc).

In a broad sense it may be argued that linguists, who make a distinction between lexical and grammatical meaning are, in fact, making a distinction between the functional [linguistic] meaning, which operates at various levels as the interrelation of various linguistic units and referential [conceptual] meaning as the interrelation of linguistic units and referents [or concepts].

In modern linguistic science it is commonly held that some elements of grammatical meaning can be identified by the position of the linguistic unit in relation to other linguistic units, i.e. by its distribution. Word-forms speaks, reads, writes have one and the same grammatical meaning as they can all be found in identical distribution, e.g. only after the pronouns he, she, it and before adverbs like well, badly, to-day, etc.

It follows that a certain component of the meaning of a word is described when you identify it as a part of speech, since different parts of speech are distributionally different.

{ the grammatical m-hg will be different for different forms of 1 word and vice verse, various verbs may have 1 gr. m-ng}

LEXICAL M-NG:

Comparing word-forms of one and the same word we observe that besides gram. meaning, there is another component of meaning to be found in them. Unlike the gram. m-ng this component is identical in all the forms of the word. Thus, e.g. the word-forms go, goes, went, going, gone possess different gram. m-ng of tense, person and so on, but in each of these forms we find one and the same semantic component denoting the process of movement. This is the lexical m-ng of the word, which may be described as the component of m-ng proper to the word as a linguistic unit, i.e. recurrent in all the forms of this word.

The difference between the lexical and the grammatical components of meaning is not to be sought in the difference of the concepts underlying the 2 types of meaning, but rather in the way they are conveyed. The concept of plurality, e.g., may be expressed by the lexical m-ng of the word plurality; it may also be expressed in the forms of various words irrespective of their lexical m-ng, e.g. boys, girls, joys, etc. The concept of relation may be expressed by the lexical m-ng of the word relation and also by any of prepositions, e.g. in, on, behind, etc. ( the book is in/on, behind the table ).

It follows that by lexical m-ng we designate the m-ng proper to the given linguistic unit in all its forms and distributions, while by grammatical m-ng we designate the m-ng proper to sets of word-forms common to all words of a certain class. Both the lexical and the grammatical m-ng make up the word-meaning as neither can exist without the other.

Lex. m-ng is not homogenous either and may be analysed as including the number of aspects. We define 3 aspects:

· denotational

· сonnotational

· pragmatic aspects.

a) It is that part of lex. m-ng, the function of which is to name the thing, concepts or phenomenon which it denotes. It’s the component of L. m-ng, which establishes correspondence between the name and the object. (den. m-ng – that component which makes communication possible).

e.g. Physict knows more about the atom than a singer does, or that an arctic explorer possesses a much deeper knowledge of what artic ice is like than a man who has never been in the North. Nevertheless they use the words atom, Artic, etc. and understand each other.

It insures reference to things common to all the speakers of given language.

b) The second component of the l. m-ng comprises the stylistic reference and emotive charge proper to the word as a linguistic unit in the given language system. The connot. component – emotive charge and the stylistic value of the word. It reflects the attitude of the speaker towards what he is speaking about. This aspect belongs to the language system.

c) Prag. aspect – that part of the L. m-ng, which conveys information on the situation of communication.

It can be divided into:

- inf-ion on the time and space relationship of communication.

Some inf-ion may be conveyed through the m-ng of the word itself.

To come – to go [space relationship]

To be hold – 17^th cent [time relationship]

- inf-ion on the participant of communication or on this particular language community.

e.g. They chuked a stone at the cops’ and then did a bunk with the loot. [ criminal speaking]

After casting a stone at the police they escaped with the money. [ chief inspector speaking]

- inf-ion on the character of discourse [social or family codes]

e.g. stuff – rubbish

( Stuff - it’ll hardly be used by strangers, by smb. talking to boss)

- inf-ion on the register of communication.

e.g. com-ion: - formal (to anticipate, to aid, cordoal)

- informal (stuff, shut up, cut it off)

- neutral ( you must be kidding) –?

Meaning is a certain reflection in our 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.

Grammatical meaning is defined as the expression in Speech of relationships between words. The grammatical meaning is more abstract and more generalised than the lexical meaning. It is recurrent in identical sets of individual forms of different words as the meaning of plurality in the following words students, boob, windows, compositions.

Lexical meaning. The definitions of lexical meaning given by various authors, though different in detail, agree in the basic principle: they all point out that lexical meaning is the realisation of concept or emotion by means of a definite language system.

1) The component of meaning proper to the word as a linguistic unit, i.e. recurrent in all the forms of this word and in all possible distributions of these forms. / Ginzburg R.S., Rayevskaya N.N. and others.

2) The semantic invariant of the grammatical variation of a word / Nikitin M.V./.

3) The material meaning of a word, i.e. the meaning of the main material part of the word which reflects the concept the given word expresses and the basic properties of the thing (phenomenon, quality, state, etc.) the word denotes. /Mednikova E.M./.

Denotation. The conceptual content of a word is expressed in its denotative meaning. To denote is to serve as a linguistic expression for a concept or as a name for an individual object. It is the denotational meaning that makes communication possible.

Connotation is the pragmatic communicative value the word receives depending on where, when, how, by whom, for what purpose and in what contexts it may be used. There are four main types of connotations stylistic, emotional, evaluative and expressive or intensifying.

Stylistic connotations is what the word conveys about the speaker's attitude to the social circumstances and the appropriate functional style (slay vs kill), evaluative connotation may show his approval or disapproval of the object spoken of (clique vs group), emotional connotation conveys the speaker's emotions (mummy vs mother), the degree of intensity (adore vs love) is conveyed by expressive or intensifying connotation.

The interdependence of connotations with denotative meaning is also different for different types of connotations. Thus, for instance, emotional connotation comes into being on the basis of denotative meaning but in the course of time may substitute it by other types of connotation with general emphasis, evaluation and colloquial stylistic overtone. E.g. terrific which originally meant 'frightening' is now a colloquialism meaning 'very, very good' or 'very great': terrific beauty, terrific pleasure.

The orientation toward the subject-matter, characteristic of the denotative meaning, is substituted here by pragmatic orientation toward speaker and listener; it is not so much what is spoken about as the attitude to it that matters.

Fulfilling the significative and the communicative functions of the word the denotative meaning is present in every word and may be regarded as the central factor in the functioning of language.

The expressive function of the language (the speaker's feelings) and the pragmatic function (the effect of words upon listeners) are rendered in connotations. Unlike the denotative meaning, connotations are optional.

Connotation differs from the implicational meaning of the word. Implicational meaning is the implied information associated with the word, with what the speakers know about the referent. A wolf is known to be greedy and cruel (implicational meaning) but the denotative meaning of this word does not include these features. The denotative or the intentional meaning of the word wolf is" a wild animal resembling a dog that kills sheep and sometimes even attacks men". Its figurative meaning is derived from implied information, from what we know about wolves - " a cruel greedy person", also the adjective wolfish means " greedy".

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¡ Khaving 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. (…) Connotation is the pragmatic communicative value the word receives depending on where, when, how, by whom, for what purpose and in what contexts it may be used. There are four main types of connotations stylistic, emotional, evaluative and expressive or intensifying.

Stylistic connotations is what the word conveys about the speaker's attitude to the social circumstances and the appropriate functional style (slay vs kill), evaluative connotation may show his approval or disapproval of the object spoken of (clique vs group), emotional connotation conveys the speaker's emotions (mummy vs mother), the degree of intensity (adore vs love) is conveyed by expressive or intensifying connotation.

The interdependence of connotations with denotative meaning is also different for different types of connotations. Thus, for instance, emotional connotation comes into being on the basis of denotative meaning but in the course of time may substitute it by other types of connotation with general emphasis, evaluation and colloquial stylistic overtone. E.g. terrific which originally meant 'frightening' is now a colloquialism meaning 'very, very good' or 'very great': terrific beauty, terrific pleasure.

Fulfilling the significative and the communicative functions of the word the denotative meaning is present in every word and may be regarded as the central factor in the functioning of language.

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