单击此处编辑母版标题样式,单击此处编辑母版文本样式,第二级,第三级,第四级,第五级,*,Lecture IV Componential analysis and semantic features,Lead-in remark,How to distinguish bicycle,motor cycle and car?,Bicycle:,TWO,WHEELS,PROPELLED BY,PEDALS,Motor cycle:TWO WHEELS,PROPELLED BY,ENGINE,Car:,FOUR,WHEELS,PROPELLED BY ENGINE,Things are differentiated by their features.Words follow the same principle,i.e.different words have different meanings as they contain different features.,Semantic features,The linguistic meaning of a word is the set of abstracted characteristics necessary to distinguish the category which the word names from all other categories.The analysis of word-meaning is often seen as a process of,breaking down the sense of a word into its minimal components,.A very simple example of this is provided by the words,man,woman,boy,girl,and other,related words in English.,These words all belong to the semantic field the human race,and the relation between them may be appropriately represented by a two-dimensional field diagram:,male,female,adult,man,woman,young,boy,girl,human,The diagram shows two dimensions of meaning:that of sex and that of adulthood;a third dimension is presupposed by the isolation of the field as a whole:that between human and non-human species.The dimensions of meaning themselves will be termed,SEMANTIC COMPONENTS,or,FEATURES,.,Another way to represent these senses is to write formulae in which the dimensions of meaning are expressed by,feature symbols,like HUMAN and ADULT.The meanings of the individual items can then be expressed by combinations of these features:,Man,+HUMAN,+ADULT,+MALE,Woman,+HUMAN,+ADULT,-MALE,Boy,+HUMAN,-ADULT,+MALE,Girl,+HUMAN,-ADULT,-MALE,These formulae are called the,COMPONENTIAL DEFINITIONS,of the items concerned:they can be regarded,in fact,as formulated dictionary definitions.,The term,COMPONENTIAL ANALYSIS,has often been used for the method of analysis illustrated here,that of,reducing a words meaning to its ultimate contrastive elements,.It bears some resemblance to the mathematical process of factorizing a number,e.g.10=125.,A particular characteristic of componential analysis is that it attempts as far as possible to treat components in terms of,binary opposites,e.g.MALE and FEMALE.Notationally there is an advantage in such binary terms in that we can choose one only as the label and distinguish this in terms of pluses and minuses.Thus,MALE and FEMALE are written as+MALE and-MALE.,Componential analysis enables us,to have an exact knowledge of the conceptual meaning,of words.Two words are synonymous if they contain all the same sense components,e.g.both,father,and,male parent,can be given the same definition+HUMAN+ADULT+MALE+MARRIED even though they clearly differ in connotation,the one(,Which one?And what exactly?,)having,connotative meaning,the other evoking no association.,A knowledge of the semantic features of words helps us,to choose the right word or collocation,.Some words require a human subject while some do not.For example,verbs of perception and cognition usually take a human subject as in John,forgave,your rudeness,but a tree or a door cannot,forgive,unless used metaphorically.,Question,:,Now could you express such semantic feature of,forgive,?,+HUMAN SUBJECT-,The chief drawback of componential analysis is,the impossibility of making a list of the infinite number of semantic features,.,Semantic features usually used to distinguish nouns include ANIMATE,MALE,VEGETABLE,ADULT,ABSTRACT,COUNTALBE,etc.,Semantic features to distinguish verbs include DYNAMIC,STATIVE,CAUSATIVE,VOLITIVE,COMPLETIVE DURATIVE,etc.,Dynamic vs.stative,How to distinguish dynamic and stative verbs?Consider,learn,and,know,.,1.Be able to be used in progressive aspect or not?,(1)He is learning English.(dynamic),(2),*,He is knowing English.(stative),2.Be able to be used in pseudo-cleft sentence or not?,(3)What I did was to learn English.(dynamic),(4),*,What I did was to know English.(stative),3.Be able to be used in imperative sentence or not?,(5)I persuade her to learn English.(dynamic),(6),*,I persuade her to know English.(stative),Five types of dynamic verb:,Activity verb:,abandon,ask,Process verb:,change,grow,Sense verb:,ache,itch,Transitional verb:,die,land,Momentary verb:,knock,hit,Two types of stative verb:,Sense and cognition verb:,love,know,Relational verb:,equal,seem,Dynamic adjectives can be used in imperative sentences and progressive aspects.Consider:,(7)a.Be careful.(dynamic),b.,*,Be tall.(stative),(8)a.He is being cruel.(dynamic),b.,*,He is being clever.(stative),Exercise,See P86-7.,