文化语义学导论.ppt

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1、CulturalSemantics:AnIntroduction文化语义学导论文化语义学导论讲授者：吴建平博士讲授者单位、职称：厦门大学英文系教授、博士生导师电子邮箱：;.个人网站：GeneralRequirements1.Twoweeksafterthiscourseisover,youarerequiredtosubmitacoursepaperbyemail.Yourscorewillbegivenonthebasisofyourcoursepaper,youroralpresentationandthefrequencyofyourattendance.2.Sincethiscours

2、eispresentedinbothEnglishandChinese,youarerequiredtoreadreferencebookspublishedinbothEnglishandChinese.3.Questionsandrequestscanbepresentedtomebyemailorface-to-face.ContentsAGeneralIntroductionChapter1WhatisMeaning?Chapter2LexicalMeaningChapter3WhatisCulture?Chapter4TheFourMajorSchoolsofCulturalStud

3、iesChapter5WordandPhraseChapter6Proposition,SentenceandUtteranceChapter7RegisterandContextChapter8SemanticFeaturesChapter9TextTypologyChapter10TwelveMajorMethodsofText/DiscourseAnalysisChapter11MajorSemanticTheoriesChapter12SomeApproachestoCulturalSemanticsChapter13SpeechActTheoryChapter14Pragmatics

4、Chapter15InterculturalCommunicationTheoryChapter16TheWaysofStudyBibliographyAGeneralIntroductionBetweenmanandthephysicalworldthereexistsaworldoflanguagethroughwhichmanknowsandtriestomasterthephysicalworld.Languagereflectswhatmanknowsaboutthephysicalworldandtheworldoflanguageisamirrorofthephysicalwor

5、ldandastorehouseofallthespiritualcreationsbyman.Languageistheconcentratedreflectionoftheknowledgeofmanaboutthephysicalworld.Meaningisthecoreoflanguage.Whatmakesthemeaningoriginate,develop,changeordie?Themainfactorsaretheexistenceofthephysicalworld,changesandhumanthinking.Theremusthavebeenaphilosophi

6、calbasisforanyoneschooloflinguisticsinthecourseofitsdevelopment.Thereareseveraldistinguishable,andmoreorlesswell-knownphilosophicaltheoriesofmeaning,whichseektoprovideananswertothequestion:Whatismeaning?Outofthemweprefertocombinesomeaspectsofthefollowingphilosophicaltheories:1)Thereferentialtheory;2

7、)Themeaning-is-usetheory;3)Thetheoryofsituation;4)Thetheoryofintentionand5)Thedecon-structionaltheoryandadoptthecombinationasthephilosophicalbasisofhistentativetheoryofculturalsemantics.1)Thereferential(orreference,ordenotational,ornaming)theory:themeaningofanexpressioniswhatitreferstoordenotes,orst

8、andsfor;e.g.dogmeanseitherthegeneralclassofdogsortheessentialpropertywhichtheyallshare.2)Themeaning-is-usetheory:themeaningofanexpressionisdeterminedby,ifnotidenticalwith,itsuseinthelanguage.3)Thetheoryofsituation:Meaningisthebridgebetweenlinguisticformsandsituation.4)Thetheoryofintention:themeaning

9、ofanexpressionistheintentionofitsspeaker.5)Thedeconstructionaltheory:Meaningisnotwhatisfixedforeverandisamarkwhichvarieswiththedevelopmentoftextlanguage,witholdmeaningdisappearingandnewmeaningcomingout.The Major Difference between Semantics and PragmaticsBasedonthepreviously-mentioned,wemayputfortha

10、tentativedefinitionoftraditionalsemanticswithsomemodification:semanticsisthestudyofmeaninginisolation(independentofcontext),andatentativedefinitionofpragmatics:thestudyofmeaningininteraction(dependentoncontext).Nowwemayseethemajordifferencebetweensemanticsandpragmatics:staticvsdynamic.Theusetheoryan

11、dthefunctionalistsemanticsplayakeyroleinturningthetraditionalsemanticsfromastaticstudyintoadynamicone,i.e.toplacethestudyofmeaninginsocial-communicativecontext.Bothsemanticsandpragmaticsareconcernedwithmeaning,butdifferencebetweenthemcanbetracedtotwodifferentusesoftheverbtomean:(1)WhatdoesXmean?(2)W

12、hatdidyoumeanbyX?Semanticstraditionallydealswithmeaningasadyadicrelationasin(1),whilepragmaticsdealswithmeaningasatriadicrelationasin(2).Thusmeaninginpragmaticsisdefinedrelativetoaspeakeroruserofthelanguagewhereasmeaninginsemanticsisdefinedpurelyasapropertyofexpressionsinagivenlanguage,inabstraction

13、fromparticularsituations,speakers,orhearers(Leech1983:6).Inotherwords,semanticsinvolvestherelationshipbetweensymbolandreferentwhereaspragmaticsisconcernedwiththerelationshipbetweensymbolanditsuser.Thisisarough-and-readydistinc-tionfromthephilosophicalpointofview.Fromlinguisticpointofview,semanticsis

14、thestudyofmeaningregardlessofspeechsituationsorcontextswhilepragmaticsisthestudyofmeaninginrelationtospeechsituationsorcontexts.Semanticsisconcernedwithsentencemeaningandpragmaticswithspeakermeaning(orutterancemeaning).Therearesomeoverlappingpartsbetweensemanticsandpragmaticsatthestageoftheirlatestd

15、evelopmentsandacleardemarcationisnotpossibleatpresent.Chapter 1 What is Meaning?Meaninghasmorethan20definitions(seeOgdenpp186-187;Leechp1;Xupp3-16;dictionaries).Meaning is a reference or a situation a sign or a form represents.Indifferentsystemsofreferenceorsituationwhatthesignortheformrepresents(th

16、emeaning)willnotbethesame.Generallyitcanbedividedintotwomajortypes:ReferentialMeaningandCognitiveMeaning.E.g.referentialmeaning:Whodidyoumean?JohnorMary?When Jane talks about“her best friend”,shemeansme.Ifyoulookoutofthewindownow,youllseewhoImean.When Helen mentioned“the fruit cake”,shemeantthatrock

17、-hardobjectonthetable.cognitivemeaning:Whatdoestheword“software”mean?Chapter 2 Lexical MeaningLexical meaning intermsoflinguisticsinsteadoflexicology isalmost equalto referential(conceptual)meaning.To be exact,lexicalmeaningcomprisesthefollowing(Leech.G.N.):l.Conceptualmeaning;2.Connotativemeaning;3

18、.Stylisticmeaning;4.Affectivemeaning;5.Reflected(orassociated)meaning;6.Collocativemeaning;7.Thematicmeaning.l.ConceptualmeaningE.g.womanhuman+female+adult.Conceptualmeaningvarieswithobjectivechanges.Thetwokeypointsforanalyzingtheconceptualmeaningofaword:1)thecontextinwhichawordexists;2)thehistorica

19、lchangeswithwhichawordvaries.2.ConnotativemeaningE.g.woman(frail)(prone to tears)(emotional)(inconstant)(gentle)(compassionate)(hard-working).Tomisapig.(dirty;eatsalot).Heisatiger.(verycruel).Connotative meaning does not exist alone.It is usuallyattachedtotheconceptualmeaningandvarieswithdifferentpe

20、rsons,ages,societies,countries,times,etc.TheconnotativemeaningofsomewordscouldbethesameevenindifferentlanguagesEg狡猾(fox and狐狸);温顺(lamband羔羊);无私的爱(mother and母亲).3.Stylisticmeaningformal/informal/literary/poetic/colloquial/slang.4.AffectivemeaningAffective meaningdoesnotstandalone.Itisrealizedthroughc

21、onceptual or connotative or stylistic meaning.Sometimesthroughintonationor exclamation,etc.E.g.famous-notorious;statesman-politician;resolute-obstinate.5.Reflected(orassociated)meaningReflected meaning will result in the association of thelistener/readerwithsomeideaorthing.E.g.sometaboowordsrelatedw

22、ithsex:cock,intercourse,ejaculation,erection,etc.6.CollocativemeaningCollocativemeaning,infact,mainlyreferstothecontextualmeaningofaword.E.g.prettygirl-handsomeboy;Hemountedhissteed.(literary)Hegoton hisgee-gee.(colloquial)7.ThematicmeaningThematicmeaningreferstothemeaningembodiedbydifferentwordorde

23、rs,sentencestructures,stressesandemphases.E.g.TomownsthemosthandsomecarinNewYork.ThemosthandsomecarinNewYorkisownedbyTom.ThemosthandsomecarinNewYorkbelongstoTom.My classification of lexical meaning:1.Conceptualmeaning(thesameasLeechs);2.*Connotative meaning=stylistic meaning+affectivemeaning+figurat

24、ivemeaning;3.Structuralmeaning=grammaticalmeaning(=thedistributingmeaningofawordorphraseinasentence,whichnaturallyincludeswhatLeechcalls“thematicmeaning”),themeaningof cohesion and coherence,the meaning of inflexions,thesame as Leechs collocative meaning and any meaningresulted from the change of pa

25、rts of speech and sentencestructures.4.*Culturalmeaning=culture-specificmeaning(e.g.jiaozi)+culture-associativemeaning(e.g.rose).5.Pragmaticmeaning=themeaningofthosewordsandphraseswhichdisplayormakethepragmaticsensesevenwhenisolatedfromaspecificcontext.E.g.Behaveoneself(usedtospeaktochildrenonly).Ch

26、apter 3 What is Culture?The notion of culture was first put forward by theGermanscholarsinthe19thcentury(Xiu-yiWu,1988:8).So far there have existed in this world over 260definitions of culture.Listed below are some keydefinitionsofculture:Cultureisacomplexwhichincludesobjects,knowledge,beliefs,arts,

27、ethics,laws,conventionsandotheracquiredsocialabilitiesandcustoms.(Jia-zuGuetal,1990:3)Cultureisabehaviouralpatternsharedandkeptbyahumancommunityandacquiredafterbirth.(Jia-zuGuetal,1990:20-1)Cultureisthetotalofallhumanproducts,includingalltheobjectsandtoolsinventedbyhumanbeingsandtheconventionsoftheh

28、umanlifewhichhavebeenpassedonfromgenerationtogeneration.(Jin-fuGuo,1993:1-2)Cultureshouldbeclassifiedintotwocategories:1)inanarrowsenseitlineswithpolitics,economics,militaryaffairs,etc.andbecomesapartofhumansocialactivities,i.e.thepartsrelatedtothehumansociallifesuchasliterature,arts,science,philoso

29、phy,ethics,fashions,etc.;2)inabroadsenseitisequaltocivilization,includingmaterialandspiritualaspectsinthehumansociety,i.e.materialcivilizationandspiritualcivilization.(Xiu-yiWu,1988:8-9)Basedontheabove-mentioned,mytentativedefinitionisCulture is anything created by human beings,material or spiritual

30、,that is the result or product of human thought and work,universally accepted by human communities and passed on from generation to generation.Thisdefinitioncanbebothapplicabletothecommoncultureofhumanbeingsinthisworldandthespecificcultureofanation.Chapter4TheFourMajorSchoolsofCulturalStudies1)Peter

31、L.Bergerandphenomenology2)MaryDouglasandculturalanthropology3)MichelFoucaultandstructuralism4)JurgenHabermasandcriticaltheoryChapter5WordandPhraseGenerally,wordisconsideredasthesmallestofthelinguisticunitswhichcaninnormalcaseoccuronitsowninspeechorwriting.Traditionalsemantictheoriesinmostcasestakein

32、toconsiderationonlythemeaningofwords.Inthisdissertation,themeaningofphrasesistakenintoconsiderationaswell.Phraseshererefertoallthoselinguisticitemswhicharemadeupoftwoormorewords(includingidioms),nominaloradjectivalorprepositionaloradverbial,andfunctionaswellaswords.WordMeaningandPhraseMeaningWordmea

33、ning(orphrasemeaning)referstowhataword(oraphrase)expressesaboutanentity,realorimaginary.Sinceaphrasecanfunctionaswellasaword,aphrasealsohasthesametypesofmeaningasaworddoes.Ogden&RichardsMeaningTheoryIntheirbookentitled“theMeaningofMeaning”,Ogden&Richards designed a diagram known as Ogden&RichardsSem

34、anticTriangleasfollows:ThoughtorReferenceSymbolReferentANewSemanticTriangleSinceawordandaphrasehavethesamefunction,Ogden&RichardsSemanticTrianglecanbeusedtodescribethephrasemeaningaswellasthewordmeaning.ThoughtorReferenceDescriptionGeneralizationWord/PhraseReferentTheFiveTypesofMeaningMyfivetypesofm

35、eaningarenowstatedinmoredetailsasfollows:1)The conceptual meaning,which is based on thelinguisticconceptandissomethinghighlyabstractedanduniversal,formsthecorepartoftheoverallmeaningofalinguisticsemioticsign.Inmyview,thecommoncultureofallthenationsinthisworldisusuallyreflectedthroughtheconceptual me

36、aning whereas the specific culture of aparticularnationdecidesupontheconnotativemeaningofthelanguageofthenation.2)Theconnotativemeaningherecomprises1)affectivemeaning;2)figurativemeaning;and3)stylisticmeaning.Theaffectivemeaningreferstobothcommendatoryandderogatory aspects of a linguistic semiotic s

37、ign;thefigurativemeaningreferstotheeuphemistic,hyperbole,ironical,etc.aspects of a linguistic semiotic sign;thestylistic meaning refers to the temporal(e.g.archaicsensesorwords),regional(e.g.dialectalwords),social(e.g.slang,vulgar words or senses),occasional(e.g.colloquial,formal words or senses),pr

38、ofessional(e.g.jargon,mathematical,physical,chemical terms orsenses)aspectsofalinguisticsemioticsign.3)The cultural meaning refers to the meaning of aparticular nations culture contained or implied in alinguistic semiotic sign.It includes culture-specificmeaning and culture-associative meaning.The c

39、ulture-specificmeaningofawordorphraseusuallycannotfinditsequivalentinanotherlanguage.E.g.theEnglishwords such as salutatorian,punk,hippie,etc.are notable to find their equivalents in Chinese;the Chinesewords such as饺子(jiaozi)、馄饨(huntun)、景泰蓝(jingtailan)can not find their counterparts in English.Thecu

40、lture-associatedmeaningreferstowhatanativespeakerofaparticularlanguageusuallyassociateswithwhenusingtherelatedwordorphrase.Forexample,theEnglish word rosewill associate anativespeaker ofEnglish with love while the Chinese word“满 月(manyue)”will associate a native speaker of Chinesewith happiness and

41、family reunion.Besides,colourwordsinbothChineseandEnglishwillalsoassociatethe native speakers of both languages with differentimagesandfeelings.4)Thestructuralmeaningincludesgrammaticalmeaning(=thedistributingmeaningofawordorphraseinasentence),themeaningofcohesionandcoherence,themeaningofinflexions,

42、themeaningofpartsofspeech,etc.,andthecollocativemeaningofwordsorphrasesofalanguage.E.g.whitecoffee,blackcoffee,whiteChristmas,insiston,persistin,dropahint,fondof,keenon,etc.5)Thepragmaticmeaningreferstothemeaningofthosewordsandphraseswhichdisplayormakethepragmaticsensesevenwhenisolatedfromaspecificc

43、ontext.E.g.Behaveoneself(usedtospeaktochildrenonly).Obviously,outofthe5typesofmeaningabove,connotativemeaning(includingaffectivemeaning,figurativemeaningandstylisticmeaning),culturalmeaning(includingculture-specificmeaningandculture-associativemeaning),andpragmaticmeaningshouldbeourfocusofattentionf

44、orculturalsemanticstudy.There are,in my personal view,five common patterns ofequatinginterlinguisticsymbols:(1)S=T(“S”standsforthesourcelinguisticsemioticsymbolwithamono-senseoroneofthesensesofasourcelinguisticsemiotic symbol:“=”means“is equal to”:“T”stands for thetargetlinguisticsemioticsymbol:thes

45、amehereinafter).Thisequationmeansthatasourcelinguisticsemioticsymboloroneof the senses of a source linguistic semiotic symbol has acompleteequivalentinthetargetlanguage.Thiscasecanonlybefoundinsomesingle-sensetechnicalterms,propernouns,linguistic semiotic symbols transliterated from sourcelinguistic

46、semioticsymbol,etc.Forexample,electronics=电子学(dianzixue);Washington=华盛顿(huashengdun);hysteria=歇斯底里(xiesidili);logic=逻辑(luoji);jeep=吉普车(jipuche);AIDS=艾滋病(aizibing);荔枝(lizhi)=lychee;磕头(ketou)=kowtow;武术(wushu)=wushu;饺子(jiaozi)=jiaozi;风水(fengshui)=feng shui;太极拳(taijiquan)=taichi.(2)S=T1+T2+.+Tn(“n”stand

47、s for the number of targetlinguistic semiotic symbols:“+”means“plus”:the samehereinafter).This equation means that a source linguisticsemiotic symbol or one of its senses is equal to all theinformationoftwoormoretargetlinguisticsemioticsymbolsaddeduptogether.Forexample,沙发(shafa)=sofa+easychair;胡子(hu

48、zi)moustache+beard+whiskers.(3)S(t)T(t)“(t)”standsforthebracketedrestrictedexplanation(s);thesamehereinafter.Thisequationmeansthatone of the senses of a source linguistic semiotic symbol isapproximatelyequaltoatargetlinguisticsemioticsymbolwiththebracketedrestrictedexplanation(s).Forexample,rose玫瑰(m

49、eigui)(usedasatokenoflove);龙(long)Chinesedragon(symbolizingnoblenessanddignity);凤凰(fenghuang)Chinese phoenix(symbolizing noblenessand good luck);阴阳(yinyang)yin and yang(in Chinesephilosophyandmedicine,twoopposingelementsinnature,theformerfeminineandnegative,thelattermasculineandpositive).(4)StT(“t”s

50、tandsforalabel;thesamehereinafter).Thisequation means that one of the senses of a source linguisticsemiotic symbol is approximately equal to a target linguisticsemioticsymbolwithalabel.Forexample,decease律死亡(shiwang);虹膜(hongmo)生理iris.(5)SE/(e)A(e)/(e)C(e)“E”standsfortheexplanationinthetarget language