Different approaches to meaning, functional approach. Types of meaning, grammatical meaning. Semantic structure of polysemantic word. Types of semantic components. Approaches to the study of polysemy. The development of new meanings of polysemantic word.
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Contents

• Reference
• Introduction
• 1. Word Meaning
• 1.1 Different Approaches to Meaning. Functional Approach
• 1.1.1 Referential approach
• 1.2 Types of Meaning. Grammatical Meaning
• 1.2.1 Lexical Meaning
• 1.2.2 Denotational and Connotational Meaning
• 1.3 Semantic Structure of polysemantic words
• 1.4 Types of Semantic Components
• 2. The meaning and Polysemy
• 2.1 Two approaches to the study of polysemy
• 2.1.1 Synchronic and Diachronic
• 2.2 Meaning and Context
• 2.3 The Lexical context
• 2.4 Grammatical Context
• 2.5 The development of new meanings of polysemantic words
• Conclusion
• Appendix to the course paper
• Bibliography

Reference

The theme of the course paper is polysemy. The work consists of introduction where the choice of the theme is substantiated and the aim of the work with its dismemberment for intercommunicated complex of tasks are defined which are subject to decision for opening of the theme. There are two chapters in the main part. It observes the word meaning, the word - the basic unit of language which unites the form and the meaning. Also it contains approaches to meaning: the functional approach supports that a linguistic study of meaning is the investigation of the relation of sign to sign only; the referential approach seeks to formulate the essence of meaning by establishing the interdependence between words and things or concepts they denote. Types of the meaning: grammatical, lexical, connotational and denotational meanings. Grammatical meaning is the element of plurality, tense endings, possessive case and so on. Lexical meaning is the same semantic component which several words have. Connotational and denotational meaning - the lexical meaning is not homogeneous either and may be analysed as including denotational that component of the lexical meaning which makes communication possible and connotational component which consist of emotive charge that is one of the objective semantic features proper to words as linguistic units and forms a part of the connotational component of meaning and stylistic reference.

One part of all words consists of specified words, which are connected with science, technical, medical terms etc. - they have only one meaning. But the rest of the words have two or more meanings. The choice of the necessary word in a sentence depends on the context. Also there are grammatical and lexical contexts which are considered. The object of researching is the word, its meanings, context and developing of polysemantic words' meanings. The aim of the work is to investigate word meanings in speech, the role of context for solution of polysemy in the text and to prove the importance of word meaning and its researching.

polysemy english language polysemantic

Polysemy decorates the speech, literature texts, but complicates a task for foreigners, who study another language, in our case, the English language, a task of translation. A context in this situation gives a lot, it helps to understand what the sentence, the text means in order to make professional translation in a literal way. It is all about the second chapter.

Also the paper contains the conclusion where theoretical and practical conclusions are given in account in logical succession; and appendix.

Introduction

Do you need a dog?", asked Tom holding a puppy in his hands. “No”, answered John- “I have”, and, not turning around lifted the arm with a dog in it, a tool for getting tacks out of the wood.

There are plenty of languages in the world. There are a lot of words in the language, and almost every (except scientific) word has 2 and more meanings. And at the same time context appeared. Because only with help of the context we know which of the meanings is more suitable in that situation or text where we are or have. That is why it is necessary to study the polysemy and more important to know so many meanings of one word as it is possible.

By definition Lexicology deals with words, word - forming morphemes (derivational affixes) and word-groups or phrases. All these linguistic units may be said to have meaning of some kind: they are all significant and therefore must be investigated both as to form and meaning. The branch of lexicology that is devoted to the study of meaning is known as Semasiology. Words, however, play such a crucial part in the structure of language that when we speak of Semasiology without any qualification, we usually refer to the study of word-meaning proper, although it is in fact very common to explore the semantics of other elements, such as suffixes, prefixes, etc.

Meaning is one of the most controversial terms in the theory of language. At first sight the understanding of this term seems to present no difficulty at all - it is freely used in teaching, interpreting and translation. The scientific definition of meaning however just as the definition of some other basic linguistic terms, such as word, sentence, etc., has been the issue of interminable discussions. Since there is no universally accepted definition of meaning we shall confine ourselves to a brief survey of the problem as it is viewed in modern linguistics both in our country and elsewhere.

1. Word Meaning

Word meaning. If is it necessary to discuss the meaning, first of all we must say some words about the word. What is this?

The word may be described as the basic unit of language. Uniting meaning and form, it is composed of one or more morphemes, each consisting of one or more spoken sounds or their written representation. The combinations of morphemes within words are subject to certain linking conditions.

The definition of a word is one of the most difficult in linguistics because the simplest word has many aspects. All attempts to characterize the word are necessarily specific for each domain of science and are therefore considered one-sided by the representatives of all the other domains and criticized for incompleteness. The variants of definitions were so numerous that some authors collecting them produced works of impressive scope and bulk.

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), one of the great English philosophers, revealed a materialistic approach to the problem of nomination when he wrote that words are not mere sounds but names of matter. Three centuries later the great Russian physiologist I. P. Pavlov (1849-1936) examined the word in connection with his studies of the second signal system, and defined it as a universal signal that can be substitute any other signal from the environment in evoking a response in a human organism.

It runs as follows: a word is a sequence of graphemes which can occur between spaces, or the representation of such a sequence on morphemic level.

The semantic-phonological approach may be illustrated by A. H. Gardiner's definition:

”A word is an articulate sound-symbol in its aspect of denoting something which is spoken about. ”

The eminent French linguist A. Meillet combines the semantic, phonological and grammatical criteria and gives the following definition of the word:

“A word is defined by the association of a particular meaning with a particular group of sounds capable of a particular grammatical employment. ”

Still, the main point can be summarized:

“The word is the fundamental unit of language. It is a dialectal unity of form and content. ”

The linguistic science at present is not able to put forward a definition of meaning which is conclusive. However, there are certain facts of which we can be reasonably sure, and one of them is that the very function of the word as a unit of communication is ma...