Lecture the word and its meaning

II. Types of meaning.
The meaning is not homogeneous. It is a system of systems:
1). It combines lexical and grammatical meanings, e.g. actress is a personal noun.
2). Lexical meaning includes denotative and connotative ones.
3). Denotative meaning is conceptual (what a word denotes), it is divided into semantic
components called semes , e.g. Father is a male parent. Denotative components may
be culturally predetermined (cf. winter in Siberia and in Australia, it is a season
between autumn and spring but all other characteristics are different: duration,
temperature, etc.).
4). Connotative meanings express the speaker’s attitude to the subject of speech and may
be as follows:

1. 
   stylistic: chap, fellow, associate; child, infant, kid;
   
2. 
   emotive: cool, awesome, terrific;
   
3. 
   expressive: to trudge, to march, to gobble;
   
4. 
   evaluative: clever, silly, good, bad(rational evaluation), scoundrel (emotional evaluation);
   
5. 
   associative (a fir-tree – forest, New Year);
   
6. 
   national and cultural (kilt – Scots);
   
7. 
   pragmatic: Can you open the door?
   

5). A word may be polysemantic, i.e. it may have several interrelated denotative
meanings:

1. 
   One of the meanings is called primary, this is the meaning in which the word made its first appearance in the language, all the other meanings which developed later are called secondary, e.g. chair as a piece of furniture (primary), chair as the head of some meeting, conference or chair as a department (secondary meanings).
   
2. 
   One of the meanings is central, others are peripheral. As a rule, primary and central meanings coincide but it is not necessarily so. In the course of language development a secondary meaning may become the central one ousting the primary meaning to the periphery, e.g. revolution: primary meaning is that of rotary movement, revolving, secondary – social change (now central).
   
3. 
   Meaning can be direct and indirect (figurative, transferred), e.g. white collar, blue collar, smoke screen, etc.
   

III. Semantic changes and their causes.

1.Specialization, or narrowing of meaning
e.g. garage – a safe place
meat – any food
2.Generalization, or widening of meaning
e.g. ready (in O.E. – ready for a ride, now – ready for any activity)
arrive – to land at a shore
3.Elevation of meaning (getting better, going higher)
e.g. queen (in O.E. – woman)
knight (in O.E. – young servant).
4.Degradation of meaning (getting worse, lower)
e.g. a spinster – a woman that spins wool
idiot – a private person
5. Transference of meaning. The name of one thing is used to name some other things.
Transference is further subdivided into metaphor, metonymy and euphemism.

1. 
   Transference of meaning based on likeness is called a metaphor. Metaphors can be based on likeness of form ( a head of cabbage), of position (the foot of the mountain), function (Head of the Department), size, quantity (ocean of troubles, storm of applause),etc. Sometimes a combination of several features makes up the foundation for a metaphor (a leg of a table – function, position, shape). Metaphors may involve transition from proper names to common ones, e.g. a Don Juan, Apollo, Vandals, Hooligans.
   
2. 
   Transference of meaning based on associations of contiguity (being together) is called metonymy. We can use the name of a container for the thing it contains (Will you have another cup?), instrument for the agent (His pen knows no compromise), the place for the people who live or work there ( Kharkiv greets the guests. The Kremlin agrees to the treaty), the name of a person for the things s/he made (He reads Byron), the name of a part for the whole (Who’s the moustache?)
   
3. 
   Transference of meaning dictated by social conventions, norms, rules of behavior. A word or a word combination is used instead of the other word that is offensive, rude, or taboo.
   

e.g. to die: to perish, to pass away, to join the silent majority, to meet one’s maker, to be with the angels, to cross the Great Divide, etc.
toilet: WC, bathroom, the necessary facilities, powder room, ladies/ gents, public conveniences, cloakroom, throne room, porcelain collection, Windsor Castle, etc.

Causes of semantic changes may include linguistic and extra-linguistic ones.

The latter are connected with social, political, economic, cultural and scientific development.
e.g. computer, space, feedback, bikini, villain, boor, etc.
The former embrace differentiation of synonyms (e.g. time and tide), borrowings (hound and dog), preserving the old meaning in idioms (love token, token of respect), etc.