Group Assignment
Stylistics analysis of poem
a dream within a dream
Stylistics
DEPARTMENT
LINGUISTICS
SUBMITTED TO
MA’AM HALEEMA
Humaira Noor , Yusra Zaman , Aisha Mughal
LEVELS OF LINGUISTICS STYLISTICS
Semantics
This is the study of the linguistic meaning of morphemes, words, phrases and
sentences. Subfields of semantics are lexical semantics and structural semantics.
Lexical semantics is concerned with the meaning of words and the meaning of
syntactic units larger than the word. Roman Jacobson is quoted by Fromkin et al
(2003) as saying that language without meaning is meaningless. Semantics is the
philosophical and scientific study of meaning. It can also be said to be a branch of
linguistics which is pre-occupied with the study of meaning. The term is one of a
group of English words formed from the various derivatives of the Greek verb
"semano" ("to mean" or "to signify"). It is difficult to formulate a distinct definition
for each of these terms because their use largely overlaps in the literature, despite
individual preferences. Semantics may also be approached from a philosophical
(logical) point of view. In the disciplines of philosophy and linguistics, semantics is
the study of the relationship between the signs of a language and their meanings.
Although they approach semantics differently, both disciplines propose to explain
how people derive meanings from linguistic expressions. However, our concern here
is semantics in linguistics. In its own case, lexis describes the entire storage of words
and expressions in a language. The term lexicon derives from the root word "lexis"
and it refers to the list of the possible words in a language. Linguists today study
three levels of language: the phonetic (relating to sounds), syntactic (relating to the
way in which words combine grammatically to make sentences) and the semantic. In
comparison with the work done in the first two areas, linguists have accomplished
little in the area of semantics. This controversial subject has split the ranks of
linguists into several camps. Members of the school of interpretive semantics study
structures of language, dependent on the conditions of the use. In contrast, the
proponents of generative semantics insist that the communicative power of language
must be acknowledged and that the meaning of sentences is a function of use. Yet
another group goes further by maintaining that the science of meaning will not
advance until theorists take into account the psychological questions of how people
attain concepts and how these relate to word meanings.
Semantics helps us to understand the nature of language because it accounts for the
abnormalities experienced when reading English sentences such as: "The chicken
ate the man" "My cat read English" and "A dress was walking to the door". The
abnormality in each of the sentences above is not noticed in its syntax because it
adheres to the same basic syntactic rule such as:
The Plate kicked the man
NP V NP
Subject predicator object
Hence, each of the sentence is grammatical.
Fromkin (et al) (2003) assert that one of the important ways of representing
semantic properties is by use of semantic features. These are formal and notational
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devices that indicate the presence or absence of semantic properties by pluses (+)
and minuses (-).
Words fulfil certain roles within the situation described by the sentence. These have
been identified as Agents (subject), theme (object) and instrument (predicator).
Further functions of noun phrases in a sentence include: experiencer, location,
source, and goal, among other.
Here are few examples of semantics:
1. "The cat is on the mat." In this sentence, "cat" refers to a small, domesticated
feline animal, and "mat" refers to a small rug or piece of material used to protect the
floor.
2. "I saw a man with a telescope." Here, "man" refers to an adult male human, and
"telescope" refers to an optical instrument used for viewing distant objects.
3. "She borrowed my book and returned it yesterday." In this sentence, "book"
refers to a written or printed work consisting of pages bound together, and
"borrowed" and "returned" refer to actions of taking and giving back something
temporarily.
Lexico semantics
Lexico-semantics, also known as lexical semantics, is a subfield of linguistics that
focuses on the meaning of words and the relationships between them. It involves
the study of how words carry meaning, how they relate to each other within a
language, and how their meanings can change over time. Lexical semantics is the
branch of linguistics which is concerned with the systematic study of word meanings.
Probably the two most fundamental questions addressed by lexical semanticists are:
(a) how to describe the meanings of words, and (b) how to account for the
variability of meaning from context to context. These two are necessarily connected,
since an adequate description of meaning must be able to support our account of
variation and our ability to interpret it. The study of contextual variation leads in two
directions: on the one hand, to the processes of selection from a range of
permanently available possibilities; and on the other hand, to the creation of new
meanings from old, by such means as metaphor and metonymy, in response to
contextual pressure. An understanding of synchronic variation of meaning (variation
observable at any one time in a language) is essential to an understanding of
diachronic change (change over time). Another important area of inquiry is how the
vocabularies of languages are structured by means of sense relations (systematic
relations between meanings), such as antonymy (long:short, fast:slow), hyponymy
(animal:dog, fruit:apple), and incompatibility (dog:cat, apple:banana).
Lexical Relations
Lexical relations are the systematic associations between words based on their
meanings. These relations help to organize the vocabulary of a language and
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provide insights into how words are interconnected. Here are the primary types of
lexical relations:
1. Synonymy
Definition: The relationship between words that have similar meanings.
Example: "Big" and "large."
2. Antonymy
Definition: The relationship between words with opposite meanings.
Types:
Gradable Antonyms: Pairs of words with opposite meanings where the difference
is a matter of degree (e.g., "hot" and "cold").
Complementary Antonyms**: Pairs where the presence of one means the
absence of the other (e.g., "alive" and "dead").
Relational Antonyms: Pairs that describe a relationship from opposite perspectives
(e.g., "teacher" and "student").
3. Hyponymy and Hypernyms:
Hyponymy:
Definition: A relationship where the meaning of one word is included within
another, more general word.
Example: “Rose" is a hyponym of "flower."
Hypernyms:
Definition: The inverse of hyponymy; a more general word that encompasses
more specific words.
Example: "Flower" is a hypernym of "rose."
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4. Meronymy and Holonymy:
Meronymy:
Definition: The relationship between a part and the whole to which it belongs.
Example: "Wheel" is a meronym of "car."
Holonymy:
Definition: The inverse of meronymy; the whole to which parts belong.
Example: "Car" is a holonym of "wheel."
5. Polysemy:
Definition: A single word having multiple related meanings.
Example: "Bank" can mean the edge of a river or a financial institution.
6. Homonymy
Definition: A single word having multiple unrelated meanings.
Types:
Homophones: Words that sound the same but have different meanings and
spellings (e.g., "pair" and "pear").
Homographs: Words that are spelled the same but have different meanings
(e.g., "lead" (to guide) and "lead" (a metal)).
True Homonyms: Words that are both homophones and homographs (e.g., "bat"
(an animal) and "bat" (used in sports)).
7. Collocations:
Definition: Words that frequently occur together in a natural language context.
Example: "Make a decision" and "strong tea."
8. Idioms:
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Definition: Fixed expressions with meanings not deducible from the individual
words.
Example:"Kick the bucket" means "to die."
9. Antonymy
Definition: Relationship between words with opposite meanings.
Example: "Hot" and "cold."
Understanding these lexical relations is essential for grasping the complexities of
word meanings and how they interact in communication. This knowledge is useful in
various linguistic fields, including lexicography, language teaching, translation, and
natural language processing.
Conotative and Denotative Meaning
Denotative Meaning
The denotative meaning of a word is its literal, dictionary definition. It is the explicit,
direct meaning of the word without any emotional, cultural, or contextual nuances.
Denotative meanings are straightforward and objective.
- The denotative meaning of "rose" is a type of flowering plant belonging to the
genus Rosa.
- The denotative meaning of "dog" is a domesticated carnivorous mammal that
typically has a long snout, an acute sense of smell, and a barking, howling, or
whining voice.
Connotative Meaning
The connotative meaning of a word includes the emotional, cultural, and associative
implications that come with it. It encompasses the various feelings, ideas, or
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nuances that the word evokes beyond its literal definition. Connotative meanings can
be positive, negative, or neutral, and they often depend on individual experiences or
societal norms.
- The connotative meaning of "rose" might include notions of romance, love,
beauty, and passion. In certain contexts, it can also symbolize secrecy (sub
rosa) or be associated with specific cultural or literary references.
- The connotative meaning of "dog" can vary widely. For some, it may evoke
feelings of loyalty, companionship, and protection. For others, it might bring
to mind negative associations such as fear or bad experiences with dogs.
Humaira Noor, Yusra Zaman , Aisha Mughal | LINGUISTICS DEPARTMENT
