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Plato（柏拉图）：词义就是事
物、行为和属性的名称，或者说 词语有指义或命名的功能。 Russell（罗素）：一个词的意 义就是一个对象，即一个词意指 着某客体，也就是代表着一个客 体。
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ቤተ መጻሕፍቲ ባይዱ
Limitations: 1) Applicable to nouns only. 2) There are nouns which denote things that do not exist in the real world, e.g. ghost 3) There are nouns that do not refer to physical objects but abstract notions, e.g. joy, impulse, hatred… 4) Some words may have different meanings in different contexts. 5) The same reference may have different names.
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The conceptualist view概念 论(ideational theory）

there is no direct link between a linguistic form and what it refers to (i.e. between language and the real world); rather, in the interpretation of meaning they are linked through the mediation of concepts in the mind.
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Important Figures of Behaviorism: Watson：词的意义就是对词的有条件 的反应。 Bloomfield（布龙菲尔德）：意义就 是讲话人的刺激和听话人的反应。 （meaning as speaker‘s stimulus and hearer‘s response）

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A problem with the contextualism

Context is such a complicated concept, consisting of so many factors. 如：世界知识、语言知识、集体知识、 参与者、背景、正式程度和基调、媒介、 语篇因素、表现等。（胡壮麟 2002： “语境研究的多元化”）
Linguistic context:
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The linguistic model of contextualism
Context
Speaker A language speaker B

Language is always used in a certain context.
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Important figures of contextualism

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Jill Jack S________ r …… s ________ R Meaning consists in the relationship between speech indicated by the small letters r…… s and the practical events represented by the capitalized letters S and R that precede and follow them respectively.
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1. Definition:
the study of meaning; More specifically, the study of the meaning of linguistic units, words and sentences in particular.

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The basic area of study: the meaning of signs; relations between different linguistic units
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意义： 语言文字或其他符合所表达的内 容。 e.g. 节约就是不浪费的意思。 价值；作用。 e.g. 人生的意义
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Naming
theory (Plato) The conceptualist view Contextualism (Bloomfield) Behaviorism Truth conditions
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Sense: concerned with the inherent meaning of the linguistic form; the collection of all the features of the linguistic form, abstract and decontextualized. 意思、涵义、意义、或系统意义：指与 语境无关、仅涉及语言内部成分之间关 系的意义，它是意义的中心.
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3. Leech‘s 7 types of meaning
1974, Semantics: The Study of Meaning. 7 types of meaning:
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Conceptual meaning Connotative meaning Social meaning Affective meaning Reflected and meaning Collocative meaning Thematic meaning

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The contextualism 语境论
I
am near the bank. ―black‖: black hair & black coffee, or black sheep differs in meaning; The context meaning. determines the
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1. 形式与意义直接相关，用实线连接。 意义通过符号形式来表达，形式是语义 的载体。 2. 意义是在各观事物的基础上概括而成 的，是客观事物在头脑中的概括反映， 两者也有直接联系，用实线连接。 3. 形式和所指之间没有必然的联系，故 而两者间用虚线连接，所以同一事物可 以用不同的形式来表示。
Malinowski: For a large class of cases……the meaning of a word is its use in the language. Firth: We shall know a word by the company it keeps. Halliday: Meaning is the bridge between linguistic forms and situation.
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Ogden and Richards: semantic triangle
Thought/reference/concept
Symbol/form word/phrase/sentence
Referent/object in the world of experience
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The symbol or a word signifies things by virtue of the concept associated with the form of the word in the minds of the speaker; and the concept looked at from this point of view is the meaning of the word.
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Naming theory (Plato)命名论
Words are names or labels for things. N.: objects or events adj.: properties of those objects or events V.: actions Adv.: the properties of those actions
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2. Approaches to meaning:
What
is the meaning of sputnik? I didn‘t mean to hurt you. Life without faith has no meaning. Fame and riches mean nothing to the true scholar.
Associative Meaning
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Conceptual meaning概念意义
(‗denotative, logical or cognitive‘ meaning). desk: a piece of furniture with a writing surface and usually drawers or other compartments Bird: warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings
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Behaviorism 行为主义论
Behaviorists:
―the situation in which the speaker utters it and the response it calls forth in the hearer”.
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the meaning: ―I‘m Thirsty.‖ : Jill Jack S________ r …… s ________ R S = Jill sees an apple r = Jill says ―I‘m Thirsty‖ s = Jack hears Jill says ―I‘m thirsty‖ R = Jack picks the apple for Jill