SEMASIOLOGY

1. ASPECTS OF LEXICAL MEANING

1. Denotational Aspect. 2. Connotational Aspect. 3. Pragmatic Aspect.

1. DENOTATIONAL ASPECT

In the general framework of lexical meaning several aspects can be singled out. They are: the denotational aspect, the connotational aspect and the pragmatic aspect. The denotational aspect of lexical meaning is the part of lexical meaning which establishes correlation between the name and the object, phenomenon, process or characteristic feature of concrete reality (or thought as such), which is denoted by the given word. The term denotational is derived from the English word to denote which means be a sign of or stand as a name or symbol for. For instance, the denotational meaning of booklet is a small thin book that gives information about something. It is through the denotational aspect of meaning that the bulk of information is conveyed in the process of communication. The denotational aspect of lexical meaning expresses the notional content of a word. The denotational aspect is the component of the lexical meaning that makes communication possible.

2. CONNOTATIONAL ASPECT

The connotational aspect of lexical meaning is the part of meaning which reflects the attitude of the speaker towards what he speaks about. Connotation conveys additional information in the process of communication. Connotation includes:

the emotive charge is one of the objective semantic features proper to words as linguistic units that forms part of the connotational component of meaning, for example, daddy as compared to father.

evaluation, which may be positive or negative, for instance, clique (a small group of people who seem unfriendly to other people) as compared to group (a set of people);

imagery, for example, to wade to walk with an effort (through mud, water or anything that makes progress difficult). The figurative use of the word gives rise to another meaning, which is based on the same image as the first to wade through a book;

intensity / expressiveness, for instance, to adore to love;

The correlation of denotational and connotational components of some words is shown in Table 2.

Table 2. The correlation of denotational and connotational components Word+part of speech lonely, adj. notorious, adj. celebrated, adj. to glare, adj. Denotational component alone, without company widely known widely known Connotational component melancholy, sad for criminal act or bad traits of character for special achievement in science, art, etc. 1. steadily, lastingly Type of connotation

emotive connotation

to look

to glance, v. to stare, v. to gaze, v. to shiver, v.

to look to look to look to tremble

evaluative connotation, negative evaluative connotation, positive connotation of duration 2. in anger, rage, etc emotive connotation; connotation of cause briefly, passingly connotation of duration steadily, lastingly in emotive connotation; surprise, curiosity, etc. connotation of cause steadily, lastingly in emotive connotation tenderness, admiration 1. lastingly connotation of duration

to shudder, v.

to tremble

2. usu with the cold 1. briefly 2.with horror, disgust, etc.

connotation of cause connotation of duration connotation of cause; emotive connotation

The above examples show how by singling out denotational and connotational components we can get a sufficiently clear picture of what the word really means. The schemes presenting the correlation of two components of the words also show that a meaning can have two or more connotational components. The given examples do not exhaust all the types of connotations but present only a few: emotive, evaluative connotations, and also connotations of duration, cause, etc.

3. PRAGMATIC ASPECT

The pragmatic aspect is the part of lexical meaning that conveys information on the situation of communication. Like the connotational aspect, the pragmatic aspect falls into four closely linked together subsections. 1) Information on the time and space relationship of the participants. Some information which specifies different parameters of communication may be conveyed not only with the help of grammatical means (tense forms, personal pronouns, etc), but through the meaning of the word. For example, the words come and go can indicate the location of the speaker who is usually taken as the zero point in the description of the situation of communication. The time element when related through the pragmatic aspect of meaning is fixed indirectly. Indirect reference to time implies that the frequency of occurrence of words may change with time and in extreme cases words may be out of use or become obsolete. Thus, the word behold take notice, see (smth. unusual) as

well as the noun beholder spectator are out of use now but were widely used in the 17th century.

2) Information on the participants and the given language community. The language used may be indicative of the social status of a person, his education, profession, etc. The pragmatic aspect of the word also may convey information about the social system of the given language community, its ideology, religion, system of norms and customs. Let us consider the following sentences: a) They chucked a stone at the cops, and then did a bunk with the loot. b) After casting a stone at the police, they absconded with the money. Sentence A could be said by two criminals talking casually about the crime afterwards. Sentence B might be said by the chief inspector in making his official report.

3) Information on the tenor of discourse. The tenors of discourse reflect how the addresser (the speaker or the writer) interacts with the addressee (the listener or reader). Tenors are based on social or family role of the participants of communication. There may be situation of a mother talking to her small child, or about her children, or a teacher talking to students, or friends talking to each other.

4) Information on the register of communication. The conditions of communication form another important group of factors. The register defines the general type of the situation of communication grading the situations in formality. Three main types of the situations of communication are usually singled out: formal, neutral and informal. Thus, the pragmatic aspect of meaning refers words like cordial, fraternal, anticipate, aid to formal register while units like cut it out, to be kidding, stuff, hi are to be used in the informal register. The structure of lexical meaning see in diagram 3.

Diagram 3. Structure of the lexical meaning

LEXICAL MEANING

Denotational aspect

Connotational aspect

Pragmatic aspect

Emotive charge Expressiveness

Evaluation Imagery

Information on the time and space Relationship of the participants

Information on the participants and the given language community

Information on the tenor of discourse

Information on the register of communication References: 1. .. . .: , 2006. .- 18-21. 2. .. . .: , 1979. .- 20-22. 3. .. . -. 2006. .- 61- 62. 4. .., .., .. . .; , 2006. . - 136-142.