|
Meaning of Words
In Linguistics, Semantics (from the
Greek semantikos, or
'significant meaning',
derived from sema 'sign')
is
traditionally defined as the study of
meaning. One area of study is
the study of the
semantic relations between different
linguistic expressions, usually words. These
relations include homonymy,
synonymy, antonymy, polysemy,
hypernymy, and hyponymy. Linguists
describe these relations and also try
to characterize with as much precision
as possible the meanings of words and
other linguistic elements.
[Top]
Semantic change in the context of
words describes the gradual shift in
the conventional meaning of words, as
people use them in new types of
contexts and these usages become
normal. Often in the course of
semantic change, a word shifts its
meaning to the point that the modern
meaning is radically different from
the original usage. For example,
awful originally meant
'awe-inspiring, filling (someone) with
deep awe', as in the awful majesty of the
Creator. At some point it came to
mean 'breath-takingly bad; so bad that
it fills (a person) with awe and
amazement'. People began to use the
word in contexts where the awe
felt was due to something's extreme
negative qualities, as in an awfully bad
performance.
But now the intensity of the
expression has faded somewhat and an
awful tasting medicine need not
inspire any deep sense of awe.
The word in informal usage now just
means 'very bad'. Similar developments
are found with
terrible 'inspiring terror' and its
onetime synonym terrific. The
first kept its negative meaning, but
lost some of its intensity; the second
came to be associated with positive
qualities and only then weakened its intensity.
The result is that the latter two words have gone from being synonyms
to almost exact antonyms.
[Top]
Metaphor is a complex cognitive phenomenon. It is traditionally
thought of as a kind of comparison, although
how we make instant and internally consistent
comparisons between quite disparate things is
not really understood. No artificial system,
such as models in artificial intelligence, can
decode metaphors, and certainly no such system
can produce
them. Examples of metaphors
in everyday language abound. The expression,
You are the sunshine of my life
compares someone's beloved with sunshine;
something that is impossible in literal terms
unless that person becomes a ball of nuclear
fusion. The expression candle in the
wind likens life to a candle
flame that may easily be blown out by any
passing draft or gust. The fragility of life
is thus emphasized. But metaphor is not just
associated with poetic language or especially
high-flown literary language.
Metaphor is an extremely common and pervasive process in language
usage and its results frequently become
conventionalized.
Thus, the meanings of many words
have their origin in metaphor. For example, a
cape-like garment that protected against the
weather was given the name cloak, a
word borrowed from French, in which it meant
'bell'. The garment was given the name for a bell because
of its cut: It created a somewhat bell-like shape when draped
over the shoulders and allowed to fall
vertically to the
knees or below, where it "belled" out from the body.
Metaphor is considered by cognitive scientists to be a very
powerful conceptual tool because it allows
language users to
express abstract concepts by reference
to more concrete concepts which are more
accessible and understandable. For example, many
words for concepts
without visible correlates, such as temporal terms, are taken from the
vocabulary of spatial language. The words
long and short describe a
spatial dimension
(of, for example, a table), but
they also can describe a span of (invisible) time.
Metaphors occasionally impede
understanding, when people fail to
recognize the metaphor.
For example, petrified literally
means 'turned to stone', but now figuratively
means
'terrified' (because of the way that people and animals freeze when in
extreme fear). Those who don't know the
literal meaning and take the metaphorical
meaning as the basic one may wonder why
petrified wood has the name it does!
Sometimes what was originally a metaphor
can completely lose its metaphorical force,
when most or all speakers can no
longer see the metaphor. Such cases are
called dead metaphors or opaque metaphors.
The word understand, for example, is a
dead metaphor, having its origins in the idea
that "standing under" something was
akin to having a good grasp of it (another,
slightly less dead metaphor) or knowing it thoroughly.
Another example is
the word consider which was originally a
metaphor meaning 'consult the stars
(using astrological principles) when
making a decision', mantel
once meant
'cloak or hood to catch smoke',
gorge means throat, and so forth for thousands
more. [Top] Metonymy is the
use of one word with the meaning of another with
which it is typically associated. Metonymy works by
contiguity rather than similarity. The name
for one thing is applied with the meaning of a different,
but spatially and/or temporally associated thing.
When someone uses metonymy, they don't wish to
transfer qualities (as you do with
metaphor), but to indirectly refer to
one thing with another word for a related thing. The common expression The White House
said today... is a good example of metonymy.
The term White House actually
refers to the authorities who work in the
building called the White House. The latter is
of course an
inanimate object that says nothing. Similarly,
in a monarchy the expression
the Crown is used to mean the monarch
and the departments of the government
headed by the monarch. Crown literally
refers only to a physical object sometimes
worn by the actual monarch. In both of these cases the
physical objects referred to by the words used become emblematic
of the institutions associated with the
object,
and so the words for those objects can be applied to the (less
concretely visible) institutions. Metonymy can
be seen as a kind of shorthand indirect
reference, and people use it all the time,
sometimes in very fleeting and
non-conventional ways. For example, a doctor
or nurse might refer in shorthand to a patient
by means of the body part treated (The
broken ankle is in room 2); a waiter might
use a similar metonymy for a customer, this time using the order as an
identifying feature, saying The ham
sandwich left without paying.
In both cases the spatio-temporal contiguity of two things is
exploited to use the word for one to refer to
the other. The expression the press is
used not only for an actual printing press
(which are now becoming rare) but also for the
collective institution of the print news media.
Metonymy is a conceptual device of probably equal importance to
metaphor when it comes to speakers' strategies
for expressing what they want to say in
different ways (and
their hearers' strategies for working out what
that is).
[Top]
[Top] Through slang and
jargon, along with borrowing from other
languages, new words are constantly entering
the language. Examples of recent neologisms
(from neo 'new' + log 'word')
include punked, WMDs, and
blog, among many others.
|
