Psychology of Language--Baldwin MEANING Ellis Ch. 4: Meaning

Psychology of Language--Baldwin MEANING Ellis Ch. 4: Meaning Meaning as a reference both to: Specific objects: my computer Categories, abstract qualities: /computer/

Problems with meaning Words are associated Words are ambiguous Words are redundant Words are poetic, metaphoric, contradictory, anomalous Structural Semantics

Object languagethe meaning of a complex expression of objects (Ellis, 1999, p. 57). Assumes meaning already assigned to words through social construction Not concerned with actual meanings or providing clues to common usage (p. 57) Concerned with way a sentence can be

true: Empirical truth: Kelvin has dreadlocks Linguistic truth: All men have dreadlocks if, then, and Semantics: Structural Criticisms of structural semantics? Stop-gaps: Contextual semantics: how people

assign meaning in context (including, but not limited to possibility, probability, etc.) Lexical semantics: Study of word meanings Standard Theory: (Chomsky) Markers: characteristics that show similarity/ difference: Whale Shark Jellyfish +AQUATIC, etc.

Rules: What the category of meaning can Implications of Semantics Linguistic relativity: the future subjunctive Parsing meaning: Wine Doritos TP

New words Where do they come from? How are they formed? How do some catch on and others not? Langue and Parole (beyond Ellis)

Langue: The structural meanings, usages, available in a language Parole: The meaning of a specific utterance in its context, the actual words and behaviors of communication The Basics Connotation

Denotation Triangle of Meaning Proper meaning superstition (line at bottom should be dotted!)

Practice [B-a-b-e] [A-r-a-b] Symbolic Interactionism Humans are distinctsymbol

manipulating The social world is a dynamic and dialectical webunstable, in process, never fixed The social world isinteractive SI seeks to look beneath symbols to find underlying patterns and forms of social life Implications Mind

Self Society (and language, and meaning!) Semiotics Original SemioticsSaussure and Others Sign = signified + signifier Not word & object, but sound pattern & category (sense, but not reference) Value of sign depends on relation to other

signs Semiotics--Barthes 1.Sign = signifier + signified 2.Sign systems and codes 3.Ideology/

myth Postmodernism Fragmented meanings Contradictory ideologies Pastiche Pleasure