Chapter 4 Word Meaning

Chapter 4 Word Meaning

I．Choose the one that would best complete the statement and put the letter in the bracket.

D1. A concept is universal to all men alike regardless of _____.

A. culture B. race C. language D. all the above

B2. A concept has _____ referring expressions.

A. one B. many C. a few D. none of the above

B3. Reference is the relationship between language and the ____.

A. behavior B. world C. religion D. human

C4. The reference of a word to a thing outside the language is ____.

A. fixed B. logical C. arbitrary D. confusing

D5. Meaning and concept are ____.

A. identical B. same C. unrelated D. connected

A6. Unlike reference, “sense” denotes the relationship ____ the language.

A. inside B. outside C. between D. out of

B7. Every word that has meaning has ____, but not every word has ____.

A. reference, sense B. sense, reference C. both of them D. neither of them

A8. Motivation accounts of connection between the linguistic symbol and ____.

A. its meaning B. its sound C. its form D. none of the above

D9. English words can be motivated ____.

A. phonologically B. morphologically C. etymologically D. all the above

C10. The meanings of many words often relate directly to their ____, which is known as

etymological motivation.

A. structures B. sound C. origins D. features

B11. The word “neck” in the phrase “the neck of the bottle” is related to ____.

A. onomatopoeic motivation B. semantic motivation

C. morphological motivation D. etymologically motivation

A12. “____” is not morphologically motivated words.

A. Black Market B. Airmail C. Reading-lamp D. Hopeless

D13. “Pen” is ____words.

A. onomatopoeically motivated B. morphologically motivated

C. semantically motivated D. etymologically motivated

A14. The words “bow-wow”, “bang”, “tick-tuck” are ____ words.

A. onomatopoeically motivated B. morphologically motivated

C. semantically motivated D. etymologically motivated

B15. The words “minibus”, “endless” are ____ words.

A. onomatopoeically motivated B. morphologically motivated

C. semantically motivated D. etymologically motivated

D16. The grammatical meanings of a word refer to that part of the meaning of the word which

indicates grammatical concept or relationship such as ____.

A. part of speech of words B. singular and plural meaning of nouns

C. tense meaning of verbs and their inflectional forms D. all the above

B17. Lexical meaning has two components: ____ meaning and associative meaning.

A. connotative B. denotative C. affective D. stylistic

C18. Associative meaning comprises ____ types.

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A. two B. three C. four D. eight

D19. Connotative meaning is unstable, varying considerably according to ____.

A. culture B. historical period

C. the experience of the individual D. all the above

A20. Stylistic meaning refers to the features of ____ of words.

A. formality B. affectiveness

C. appropriateness D. part of speech

C21. “Dwelling place” is ____ of “home”.

A. the stylistic meaning

B. the connotative meaning

C. the conceptual meaning

D. the collocative meaning

A22. “Domicile” is ____.

A. formal B. neutral C. informal uial

C23. Associative meaning is not affected by ____.

A. experience B. culture C. language D. education

B24. In many cases, the appreciative or pejorative meanings of the words are brought out in ____.

A. language B. context C. tense D. education

D25. The stylistic meanings are clearly marked as ____.

A. formal, informal B. literary, archaic C. slang, colloquial D. all the above

A26. The word “residence” is _______.

A. formal B. informal C. colloquial D. dialectal

П. Complete the following statements with proper words or expressions.

1. Reference is r_____ between language and the world. relationship

2. Concept is the r_____ of human cognition, and it reflects the objective world in the human

mind. result

3. The connection of the sign and meaning does not have a logical explanation. That is to say most

words are n_____. non-motivated

4. O_____ means the words were created by imitating the natural sounds or noises.

Onomatopoeic motivation

5. Lexical meaning and _____ meaning make up the word meaning. grammatical

6. Associative meaning is the s_____ supplemented to the conceptual meaning. secondary

meaning

7. Denotative meaning is the meaning given in the dictionary and forms the c_____ of the

word-meaning. core

8. Associative meaning comprises four types: c_____, stylistic, affective and c_____. connotative,

collocative

9. Affective meaning indicates the speaker’s _____ towards the person or thing in question.

attitude

10. Collocative meaning consists of the associations a word acquires in its _____. collocation

11. From the concept of word-meaning, a word is the c_______ of form and meaning.

combination/unity

12. By the form of the word we mean both its p______ and s_______. pronounciation, spelling

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13. Meaning and concept are closely connected but not i_______. identical

14. Even in the same language, the same concept can be expressed in different w_______. words

15. Sense denotes the semantic relationships i_____ the language. inside

16. Motivation accounts for the connection between the linguistic s_______ and its m_______.

symbol, meaning

17. Semantic motivation refers to the mental associations suggested by the c_______ of the words.

conceptual meaning

18. The meanings of many words often relate directly to their o______. origins

19. Grammatical meaning of a word becomes important only when it is used in actual c_____.

context

20. Lexical meaning itself has two components: c_____meaning and a_____ meaning. conceptual;

associative

21. C_____ meaning is the meaning given in the dictionary and forms the core of word – meaning.

Conceptual

22. C_____meaning refers to the overtones or associations suggested by the conceptual meaning.

Connotative

23. Words that have emotive values may fall into two categories: a_____ or p_____. appreciative;

pejorative

III. Question and answer.

1. What is the difference between grammatical meaning and lexical meaning?

Unlike lexical meaning, different lexical items, which have different lexical meanings, may

have the same grammatical meaning. On the other hand, the same word may have different

grammatical meaning. Functional words, though having little lexical meaning, possess strong

grammatical meaning whereas content words have both meaning, and lexical meaning in

particular. Lexical meaning and grammatical meaning make up the word-meaning. It is known

that grammatical meaning surfaces only in use. But lexical meaning is constant in all the content

words within or without context as it is related to the notion that the word conveys.

2. The pen is mightier than the sword.

Explain what “pen” and “sword” mean respectively using the theory of motivation.

a. Motivation accounts for the connection between the linguistic symbol and its meaning.

b. Semantic motivation, one of the four major types of motivation, explains the connection

between the literal sense and figurative sense of the word.

c. In this sentence, “pen” reminds one of the tool to write with, thus suggesting writing;

“sword” reminds one of the weapon to fight with, thus suggesting war.

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