7. semantic (lexical) fields - unizd.hr semantic (lexical... · emergence of the theory of semantic...
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SEMANTIC (LEXICAL) FIELDS
SEMANTIC DOMAINSSEMANTIC DOMAINS
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Emergence of the theory of semantic fieldsEmergence of the theory of semantic fields
• heavily influenced by de Saussure’s structuralism and German idealism
• Origins: ideas of Humboldt and Herder in the mid 19th ctmid 19th ct.
• first proposed by German and Swiss l. in the 20s and 30s of the 20th ct.: Trier, Porzig, Ipsen
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Trier (1931; 1933)Trier (1931; 1933)
• S. Ullmann: Trier’s theory of s.f. opened a new chapter in the history of semantics
• s.f. demonstrate vocabulary organization on the paradigmatic level
• basic assumption: vocabulary of a l. is an integrated system of lexemes which are interrelated in m. The sys e o e e es c a e e e a ed ewhole of l. consists of a large number of s.f. which accumulate lexemes which are close in m.
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• vocabulary of a l. is a mosaic without gaps or overlapsoverlaps
• that system of lexemes is not fixed‐ not only can lexemes disappear and new ones appear, but pp pp ,what also changes are the m. relations between neighbouring lexemesd b k f di i l di h i i• drawback of traditional, diachronic semantics:atomic description of the history of change in m. of individual l instead of investigation of mof individual l. instead of investigation of m. changes in the whole vocabulary structure
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• doesn’t describe successive states of the whole v., but compares the structure of a l. field in t1 with the structure of the l. field in t2 (comparable because 2 l. fields refer to the same conceptual field)the same conceptual field)
• fields are realities which are midway between individual words and the whole of v.
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Example of a conceptual fieldExample of a conceptual field
• lexeme ‘braun’ covered a wider area of the c. field of colours in the 18th ct. German than it does today as a part of that area is covered by the lexeme ‘violett’: what has changed is thethe lexeme violett : what has changed is the internal structure of the c. field.
f l l f l• semantic field # conceptual field
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• if sth. happens to the m. of one lexeme, it t ti ll i fl th fautomatically influences the m. of
neighbouring l.• sees lexical items as very orderly without gaps in the system
• most interesting idea: behind every s. fieldthere is a c. field‐ there is a concept behindthere is a c. field there is a concept behind every lexeme
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Comp. of 2 diachronically different lexical f. covering the same c. field
1 h i th t f l i th• 1. no change in the set of lexemes nor in the m. relations between them
• 2 one l is changed (substituted) by a new lexeme• 2. one l. is changed (substituted) by a new lexeme without change in internal structure
• 3. no change in the set of lexemes, but change in the3. no change in the set of lexemes, but change in the internal structure of the c. f.
• 4. one or more l. is substituted by new one(s) and the structure of the c.f. changed
• 5. one or more l. added or lost with a change of the i t l t t f finternal structure of c.f.
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Trier’s example (of the 4th situation)Trier s example (of the 4th situation)
h i h f h f f• change in the structure of the c.f. of knowledge and understanding (with lexical substitution) in the period 1200‐1300 in Middle High German
• 1200: c.f. covered by l.f. consisting of: ‘wîsheit’, ‘kunst’, ‘list’, ,
• 1300: covered by l.f. consisting of: ‘wîsheit’, ‘kunst’ ‘wizzen’kunst , wizzen
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• By 1300 ‘list’ transferred to another f. which covers a different c.f. and ‘wizzen’ transferred to the l.f. of knowledge and gunderstanding but didn’t simply fill the place of ‘list’place of list
• 1200: ‘kunst’ referred to higher, courtly knowledge and ‘list’ to lower, technical k.; ‘wîsheit’ was their alternative or synthesis
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• 1300: ‘wîsheit’ covers the deepest form of k l d ( li i h) d ld ’ b dknowledge (religion, myth) and couldn’t be used as alternative for ‘wizzen’ (lowest form of k.) or ‘k ’ ( b )‘kunst’ (area between)
• same c.f. shaped by different l.f. in different periods
• caused by changes in society and breakdown of y g yMedieval synthesis of what is today known as: science, philosophy and theologyp p y gy
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Trier’s general pointsTrier s general points
l i l fi ld l d• lexical fields are neatly structured• the whole of voc. is organized in fields• introduction of the notion of concept. field• conceptual field‐when concepts change in ourconceptual field when concepts change in our heads, so does the m. of a lexeme
• his followers: disregarded c f ; preserved very• his followers: disregarded c.f.; preserved very neat and rigid structures, but couldn’t explain how and why l f changehow and why l.f. change
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Examples of l fieldsExamples of l.fields
l i l fi ld f iki ki k h l1. lexical field of striking: kick, punch, slap• but, not so neat, borders are vague; m. goverlap so part of m. lies in interrelatedness
2 lexical field of cooking expressions2. lexical field of cooking expressions• but, everything connected to cooking is culturally colouredculturally coloured
• vocabulary is structured and organized, but not in such a neat and unnatural way
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Lexical gaps (“holes in the pattern”)Lexical gaps ( holes in the pattern )
• absence of a particular lexeme in a point in a particular lexical fieldp
• Trier: there are no gaps in the system. If they arise (by conceptual inovation) quickly filledarise (by conceptual inovation), quickly filled by borrowing or by extending the m. of an
lexisting lexeme
• Chomsky: there are no gaps in the systemChomsky: there are no gaps in the system
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• l. field containing lexemes referring to the ‘d d f th’‘dead of sth’
• no concept behind the hypothetical lexeme to refer to the ‘dead of plant’ to demonstrate that there actually is a gap
• no l. gap from the viewpoint of a particular native speaker; each l. structures the r.native speaker; each l. structures the r. between l. and reality in its own way
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• gaps appear when you compare languages‐cultural lexical gaps (Yorkshire pudding/ štrukle; aunt/ujna, strina, teta); / j , , )
• gaps in grammatical system?yes, but native speakers do not feel it (cup/cupsspeakers do not feel it (cup/cups, dress/dresses, 0/trousers, chaos/0;
/ / /may/might, can/could, must/0)
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Evaluation of Trier’s theoryEvaluation of Trier s theory
Accepted points:
1 vocabulary is structured (but not as1. vocabulary is structured (but not as neatly as he proposes)
2. no l. gaps (from the viewpoint of native s )s.)
3. endurance of the notion of c.fields
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• Weak points:
1. his field is a rigid and limited structure; in reality boundaries btw lexemes and fieldsreality boundaries btw. lexemes and fields are not so rigid
h h b2. imposes structures where they cannot be found
3. proposes strict Aristotelian categories
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Aristotelian (traditional) categoriesAristotelian (traditional) categories
1. categories are defined in terms of a conjunction of necessary and sufficient j yfeatures
2 features are binary2. features are binary
3. categories have clear boundaries
4. all members of a category have equal status
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• Trier’s view‐similar to de Saussure’s• words do not exist in isolation, their m. is defined exclusively in relation to the m. of h lother l.
• l. is a product of historical change‐necessity to analyze particular synchronic stages
• Wortfeld‐ linguistic reality, reflection of g yBegriffsfeld (conceptual field)
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PorzigPorzig
• criticizes Trier: defines the field by extralinguistic means; excludes the syntagmatic relations
• develops a theory of s.f. based on the relations btw. pairs of syntagmatically related lexemes
• relations‐ not inherent to l. itself but connected to man’s worldview and perception: verb‐noun, verb‐a s o d e a d pe cep o e b ou , e bobject
• similar proposals: C Fillmore (1970s)similar proposals: C.Fillmore (1970s)
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WeisgerberWeisgerber
i ’ d b k fi ld l• Trier’s drawback: fields are not neatly structured wholes (there are overlaps btw. meanings of words and gaps in the system)
• Greatest contribution: first to realize Trier’s failure to explain the relation btw. the linguistic and the extralinguisticg g
• American anthropologists: independent, corpus analysis similar to field theorycorpus analysis similar to field theory
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Evaluation of the field theoryEvaluation of the field theory
h h l k i li i• most agree that what lacks is a more explicit formulation of the criteria on what can be called a l.f.
• most l.f. are not clearly structured or yseparated
• no clear boundaried btw lexemes in ano clear boundaried btw. lexemes in a particular field
l b d i d bt fi ld th l• no clear boundaried btw. fields themselves