CHAPTER 6 Components of meanings Text 16 Semantic the study of meaning Social meaning is the meaning which a piece of language

conveys about the social circumstances of its use. This many sided aspect of meaning is decoded by identifying different stylistic levels within English. Variation according to: Dialect (the language of a geographical region or of a social class) Time (the language of the eighteenth century, etc.) Province (language of law, of science, of advertising, etc.) Status (polite, colloquial, slang, etc., language) Modality (language of memoranda, lectures, jokes, etc.) Singularity (the style of Dickens, of Hemingway, etc.) Contrast conceptual synonyms with respect to their varying stylistic overtones: Steed (poetic) Domicile (very formal, official) Horse (general) Residence (formal) Nag (slang) Abode (poetic) Gee-gee (baby language) Home (general) Cast (literary, biblical) Throw (general) Chuck (causal, slag) Diminutive (very formal) Tiny (colloquial) Wee (colloquial, dialectal)

Questions: 1. Consider the view that, when describing social meaning, the number of dimensions that needs to be recognized is potentially endless. 2. Does affective meaning lend itself to a systematic treatment as social meaning partly does? Answers: 1. The first one doesnt have an answer because it isnt a question. 2. No theyre different. Social Meaning is for information about the identity of the speaker that is conveyed by an utterance and Affective Meaning is about the speakers feeling / attitude towards the content or the o ngoing context.

CHAPTER 7 Semantics and the dictionary Text 19 English dictionaries for foreign learners Dictionary-makers are now generally careful not to offend groups of people who are sensitive to particular names of address. Especially offensive are terms used when addressing or referring to members of particular religious or ethnic groups. Three categories of words that needed to be labelled designated in ALD4 as: Derogatory: words that imply disapproval or scorn of the person or action referred. (Ex. Slob, slug, smarmy, swaggers) Offensive: used to refer to or address people, often to casting a slur on their religion or ethnic background. (Ex. Dago or wop) Sexist: offence can cause to women. (Bimbo or girl Friday) Questions: 1. The labels used in the text are associated with dictionaries for foreign learners specifically the advanced learners dictionary (4th edn.) What approach should be adopted when considering their inclusion and labeling in a mother-tongue dictionary? 2. Consider the label taboo as a possible addition to the above set. Again, take account of the type of dictionary when making recommendations. Answers: 1. I think that offensive terms are the correct ones, maybe derogatory could be labeled as belittling words and offensive could be labeled as assaulting and sexist could be labeled as woman-hater. 2. I think that label like taboo it could be as Prohibition or unacceptable words.

CHAPTER 7 Semantics and the dictionary Text 20 Modern Lexicography This extract considers the implications for lexicography of ideas independent and delexical meaning. It shows that though a word such as time in its independent meaning is relatively infrequent in a large corpus; it will nevertheless tend to be entered before the delexical (and frequent) meanings in many widely used dictionaries. The most frequent meanings tend to be more delexicalized than the less frequent ones. When the language users think of a word out of the context, it cannot be the delexicalized meaning that comes to their minds first. Questions: 1. The passage suggests that meanings tend to lose their autonomy over time and as frequency increases. What else, in the words themselves and their contexts, tends to become fixed as time passes and frequency increases? 2. The verb in pursue ones studies is said to be strongly delexicalized. Does this mean that pursue is the sense will collocate very infrequently with other nouns? Answers: 1. Man, mole, bank, book, newspaper, milk, wood and crane. 2. No, because its the most frequent, I searched for this and I found that it has 2,500 collocations in written academic English.