Lecture 5.

Sign and meaning

• Sign and meaning
• Semantics, the study of meaning
• What is meaning (definitions)
• Theories of meaning
 What is the meaning?
• The meaning of meaning is a labyrinth both on
theoretical and terminological grounds (Noeth).
• Meaning is a word we use in our daily life in different
senses.
• Theoretically meaning is considered in:
– Linguistic
– Philosophy
– Logic
– Semiotics
• Semiotics relates meaning to sign; meaning is basic idea
in definition and analysis of signs. In a wide (pan
semiotic) sense, all cases of meaning can be considered
semiotically, though some authors speak about
nonsemiotic meaning (Noeth, Pelc).
 Sign and meaning
• Definition of meaning depends upon the
model of the sign. The role and definition
of meaning is different.
Semantics, the study of meaning
Definition of semantics in Wikipedia
• In the main, semantics (from the Greek and in greek letters
"σημαντικός" or in latin letters semantikós, or "significant
meaning," derived from sema, sign) is the study of meaning,
in some sense of that term. It should not be confused with the
general Semantics of Alfred Korzybski, a somewhat different
discipline. Semantics is often opposed to syntax, in which
case the former pertains to what something means while the
latter pertains to the formal structure/patterns in which
something is expressed (for example written or spoken).
• Semantics is distinguished from ontology (study of existence)
in being about the use of a word more than the nature of the
entity referenced by the word. This is reflected in the
argument, "That's only semantics," when someone tries to
draw conclusions about what is true about the world based
on what is true about a word.
 Types of semantics
• A part of linguistics. Semantics of language. Linguistic semantics
started with Breal’ publication on semantics (1897). Semasiology
explores word meaning.
• One of the three chapters of semiotics, next to syntactics and
pragmatics, according to Morris. Semantics studies relations of
signs to objects.
• Structural semantics (Greimas), a structuralist linguistic and
semiotic approach to semantics. It is a semantics of text.
• Logical semantics. According to Carnap, semantics studies
expressions and their designata.
• “General semantics” a movement of ideological language criticism
and practical rhetorical therapy which begin in 1933 with the
publication of Science and Sanity of Alfred Korzybski. Not related to
linguistics or semiotics.
 Logical semantics (Enc. Britanica)
• For the purpose of clarifying logical truth and
hence the concept of logic itself, a tool that has
turned out to be more important than the idea of
logical form is logical semantics, sometimes
also known as model theory. By this is meant a
study of the relationships of linguistic
expressions to those structures in which they
may be interpreted
 Definitions of meaning
• Something that is conveyed or signified; sense
or significance.
• Something that one wishes to convey, especially
by language: The writer's meaning was
obscured by his convoluted prose.
• An interpreted goal, intent, or end: “The central
meaning of his pontificate is to restore papal
authority” (Conor Cruise O'Brien).
• Inner significance: “But who can comprehend
the meaning of the voice of the city?” (O. Henry).
• http://www.answers.com/topic/meaning
 Definitions of meaning
• the message that is intended or expressed or
signified; "what is the meaning of this sentence";
"the significance of a red traffic light"; "the
signification of Chinese characters"; "the import
of his announcement was ambiguous"
• the idea that is intended; "What is the meaning
of this proverb?"
• what an artist expresses in an art work; or what
a viewer understands and interprets from an art
work.
 Meaning (non-linguistic)
• Natural
• Somatic
• Pragmatic
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meaning_%28non-
Quantity in meaning. Two dimensions:
comprehension and extension
• Aristotle: a term has comprehension and
extension
• Mill: denotation and connotation
(comprehension)
• Frege: intension and extension
 Two dimensions in meaning
• 1. Extension or extent (determining the
specific classes or individual instances
indicated by the construct)
• 2. Intension (content or comprehension or
definition) measuring all the implications
(relationships and associations involved in
a construct, its intrinsic, inherent, internal,
built-in, and constitutional implicit
meanings and relations)
 Connotation: 1 and 2
• 1 - According to Mill: connotation =
comprehension, intension
• 2 - According to modern use: connotation
= second meaning
 Meaning, sense, reference
• Reference usualy is the object sign refers to
• Meaning is reference according to some
theories
• Example (Frege): Morning star vs Evening star.
– One object (referent). Meaning (Bedeutung) is the
referent (planet Venus).
– Two senses (Sin): Morning star and Evening star.
Semantic differential
 Semantic differential: a method of
measuring connotations
• Osgood (1957) has attempted to develop a method of
measuring connotations, known as the semantic differential,
• The psychologist and communication scholar Charles E.
Osgood developed work in the measurement of the last of those
dimensions of meaning: connotation (see Osgood (1957)). His
concern was with semantics and he devised a method to plot
the differences between individuals' connotations for words and
thus map the psychological 'distance' between words. Osgood's
method is known as the 'semantic differential'.
• http://www.cultsock.ndirect.co.uk/MUHome/cshtml/introductory/semdi
• Subjects were given a word, for example 'car'
and presented with a variety of adjectives to
describe it. The adjectives were presented at
either end of a seven-point scale, ranging from,
say, 'good' to 'bad' or from 'fast' to 'slow'. In this
way, he was able to draw up a 'map' of people's
connotations for a given word. In the window
opposite, you can find Osgood's map of people's
connotations for the word 'polite'. The graphic
shows ten of the scales used by Osgood. The
graphic maps the average responses of two
groups of 20 people to the word 'polite'.
• Factors of judgement
• Osgood's method is a development of the Likert scale in that Osgood adds in three
major factors or dimensions of judgement:
– evaluative factor (good - bad) - that can be seen in the example as 'Good-Bad', 'Fresh -
Stale', 'Cold - Hot')
– potency factor (strong - weak) - seen in the example as 'Weak - Strong'
– activity factor (active - passive) - in the example as 'Active - Passive', 'Tense - Relaxed'

• The intention is that this should differentiate between attitudes in a way that other
methods don't and should shed more light on the links between attitudes and
behaviour. Osgood gives the example of two subjects' connotations for the word
'negro':
• Subject 1: unfavourable, strong, active
• Subject 2: unfavourable, weak, passive
• Both views are unfavourable, but the actual behaviour of each subject towards
negroes may well be different. Subject 1 might be inclined to treat negroes in a
placatory manner, anxious to avoid conflict; subject 2 might be inclined to treat them
exploitatively, being more likely to boss them around.
 Theories of meaning

• There have been at least four different kinds of attempts at

explaining what a linguistic "meaning" is:
• Idea theories of meaning, which emphasize that meanings are
thoughts provoked by signs;
• Truth-conditional theories, which hold a meaning to be the
conditions under which it may be true or false;
• Meaning as usage, which understands meaning to involve or be
related to speech acts;
• Reference theories of meaning, which view meaning to be
equivalent to those things in the world that are actually connected to
signs.
• Other theories exist to discuss non-linguistic meaning (i.e., meaning
as conveyed by body language, meanings as consequences, etc.)
• In: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_language
 Views in theories of meaning
Dichotomy View Trichotomy View
Early Plato Late Plato
Augustine Aristotle
Stoics
John Stuart Mill Bolzano
Russell Frege
Donellan Carnap
Kripke
Evans Quine
Putnam Davidson
http://www.csus.edu/indiv/n/nogalesp/PhilLanguageF05/Phil154Overheads/HistTh
 Written assignment (hardcopy)

• Topic: What is the meaning?

• Compile a text from the internet search
results, including full bibliographic
descriptions of the entries.
• Formulate your own opinion on the topic
(aproximately 500 words)
• Due: next week
 Links
• Non-linguistic meaning.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meaning_%28non-linguistic%29
• Dichotomy and trichotomy views in theories of meaning.
http://www.csus.edu/indiv/n/nogalesp/PhilLanguageF05/Phil154Overhead
• The Metaphysics of Meaning. http://www.friesian.com/katz.htm
• Sense, Reference, and Philosophy.
http://www.friesian.com/katz2.htm
• Theories of meaning.
http://www.hss.iitb.ac.in/bhat/699_4.meaning.ppt
• Semantic differential: a method of measuring connotations.
http://www.cultsock.ndirect.co.uk/MUHome/cshtml/introductory/semdif.htm