Types of Meaning

By
Dr. Azad H. Fatah

1 11/8/2021
 Meaning is the relationship between one form and another within
a linguistic system, or between one form and object in the external
world.
 Accordingly, meaning is approached from two different
standpoints:
a. It is oriented towards the external world (outside of language) =
reference
b. It is oriented towards the internal world (inside of language with
the forms existing in the mind) = sense
To explain this point more clearly, the meaning of a lexical item such
as tree must be considered in two ways:
1. As one element in a language system whose meaning is dependent
on relationships with the other words in the system.
2. Its meaning is linked to a certain class of recognizable objects in
the external world.

 Bush TREE

 tree

wood

Forest, etc.
Linguistic Sign Theory of De Saussure

signifier ____________________________ signified

linked by an associative bond

(sound image) (concept)

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 OGDEN AND RICHARDS’ TRIANGLE

Ogden and Richards saw this relationship between words and

concepts as a TRIANGLE.

Thought or Reference

Symbol Referent
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 Signifie
Signified/ d/signif
Signified/ ier
signifier signifier

 Each oval has its own capacity for reference, but each is also linked to
other words in the same language, like a cell in a network. This is De
Sassure’s view to meaning.
 In Ogden and Richards’ terms, the whole relation can be diagrammed in
the following triangle since the relation is triangular (triadic):
Concept
Concept Sense Reference
Word Word object
Object Meaning
1. The relation between concept and word is called sense.
2. The relation between concept and object is called reference.
3. The relation between word and object is called meaning.
 Where is the link?

According to this theory there is no direct link between symbol

and referent i.e.(language and the word).This link is established
via thought or reference, the concepts of our minds. It avoids
problems faced by naming the words,i.e classification of words.
what exactly is the associative bond of Saussure or the link
between Ogden and Richards’ symbol and concept?

7
We don’t relate words to concepts every time we utter
them rather this permanent association is stored in our
brains. Hence, we can say that concept is the meaning
of the word. Many linguists accept conceptual view of
meaning which stemmed from ‘mentalism ‘ of Chomsky.
We understand the meaning of a word just like we can
read a signpost.
 The Purpose of Semantics

The purpose of semantics is not to search for an elusive

entity called ‘MEANING’, rather it is an attempt to understand
how it is that words and sentences can ‘mean’ at all or ‘how
they can be meaningful?’
Wittgenstein says, “Don’t look for the meaning of a word,
look for its use.”
Hence, with the assistance of Semantics we can investigate
USE.!
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 Types of Meaning

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 According to Lyons (1977), meanings are classified
into two basic types:
 1. Descriptive meaning which is related to the
truthfulness of an expression or statement. Thus the
form of descriptive, from the grammatical point of
view, must be a declarative statement and one can
say whether the statement is true or false.
 2. On the other hand, non-descriptive meaning is 10

associated with other kinds of speech acts.

 Lyon’s classification of meaning

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 Consider the following examples:
 1. Jack is a rich man.
 2. Is Jack a rich man?
 The first utterance contains a descriptive meaning, as the
proposition asserts one of the features of Jack. By
contrast, the utterance in the second sentence is not
asserted, rather is questioned.
 However, both examples contain the same proposition,
the second utterance does not express descriptive
meaning. 11
 Descriptive Meaning

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 The descriptive meaning includes the act of
both referring to something and stating its
truth. It is the definition that is given in a
dictionary. For example, the descriptive
meaning of the word “hawk” includes both
reference to it as a bird, and truth of it as a
living creature. Other extended meanings
include ability to hunt, and killing other
creatures for food. 12
 Descriptive meaning

 The descriptive meaning of a sentence is a

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concept for a certain kind of situation.
Content words contribute to the descriptive
meaning of the sentence meaning. The
descriptive meaning of a noun is the concept
for a certain kind of entity.
 Verb = event
 Adj = quality
 Jane writes a letter. 13
 Exercise

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Define the descriptive meaning of
each of the following expressions.
Then, identify the type of referent
of each.
relax
ring
blue
14
 Non-descriptive meanings
 Lyons divided non-descriptive meaning into two types:

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 1. Expressive meaning
 2. Social meaning
 The expressive meaning of an expression refers to its
semantic quality independently of the context in which it
is used. Expressive words or phrases serve to reflect
personal attitudes, feelings or opinions. Their use is just a
matter of personal emotion, judgment or sensation. The
expressive meaning of a word neither contributes to its
propositional content nor influences its truth value. 15
 Expressive meaning

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 Expressive meaning is exemplified by
certain phrases whose functions are to
show the strong feeling or emotional
reaction.
 This can be achieved by using interjections
or exclamatory sentences, as in
 1. The expression Wo! Means sudden pain. 16

 2. What bloody awful weather!

 Expressive meaning

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 The distinction between descriptive and
expressive meanings is that the latter unlike the
former, is non-propositional in character and
cannot be explained in terms of truth.
 For example Gosh! Which is the synonym of
Good heavens! Is used to express surprising.
 Saman is surprised. This sentence can be
confirmed whether it is true or false. 17
 Exercise:
Below is a list of some interjections in English. Write what each of
them expresses.
 ah!
 alas!
 Hey
 Ugh
 wow
 Social meaning
 The social meaning has to do with the use of

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language to establish and maintain social relations:
 Good evening!
 How do you do?
 Cheers!.....and so on.
 Humans can express themselves according to the
social context that they are in ( in funeral you would
express yourself differently from in the formal
lecture in the university) 19
 Social Meaning

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 The social meaning of a word refers to that part of its
meaning whose use is governed by the social rules of
interaction. It refers to the use of a particular
expression in language which indicates the social
relationship between the speaker and the addressee.
Unlike an expression with descriptive meaning which
is governed by rules of factual adequacy, an
expression with social meaning is governed by the
social rules of conduct. This is found particularly in
social rituals such as acknowledging, apologizing, 20

addressing, blessing, greeting or sympathizing.

 Social Meaning

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 For each ritual, there is a social rule that defines the
circumstances under which a certain linguistic expression fits,
usually having a positive effect.
 In English, social differentiation is reflected by the two levels of
formality, formal indicating distance, and informal indicating
familiarity. To express social relationship, English provides two
linguistic devices. The first relates to forms of address. In
addressing a person, the speaker can choose between two
ways: either a surname with title for a formal relationship as in
Mr. John/Professor John/Sir John, or just a first name for an 21
informal relationship, as in John.
 Exercise

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 Name the social ritual of each of the following
utterances and then indicate the level of formality
each represents.
 a. Hi
 b. Good morning.
 a. How’s it going?
 b. How are you?
 a. Thanks.
22

 b. I am grateful to you.
 Social Meaning

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 The second device pertains to the choice of vocabulary,
which is influenced by a phenomenon in language called
euphemism, the phenomenon in which a word or phrase is
used instead of another to avoid being unpleasant,
indecent or offensive. The word or phrase that is
unpleasant, indecent or offensive is described as being
politically incorrect. The word or phrase that
avoids being unpleasant, indecent or offensive is described
as being politically correct. As an example of a word, some
people prefer to use the politically correct word firefighter
23

instead of fireman which can be construed as sexist.

 Social Meaning

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 Linguistically expressed, the word firefighter is a
euphemism for the word fireman. As an example of a
phrase, some people prefer to use the politically
correct phrase senior citizen instead of old person.
Euphemism is used in many areas within language
including sexual activity (go to bed instead of
intercourse), bodily functions (use the toilet instead of
defecate), military (campaign instead of war), death
(pass away instead of die), politics (user fees instead of
taxes), religion (heck instead of hell), and so on 24
 Meaning part Function Criteria for correct use
Descriptive meaning description of referents and agreement with facts
situations

Social Meaning indication of social relations social rules of conduct

and performance of social acts

Expressive Meaning Immediate expression of Subjective choice

personal sensations, feelings,
attitudes or evaluations
 The Nature of meaning

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 Language is conveyed in terms of expressions. An
expression is a meaningful unit of language such as an
affix, word, phrase or sentence.
 A linguistic expression has two aspects. One is
substance, which consists of two facades: form and
meaning. Form is the phonetic or orthographic
representation associated with a linguistic expression.
 Meaning is the semantic content associated with a
linguistic expression. The form serves to indicate
meaning. 26
 The Nature of meaning

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 Meaning is what the speaker
communicates or conveys in a message
and what the receiver decodes or infers
from its use in a context. In essence,
meaning is the heart of language.
Meaning is what language is for. 27
 Compositionality of meaning

We all know about Hockette’s design feature of language named ‘productivity’.

This feature refers to the fact that human language is capable of producing
novel sentences in the most unlikely circumstances and still be understood.
For example:
- John saw a dog eating a chicken.
- John saw many dogs eating a chicken.
- ★ John saw a chicken eating a dog. (odd)
- ★ A dog saw a chicken eating John. (odd)
The meaning of all the above sentences is understood even though the last
two examples are semantically odd. How does this arise?
One answer is that because meaning is compositional. This means the
meanings of a sentence are made up or composed of the meanings of the
individual constituents of the sentence. We understand the meaning of
 John saw a dog eating a chicken
Because we understand the meaning of John, saw, a, dog, eating, chicken.
Yet if in a sentence, we do not understand the meaning of a word as in:
-Snakes and lizards are reptiles
Then the sentence will not be meaningful.

N.B. Not all sentence meanings are compositional. One example is idioms:

John has thrown the towel (given up)

John kicked the bucket last month. (died)
If you keep on like this, I’ll go through the roof. (get very angry)