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Semantic change in Old English. Study of the English language in the time
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Study of Old and Middle English. Semantic change and language evolution.
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UNIT 4. SEMANTIC CHANGE4. SEMANTIC CHANGE
4.0. What is meant by ‘meaning’?
• The conceptual (denotative or referential) meaning is the central and intrinsic
sense of a linguistic form. Traditionally conceptual meanings can be studied in terms
of contrastive features or semantic components.
woman [+ human, - male, +adult]
lady
boy [+ human, +male, -adult]
• The connotative meaning of a word consists of a number of additional, non-criterial
properties that we have learnt to expect a referent to possess. In the case of the
linguistic form like woman, they would include:
woman ability to bear children
tendency to be sensitive, frail, emotional
uses dresses and skirts
wears make up
lady certain social status and graces
a word’s connotations are based in the ‘real world’ experience, they may vary from one
individual to another, they are not purely personal or subjective, they typically reflect the
values and ideology of a particular social group at a particular time, but it has to be
admitted that they are relatively unstable. Connotative meaning is indeterminate and
open-ended, while conceptual meaning is not.
• The stylistic meaning of a given linguistic form are the associations of a word with a
certain context of use, style or medium.
horse neutral money neutral
steed poetic cash informal
gee gee baby talk
help neutral
aid written
• The affective or evaluative meaning reflects the attitudes, personal feelings and
evaluations of the speaker.
a nigger offensive
a black offensive
a black person/man/woman neutral
African American (in the US) politically correct
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, UNIT 4. SEMANTIC CHANGE
• The collocative meaning of a linguistic form consists of the associations a word
acquires on account of the meanings of words which tend to occur in its environment
pretty these two words share a common meaning: ‘good looking’
handsome but they may be distinguished by the range of nouns with which
they are likely to occur:
girl
woman
man
couple
village
dress
beautiful a beautiful woman or child has perfect good looks: Grace Kelly was a very
beautiful woman. | a beautiful baby
good-looking a good-looking person looks nice. Good-looking is very common in spoken
English: He’s a good-looking guy, but he’s a bit boring. | Do you think she’s good-looking?
attractive an attractive person looks nice, especially in a way that makes you feel sexually
interested in them: She’s a very attractive woman. | A lot of women find him attractive.
pretty a pretty girl or woman looks nice – used especially about a woman who has a nice
face: You look pretty with your hair down. | She has a very pretty face.
handsome a handsome man or boy looks nice – used especially about a man who has a
nice face. Handsome is also sometimes used, especially in literature, to describe a woman
who is good-looking and has a strong face: He was tall, dark, and handsome. | She was a
big, handsome woman.
gorgeous/stunning spoken extremely attractive. Gorgeous is used especially by women:
She thinks Brad Pitt is gorgeous. | You look absolutely stunning in that dress!
cute spoken nice to look at – used about animals, babies, children, and young adults: a cute
little puppy | She thinks you’re cute!
lovely especially British English spoken used when saying that someone looks very nice:
You look lovely tonight.
(from LDOCE Online)
4.1. Motivations of semantic change
4.1.1. Extralinguistic factors
(a) Social motivations: since languages are to a certain extent the reflexes of the
society, it is not at all surprising that changes in the society bring about changes in the
meanings of words. Social motivations include:
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