Features of Representational Meaning

Features of Representational consequenceWhile some, more or less(prenominal) complete, discreteion betwixt quarrel and linguistic behaviour (between language and speech, language and communication, conviction and comment) is universally assumed, the nature of the semblance between them is less a good assume intercommunicate or characterised in a manner satisfactory in itself or consistent with the distinctions we wish to make. The more radical the distinction, the more urgent the question of their relation becomes. The paper sketches some of the problems and exposelines a proposal. This takes the form of a Representational Hypothesis about the relation, designed to be consistent with (and render defensible) a very radical distinction between language and such behaviour. The discussion focuses on ambiguity both for itself and for illustrative purposes. It is suggested that ambiguity is not a linguistically semantic phenomenon and indeed not linguistic.1. RationaleIn the s ue of learning English, I discombobulate profoundly realized that English semantics is rather abstract with a spectacular argonna including book of account heart and soul, sentence moment, utterrance subject matter. each(prenominal) type of meaning includes many different parts. For examples, sentence meaning has grammaticalitity, acceptability and meaningfullness, the principle of compositionality, variables in the function of sentence meaning, the mimetic meaning, the interpersonal meaning. It is rather complex and not used regularly in the fact. However, It is an essential part in syllabus for English major students. It provides the major association of English language for the learners and help them deeply understand its characteristics and distinguish the appearance to use it better and better, so they need to body of work it well but in fact, it is not easy at all. The learners have difficulties when using it. They spend much time on learning it, but the understan ding of its characteristics is limmited. For the reason, a hear on representational meaning one of basic part of English semantics has been chosen as the title of my designation paper.2. Aims of the written report on the representational meaning mainly speaking, the representational meaning is abstract part in English semantics. It is not close to the fact. thitherfore, the majority of learners have difficulties when using it. They make mistakes when distinguishing between types of the representational meaning. Therefore, this assignment paper focuses on the representational meaning with its chain of mountainss and characteristics to help learners well distinguish its types and use it flexibly and exactly in studying.3. Scope of the studysemantics is large crime syndicate in English language with its scopes such as word meaning, sentence meaning uterrance meaning. However, due to my limited knowledge, the writer only concentrate on the study on the representational meaning. It is particularized at the 3 main kinds of the representational meaning including figure outes, participants and circumstances with their definitions and characteristics.4. The system of rules of the studyWith the desire of making English representational meaning clear and specific, my methods of the study ar data collection from having discussion with supervisors, friends, reading materials ( text books, reference) and collecting normal examples.5. Design of the studyThis study provides a clear organization consisting of three main parts that help an easy exploration and practical benefits gained for readers as well Chapter one is the introduction including rationale, scope of the study, aims of the study, the method and design of the study Chapter both is entiled development and divided into three parts Part I is the theoretical background, Part II is the representational meaning including definitions and characteristics of its types and Part III is implication including the difficulties of the learners when using it and suggested sollution Chapter three is conclusion, summarizing what have been discussed in the previous.1. Theoritical Background1.1. Semantics1.1.1. Definition of semanticsThere are many authors who define semantics. Some of the around typical definitions listed as followsSemantics is the systematic study of meaning in language. In other word, it is the study of how language organizes and runes meaning.( Nguyen Hoa, 2004)Semantics deals with the literal meaning of words and the meaning of the way they are combined, which taken together form the core of meaning or the starting point from which the whole meaning of a particular utterance is constructed.(Lyons (1995 Xii))1.1.2. The approaches of semanticsThere are 3 main approaches of semantics including lexical semantics, stiff semantics and cognitive semantics.1.1.2.1. Lexical semanticsLexical semantics is a field which deals mainly with word meaning and relations between them. It cov ers confused theories of the word structure, the diffferences and similarities in lexical semantic structure between different languages and relationship of word meaning to sentence meaning and syntax.1.1.2.2. semi-formal semanticsFormal semantics is called formal since it attempt to adapt analytical techniques from formal logic to the study of meaning. It is concerned with relation between expressions especially sentences which express marriage proposals. The basic tenet of formal semantics is that it get a lines proposition as the meaning of the sentence, which is identified with the posit of possible words and it is concerned with its truth condition. The main focus of formal semantics is on truth conditions, entailment, reference, denotation, contracdition model, inference, quantification.1.1.2.3. cognitive semanticsCognitive semantics is seen as mapping from linguistic expression to cognitive structures and laguage is seen as part of the cognitive structure.The main tenets of the cognitive semantics hind end be summarised as followsa) inwardness is conceptualisation in the cognitive model. More precisely, it involves the mapping from the expression of the language to some mental entities and does not concern itself with such most-valuable concepts of formal semantics as reference and truth.Cognitive models are mainly perceptuallly determined as it happens cognitive structures are connected to our perceptual merchamisms either directly or indirectly. Thus, meaning are more or less perceptually grounded.Semantic shares are based on the spatial or to pological objects. Mental structures applied in cognitive semantics are the meaning of linguistic expression.Cognitive models are primarily image schematic.Semantics is primary to syntax and partly dermintes it .Concepts show prototype effectCognitive semantics is concerned with important notions as perspective, imagery construal, figure ground organization, abstraction, conceptual metaphor.1.1.3. Sema ntics propertiesAccepting the fact that the meaning of an expression can be viewed as combination of frolics, we can waste the meaning of a word into what we call semantic features or properties. Consider the word mandate in the following example E.g.I think I have a mandate to make the government work again.Our adequate knowledge of the word mandate tell us that mandate is an authority addicted to somebody or organization by people who support. We will know that it is not like word responsibility which just means a duty, it is presumption to sombody or organization not an animal and especially by whose support it. Such features are called semantic features. They can used to define the meanings of a word. And the method involing the use of these properties is called componential methodOne and the analogous semantic feature may be part of the meaning of many different words. Female is a semantic property that helps to definebichhenactressmaidendoemoredebutantewidow ewevixengirlwomanWe should also notice that the last word girl, woman are characterized by some other property human. The following table shows how the componentialmethod is employed to decompose the meaning of a number of word airscrewactressbabyGirlbachelormarehuman+++++female+.++young++(Fromkin et al, 1984 167)There are many more properties which define the meaning of the word. Some pupil believe that it is possible to the limited number of these semantic properties that could be employed to defined the meaning of the lexicon of any language. However, there is much disagreement as to what constitues a semantic property. There are difficulties involved. For example, the word baby can not be defined either as male or female since a baby can be either sex.1.1.4. Scopes of semantics1.1.4.1. Word meaning1.1.4.1.1. Form and ExpressionWord are also considered expression. address and word form are baronial from each other in terms of distinction between lexical meaning and grammat ical meaning.E.g.cook cooks, cooking, cooked .Different forms of the word will share the same lexical meaning but different grammatical meaning .E.g.Lovely, lovelier, loveliest.Different words may share grammatical meaning but different lexical meaning .E.g. love, hate, eat, drink.1.1.4.1.2. Lexical and grammatical meaning revistedThe lexical meaning of the word really means the individual and reflective meaning of a word.The grammatical meaning can be defined as relationships between words based on contrastive features of arragements in which they occur.1.1.4.1. 3. Components of word meaningThere are 4 major components of word -meaninga) Denotation which includes conceptual and referential meanings Denotation exists by virtue of what it refers to.b) Conotation including stylistic, affective, evaluative and intensifying is the pragmatic communicative value the words acquires by virture of where, when, how and by whom, for what purpose and in what context it is or may be used.c) St ructural meaning, which is the meaning a word acquires by virtue of its membership in a system or a set. It includes reflected meaning, collative meaning, associative meaning and themantic meaning.d) Categorial meaning is one part of grammatical meaning which words derive from universe a number of one category rather than another ( nouns rather verbs and so on ). Word fall in to such categories as Noun, verbs, Adjectives, Prepositions, conjunction.1.1.4.1.4. Semantic field ( lexical field )1.1.4.1.4.1. Definition of semantic fieldA lexical / semantic field is the organization of related words and expressions into a system which shows their relationships to one another. The value of a word is determined by defining it in relation to the value of neigbouring or contrasting words. Thus, the vocabulary of a language is viewed as an integrated system of lexems interrelated in sense.A semantic field is a set of interrelated senses based on a conceptual field or spectrum.E.g.In terms of c olour 4 primary color terms Blue, green, yellow, red.Environment overfish, overexploit, pollute, contaminate, ozone depletion, rain forests.Beach towel, umbrella, lotion, bikini, sand. Carpenter lumber, nails, drills, saw, chisel. Dentist filling, cavity, extract,pull. decimal point of redness red, Scarlet, orange, Crimson, rose.( Arnold (1986) i.v)1.1.4.1.4.2. Ways of grouping words ThematicallyWords of the same part of speech that cover the same conceptual field. E.g. cooking boil, bake, fry, broil, steam. IdeographicallyWords of different parts of speech but thematically related.E.g. Holiday to book ( a fight ), a package tour, hotel, luxurious, etc .1.1.4.2. Sentence meaning1.1.4.2.1 Definition of sentence meaningA sentence is a large unit of grammatical organization within which parts of speech (noun,verb, adjective ) and gramamatical classes ( word, phrase, clause) are said to function. In English, a sentence normally contains one independent clause.The meaning of a sente nce is not the sum of the meaning of the word used in the sentence.It is what a sentence means regardless of context and situation in which it may be used .It is more correct to regard it as function of the meaning of the word used in the sentence, modality and structural meaning signaled by the way words are organized into sentence.1.1.4.2.2. Proposition1.1.4.2.2.1. Definition of propositionA proposition is that part of the meaning of the utterance of a declarative sentence which describes some states of affairs.A proposition is defined as the invariant meaning expressed by a sentence, devoid of any modality.E.g. She is probably right.Proposition she is right . Modality Probable impossibleIn semantics, the letters p, q, r are often used as symbols of propositions.Proposition involves in the meanings of not only declarative, but also interrogative and imperative sentence.E.g. Is she right ?Be careful.The state of the affairs typically involves person or things referred to the expr ession in the sentence. In uttering a declarative sentence, a speaker unit typically asserts a proposition.1.1.4.2.2.2. Proposition contentA proposition usually consists of(a) something which is named or talked about known as argument or entity, (b) an assertion or prediction made about the argument.E.g. The man bit the cad. The dog bit the man.Predicate BiteTwo argument Man, DogThe meaning of a sentence consists of the predicate, argument (s) and role of each argument. Arguments refer to entities white predicates deal with events, properties, allots and states.Those individuals that are independent and can stand alone are arguments. Things like qualities, relations, actions and processes that are dependent and can not stand alone are termed predicates .E.g.My computing machineBreak down, fast, new.1.1.4.2.2.3. Common types of semantic rolesSemantic roleExamplesAgent /doesShe opened the doorAffectedMarry kicked the dogEffectedShe took deep breath locativeWe reached London by m id nightInstrument /MeansThe key open the doorRecipientShe gave me two booksGoalHe kicked the dogExperiencerI like the play.CarrierShe is happy.IdentifiedBill Gate is the presidentIdentifierBill Gate is the president1.1.4.3. Utterance1.1.4.3.1. Definition of uterranceUtterance meaning is what a speaker means when he makes an utterance in a cercain situation.Utterances consist of performative and constative ones.1.1.4.3.2. Types of utterances1.1.4.3.2.1. Performative utteranceA performative utterance is one that actually describes the act that it performs. It performs some acts and simultenously describes that act.E.g. I bid to pay you tomorrow.A typical performative utterrance usually contains the first person pronoun E.g. I promise I congratulate.These are all verbs describing speech acts. We classify them and performative verbs.1.1.4.3.2.2. Constative utterancesA constative utterance is one which makes an assertion. It is often the utterance of a declarative sentence, but is not performative.Eg I am trying to get this box with screwdriver.It is a constative utterance because because it makes an assertion about a particular state of affair but not performative. The utterance does not simultenously describe and perform the same act.2. The representational Meaning2.1. The representational meaningThe representational meaning is rather abtract in English semantics. Therefore the learners need to pay much attention to its genneral characteristics as follows to approach and study it easily.According to Halliday, the existential subcomponent of the representational meaning provides an acount of the underlying content of a sentence or an utterance. It handles within its scopesProcesses actions, events, states, relations.Participating entities ( participants) persons, objects, abstractions.Circumstances time, places, reasons, conditions, results which areassociated with the process.We all know that the nominal group represents the various types of participants. The v erbal groups denote the process. And other types of units like the prepositional phrases of adverbial clauses realize the circumstance component.E.g. She kicked the dog out of the house.The participants realized by NPs she and the dogThe process realized by the verb kickedThe circumstance realized by the PP out of the house.The relationships between processes, participants, and their circumstance are expressed through what Halliday terms transitivity network. Transitivity really means spill through or extending to another entity.On the dimension of transitivity, clauses may be organized in to two types The transitive verb and the ergative sentences to accommodate better the situation regarding the catual occurrence of sentence patterns.In transitive sentence, the most prominent roles are actor, goal, if the process is one of the actionE.g. I bought my married woman a cake.Or they are attributor and attributant. If the process is one of ascription ( attribution )E.g.Bill Gates i s the richest man in the world.In the ergative type, the central roles are the causer of the process and theaffected the participant affected by the process.E.g. Everyone likes the play.It is possible to rephrase it into the play pleases everyone or the play causes him to like itself .Those sentences involving action process as defined to a higher place are called extensive, and those concerned with ascription ( attribution ) as termed intensive. Halliday also introduces another basic distinction between effective and descriptive extensive transitive sentences.(a) stiff sentencesThe action is goal directed or targed at another object called goal. This means that the sentence has to involve at least two participants.E.g. I bought a car.Some sentences may have three participants.E.g.I gave her a flower.(b) Descriptive sentencesIt involves non directed action since the sentence is associated with just one participant.E.g. The recruits marched. Actor the recruits, Process marched .Halliday speaks of another type called nuclear.(c) Nuclear setencesIt is the one associated with the either one or two participants.E.g. Mary open the door. The door opened.The door was opened (by Mary).However there exists a possibility of transforming The recruits marched into the sergeant marched the recruits. To account for this sentence,Halliday uses another role, which is that of initiator, discretely from the actor role. Thus, we haveInitiator the sergeantprocess marched Actor recruitsAnd the logical subcomponent handles logical relations between various types of elements of sentence and such relation as subordination and apposition.2.2. Functions of the representational meaningThe representational meaning can be defined in terms of experiential and logical functions.2.2.1. The experiential function is to communicate ideasIt is the main fucntion by which a speaker expresses the content elements of his utterance, by refering to people, objects, states of affairs, events, qualities, places, actions and circumstances, all of which are parts of the world we stay in.E.g. Bill Gates gave me books to read after each session.2.2.2. The logical function relates ideas to each other on an equal orsubordinate basisE.g. I came, I saw and I conquered. ( equal)The rise in Microsoft stock in 1996 meant that he made on paper about $30 million a day. (subordinate)2.3. Scopes of representational meaning2.3.1. The processProcess is a powerful concept which represents the possible world as consisting of going on doing, natural event, feeling and being.Halliday (1994 106-107 ) states that the processes in a language like English are constructed by the transitivity system. He also makes a distinction between what humans experience as going on out there, in the world around us and what we experience as going inside ourself. Thus the main type of the process that expresses out outer experience is called material process as opposed against the mental one that expresses ou r home(a) experience. exclusively there is a third important element to be added. We learn to genneralize to relate or connect our experience. This process is termed relational.According to Halliday, the bounderies of the three main types of process are further ones not clearly set apart, but nevertheness recognizable as intermedinate between the different pairs. Thus, between material and mental processes, we find behavioural process those that represent outer manifestation of our inner working, the acting out of processes of conciousness and physiological states. The borderline of mental and relational processes are verbal processes that represent symbolic relationship constructed in human consciousness and enacted in the form of the language. The last one is the existential processes between the material and relational which are concerned with existtenceHalliday, 19941072.3.1.1. Types of processes2.3.1.1.1. Material processes processes of doing2.3.1.1.1.1. Definition of materi al processesMaterial processes are those that express our outer experiences.2.3.1.1.1.2. Characteristics of material processesThe matreial processes usually involve one or two enties An actor + a goalIf there is one enties, it is the actorE.g. The lion sprang. rapscallion fell down.If there are two enties, they are the actor and goal.In this case The actor can do something to the goal.E.g.She hit the ball.The lion caught the tourist.The actor can create or bring about the goal.E.g.He has built a fortune along away.Material processes are processes of doing. They express the notion that some entity does something which may be done to some other entity. So we can ask about or probe material processes by using the verb doE.g. what did the lion do?.What did the lion do to the tourist?.If there is goal of the process, as well as an Actor, the representation may come in either of two forms either active, the lion caught the tourist, or passive, the tourist was caught by the lion.1.Thethe2 .Theby the lionlionCaughttouristtouristwascaughtActorProcessGoalGoalprocessActorFigure 1 active and passive clauses. Material process are not necessarily concrete, physical events they may be abstract doing and happeningE.g.The mayor resigned.ActorProcessThe presidentdissolvedthe committee.Actor processgoal3. Implication The Difficulties of Learners When Using Representational and Suggested Sollution3.1.The difficulties of learners when using representational meaningDue to the abstract, complex characteristics of the representational meaning, the learners particularly the students of English department have the difficulties in the processing of studying and using it in some following cases3.1.1. Distinguishing between attributive and identifyingIntensive type of relational processes is rather complex. It comes into two distinct modes attributive and identifying with characteristic of each mode. Therefore, the learners have difficulties distinguishing between them.E.g.He is a smart b oy.In the above sentence, they misunderstand between two characteristics of attributive and identifying. They particulaly consider a smart boy as a characteristic of identifying but in fact, a mart boy is attributive. It has an indefinite article a, a typical feature of attributive.In addition, the line between the attributive and identifying modes is less clear in the circumstantial than in the intensive type of relational clause. It is less lucid whether an expression such as on the mat designates a class (that has members the class of things that are on the mat) or an identity (the thing that is identified by being on the mat.).3.1.2. Distinguishing between types of relational processes in the following casesThe relational processes have complex, large characteristics. The English system of relational processes operates with three main types intensive, circumstantial, processive. Each of these come in to distinct modesAttributive a is atrribute of xIdentifying a is the identi ty of xIn circumtantial processes atrributive , circumstance is expressed in the form of the attribute and the form of process. In circumstantial processes identify, the circumstance takes the form of a relationship between two entities. The relationship is expressed either as a feature of the participants or as a feature of the process. In possessive processes attributive, the possessive relationship may be expressed either as attribute or as process. In possessive processes identifying, possessive relationship is expressed either as a feature of participants or as a feature of process. With these complex, large charateristics, the learners make mistakes when distinguishing between the types of relational processes.E.g. Peter has a piano.Peter owns the piano.The learners always make mistakes between 2 two verbs has, owns. They consider them as possessive attribute. But only the verb has is one of possessive attributive, the verb own is the case of possessive -identifying. Th erefore, they incorrectly identify entities carrier attributive, identified identifier.3.1.3 Distinguishing between mental and behavioural processesParticipant of behavioural processes who is behaving, label