7. The problem of linguistic meaning

The problem of word meaning is one of the fundamental problems in linguistics. There are several approaches concerning this problem. And each approach gives its own definition of the notion “word meaning’’.

Main approaches to the study of meaning

The 1-st approach is based on the idea that words denote objects and thus meaning is reference (connection) to an object.

But the weak point is oversimplification of relationships between language and real world, because 2 words and expressions may have the same referent without having the same meaning.

E.g. sunny- solar

hurt- ache

the morning star- the evening star

(the planet Venus)

More over, in any language there are many words that seem to have no reference.

In fact, the majority of words seem unable to be related to things.

The 2-nd approach states that words refer not to objects but to notions. So meaning is a concept. (This point of view on word meaning is shared by well- known English scholars Ogden and Richards.)

According to this approach, every word is an associated concept. There is a relationship of reference, but it is indirect. This indirect reference can be presented with the help of a semiotic triangle. It was suggested by Ogden and Richards.

Thought (or reference, or concept)

Sign (or name, or symbol) Thing (or object, or referent)

In this semiotic triangle thought= a concept

sign= a linguistic element

thing= the object of reality

The weak point of this approach is that the content of the word is not identical to the content of the corresponding concept or notion. According to this theory, a concept is a reflection in mind of real objects and phenomena in their essential features and relations. But very often it is difficult to identify the concept, because we do not have exact visual images, corresponding to every word we say.

The 3-rd approach investigates meaning as the function of a word's employment. Not all words refer to something. What is common to all words without exception is that people use them in speech. Consequently, their meaning may be nothing more then the restrictions, rules and regularities that govern their employment.

The 4-th approach says that in order to understand the role of the word in an utterance, one should know its meaning. So the meaning of a word is its use in the language.

This idea was shared by the well- known American linguist Leonard Bloomfield. He adopted a behaviouristic theory of meaning. He defined the meaning of the linguistic form as the situation in which the speaker utters it and the response which it calls later in the hearer.

The meaning of a word can be understood only by observing the situation or event in which the word was used.

According to Bloomfield, meaning can be defined in terms of stimulus-response (стимул- реакция). But the branches of linguistics which deal with the communicative situation did not have enough data. According to Bloomfield, linguistics should concentrate upon the directly observable and leave the exploration of meaning to other scientists.

The 5-th approach defines meaning as a mental structure which is a unity of all kinds of mental representations, related to the word: ideas, images, associations and so on.

The weak point is that mental images vary from person to person.