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Unit 31: Semantic: Meaning Types: Lexical, Contextual and Others Semantics Practice

Words are tools; they become important by the function they perform, the job they do, the way Notes
they are used in certain sentences. In addition to reference and function, scholars have also
attached importance to popular historical considerations, especially etymology, while studying
word–meanings. Undoubtedly the meaning of any word is casually the product of continuous
changes in its antecedent meanings or uses, and in many cases it is the collective product of
generations of cultural history. Dictionaries often deal with this sort of information if it is available,
but in so doing they are passing beyond the bounds of synchronic statement to the separate
linguistic realm of historical explanation.
Different answers have been given to the questions related to meaning. Psychologists have tried to
assess the availability of certain kinds of responses to objects, to experiences, and to words
themselves. Philosophers have proposed a variety of systems and theories to account for the data
that interest them. Communication scientists have developed information theory so that they can
use mathematical models to explain exactly what is predictable and what is not predictable when
messages are channeled through various kinds of communication networks. From approaches like
these a complex array of conceptions of meaning emerges. We shall discuss some of the major
semantic theories soon.

31.4 Lexical and Grammatical Meaning
When we talk about meaning, we are talking about the ability of human beings to understand one
another when they speak. This ability is to some extent connected with grammar. No one could
understand :
hat one the but red green on bought tried Mohan
while
Mohan tried on the red hat but bought the green one causes no difficulties.
Yet there are numerous sentences which are perfectly grammatical, but meaningless. The most
famous example is Chomsky’s sentence
“Colourless green ideas sleep furiously.”
Similar other examples are :
• The tree ate the elephant.
• The pregnant bachelor gave birth to six girls tomorrow.
• The table sneezed.
In a sentence such as Did you understand the fundamentals of linguistics ? a linguist has to take
into account at least two different types of meaning : lexical meaning and grammatical meaning.
Full words have some kind of intrinsic meaning. They refer to objects, actions and qualities that
can be identified in the external world, such as table, banana, sleep, eat, red. Such words are said
to have lexical meaning. Empty words have little or no intrinsic meaning. They exist because of
their grammatical function in the sentence. For example, and is used to join items, or indicates
alternative, of sometimes indicates possession. These words have grammatical meaning.
Grammatical meaning refers mainly to the meaning of grammatical items as did, which, ed.
Grammatical meaning may also cover notions such as ‘subject’ and ‘object’, sentence types as
‘interrogative’, ‘imperative’ etc. Because of its complexity, grammatical meaning is extremely
difficult to study. As yet, no theory of semantics has been able to handle it properly. But the study
of lexical items is more manageable.

31.5 Meaning of Meaning

There is a good number of semantic theories. Each of them defines meaning in its own manner.
Ogden and I.A. Richards in their book Meaning of Meaning cite no less than sixteen definitions of
meaning. To Ludwing Wittgensteiu (Philosophical Investigations) the meaning of a word or expression
is neither more nor less than its use. Usage, not meaning, is the right basis. Bloomfield defines

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