Referential and functional approaches to the study of word meaning

The branch of lexicology that is devoted to the study of meaning is known as semasiology.

The school is called “academic semantics” or “pure semantics” and is a branch of symbolic or mathematical logic, originated by R. Carnap. It aims at the building of an abstract theory of relationships between signs and their referents (things meant). It is a part of semiotics – the study of signs and languages in general, including all sorts of codes, such as military signals, traffic signals, etc. Unlike linguistic semantics which deals with real languages, pure semantics has as its subject formalized language.

Thus, it has been made clear, that semantics is an inappropriate term, because having several different referents, it creates confusion. That is why the term ‘semasiology’ should be used to designate the science of meaning.

The problem of meaning is considered to be the most controversial one in the linguistic theory. There are two schools of thought in present –day linguistics representing contemporary thinking on the problem:

1) referential approach (founded by Ferdinand de Saussure) distinguishes between the three components connected with meaning: the sound form of the linguistic sign, the concept underlying this sound form and the actual referent, the aspect of reality to which the linguistic sign refers.

Establishing this relationship our approach to the problem of meaning is referential because we refer to the sound form, to the concept and to the referent and discuss their relationship.

This referential approach is criticized because the scholars in their theory use extra-linguistic terms such as concept, referent. Besides, approaching the problem of meaning the linguistic elements (words) are discussed in isolation from each other (from other words). So referential approach is paradigmatic. We discuss the meanings of words in a certain system. But in speech we use words in their environment and not in isolation. In this environment we define the meaning of words.

2) functional approach (L. Bloomfield) maintains that the meaning of a word may be studied only through its relation to other words.

These two approaches should not be set against each other. They should be used in peaceful combination. The examination of meaning must start by collecting an adequate number of samples of contexts. On examination of the samples the meaning will emerge from the contexts. Then it is logical to pass to the referential phase and try to formulate the meaning thus identified.

10. 10.? Structure of the Dictionary Entries

Verb stem

Entries for verb stems include a line of analysis that identifies the internal pieces of the verb stem. Certain of these pieces can be looked up separately (use a root search) while others are identified only by an abbreviation for a grammatical label such as reflexive, causative, or distributive. Still others may be unknown and are represented by a question mark. Stem joining vowels are omitted in this analysis. Following this analysis are example full words based on the verb stem with specific English translations. In a full paradigm these words will include a serial (habitual) form, a punctual form with an aorist (factual) prefix, a perfective (stative) form, and perhaps a command form or some specialized form. At the end of the entry there may be remarks about the use of prefixes or semantic specialization.

Stative (verb)

Most verb stems have a stative (perfective) form to signal that the action of the verb either has been done or is currently ongoing. There are, however, many verbs that have only a stative form. They require special modification to turn them into fully productive regular verb stems. Such verb stems are cited in a separate category. Many of them correspond to descriptive adjectives in English. After the general glosses and a constituent analysis of the verb stem, a full word example is given, typically in isolation form (with whispered ending). The translation of that word is fairly faithful to the internal structure of the word and thus is more literal than the freer glosses. At the end of the entry there may be an additional usage note.

Noun root

The citation form is the context form of the noun as a full word (noun root plus any required prefix and suffix). A line within the entry lists the full word form in both its context form (without whispering) and its isolation form (with whispering) if it is different. There follows a translation for the word. Most of the time this is the same as the glosses given for the root, but at times there is a semantic specialization for the full word. There are then several examples of how the noun root can be used, for example, in locative, plural, possessive, or counting expressions. An incorporation form of the noun root is also given, especially if it is different from the noun root itself. At the end of the entry are any special usage remarks.

Derived Noun

The citation form for the derived nouns is the full word in its context form (without whispering). The entry includes glosses, a breakdown of the verb stem into its component parts, and then the isolation form of the word. The translation given here is a rather literal one meant to show the word’s internal structure. The glosses provide a freer translation.

Single word (noun)

Some nouns occur only in a form with no obvious internal structure. Because they are clearly used as nouns, they are not listed as particles but rather put in a separate category labeled single word. The citation form is the full word. Just a gloss is given.

Name

Native Oneida names are typically structured like other Oneida verbs and nouns and can often be translated. No attempt has been made to collect those words that specifically double as names for this dictionary. Personal names adapted from English and a variety of (often local) place names are included with a simple gloss.

Particle

Particles or combinations of particles that have a distinctive meaning are given separate citations. Glosses are given sometimes along with a brief usage note. Some of the particles express a grammatical, emphatic or discourse meaning and in such cases no simple gloss can be given.

Prefixes

The forms of the pronoun prefixes are entered as citation forms. The glosses indicate person, gender, number, and case (subjective such as I, he, she or objective such as me, him, her). Transitive pronoun prefixes indicate both subject and object, so, for example, a pronoun that signals she is the subject of the action and he is the object receiving the action would be glossed as she to him. Since there are many sets of such pronoun prefixes each compatible with different kinds of verb stems, a base form of the pronoun prefix is given and a usage note on the compatibilities. Much of this is determined by the beginning sound of the verb stem.

All the combinations of the pre-pronominal prefixes attached before the pronoun prefixes are also listed as citation forms. Sometimes these meld into the pronoun prefixes. Glosses for these are not given since their meanings are so dependent on the particular verb stem they are attached to, but the internal parts of complex combinations are identified by their technical labels.

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