Boris IomdinRussian Language Institute,

Russian Academy of Sciencesiomdin@ruslang.ru

Lecture 4. PlanNaïve picture of man and the main human

systemsMetalanguage

formal metalanguagenatural metalanguage

Natural Semantic Metalanguage (Wierzbicka’s approach)

Moscow Semantic School (Apresjan’s approach)Properties and functions of lexicographic

explications

Summary by Ju. ApresjanEach language reflects a specific way of perceiving

and organizing the world about us. The meanings expressed in natural language form a unified system of views.

The way of conceptualizing reality (the world-view) inherent in a given language is partly universal and partly national-specific, such that speakers of different languages may view the world in slightly different ways, through the prism of their languages.

This view is naïve in the sense that it differs in many important particulars from a scientific picture of the world.

Naïve picture of the worldThe primary task of systematic lexicography

is to reflect the naïve world-view which a given language embodies – its naïve geometry, physics, ethics, psychology, etc.

These naïve pictures are not chaotic but form integral systems and should therefore receive a homogeneous description in a dictionary.

Naïve picture of humansIn the Russian linguistic picture of the world,

man is viewed as a dynamic, active being. He performs three different types of actions: physical actions, intellectual actions, and speech acts.

Man is also characterized by certain states: perception, desires, knowledge, opinions, emotions, etc.

Finally, he reacts to external and internal stimuli.Each form of activity, each type of state, and

each reaction is controlled by its own system and each system has its location in a particular organ.

Activating and checkingDesires are the main stimulus for human activity.

We implement our desires with the aid of volja ‘will’.

Desires may be either rational and moral or irrational and amoral. The will itself stands outside morality: it may be ‘good’ or ‘ill’.

Hence the operation of the will is counterbalanced by sovest’ ‘conscience’. If desires and the will are initiators of human action, conscience is seen as a moral brake which prevents the implementation of immoral desires.

Sovest’ in the Russian NPWConscience is a kind of being within us. It is a

strict inner judge: one can ‘answer for smth.’ to one’s conscience, ‘be at ease’ with it. It is always oriented towards good, possessing an innate and unerring sense of supreme justice.

Conscience may punish or pardon. If we ‘hear the voice of conscience’, and ‘act according to our conscience’, the reward is ‘clear conscience’. If we do not, it ‘torments us’, ‘gives us no peace’, ‘nags’ or ‘gnaws’ at us.

We can ‘appeal to conscience’ of another person.

The main human systemsPhysical perception (sight, hearing, sense of smell,

taste, touch): ‘to perceive’Physiological states (hunger, thirst, …): ‘to sense’Physiological reactions (fever, shivering, sweating, …)Physical actions (to work, go, draw, cut, …): ‘to do’Desires (to want, strive, prefer, …): ‘to want’Intellectual activity (to imagine, think, remember, …)Emotions (fear, rejoice, love, hate, hope, …): ‘to feel’Speech (to tell, promise, ask, declare, …): ‘to say’

Properties of the systemsEach system has a specific inner organizationThe systems form a hierarchyThe organs of these systems also form a

hierarchyThe systems interact with one anotherThe systems can be divided into subsystems

Perception: Russian and English‘to perceive’ ‘to be perceived’ ‘to try to perceive’

videt’ byt’ vidnym smotret’

slyshat’ byt’ slyshnym slushat’

obonjat’ pakhnut’ njukhat’

oshchushchat’ byt’ na vkus probovat’

osjazat’ byt’ na oshchup’ oshchupyvat’

‘to perceive’ ‘to be perceived’ ‘to try to perceive’

see be visible look

hear sound listen

smell smell smell

taste taste taste

feel feel feel, touch

Description of the human beingOn the basis of these ideas, Apresjan

proposes a general format for a description of various human states, of the processes which occur in the human soul or mind, and of intellectual or speech acts

The scheme was used in the New Explanatory Dictionary of Russian Synonyms (more details in the next lectures)

MetalanguageA special language for the

description of another language (=object language, usually a natural human language).Formal metalanguagesNatural metalanguages

Formal metalanguageA fully defined vocabulary and syntaxAll possible combinations of vocabulary

items generated from fully specified syntactic rules

All well formed syntactic structures have a meaning fully specified by semantic rules

Can be based on propositional logic, predicate logic, truth-conditional semantics, possible worlds semantics, intensional logic, etc.

An example (Šaumjan et al.)

Properties of a formal MLDefining a formal metalanguage for natural

semantics requires that it have the same expressive power as a natural language because:The metalanguage is a translation of the object

language, i.e. of a natural languageIn order to be understood and used it must be

communicableThe ideal formal semantic metalanguage would

have to be at least as comprehensive as a natural language, and to date no formal system achieves this goal.

K. Allan, Natural language semantics, 2001

Natural metalanguageAs language is a universal sign system, it can also

be used to describe itself.In classical lexicography, natural metalanguages

are used. Examples:happy: enjoying or characterized by well-being and

contentmentglad: experiencing pleasure, joy, or delight : made

happy contented: feeling or showing satisfaction with one's

possessions, status, or situationsatisfied: made happy(Webster Dictionary)

Properties of a natural MLEach word has to have a single meaningEach elementary meaning has to be expressed

in a single wayThese requirements are not fulfilled in classical

dictionaries. Many synonyms in the explications:arising in – originating in – proceeding from –

produced byarousing – causing – conductive to – eliciting –

exciting – inducing etc.(Webster)

Natural semantic metalanguageNSM approach claims to be the most well-

developed, comprehensive and practical approach to cross-cultural semantics

The approach is based on evidence that there is a small core of basic, universal meanings, known as semantic primitives, which can be found as words or other linguistic expressions in all languages.

This common core of meaning can be used as a tool for linguistic and cultural analysis.

(1)(a) X felt something because X thought something(b) sometimes a person thinks:(c) "I know now: something very good will happen(d) I want it to happen(e) I can't think about other things now"(f) when this person thinks this this person feels

something good(g) X felt something like this(h) because X thought something like thisEXCITED

(2)(a) X felt something (because X thought

something)(b) sometimes a person thinks:(c) "some very good things happened to me(d) I wanted things like this to happen(e) I can't want anything else"(f) when this person thinks this this person feels

something very good(g) X felt something like this (because X thought

something like this)HAPPY

(3)(a) X felt something because X thought somethingsometimes a person thinks:(b) "I thought that something bad would happen(c) I felt something bad because of this(d) I know now: this bad thing will not happen"(e) when this person thinks this this person feels

something good(g) X felt something like this(h) because X thought something like thisRELIEVED

(4)(a) X felt something because X thought something(b) sometimes a person thinks:(c) "I know now: someone did something bad(d) I didn't think someone could do something like this(e) I don't want things like this to happen(f) I want to say what I think about this"(g) when this person thinks this, this person feels

something bad(h) X felt something like this (i) because X thought something like thisINDIGNANT

(5)(a) X felt something because X thought something(b) sometimes a person thinks:(c) "something very bad happened to someone(d) I didn't think that something like this could happen(e) I have to think now: very bad things happen to

people"(f) when this person thinks this this person feels

something bad(g) X felt something like this(h) because X thought something like this

APPALLED

(6)(a) X felt something because X thought

something(b) sometimes a person thinks:(c) "something very good is happening(d) I want this to be happening"(e) when this person thinks this this person

feels something very good(f) X felt something like this(g) because X thought something like thisJOY

(7)(a) X felt something because X thought something(b) sometimes a person thinks for some time about smb:(c) "something bad can happen to this person(d) I don't want this to happen(e) I want good things to happen to this person(f) because of this I want to do something if I can"(g) when this person thinks this this person feels smth(h) X felt something like this(i) because X thought something like thisCONCERNED

(8)(a) X felt something(b) sometimes a person thinks:(c) "I know: something bad happened(d) I don't want things like this to happen(e) I can't think: I will do something because of it

now(f) I know I can't do anything"(g) when this person thinks this this person feels

something bad (h) X felt something like thisSAD

(9)(a) X felt something because X thought something(b) sometimes a person thinks:(c) "some good things happened to me before now(d) I feel something good because of this now(e) I don't want other things now"(f) when this person thinks this this person feels

something good(g) X felt something like this(h) because X thought something like thisCONTENTED

(10)(a) X felt something because X thought something(b) sometimes a person thinks:(c) "people can know something bad about me(d) I don't want people to know this(e) if people know this they can't not think smt bad about

me(f) when I think about it, I can't not think the same"(g) when this person thinks this this person feels smth bad(h) X felt something like this(i) because X thought something like this

ASHAMED

(11)<…>(c) "something very bad is happening to me(d) I don't want it to be happening(e) I want to do something because of this(f) I can't do anything(g) I can't think: some good things will happen

to me(h) I don't know how I can live now"(i) when this person thinks this this person feels

something very bad <…>DESPAIR

(12)(a) X felt something because X thought something(b) sometimes a person thinks:(c) "something has happened now(d) I know now: something very bad happened(e) I didn't think that smth like this could happen(f) I can't think now"(g) when this person thinks this this person feels smth bad(h) X felt something like this (i) because X thought something like this

SHOCKED

(13)(a) X felt something because X thought something(b) sometimes a person thinks:(c) "I thought that something good would happen(d) I felt something good because of this(e) I know now: this good thing will not happen"(f) when this person thinks this this person feels

something bad(g) X felt something like this(h) because X thought something like thisDISAPPOINTED

(14)<…>(c) "something very bad is happening(d) something very bad can happen to me now

because of this(e) I don't want this to happen(f) I want to do something because of this if I can(g) I can't do anything now"(h) when this person thinks this this person feels

something very bad <…>TERRIFIED

(15)<…>(c) "something is happening to me now not

because I want it (d) someone knows about it(e) this person is thinking about me(f) I don't want people to think about me like

this"(g) when this person thinks this, this person

feels something bad <…>EMBARASSED

(16)(a) X felt something because X thought something(b) sometimes a person thinks about someone else:(c) "this person can do some very good things(d) not many other people are like this(e) I would want to be like this if I could"(f) when this person thinks this this person feels

something good(g) X felt something like this(h) because X thought something like thisADMIRATION

(17)(a) X felt something because X thought something(b) sometimes a person thinks about someone else:(c) "something bad happened to this other person(d) this is bad(e) something like this is not happening to me"(f) when this person thinks this this person feels

something(g) X felt something like this(h) because X thought something like thisPITY

(18)<…>(c) "I know that some time ago I did something bad(d) I knew it when I was doing it(e) I didn't want to think about it then(f) I can't not think about it now"(g) when this person thinks this this person feels

something bad(h) X felt something like this (i) because X thought something like thisREMORSE

Elementary meaningsSemantic metalanguages have to contain a small (for

economy reasons), but sufficient (for completeness) number of elementary meanings

But explications using only elementary meanings may be too difficult to understand and use in dictionaries

Apresjan suggests a trade-off: a metalanguage which includes not only semantic primitives, but also semantically more complex words (intermediate concepts), whose meanings may combine several semantic primitives.

But here, too, no synonymy or homonymy is allowed.

Lexicographic explicationsThe lexeme (a given meaning of a word) has

to be explained using words with simpler meanings, which can be easily reduced to elementary (indefinable) meanings (no vicious circles)

All meaning components should be included into the explication (completeness)

No other information can be included into the explication (precision)

Vicious circleSepulka, pl. sepulki, an important element of

the civilization of Ardrites (see) from Enteropia planet (see). See sepulkaria.

Sepulkaria, sg. sepulkarium, an object for sepulation (see).

Sepulation, an occupation of Ardrites (see) from Enteropia planet (see). See sepulka.

(Stanisław Lem, Dzienniki gwiazdowe)

Advantages of the techniqueIf the explications in the dictionary are

constructed stepwise, all links of the given meaning and the connected meanings are explicitly shown, so that the hierarchical organization of the lexical system of the language is consecutively demonstrated

This allows for various semantic groupings of words and for formulating rules of various synonymic transformations

Functions of the explicationExplain the meaning of a given linguistic unitServe as the basis in establishing its place in

the semantic systemBe used as a semantic rule which may be

applied in the transition from a syntactic representation of an utterance to a semantic representation, and vice versa

Serve as the basis for the rules of semantic interaction between the given unit and other units within the utterance

Requirements for explicationsThey must be non-circularThey must be necessary and sufficientThey must be hierarchically structuredThey must be explicit

Constructing explicationsAnalysis of the situationAnalysis of a paradigmatically related group

of words (synonyms, analogues, antonyms, derivational paradigms, thematically related words)

Analysis of a syntagmatically related group of words (collocations)

Analysis of the “negative linguistic material” (ungrammatical utterances of various kinds)

NSM and MSS: differencesIn the Moscow Semantic School, explications

are constructed hierarchically, in order to demonstrate a system in the organization of the lexicon.

In MSS, explications are the object of semantic rules by which the meaning of whole utterances is built from the meanings of the individual grammatical and lexical units.

In MSS, not only semantic primitives, but also words with more complex meanings are used for the explications.

Examples of MSS explicationsRadovat’sja ‘rejoice’ ‘to experience a pleasant feeling

which may come when something that the subject considers or feels good for himself is happening’

Smushchat’sja ‘be embarassed’ ‘to experience a feeling which may come when the subject believes that he is related to something bad or abnormal, because of which other people will think worse about him’

Voskhishchat’sja ‘admire’ ‘to experience or to express verbally a strong feeling which may come when a person perceives something extremely good, far exceeding the standard level or the capabilities of this person’

(by Ju. Apresjan)

Examples of MSS explicationsZhalost’ ‘pity’ ‘the feeling of a person

A1 towards a person A2, similar to pain, caused by the fact that A1 believes that A2 is in a bad situation, and accompanied by the wish to relieve the situation of A2’

(by I. Levontina)

Next lectureStructure of meaning and its

representation