EQUIVALENCE AT WORD LEVEL
A.
The
Words In Different Languages
1. What
is a word
The word is the smallest unit which we expect to
possess individual meaning or the word is the smallest unit that can be used by
itself , it must be able to stand alone .The word isn't basic meaningful unit
of language because meaning can be
carried by units smaller than the word.
2. Is there a one-to -one relationship
between word and meaning?
Elements of meaning in English which are represented
by one word may be represented by many words in another country or converse
Eg:
English :
Type Spanish : Pasar a maquina
English :
If it is cheap Japanese : Yasukattara
So, we can say that there is no
one-to-one correspondence / equivalence between orthographic words and elements
of meaning within / across languages.
3.
Introducing Morphemes
In order to isolate elements of meaning in words we
use the term “morpheme” to describe the minimal formal element of meaning in a
language, as distinct from word.
The difference between morphemes and words is that a
morpheme cannot contain more than one element of meaning and cannot be further
separated / isolated / analysed / divided.
Eg:
Inconceivable : One word
Inconceivable : Three morphemes
In : not
Conceice :
imagine or think
Able : fix to be
Some morphemes just have grammatical meaning function such as:
Marking Plurality : Books
Gender :
Manageress = Female
Tense :
Conceived
Negation : Unhappy
B. Lexical Meaning
The lexical
meaning of a word of lexical unit may be thought of as the specific value it
has in a particular linguistic system and the personality it acquires throught
usage within that system
According to
cruse ,he distinguish four types of meaning in words and utterances
1. The Propositional versus Expressive
Meaning
The propositional meaning of a word arises from the relationship between it and what it refers to describes in a real or imaginary world
The propositional meaning of a word arises from the relationship between it and what it refers to describes in a real or imaginary world
The propositional meaning #
referential / literal / dictionary meaning, We can say the propositional
meaning is true / false
Eg: shirt : “ a piece of clothing worn on the upper
part of body”
(foot) à sock
(If we say “shirt” is a piece of clothing worn on the foot, we make an inaccurate meaning instead of
socks)
The
expressive meaning cannot be judged as
T/F (true / false ) because expressive meaning relates to speaker’s
feelings / attitudes (so we can not say a feeling is true / false )
Eg:
English : Famous
French : Fameux
Propositional
meaning : well know
Expressive
meaning
English : no connotation
French
: (une femme
fameuse ): a women of ill repute
2. Presupposed Meaning
Presupposed meaning arises from co-occurrence
restrictions. This means the restrictions on what other words we expect to see
before / after a particular word.
a. Selectional restriction
We expect a human subject for the adjective “studious” or an animal subject for the verb
“ to feed”
b. Collocational restriction
These are are
semantically arbitrary restrictions which do not follow logically from the
propositional meaning of a word
Eg :
In English : teeth
are brushed
In german : polished
3.
Evoked
Meaning \
Evoked meaning arises from dialect
and register
dialect = a variety of a language which is used in a
specific community / group of people Different kinds of dialect:
a. Geographical / regional dialect /
Eg: American
English British
English
a lift an elevator
b. Temporal dialect : words and structures used by members of
different age groups or different periods
Eg : Negroes
: Past
Blacks : Now
Verily : Past
Really : Now
c.
Social
dialect: words and structures used by
members of different social classes
Eg : napkin = serviette
High lower
Register: a variety of a language that a
language user considers as appropriate to a specific situation. [ register # style ]
Depending on the environment we have :
formal dialect versus informal dialect
Register depends on three factors:
a.
Field
of discourse
“ What is going on”
Eg: You are taking part in a
football match or discussing football
You are making a political
speech or discussing politics
You are performing an operation
in a hospital
Linguistic choices depend on what
kind of action you are performing / doing
b.
Tenor of
discourse (tenor = direction)
Communication within the framework of the society .
Relationship between participants in a discourse. Language choices differ /
vary depend on the interpersonal relations as mother / kid ; teacher / pupil ;
employer / employee. It is impossible for a patient to use swear [dirty]words
with a doctor . It’s unlikely for a mother to start a request to her daughter
with “I wonder if you could …..”
In general, it’s not easy to get the tenor of a
discourse because it depend on whether one sees a certain level of formality as
“right” from the perspective of the source culture or the target culture
Eg;
In western countries, children address parents by the first name, but in Indonesia
children are not allowed to address their parents that way.This level of informality is inappropriate in the Indonesia culture. If we miss the translator has to
change the tenor to suit the expecteation of the reader /receptor.
c.
Mode of
discourse : the role the language is playing and the medium of
transmission
Eg :
speech,
lecture, essay, instruction (roles)
spoken, written ( mediums of transmission)
Different groups of people in a culture have different expectations.
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