In other words cap 2-3-4

In other words 2 Equivalence at word level Between two or more languages there is a lack of

equivalence at word level: there is often no word in the target language which expresses the same

meaning as the source language word.

2.1.1 What is a word

The word is the smallest unit of language that can be used by itself

2.1.2 Is there a one-to-one relationship between word and meaning?

Elements of meaning which are represented by several orthographic words in one language may be

represented by one orthographic word in another, and vice versa. This suggest that there is no one-

to-one correspondence between orthographic words and elements of meaning within or across

languages.

2.1.3 Introducing morphemes

In order to isolate elements of meaning in words and deal with them more effectively, some

linguists have suggested the term morpheme to describe the minimal formal element of meaning in

language, which may or may not contain several elements of meaning. An important difference

between morphemes and words is that a morpheme cannot contain more than one element of

meaning and cannot be further analysed. Some morphemes have grammatical functions such as

marking plurality (funds), gender (manageress) and tense (considered). Other change the class of

the word (like -> likeable) or add a specific element of meaning such as negation to it (unhappy).

An orthographic word may therefore contain more than one formal element of meaning, but the

boundaries of such elements are not always clearly marked on the surface.

2.2 Lexical meaning

The lexical meaning is the most outstanding individual property of the word. The lexical meaning

of a word or lexical unit may be thought of as the specific value it has in a particular linguistic

system and the “personality” it acquires through usage within that system. We can distinguish four

main types of meaning in words and utterances: propositional meaning, expressive meaning,

presupposed meaning and evoked meaning.

2.2.1 Propositional vs expressive meaning

The propositional meaning of a word or an utterance arises from the relation between it and what it

refers to or describes in a real or imaginary world. For instance, the propositional meaning of “shirt”

is “a piece of clothing worn on the upper part of the body”. Expressive meaning relates to the

speaker’s feelings or attitude rather than to what words and utterances refer to. Two or more words

or utterances can therefore have the same propositional meaning but differ in their expressive

meanings. This is true not only of words and utterances within the same language, but also for

words and utterances from different languages. The difference between “famous” in English and

“fameux” in French lies in their expressive meanings: both items basically mean “well-known”, but

“famous” is neutral in English: it has no inherent evaluative meaning or connotation. “Fameux”, on

the other hand, is potentially evaluative and can be readily used in some contexts in a derogatory

way (for example, “une femme fameuse” means, roughly, “a woman of ill repute”). Words which

contribute solely to expressive meaning can be removed from an utterance without affecting its

information content.

Lingua inglese (75898)

Università di Bologna

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