Humansuperiorityliesinhisuniqueendowment天賦—theabilitytotalk,orrather,tocommunicatebymeansoflanguage.Languageisavehicleofpower,forcontrol,forcreation.Andforchange.Thestudyofhumanlanguageiscalledlinguistics.Languageisthesystemofhumancommunicationwhichconsistsofthestructuredarrangementofsounds(ortheirwrittenrepresentation)intolargerunits,e.g.morphemes,words,sentences,utterances.Varietiesoflanguage:Anyparticularlanguageisinessenceasetofvarieties.Therearelocalvarieties區域變體–dialectsandaccents(theformerdifferfromeachotherinpronunciation,vocabulary,andevengrammar;thelatteronlyinpronunciation),socialvarieties—sociolects社會方言(=socialdialects,usedbypeopleofdifferentclasses,ages,orsexes),historicalvarieties—registers語域(e.g.formalEnglish,scientificEnglish),andevenindividualvarieties—idiolects個人語言.Usuallyalanguagehasanofficiallydeclaredorgenerallyconsideredstandarddialect(e.g.PutonghuainChina,GeneralAmericanintheUS)Prescriptivismistheviewthatonevarietyoflanguagehasaninherentlyhighervaluethanothers.Descriptivismisthepolicyofdescribinglanguagesastheyareboundtoexist.Usagesofdifferentvarietiesshouldbeobservedandrecordedinsteadofbeingjudgedwithsomeimposednorms.Plato’sproblem:Howcaneveryhumanbeingdeveloparichsystemoflinguisticknowledgeonthebasisoflimitedandfragmentaryempiricalevidence?Platoheldthattherewasauniversallycorrectandacceptablelogicoflanguageformantofollowinexpressinghisideas.Aristotlearguedthatknowledgeoflanguagewasarrivedatbyconventionandagreementofthespeakersofagivenlanguage.InancientChina,XunZireasonedthatanamewasacceptedthroughpublicagreement,andtheappropriatenessofnamingathinglayinconvention.AccordingtoChomsky,knowledgeoflanguageistheresultofinteractionofUGandlaterexperience.(Ferdinandde)Saussureadvocatedthediversionofthefocusoflinguisticstudyfromdiachronictosynchronic.Chomsky’sepistemologyoftheknowledgeoflanguagefoesasfollows:Everyhumanbeinghasthelanguagecompetence能力,becausehehastheinbornUGwhichotherspecieslack.UGistheinitialstateofthehumanlanguagefaculty語言器官/機制whichalonecannotenableahumanbabytospeak.Ababyneedstobeexposedtothelinguisticenvironmentofacertainlanguageandaccumulateexperience.Duetotheeffectoflaterexperience,thebaby’sminddevelopsfromtheinitialstateintothesteadystate,whichcorrespondstothecompetenceofspeakingaspecifichumanlanguage.Behaviorists’orempiricists’opinionsareidentical統一的，同一的withAristotle’s.Connectionism/emergentismarguesthatthementalneuralmechanismsresponsibleforbothlexicalandgrammaticalprocessingarenotuniquetolanguage.diachronic:focusonthecomparisonbetweenlanguagesandtheexplorationofthehistoricalchangeandvariationofsomeancientlanguages./of,relatingto,ordealingwithphenomena(asoflanguageorculture)astheyoccurorchangeoveraperiodoftimesynchronic:researchofthefactsoflanguageagreeduponorsharedbyhemembersoflanguagecommunityatagivenpointintime./concernedwitheventsexistinginalimitedtimeperiodandignoringhistoricalantecedentsGalileanthesis”natureisperfect”Fossilizationisaprocessinwhichincorrectlinguisticfeaturesbecomeapermanentpartofthewayapersonspeaksasecondlanguage.Threeadequacies:observationaladequacydescriptiveadequacyexplanatoryadequacy(provideadescriptivelyadequategrammarforeverynaturallanguage,anddoessointermsofmaximallyconstrainedsetofuniversalprincipleswhichrepresentpsychologicallyplausiblenaturalprinciplesofmentalcomputation.)Atheoryinsciencemustnotbepurespeculationbuttestableatobservational,descriptive,andexplanatorylevels.Sciencetellsusthatnatureisaphysicalcontinuum連續體,whichdoesnotbreakitselfintophysics,chemistry,psychology,linguistics…;thesedisciplines學科arenotfactsbutourdecisions.Platoassertedthattherewasa”legislator”whogavethecorrect,naturalnametoeverything,andlanguagesbelongedtostatesbutnottoindividuals.J.G.Herderpointedoutthatbabies’cryisasortofnaturalsounds,whichcouldneverdevelopintoalanguage.AcornerstoneofscienceisGalilean’sintuitionthatnatureisperfect.SirWilliamJohnsfirstproposedthatalanguageinSouthAsiabearelativeofmanyEuropeanlanguages.TheoriginoflanguageasatopicwasbannedbytheLinguisticSocietyofParisfoundedin1866.Inaccordancewiththethreephasesjustmentioned,phoneticsisdividedintothreesub-fields.Articulatoryphonetics發音語音學studiesspeechproductionbythespeechorgans;acousticphonetics聲學語音學studiesphysicalpropertiesofspeechsounds,thewaysoundstravelfromthespeakertothehearer;andauditoryphonetics聽覺語音學studiestheperceptionofspeechsoundsinthehumanauditoryandcognitivesystem.A“sound”peoplesaytheyproduceisactuallyacombinationofsoundscalledasyllable,whichisoftenrelatedtoachestpulse.Theplaceofarticulationreferstothepointinthevocaltractatwhichthemainclosureornarrowingismadesoastomodifytheflowofairfromthechesttothemouthinproducingasound.Themannerofarticulationreferstothetypeofconstriction收縮ormovementthatoccursatanyplaceofarticulation.Theproductionofdifferentspeechsoundsthroughtheuseoftheseorgansisknownasarticulation.Vibration顫動Adam’sapplearea喉結Consonantsaresoundsmadebyaclosureinthevocaltract,orbyanarrowingfromwhichaircannotescapewithoutproducingaudiblefriction摩擦,andvowelsaresoundsinwhichthereisnoobstructiontotheflowofairasitpassesfromthelarynxtothelips.Bilabial雙唇音,formedbybringingthelipstogether,e.g.[p],[m].Herethefunctionoflipsissomewhatcomplicated:theybothcanberegardedastheactiveandpassivearticulatorssimultaneously.Labio-dental唇齒音,formedbythelowerlipagainsttheupperteeth,e.g.[f].Dental齒音,formedbyplacingthetipofthetongueagainsttheupperteeth,e.g.[e].Alveolar齒齦音,formedbyplacingthetiporbladeofthetongueagainstthealveolarridge,e.g.[t].Palatal腭音,formedbythefrontofthetongueagainstthehardpalate,namely,theroofofthemouth,e.g.[j].Palato-alveolar腭齦音,formedmidwaybetweentheplacesofarticulationforpalatalsandalveolars:theblade(andsometimesthetip)ofthetonguearticulateswiththealveolarridge,withasimultaneousraisingofthefrontofthetonguetowardsthehardpalate,e.g.[?].Velar軟腭音,formedbythebackofthetongueagainstthesoftpalate,e.g.[k].Glottal聲門音,formedbythevocalcordscomingtogethertocauseaclosureorfriction,e.g.[h].Retrofle卷舌音,formedwhentheapexofthetongueiscurledbackinthedirectionofthehardpalate,asheardinmanyIndianEnglishaccents.Uvular小舌音,formedbythebackofthetongueagainsttheuvula,asheardinsomeaccentsofFrench.Pharyngeal咽音,formedinthepharynx,thepartofthethroatabovethelarynx.Specifically,thefrontwallofthepharynxarticulateswiththebackwall,asheardinArabic.Organsinthevocaltract,suchasthelips,teeth,orhardpalate,arecalledarticulators.Consonantsarealsoclassifiedaccordingtothemannerofarticulation,concerningwhichphoneticianstendtoconsiderseveralfactors.Thefirstfactoristhedegreeoftheconstrictionofairflow.AtleastsixmainclassescanbedistinguishedinEnglish:Plosive爆破音,formedbycompletelyclosingtheairpassageandsuddenlyremovingtheobstacle,sothattheairescapesmakinganexplosivesound,e.g.[p],[d].Itbelongstoabroadercategorycalled“stop”whichincludesclosuresproducedbyairstreamsnotfromthelungs,asencounteredinsomesouthernAfricanlanguages.Nasal鼻音,formedwiththesoftpalatelowered,thusallowingairtoresonateinthenose,e.g.[m].Affricate塞擦音,aconsonantwhichstartsasaplosive,butinsteadofendingwithplosion,endswithafricativemadeinthesameplace,e.g.[t?].Liquid流音,formedbysomeobstructionoftheairstreaminthemouth,whichseemsnotenoughtocauseanyrealconstrictionorfriction,e.g.[l],[r].[l]iscalledalateralliquid,becauseinmakingit,anobstacleisplacedinthemiddleofthemouth,leavingtheairfreetoescapeatoneorbothsides.Fricative擦音,formedbyanarrowingoftheairpassageatsomepointsothattheairinescapingmakesaudiblefrication.e.g.[f],[z].Somefricativesarealsocalledsibilants齒擦音,whicharemadewithagroove-likestructureinthefrontpartofthetongue,producingakindofhissingsound,e.g.[s],[?].Glide滑音,sometimescalledsemi-vowelbecauseitistypicallyproducedwiththetonguemoving,or“gliding”,toorfromthepositionofanearbyvowel,e.g.[h],[w].Thesecondfactorisvoicing.Voiceiscausedbythevibrationofthevocalcords.Thethirdfactorisaspiration.Thisisthesoundofairrushingthroughthevocaltract,usuallyfoundafterthereleaseofplosiveconsonantsinsomesituation.Differentvowelsresultfromchangingtheshapeofthemouth;allofthemarevoicedcontinuoussounds.[i:]closevowels,[a:]openvowels,[e]semi-closedvowels,[?:]semi-openvowelsFourroundedvowels:[u:][u][?:][?],theyareallbackvowels.[a:]istheonlyEnglishbackvowelthatoccurswithoutliprounding.Thereisanotherinterestingrule:allthelongvowels(e.g.[i:][u:])aretensevowels緊元音,andalltheshortvowels([i][u])arelaxvowels松元音.Everyvowelconstitutesasinglesyllable.Thevowelcanbeamonophthong,adiphthong,orevenatriphthongthatcontainsthreedistinctivequalities,e.g.[ai?].However,noteverysyllablecontainsavowel.Thesecondsyllableofthewordlittle[litl]hasnovowelaftertheplosive[t]butaliquid[l].Phonemeshavenomeaningofthemselves,buttheyarethesmallestlinguisticunit,whosechangewillleadtothechangeofmeaning.Aphonemeisdefinedasthesmallestunitofsoundinalanguagewhichcandistinguishtwowords.Allophoneisthephoneticvariantofaphoneme,whichcanbesubstitutedofanotherwithoutbringaboutachangeofmeaning.Phoneme用//;allophone用[]Aphoneticproperty特性，特質thatdistinguishesphonemesfromoneanotheriscalledadistinctivefeature.Phoneticsismorespecificallythestudyofhowspeechsoundsareproduced,whattheirphysicalpropertiesare,andhowtheyareinterpreted.Phonology,isadescriptionofthesoundsofaparticularlanguageandtherulesgoverningthedistributionofthosesounds.Furthermore,phonologyisalsoconcernedwiththeuniversalpropertiesofnaturallanguagesoundsystemsandaimsatrevealingthegeneralprinciplesofthesoundpatternsofalllanguages.Pitchistheauditorysensationoftheheightofasound.Therearetwowaysinwhichlanguagesmakeuseofpitchvariationsinspeech.InlanguagessuchasEnglish,French,andGerman,regularsequencesofdifferentpitchescharacterizestretchesofspeechbetweenpausesandareknowncollectivelyasintonation.Thedifferencesofintonationmaycorrelatewithdifferenttypesofutterances.InlanguagessuchasChinese,Vietnamese,Thai,andZulu,pitchdifferenceshelptodistinguishonewordfromanotherandmaybetheonlydifferentiatingfeaturebetweentwoormorewordswhosecompositionisthesameintermsofconsonantsandvowels.Pitchdifferencesusedinthesewaysarecalledtonesandtheselanguagesarecalledtonelanguages.Stress,pitch,toneandintonationarealsocalledsuprasegmentals超切分音位becausetheyrelatetoaspectsofpronunciationthatgobeyondtheproductionofindividualsegments.Larynx喉:thebeginningofthevocaltract,containingthevocalcords.Pharynx咽:thetube-likepassageinthethroatwhichconnectsthelarynxtotheupperpartofthevocaltract.Vocalcords聲帶：twomuscularfoldsinthelarynxthatvibrateasasourceofsound.Softpalate軟腭：thebackwardcontinuationoftheroofofthemouth,whichcanbeloweredtoletairpassthroughthenose.Hardpalate硬腭：theroofofthemouthAlveolarridge齒齦脊：thebonyprominencebehindtheupperfrontteeth.Trachea氣管：thepassagebetweenlungsandlarynx.Segmentisthesmallestunitthatcanbeidentifiedincontinuousspeech.Asyllablecannotcontainmorethanonevowels.Evenifadiphthongorthiphthongiscontained,itisstillasinglevowel,pronouncedwithinonechestpulse.Wordsarenotthesmallestunitofmeaning.Theyarecomposedofsmallerunitsofmeaning,calledmorphemes.Morphemesaretheminimallanguageunits.Morphologydealswithwordstructure.Manywordsarethemselvesmorphemes,suchasbigandbook.Theycannotbebrokenintosmallerunitsthatinthemselvescarrymeaning.Wecallthemfreemorphemes—morphemesthatcanstandaloneasaword.Manyotherwordsarecreatedbyjoiningtogethertwomorphemes,e.g.blackboard,inwhichthetwomorphemesblackandboardcanberecognizedasmeaningfulwordsbythemselves.Sotheyarealsofreemorphemes.Anothertypeofmorphemeistheboundmorpheme,whichoccursonlywhenattachedtoanothermorpheme,suchas-lyinhappilyandun-inunhappy.Thefunctionofanaffixcanbederivational派生的，衍生的orinflectional屈折的.Aderivationalmorphemeisonethatisaddedtoaroottoformanewwordthatdiffers,usually,initspart-of-speech詞性classification.Forexample,whenthesuffix-nessisaddedtotheadjectivehappy,thenounhappinessisformed.Prefixesasderivationalmorphemesusuallychangethebasicmeaningofawordbutdonotchangeitspart-of-speechclassification.（即系本來系動詞就系動詞）Aninflectionalmorphemeindicatescertaingrammaticalpropertiesassociatedwithnounsandverbs,suchasgender,number,case,andtense.UnlikehighlyinflectedlanguagessuchasLatin,Englishhasveryfewinflectionalmorphemes.InEnglish,theinflectionalmorphemesareallsuffixes.Thesuffix-s,whichindicatespluralityinnounsaswellasthethird-personsingularinverbs,isaninflectionalmorpheme;thepasttensesuffix-ed,whichisaddedtoverbs,isanother.AccordingtoWilhelmvonHumboldt,languagesoftheworldcanbeclassifiedmorphologicallyintothreetypes:isolating,inflecting,andagglutinating.Anisolatinglanguageisalsocalledananalyticlanguageorrootlanguage,inwhichallthewordsareinvariable.Chinese,VietnameseandSamoanaretypicalcases.Aninflectinglanguageisalsocalledasyntheticlanguageorfusionallanguage,inwhichgrammaticalrelationshipsareexpressedbychangingtheinternalstructureofthewords—typicallybytheuseofinflectionalendingswhichexpressseveralgrammaticalmeaningsatonce.Latin,Greek,andArabicareclearcases.Anagglutinatinglanguageisalsocalledagglutinativelanguage,inwhichawordtypicallyconsistsofaneatlinearsequenceofmorphemes,allclearlyrecognizable.Turkish,Finnish,Japanese,andSwahiliareusualcases.Compoundingisaprocessthatformsnewwordsnotbymeansofaffixesbutfromtwoormoreindependentwords.Compoundsaredifferentfromphrasesinthattheysymbolizeanintegrated整體的concept.Therearedifferentsemanticrelationshipswithinthemorphemescomprisingacompound.Idiomatic慣用的，成語的expressions:metaphoric(e.g.I’mreallytiedup無法分身.)，allusive(e.g.therulingpartymetitsWaterloo毀滅性的打擊inthenewelection.),amajorityareinstitutionalized.Morphologyisthestudyofword-makingandword-marking.Ontheonehand,morphologyexaminesrelationshipsbetweenwordsandthewaysinwhichtheseconnectionsareindicated.Ontheother,morphologylooksathowgrammaticalrelationshipsbetweenwordsaremarked.Differentlanguagesfocusondifferentwordrelationships,andtheymakeuseofdifferentpatternsofmarking.Thestudyoftheinternalstructureofwords,andoftherulesbywhichwordsareformed,iscalledmorphology.Wordsarenotthemostelementalsound-meaningunits.Themostelementalgrammaticalunitsinalanguagearemorphemes.Boundmorphemeslike“a-”,“pre-”,“-ly”,“-ness”,whichhaveonlygrammaticalmeanings,arelimitedinnumber,about100inEnglish.Compoundsaredifferentfromphrasesinthattheysymbolizeanintegratedconcept.Phonologically,theyhaveprimarystressonthefirstwordonly,whileindividualwordsinphraseshaveindependentprimarystress.Modernlinguisticresearchsuggeststhatlanguageisintrinsically內在的，本質的lessliteralthanwehavealwaysassumed.Itisabundantinidiomaticexpressions.Languagesoftheworldcanbeclassifiedmorphologicallyintothreetypes:isolating,inflecting,andagglutinating.Thetreerelationshipisnon-linearbuthierarchical.Familytreesequence次序—top-down;syntactictreesequence—bottom-up.Thebottom-upprocessinsentenceproductioniscalledmerging合并.Aheadofaphraseisthekeywordwhichdeterminesthepropertiesofthephrase.TheI(inflectionalmorpheme)playsanessentialroleinmerginganNPandaVPintoasentence.Besidesalabeledtree-diagram,thishierarchicallyarrangedstructurewithinasentencecanalsoberepresentedintheformoflabeledbracketing.Therearetwogroupsofsyntacticalcategories:lexicalcategoriesandfunctionalcategories.Allthecontentwords,namelynouns,verbs,adjectives,andadverbs,belongtolexicalcategories;ontheotherhand,anywordormorphemewhichhasnodescriptivecontentandwhichservesanessentiallygrammaticalfunctionbelongstoafunctionalcategory.Afunctionalcategoryplaysarolelikeglueincombiningcontentwordsintophrasesandphrasesintoasentence.XPcanbedefinedasthemaximalprojectionheadedbyX,andXitself,i.e.thehead,astheminimalprojection.IisacategorydevisedbyChomskywhosemembersincludenotonlyinflectionalmorphemesbutalsofiniteauxiliaries限定助動詞(whichareinflectedfortense/agreement),andtheinfinitivalparticleto.Whenaconstituentismadethetopicofasentence,itmaybemovedintoamoreprominentpositionatthefrontofthesentence.Thisprocessiscalledtopicalization話題化—Adevicewhichmarkssthasatopicbysimplymovingthetopictothefrontofthesentence,asinThisbookIcan’trecommend.Syntaxisthesubfieldoflinguisticsthatstudiestheinternalstructureofsentencesandtherelationshipamongtheircomponentparts.IntheVPdrawatree,drawistheheadofthephrasewhileatreeisthecomplement.Aphraseistheprojectionofthehead.XPcanbedefinedastheprojectionheadedbyX,X’,astheintermediateprojection,andXitself,i.e.thehead,astheminimalprojection.AccordingtoX-bartheory,headXcaneitherbealexicalcategory,suchasnounsandverbs,orafunctionalcategory.Intheskeleton骨架，框架ofXP,SPECstandsforspecifierandCOMPstandsforcomplement.SPECandX’aresisters.SoareXandCOMP.IPreferstoinflectionalphrase.I,afunctionalcategory,includesnotonlyinflectionalmorphemesbutalsofiniteauxiliaries,andtheinfinitivalparticleto.CPreferstocomplementizerphraseandcanbefoundinanalysisofcomplexsentenceaswellaswh-questionsandtopicalization.Whenweputasentenceinoutmindbyreadingorlistening,ourmindwillimmediatelytreatitasasetofmeaningunits,calledpropositions.Anintransitiveverb—1NP—thesubject(externalargument);asimpletransitiveverb—2NPs—subject(externalargument)andobject(internalargument);aditransitiveverb雙賓語動詞---3NPs—subject(EA),directobjectandindirectobject(IA);anunusualverbinEnglish,rain,requiresnoNPs.NPsrequiredbyaverbarecalleditsarguments論元.Averbveryoftenpermitssomefurtherphrases,whichareoptional.Theseoptionalphrasesareadjuncts附加成分，修飾成分,whichareexpressedmostoftenasprepositionalphrasesoradverbialphrasesinEnglish.Thetatheory(orθ-theory)題元角色isconcernedwithassigning指定thematicroles（θ-role）論旨角色totheargumentsofverbs.Theta-roles:Agent:instigator發起者ofsomeaction.E.g.Johnthrewtheball.Theme:entity實體，實質undergoingtheeffectofsomeaction.Oftenathemeisaccusative賓格(andcanbecalledapatientaswell),e.g.Johnhitthecat;however,itisnominative主格withafewverbslikefall,die,etc.e.g.Thecat(accusative)died.Experiencer:entityexperiencingsomepsychologicalstate.E.g.Johnwashappy.Benefactive:entitybenefitingfromsomeaction.E.g.MaryboughtsomechocolateforJohn.Recipient:entityreceivingsomeentity.E.g.JohngotMaryapresent(patient).Instrument:meansbywhichsthcomesabout.E.g.Joannadugthegardenwithaspade.Locative:placeinwhichsthissituated.E.g.Johnputthewashinginthebin.Goal:entitytowardswhichsthmoves.E.g.MarypassedtheplatetoJohn.Source:entityfromwhichsthmoves.E.g.JohnreturnedfromLondon.ThetatheoryenablesustorevealsomesemanticdifferencesthatarenotreflectedinthesyntacticstructuredemonstratedbyX-bartreediagrams.Asforverbs,thelexiconcontainsinformationabouttheirtransitivity,theirargumentstructure,andthethetarolesthatcanbeassignedtotheirarguments.和動詞最密切的是theme，及物動詞的theme是object，不及物動詞的theme是subject?Theoutputofthegrammaticalsystemconsistsoftwolevelsofdescription:thephoneticdescriptionforthegeneratedsentencetobespokenout;thesemanticdescriptionwhichlogicallyrepresentsthemeaningthespeakerwouldliketoconveythroughutteringthesentence.Logicianshavelongbeenconcernedwithformulatingrepresentationsforthesemanticstructureofsentences,ormorecorrectlypropositions.NPsrequiredbyaverbarecalleditsarguments.ApropositioncomprisesapredicateVandasetofarguments.Inadditiontoitsarguments,averbveryoftenpermitssomeoptionalphraseswhicharecalledadjuncts.Theinternalargumentofaverbhastoberealizedinsidethemaximalprojectionofthatverb.Theexternalargumentofaverbisnotcontainedinthemaximalprojectionofthatverb.Forexample,inJohn[(VP)buysbooks],Johnistheexternalargumentandbooksistheinternalargumentoftheverbbuy.Eachverbmayhavenoneoroneinternalargument(s).Eachverbmayhavenone,oneormoreinternalargument(s).Eachargumentisassignedoneandonlyonetheta/thematicrole.Eachtheta/thematicroleisassignedtooneandonlyoneargument.Languageissymbolic,butnotallsymbolsbelongtolanguage.Inadditiontosymbols,thereareiconsandindexeswhichalsoconveymeaning.Picassoisaniconofmodernism;smokeisanindexoffire.Suchrelationshipsarebeyondthereachofsemantics.Theyaretheresearchobjectsofamoregeneralfieldcalledsemiotics,whichinvestigatesthetypesofrelationshipsthatmayexistbetweenasignandtheobjectitrepresents.Semanticscanberegardedasapartofthisextensiveeffort,withitsparticularemphasisonlinguisticmeaning.Therefore,JohnI.Saeed,acontemporaryauthorityinthisfield,proposesamoreproperdefinition:semanticsisthestudyofmeaningcommunicatedthroughlanguage.Languageisthevehicle,andmeaningisthecargo.Everyargumenthasathetaroleassignedfromthepredicateaccordingtothetheory.Semanticfeaturesaredefinedasaclassoftheoreticalconstructsdevelopedinanalogytothedistinctivefeaturesofphonology—theyareconsideredtobethesmallestsemanticunitsforthedescriptionoflinguisticexpressionsandtheirsemanticrelations.Shewastheonlymaninhercabinet.Man---hard,ironhandy.Thewordmanisusedasametaphor.Whenawordisusedasametaphor,itwillnotkeepallthefeaturesofitsconceptualmeaning,butwillhighlightacertainassociativepropertyofitsconnotativemeaning,accordingtoLeech.Saussureanarbitrariness,whichclaimsthattherelationshipbetweenalinguisticsign(signifier)anditscontent(signified)isarbitrary.AccordingtoOgdenandRichards,the“symbol”referstothelinguisticelements(word,sentence,etc.),the”referent”referstotheobjectintheworldofexperience,andthe“thought”“reference”referstoconceptornotion.Ogden&Richards’SemanticTriangleMostsignshaveatleastonenormal,“commonsense”meaning,calledthesign’denotaion,issharedamongmanypeopleandisthemostwidelyusedmeaningofthesign.Butsignsmayalsohavemanydifferent”subjective”meaningsthatarisefromeachindividual’personalexperiences.Thesearecalledtheconnotationsofthesign.Meaningfallsintoatleasttwocategories--denotativeandconnotative.Aconceptinanindividual’smindismostlytheconnotativemeaning,formedthroughone’sperceptionofsomefeaturesoftheobjectasignrefersto.Thedenotativemeaningisnotnecessarilygeneratedinsuchaprocess,buthaslongbeenanagreementamongallthepeopleinacommunity.Pierce’s“SemioticTriangle”CharlesS.Pierceisgenerallyacknowledgedasanimportantpioneerinthestudyofsigns.Perception--theongoinggroupofbodilyprocessesbywhichhumanbeingsreceivedataabouttheirenvironmentsExperience--thememoryofpreviousperceptionsandconcepts,whichisconstantlybeingalteredor“updated”bynewexperienceConvention--theconstantlychangingsocial“rulesofmeaning”thatunifygroupsofpeoplewithintheircommunicationenvironments.Somesemanticpropertiesofthewordsweusetothinkandtalkabouttheworldareautomaticallycapturedbytheresourcesofourhumanminds.Allthesedimensionsofinternalizedsemanticknowledge,namelya)synonymy同義,b)contradiction反義,c)entailment蘊含,d)presupposition前提,e)ambiguity,f)inclusive-exclusivedistinction,g)metaphoricalinterpretation,h)infelicity不恰當,canbeattributedtopropertiesofI-meaningproposedbyChomsky(2000).Thesemanticpropertiesofwordsareusedtothinkandtalkabouttheworldintermsoftheperspectivesmadeavailablebytheresourcesofthemind.I-meaningisthehumangeneticfacultyincalculatingthelogicinmeaning(e.g.presupposition,entailment...).Therealmeaningincommunicationiscontextualmeaning.Withoutcontext,asentenceconveysonlyliteralinformation.Wordsorexpressionsthathaveidenticalmeaningsarecalledsynonyms.Wordsorphrasesthathaveoppositemeaningsarecalledantonyms.Whenawordhastwoormoremeaningsthatareatleastvaguelyrelatedtoeachother,itiscalledapolysemy多義詞.Forexample,“leaf”canreferto“apartofatree”andalso“asheetofpaper”.Whenwordshaveasinglephoneticformbuttwoormoreentirelydifferentmeanings,theyarecalledhomophones同音字，同音異形異義詞.Forexample，“bank”canmean“acommerciallendinginstitution”and”asmallcliffattheedgeofarive”.Whenwordshavetwokindsofmeanings:denota