equivalent. The verb mean in sentence above can be substituted with sign without changing the total meaning of the sentence.
3 He means well, but rather clumsy
4 My father rarely means what he says
The notion of intention seems to be relevant also to our understanding of both sentences above, though each use of verb mean here appears to be somewhat
different from the others and the substitution of intend for mean might be held to effect some change in the meaning of the sentences. If the sentence 3 implies
that he is well-intentioned, that he intends no harm but just a little bit nervous, the sentence 4 implies that the father has no intends to say something clearly.
From examples above we can see the variation meaning of meaning. C.K.Ogden and I.A.Richards in their book “The Meanings of Meaning” which is
quoted by Crystal 1987:100 introduces some meanings of meaning. They are constructed in some sentences :
5 Maya means to go now. Means: intends
6 A red light means stop. Means: indicates
7 You mean everything to me. Means: has important
8 His face is look of meaning. Meaning: special import
9 What is the meaning of being your wife ? Meaning: point, purpose
2.2.2 The Varieties of Meaning
Language is used for various activities and purposes in social life. The function of language is not solely to provide information to hearers and readers.
To studying a language without the reference of meaning is like studying a road
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sign from the point of view of the physical properties how much the weight, what is the color, how big the sign is, and so on, not studying the implicit meaning of
the sign. Geoffrey Leech 1981 notes seven varieties of meaning. They are as
follow: •
Conceptual meaning is logical, cognitive, or denotative content. For example the word MAN has the following denotative, cognitive, or
logical content as HUMAN, MALE, ADULT •
Connotative meaning is what is communicated by virtue of what language refers to. For example, the word BOY has the connotation
‘STRONG’ and LION the connotation ‘CRUEL’. •
Social meaning, is what is communicated of the social circumstances of language use. For example, HOME, RESIDENCE,
ABODE, and DOMICILE can have the same conceptual meaning, but they convey the different social circumstances of their use.
• Affective meaning is what is communicated of the feelings and
attitudes of the speaker or writer. For example, if you are getting someone to go from your room, you might say “I’m terrible sorry to
interrupt, but I wonder if you would be so kind as to leave me alone in this room”.
• Reflected meaning is what is communicated through association
with another sense of the same expression. For example, it has become increasingly difficult to use terms like gozaimas, gambatte kudasai,
konichiwa, and sushi without conjuring up their Japanese associations.
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• Collocative meaning is what is communicated through association with words which tend to occur in the environment of another
word. For example, BEAUTIFUL collocates WOMAN while HANDSOME collocates MAN.
• Thematic meaning is what is communicated by the way in which the message is organized in terms of order, focus, and emphasis.
For example, 10
The MNC Group donated insurance to Oktavianus Maniani as the best player of the year.
11 Oktavianus Maniani was donated insurance by The MNC
Group as the best player of the year. It is often felt that an active sentence such as 10 has a different meaning
from its passive equivalent 11, although in conceptual content they seem to be the same.
In this thesis, the writer used theory of meaning in general based on Siregar 1922 said. There are two kinds of meaning in semantics; they are
Linguistic meaning and Speaker meaning. Linguistic meaning is meaning of expression in some form of the language. The linguistics meaning is determined
by the meaning of its constituents and their grammatical relations. For example :
- Be careful of a sharp bend in the road
- Please don’t bend this paper
- He try to bend every effort to be a champion
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In those examples, the bend has more than one linguistics meaning based on the dictionary.
Speaker meaning is what a speaker means in producing an utterance. It consists of literal meaning and non-literal meaning. When we speak clearly
without any interpretation from the hearer, it is called literal meaning. By using literal meaning, it is not difficult to understand what the speaker means by saying
the words. To make it clear, they constructed as follows: -
We are English Literature Student -
Would you help me, please ? -
I am finishing my thesis now -
How are you ? All the sentences above are clear to understand. We do not need to think a
lot to understand what the speaker meaning. Those sentences are very common to us. Sometimes we mean something different from what our words mean. In other
words, we sometimes speak non-literally. If we are speaking non-literally it is called non-literal meaning. There are several ways of speaking non-literally. First
is using idiom. Idiom is a group of words with set meaning that cannot be calculated by adding up the separate meaning of the parts. The meaning of an
idiomatic expression cannot be predicted either lexically or grammatically. Another way of speaking non-literally is by using the figure of speech. They are
described by a large set rhetorical terms, such as facetious , exaggerated, and figurative ways.
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2.2.3 Sense and Reference
