15 certain word. People can also infer the antonym of the unpossessed attribute as
seen on the example. Another principle used in the approach to conceptual meaning is the
structure principle. It is the belief that larger linguistics units such as sentences and phrases are formed from the smaller units such as words, or vice versa. This
principle can be easily understood by seeing the tree diagram in Figure 2.1.
Figure 2.1 Tree diagram
From Figure 2.1, people can see the smaller unit of the sentence which build a sentence and also vice versa. Besides the tree diagram, bracketing can also be
used to analyze the linguistics units: iii.
{Theboy}{[is][astudent]}. The bracket shows the connection of words, and also the order of the connection.
The different types of brackets {[]} shows the order of the connection. However, some might find difficulties in reading bracket and prefer reading tree diagram
Napoli, 1997, p. 307
b. Connotative Meaning
Different with conceptual meaning, connotative meaning focuses more on the value of an expression has by virtue of what it refers to p. 12. In order to
16 understand the meaning, people need to understand the history, culture, and
individuals experiences. The example of connotative meaning is idioms. Idioms carry connotative meaning, since it has meanings that can be seen as in conceptual
meaning. The idiom break a leg means to wish someone a good luck. To understand the idiom, people need to understand the background of the idiom.
Long time ago, it is believed that the Sprites would do something bad to people. Therefore, whenever a person was facing unfortunate events, people would blame
the Sprites. The Sprites were known for their mischievousness. If a person pray a good thing they would do the opposite. Therefore, the idiom break a leg was
believed to deceive the Sprites to do the opposite.
c. Social Meaning
Social meaning related to the situation in which an utterance takes place. It considers the social circumstances in use. From some words and pronunciation,
people can see the social origin of the speaker. People often recognize the relation between the speaker and the hearer through conversation; the status and social
relation between the speaker and the hearer can be seen through the style of language.
d. Affective Meaning
As it is named, affective meaning has something to do with feeling and attitudes. To interpret an affective meaning of a sentence, people should consider
the personal feelings of the speaker, speaker’s attitudes towards the hearer, and his attitudes and feeling about the topic he is talking about. The example of polite
17 requests that is provided by Leech 1981, p. 15 might help to understand the
explanation better: iv.
I’m terribly sorry to interrupt, but I wonder if you would be so kind as to lower your voices a little’
v. Will you belt up?
By using different scale of politeness, people can see the speaker’s feeling toward the hearer or the situation shehe is facing. In this case, the tone of the speaker will
also affect the meaning.
e. Reflected Meaning
