15 researchers to conduct the same study to see how componential analysis can be
applied to process the idioms about animals, food, or such. Having read those studies, the researcher got some insights which lead the
researcher to conduct another investigation on English idioms. Since the researcher is a member of ELESP students, the investigation discusses some
strategies which can be utilized to process the meanings of English idioms. The investigation will be conducted under semantic study by using linguistics
approach. Moreover, the researcher will use a survey and design some questionnaires and interview as the main ways to collect the data. And since this
study will be dedicated to ELESP students, the role of the students will be very useful. Hence, the researcher will choose some students from semester four as the
sample and as the representative of the population.
2. Theories of Meaning
Akmajian, Demers, and Hanish 1988, p. 237 say that language is a system to carry messages. The messages can be conveyed when the words used in
the communication have certain meanings. However, a sentence can be interpreted to more than one meanings. There are some factors which can
influence the phenomena such as culture, situation, context, social class, and so on. Therefore, Leech 1981, p. 9 divides meaning into seven types which aim to
show how those types are suitable for the linguistic communication and also how they can be approprite for the methods of study conducted to investigate issues in
linguistics as follows:
16 a.
Conceptual Meaning Conceptual meaning sometimes is also called denotative meaning or
cognitive meaning. It will reveal meaning in a logical way. There are two main principles in interpreting the meanings of certain words, phrases or even sentences
by using conceptual meaning as the approach; they are the principle of contrastiveness and the principle of structure.
According to contrastiveness principle, meaning can be acquired by using componential analysis: people give label to a word, whether it is positive or
negative based on certain features. The following are the examples of using principle of contrastiveness:
i. woman
: [+human] [-male] [+adult] ii.
boy : [+human] [+male] [-adult]
By looking at the differences of the features, people can distinguish the meaning
of the word woman and boy. Hence, woman is an adult female human; while boy
is a young male human. Basically, the meaning is only seen from the features of which a certain word possesses.
The other principle is based on the structure. According to the theory, larger linguistic units are built up out of smaller units. People can determine the
meaning of a sentence, for example, by analyzing the words which construct the sentence. By using syntax tree, each word smaller unit, is given a label whether
is a determiner, verb, noun, adjective, preposition, or other features. After that, some lines will be made to indicate that the smaller units will be constructed to
build other bigger units, for example, a determiner usually goes together with a
17 noun. It is done until the sentence is made up. This process can be illustrated with
the syntax tree depicted in the following figure.
The professor
conducted the
investigation
Figure 2.1 Syntax Tree
Det : Determiner
N : Noun
V : Verb
NP
: Noun Phrase VP
: Verb Phrase S
: Sentence b.
Connotative Meaning Different from conceptual meaning, connotative meaning will reveal the
meaning of an expression through its virtue of what it refers to. Principally, connotative meaning does not stand alone; it is influenced by other aspects such as
culture, history and individual experiences and such. The example is idiomatic expressions. Idioms have connotative meanings which sometimes the meanings or
the idioms are affected by a certain culture or history. The expression an eye for eye
, for instance, is the result of history. This expression is an adaptation of the Holy
Bible: ‘Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot’
NP S
VP NP
Det N
V N
Det
18 Deuteronomy, 19, 21 and the connotative meaning of the idiomatic expression is
retaliation of an equal ferocity Collins, 1966, p. 70. Another example is as easy as pie
which means extremely easy. This idiomatic expression is influenced by culture, especially American culture because pie is one of food from America.
c. Social Meaning
The next type is social meaning in which the language is affected by social circumstances. Social meaning is closely related to where the utterance is taking
place because the environment will give some impacts on the meanings. The real example is the use of word which is influenced by social class. People recognize
the word home as a place where somebody lives. However, there are also other words which have the same meaning such as domicile, residence, and abode.
How do they differ? Perhaps, many people assume that those words are synonymous, but by using social meaning as the approach, it can be said that there
are no truly synonymous words. Although their meanings are almost similar, in a certain level, they are different.
iii. domicile
- very formal, official
iv. residence
- formal
v. abode
- poetic
vi. home
- general
If true synonym exists, then people may substitute the word home for the word residence, for instance. However, the meaning will different or even the
sentence will be not acceptable. If people use the word abode in their daily
conversations, it will be awkward because it is usually used in poems or
19 something related to poetry. Hence, in daily life people usually use the word
home .
d. Affective Meaning
Like other types of meaning which are influenced by other factors, affective meaning can convey language which is reflected through feelings and
attitudes. They play an important role in determining the meanings of expressions, besides intonation and voice-timbre. The following are the examples of using
different attitudes to convey one meaning - asking people to be quiet: vii.
I’m terribly sorry to interrupt, but I wonder if you would be so kind as to lower your voices a little.
viii. Will you belt up
ix. Can you shut your mouth up?
By using different attitudes, people are able to identify whether the speakers are showing politeness, impoliteness, displeasure, or friendliness to the interlocutors.
e. Reflected Meaning
Reflected meaning deals with how people may use different words in dissimilar expressions to refer to the one meaning and one sense. This type of
meaning is often found in poems. To refer to, someone you love, for example,
poets will use different words to carry the same sense, such as a beautiful rose, the sun of one’s life, and the light in the darkness. Another example is to refer
to the Third Person of the Trinity, people use the expressions such as The Comforter
and The Holy Spirit. Although they use various words and
20 expressions to convey the same meaning, the sense that the interlocutors get is the
same.
f. Collocative Meaning
Collocative meaning consists of the relation of a word which acquires the meanings of words in a certain environment. The meaning can be produced when
a certain word has relation with another word, for instance: girl
boy boy
man woman
car x.
pretty flower
xi. handsome vessel
garden overcoat
color airliner
village typewriter
etc. etc.
g. Thematic Meaning
The last category is thematic meaning which delivers messages in terms of ordering, focusing, and emphasizing. This meaning is related to grammar
construction which enables the speakers to choose which part of the sentence will be the focus. Here is the examples:
xi. CEO of Putra Bangsa Inc. donated one million dollars to the
refugees.
21 xii.
One million dollars was donated by CEO of Putra Bangsa to the refugees.
Although actually those two sentences have the same meaning, somehow, different form of sentences, active and passive, will give different attention. The
first example focuses on the doer, who donated one million dollars? While the second example focuses on the thing, what was donated by the CEO? Figure 2.2
displays how the seven types of meaning are arranged:
Figure 2.2 Seven Types of Meaning
SEVEN TYPES OF MEANING
CONNOTATIVE MEANING 2
SOCIAL MEANING 3
AFFECTIVE MEANING 4
REFLECTED MEANING 5
COLLOCATIVE MEANING 6
THEMATIC MEANING 7
CONCEPTUAL MEANING 1
ASSOCIATIVE MEANING
22
3. Theories on Idioms
