不同角度理解下的语义三角

闫婷

【摘 要】奥格登和理查兹的语义三角是语言学中的一个基本理论也是语言学家一直研究的重点。本文从语义三角的基本结构，索绪尔的任意性，以及语用学和语义学区别的角度来理解语义三角，尝试多个角度理解语义三角，从而对语义三角有更好的理解。

【关键词】语义三角；任意性；语用学；语义学

【Abstract】As one of the principles of general linguistics， the semantic triangle theory put forward by Ogden and Richards， attracts a lot of attention from linguists. This thesis attempts to understand this triangle from three perspectives， that is， the basic structure of the semantic triangle ， Saussures arbitrariness and the comparison between pragmatics and semantic so as to have a deeper understanding of the semantic triangle.

【Key words】 the semantic triangle；arbitrariness；pragmatics； semantics

The theory， “semantic triangle” was put forward by Ogden and Richards in The Meaning of Meaning . They holds the view that there is no direct relationship between a linguistic form （ a word and phrase or a sentence） and what is it refer to. Put it in another way ， the relationship between a word and a thing it refers to is not direct， and it is mediated by concept. The relationship can be illustrated by the classic triangle as follow：

We can explain this diagram from different perspectives.Firstly， it shows that the symbol （word） stands for thing（referent）， through the mediation of correspondent concept of mind in language user. It can be also explained from the following three ways. Firstly， the word（symbol） and concept are closely related. A word（symbol） symbolize a concept， and a symbol （word）l is carrier of concept. There is direct relationship between symbol and concept， so it is showed by solid line. For example， the word dog symbolizes the concept or meaning， that is， four-legged， furry， domestic， and the concept of dog is expressed through the written form of dog， and the sound image of /d?g/. Secondly， the concept is realized by referent. For example，the concept of dog is generalized based on the image of different kinds of dogs， and also realized by a particular dog in language user mind. Therefore， the relationship between concept and referent is direct， and showed by solid line. Thirdly， there is no direct association between a word and referent， as it showed by the dotted line between line. In short， the links between words and things can be made only through the use of concept. For instance， the word of “tree”is not related with any particular tree in the real word of experience， but directly related with a concept in our mind， that is ， an idea of what a tree looks like.

Secondly， we can also understand this semantic triangle from the perspective of Saussure ‘s idea about arbitrariness. In order to have a better understanding of his idea， it is necessary for us to notice that Saussure focused on the language system itself without considering other factors outside language system. The design feature of language，arbitrariness， refers to the fact that the link between sound image and concept is arbitrary. For example ， the English word dog is called /d?g/ in the English language system， but the /gou/ in Chinese language system. However， the speaker from different countries can talk about dog freely. What make them to talk about dog freely is not the specific dog in the real word， but the concept in their mind， so from this point of view， the relationship between a symbol and a concept is arbitrary. This is why he pointed out that a linguistic sign is not a link between a thing and a name， but between a concept and a sound pattern， or the hearers psychological impression of a sound. In this semantic triangle， the left part of diagram shows that there is a close relationship between a symbol （ sound image ） and concept. To certain extent， the semantic triangle overlaps Saussures idea about arbitrariness.

Thirdly， this semantic triangle can also make difference between semantic and pragmatic. Since the semantics is the study of the meaning and is not involved in the context. The left side of the diagram shows the relationship between the word and concept in language system itself. To some extent， the meaning equals to the concept in this semantic triangle. For example， the concept or the meaning of dog is four-legged， furry， domestic animal， and it is not a Pekingese or a Husky dog in a particular context. However， pragmatics centers on the meaning in specific context. The bottom line of this diagram shows that the relationship between a word and object is indirect， so we use dotted line to represent. Take the English word “dog” as an example again. When we talk about a dog in particular context， what comes into our mind is not the concept of dog ，but a real dog maybe beside you. It is maybe Pekingese or Husky， which is determined by the real and concrete context at the moment of speaking. Therefore ， we cant use the solid line to show the relationship between the word and object it refers to ， but a dotted line， because the links between them is not direct， but mediated through concept.

In conclusion， semantic triangle is not just restricted to explain the relationship between the word and the thing it refers to， but also provides us lots of opportunities to analyze it. The more we analyze it ， the more new ides we will find ， and the better understanding we will have.

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