The meaning-making and semiotic value of Chinese words
A contextual perspective
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22022966 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jiapan Li (Beijing Language and Culture University), Kai Meng (0000-0002-3939-273X, Beijing Language and Culture University , Beijing , China), Meng Kai (Beijing Language and Culture University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 47-68 |
| Publication date | 2022-02-23 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Chinese Semiotic Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2198-9605 • E-ISSN: 2198-9613 |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1515/css-2021-2047 |
| OpenAlex | W4213280750 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 4 |
From the contextual perspective of functional linguistics, this paper emphasizes the role of two types of extra-word context – situational context and structural context – in the meaning-making process of Chinese words. We found that if a word is embedded with situational context, such as the X+lǐng (领) category, the meaning-making process of the word needs to force the word-forming components to be semantically transferred in the situational context. If a word is embedded with event context (i.e. special situational context), such as the X+mén (门) category, the meaning-making of the word needs to fill the semantics of the word-forming components in the context of the event. Words rely on structural context to construct meaning. If a word contains an explicit and marked structural context, such as yǒu (有) +N , then the meaning-making of the word is also explicit, and there is no need to assign structural meaning to any one of its components. If a word contains an explicit structural context, with entry-qualified schema, such as X+N causee , then the meaning-making of the word is also explicit. However, because of the relative vagueness of the grammatical and semantic nature of the components, the structural meaning tends to be transferred to a certain component, and the construction provides sufficient structural context for its new meaning-making. Based on the above analysis, this article constructs the meaning-making procedure of Chinese words and explores the semiotic values of context dependence, hierarchy, variability, and sociality that Chinese words show in the process of meaning-making
Linguistics · Semiotics · Computer Science · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · History · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Philosophy · Psychology · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
| Citations per year | 0.25 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2022 - 2022 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |