C3

DIMENSIONS of MEANING

3. Meaning is a complex entity and there are many factors involved in defining it.
There is a plurality of dimensions characteristic of the content side of linguistic signs.
The first one is the semantic dimension proper, covering the information about how
the denotatum is referred to, from what perspective it is considered. The evening star
and the morning star have similar significations but different senses, the signification
representing the expression, while the sense representsthe content..The distinction
between signification and sense provides a solution to the problem of synonymy. Two
linguistic expressions having identical sognifications may not be synonymous.
My brother is an excellent mathematician.
John is an excellent mathematician.
cannot be regarded as synonymous if the condition of co-referentiality is not met(my
brother and John are not one and the same person).Synonymy requires similarity of both
signification and sense.
The second dimension is the logical dimension.It includes a judgement of the
information about the denotatum.Along the logical dimension the object is analysed.
The third dimension is the pragmatic one which defines the purpose of the
expression, why the expression is uttered by the speaker.The emphasis is laid on the
relation between language users and language signs.
The fourth dimension is the structural dimension which covers the structure of
linguistic expressions, the complex network of relationships among the component
elements of these expressions.
According to the above mentioned distinctions and the complexity of the factors
involved, there are the following types of meanings:
1. denotative meaning or signification(extensional meaning);
2. significative meaning or sense(notional or intentional meaning)
3. pragmatic meaning or the relationship between sign-user(including
connotative meaning as well);
4. structural meaning, accounting for the relationships among the signs
themselves;

On the other hand, if the meaning is analysed along the syntagmatic axis and the
paradigmatic one, we can make the difference between the distributional meaning and the
differential meaning or la valeur in Saussurean terms.
There are also some other distinctions made between the basic meaning and the
general or main meaning in comparison with the occasional or the contextual meaning
This is done by reference to context.A meaning is said to be basic if little where no
context is required for its identification. There is no meaning outside context..Certain
linguists do not speak of meaning as a property of word, but as a potentiality wich has to
be actualized in a given context.
There are three layers in the structural organization ot the content:

a semantic nucleus or semantic constant the meaning very hard to define;

a second level of abstraction;
various uses of a lexical element;

That is why distinctions can be made between the main and derivative meaning,
literal amnd metaphoric meaning, etymological and real meanings.Some conclusions
can be drawn:

meaning is essentially a relation, a conventional, stable and explicit one

between the sign and the concept;
an important aspect of the meaning is derived from the use the speakers make
of the linguistic signs;
the position of the linguistic forms is important;
m eaning is divisible into simpler constitutive elements ;