Words and Meanings

A Study on Semantic Relations within Words

Lee, MinWoo

This study asserts that meaning is not fixed or possessing overall integration conceptually according to contextual perspective, but rather dynamic and ever-changing. Also, it asserts that basic meaning and expanded meaning, meaning and significance, and variable meanings which occur in various layers below are all actually equal meanings and that those meanings are interpreted by various relationships within words. It also attributed meaning in itself to semantic relationships established around lexical relationships and observed with what methods these were understood. Vocabulary is acquired through the integration of specific meanings and various meanings related to characteristics of vocabulary in itself and in that, various meanings form and change. This signifies that meanings form various meanings as they combine with other meanings in larger frames that extend into phrases, paragraphs, sentences, and discourses. Therefore, vocabulary in itself can become the assembly of meanings that can be interpreted diversely. As the meanings of words can be defined as a collective concept that is regulated by specific ranges within networks formed by related meanings, polysemy places meaning into the network of relationships formed by the concepts of one word. Word concepts exist as the assembly of meanings that can be interpreted in various ways. Within this, meaning is tangled like a complicated net. Therefore, studies on polysemy are an observation of relationships between meanings and they become operations that reveal the structure of meaning. Moving the meaning of vocabulary into a conceptual dimension is the same as moving the entire world into one word. This states that lexical meaning cannot be limited and therefore, we must focus on investigating relationships between concepts that are connected with vocabulary in order for us to know lexical meaning.

Key Words: Semantic Relations within Word, Words Meaning, Contextual Perspective, Polysemy

This systematic review provides a comprehensive analysis of the empirical literature on the effectiveness of vocabulary instructional methods for English language learners (ELLs) in prekindergarten through 6th grade settings. Thus, a central goal of this study is to appraise the available research on vocabulary learning and assess intervention studies’ levels of evidence for effectiveness in order to make a critical assessment of the variables that are currently represented in the field. Specifically, the research questions guiding this systematic review are: (1) How do intervention studies developing L2 word-meaning acquisition with ELLs in pre-kindergarten through 6th grade settings vary in their methodological characteristics (i.e., research design, learners, instructional design and outcome)? (a) What are the studies’ levels of evidence for effectiveness based on their design and outcome characteristics? and (2) What is the impact of studies that meet requisite evidence standards on learners’ L2 word-meaning acquisition?
A total of 18 studies meeting the inclusion criteria were identified. Independent coding of 20% of the articles (n=4) was completed, the results were cross-checked against the original codes, and further discrepancies in coding were resolved through discussion between the two coders. The final criteria were subsequently reapplied by the author to all studies in the review. Coding categories for each study were organized by four main characteristics: (1) design characteristics (i.e., random assignment, baseline equivalence, comparison group type); (2) learner characteristics (i.e., L1/L2 proficiency, SES, age and grade level); (3) treatment characteristics (i.e., focus of instruction, level of L1 support, word tier targeted, total instructional time, training, explicitness of instruction, contextual/definitional support, group size, and level of word exposure) and (4) outcome characteristics (i.e., outcome objective, type of measure, type of ability measured, modality, word tier assessed, and type of knowledge). Based on the studies’ design and outcome characteristics, their level of evidence for effectiveness was also examined. Subsequent analyses revealed that a large proportion of studies underreported information and did not meet evidence standards for effectiveness. Additionally, studies with available effect sizes for measures of breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge revealed inconclusive evidence about the best instructional practices for ELLs due to the large variations among a limited number of studies in their instructional approach, learners, and outcome characteristics.
An analysis of the merits and limitations of the reviewed studies reveals a number of methodological problems that threaten the validity and credibility of vocabulary research. These findings highlight the need for increased research in this field of study, particularly in revisiting existing practices to add to current understandings relating to vocabulary practices with ELLs. Additionally, this study points to specific issues in current research and provides recommendations for researchers seeking to address the significant knowledge gap in research that is centered on ELL vocabulary learning.

This paper suggests that reference to phenomenal qualities is best understood as involving iconicity, that is, a passage from sign-vehicle to object that exploits a similarity between the two. This contrasts with a version of the ‘phenomenal concept strategy’ that takes indexicality to be central. However, since it is doubtful that phenomenal qualities are capable of causally interacting with anything, indexical reference seems inappropriate. While a theorist like David Papineau is independently coming to something akin to iconicity, I think some of the awkwardness that plagues his account would be remedied by transitioning to a more inclusive philosophy of signs.

In family interactions, children's proper language use often becomes the focus of conversation. Drawing on a primary corpus of nearly 31 h of video recordings of family interactions from 20 families with at least one child between 3 and 6 years of age, this article uses the methodology of conversation analysis to examine how parents and children orient to issues of word meanings. Findings indicate that family members display a KÀ epistemic stance towards word meanings through repair and candidate understandings, and accomplish other actions by displaying a Kþ epistemic stance towards word meanings. This study shows how these orientations to word meanings are not always didactic in nature, but simply part of everyday family life.

from Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, vol 53, pg 262, 2005
reprinted in AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CLINICAL HYPNOSIS 48 (2-3), 89, 2006
by Joseph P. Green, Ph.D.,
Arreed F. Barabasz, Ph.D.,
Deirdre Barrett, Ph.D., &
Guy Montgomery, Ph.D.
DEFINITION ONLY—THIS IS NOT THE WHOLE ARTICLE in download

Analogical cognition, extensively researched by Dedre Gentner and her colleagues over the past thirty five years, has been described as the core of human cognition, and it characterizes our use of many words. This research provides significant insight into the nature of word meaning, but it has been ignored by linguists and philosophers of language. I discuss some of the implications of the research for our account of word meaning. In particular, I argue that the research points to, and helps account for, a key explanatory role that linguistic meaning must play. The research also shows how words contribute to thought as opposed to merely being a means of conveying thought.

Plato’s reflections on Forms have generally been overlooked, in contemporary Philosophy of Language, as a serious resource for illuminating the notion of word meaning. In part, this is due to the influence of Wittgenstein’s critical reflections on looking for ‘something in common’ as explanatory for use of a general term. I argue that, far from being undermined, appeal to Forms can both help explain, and provide corrective critical insight into, Wittgenstein’s observations. Plato’s reflections provide insight into word meaning that is relevant for contemporary research. Relevant considerations include: (1) explanation as to why an item is F; (2) looking to ‘what something is’; (3) the compresence of opposites; (4) whether participation in a Form involves approximation to the Form.