Componential analysis (feature analysis or contrast analysis) is the analysis of words through structured sets of
semantic features, which are given as "present", "absent" or "indifferent with reference to feature". The method thus departs from the
principle of compositionality
In semantics, mathematical logic and related disciplines, the principle of compositionality is the principle that the meaning of a complex expression is determined by the meanings of its constituent expressions and the rules used to combine them. ...
. Componential analysis is a method typical of
structural semantics
Structural semantics (also structuralist semantics) is a linguistic school and paradigm that emerged in Europe from the 1930s, inspired by the structuralist linguistic movement started by Ferdinand de Saussure's 1916 work "'' Cours De Linguistiq ...
which analyzes the components of a word's meaning. Thus, it reveals the culturally important features by which speakers of the language distinguish different words in a
semantic field
In linguistics, a semantic field is a lexical set of words grouped semantically (by meaning) that refers to a specific subject.Howard Jackson, Etienne ZĂŠ Amvela, ''Words, Meaning, and Vocabulary'', Continuum, 2000, p14. The term is also used in ...
or domain (Ottenheimer, 2006, p. 20).
Examples
''man'' =
MALE MATUREor ''woman'' =
MALE MATUREor ''boy'' =
MALE MATUREor ''girl'' =
MALE MATUREor ''child'' =
/â MALE MATURE In other words, the word ''girl'' can have three basic factors (or
semantic properties
Semantic properties or meaning properties are those aspects of a linguistic unit, such as a morpheme, word, or sentence, that contribute to the meaning of that unit. Basic semantic properties include being ''meaningful'' or ''meaningless'' â for ...
):
human
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...
,
young
Young may refer to:
* Offspring, the product of reproduction of a new organism produced by one or more parents
* Youth, the time of life when one is young, often meaning the time between childhood and adulthood
Music
* The Young, an American roc ...
, and
female
Female (Venus symbol, symbol: â) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ovum, ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the Sperm, male gamete during sexual reproduction.
A female has larger gamet ...
. Another example, being
edible
An edible item is any item that is safe for humans to eat. "Edible" is differentiated from "eatable" because it does not indicate how an item tastes, only whether it is fit to be eaten. Nonpoisonous items found in nature â such as some mushroo ...
is an important factor by which plants may be distinguished from one another (Ottenheimer, 2006, p. 20). To summarize, one word can have basic underlying meanings that are well established depending on the cultural context. It is crucial to understand these underlying meanings in order to fully understand any language and culture.
Historical background
Structural semantics
Structural semantics (also structuralist semantics) is a linguistic school and paradigm that emerged in Europe from the 1930s, inspired by the structuralist linguistic movement started by Ferdinand de Saussure's 1916 work "'' Cours De Linguistiq ...
and the componential analysis were patterned on the phonological methods of the
Prague School
The Prague school or Prague linguistic circle is a language and literature society. It started in 1926 as a group of linguists, philologists and literary critics in Prague. Its proponents developed methods of structuralist literary analysis an ...
, which described sounds by determining the absence and presence of features. On one hand, componential analysis gave birth to various models in
generative semantics,
lexical field theory
Lexical field theory, or ''word-field theory'', was introduced on March 12, 1931 by the German linguist Jost Trier. He argued that words acquired their meaning through their relationships to other words within the same word-field. An extension of t ...
and
transformational grammar
In linguistics, transformational grammar (TG) or transformational-generative grammar (TGG) is part of the theory of generative grammar, especially of natural languages. It considers grammar to be a system of rules that generate exactly those combin ...
. On the other hand, its shortcoming were also visible:
* The discovery procedures for semantic features are not clearly objectifiable.
* Only part of the vocabulary can be described through more or less structured sets of features.
* Metalinguistic features are expressed through language again.
* Features used may not have clear definitions.
* Limited in focus and mechanical in style.
As a consequence, entirely different ways to describe meaning were developed, such as
prototype semantics
Prototype theory is a theory of categorization in cognitive science, particularly in psychology and cognitive linguistics, in which there is a graded degree of belonging to a conceptual category, and some members are more central than others. I ...
.
See also
*
Ethnoscience Ethnoscience has been defined as an attempt "to reconstitute what serves as science for others, their practices of looking after themselves and their bodies, their botanical knowledge, but also their forms of classification, of making connections, e ...
*
Structural linguistics
Structural linguistics, or structuralism, in linguistics, denotes schools or theories in which language is conceived as a self-contained, self-regulating Semiotics, semiotic system whose elements are defined by their relationship to other element ...
*
Word-sense disambiguation
Word-sense disambiguation (WSD) is the process of identifying which sense of a word is meant in a sentence or other segment of context. In human language processing and cognition, it is usually subconscious/automatic but can often come to consci ...
References
* Bussmann, Hadumod (1996), ''Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics'', London: Routledge, s.v. componential analysis.
* Ottenheimer, H. J. (2006). ''The Anthropology of Language''. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
Semantics
{{semantics-stub