I．Brainstorming

How to describe the lexical meaning?

II. Componential analysis

1. Definition

Componential analysis is the approach that analyzes word meaning by decomposing it into its atomic features. It shows the semantic features of a word.

Examples: 

Man: +HUMAN +MALE +ADULT 

Boy: +HUMAN +MALE –ADULT 

Father: +HUMAN +MALE +ADULT →PARENT 

Daughter: +HUMAN –MALE 0ADULT ←PARENT

2. Advantages and limitation

(1) Firstly, it is a breakthrough in the formal representation of meaning. Once formally represented, meaning components can be seen

(2) Secondly, it reveals the impreciseness of the terminology in the traditional approach to meaning analysis. Componential analysis examines the components of sense. The more features a words has, the narrower its reference is.

(3) It cannot be applied to the analysis of all lexicons, merely to words within the same semantics field.

III. Conclusion

So far CA is a most influential approach in the structural analysis of lexical meaning.