The Study of Semantic Transparency and Opacity in Complex Words Derived from Nonverbal Element and Present Stem
Subject Areas : Persian Language and LiteratureEbrahim Badakhshan 1 , Fateme Judaki 2
1 - Assistant professor in English Language & Literature
Kurdestan University
2 - M.A. in Persian Language & Literature
Keywords:
Abstract :
Compound words include two or more lexical morphemes which at least contain two bases both of which are words or considered as stem of morphemes. Transparent words are words which their meaning form can be guessed from their sounds or constructions. There are some relations between the sounds or the constructions of these words and their meanings. This can be illustrated by examples in Persian as "chek chek" and "khod nevis". Opaque words on the other hand are words whose meanings cannot be guessed, e.g. "Kaghaz". Various definitions of semantic transparency and opacity were explained in this research. In the section of data analysis, five hundred compound words derived from “Dehkhoda” dictionary and were studied and analyzed with respect to semantic transparency and opacity. Six criteria were determined in this study as follows: 1- The frequency of head and modifier 2- The syntactic relation between two parts of the compounds 3- The criteria of indicators 4- Referring meaning, 5- Being independent or non--independent of the head 6- The whole meaning of the compound. Also, three categories were studied in the beginning of data analysis: 1- adverb + verb stem 2- noun + verb stem, 3- adjective + verb stem. It was shown being full indicator, the existence of opposition and the existence of syntactic relation between two parts and being referential will be effective in semantic transparency and opacity. Then the degrees of semantic transparency and opacity were studied and it was shown that there are fourteen degrees in semantic transparency and opacity with respect to determined criteria.
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