tracing the semantic theory starting with the classical theory to the prototype theory along with their principles and loopholes

1. General Review

2.  People rely on the meaning of words to communicate their
thoughts and to express their needs. So, they always try to
reach the maximum level of mutual understanding.
 This maximum level can only be reached if there is a
mutual agreement on the meaning of words in the
surrounding world; otherwise, the attempt to reach this
topmost level of understanding would fail.
 Throughout history, it has been a serious challenge for
many who have always tried to set theories that define
everyday (ordinary) concepts.

3.  It was suggested by Plato and his student and
coworker Aristotle.
 This theory views the meanings of concepts as
static units.
 The classical view of concept formation holds a
set of principles which are built up on an
entailment relationship.

4. 1. Meaning is defined by a set of necessary and
sufficient features which are binary in nature
(i.e. presence [+] or absence [-]).
Necessary features are the essential features
needed to define the meaning of a concept
(Quality features), whereas sufficient features
are the right amount of information needed for
the same purpose (Quantity features).

5.  Saeed (1997: 35) provides a rigid definition for
the concept of "woman." He claims that to
consider any concept a "woman," it must hold a
bundle of features such as, + human, + adult, +
female, and + married.
woman
+human +adult
+female +married

6.  These features draw the distinction between the
two concepts, “woman” and “girl,” where a
“girl” holds the features: + human, + female, -/
+ adult, and – married.
 Many researcher raised the argument about
which of these features are necessary to define
the concept “woman”, and which are sufficient.
In other words, are all the features necessary to
define woman?
Girl
+human -/+adult
- married
+ female

7.  Blocked boundaries of categories assumes that all
the concepts that belong to the same category must
hold the same features that keep them apart from
other concepts and categories.
 This notion presupposes the “sameness of members’
status where no members are more representative of
the category than others.
 The blocked boundaries of categories were
criticized by some researchers such as Mervis and
Rosch (1981) and Lakoff (1987). Consider the
following example of the category “fish.”

8.  When defining the category fish, we should mention
a set features: living in water, good swimmer,
reproducing by laying eggs, and having streamlined
bodies. However, if we come to define the concept
“whale,” we find that all features that define the
category “fish” apply to “whale” except for the
feature “reproducing by laying eggs;” whales
reproduce by birth. Reproduction by birth is a
feature of the category “mammals.”
 Such example diminishes the validity of relying on
the defining features and clear-cut boundaries of
concepts and categories.
fish whale mammal
 Is whale a fish or a mammal?

9.  Another loophole of the Classical Theory is its inability
to handle abstract concepts.
 Abstract concepts have different meanings and
representations in the minds of language users.
 They have no physical or tangible existence in our
environment.
 These differences may result from different cultures and
life experiences, and even in one culture.
 The concept “freedom”, for example, might be
understood differently by people from different
countries because of culture and religion barriers as well
as the political systems in these countries.

10.  Ludwig Wittgenstien (1958) was one of the first
researchers who reacted against the classical view
through his famous example “game.” He carried an
experiment in which he asked a group of participants
to define the concept “game.” The participants
defined the concept game differently.
 Based on these findings, Wittgenstien concluded that
it is not easy to find a common definition or a set of
attributes for everyday concepts. He attributes his
findings to some factors such as life experiences and
attitudes that form up the conceptual system of
people.

11. The major principles of the Family Resemblance
Model
 Members that belong to one category are just like
members of one family; some are identical, some are
similar and others are dissimilar.
 Meanings of concepts and boundaries between
categories are fuzzy in nature rather than being clear-
cut.
 Family Resemblance Model is considered a bridge
between the classical and modern perspective of
defining concepts as it paved the way for other
researchers to revisit and revise the Classical Theory.

12.  These groundbreaking results led the well-known
philosopher Eleanor Rosch in the mid-1970s to
respect the notion of family resemblance and
fuzziness of meaning and category and to deeply
think and mightily work on a comprehensive
theory that is able to handle the question of
meaning and categorization effectively. The result
of her great efforts was the Prototype Theory.

13.  The Prototype Theory is seen as a radical departure from
the traditional view of the classical theory: its principles
radically opposite those of the Classical Theory.
 Unlike the Classical Theory, the Prototype Theory is
more flexible and more dynamic. It gives a space to
handle all the semantic aspects of both concrete and
abstract concepts, i.e., the direct and indirect meanings.
 It rejects the static view of concepts and categories to
have clear-cut defining features and boundaries.

14.  The network of the conceptual structure of the
concept “horse” in the Classical View, is as follow:
 As for the network of the conceptual structure of the
concept “horse” in the prototype theory, is as follow:
Beach
Rocks
lies along
the edge of
an ocean
sand
Next
to the
sea
Beach
sand rocks
Next
to the
sea
lies along the
edge of an
ocean
volleyball
Shark attack
sunbathe Joy
Swimming
Sinking

15. 1. Family Resemblance and Fuzzy Boundaries
(Overlapping of features and categories)
This principle suggests that, exactly as in a family,
the boundaries between members of one category
are fuzzy. Despite the dissimilarity between some
members belonging to the same family, they are
still governed by the brotherhood relationship. The
brotherhood relationship paves the way for another
important principle, which is "goodness-of-
exemplar."

16. 2. Goodness of Exemplar

Goodness of exemplar entails the "different statuses“
and "graded membership" of items that belong to the
same category or concept. That is, some members are
more representative of the concept than others.
central prototype
median prototype
peripheral
prototype

17.  Goodness of Exemplar suggests that concepts or
member that belong to the same category have
graded representations where some examples are
closer and more representative to the basic
category than others. This would be governed by
the notion that language users think differently
because of their various cultures and life
experiences.
 For example, if we asked some people from
different countries to provide best examples of the
concept “vehicles,” they would provide different
answers that cope with their environments. Some
would say cars and buses others would say trains
or even bicycles.

18. Prepared by
Mohammad Al-Ajaleen
The End