Iv - University of Salford Institutional Repository

meaning is determined by the relationship between the word and its
referent. Sentence meaning is defined in terms of the contribution
of each word to the overall meaning of the sentence. Meaning at
the level of communication is identified in terms of the semantic
behaviour of words and sentence in the act of communication. R M
Kempson (1977, pll) puts it more explicitly when she refers to the
three ways of approaching meaning by "a) defining the nature of
word meaning; b) defining the nature of sentence meaning; and c)
explaining the process of communication". This three-dimensional
approach to semantics coincides with our definition of translation
as a pragma-semio-communicative activity. The basic aspect of
meaning is that which is related to the seme, the minimal unit of
the sign since language is basically a system of signs. The
significance of the sign is not self-generated; it generates
through referentiality, ie. the relationship between the sign and
its referent.
The meaning of a text is, on the whole, a wholistic entity
extractable from the meanings of words or word combinations. We
have divided it into three categories or layers for purposes of
analysis and identification. Basically, the three layers of
meaning are inextricably interwoven into the fabric of the text.
B. EXTENDED MEANING
Extended meaning, as the term suggests, implies that though
intricately intersewn into the fabric of the text, it is easily
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