The end-points of each Little Bree sex gallery scale were represented by a pair of opposed adjectives. In effect the subject was being asked to classify his response to the word as relatively happier or sadder, slower or faster, more flexible or more rigid and so on. In all there were fifty of these pairs of adjectives. The fifty responses of one subject would produce a profile representing the meaning of that word for him and the responses from a number of subjects would produce a semantic profile for the culture as a whole. The connotational element in this profile would be a large one. The comparison of responses by native speakers of different languages to denotationally 'equivalent' words revealed that they did have different profiles. This research provides Little Bree confirmation of a strong intuitive belief about differences of meaning between languages and at the same time makes available a tool for research into the acquisition of vocabulary. The learner of a foreign littlebree can. hardly expect that words will have the same connotations for him as they do for native speakers ' . His experience of the language can never be as extensive or as intensive as theirs. But from the first moment that he begins to experience the language in use, especially sex language not produced specifically for the learner but aimed at other native speakers, he Will begin to acquire some of the connotations that it has for the native speaker. |
