7. Linguistic chapter 9 Flashcards
What is semantics?
Semantics is the study of meaning in language. It can be applied to entire texts or to single words. For example, “destination” and “last stop” technically mean the same thing, but students of semantics analyze their subtle shades of meaning. Semantics is the study of the meaning of words, phrases and sentences. The focus on what the words conventionally mean, rather on what an individual speaker might think.
What is the difference between referential meaning and associative/emotive meaning?
Referential meaning covers essential components of meaning that are conveyed by the literal use of a word. It is the meaning that dictionaries are designed to describe and some of the basic components of a word like needle in English might include thin, sharp, steel instrument it is objective/factual.
However, different people might have different associations or connotations attached to a word like needle, they might associate it with pain, , blood, drugs, knitting. And these associations may differ from one person to the next and therefore these associations can´t be part of the word´s referential meaning rather it is called associative or emotive meaning. Subjective/Personal.
Explain what “oddness” is when it comes to referential meaning?
One way to study the basic referential meaning would be to account for the “oddness” we experience when we read “The hamburger ate the boy”. The oddness does not derive from their syntactic structure:
NP= The hamburger V= ate NP= the boy
The sentence is syntactically good but semantically odd. The source of the problem is that the components of the referential meaning of the noun hamburger is different from the noun “boy” which allows one to “make more sense” with the verb “ate”. Simply, the kind of noun used with ate must denote a “living” or “animate” entity that is capable of “eating”. The noun “hamburger” doesn’t have this property and the noun boy does.
Explain semantic features and use the words +animate and +human
Other semantic features are that in addition to [+animate] boy has the feature [+human] and horse has [-human]. These examples illustrate a way to analyze the meaning or words in terms of semantic features. When we can characterize which semantic features are required in a noun in order for it to appear as the subject of a particular verb. In that way we can predict which noun (boy, horse, hamburger) would fit in a sentence appropriately and which would be odd.
The___________________ate all the food.
N [+animate]
The_______________is reading the newspaper.
N [+human]
What is componential analysis?
Instead of just talking about a horse we can choose among a group of words that allow us to be more specific based on a small set of “components” of meaning in an approach called componential analysis. Just as a basic component of the meaning of the word boy is [+ human] so we can characterize the word horse not simply as [-human] but more specifically as [+equine]. [+/- adult] and [+/- female]. Then we can illustrate a componential analysis.
Colt Filly Stallion Mare Equine + + + + Adult - - + + Female - + - +
What are sematic roles?
If the situation is a simple event as in “The boy kicked the ball” then the verb describes an action (kick). The noun phrases in the sentence describe roles of entities “people and things” involved in the action. That means we can identify a small number of semantic roles. They are also called thematic roles and case roles.
What is an agent and what is the theme?
“The boy” as “the entity that performs the action” is known as the agent. Agents can also be non-human entities that cause actions as in noun phrases denoting a natural force- (The wind) A machine-(A car) or a creature (The dog).
“The entity that is involved in or affected by the action” is known as the theme. In this case “ball”. The theme can also be an entity (the ball) that is simply being described “The ball was red”.
THE BOY kicked THE BALL. Agent+Theme
THE WIND blew THE BALL…. Agent + Theme
A CAR ran over THE BALL. Agent + Theme
THE DOG chased THE BOY. Agent + Theme
What is the instrument and the experiencer?
If an agent uses another entity to perform an action, that other entity fills the role of instrument. The boy cut the rope with an old razor and he drew the picture with a crayon. “An old razor” and “ a crayon” are being used in the semantic role of instruments.
The preposition “with” is usually a clue that the following noun is an instrument.
And when a noun phrase is used to designate an entity as the person who has a feeling, perception or state, it fills the semantic role of experiencer. If we feel, know, hear or enjoy something, we are not performing an action so we are not agents, we are in the role of experience.
“The woman” feels sad = Experiencer
The boy cut… “with an old razor”= Instrument
Did “you”/experienc hear “that noise”=theme
He drew the……“with a crayon”= Instrument
What is location, source and goal?
Where an entity is located (on the table, in the room) it fills the role of location.
Where the entity is from is the source
(from chicago)
Where it moves to is the goal
(to New Orleans)
We drove (from Chicago) to (New Orleans) Source+ Goal
Transferring money (from savings) (to checking) Source+ Goal
What are lexical relations?
Words can also have “relationships” with each other. We often explain the meaning of the words in terms of their relationships. If someone asks what “conceal” means, we might say; it’s the same as “hide” or give the meaning of “shallow” as “the opposite of deep” or “pine” as “a kind of tree”. When doing so we characterize the meaning of each word. Not in terms of components features but in terms of relationship.
This is called the analysis of lexical relations.
What is synonymy? How can synonyms be odd and how can they differ in formality?
Two words with very closely related meaning are called synonyms. They can often, though not always, be substituted for each other in sentences. Some examples are= almost/nearly; big/large; broad/wide; buy/purchase, cab taxi; handbag;purse; hard/difficult; freedom/liberty; sweat/perspire; couch/sofa.
Keep in mind that the idea of “sameness” of meaning used in discussing synonymy is not necessarily “total sameness” and it is best to think of these pairs as “close synonyms”.
Synonyms can be quite odd if not used properly.
Reply & Answer are synonyms but you can say Sandy had only one answer on the test but not Sandy had only one reply on the test. Synonyms may also differ in terms of formal versus informal uses; the sentence My father purchased a large automobile has the same meaning as My dad bought a big car.
What are the three different forms of anatomy and give examples of each?
Gradabel anatomy are comparative constructions involving adjectives as in;
I am slower/sadder/colder/shorter/richer.
Non-gradable antonyms are complementary constructions that are not used. We don’t describe someone as deader or more dead than another. And one member of a non-gradable pair does imply the other member using the negative test;
My grandparents aren’t alive means My grandparents are dead. Other non-gradable pairs are; awake/asleep married/single Present/absent True/false.
Reversives are when we usually avoid describing one member of an antonymous pair as the negative of the other. For example, undress can be the opposite of dress. It does not mean “not dress”. It actually means “do the reverse of dress”
What is hyponymy?
When the meaning of one form is included in the meaning of another, the relationship is described as hyponymy. Examples are- animal/horse; insect/ant; flower/rose. The concept of inclusion involved in this relationship is the idea that if an object is a rose then it is necessarily a flower so the meaning of flower is included in the meaning of rose. Meaning that rose is a hyponym for flower. And the meaning of the word has some type of hierarchical relationship.
Living thing
Creature Animal Bird Insect Dog Duck Ant Horse Parrot Cockroach
Living thing
Plant Vegetable Flower Tree Tomato Tulip Pine Turnip Rose Banyan
What are co-hyponyms? And what is superordinate?
Dog is a hyponym of animal. Ant is a hyponym of insect and tomato is a hyponym of vegetables. The examples animal, insect, vegetable; are called superordinate= high level
We also say that two or more words that share the same superordinate term are co-hyponyms.
Dog and horse are co-hyponyms of superordinate Animal
Ant and cockroach are co-hyponyms of superordinate insect
Tulip and rose are co-hyponyms of flower.
Can verbs also be hyponyms?
It is not only words for “things” that are hyponyms, words such as punch, shoot and stab are verbs . Describing actions; can all be treated as co-hyponyms of the superordinate term “injure”. Verbs; bake, boil, fry, grill are co-hyponyms of the superordinate cook.
Action
Injure Cook Punch-Shoot-Stab Bake- Boil- fry- grill
