Chapter 9: Semantics Flashcards
semantics
the study of the meaning of words, phrases and sentences
focuses on conventional meaning; linguistic, NOT connotation
referential meaning
basic, essential components of meaning conveyed by literal use of a word
opposite of associative/emotive meaning
needle = thin, sharp, instrument (no inherent connection to pain, illness, drugs, knitting, etc)
in terms of syntactics and semantics, how is the phrase “the hamburger ate the boy”?
syntactially good (NP V NP),
semantically poor
semantic features
way of analyzing the meaning of words
the X ate all the food (n + [animate])
the X is reading the newspaper (n + [human])
componential analysis
the analysis of the meaning of a word or other linguistic unit into discrete semantic components.
[equine]: horse, filly, stallion, mare
when can viewing words as “containers of meaning” be problematic?
if the word is abstract.
semantic/thematic/case roles
agent, theme, action, etc;
roles fulfilled within a sentence
agent
entity that performs the action
theme
entity involved in/affected by the action
instrument
if an agent uses another entity to perform an action, the entity is the instrument (often paired with “with”)
experiencer
entity that has a feeling, perception, or state (feel, know, hear, enjoy)
location
where an entity is
source
where the entity moves from
goal
where the entity moves to
lexical relations
characterizing the meaning of one word in terms of another (conceal == hide, pine -> tree)
synonomy, antonymy, hyponomy
synonym
two+ words with very closely related meanings
often (though not always) can be substituted for each other in phrases; may differ in terms of formality
antonym
two forms with opposite meanings
3 main types: gradable, non-gradable/complementary, reversives
gradable antonym
opposites along a scale
smaller, sadder, colder, older, richer
non-gradable/complimentary antonym
direct opposites; negative of one pair implies the other (not alive -> dead)
reversive antonyms
reverse action of the other
undress != not dress; undress = opposite of dress
hyponym
meaning of one form is included in the meaning of another
[animal] : horse, dog, cat, shrimp, hamster
in terms of hyponyms, how to animal, horse, and dog relate to each other?
horse and dog are hyponyms of animal
animal is a superordinate (higher level)
horse and dog are co-hyponyms
prototype
the “characteristic instance” of a category
robin -> bird (not ostrich), chair -> furniture (not piano)
homophone
different written forms, same pronunciation
flour/flower, meat/meet, pear/pair
homonym
when one form has 2+ unrelated meanings
bat, mole, pen, race, sole
polysemy
2+ words with the same form and related meanings
word can have both homonymic and polysemous forms (ie, date)
head (object on top of body, top of essay, foam on top of beer, top of company)
foot (of a person, of a bed, of a mountain)
mouth (of a person, cave, river)
run (action done by a person, water, color, machines)
word play:
mary had a little lamb, rice, and some vegetables
polysemy: lamb
word play:
why is 6 afraid of 7?
homophones: eight and ate
metonymy
relationship between words based on everyday experience
car -> wheels, king -> crown, house -> roof
what are some examples of everyday metonymy?
he drank the whole bottle (with the understanding that is is the liquid inside the bottle)
filling up the car, boiling a kettle, giving someone a hand
collocation
words that frequently occur together
salt/pepper, table/chair
corpus linguistics
large collection of spoken/written texts
concordances
listing of each occurance of a word/phrase in a corpus
