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LexSemWF Flashcards

1
Q

Define lexicology

A

-The study of words and their meaning
-An integral part of any theory of language
o The conception of language is tripartite – describing separately the sounds, the grammar and the meaning
-Studies total word-stock = ‘lexicon’, ‘lexis’, ‘vocabulary’
-Studies both individual words and the vocabulary as a whole
-The study of words must be done in relation to other levels of language description

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2
Q

What is lexicography?

A

-Lexicography = making of dictionaries – pragmatic study applying the principles of lexicology for a purpose determined by the intended use of the dictionary by non-linguistic factors

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3
Q

Vocabulary

A

perhaps a more important tool of communication than grammar, but it is a relatively infrequent object of systematic study

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4
Q

With what the LExicology deals?

A

oThe size and structure of the vocabulary
oThe link with extra-linguistic knowledge
oThe centre and the periphery of the lexical system and its subsystems
oThe synchronic vs. The diachronic approach
oThe contact areas with morphology and word-formation
oThe notions of ‘word’ and ‘language unit’
oThe concept-forming power of the word (a more abstract level)

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5
Q

What is lexicon?

A

● lexicon contains systems of lexical items which are interrelated and in which the meaning of each individual word depends on its opposition to other items in the set

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6
Q

What is semasiology?

A

The study of meaning involves semasiology, onomasiology, semantics, semiotics, pragmatics
-Semasiology preceeds from word to concept (dictionaries are semasiological works)

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7
Q

What is onomasiology?

A

The study of meaning involves semasiology, onomasiology, semantics, semiotics, pragmatics
-Onomasiology – proceeds from concept to word (this approach found in thesauruses)

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8
Q

What is semantics?

A

The study of meaning involves semasiology, onomasiology, semantics, semiotics, pragmatics
-Semantics (more or less synonymous with semasiology) – implies the study of meaning

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9
Q

What is semiotics?

A

The study of meaning involves semasiology, onomasiology, semantics, semiotics, pragmatics
-Semiotics – the study of signs, both verbal and nonverbal (body language, ie. Gestures and facial expressions) = semiology coined by saussure

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10
Q

What is pragmatics?

A

The study of meaning involves semasiology, onomasiology, semantics, semiotics, pragmatics
-Pragmatics – the study of the relation between the language sign and its user (sometimes ‘sociopragmatics’)

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11
Q

What is lexical unit?

A

-basic unit of lexical semantics
o Single form, single meaning
o Each lexical unit must be a semantic constituent – must have a meaning
o Each lexical unit must be at least one word (no suffix nor prefix can be a lu)
 Er = linguistic sign, but not a lexical unit, no word, just a morpheme
 Kick a bucket – in this expression, bucket is not a lexical unit either – the idiom functions as a single unit, cannot be separated

-Lexical unit is not word, – word in general is a confusing term difficult to define - lexicologists prefer lexical units – basic units of lexical semantics
-Different concepts of word
-Ideal case – 1 form, 1 meaning

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12
Q

What is ambiguity?

A
  • Only context can help us deduce the meaning in some cases
  • We should never study lexical units in isolation
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13
Q

Paradigmatic relations

A
  • Saussure
  • Concerns relations at the level of the system
  • Substitutional relationship, concerns signs that could replace it in its position
  • Pr are based on
    o A common base (teacher-teaching)
    o A common affix
    o A common conceptual field- all works concerning education
  • Pr operate
    o At the level of sounds in a language,
     Contrast with one another on the basis of a single sound
  • E.g. Back, bag and bat, fat, mat
    o On the lexical level
     The paradigmatic contrast
  • Indicates which words belong to the same word class (part of speech) so that they can fill the same slot in the sentence pattern
  • E.g. He walked/went/ran/rushed/strolled across the road
    o Stroll, rush, walk, run, etc.
     Though all these verbs imply ‘going’,
  • Stroll implies ‘going slowly’, that is ‘walking’,
  • Rush implies ‘going fast’, that is ‘running’.
     So the pairs walk/stroll and run/rush are incompatible.
  • Paradigmatic substitutions
    o Allow items from a word set (semantic set) to be grouped together.
  • Types of paradigmatic relations
    o Homonymy
    o Polysemy
    o Synonymy
    o Antonymy
    o Hyponymy/hyperonymy
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14
Q

Syntagmatic relations

A
  • Based on syntagma introduced by saussure
  • Expresses relation between sentence members/lexical units functioning at the sentence level
  • Signs in linear sequence
  • On the level of sounds
    o Reveal which combinations are possible word beginnings in english
     (str- spr- yes, stl- not)
  • On the semantic level
    o Syntagmatic associations indicate compatible combination
     The sun rose rather than the sun spoke
     Pale moon rather than black-and-white moon.
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15
Q

Sememe

A

– meaning of a lexical unit
 Decomposes into semes/semantic components

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16
Q

Lexeme

A

conceived as a combination of all the related meanings attached to a particular form

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17
Q

Polysemous unit

A

single form representing all the related meanings

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18
Q
  • What is crucial in understanding individual sentences?
A

o Knowing the meaning of the lexical units
o Grammar, grammatical rules (word order…)
o Context

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19
Q

Principle of composionality

A

-Meaning of a composite expression is a function of the meanings of its component expressions
-Any constituent part of a sentence that bear a meaning which combines with the meanings of other constituents to give the overall meaning of the sentence is a semantic constituent
o This means that it’s not only single lexical unit which can be considered a semantic constituent, it can be a combination of semantic units
 E.g. The cat on a mat
* The cat is a semantic constituent - part of a sentence which contributes to its interpretation
* On the mat another semantic constituent
* Single lexical unit is a minimal semantic constituent but there are larger semantic constituents
-Poc is a reliable semantic criterion (words&phrases)
-Poc works for phrases and sentences for the syntactic level
* The meaning of a sentence/phrase is a genuine combination of the meaning of its words
-This principle of compositionality can´t be applied to words to lexical units either divide words or compound words because each such result of word formation is a shortcut
o E.g. Blackboard – as a compound unlike black board cannot be interpreted on the principle of compositionality
 Bc. Blackboard - an instrument in classroom used on a wall, but not all blackboards are black
 We only identify motivating constituents black+board represent the whole class of words
 Black board phrase
* A board that is black
* We get the meaning by means of principle of compositionality
- If you can´t apply principle of compositionality
o You can safely say you are dealing with a word
- If the principle of compositionality works
o You are dealing with phrases, syntagma, sentences
- POC can’t be applied to idioms
o To kick the bucket = to die
 To die – cannot be inferred from the meanings from its parts
 The individual constituents of the idiom are devoid of their meaning (no meaning of their own)

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20
Q

Word

A

↳ -various definitions but as a semantic entity
- it is a linguistic unit of single meaning, believed to convey one complete thought

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21
Q

Influence of context on interpretation of lexical units

A
  • 2 situations
  • We finally reached the bank – ambiguous sentence – financial institution/river bank
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22
Q

Selection by means of context

A

o Different reasons for ambiguity – homonymy in this case
o Chicken is ready to eat – the structure of the sentence causes ambiguity
o Flying planes can be dangerous – structure again

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23
Q

Semantic transparency

A
  • Bolinger – introduces the terms transparency and opaqueness
    o E.g. Gettable is more transparent than accessible
  • The degree to which the meaning of a word or phrase can be easily understood or deduced from its individual components or parts.
  • In other words, it refers to the extent to which the meaning of a compound word or a phrase can be transparently derived from the meanings of its constituent elements.
  • The compound word “lighthouse” is semantically transparent because its meaning can be inferred from its components: “light” and “house.” a lighthouse is a structure that contains a light used to guide ships.
  • The word “butterfly” is semantically opaque because its meaning cannot be derived from the individual meanings of “butter” and “fly.” the term “butterfly” refers to a specific type of insect and has no direct connection to butter or flying.
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24
Q

Where is semantic transparency present?

A
  • Idioms - scale of idiomaticity – scale for transparency based on principle of compositionality
    o Semantic transparency
    o Opaque expressions – opacity
     Ladybird
  • Opaque but not totally opaque
  • Bird suggests that the object can fly…at least some degree of transparency
     Red herring = false clue
  • Totally opaque
  • Clipping
  • Principle of the economy (economy of articulatory effort) and transparency (semantic transparency)
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25
Q

Principle of language economy

A

– existing synonyms should be differentiated in meanings or senses

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26
Q

Idioms

A

-An expression whose meaning cannot be inferred from the meanings of its parts
-The principle of compositionality – we suggested that the principle of compositionality is based on adding up the meanings of the constituent parts to get the overall meaning
o To kick the bucket = to die
o To die – cannot be inferred from the meanings from its parts
o The individual constituents of the idiom are devoid of their meaning (no meaning of their own)
-Idioms function as a single semantic unit
-Idiom as a whole is a single semantic constituent
-Idiom is a lexical complex which is semantically simplex
o Lexical complex = consists of several lexical elements
o Semantically simplex = carries single meaning
-Idioms – idiomaticity – a matter of a degree
-Scale of idiomaticity – scale for transparency based on principle of compositionality
o Semantic transparency
o Opaque expressions – opacity
Ladybird
Opaque but not totally opaque
Bird suggests that the object can fly…at least some degree of transparency

Red herring = false clue
Totally opaque
-Irreversible binominals (neznam co to)
o Expressions usually consisting of two nouns, 2 constituents and the order of the constituents cannot be changed - change of order destroys the meaning
o Fish and chips – special type of dish…chips and fish can be anything (any sort of fish, any serving…violating basic meaning)
 Opaque to a certain degree – cannot get the way of serving dish, etc.

27
Q

Collocations

A
  • Can be analysed as location and co (co = coexistence, cooccurrence)
  • 2 constituents that frequently/typically cooccur
  • Strong bond between the constituents due to frequent cooccurrence
    Light drizzle, fine weather, high winds…
  • Principle of compositionality can be applied to this type of lexical units
28
Q

Collocational ranges

A

o Peculiar to each word,
o E.g. Disease and illness are very close in meaning, and yet catch a disease is acceptable and *catch an illness is not
 No two words share exactly the same range and frequency of occurrences within a range

29
Q

Habitual collocations

A

o Clichés – languages may differ, e.g. ‘smiling sun’ is much more frequent in czech than in english

30
Q

Semantic cohesion

A

o Sometimes the bond can be strengthened – semantic cohesion – the link is very strong between the constituents – two situations
 One situation: one of the words is not used in its core meaning
* Heavy drinker (heavy not in its core meaning, rather meaning of high consumption)
 If one constituent can only be used with one word, the bond is very strong
* To foot the bill – to pay the bill…only used in this context, cannot use i will foot it

31
Q

LExical relations

A
  • Lexicology is concerned with structures in the system of lexemes, which are of twofold nature
    o Internal
     Morphologically complex (compounds, suffixations, prefixations) and simple
    o External
     Syntagmatic and paradigmatic
32
Q

Logical relations

A

-4 types based on relation between 2 sets of elements:
o Identity – if the 2 sets share the same elements/same meaning
 Lexical relation – synonymy
o Inclusion – if one set of elements is a part of a larger set of elements/the meaning is included in a broader meaning of another lu
 Lexical relation – hyponymy/hyperonymy
o Overlap – if the 2 sets share certain elements but they also have some other elements,
 Lexical relation – polysemy, antonymy
o Disjunction – if the two sets share no element, have no element in common
 Lexical relation – homonymy, antonymy
-Logical relations enable us to identify individual lexical relations – talking about the meaning

33
Q

Quasi-relations

A

-Relations that are idiosyncratic
o Dog – animal
o Cat – animal
 If it is a dog/cat - it is an animal
But
o Knife – cutlery
 Doesn’t work, knife is not a cutlery
 Cutlery includes more - doesn’t exist for a single lexical unit but for a group of lexical units
o Fork, spoon, knife – cutlery = quasi-relation
o Red, green – colours
 Colour – excludes 2 colours – black, white

34
Q

Synonymy

A

-Onomasiological approach
-Situation in which 2 lexical units have identical meaning
-But, in language, it doesn’t make sense to have multiple lexical units with identical meaning – huge number of lexical units, impossible to remember, not economical
-Synonymous relations link words from different lexical strata (standard, dialect, informal)
o But many lexicologists disregard this kind of synonymy and regard
 Dialectal synonyms (valley - dale)
 Standard - slang synonyms (gir/ - bird)
 Synonyms from two standards (sidewalk/pavement?) (tautonyms)

35
Q

Absolute synonymy

A
  • Not good
  • Not many absolute synonyms
  • 2 lexical units can be replaceable in every possible context without destroying or even modifying the meaning
  • Agree in denotation, distribution and connotation
  • Usually avoided, disadvantageous – avoid synonymy principle
  • Matter of competition – darwinian principle – the fittest wins
  • One unit is eliminated or one of the lexical units finds its specific niche – finds a specific use while the other one is more general
36
Q

English – rich in borrowings

A
  • Not only the lexical unit that was taken over, also suffixes – now 2 suffixes, one home, the other borrowed
  • One became more productive – more dominant
  • The other may have ceased to be productive; or acquired a new meaning
37
Q

Cognitive synonymy

A

-Refers to lexical units which share the basic denotative meaning, but they differ in connotation
-Connotation – may refer to opposition between formal and informal language, differ in register, literal language vs slang
o Father – daddy
o Rich vs wealthy
o Go on – continue

38
Q

Synonyms vs variants

A
  • Spelling variants – gray/grey
  • Pronunciation variants – direction/direction
  • Morphological variants – eg.: words with the prefix a-: wait - await, wake - awake;
  • Nominal vs verbal constructions – smoke/have a smoke, laugh/have a laugh
  • Doublets due to conversion – laughter/laugh, reading/read
  • Paraphrases – aptitude/natural ability
39
Q

Synonyms in phraseology

A

-There are phrases in which one element (the verb or noun) can be replaced by a certain synonym and the meaning of the phrase remains unchanged
o Beat around/about the bush
o Don’t give a damn/a hang

40
Q

Close synonyms differing in one seme

A

-Jump - leap:
o Both mean ‘movement away from the surface and change in vertical position’, but leap in addition to that contains the seme ‘change in horizontal position’

41
Q

Synonyms differing in intensity

A

-Greater intensity is often accompanied by expressive or stylistic connotations
o Break - smash; cry — shout, scream, screech

42
Q

Semantic co-occurrence restrictions

A

-Every lexical unit has certain restrictions in its use
-Cannot say – table worked all day – table = inanimate
-To die: animate: human, animal, plant
-To kick the bucket – cannot be used with plants or animals, just humans – no logical reasons
-Selectional restrictions – have logical justification
-Collocational restrictions – restriction without logical justification
o E.g. Idioms

43
Q

Polysemy

A

-Based on lexemes with related meanings
o E.g. Fox, football
-Sometimes, revealed by antonymy
o Man vs woman, man vs boy, man vs animal – 3 different meanings of man (male, adult, human)
-Economic principle – one form – many meanings
-Single meaning-single form – semantic transparency - doesn’t contribute
-Communication process is difficult
-A special case of polysemy
o When one sense is general and the other specific
 E.g. Cat as the beast of pre
* So that the term includes tiger, lion, panther
 Cat as the common cat
* A pet animal which includes various breed

44
Q

Homonymy

A
  • One form represents two different lexemes
  • Nothing in common, absolute disjunction
  • Mostly one-syllable words
  • Homonyms differ in declination and conjugation (lie-lie:different past tense forms)
  • Identical form, unrelated meanings
45
Q

3 types of homonyms

A

o Homographs lead vs lead
o Homophones sun vs son
o Full homonyms bat vs bat
-Sometimes, etymology (origin) is taken into consideration
o Ear – organ of hearing as well as head of corn
 Became full homonyms in the course of history, didn’t used to be full homonyms
o Flower vs flour – from etymological point of view
 2 meanings of a single polysemous word – used to have an identical form

46
Q

Antonymy

A
  • Opposite meaning
  • Contradictory – complementary, inversion
  • Contrary – gradable, negation of one does not imply the other
47
Q

Full antonyms/complementary

A
  • Admit only 2 options
  • Not gradable
  • Negation of one implies the other
    o Dead – alive
48
Q

Graded antonyms/antonymy in narrow sense

A

-Scales of antonymy
-Gradable
-Negation of one doesn’t necessarily imply the other
-Degree/scale
o Cold – warm
 Several other degrees – lukewarm, icy, hot…all share a particular feature

49
Q

Converseness

A
  • Identified by implication – directional implication
  • Not gradable
  • Negation of one doesn’t imply the other
  • Teacher vs student
  • John is peter’s student implies that peter is john’s teacher
50
Q

Directional opposition

A
  • Based on the notion of contrary motion
  • Up-down, come-go
51
Q

Non-binary

A
  • Scales, cycles, ranks
52
Q

Scales

A

-No absolute value but the value is shown by comparison
o Boiling hot, hot, warm, tepid, cold, ice-cold form a scale

53
Q

Lexical field=lexical configuration

A
  • Theoretical foundations on lexical field laid by german linguist weisgerber, but it is john trier who is considered the founder of theory of lexical field
54
Q

John trier

A

-John trier – founder of the theory of lexical field
o 1931 – fundamental work german word-stock in conceptual field of reason the history of language field
o Formulates theoretical principles of field theory and examines how the terminology for mental properties developed from the beginning of the 13th century – development of words belonging to a particular field of human knowledge and how it is reflected in language and how it develops – diachronic point of view (how relations can change)
o Word should not be considered in isolation – first to treat word in interrelations
o You cannot identify objectively the meaning of a word without taking into consideration all the words that are related to it semantically
o His understanding of lexical field – mosaic – means that if you take all the words from the lexical field, they are related but the individual words fit the scheme of the mosaic – the borderlines between individual words are in his view clearly identifiable
-Trier – field in reference to a collection of semantically related words that mutually determine each other’s value

55
Q

LExical field according to Trier

A

-Trier – structuralist – reflected in his conception of lexical field
o Lexical field = system which is internally structured, and the individual units of this structure are interrelated
o Structural system of units that are interrelated

56
Q

Criticism of trier

A

-His theory faced criticism – 2 points
o 1st point – metaphor of mosaic – metaphor suggests that the mosaic covers the whole lexical field – suggest that all the individual possible positions in the system are filled, no gaps – not true – there are gaps in all lexical fields – the gaps can be potentially filled, but this depends on extralinguistic factors (is there something that requires such a name? Does the speech community consider the naming process relevant/useful?) - lehrer
o 2nd point – delineation of its internal structure – the words in the field are separated by means of sharp lines – matter of borderlines between the meanings of the individual words
 Trier – lexical fields consisting of compartments separated from each other, each compartment has a well-defined meaning
 Situation in language is different – the meanings of words overlap, there is no strict borderline in the meanings of semantically related words – fuzzy meaning

  • Terminology varies – lexical field/semantic field/word field
  • One linguist – 2 fields – conceptual field and lexical field
  • Selection of the term depends on what you wish to emphasize

-Lexical field concerns paradigmatic relations, but the lexical items are related also syntagmatically
-Semantic co-occurrence restrictions which depend on the semantics – no lexical unit can be combined with any lexical units – the meaning restricts the combinability with other lexical units
o You shall know a word by a company it keeps – firth

57
Q

Lexical configuration based on hyperonymy/hyponymy

A

-One type of lexical field – lexical configuration based on hyperonymy/hyponymy relations – relations of superordination and subordination – can be represented as unidirectional implications
o Mammal – hyponym of animal
o Animal – hyperonym of mammal
o Hyperonym – broader meaning
o Hyponym – more narrow meaning
o Animal is supraordinate to a subordinate mammal thanks to its more general meaning
o Unidirectional implications – hyperonym is implied by its hyponym…but hyponym is not implied by hyperonym

58
Q

Non/branching

A

-Lexical configurations – branching and non-branching
o Lexical field/configuration of animals – animal branches into mammal, mammal branches into a large number of mammals…for example dog than branches further… Multilevel hierarchy with the most specific meanings at the bottom and the most general meaning at the top
o Particular lexical unit functions both as hyperonym and hyponym
o Lexical configuration – hierarchical structured system
o Non-branching example – hierarchy based on the complexity

59
Q

BRanching configurations-2 principles

A

-2 basic principles control constitution of such branching configuration
o Principle of dominance – reflects the principle of superordination and subordination
 More general lexical unit dominates the more specific lexical unit
o Principle of difference – lexical units at the same level of hierarchy must differ in at least one feature (semantic feature)

60
Q

In/transitivity

A

-Another aspect of lexical relations – transitivity/intransitivity
o Transitive: if a:b and b:c – a:c
o If john is taller than peter and peter is taller than james – john is taller than james
o 2 same relations – if the same relation can be transferred to a and c – transitive
o Intransitive
o If john is father of peter and peter is father of james, john is father of james - doesn’t work
o If this doesn’t work – intransitive

61
Q

Proportional series

A

-Special kind of lexical relation – proportional series – picture
o Relations between elements must be such that from any three elements the fourth one can be determined
o Male and stallion – same relation as ewe and ram – relation based on gender
o If such a relation can be extended = extendable proportional series
o Extend it horizontally by adding the young
o Extended vertically by adding other animals with the same relation

62
Q

Lexical relations

A

-Lexicology is concerned with structures in the system of lexemes, which are of twofold nature:
Internal-Morphologically complex (compunds, suffixiation) and simple
External-syntagmatic and paradigmatic

63
Q
  • What is a semantic trait and what is its status
A

o Semantic trait – a particular feature of an object represented by a lexical unit
o Status – the degree of significance of lexical trait regarding the definition of the meaning of a lexical unit

Morphology (17 decks)

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