Semantics

Question 1

Define Semantics…

Answer 1

The study of the meaning of linguistic expressions including morphemes, words, phrases, clauses and sentences.

Question 2

Denotative

Answer 2

The essential meaning of the word in its literal use.

Dictionary meaning.

What you see in your head when you think of the word.

Question 3

Connotative

Answer 3

The individual or societal interpretations of the meanings and their personal, emotional, psychological, societal or cultural significance.

Question 4

Lexical Semantics

Answer 4

The meaning of words

Fly: an insect, the verb

Question 5

Structural semantics

Answer 5

The meaning of utterances larger than just words

a Canadian history teacher

Question 6

Componential Analysis/Semantic Features Analysis

Answer 6

The establishment of systems of meaning using a small set of components.

Grouping words into natural classes using semes.

Question 7

Define Lexical Relations and list the 18 types

Answer 7

Words in relationship with other words.

Synonymy
Antonymy: Gradable, Binary pairs, Reversives
Polysemy
Homonyms: Homophones, Homographs
Hyponymy, Hypernyms, Co-hyponyms
Prototypes
Meronyms, Holonyms
Metonymy
Collocations
Retronymy

Question 8

Synonymy

Answer 8

Synonyms

A common meaning between two or more words.

Sameness of words does not equal total sameness

Take context and formal/informal into account

E.x. Senior citizen vs an old coot.

Question 9

Antonymy

Answer 9

Words or phrases that are opposites with respect to some component of their meaning.

The opposite words and phrases share all but one semantic property

E.x. Alive [+ ALIVE) vs Dead (- ALIVE)

Question 10

Gradable Antonyms

Answer 10

There is room to interpret amongst these antonyms.

E.x. Big/small, old/young, hot/cold, easy/hard are all relative antonyms.

The antonyms lie on a continuous spectrum. You can “grade” how old or how young someone is.

These antonyms can be qualified by adverbs (quite, extremely, very).

Question 11

What are Binary pairs of Antonyms?

Answer 11

These antonyms are polar opposites (non-Gradable).

E.x. Alive/dead, true/false, married/unmarried

A word that is [+ ALIVE] is [- DEAD].

There is no contrast, no room to interpret, no middle ground (unlike Gradable pairs)

If one is true, the other is not.

Question 12

What are Reversives/Relational opposite antonyms?

Answer 12

Antonyms in which the opposite of a word is the reverse of itself.

E.x. Husband/wife, employer/employee, enter/exit, tie/untie

There is interdependence amongst the antonyms: one member presupposes the other.

Question 13

Polysemy

Answer 13

When two or more words have the same form (bright, bright) and have two or more related meanings (bright = a shining bright light, bright = intellectual).

Words are pronounced and written the same way.

E.x. Head of a body or of a firm.

E.x. Bear: I cannot bear you, to bear a child, scary bear, to bear luggage

Question 14

Homonyms

Answer 14

One single form of a word (bank) has two or more entirely distinct meanings (money bank, fish bank).

Words are pronounced and written the same way.

E.x. Bat (baseball vs animal), club (object vs party place), stalk (to follow someone, the stem of a plant), pen (the writing utensil, animal structure)

Question 15

Homophones

Answer 15

Words with the same pronunciation but different written forms and meanings

E.x. Bear/bare, meet/meat, flower/flour, prey/pray

Type of homonym

Question 16

Homographs

Answer 16

Words with the same written form but different pronunciations and meanings

E.x. Minute, lead, dove, bass, bow, wind

Question 17

Hyponymy and Hypernymy, and Co-hyponyms

Answer 17

“X” (hyponym) is a kind of “Y” (hypernym)

E.x. Caterpillar (hyponym) vs insect (hypernym)

E.x. Blue/colour, broccoli/vegetable, car/vehicle

For nouns, A is a hypernym of B if B is an A and if A is a classifier of B

For verbs, A is a hypernym of B if B is a way of doing A

…

Co-hyponyms have the same hypernym

Schnauzer + Labrador + German Shepherd = dogs

Question 18

Prototypes

Answer 18

The default setting/the mental image associated with a word which tends to be a typical or ideal example of the kind of thing the word represents

E.x. A robin or sparrow is a prototype of a bird in N.A. (A penguin is not)

Question 19

Meronyms and Holonyms

Answer 19

A meronym is a word (finger) that signifies a part of Y or a member of Y (hand).

Meronyms are a part of something else (holonyms)

A finger is a meronym of a hand (holonym)

Bark (meronym) on a tree (holonym)

Question 20

Metonymy

Answer 20

Words used to represent something, used in place of another word to convey identical meanings.

Understood associations

E.x. Ottawa announces a new law (OTT in place of members of parliament)

E.x. The Press (print media), I drank the whole bottle/can (instead of the liquid), The bench (judicial processes), Keep your nose out of my business (instead of keep your curiosity out)

Question 21

Collocations

Answer 21

Words that tend to occur with other words

E.x. Salt and pepper, mac and cheese, set a date

Question 22

Retronymy

Answer 22

A term created to distinguish a new invention from the original form

E.g. guitars used to all be acoustic, but now we have acoustic guitars to distinguish from electric and bass guitars.