SEMANTICS

Question 1

What is Semantics?

Answer 1

The study of the meaning of words, phrases and sentences.

Question 2

What is conceptual meaning?

Answer 2

The basic, essential components of meaning that are conveyed by the literal use of a word.

Question 3

What’s associative meaning?

Answer 3

Different people have different associations or connotations attached to words and these associations are not treated as part of the word’s conceptual meaning.

Question 4

Name a few semantic features?

Answer 4

+animate, -animate, +female, -female

Question 5

What is meant by semantic roles?

Answer 5

Instead looking at words as containers of meaning, we can look at the roles they fulfill within the situation described by a sentence.

Question 6

What’s another word for semantic roles?

Answer 6

Thematic roles.

Question 7

What’s an agent?

Answer 7

The entity that preforms the action.

Question 8

What is a theme?

Answer 8

The entity that is involved or affected by the action.

Question 9

What is an instrument?

Answer 9

The entity that the agent uses to perform an action.

Question 10

What is an experiencer?

Answer 10

A noun phrase used to designate an entity as the person who has a feeling, perception or state.

Question 11

What is the location?

Answer 11

Where the entity is.

Question 12

What’s the source?

Answer 12

Where the entity moves from.

Question 13

What’s the goal?

Answer 13

Where the entity moves to.

Question 14

What is the analysis of lexical relations?

Answer 14

Characterizing the meaning of words, not in terms of their component features, but in terms of their relationships to other words.

Question 15

What is synonymy?

Answer 15

When two or more words are closely related. These are called synonyms.

Question 16

What is antonymy?

Answer 16

When two words have opposite meanings they are called antonyms.

Question 17

What are gradable antonyms?

Answer 17

They can be used in comparative constructions such as “I’m bigger than you’’ but “I’m not bigger than you” doesn’t mean I’m smaller than you.

Question 18

What are non-gradable antonyms?

Answer 18

They are not normally used in comparative constructions. We don’t say someone is ‘‘deader’’ than someone else.

Question 19

What are reversives?

Answer 19

When one word means to do the reverse of the other, as opposed to the opposite of the other. E.G To dress and then to undress.

Question 20

What is hyponymy?

Answer 20

When the meaning of one word is included in the meaning of another.

Question 21

What are superordinate terms?

Answer 21

The higher level of a hyponym, E.g. Animal.

Question 22

What are co-hyponyms?

Answer 22

When two or more words share the same superordinate term, such as dog and horse both sharing the superordinate term Animal.

Question 23

What are prototypes?

Answer 23

The idea of chateristic instance of a category is known as the prototype.

Question 24

What are homophones?

Answer 24

Two or more different words that have the same pronunciation.

Question 25

What are homonyms?

Answer 25

When ONE form has two or more meanings.

Question 26

What is polysemy?

Answer 26

Two or more words with the same form and related meanings.

Question 27

What is metonymy?

Answer 27

Substituting the name of one object for another object closely associated with it (“The pen [writing] is mightier than the sword [war/fighting].”)

Question 28

Give an example of polysemy.

Answer 28

Foot- of a river, of a person, of a mountain.

Question 29

Give an example of a homonym.

Answer 29

Bank of a river and a financial bank.

Question 30

Give an example of homophones.

Answer 30

Meet/meat

Question 31

Give one example of a prototype?

Answer 31

“Bird” being used to categorize both canaries and penguins even though we don’t recognize them as being the same type of bird.