Semantics Flashcards
Semantics
The study of linguistic meaning, encompassing the meaning of words, phrases, and sentences
Lexical Semantics
Deals with the meaning of individual words and other lexical expressions
Compositional Semantics
Deals with the meaning of phrases and how those meanings are assembled from their component parts
Lexical Ambiguity
Occurs when a word has more than one possible meaning. EX: fly (insect or action of flying)
Structural Ambiguity
Occurs when a sentence or phrase has 2 or more meanings bc of the different ways words can be combined. e.g “ Flying kites can be dangerous.”
Referential meaning
The literal use of a word, usually the dictionary meaning
Associative (emotive) meaning
Deals with the feelings or reactions associated with words that may be found among some individuals or groups.
e.g. skydiving = might associate with fear, excitement, experience with certain people, etc.
Semantic features
Similar to phonology, using +/- to describe basic elements of words such as +/- animate /-human /-female /-adult.
e.g. +animate for dog and -human for rock
Semantic (Thematic) Roles
The function or role a word plays in a sentence
Agent
the entity that PERFORMS the action
e.g. “John kicked the ball”
Agent - John
Theme (Patient)
The entity involved in or affected BY the action
instrument
the entity used to perform an action
Experiencer
The entity having a feeling, perception or state
e.g. “Mary see the car”
Experiencer “Mary”
Location
Where an entity is LOCATED
Source
Where an entity moves from