Semantics Flashcards
Cognitive Semantics
An approach to natural language semantics that studies meaning as a cognitive phenomenon
Deictic expression
words or phrases that rely on context and the speakers perspective to convey meaning
Anaphor
he, her, his (refers back to the person
in a relationship of direct reference, the word/phrase (e.g a pronoun) that refers to another word/phrase that contains the intended sense or reference
Antecedents
No anaphoric relation
‘I will meet you here tomorrow’ - contains no anaphors and here is not deictic since ‘here’ is unknown
Agent (Thematic role)
The doer of the action
Example: Sarah ate the carrots
Patient
Affected by the agent [the entity undergoing the effect of some action, often undergoing some change of state]
Example: James angrily kicked Henry’s cat.
Example: Lara mowed the lawn
Example: James completely destroyed his phone
Theme
The entity affected or moved by the action
Example: Henry dropped the book
Example: Claire threw the rock
Experiencer
The entity that experiences or perceives something
Example: Henry enjoys long distance running
Example: Helen saw the cow
Instrument
when an action is performed or something comes about
Example: crowbar, master key, paperclip, paperweight
Recipient
Actions describing changes of possession
Example: Micheal sold the bike to Bella
Location
The place where the action occurs
The clock hangs above the fireplace
Beneficiary
The entity for whose benefit action was performed
Example: Bella studied hard for her father
Source
The starting point for whose benefit the action was performed
Example: Helen is coming from Stockholm
Example: Henry arrived form London
Goal
The endpoint or destination of an action/movement
Example: We took the train to Stockholm
Predicate
The role assigned to a subject in a sentence
Percept/Stimulus
The entity which is perceived/experienced
Example: Sarah fears thunder
Actor
The entity which performs, effects, instigates, or control the situation denoted by the predicate (super type) of AGENT
Example: The bus hit a pedestrian
Truth conditions
The conditions under which the sentence (or the state of matters it expresses) is true. (if the conditions are met in the real world, the sentence is true)
Classical category theory
Category membership can be defined with a list of necessary and sufficient conditions
Conceptual metaphor
A mapping between source domain and a target domain that is the basis for metaphors coherent with the mapping
Embodied conceptualisation (cognition)
A conceptualisation which originates in basic physical experience
Modularity
The view that various aspects of cognition (e.g language) are separate from other aspects (e.g. thinking)
Radial category
Type of lexical category in which the expression’s central meaning is associated with a number of extended meaning which cannot be predicted by general rules
Prototype
The central tendency of the category’s members, fruit = banana + tomato
Landmark
The stationary reference point
Trajectory
The entity that is in motion or the figure whose location/movement is being described in construal, a moving or conceptually moveable object whose path or site is at issue
Metonymy
A figure of speech based on and interrelation between closely associated terms e.g. cause and effect, possessor and possessed.
Metaphor
Figurative language traditionally defined as the use of one domain to explain another domain (operates over two domains)
Source Domain (vehicle concept)
The more concrete semantic domain that we use to explain something else, usually more abstract
Target Domain
The (usually) more abstract thing that is actually talked about
