Semantics Flashcards
Semantics
The study of meaning in language
Lexical Semantics
The study of word meanings and their interrelations
Compositional Semantics
The study of how meanings combine in phrases and sentences
Pragmatics
The study of meaning in context
Denotation
The primary, literal meaning of a word
Connotation
The additional, implied, or associated meanings of a word
Sense and Reference
The distinction between the concept a word represents (Sense) and the real-world object it refers to (Reference)
Semantic Field
A group of words related by meaning like colors or emotions
Polysemy
A word with multiple realated meanings like bank, riverbank, financial institution
Homonymy
Words with the same spelling or pronounciation by unrelated meanings like bat: flying mammal, sports equipment.
Synonymy
Words with similar or identical meanings like big and large or small and tiny
Antonymy
Words with opposite meanings hot and cold or big and small
Hyponymy
The hierarchial relationship where one term is more specific than another
Hypernymy
The relationship where one term is more general than another
Meronymy
The relationship of part to whole
Holonymy
The relationship of whole to part
Ambiguity
A word or sentence with multiple interpretations
Structural Ambiguity
Ambiguity caused by sentence structure
Lexical Ambiguity
Ambiguity caused by a word having multiple meanings
Prototype Theory
The idea that categories are based on a prototypical example rather than a fixed set of criteria
Semantic Roles
The roles entities play in a sentence
Agent
The doer of an action in a sentence
Patient
The entity affected by an action
Experiencer
The entity experiencing a state or emotion
