Semantics

Question 1

Semantics

Answer 1

the study of the meaning of morphemes, words, phrases and sentences

Question 2

Pragmatics

Answer 2

Speaker meanings (for example sarcasm)

Question 3

Word meaning

Answer 3

Some words have been used one way for long enough that there is a clear path, others have not been used enough and there is no path, others are brand new and you can sort of create the path

Question 4

Metaphors

Answer 4

figure of speech in which a term is transferred from the object it ordinarily designates to another object by implicit comparison

Leech v louse (both parasites but one is for despicable and the other is for someone who is needy and exploitative); some animals are harder to compare than other because of weaker schemas related to them

Sometimes the metaphoric sense is retained and the original meaning disappears, as in the case of muscle, which comes from Latin musculus “small mouse”

Question 5

Metonymy

Answer 5

figure of speech in which an attribute or commonly associated feature is used to name or designate something, “the law (for policemen)”

Question 6

Synechdoche

Answer 6

figure of speech by which a more inclusive term is used for a less inclusive one, or vice versa; “all hands on deck”

Question 7

Connotation v Denotation

Answer 7

Sea: dangerous, space; Earth: safe, fertility
Sea: body of water; Earth: ground

Sometimes Connotation can become Denotation
Trivial: easy
Trivial: taught in trivium (to children)

Question 8

Lexemes and their relations

Answer 8

basically means word; however “walk, walked, walking, and walks” are all the same lexeme

Different relations among lexemes
Syntagmatic: the way lexemes are related in sentences
Paradigmatic: the way words can substitute each other in the same sentence

Question 9

Paradigmatic relations

Answer 9

Synonymy: sameness of meaning
Hyponymy: inclusion of meaning (cat is an animal)
Antonymy: oppositeness of meaning
Incompatibility: mutual exclusiveness (red for green)

Question 10

Homonymy and Polysemy

Answer 10

Homonymy: same sound (to and too)
Polysemy: multiple meanings for same word (louse)

Question 11

Lexical Semantics v Compositional Semantics

Answer 11

Compositional: getting meaning for bigger phrases from smaller ones

Lexical (extensional): denotation of primitive elements (lexemes) red (set of all things that are red)

Question 12

Reference v Sense

Answer 12

Reference: extension of a concept, what it corresponds to in the world; possible world semantics (dogs in all possible worlds - extensional)

Sense: intentional of a concept, what we know about its meaning, regardless of its extension