Semantics

Question 1

Denotative meaning

Answer 1

The logical meaning, which indicates the essential qualities of a concept which distinguish it
from other concepts.

Question 2

Connotative meaning

Answer 2

The additional or associated meaning, which is attached to the denotative, conceptual
meaning. It consists of associations made with a concept whenever that concept is referred to.

Question 3

Social meaning

Answer 3

It is the meaning that a word possesses by virtue of its use in particular social situations and
circumstances

Question 4

Thematic meaning

Answer 4

It lies in the manner in which a message is organized for emphasis.

Question 5

Hyponymy

Answer 5

When the meaning of one form is included in the meaning of another, the relationship

Question 6

Prototype

Answer 6

It explains the meaning of certain words like bird not in terms of component feature (e.g. „has wings‟) but
in terms of resemblance to the clearest examplar; e.g. native speakers of English might wonder if ostrich or penguin
should be hyponyms of bird, but have no trouble deciding about sparrow or pigeon. The last two are prototypes.

Question 7

Homophony

Answer 7

When two or more differently written forms have the same pronunciation but different meaning; e.g.
sea-see.

Question 8

Homography

Answer 8

When two or more forms are the same only in writing but different in pronunciation and meaning they
are described as homographs such as lead ([lid]) and lead ([led]).

Question 9

Homonoymy

Answer 9

It is when one form (written or spoken) has two or more unrelated meanings, but have the same
pronunciation and spelling; e.g. bank (of a river) and bank (financial institution)

Question 10

Synthetic Synthesis

Answer 10

Synthetic sentences may be true or false depending upon how the world is

Question 11

polysemy

Answer 11

It can be defined as one form (written or spoken) having multiple meanings which are all related by
extension. e.g. head refers to top of your body, top of a glass of beer, top of a company

Question 12

Collocation

Answer 12

Those words which tend to occur with other words; e.g. hammer collocates with nail; wife with husband
and knife with fork.

Question 13

Semantics

Answer 13

is the study of meaning in language

Question 14

Extension

Answer 14

In philosophical semantics or the philosophy of language, the ‘extension’ of a concept or expression is the set of things it extends to, or applies to, if it is the sort of concept or expression that a single object by itself can satisfy

Question 15

Coreference

Answer 15

occurs when two or more expressions in a text refer to the same person or thing; they have the same referent, e.g. Bill said he would come

Question 16

Anaphora

Answer 16

is the use of an expression whose interpretation depends upon another expression in context (its antecedent or postcedent).

Question 17

Deixis

Answer 17

refers to words and phrases, such as “me” or “here”, that cannot be fully understood without additional contextual information

Question 18

Referants

Answer 18

is the person, thing, or idea that a word or expression denotes, stands for, or refers to.

Question 19

The Principle of Compositionality

Answer 19

is the principle that the meaning of a (syntactically complex) whole is a function only of the meanings of its (syntactic) parts together with the manner in which these parts were combined.

Question 20

Compositional Semantics

Answer 20

deals with how those lexical meanings combine to form more complex phrasal meanings.

Question 21

Lexical Semantics

Answer 21

Linguists who are interested in the meanings of words, and the relations among words‟ meanings

Question 22

The Theory of Naming

Answer 22

maintains that language is a

communication system which works with two elements; the signifier, and the signified

Question 23

Signifier

Answer 23

the sound associated with or image of something (e.g., a tree)

Question 24

The Conceptual Theory of Meaning

Answer 24

In the theory of meaning, just explained, words and things are directly related.
But in the conceptual theory of meaning words and things are related through the mediation of concepts of the mind.

Question 25

Gradable

Answer 25

They can be used in comparative constructions. The negative of one member does not necessarily imply
the other; e.g. not old doesn‟t mean young

Question 26

Non-Gradable(complementary pairs)

Answer 26

They are not normally used in comparative constructions and the negative
of one member does imply the other; e.g. not dead means alive.

Question 27

Synthetic Sentences

Answer 27

Synthetic sentences may be true or false depending upon how the world is.

Question 28

Synonymy

Answer 28

: Two or more forms with very closely related meanings, which are often, but not always,
intersubstitutable in sentences. For example, Broad = Wide. It should be noted that the idea of „sameness of meaning‟ in
synonymy is not necessarily “total sameness”

Question 29

Antonymy

Answer 29

Two forms with opposite meanings are called antonyms

Ex: gradable & non-gradable

Question 30

Grammar

Answer 30

r (morphology and syntax) generate novel words, phrases, and sentences – in fact an infinite number of them.
This gives us an infinite number of words, phrases, and sentences that can have meaning