Semantics Flashcards
How can we interpret the term meaning?
A) We can refer to relationships between words and sentences
B) We can refer to the truth of a statement
C) We can refer to the ill-formedness of sentences concerning their
meaning
Semantics
= Study of the systematic ways in which languages structure meaning.
▪ Examines word and sentence meaning
▪ Abstracts away from context
Semantics vs Pragmatics
Semantics:
▪ Meaning as such
▪ Examines word and sentence meaning
▪ Abstracts away from context
Pragmatics: ▪ Examines utterance meaning ▪ Looks at relationship of an utterance to its context ▪ The relationship between the language and its user with a certain intention ▪ Includes the linguistic and non-linguistic context in the interpretation of meaning
Sign models
= The relationship between linguistic signs (i.e., words) and the referents they refer to
Bilateral Sign Model by Ferdinand de Saussure
1) meaning/content/signified (signifié)
- -> refers to the object talked about (i.e. everyone’s concept of a tree)
2) expression/signifier (signifiant)
- -> refers to the linguistic realisation of signifié
Semiotic Triangle by Odgen/Richards:
There is no direct relationship between:
▪ the symbol and the referent
▪ linguistic expression and the real world
–> more precise than Saussure’s model
Reference
= One concrete reference of a linguistic expression to a person, event, action, state, etc. in the real world
Sense
= Descriptive meaning of a word independent of context or referent and independent of utterance and situational context
Extension
= Group of all objects a linguistic term may refer to; set of all possible referents for a linguistic expression
Intension
= Characteristic features determining the sense of a linguistic term
Connotation
= Additional meaning, context specific; affective and social meaning
Denotation
= Referential meaning; constant, abstract and basic meaning of a linguistic expression
Lexical Semantics
= Field of semantics that deals with the meaning of words
Types of structures:
- Sense relations
- Semantic features
Sense relations
= Meaning relations among words, linked together as a network
- Synonymy
- Hyponymy
- Meronymy
- Oppositions
- Synonymy
= Two or more words have the same meaning; they usually differ in social and
effective meaning and in use (e.g., clever and smart)
- Hyponymy
= Reference inclusion: One word is a kind of another word, hierarchical relationship
between hyponym and hyperonym (e.g., apple and fruit)
- Meronymy
= Words that are related according to a part/whole-relationship (e.g., finger and
hand)
- Oppositions
= Words that have opposite meanings
a) Antonymy
= Binary relationship between terms with complementary meanings (one word is
the opposite of another)
Gradable antonymy = Opposite ends of a continuous scale of values (e.g., large
and small)
Non-gradable antonymy = Mutually exclusive and complementary (e.g., dead
and alive)
b) Converseness
= Reciprocal semantic relationship between pairs of words; the same relation is
expressed from different perspectives (e.g., husband and wife)
c) Reverseness
= Relation between directional opposites, especially of movement (e.g., open and
shut)
Lexical Ambiguity
= Words that are ambiguous in meaning
- Homonymy
- Polysemy
- Homonymy
= Word with the same written and/or spoken form but different meanings
Total Homonymy = Same spelling and pronunciation (e.g., mole and mole)
Homograph = Different pronunciation, same spelling (e.g., tear (V) and tear (N))
Homophone = Different spelling, same pronunciation (e.g., knight and night)
- Polysemy
= word with more than one meaning; the meanings are interrelated (one entry in the
dictionary) (foot (of a mountain))
versus Metaphorical Extension
= Use of a word beyond its primary meaning to describe referents that bear
similarities to the word’s primary referent (eye (of a needle))
Componential Analysis
The meaning of a word can be described as a bundle of semantic features (feature
semantics/ checklist semantics).
▪ Helps to differentiate between the members of one lexical field.
▪ With the help of semantic features, categories can clearly be distinguished from one
another.
▪ Features are usually binary (i.e., one of two values for the feature)
Example: Walking styles
▪ to pace: [+ quick] [+ purposeful]
▪ to stroll: [- quick] [- purposeful]
Sentence Semantics
= Examines meaning relation within and across sentences
▪ is concerned with the thematic (= semantic)
roles and with the relationships between words within a sentence
Paradigmatic relations (word choice)
= Vertical relation between all members of a semantic field that are of the same lexical
category; elements are interchangeable (buy and sell)
Syntagmatic relations (word combination)
= Relation of the elements of a sentence that determine the selection of one or the other
element (i.e., choice of word in a certain combination with other words)
e.g.: buy + a book
- Selectional restrictions
- Collocations and constructions
- Principle of Compositionality
- -> Fregian Principle: needed for successful comprehension
Principle of Compositionality
= The meaning of a complex linguistic expression is a function of the meaning of its
components and their syntactic relations to one another.
Important factor: Predicate-argument relation (→ Thematic Roles)
Limits: The meaning of idioms cannot be deduced from construction
(e.g., to kick the bucket – den Löffel abgeben)
Thematic role
= The way in which the referent of an argument contributes to the state, action or situation
described by the predicate (e.g., the verb)
Thematic roles and grammatical roles are different notions!
AGENT
= The responsible initiator of an action
e.g. PETER injured Harry.
PATIENT
= The person or thing undergoing the effect
of some action, often including change
e.g. Peter injured HARRY.
THEME
= The person or thing moved by the action
e.g. He gave THE DETECTIVE STORY to Jane
EXPERIENCER
= The person or thing experiencing a
psychological or physical state
e.g. MRS. MILLER had been cold all day.
RECIPIENT
= The person who receives a physical object
e.g. He gave the detective story to JANE.
BENEFICIARY
= The person for whom an action is
performed
e.g. They planned a party for MARY.
INSTRUMENT
= The intermediary through which an action
is performed
e.g. He opened the door with A KEY.
GOAL
= The entity at which the action is directed
e.g. Harry rolled the ball towards PETER.
SOURCE
= “Starting point” of the action
e.g. Peter bought the book from MARY.
CAUSE/STIMULUS
= Any natural force that brings about a
change of state
e.g. THE WIND broke the window.
LOCATION
= A location of an action or state
e.g. THIS TABLE seats four people.
Constructional Meaning
= Structural patterns are capable of carrying meaning themselves
- The caused-motion construction
- The ditransitive construction
Construction patterns: force other verbs (e.g., sneeze, bake) to behave like verbs that typically display the pattern (e.g., push, send). Constructional patterns themselves select particular thematic roles.
- The caused-motion construction
Form: NP V NP PP
Meaning: ‘X causes Y to go somewhere’
e.g. John pushed the book off the table.
- The ditransitive construction
Form: NP V NP NP
Meaning: ‘X causes Y to have Z
e.g. John sent Mary a present.
Semantic sentence relations
= Context-independent meaning relation between sentences
Entailment
= Relation of a logical inclusion (implication)
p entails q when the truth of p guarantees the truth of q, and the falsity of q guarantees the falsity of p
p: Someone murdered JFK.
q: JFK is dead.
Presupposition
= A self-evident assumption about the sense of a linguistic expression
▪ Something that is assumed to be true in a sentence which asserts other information
▪ It remains true even if the first proposition is negated:
p: The king of France is bald.
q: There is a king of France.
p: The king of France is not bald.
q: There is a king of France.
→ Presuppositions are constant under negation
→ There is a truth value gap.
Synonymy
p and q have identical truth values.
Contradiction
p and q have opposite truth values.
Formal Approaches to Language
▪ The grammar forms an autonomous module (→ the language faculty). ▪ Syntax, phonology and semantics form independent modules. ▪ Emphasis on precision.
Functional approaches
▪ No adequate account of the grammar is possible without taking into account meaning. ▪ Linguistic explanations may cross boundaries between syntax, phonology and semantics. ▪ Emphasis on language use that embodies more general cognitive principles.
Cognitive Semantics
= Deals with the cognitive basis of meaning.
▪ Meaning is considered to be in relation with human cognition.
▪ The conceptual categorization is based on comparison.
Prototypes and metaphors are basic principles of cognitive semantics.
Prototype Theory
= Investigates how members of a category are conceptualized
Prototypical membership
▪ …cannot be defined by means of a single set of criteria (necessary and sufficient
attributes).
▪ …is gradable: Members exhibit degrees of category membership.
→ There are good and bad examples.
▪ …are blurred at the edges; no clear-cut boundaries (fuzziness)
Prototypical members: Good examples
▪ …have the largest number of attributes in
common with other members of the
category.
▪ … have the smallest number of attributes
in common which also occur with
members of neighbouring categories
→ Prototypical members are maximally
distinct from the prototypical members of
other categories.
Marginal members: Bad examples
▪ …share only a small number of attributes
with other members of their category.
▪ …have several attributes which belong to
other categories as well.
→ Category boundaries are fuzzy.
Conceptual Metaphor (cognitive mechanism)
= Structural mapping from one conceptual domain to another
The concrete knowledge that is used is taken from a specified source domain (‘vehicle’) and
used to comprehend a target domain (‘tenor’).
Prices rise / fall.
▪ Source domain: verticality (UP - DOWN)
▪ Target domain: quantity (UP corresponds to MORE, DOWN to LESS)
Spatial Metaphors
= Words that are primarily associated with a spatial orientation are used to talk about
physical and psychological states.
Spatial orientation:
UP-DOWN, IN-OUT, FRONT-BACK, ON-OFF, DEEP-SHALLOW, CENTRAL-PERIPHERAL
Motion verbs
Verbs that express motion include language specific conflation patterns of motion, path and
manner.
▪ In English, single verb meanings often consist of both, motion and manner.
(march, run)
▪ In French, single verb meanings often consist of both, motion and path.
(monter ‘to go up’, descender ‘to go down’)
Cognitive Grammar
Language as a symbolic system ▪ Linguistic expressions make up one symbolic unit. ▪ They are not to be separated into syntax, phonology and semantics. ▪ Form and function, grammar and meaning are inseparably linked to each other.
Linguistic symbols (units) vary with respect to their schematicity.
Schemas and instances
Concepts may be more or less schematic (i.e., they reveal less or more detail). Concepts that
are highly detailed are less schematic and very often instances of more schematic concepts.
This relation can be displayed in a taxonomy.
Traditional linguistics
▪ takes a formal approach to language:
It investigates and represents formal relationships between linguistic expressions within the separate modules of language.
Cognitive linguistics
▪ takes a holistic approach
to language:
No separation between form (syntax, phonology, morphology, grammar) and function (meaning, semantics).
▪ takes a functional approach to language: It investigates and represents meaning relationships between linguistic expressions.
