Semantics Flashcards
Semantics
the study of meaning in language (of morphemes, words, phrases, and sentences)
The Principle of Compositionality
The semantic meaning of any unit of language is determined by the semantic
meanings of its parts along with the way they are put together.
compositional semantics
study the variety of grammatical patterns which occur in individual languages and across the languages of the world.
Speaker-reference
what the speaker is referring to by using some linguistic expression. because it varies
according to the speaker and context, is outside the domain of semantics; instead it is part of pragmatics.
Pragmatics
concerned with meaning variation with context
Linguistic-reference
is the systematic denotation of some linguistic expression as part of a language.
For example, the linguistic expression Queen Elizabeth in the sentence Here comes Queen Elizabeth refers in fact to the public figure Queen Elizabeth
Referent.
The entity identified by the use of a referring expression such as a noun or noun phrase is the referent of
that expression. If, for example, you point to a particular robin and say That bird looks sick, then the referent for the
referring expression That bird is the particular robin you are pointing at
Extension
the set of all potential referents for a referring expression. For example, the extension
of bird is the set of all entities (past, present, and future) that could systematically be referred to by the expression bird.
In other words, the extension of bird is the set of all birds.
Prototype
A typical member of the extension of a referring expression is a prototype of that expression. For example,
a robin or a bluebird might be a prototype of bird; a pelican or an ostrich, since each is somewhat atypical, would not
be
Stereotype
A list of characteristics describing a prototype is said to be a stereotype. For example, the stereotype of
bird might be something like the following: has two legs and two wings, has feathers, is about six to eight inches from
head to tail, makes a chirping noise, lays eggs, builds nests, and so on.
Coreference
Two linguistic expressions that refer to the same real-world entity are said to be coreferential. Consider,
for example, the sentence Jay Leno is the host of the Tonight Show. The expression Jay Leno and The host of the
Tonight Show are coreferential because they both refer to the same entity, namely the person Jay Leno.
Anaphora
A linguistic expression that refers to another linguistic expression is said to be anaphoric or an anaphor.
Deixis
(pronounced DIKE-sis). A deictic expression has one meaning but can refer to different entities depending on
the speaker and his or her spatial and temporal orientation. Obvious examples are expressions such as you and I, here
and there, and right and left.
lexical
semantics
the meanings of words, and the relations among words‟ meanings
Denotative meaning.
The logical meaning, which indicates the essential qualities of a concept which distinguish it
from other concepts.