Semantics Flashcards

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1
Q

What are ‘Semantics’?

A

Refers to the meanings of words

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2
Q

What is meant by ‘Denotative meaning’?

A

The dictionary definition of a word

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3
Q

What are the aspects of ‘Associative Meaning’?

A

Associative Meanings Include:

  • Connotative Meaning
  • Reflected Meaning
  • Social Meaning
  • Collocative Meaning
  • Affective Meaning
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4
Q

What is ‘Connotative Meaning’?

A

Emotional meanings associated with a word

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5
Q

What is ‘Reflected Meaning’?

A

Invokes additional meanings from other occurrences of the same or similar words in certain contexts, e.g. chronic means recurring, but has reflected meaning of bad

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6
Q

What is ‘Social Meaning’?

A

Associated beliefs about social groups and markers, e.g. craic has social meaning of northernness and Irishness

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7
Q

What is ‘Collocative Meaning’?

A

Meaning derived from words that frequently appear together, e.g handsome has collocations of men, since handsome women are uncommon

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8
Q

What is ‘Affective Meaning’?

A

Personal or emotional expression of the speaker/writer

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9
Q

What are ‘Synonyms’?

A

Words that share similar or identical meaning

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10
Q

What are ‘Antonyms’?

A

Words that have the opposite meanings

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11
Q

What is meant by a ‘Semantic Field’?

A

Words and phrases that connect to a specific topic, theme, or genre are used across a text to create a cohesive, connotative bubble

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12
Q

What are the aspects of ‘Figurative Language’?

A

Aspects of Figurative Language Include:

  • Metaphor
  • Metonymy
  • Synecdoche
  • Simile
  • Personification
  • Hyperbole
  • Idiom
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13
Q

What are ‘Metaphors’?

A

Allows us to explore a concept in terms of another. They’re split into 2 parts: the target domain and the source domain. The former is the concept we’re describing and the latter is the concept we are drawing a similarity from

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14
Q

What is ‘Metonymy’?

A

A concept is referred to by an element associated with the concept, e.g. using suits to refer to businessmen

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15
Q

What is ‘Synecdoches’?

A

A part is used to describe the whole or the whole is used to describe a part, e.g. Downing Street to refer to the government

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16
Q

What are ‘Similes’?

A

Saying one thing is like or similar to another

17
Q

What is ‘Personification’?

A

When something non-human is given human characteristics

18
Q

What is ‘Hyperbole’?

A

When something is exaggerated

19
Q

What is ‘Idiom’?

A

A phrase whose meaning isn’t immediately obvious or denoted by the words used

20
Q

What are ‘Euphemisms’?

A

A mild or indirect way of talking about something embarrassing, unpleasant, or offensive

21
Q

What are ‘Dysphemisms’?

A

A harsh, blunt, or offensive way of talking about something positive or neutral

22
Q

What is a ‘Semantic Change’?

A

The meaning of words and the way we use them in everyday speech is changing all the time

23
Q

What is an ‘Amelioration’?

A

A word’s meaning becomes more positive

24
Q

What is a ‘Pejoration’?

A

A word’s meaning becomes more negative

25
Q

What is ‘Broadening’?

A

A word encompasses a wider range of meaning

26
Q

What is ‘Narrowing’?

A

A word encompasses a narrower range of meaning

27
Q

What is a ‘Paronamasia’ (Pun)?

A

A playful use of language, where the grammatical function or semantics of a word are exploited to invoke new unexpected or witty meanings

28
Q

What are the different types of puns?

A

The five types of Paronamsia (pun):

  • Homophonic
  • Homographic
  • Homonymic
  • Compounded
  • Recursive
29
Q

What is a ‘Homophonic Paronamasia’?

A

Uses word pairs that sound alike

30
Q

What is a ‘Homographic Paronamasia’?

A

Exploits words which are spelled the same but have different meanings and sounds

31
Q

What is a ‘Homonymic Paronamasia’?

A

The exploitation of words which are both homographs and homophones

32
Q

What is a ‘Compounded Paronamasia’?

A

A statement that contains two or more puns. If one was removed, the rest of the statement wouldn’t make sense

33
Q

What is a ‘Recursive Paronamasia’?

A

The second aspect of a pun relies on the understanding of an element in the first

34
Q

What are ‘Weasel Words’?

A

Words or phrases that utilise ambiguity or vagueness in an attempt to manipulate the reader into taking a specific POV