Semantics II (Polysemy & Homoymy Flashcards
Polysemy
- one word (lexeme) has several related meanings
Homonymy
- different words that are unrelated in meaning (and etymology) but happen to be identical in form
e.g. bank (financial institution) – bank (side of a river)
Homonymy - a) Homophones
- identical in pronunciation, but not in spelling e.g. night – knight
Homonymy - b) Homographs
- identical in spelling, but not in pronunciation
e.g. row – row
Homonymy - c) True homonyms
- words that are both homophonic and homographic
e.g. arm
Vagueness
- words are vague when they have unspecified semantic features
e.g. person, student, baby and costumer are unspecified for sex - a vague word has one (unspecified) meaning, whereas an ambiguous word has several meanings
- context may lead to specification
Cognitive Semantics
- meaning (and language in general) is inextricably linked to human cognition
investigates:
a) conceptualisation: meaning instruction, the cognitive structuring of experience
b) knowledge representation: how mental categories and concepts are structured
- meaning is constructed through categorisation → things that we perceive to be similar are sorted and grouped into one class (e.g. CHAIR, CUP, GAME)
affects how we experience & interpret the world
The Classical Model of Categorization Underlying Structural Semantics
- in traditional structural semantics, categories are defined by necessary and sufficient features
e.g. bachelor [+HUMAN, +MALE, +ADULT, +UNMARRIED]
assumptions:
- a category is defined by a fixed set of features (“semes”)
- each of these features is obligatory
- features are binary
- categories have clear boundaries and are homogeneous
Categorization in Cognitive Semantics: Basic Assumptions
- category membership is not tied to a fixed set of necessary features
- members of a category may hold together simply through “family resemblance”
- categories often have fuzzy boundaries; e.g. VASE, CUP or BOWL?
- category membership is not just a matter of either-or (i.e. binary) but a matter of degree → there is gradience (“graded membership”) (e.g. colours)
- categories are heterogeneous: have a radial structure with “better” representatives in the centre and “worse” representatives in the periphery
Prototype Theory
- e.g. the “birdiness” of birds
prototype:
- centre: best example of a category; the member that best represents the category as a whole
- can be a category member or an abstract mental idea
Conceptual Metaphor
- conceptual metaphors pervade evryday language use but tent to go unnoticed
- conceptual metaphor = one conceptual domain is understood by projecting properties of another conceptual domain onto it
- X is understood in terms of Y
Conceptual Metonymy
- a cognitive operation in which one concept is used as a “vehicle” to mentally access another, related concept
- X stands for Y
