Vocabulary and Terminology Chapter 6: Semantics

Question 1

Anti-Intersection Adjective

Answer 1

An adjective whose referents are not in the set refereed to by noun that it modifies

Question 2

Antonym

Answer 2

A meaning relationship between words where their meanings are in some sense opposite

Question 3

Complementary Antonym

Answer 3

Pair of antonyms such that everything must be described by the first word, the second word or neither; and such that saying of something that is not a member of the set denoted by the first word implicates that it is in the set denoted by the second word.

Question 4

Compositional meaning

Answer 4

The meaning of a phrasal expression that is predictable from the meanings of smaller expressions it contains and how they are syntactically combined

Question 5

Compositional Semantics

Answer 5

A subfield of semantics that studies the meanings of phrasal expressions and how those meanings arise given the meanings of the lexical expressions they contain and how they are syntactically combined

Question 6

Converses

Answer 6

Antonyms in which the first word of the pair suggests a point of view opposite to that of the second word

Question 7

Entailment

Answer 7

A relationship between propositions where a proposition p is said to entail another proposition q just in case if p is true, q has to be true as well.

Question 8

Gradable antonyms

Answer 8

words that are antonyms and denote opposite ends of a scale.

Question 9

Hyponymy

Answer 9

A meaning relationship between words where the reference of some word X is included in the reference of some other word Y.

Question 10

Idiom

Answer 10

A multi-word lexical expression whose meaning is not compositional.

Question 11

Incompatibility

Answer 11

The relationship between two propositions where it is impossible for both of them to be true simultaneously.

Question 12

Intersective adjective

Answer 12

An adjective whose reference is determines independently from the reference of the noun that it modifies

Question 13

lexical semantics

Answer 13

A subfield of semantics that studies meanings of lexical expressions

Question 14

Mental image definition

Answer 14

a conception of a words sense as a picture in the mind of the language user that represents its meaning

Question 15

mutual entailment

Answer 15

the relationship between two propositions where they entail one another

Question 16

non-intersection adjective

Answer 16

An adjective whose reference is a subset of the subset of the set that the noun it modifies refers to, but does not, in and of itself, refer to any particular set of things

Question 17

principle of compositionality

Answer 17

the notion that the meaning of a phrasal expression is predictable from the meanings of the expressions it contains and how they were syntactically combined

Question 18

proposition

Answer 18

the sense expressed by a sentence. Characteristically, propositions can be true or false.

Question 19

Prototype

Answer 19

For any given set, a member that exhibits that typical qualities of the members of that set

Question 20

Pure intersection

Answer 20

the relationship between the reference of an adjective and a noun it modifies such that each picks out a particular group of things and the reference of the resulting phrase is all of the things that are in both the reference set of the adjective and the reference set of the noun.

Question 21

Reference

Answer 21

A component of linguistic meaning that relates the sense of some expression to entities in the outside world.

Question 22

Referent

Answer 22

An actual entity or an individual in the world to which some expression refers.

Question 23

Semantics

Answer 23

The study of linguistic meaning.

Question 24

Sense

Answer 24

A mental representation of an expressions meaning

Question 25

Sister terms

Answer 25

words that in terms of their reference are at the same level in the hierarchy.

Question 26

Subsective Adjective

Answer 26

An adjective whose reference is included in the set of things that the noun it modifies refers to

Question 27

Synonym

Answer 27

A meaning relationship between words where their reference is exactly the same.

Question 28

Truth conditions

Answer 28

The set of conditions that would have to hold in the world in order for the proposition expressed by some sentence to be true

Question 29

Truth value

Answer 29

Either true or false. The reference of a sentence.

Question 30

Usage based definition

Answer 30

a characterization of a words sense based on the way that the word is used by speakers of a language