Week 11 - Sense relations and cohesion

Question 1

What are the 5 sense relations?

Answer 1

• Synonymy
• Antonymy
• Hyponymy
• Meronymy
• Metonymy

Question 2

Define denotation

Answer 2

The basic relationship between a linguistic expression and what it stands for on the real world

Eg. The word horse refers to the big physical animal

Question 3

Define referents

Answer 3

• The real world object/entity that is expressed by a linguistic expression

Eg. Fish can refer to one type or different ones, the referent could be any fish in situation

Question 4

Reference vs denotation

Answer 4

• Denotation is a stable relationship between expressions and things
• Denotation depends on class and categories
• Reference depends on speakers and context

Eg. Fish denotes a certain animal in the world, but can be used to refer to individual different fish in a pond

Question 5

Define synonymy

Answer 5

• Must have a high degree of semantic overlap
• Must have low degree of contrastiveness
• It is scalar, it has to start somewhere
• Absolute and partial

Question 6

Define absolute synonymy

Answer 6

• Where all contextual terms between the two words are identical
• Extremely rare, one counter example makes it partial
• Often linked to borrowings and other word formations

Question 7

Define partial synonymy

Answer 7

• Where two words can be used interchangeably in certain semantic and contextual situations
• They are not interchangeable in every sense, some words don’t fit where the other does
• Varying degree, some words are more frequently interchangeable

Eg. Big and large are partial, cannot ay large sister but can say big sister

Question 8

Distinguishing synonyms

Answer 8

• Some pairs are not always sense relations
• Dialect, connotation, formality and collocations are examples of this

Eg.

pavement vs sidewalk
heart vs ticker
hate vs loathe

Question 9

Define antonymy

Answer 9

The relation of opposition

• Gradable
• Complementary
• Converses/relational
• Marked forms: one term of the pair is the default

Question 10

Define gradable antonyms

Answer 10

• Opposites that are not complementary
• They can both apply to some extent
• They can be graded on opposite ends of a scale
• Often words in-between on the scale

eg. Boiling to freezing, hot, warm, cool, cold etc.

Question 11

Define complementary antonyms

Answer 11

• If one term applies, then the other is excluded
• If one of the pair is denied, the other must hold

Eg. If John is dead, he cannot be alive.

If the door is not closed, then it is open

Question 12

Define converses/relational antonyms

Answer 12

• They aren’t opposite but are pairs

Eg. Husband and Wife

Gave and received

Bought and sold

Question 13

Define hyponymy

Answer 13

• A ‘kind of’ relation
• Hierachal
• Hypernym at top, hyponyms are the branches
• Hyponyms are co-hyponyms if they have the same parent word
  eg. Dog is the hypernym

Poodle, labrador and pug are the hyponyms and they are co-hyponyms to each other

Question 14

Define meronymy

Answer 14

• A ‘part of’ relationship
• Meronym refers to a part of the whole

Eg. a toe is part of a foot, a month is part of the year

Question 15

Hyponymy in terms of basic level categories

Answer 15

• One level in each set of hyponyms has a special status,
• Called the basic or generative level of specificity

Eg. In fruit, apple and granny smith, APPLE is the basic level

Question 16

Hyponymy in terms of entailment

Answer 16

• A can entail B, but B doesn’t automatically entail A

Eg. it’s a horse entails animal, but it’s an animal doesn’t necessarily entail it’s a horse

Question 17

What is a text?

Answer 17

A passage, spoken or written, of any length that is unified as a whole

Question 18

What are the categories of cohesion?

Name
Date

Answer 18

Halliday and Hasan 1976

• Reference
• Substitution
• Ellipsis
• Conjunction
• Lexical cohesion

Question 19

Define reference

Answer 19

• When both elements of the tie refer to the same entity
• One element often takes meaning by referring to the other

Eg. THE DOG ate the bone, then IT went to sleep

Question 20

Define substitution

Answer 20

• Normally within conversation
• Replacement of a more specific terms with a more general one, from a finite set of words
• Both elements refer to the same class of entity

Eg. I had A LEMON SWEET. I also had an apple ONE.

Question 21

Define ellipsis

Answer 21

• When one of the elements in a tie is absent but remains implied

Eg. MEGAN went to the shops and …… bought a top. SHE has been ommited

Question 22

Define conjunction

Answer 22

Using conjunctions (eg. and) to create clauses together in a logical relationship.

• Only one element, the conjunction, in this tie

Eg. Megan went to the shops AND bought a top.

Question 23

Define lexical cohesion

6 types

Answer 23

• Incorporates semantic relations to create texture
• Repetition (absolute synonymy)
• Partial synonymy
• Hyponymy
• Meronymy
• Antonymy
• Other collocations eg. I hate DRINKING. I don’t like BEER.

Question 24

Define cohesion

Answer 24

• When a text contains cohesive ties

- The grammatical and lexical linking within a text or sentence that holds it together and gives it meaning

Question 25

Define coherence

Answer 25

• When a text as a whole fits together to create one unit

- When a text is logically and semantically consistent