SEMANTICS (2)

Dr. Ansa Hameed

Previously….

Semantics: Study of Meanings Why meanings are important??? Types of Meanings

Meanings at two levels: Sentential Semantics Lexical Semantics

Today’s Lecture

Lexical Semantics

Lexical Semantics

Definitions: 1.The scientific study of the meanings of Words and

the systematic meaning –related connections between words is known as Lexical Semantics.

2.The branch of Linguistics dealing with the meanings of words is called Lexical Semantics

Principal Goal of Lexical Semantics

The principal goal of Lexical Semantics is to build a model for the structure of the lexicon by categorizing the types of relationship between words .

Semantic Field

Semantic Field refers to the set of words with an identifiable semantic affinity.

The following set (1) is an example of Semantic Field in which all the words refer to the Emotional States , while in set (2), all the words refer to Vessels1. Angry ,Sad, Exuberant , Depressed , Afraid 2. Cup, Mug, Wine glass, Plastic Cup, Goblet,

Tumbler

Semantic Analysis at Word Level

Three types of semantic analysis at lexical level:

Words as ‘containers’ Semantic features ‘roles’ they fulfill Semantic roles ‘relationship’ with other words lexical

relation

Lexical Semantics Analysis

1.Semantic Features: Words as ‘containers’ of meanings Examples: Syntactically correct sentences but

semantically odd. The hamburger ate the man. My cat studies linguistics. The table listens to the radio

This relates to the conceptual components of the words ‘hamburger, cat & table’ not human.

Lexical Semantics Analysis

Semantic properties: The components of meaning of a word.

Meaning as collection of properties/features typically with two possible values (+ / -)

Example of componential analysis:baby is [+ young], [+ human], [+animate]

Lexical Semantics Analysis

Semantic Features:

Lexical Semantics Analysis

2. Semantic Roles: Words are described according to the roles

they fulfill with the situation described in a sentence. The boy kicked the ball

verb indicates action Boy performs the action= agent Ball undergoes the action= theme

The NPs describe the role of entities (people or things) involved in the action, i.e. they have certain semantic (or thematic) roles.

Lexical Semantics Analysis Semantic Roles:

Agent= the entity that performs the action Theme= the entity that undergoes the action Experiencer= one who perceives something Instrument= an entity used to perform an action Location= the place where the action happens Source= the place from which an action

originates Goal= the place where the action is directed

Lexical Semantics Analysis

Examples of Semantic Roles:

John is writing with a penagent instrument

Mary saw a mosquito on the wallexperiencer theme location

The children ran from the playground to the poolagent source goal

Lexical Semantics Analysis

3.Lexical Relationships:

What is the meaning of ‘big’? ‘Large’ or the opposite of ‘small’

What is the meaning of ‘daffodil’? A kind of flower

Analysis in terms of lexical relations- explain the meaning in terms of the relationship with other words

Synonymy Antonymy Hyponymy Prototype Homophones and Homonyms Polysemy

Lexical Semantics Synonyms words that have the same meanings or that are

closely related in meaning

E.g. answer/reply – almost/nearly – broad/wide – buy/purchase – freedom/ liberty

‘sameness’ is not ‘total sameness’- only one word would be appropriate in a sentence. E.g. Sandy only had one answer correct on the

test. (but NOT reply)

Synonyms differ in formality E.g. buy/purchase – automobile/car

Lexical Semantics

Synonyms: Some More Examples: Gloomy, Sorrowful, Rueful Happy, Glad, Cheerful Intelligent, Astute, Scintillating

Note: However, true synonyms are rare. In most cases, synonyms may differ in one or more of the following aspects:

A. Difference in origin B. Difference in the shades of meaning C. Difference in socio-expressive meaning D. Difference in stylistic meaning E. Differences in collocation and distribution

Lexical Semantics

Antonymy: Antonymy is the relationship of oppositeness

of meaning. When two or more lexemes or expressions are "opposite" in meaning, they are said to be antonyms. According to the semantic relationship, antonyms can be loosely divided into three categories:

A. Complementary antonyms B. Gradable antonyms C. Relational opposites

Lexical Semantics

Complementary antonyms: dead - alive 　 single - married 　male –

female Gradable antonyms： hot cold （we can

insert adjectives like warm and cool between them along the continuum. )

Relational opposites : wife - husband 　 student - teacher 　 father -

son

Lexical Semantics

Hyponymy: Words whose meanings are specific

instances of a more general word, i.e. one thing is included (kind of) in another thing. e.g. cats and dogs are hyponyms of the word

animal. In this case cats and dogs are co-

hyponyms share the same ‘superordinate’ Other e.g. daffodil & flower / carrot &

vegetable / ant & insect

Lexical Semantics Hyponymy

Lexical Semantics

Hyponymy vs. Meronymy

Meronymy is a term used to describe a part-whole relationship between lexical items. Root, trunk, branch and leaf are meronyms of a tree because they are in the relationship of X is part of Y, or Y has X.

Hyponymy is used to refer to a specific-general semantic relationship between lexical items.

Dog and cat, wolf and tiger are respectively hyponyms (or subordinates) of livestock and wildlife, which in turn are both hyponyms of animal.

Lexical Semantics

Prototypes:

Canary– dove– duck –flamingo –parrot-robin ‘bird’

The best example that belongs to a bird is ‘robin’, but what about ‘ostrich’ and ‘penguin’?

Prototype: Characteristic instance Furniture – chair is a better example than

bench or stool. Clothing – shirts more than shoes

Lexical Semantics

Homonymy:

A word which has two or more entirely distinct (unrelated) meanings, e.g. bank: ‘financial institution’ ; ‘of a river’. Bat: ‘flying creature’ or ‘used in sports’ Race: ‘contest of speed’ or ‘ethnic group

Lexical Semantics

Homophony:

Different words pronounced the same but spelled differently, e.g. two, to and too. Flour and flower Meat and meet Right and write

Lexical Semantics

Polysemy:

A word which has multiple meanings related by extension, e.g. bright: ‘shining’ ; ‘intelligent’ ‘Head’ of the body and the person at the top of a

company. ‘Foot’ of a body and of a mountain and of the bed

or chair. ‘Run’ a person runs, the water runs

Lexical Semantics

Metonymy:

It is "a figure of speech in which an attribute or commonly associated feature is used to name or designate something." A short definition is "part for whole."

What do you think about these sentence? He drank the whole bottle. (container-content) The White House announced. (king-crown) I gave her a hand. (whole-part)

A word substituted for another word with which it is closely associated e.g. bottle is used for water

Lexical Semantics

Collocation

Words tend to occur with other words.

E.g. table/chair Butter/bread Salt/pepper Hammer/ nail

Lexical Semantics

Retronyms

1. a new term created from an existing word in order to distinguish the original referent of the existing word from a later one that is the product of progress or technological development (e.g. acoustic guitar for guitar).

2. a term consisting of a noun and a modifier which specifies the original meaning of the noun  e. g .“film camera” is a retronym

Some more Examples: Day Baseball, Silent Movie, Whole Milk, First World War,

Surface Mail(Retronyms do not apply to the ‘individual words ‘ but

rather to the ‘group of words’)

Finally……

Lexical Semantics is primarily concerned with discovering relationships in the lexicon of languages. The different facets of relationships are the basic tools of lexical semantics ,forming its fundamental crux. One type of meaning cannot be characterized in terms of another type .Every Lexical item, conveying a specific meaning is thus unique in itself.

Recap

Lexical Semantics

References Allwood, Jens and Peter Gärdenfors (eds) 1999. Cognitive semantics.

Meaning

and cognition. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Kittay, Eva. 1987. Metaphor. Its cognitive force and linguistic structure.

New

York: Oxford University Press. Goodman, S. and Graddol, D. (1996) Redesigning English: new texts, new

identities.

London: Routledge. Hudson , R, A.Sociolinguistics,2nd ed, Cambridge University

press, :Cambridge

Oxfords Advanced Learners’ Dictionary (2005).p.362 Prasad, Tarni,(2012) A Course in Linguistics.New Delhi:PHI Learning Pvt

Ltd. Retrieved from:

http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/research/lt/nlp06/materials/Baldwin/intro.pdf Winkler, E (2007)Understanding Language :A basic Course in

Linguistics ,London :MPG Books