1. 1. IN the NAME OF THE MOST HIGH
2. 2. Chapter 12 Word Meaning
3. 3. All my life I've looked at words as though I were seeing them for the first time. Ernest Hemingway
4. 4. Lexical Relations
5. 5. Lexical Relations A. Synonyms B. Antonyms C. Hyponym D. Prototype E. Homophone and homonyms F. Polysemy G. Metonymy H. Retronyms
6. 6. A. Synonymy Synonyms Two or more words with very closely related meaning. e.g. answer/reply
7. 7. B. Antonymy Antonyms Two words with opposite meanings. e.g. alive/dead
8. 8. Different kinds of antonyms 1.Gradable antonyms 2. Non-gradable antonyms ( complementary pairs) 3. Reversives (antiautonym) 4. Rational opposites 5. Autoantonyms
9. 9. 1. Gradable antonyms Those which can be used in comparative constructions. e.g. big/small Also the negative of one member of a gradable pair does not necessarily imply the other. e.g. My car isn't old doesnt necessarily mean My car is new. When one gradable antonym is marked ,the other is unmarked. The unmarked member is the one used in the question of degree. e.g. How high is the mountain?(not How low is it?)
10. 10. 2. Non-gradable antonyms ( complementary pairs) Comparative constructions are not normally used. We dont say deader or more dead. The negative of one member of a non-gradable pair does imply the other one. e.g. My grandparents arent alive does indeed mean my grandparents are dead. single/marred, true/false, male/female
11. 11. 3. Reversives (antiautonym) one member of this antonymous pair does not necessarily describe the negative of the other. e.g. In undress/ dress ,undress doesnt mean not dress. enter/exit, pack/unpack, lengthen/shorten
12. 12. 4. Rational opposites Kinds of antonym which display symmetry in their meaning. e.g. give/ receive, buy/sell, teacher /pupil
13. 13. 5. Autoantonyms Some words which are their own antonyms. split apart e.g. cleave cling together Note: Antonym pairs are pronounced the same but spelled differently are similar to autoantonyms. e.g. raise/raze
14. 14. C. Hyponymy When the meaning of one form is included in the meaning of another word, the relationship is described as hyponymy. e.g. animal/dog The specific term ,dog, is called hyponym, and the general term ,animal, is called a superordinate. Co-hyponyms : are two or more words that share the same superordinate term. e.g. dog, horse, cat
15. 15. D. Prototype The characteristic instance of a category is known as the prototype. e.g. The most characteristic instance of the category bird is the robin. The concept of the prototype helps explain the meaning of certain words, like bird, not in terms of clearest features( e.g. has feathers, wings ), but in terms of resemblance to the clearest example.
16. 16. E. Homophones and homonyms Homophones Two or more words that have the same pronunciation, but different meanings. e.g. flower/ flour, right/ write
17. 17. Challenge Your Mind Why is number Six afraid? Because7 ate9?
18. 18. C. Homonyms When one form (written or spoken) has two or more unrelated meanings. e.g. bank (of a river)- bank (financial institution). Note: All homonyms have lexical ambiguity.
19. 19. G. Metonymy A type of relationship between words, based simply on a close connection in every experience. That close connection can be based on a container-content relation( bottle/water, can/juice) A whole/part relation (car/wheels, house/roof) Representative-symbol relation (king/crown, the President/ the White house). e.g. He drank the whole bottle. filling up the car, boiling the kettle.
20. 20. H. Retronyms It is a term doesn't apply to the individual words themselves, but the combination. e.g. whole milk, silent movie
21. 21. Challenge your mind What has fork and mouth, but cant eat? River Fork: a place where a road, river, or tree divides into two parts, or one of the parts it divides into. Mouth : the part of a river where it joins the sea.
22. 22. Entailment & Hyponymy
23. 23. Semantic aspects in lexicon and lexical entries Entailment Sometimes knowing the truth of one sentence entails, or necessarily implies, the truth of another sentence. a. Max managed to finish the Infinite Jest. b. Max finished the Infinite Jest. A sentence( S1) entails a sentence(S2) if whenever S1 is true, S2 is also true.
24. 24. ? a.The dado is extinct. b.Berlin is the capital of Germany.
25. 25. Semantic Opposites a. Max failed to finish Infinite Jest. b. Max didn't finish Infinite Jest. Contradiction It is a negative entailment, that is the truth of one sentence necessarily implies the falseness of another sentence. e.g. a. Scott is a baby. b. Scott is an adult.
26. 26. Hyponym (meaning inclusion) a. The thing in the cage is a lion. b. The thing in the cage is an animal. a. The thing in the grass is a snake. b. The thing in the grass is a reptile. a. The thing in the tree is a sparrow. b. The thing in the tree is a bird. X is a lion entails x is an animal'
27. 27. Note: An important property of hyponymy is that it is a one way relation.
28. 28. Taxonomy A structure in which we meet more general terms as we ascend to higher levels. creature animal bird fish reptile Lion dog cow sparrow eagle ostrich trout eel shark snake lizard newt
29. 29. a. X borrowed/stole/found/bought Y b. X got Y a. X walked/ran/stagger/crawled to Z b. X moved to Z
30. 30. Partial Taxonomy get borrow steal find buy move walk run stagger crawl
31. 31. Meronymy The whole-part relation between the words. body arm leg elbow wrist knee ankle
32. 32. Lexical gap Think believe hope wish know realize
33. 33. Synonymy (identity of meaning) Cognitive synonymy Lexemes L1 and L2 are cognitive synonyms if and only if S(L1) entails S(L2) and S(L2) entails S(L1). S(L1) S(L2) a. Sir Lanceiot rode a white horse entails Sir Lanceiot rode a white steed b. Sir Lanceiot rode a white steed entails Sir Lanceiot rode a white horse
34. 34. a. The old lame horse gamely pulled the plough. b. The old lame steed gamely pulled the plough.
35. 35. Meaning Opposites
36. 36. Meaning Opposites tall/short, high/low, fat/ thin, old/young, old/new
37. 37. Antonyms Two words with opposite meanings. a. x is tall entails X is not short b. X is short entails X is not tall
38. 38. Complementary(non-gradable antonyms) a. The store is open entails the store is not closed b. the store is closed entails the store is not open a. the store is not closed entails the store is open b. the store is not open entails the store is closed
39. 39. Semantic Features
40. 40. a. ram, ewe, lamp b. Stallion, mare, foal Age Gender adult Non-adult Male Ram Stallion Lamb Foal Female Ewe Mare Lamb Foal
41. 41. a. Ram [male, adult, ] b. Ewe [female, adult,] c. Lamb - [non-adult,]
42. 42. a.Tall [+Average, ] b.Short [-Average, ] c. Wide [+Average, ] d.Narrow - [-Average, ]
43. 43. Reptile [F1,F2, ,Fn] Snake [F1,F2, ,Fn,fn+1,,Fm]
44. 44. Dictionaries And Prototypes
45. 45. Octagon- a plane figure of eight sides and eight angles. a. X is an octagon entails X is a plane figure b. X is an octagon entails X has eight sides c. X is an octagon entails X has eight angles X is a plane figure and X has eight sides and X has eight angles entails X is an octagon
46. 46. Spaniel- a kind of dog, usually liver- and white or black-and white, with long pendent ears. X is a spaniel entails x is a liver- and white or black-and white Spaniel-a kind of dog, with long pendent ears.
47. 47. Spaniel a kind of dog X is a kind of dog entails X is a spaniel
48. 48. a. Strictly speaking, an ostrich is a bird. b. ? Strictly speaking, a robin is a bird. c. Technically, a whale is a mammal. d. ? Strictly speaking, a trout is a fish.
49. 49. The job of the linguist, like that of the biologist or the botanist, is not to tell us how nature should behave, or what its creations should look like, but to describe those creations in all their messy glory and try to figure out what they can teach us about life, the world, and, especially in the case of linguistics, the workings of the human mind. Arika Okrent
50. 50. The End