Moulay Ismail University

School of Arts and Humanities

Department of English
Meknés

Semester 4 “ Introduction to Linguistics”

Pr.D.Ben Atabou, Pr.A.Khalloufi, Pr.H.Laabidi

Semantics
Semantics is the branch of linguistics and logic concerned with meaning. The two main areas
are logical semantics, concerned with matters such as sense and reference and presupposition
and implication, and lexical semantics, concerned with the analysis of word meanings and
relations between them. Semantics is concerned with the relationship between signifiers—like
words, phrases, signs, and symbols—and what they stand for in reality, their denotation.

Denotative versus connotative meaning

Connotation and Denotation are two principal methods of describing the meanings of
words. Connotation refers to the wide array of positive and negative associations that most
words naturally carry with them, whereas denotation is the precise, literal definition of a word
that might be found in a dictionary.

Denotation is a translation of a sign to its meaning, precisely to its literal meaning, more or
less like dictionaries try to define it. Denotation is sometimes contrasted to connotation,
which includes associated meanings. The denotational meaning of a word is perceived
through visible concepts, whereas connotational meaning evokes sensible attitudes towards
the phenomena.

For example, denotation of the word “blue” is the color blue, but its connotation is “sad”—
read the following sentence:

The blueberry is very blue.

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We understand this sentence by its denotative meaning—it describes the literal color of the
fruit. In contrast, read the next sentence:

Susie is very blue.

If we understand this second sentence by its denotative meaning, it would mean that Susie is
literally the color blue. However, we understand this sentence by its connotative meaning,
which is that Susie is sad.

A word or phrase’s denotation is what we would find in the dictionary, so it is important for
one main reason—it provides clear, literal definition. However, in literature and in everyday
language, a word’s denotation is often less central than its universal connotation, which
allows writers to be more creative and expressive with their thoughts. If we only wrote using
denotative meaning, all writing would be dull, colorless, and very straightforward.

Syntagmatic versus paradigmatic relations

The two systems that produce meaning in language are paradigmatic and syntagmatic.
Paradigmatic relations are the oppositions between elements that can replace one
another.Syntagmatic relations define combinatory possibilities; the relations between elements
that might combine in a sequence.

A paradigmatic relation is a relation that holds between elements of the same category, i.e.
elements that can be substituted for each other. It contrasts with syntagmatic relation, which
applies to relations holding between elements that are combined with each other. The
opposition between 'paradigmatic' and 'syntagmatic' relations is an important dichotomy of
structuralist linguistics.

For example, in a sentence “The cat was sitting on the rug,” “the” is chosen from among a
number of words such as “a,” “their,” “his,” and “my” that could have filled the same slot based
on the paradigmatic system. Also, “cat” is chosen instead of “dog,” “boy,” or “baby,” and “was”
instead of “is,” and so on. Also, both the sentences “I write what I know” and “I know what I
write” consist of the same units, “I,” “write,” “what,” and, “know.” However, the meanings of
these two sentences are different because the units that compose the sentences are arranged

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differently based on the syntagmatic system. These are some of the major paradigmatic relations
of sense : synonymy, antonymy, homonymy, polysemy, and hyponymy.

Synonymy

A synonym is a word or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another lexeme
(word or phrase) in the same language. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous,
and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy. For example, the words begin, start,
commence, and initiate are all synonyms of one another. Words are typically synonymous in one
particular sense: for example, long and extended in the context long time or extended time are
synonymous, but long cannot be used in the phrase extended family. Synonyms with the exact
same meaning share a seme or denotational sememe, whereas those with inexactly similar
meanings share a broader denotational or connotational sememe and thus overlap within a
semantic field. The former are sometimes called cognitive synonyms and the latter, near-
synonyms.
Synonyms are words that are similar, or have a related meaning, to another word. They can be
lifesavers when you want to avoid repeating the same word over and over. Also, sometimes
the word you have in mind might not be the most appropriate word, which is why finding the
right synonym can come in handy. There's a certain skill involved in choosing the most
appropriate synonym; not all are created equal. It is important to consider the connotation of
the word because some synonyms can inject a different meaning than what was intended.
For example, one synonym for sad is "gloomy." However, this word carries quite a negative
connotation. Depending on the circumstance you can use it but, in this instance, if you just
want to say that someone is "down," then another synonym such as "blue" or "unhappy"
would be a little less heavy.

The phenomenon of synonymy is a central interest for both the semanticist and the language
learner. For the former, synonymy is an important member of the theoretical set of logical
relations existing in language. For the latter, there is a good deal of evidence to suggest that
vocabulary is often best acquired by analogy, in other words, remembered as being similar in
meaning to previously acquired forms.

For motives of stylistic variation, non-native learners and translators have a pressing need to find
lexical alternatives to express a particular concept, especially in writing. Harvey & Yuill (1994)

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found that searches for synonyms accounted for over 10% of dictionary consultations when
learners were engaged in a writing task. However, given the rarity of absolute synonymy, learners
also need to know which of the particular synonyms given by dictionaries and thesauruses is the
most suitable for any given context."

The productivity of synonymy is clearly observable. If we invent a new word that represents (to
some extent) the same thing that an existing word in the language represents, then the new word is
automatically a synonym of the older word. For example, every time a new slang term meaning
'automobile' is invented, a synonym relation is predicted for the new slang term (say, ride) and the
standard and slang terms that already exist (car, auto, wheels, etc.). Ride does not need to be
inducted as a member of the synonym set--no one has to say 'ride means the same thing as car' in
order for the synonym relation to be understood. All that must happen is that ride must be used
and understood to mean the same thing as car--as in My new ride is a Honda."

It should be noted that the idea of 'sameness of meaning' used in discussing synonymy is not
necessarily 'total sameness.' There are many occasions when one word is appropriate in a
sentence, but its synonym would be odd. For example, whereas the word answer fits in this
sentence: Cathy had only one answer correct on the test, its near-synonym, reply, would
sound odd. Synonymous forms may also differ in terms of formality. The sentence My father
purchased a large automobile seems much more serious than the following casual version,
with four synonymous replacements: My dad bought a big car.

Antonymy

Antonymy refers to the semantic qualities or sense relations that exist between words
(lexemes) with opposite meanings in certain contexts (i.e., antonyms). Plural antonymies.
Contrast with synonymy.The term antonymy was introduced by C.J. Smith in his book
Synonyms and Antonyms (1867).

Antonymy is the sense relation that exists between words which are opposite in meaning.
Edward Finnegan defines antonymy as "a binary relationship between terms with
complementary meanings" (Language: Its Structure and Use, 2012).

It's sometimes said that antonymy occurs most often among adjectives, but as Steven Jones et
al. point out, it's more accurate to say that "antonym relations are more central to the adjective

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classes than to other classes" (Antonyms in English, 2012). Nouns can be antonyms (for
example, courage and cowardice), as can verbs (arrive and depart), adverbs (carefully and
carelessly), and even prepositions (above and below).

Antonymy is a key feature of everyday life. Should further evidence be required, try visiting
a public lavatory without checking which is the 'gents' and which is the 'ladies.' On your way
out, ignore the instructions which tell you whether to 'push' or 'pull' the door. And once
outside, pay no attention to whether traffic lights are telling you to 'stop' or 'go.' At best, you
will end up looking very foolish; at worst, you will end up dead.

"Antonymy holds a place in society which other sense relations simply do not occupy.
Whether or not there exists a 'general human tendency to categorize experience in terms of
dichotomous contrast' ([John] Lyons 1977: 277) is not easily gauged, but, either way, our
exposure to antonymy is immeasurable: we memorise 'opposites' in childhood, encounter
them throughout our daily lives, and possibly even use antonymy as a cognitive device to
organise human experience." (Steven Jones, Antonymy: A Corpus-Based Perspective.
Routledge, 2002)

"For the better-known European languages at least, there are a number of dictionaries 'of
synonyms and antonyms' available, which are frequently used by writers and students to
'extend their vocabulary' and achieve a greater 'variety of style.' The fact that such special
dictionaries are found useful in practice is an indication that words can be more or less
satisfactorily grouped into sets of synonyms and antonyms. There are two points that should
be stressed, however, in this connexion. First, synonymy and antonymy are semantic
relations of a very different logical nature: 'oppositeness of meaning' (love:hate, hot:cold,
etc.) is not simply the extreme case of difference of meaning. Second, a number of
distinctions have to be drawn within the traditional concept of 'antonymy': dictionaries of
'antonyms' are only successful in practice to the degree that their users draw these distinctions
(for the most part unreflectingly)." (John Lyons, Introduction to Theoretical Linguistics.
Cambridge University Press, 1968)

"Oppositeness . . . has an important role in structuring the vocabulary of English. This is

especially so in the adjective word class, where a good many words occur in antonymous
pairs: e.g. long-short, wide-narrow, new-old, rough-smooth, light-dark, straight-crooked,
deep-shallow, fast-slow. While antonymy is typically found among adjectives it is not

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restricted to this word class: bring-take (verbs), death-life (nouns), noisily-quietly (adverbs),
above-below (prepositions), after-before (conjunctions or prepositions). . . .

"English can also derive antonyms by means of prefixes and suffixes. Negative prefixes such
as dis-, un- or in- may derive an antonym from the positive root, e.g. dishonest,
unsympathetic, infertile. Compare also: encourage-discourage but entangle-disentangle,
increase-decrease, include-exclude." (Howard Jackson and Etienne Zé Amvela, Words,
Meaning and Vocabulary: An Introduction to Modern English Lexicology. Continuum, 2000)

"[W]hile antonymy is variable (i.e., context dependent), particular antonym pairs are often
canonical in that they are known without reference to context. . . . For example, the color
senses of black and white are opposed and so are their racial senses and their 'good'/'evil'
senses as in white magic and black magic. Canonicity of antonym relations also plays a role in
context-specific antonymy. As Lehrer (2002) notes, if a frequent or basic sense of a word is in
a semantic relation with another word, that relation can be extended to other senses of the
word. For example, the basic temperature sense of hot contrasts with cold. While cold does
not usually mean 'legally acquired,' it can have that meaning when contrasted (with enough
context) with hot in its 'stolen' sense, as in (9).

He traded in his hot car for a cold one. (Lehrer 2002)

For readers to understand the intended sense of cold in (9), they must know that cold is the
usual antonym of hot. Next they must deduce that if cold is the antonym of hot, then no matter
what hot is used to mean in this context, cold means the opposite thing. The stability of some
such antonym pairs across senses and contexts is evidence that those antonymic pairings are
canonical." (M. Lynne Murphy, Semantic Relations and the Lexicon. Cambridge University
Press, 2003)

In order to learn correct usage of antonyms, you have to possess proper understanding to its
types, which are mentioned as follows,

Different Types of Antonyms

Antonyms fall within the three categories, namely, Relational Antonyms, Graded
Antonyms, and Complementary Antonyms.

Relational Antonyms: These are the sets of word pairs which are responsible for showing the
relationship between two opposites such as there can’t be a child without a parent or it’s either

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all or nothing. Relational Antonyms wouldn’t exist without the other. Let’s understand this
with the help of following examples,

· Front: Back

· Uncle: Aunt

· Hello: Goodbye

Graded Antonyms: These are the sets of word pairs which are responsible for showing
variation between the two opposites such as little and big are antonyms but you will observe a
lot of changes before you get to the opposite meaning. Let’s understand this with the help of
following examples, Huge, Big, little, bulky, full-size, slight, petite etc., Some other examples
are as follows,

Huge, Big, little, bulky, full-size, slight, petite etc,

Some other examples are as follows,

· Sad: Happy

· Healthy: Sick

· Smart: Stupid

Complimentary Antonyms: These are the sets of word pairs that have no degree of meaning.
There is only availability of two opposite in a possible manner. For example,

· Dead: Alive

· Male- female

· On: Off

Thus, while using antonyms; always try to keep in mind the context behind the word for
which you are looking to use antonyms. In case you are willing to get advice on how to use
English grammar rules, feel free to visit Englishleap.com in order to solve your related
queries.

Homonymy

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In linguistics, homonyms, broadly defined, are words which sound alike or are spelled alike,
but have different meanings. A more restrictive definition sees homonyms as words that are
simultaneously homographs (words that share the same spelling, regardless of their
pronunciation) and homophones (words that share the same pronunciation, regardless of their
spelling) – that is to say they have identical pronunciation and spelling, whilst maintaining
different meanings. The relationship between a set of homonyms is called homonymy.
Examples of homonyms are the pair stalk (part of a plant) and stalk (follow/harass a person)
and the pair left (past tense of leave) and left (opposite of right). A distinction is sometimes
made between true homonyms, which are unrelated in origin, such as skate (glide on ice) and
skate (the fish), and polysemous homonyms, or polysemes, which have a shared origin, such
as mouth (of a river) and mouth (of an animal).

The word Homonymy (from the Greek—homos: same, onoma: name) is the relation between
words with identical forms but different meanings—that is, the condition of being homonyms.
A stock example is the word bank as it appears in "river bank" and "savings bank."
Linguist Deborah Tannen has used the term pragmatic homonymy (or ambiguity) to describe
the phenomenon by which two speakers "use the same linguistic devices to achieve different
ends" (Conversational Style, 2005).
Examples of homonymy are peer ('person belonging to the same group in age and status') and
peer ('look searchingly'), or peep ('making a feeble shrill sound') and peep ('look cautiously').

Polysemy

Polysemy is the association of one word with two or more distinct meanings. A polyseme is a
word or phrase with multiple meanings. The word "polysemy" comes from the Greek for
"many signs." The adjective forms of the word include polysemous or polysemic.
According to some estimates, more than 40% of English words have more than one meaning.
The fact that so many words (or lexemes) are polysemous "shows that semantic changes often
add meanings to the language without subtracting any" (M. Lynne Murphy, Lexical Meaning,
2010).

The word good has many meanings. For example, if a man were to shoot his grandmother at a
range of five hundred yards, I should call him a good shot, but not necessarily a good man.

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Such polysemy can give rise to a special ambiguity (He left the bank five minutes ago, He left
the bank five years ago). Sometimes dictionaries use history to decide whether a particular
entry is a case of one word with two related meanings, or two separate words, but this can be
tricky. Even though pupil (eye) and pupil (student) are historically linked, they are intuitively
as unrelated as bat (implement) and bat (animal).

The difference between homonymy and polysemy

Homonymy and polysemy both involve one lexical form that is associated with multiple
senses and as such both are possible sources of lexical ambiguity. But while homonyms are
distinct lexemes that happen to share the same form, in polysemy a single lexeme is
associated with multiple senses. The distinction between homonymy and polysemy is usually
made on the basis of the relatedness of the senses: polysemy involves related senses, whereas
the senses associated with homonymous lexemes are not related.

Linguists have long distinguished between polysemy and homonymy (e.g., Lyons 1977: 22,
235). Usually, an account like the following is given. Homonymy obtains when two words
accidentally have the same form, such as bank 'land bordering on a river' and bank 'financial
institution.' Polysemy obtains where one word has several similar meanings, such as may
indicating 'permission' (e.g., May I go now?) and may indicating possibility (e.g., It may never
happen). Since it is not easy to say when two meanings are totally different or unrelated (as in
homonymy) or when they are just a little different and related (as in polysemy), it has been
customary to adduce additional, more easily decidable criteria."

Dictionaries recognize the distinction between polysemy and homonymy by making a

polysemous item a single dictionary entry and making homophonous lexemes two or more
separate entries. Thus head is one entry and bank is entered twice. Producers of dictionaries
often make a decision in this regard on the basis of etymology, which is not necessarily
relevant, and in fact separate entries are necessary in some instances when two lexemes have
a common origin. The form pupil, for instance, has two different senses, 'part of the eye' and
'school child.' Historically these have a common origin but at present they are semantically
unrelated. Similarly, flower and flour were originally 'the same word,' and so were the verbs
to poach (a way of cooking in water) and to poach 'to hunt [animals] on another person's
land'), but the meanings are now far apart and all dictionaries treat them as homonyms, with

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separate listing. The distinction between homonymy and polysemy is not an easy one to
make. Two lexemes are either identical in form or not, but relatedness of meaning is not a
matter of yes or no; it is a matter of more or less." (Charles W. Kreidler, Introducing English
Semantics. Routledge, 1998)

• A word is polysemous if it can be used to express different meanings. The difference

between the meanings can be obvious or subtle.

• Two or more words are homonyms if they either sound the same (homophones), have the
same spelling (homographs), or both, but do not have related meanings.

• In other words, if you hear (or read) two words that sound (or are written) the same but are
not identical in meaning, you need to decide if it’s really two words (homonyms), or if it is
one word used in two different ways (polysemy).

• The only real way we have of telling the two apart is by applying our judgement. There are
no tests that can tell them apart in a foolproof manner. Still, for many cases this is enough.

• There are, however, many other cases for which this decision is not clear. This doesn’t mean
that they are both or halfway between each; that makes no sense, because a word can’t be
both one word and two words. Rather, it means that one of the following options holds:
1. Different speakers treat the word differently. It might be one word for me but two
for you.
2. We are dealing with two homonyms, but there is enough overlap between them.
3. We are dealing with one word whose different uses are relatively far enough apart.

A clear case of homonymy 1: The word down in sentence (1-a) and the word down in
sentence (1-b). These are two words that happen to share sound and spelling. There is no
relation between them:
(1) a. Sarah climbed down the ladder.
b. Sarah bought a down blanket.
A clear case of homonymy 2: The word bark in sentence (2-a) and the word Bark in sentence (2-b).
(2) a. My dog would always bark at mailmen.
b. The tree’s bark was a rusty brown.

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A clear case of polysemy 1: The word Newpaper in the following sentences. The object that got wet
cannot fire people, and the company didn’t get wet. Still, it’s obvious that the same word is used to
refer to them both.
(3) a. The newspaper got wet in the rain.
b. The newspaper fired some of its editing staff.

A clear case of polysemy 2: The word Good in the following two examples. In one case it’s a moral
judgement, in the other case it’s a judgement of skill.
(4) a. John was a good man. He donated a lot of money to charity.
b. Bill was a good painter. His drawings always were exciting to look at.

Unclear case 1: Hammer in sentence (5-a) is a noun referring to a physical object. Hammer in
sentence (5-b) is a verb describing an action normally (but not in this case) performed with that object.
Is this one word or two? Different people may disagree.
(5) a. I own a big heavy hammer.
b. I hammered the tent pole into the ground using a small rock.
Unclear case 2: The word bright in the following two sentences. The meanings are clearly not the
same, but is it one word that is used metaphorically in (6-a) and literally in (6-b), or are these two
different words?
(6) a. Laura was a very bright student and always got good grades.
b. The lights in this room are very bright.

Hyponymy

In linguistics and lexicography, hyponym is a term used to designate a particular member of a

broader class. For instance, daisy and rose are hyponyms of flower. Also called a subtype or
a subordinate term. Adjective: hyponymic.

Words that are hyponyms of the same broader term (that is, a hypernym) are called co-hyponyms.
The semantic relationship between each of the more specific words (such as daisy and rose) and the
broader term (flower) is called hyponymy or inclusion. The more specific word is called a
hyponym and the more general word is the superordinate which may also be referred to as a

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hyperonym or hypernym Where the words being classified according to this relation are nouns,
one can test for hyponymy by replacing X and Y in the frame 'X is a kind of Y' and seeing if the
result makes sense. So we have '(A) horse is a kind of animal' but not '(An) animal is a kind of
horse' and so on.

In general, there are a number of hyponyms for each superordinate. For example, boar and
piglet are also hyponyms of the superordinate pig, since the meaning of each of the three
words sow, boar, and piglet 'contains' the meaning of the word pig. (Note that in defining a
word like sow, boar, or piglet, the superordinate word pig is often used as part of the
definition: 'A sow is an adult female pig.') Thus, it is not surprising that hyponymy is
sometimes referred to as inclusion. The superordinate is the included word and the hyponym
is the including one.

Hyponymy is not restricted to nouns. The verb to see, for example, has several hyponyms—
glimpse, stare, gaze, ogle, and so on. Edward Finnegan points out that although "hyponymy is
found in all languages, the concepts that have words in hyponymic relationships vary from
one language to the next"

Hyponymy is a less familiar term to most people than either synonymy or antonymy, but it
refers to a much more important sense relation. It describes what happens when we say 'An X
is a kind of Y'--A daffodil is a kind of flower, or simply, A daffodil is a flower.

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