Semantics

Outline
WORDS:
1. Containers of meaning (semantic features)
2. Fulfil roles (semantic roles)
3. Have relationships (lexical relations)

• Lexical relations
Relations in a system
1. Syntagmatic (string of constituents, linear order)
2. Paradigmatic (competing possibilities, selection)

• Semantics – It is the study of the meaning of words, phrases and sentences. Linguistic semantics
deals with the conventional meaning conveyed by the use of words and sentences of a language.

• Meaning
Conceptual meaning (=denotation/cognitive meaning) covers these basic, essential components of meaning
which are conveyed by the literal use of a word, e.g needle: thin , sharp, steel, instrument.

Associative meaning (=connotation/expressive meaning/stylistic meaning) is the idea, connection what that
specific word brings to you, e.g needle : painful.

***ex 1***
Analyse the following examples and name them in terms of denotation, connotation, reference:

• Cat = „A small domesticated carnivorous mammal with soft fur, a short snout, and retractable claws.
It is widely kept as a pet or for catching mice, and many breeds have been developed”
(oxforddictionaries.com)

• „When I came home, the cat was waiting by the door”

• Suppose John has two sons – Bill and Henry; a nephew Pete; and a grandson Dave. What is the
connection between the phrases: Bill's father, Henry's father, Pete's uncle, Dave's grandfather?

• What are the possible connotations of cat?

Reference - the relation between the
• Positive, negative or no particular connotation? linguistic expression and the entity in
vehicle, democracy, politics, tall, strong-willed, pig-headed, the real world to which it refers.
university

• Negative or positive connotations? politician/statesman, sensitive/touchy, economical/stingy

• Any particular connotations? the colour red vs the colour green

***

glittering generalities, e.g. Truth, freedom, patriotism, justice

buzzwords, e.g. Information society, solidarity, think outside the box, win-win

weasel words, e.g. "some people say", "most people think”, and "researchers believe", „the cream helps
reduce wrinkles”
Semantic features
The hamburger ate the boy.
The table listens to the radio.
The horse is reading the newspaper.

Syntax vs semantics
e.g. The hamburger ate the man.
This sentence is syntactically perfect: S => NP + VP (V + NP), but the meaning is not acceptable.
The verb and the subject do not relate to each other. We identify the meaning by analysing some features.

Source: Yule (2009: 101)

***ex 2***

Lexical relations
1. synonymy (relation of similarity: two or more forms with very closely related meanings, e.g broad – wide,
hide – conceal);
near synonymy (different kinds of context): let – allow – permit; start – begin – commence; end – finish –
terminate;
intoxicated – drunk – pissed (register),
thin – skinny – slender (connotation),
pavement – sidewalk (regional use)

2. antonymy (relation of oppositeness, contrast);

graded: antonyms that can be used in comparative constructions. e.g bigger than – smaller than
The negative of one member of the pair does not necessarily imply the other, e.g. That dog is not old. (It does
not have to mean “that dog is young“)
non-graded: comparative constructions are not normally used, and the negative of one member does not
imply the other, complementary pairs.
e.g. dead / deader / more dead => not possible
e.g. that person is not dead: that person is alive.
converse (reversive): they do the opposite of the other action.
e.g. tie – untie , enter – exit, pack – unpack, lengthen – shorten, raise – lower „do the reverse”

3. metonymy: part-whole relation (associative, synecdoche): A type of relation between words based on a
close connection in everyday experience (within the same domain) e.g. bottle – coke (a container – contents
relation)

Whole-part relationships
America/the pill
He washed the car./He ate an apple.

PART FOR THE WHOLE (synecdoche): PART OF A SCENARIO FOR THE WHOLE
England/ the crown/ Adidas/ Aspirin SCENARIO:
The modelling agency is looking for some new He went to the cinema./ Mary speaks Chinese.
faces./ She needs a strong arm to lean on.
 Association metonymy:
1.MATERIAL FOR THE THING MADE OF IT: cash or plastic?
2.CLOTHES FOR PEOPLE WEARING THEM: white collars/blue collars
3.CONTAINER FOR CONTENT: he drank two bottles
4.PLACE FOR PEOPLE/INSITUTION: Wall Street, White House, The kitchen can prepare your dish
5.PRODUCER FOR PRODUCT: She wore Chanel, He played Chopin
6. CONTROLLER FOR CONTROLLED: Bush bombarded Iraq, The buses are on strike today

***ex 3***

4. homonymy (same form, unrelated meaning), e.g. “bank”

5. homophony (same pronunciation, different meanings, different words): e.g. bear - bare

6. homography (same spelling, different meanings, different pronunciation): e.g. lead [lI:d] vs. lead [led],

7. polysemy (same word, multiple related meanings), e. g . head => top of your body / top of a glass of beer
/ top of a company

***ex 4***
a) Find a homophone for each of the words: wood, new, whether, piece, way, root, tale, break, here, be, sea,

which, meat, flour, deer, wrap, write, bear, wait, sale

b) Read the following sentences:

1. Billy will present Tom with his present.
2. I object to that object being here.
3. The dove dove quickly from the sky.
4. The judge will convict the convict today.
5. Part of the experiment is to subject the subject to a series of tests.
6. The wind was so strong that the sailor couldn't wind the sail.

polysemy – the same word, different conceptually related senses/uses; one entry in a dictionary:
head => top of your body / top of a glass of beer / top of a company
mouth => part of your face / the mouth of the river / the mouth of the bottle

8. collocation (the words that naturally go together/frequently occur together), e.g. hammer – nail

9. hyponymy (relation of inclusion); e. g . rose – flower , carrot – vegetable

rose is a hyponym of flower - carrot is a hyponym of vegetable

animal (superordinate/hyperonym) => horse / dog / bird
horse, dog, bird => co-hyponyms of animal
superordinate / hyperonym: move hyponyms: walk, run, fly, swim
Prototype
“While the words canary, cormorant, dove, duck, flamingo, parrot, pelican and robin are all equally
co-hyponyms of the superordinate bird, they are not all considered to be equally good examples of
the category “bird.” According to some researchers, the most characteristic instance of the category
“bird” is robin. The idea of “the characteristic instance” of a category is known as the prototype.”
(Yule 2009: 104)

Eleanor H. Rosch | UC Berkeley

„Think of dogs. You all have some notion of what a “real dog,”
a “doggy dog” is. To me a Retriever or a German Shepherd is a
very doggy dog while a Pekinese is a less doggy dog. Notice
that this kind of judgment has nothing to do with how well you
like the thing… You may prefer to own a Pekinese without
thinking that it is the breed that best represents what people
mean by dogginess. In this study you are asked to judge how
good an example of a category various instances of the
category are.”

***ex 5***
Name the semantic relation in the following examples:
-First shoot your dog, then freeze it
-On lead we lead
-What did the barman say when the ghost asked for a drink? -'We don't serve spirits'.
-What did the beaver say to the tree? -'It was nice gnawing you'.
-Have your eyes ever been checked? -No, they've always been plain blue.

Based on The Study of Language by Yule (chapter: SEMANTICS)