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SEMANTICS (Basic Concepts and Lexical)

This document discusses semantics, which is the study of meaning in language. It covers lexical semantics, which deals with the meaning of words, and compositional semantics, which concerns how the meaning of sentences is derived from the meanings of the individual words. The document outlines several aspects of lexical semantics, including how sensory information and semantic properties contribute to a word's meaning. It also discusses relationships between words such as hyponyms and hypernyms, synonyms and antonyms, and how words can refer to real-world entities.

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Krystelle Joy Zipagan
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54 views17 pages

SEMANTICS (Basic Concepts and Lexical)

This document discusses semantics, which is the study of meaning in language. It covers lexical semantics, which deals with the meaning of words, and compositional semantics, which concerns how the meaning of sentences is derived from the meanings of the individual words. The document outlines several aspects of lexical semantics, including how sensory information and semantic properties contribute to a word's meaning. It also discusses relationships between words such as hyponyms and hypernyms, synonyms and antonyms, and how words can refer to real-world entities.

Uploaded by

Krystelle Joy Zipagan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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SEMANTICS

Prepared by: Nichelle P. Esmane


SEMANTICS

 Semantic is a part of the grammar.


 The study of meaning in language.
 It deals with the meaning of words (lexical
semantics).
 And how meaning of sentences (compositional
semantics) is derived from words.
THE BASICS
 • The meaning of a complex expression is
determined by: • the meanings of its parts, and •
the way in which those parts are combined
 A cat chased a small rat.

 A small rat chased a cat.


LEXICAL SEMANTICS

• Recall:
• Words are composed of morphemes
• Each morpheme has a meaning and/or function
• What do lexical items mean?
• Dictionary definitions?
• Images? Other sensory information?
• Referential?
LEXICAL SEMANTICS:
Sensory information
• Mental images or other sensory information
• words often conjure up mental images
• e.g. ‘moon’, ‘green’, ‘kitten’
• words may conjure up other sensory information
• e.g. ‘crispy’, ‘soft’, ‘salty’, ‘sweet’, ‘musty’, ‘humid’
• default image/sense is prototypical
• Sensory information is part of a word’s abstract
meaning, but not all.
• e.g. ‘frog’
LEXICAL SEMANTICS:
Semantic Properties
• To some extent, we can break down words into various semantic
properties.

• Semantic properties are convenient ways to notate abstract


categories which the mind uses to classify words.
• man [+human, +adult, +male]
• woman [+human, +adult, -male]
• girl [+human, -adult, -male]
• dog [+canine, +adult, +male]

• Semantic properties alone cannot define words


• e.g. why should we have prototypes for words?
LEXICAL SEMANTICS

Hyponyms & Hypernyms


• Hyponym: word x is a hyponym of word y if the
sets of referents of x is always in the set of
referents of y
• e.g. the set of poodles is always in the set of
dogs
• Hypernym: the converse of hyponym
• above, ‘dogs’ = hypernym, ‘poodles’ =
hyponym
• Semantic properties: relation between hypernym
and hyponym
• human [+human]
• > adult [+human, +adult]
• > man [+human, +adult, +male]
• > husband [+human, +adult, +male,
+married]
• > house husband [+human, +adult, +male,
+married, -employed]
LEXICAL SEMANTICS

Hyponyms & Hypernyms


• Note that a hyponym entails a hypernym, but not
the opposite.
1)A Texan tried to assassinate the President.
2)A Texan tried to murder the President.
3)A Texan tried to kill the President.
4)# A Texan tried to assassinate my brother.
5) A Texan tried to murder my brother.
6)A Texan tried to kill my brother.
7) #A Texan tied to assassinate my hamster.
8) #? A Texan tried to murder my hamster.
9) A Texan tried to kill my hamster.
• assassinate entails murder, murder entails kill
• kill does not entail murder, murder does not
entail assassinate
LEXICAL SEMANTICS:

[-male] or [+female]?
• In instances of binary opposition, one term tends to be less
‘marked’ than another (i.e. the default). This is language
specific.
How old are you? vs. How young are you?
How long is the river? vs. How short is the river?
How fast is the car? vs. How slow is the car?
• Use of the marked form makes a presupposition. How
shallow is it?
How young is he?
#How young is your grandpa?
LEXICAL SEMANTICS:
Synonyms
• Synonyms: words that seem to have the same meaning
• ‘couch’ vs. ‘sofa’
• Unlikely that there are perfect synonyms
• couch potato, *sofa potato
• deep vs. profound
• deep thoughts, profound thoughts
• deep holes, *profound holes
• mother vs. mom, father vs. dad
• different levels of formality
LEXICAL SEMANTICS:
Antonyms
• Antonyms:words that seem to have opposite meanings
• Three types of antonyms:
• Complementary single - married, dead - alive
• mutually exclusive
• Gradable cold - cool - warm - hot, wet - dry
• can modify with ‘very’, ‘a little’, etc.
• Converse above / below, give / receive, buy - sell
• reciprocal relationship between words
• relationship x entails existence of relationship y
LEXICAL SEMANTICS:
Reference
• Words also refer to (concrete or abstract) things
• reference to specific entity (a referent)
• Bill, the White House, Paris
• reference to set of entities
• person, house, city
• cf. definite, indefinite articles
• a person, the person
• Not all words contain a referent in the real world
• unicorn
THANK YOU!

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