Transcript class 13 - GEOCITIES.ws

Semantics
Adapted in part from
http://www.ling.upenn.edu/courses/Spring_2001/ling001/mea
ning_relations.html
1st class
Chapter 5
Swiss linguist Ferdinand de
Saussure (1857-1913)
Every linguistic sign has two
components:
signifier (French signifiant):
the "sound image" or form, i.e.
pronunciation
signified (French signifié):
the concept represented, i.e.
meaning
Cognitive Linguistics
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Signifier (pronunciation)
Signified (“the world out there”)
Intermediate level  conceptualization
Language provides prompts for the
construction of much richer realizations
(language is much more limited than
thought)
Signs are arbitrary:
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English dog
French chien
Spanish perro
Portuguese cachorro
German Hund
Russian sobaka
Hebrew kelev
Japanese inu
Mandarin gou
Lexical semantics
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Lexical semantics deals with the
complex meanings of words and their
interrelationships.
Semantic properties
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The idea: we can break down words into
their component meanings:
• Semantic property is a notational device
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used to express the presence or absence
of semantic properties (usually indicated by
plus and minus signs).
woman [+human, +adult, +female]
girl [+human, -adult, +female]
cow [+bovine, +adult, + female]
Semantic Properties
Ex.: What semantic property differentiates the following sets
of words:
1. table, chair, pencil vs. love, thought, idea
2. table, chair, pencil vs. water, dirt, air
3. run, fly, swim vs. sleep, read, listen
Keys:
1. [-/+abstract];
2. [-/+natural];
3. [+/-movement]
The advantage:
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We can see how some words relate to
each other
• e.g., “look (at)” & listen (to)” both have the
feature [+volition] compared to their
[-volition] counterparts “see” and “hear”
Problems with semantic
property analysis
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The problem: some words can’t be
broken down into binary distinctions (e.g.
color terms)
Another problem: componential analysis
does not capture prototypicality:
certain objects are more or less typical
examples of their category (robin,
sparrow, penguin, ostrich, hawk)
Ex. 1 (textbook, p. 222-223):
Questions A-G
Semantic relationships
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Why are the following sentences
strange?
• I like bananas, but even more than that I like
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fruit.
I like all kinds of fruit except for bacon.
I enjoy playing with dogs and other cats.
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Words are related to each other in a
variety of ways (in terms of morphology
and syntax; in terms of form; in terms of
meaning)
Synonymy & Antonymy
There are no true synonyms
can you think of sentences where you
can/can’t use the words to mean the
same thing?
small,little
annoy, irritate
inexpensive, cheap
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• Words are not absolutely the same in
meaning as perfect synonyms.
• begin/ start cannot always be
used interchangeably.
• start an engine; *begin an engine
• big/ large: a big brother; *a large
brother
Denotation vs. connotation
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denotation: The most specific or direct
meaning of a word, in contrast to its figurative
or associated meanings.
connotation: The set of associations implied by
a word in addition to its literal meaning.
Near synonyms frequently have the same
denotation but different connotations.
(example: “woman” and “chick”)
Examples
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She’s skinny/she’s thin.
Pass the salt (at the dinner table)/pass
the sodium chloride (in the lab).
He passed away/died/kicked the bucket.
Antonyms: types
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(1) Complementary pairs: pairs that exhaust all
possibilities along some dimension. There are
only two values in this semantic feature as
represented by the members of the pair.
(alive/dead)
• There is a either/or relationship: There is no third
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possibility.
A person is either alive or dead.
Examples: natural/man-made, concrete/ abstract,
native/nonnative, grammatical/ungrammatical
• Alive/dead, married/single
Antonyms: types
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(2) Gradable antonyms
• Scale from X to Y
• Fast/slow, hot/cold, happy/unhappy
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Test for gradability: can you use “very?
• Very large/very small
• *Very first/very last
• One member of gradable antonyms is unmarked
and the other marked. “old/young”
Polar opposites
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Unmarked (privileged) vs. marked:
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When you want to ask a question, it’s normal
to use the first word (unmarked):
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old/young, long/short, heavy/light
fast/slow, deep/shallow
How old/long/heavy/fast/deep is it?
Using the marked form makes a
presupposition:
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How shallow is it? (it’s definitely shallow)
How young is she? (maybe too young for you)
?How young is your great-grandmother?
Relational antonyms
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Relational antonyms have symmetrical
meaning; you can’t have one without the
other:
• Prepositions
• over / under, before / after, in front of / behind
• Verbs
• follow / precede, buy / sell. borrow / lend, bequeath
/ inherit
• Nouns
• wife / husband, ancestor / descendant, guest / host
Antonyms
• The three types of antonyms can be
illustrated in the following figures:
Complementary alive dead
Gradable
cold cool warm hot
Relational
above
below
Homonymy vs. polysemy
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two words are homonyms if they are
(coincidentally) pronounced the same:
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Too, to and two
lead (the metal) and led (the past tense)
pool table and swimming pool
a single word is polysemous if it has several
meanings:
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louse the bug and louse the despicable person
pool of water on the ground and swimming pool
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Generally, homonyms are separate
entries in a dictionary, while
polysemous words list several
definitions under the same entry
Homonymous or polysemous?
• Bad news/bad boy
• Bear arms/grizzly bear/bare arms
• Turn into an alley/turn into a frog
• Beech tree/beach
• Sole (fish)/sole (of foot)/sole (only)
• Mean (humble)/mean (nasty)
Hyponymy
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Hyponymy ("under-name") is the relation
between a more general and more
specific word, a relation of inclusion.
If you can say: all X's are also Y's
then this means: X is a hyponym of Y
• For example, oak contains all the meanings of tree.
thus, oak is a hyponym of tree and tree is the
superordinate.
Hyponym
Nouns mouse
car
thief
Verbs
punch
look
Adj.
Superordinate
rodent
vehicle
criminal
hit
see
scarlet
red
alert
awake
Other relationships
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Metonym: Substituting the name of an
attribute or related idea for the actual
name (e.g., A Mercedes rear-ended me;
The White House has a lot of power; I
like to listen to Mozart)
Retronym: word combinations that used
to be redundant but no longer are (e.g.,
surface mail, whole milk)
Part/whole: toe/foot, hand/body
Metaphors
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Metaphorical extension: an icy stare/the
cold shoulder/a heated argument
Phrase meaning
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Verb phrases and thematic roles
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Noun phrases may have different semantic
relationships with the verbs they are used together
with. The relationship depends on the verb that is
used.
In the sentence “the boy found a book”,
• the boy is the one who performs an action, or the doer of
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the action (of finding). The boy is called the agent:
the NP ‘a book’ is the one or thing that undergoes an
action. “A book” is called the theme:
Agent and theme are the semantic relationships
between the verb and the noun phrases, which is called
the thematic roles of the verb.
Phrase Meaning
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Besides agent and theme, there are some other thematic roles.
He stays in the hotel.
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Location: the place where an action takes place.
Put the book on the desk
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Goal: the place to which an action is directed.
Walk from the school
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Source: the place from which an action originates.
Write with a pen
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Instrument: the means by which an action is performed.
The wind damaged the roof.
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Causative: a natural force that causes a change.
Helen heard Robert playing the piano.
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Experiencer: one who perceives something.
The tail of the dog wagged furiously.
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Possessor: one who has something