Transcript Semantic Relations

SENSE RELATIONS
SEMANTIC RELATIONS
SEMANTICS 304
FIRST SEMESTER-131
MS. SAHAR DEKNASH
Yanbu University College
Semantic Relations
When we try to explain the meaning of a word,
we sometimes rely on its referential association.
Other times we tend to find associations
between words to find a meaning for certain
words. Therefore, The meaning of a word may
be independent of its association with other
words because its referential meaning is fully
enough.
Semantic Relations
So, the meaning of a word needs not to depend on
its association with other words. The referential
theory of meaning defines the meaning of a word in
terms of the referent of the word. The meaning of
the word; ‘table’ is the object it refers. However,
sometimes we need to search for sense relations
between words because words are inter-related to
each other in a way that the word itself may convey
some different senses to other words.
Semantic Relations
Any native speaker of a language should have an
adequate knowledge about the relationship among
different words in their mental lexicon.
Words are semantically related to each other in
different ways. The terms that ate used to describe
these relations often end with the suffix –nym.
SEMANTIC RELATIONS
Antonymy
The term antonym is used to describe oppositeness of
meaning (Palmer, 1996: 94–95). It is the most useful tool
of inter-lexical sense relations. Antonym is an example of
inter-lexical sense relations in the sense that, it expresses
a kind of relation that exists between words or sentences
that are mutually contradictory (Kreidler Charles
1998:100). For example,
SEMANTIC RELATIONS
Words
On
Old
Wide
Big
Male
Dead
Opposite
Off
Young
Narrow
Small
Female
Alive
SEMANTIC RELATIONS
What is the minimum condition of oppositeness?
Charles Kreidler opines that two words are opposites if
they are mutually contradictory. The idea of mutual
contradiction also suggests the notion of mutual
exclusiveness. Two words are mutually exclusive if they
cannot be obtained together simultaneously. If someone is
‘dead’ then the person cannot be ‘alive’ and vice versa.
Therefore, the two words ‘dead’ and ‘alive’ are opposites.
Types of Antonyms
1. Gradable antonyms or opposites: These are antonyms
or opposites that are measure adjectives (Kreidler
Charles: 1998:100). Examples of gradable antonyms
are, ‘tall and short’, ‘long and short’, ‘high and low’,
‘hot and cold’, ‘big and small’ etc. Someone may say,
the water is hot or the water is cold. In these two cases,
‘hot’ or ‘cold’ suggests the notion of measurement.
Types of Antonyms
These adjectives can be used with qualifiers
like ( very, rather and quite), and it can be
used with the comparative –er and the
superlative –est degrees.
2.
Morphologically
related
opposites:
The
morphologically related opposites are formed by the
addition of negative prefixes like ‘un’, ‘in’, ‘ir’ and ‘im’ to
the
original words. For example:
Words
Opposites (Prefixed Words)
friendly
unfriendly
married
unmarried
formal
informal
active
inactive
responsible
irresponsible
regular
irregular
possible
impossible
material
immaterial
The inter-lexical related oppositeness of each
pair is generated by the prefixes, ‘un’, ‘in’,
‘ir’ and ‘im’.
3. Non-gradable antonyms. Binary antonyms are
opposites that
both opposites cannot be
obtained together. For example, pairs of words
such as ‘on and off’, ‘dead and alive’, ‘asleep and
awake’ are binary antonyms. old- young , narrowwide , bitter-sweet are all examples of nongradable antonyms.
4. Relational Antonyms:
They are the opposites that display symmetry in
their meaning.
If X gives Z, so Z receives Y from X.
If X is Y’s empolyee, so Y is X’s employer.
If X is Y’s teacher, then Y is X’s Pupil.
Words ending in –er and –ee are convey relational
opposites.
Synonymy:
Synonymy in semantics is an inter-lexical sense relation.
Synonymy is sameness of meaning . Synonymy has
different aspects i.e. Cognitive, Descriptive and Near
synonyms.
I. Cognitive synonyms: are synonyms that are
substitutable in any grammatically declarative sentence.
An example of a pair of cognitive synonyms is ‘seaman’
and ‘sailor’. He is a Seaman and He is a Sailor are
cognitively synonymous. Other pairs include ‘mailman and
postman’, ‘buy and purchase’, ‘hard and difficult’ etc.
II. Descriptive synonyms: are synonyms that are used
connotatively to express the speakers’ feelings towards what he or
she describes. For example,
Faisal is thrifty and Faisal is economical.
Khalid is a bachelor and Khalid is an unmarried man.
The orange is sour and the orange is rotten.
The pairs, thrifty and economical, sour and rotten, bachelor and
unmarried man are descriptively synonymous.
III. Near-synonyms are expressions that appear similar,
but not really identical in meaning because of the
variations in their meaning. Examples of near-synonymy
in English are ‘Mist and fog’, ‘stream and brook’. For
instance, ‘stream’ and ‘brook’ appear similar in meaning
but they are not really identical. ‘Brook’ is a small stream
while ‘stream’ is a small river. The same explanation
could be offered for ‘mist and fog’. ‘Fog’ is a thick cloud
while ‘mist’ is a ‘thin fog’ .
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