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Sematics - 2

The document discusses semantics and various lexical relations between words. It explains synonyms are words that have the same meaning, like big and large. Antonyms are words that have opposite meanings, such as hot and cold. Other relations discussed include homonyms, polysemy, hyponymy, and meronymy. The document also covers semantic features, which are properties that are part of word meanings. Semantic features can represent components of a word's meaning using plus and minus signs. However, semantic features analysis has limitations and may not capture connotations or polysemy. The document concludes by introducing semantic roles that words can play in sentences, such as agent, patient, and instrument.

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Thanh Nguyen
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42 views21 pages

Sematics - 2

The document discusses semantics and various lexical relations between words. It explains synonyms are words that have the same meaning, like big and large. Antonyms are words that have opposite meanings, such as hot and cold. Other relations discussed include homonyms, polysemy, hyponymy, and meronymy. The document also covers semantic features, which are properties that are part of word meanings. Semantic features can represent components of a word's meaning using plus and minus signs. However, semantic features analysis has limitations and may not capture connotations or polysemy. The document concludes by introducing semantic roles that words can play in sentences, such as agent, patient, and instrument.

Uploaded by

Thanh Nguyen
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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언어의 이해

(UNDERSTANDING OF LANGUAGE)

Topics: Semantics (II)


Reading: Finegan (Ch. 6)
Today’s class outline

 Semantics
Semantics – Lexical Relations
 We often describe meanings in terms of relations
between sets of words, e.g. good – not bad, nectarine – a
kind of fruit, similar to a peach
 Which lexical relations (or
sense relations) do you
know?
 synonymy, antonymy,
homonymy, homography,
homophony, polysemy,
hyponymy, meronymy
▪Many of these relations end in –onym:
derived from Greek “onuma”, meaning
“name”
Semantics – Synonyms
 Synonyms are…
 words (or phrases) that have
the same meaning
 big= large, brave = courageous,
die = kick the bucket, mother =
mum
 Does total (100%) synonymy actually exist?
Semantics – Synonyms
 Synonyms of a word can be found in a THESAURUS
 Friends clip: “Joey writes a letter”
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW1lxwsK5_Q)
Semantics – Antonyms
 Antonyms are…
 words (or phrases) that are
opposite in meaning
 dead alive, hot cold,
happy sad, buy sell
 Complementary antonyms: e.g., dead/alive, awake/asleep,
present/absent
 Gradable antonyms: e.g. hot/cold, short/tall, happy/sad
 Relational antonyms: e.g. buy/sell, teacher/pupil, give/ receive
 Some pairs of gradable antonyms contain a marked and an
unmarked term; the unmarked one is used in questions of
degree (e.g. How tall are you? – not How short are you?)
Semantics – Antonyms
 On marked and unmarked terms in antonym pairs:
check which term is more frequently used
Semantics – Homonymy
 Homonyms are…
 words with different and unrelated meanings that are
pronounced the same; can be spelled the same or differently
 e.g. bank (by the river)/bank (financial institution)
Homophones Homographs
Semantics – Aut(o)antonymy
 Auto-antonyms (contranyms) are…
 words that have two opposing meanings.
 It has a homograph that has a contradictory
or opposite meaning.
Semantics – Polysemy
 A polysemous word is a word that has two or more
meanings which are conceptually related
 e.g. branch (of a tree/of a company), date (meeting
with someone/point in time), see (with your eyes/
understand), crane (bird/construction equipment)
Semantics – Hyponymy
 Hyponymy is the relationship
between superordinate and
subordinate items that are members
of a semantic field
 Superordinate term = HYPERNYM
 Subordinate term = HYPERNYM
Semantics – Meronymy
 Another type of hierarchical
relationship between words
 Part/whole relationship,
e.g. head/body, eye/face,
hour/day
 “X is part of Y” (not “X is a https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O
kind of Y” ➔ hyponymy) kMDzRGujH4
Semantics – Semantic features
 Properties that are a part of word meanings
 Reflect our knowledge about what words mean
 Meaning components of a word (represented by pluses
and minuses)

Woman: [+HUMAN] [+ADULT] [+FEMALE/-MALE]


Girl: [+HUMAN] [-ADULT] [+FEMALE/-MALE]
Boy: [+HUMAN] [-ADULT] [-FEMALE/+MALE]
Semantics – semantic features

▪ Words that share semantic features are said to be in a


semantic class
Semantics – Sematic features
 Some problems with semantic features…
 Another problem may be… damaged examples…

Dog: [+ANIMAL] [+MAMMAL]


[+FOUR LEGS]…
Semantics – semantic features
▪ Problems with semantic feature analysis:
▪ it does not capture connotations; e.g. bachelor vs. spinster

▪ It does not take polysemy into account; e.g. girl =


[+HUMAN], [-MALE], [-ADULT], but can be used to refer to
older females (“the girls in the office”, “Golden Girls”)
Semantics – semantic features
▪ Semantic features…
-are properties (that are part of word meanings)
-reflect our knowledge about what words mean
-may not account for connotations

▪ Although there is a potentially infinite number of


features, linguists attempt to express basic
properties of meaning wherever possible.
e.g., animate/human/gender/singular/plural, etc.
Semantics – Semantic features
 Connotations  What about “Cat Lady (Spinster)”?

 Polysemy
 Girl = [+HUMAN], [-MALE], [-ADULT], but can be used to refer to
older females
Like a GIRL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjJQBjWYDTs
Semantics – Semantic roles
 1. The janitor opened the door. (Agent)
 2. The door opened easily. (Patient)
 3. His first record greatly expanded his audience.
(Instrument)
 4. Bad weather ruined the grape harvest. (Cause).
 5. Jorge heard his father whispering. (Experiencer)
 6. The young artist won the prize. (Benefactive or
recipient)
 7. Arizona attracts asthmatics. (Locative)
 8. The next day found us on the road to Alice Springs.
(Temporal)
Next Wednesday
 Bring the semantic assignment

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