LI 2013 NATHALIE F. MARTIN S EMANTICS. Table of Content 1. CONCEPT, REFERENT AND FORM CONCEPT,...

LI 2013 NATHALIE F. MARTIN

SEMANTICS

Table of Content

1. CONCEPT, REFERENT AND FORM2. SEMANTICS3. SEMANTIC RELATIONS AMONG

WORDS1. THE –NYMS

4. AMBIGUITY (REVIEW OF TEXT - STAGEBERG)

5. MEANING6. MEANING OF WORDS THROUGH TIME

References

References: A Concise Introduction to Linguistics (Rowe & Levine,

2009; 153-173)

Contemporary Linguistic Analysis (O’Grady & Archibald, 2009, p. 190-207)

Ambiguity in College Writing (Stageberb, Norman C., in Linguistics at Work: A Reader of Application, by Dallin D. Oaks, 1998)

Semantics

Definition: Semantics

Semantics is the study of the meaning of linguistic expressions, such as morphemes, words, phrases, clauses, and sentences.

What is the Meaning of These words?

ColdOldFineCoolFly

BehindAccentNobodyThisGetting in

touch

Dictionary Definition: Explaining Meaning

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Cool?s=t

CONTEXT is Key !

– Certain aspects of meaning change with the ____________________________

Nobody bought milk (store owner vs. room mates) X is old: “old” means different things depending on

what X is (person, food, currency, place, friend…)

Context is therefore very important!!

Can you think of words or expressions that have more than one definition depending on the context?

Semantics

Two types of semantics:

1. _____________: meaning of words2. _____________: meaning of

utterances larger than words

THE –NYMS: 1.HYPONYM, HYPERNYM AND COHYPONYM2.SYNONYM AND PARASYNONYMS3.ANTONYMS4.POLYSEMY5.HOMONYM

1. Homonyms2. Homophone3. Homographs

Semantic Relations Among Words

Web of words – Relations Among Words

http://www.visualthesaurus.com/

Hyponyms and hypernymsHyponymy: Words whose meanings

are _________instances of a more general word, e.g. isosceles and equilateral are hyponyms of the word triangle.

Hyponyms and cohyponyms

1. Hyponyms(Semantic Relations among Words)

Let’s organize these words:

Dance (verb)SalsaExerciceTango

1. Hyponyms(Semantic Relations among Words)

2. Synonyms(Semantic Relations among Words)

2. Synonyms(Semantic Relations among Words)

Synonymy: words that have the ____ meanings, e.g. start & begin.

2. Parasynonyms(Semantic Relations among Words)

Parasynonymy: words that have _____________ meanings, e.g. stool & bench.

Synonyms or Parasynonyms?

Do they really have the same meanings? Are they interchangable?

oVacation = holidaysoYouth = adolescentoRemember = recalloPurchase = buyoBig = large

Synonyms & Parasynonyms

Pride and Prejudice, a screenplay by Deborah MoggachThe danger of parasynonyms and

over-extensionChapter 3 : 20 minutes into the

movie

http://dictionary.reference.com/

a. GRADABLE VS UNGRADABLE (or complementary)

b. RELATIONAL:

• Converse• Reversive

3. Antonyms

Antonymy: words that are ________ in meanings, e.g. hot & cold.

Synonymy or Antonymy Flourish – thrive Intelligent – stupid Casual – informal Flog – whip Drunk – sober

a. synonym

b. antonym

c. synonym

d. synonym

e. antonym

Antonyms vs Synonyms

a. Gradable/ungradable antonyms

Grading involves _________. When we compare two or more objects.

Do the objects have the property to the same ______or not:

- +… cold cool warm hot …

Gradable: “cold” and “colder”The weather is much colder this week than last week.

Ungradable: “male”٭John is as much male as Peter. .John is more male than Peter٭

a. Gradable/ungradable antonyms (continued)

Exception:Normal language behavior: ungradable

antonyms can sometimes be graded in speech.

ExampleJohn is more of a bachelor than Daniel (i.e.

more determined never to get married, partying, had never had a stable girlfriend, etc.)

I am more alive now than ever (i.e. feeling more energetic, satisfied with my life, etc).

b. Relational: Conversives

There is a __________between both. Without one you don’t have the other.

Examples: o Husband – wifeo Doctor – patiento Master – mistresso Before - aftero Above – below, etc.

Often used to speak of reciprocal social roles, temporal and spatial relations.

c. Relational: Reversives

Another term: _____________. Examples: o Go up – go downo Come - goo Arrive – departo Married – divorced

You can reverse one by doing the other. Common feature: implication of _____in one of the

two opposite directions _ _____________

Mind Mapping

http://www.visualthesaurus.com/

Antonyms (review)

Gradable or Complementary? (too, more, less, etc.)

Relational: Conversive? (different points of view) Reversives? (one can reverse the other)

Opposing POLYSEMY & HOMONYMY

4. Polysemy /pɒlisimi, pəlɪsəmi/

Semantic Relations among Words

Polysemy: A word which has ___or more _______meaningse.g. bright: ‘bright light’ ; ‘bright colors’

A words' etymology is helpful in determining polysemy

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/polysemy http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/polysemy?show=0&t=1290530170

5. Homonymy /həmɒnəmi/ Semantic Relations among Words

Homonymy: A word which has __ or more _____________meanings

Ex: Club: ‘a social organization’ ; ‘a blunt weapon’.

Identifying Homonyms in Jokes

1. Time flies like an arrow Fruit flies like a banana

2. Policeman: Why have you parked your car here?

Motorist: Because the sign says “Fine for Parking”.

3. Customer: Have you got half-inch nails?

Ironmonger: Yes, sir.

Customer: Then could you scratch my back. It’s very itchy

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nail

Homonym, Homophone & Homograph

Homophony: Different words _____________ but _____________ , ex. two and too.

Homography: Different words _____________ but _____________, , e.g. minute and minute.

HomonymsHomonyms are words that are ______homophones and homographs.

Homonym, Homophone & Homograph

Types of HOMONYMY:

Same SOUNDS

Same SPELLING

HomophonHomophonee X

HomograpHomographh X

HomonymHomonym

Identifying homophones

1. [steər] 1. Stair, stare

2. [weist] 2. waste, waist

3. [si:lIη] 3. sealing, ceiling

4. [kju:] 4. cue, queue

5. [sent] 5. sent, cent, scent

1.Read /rid/ & /rɛd/

2.Wind /wɪnd/ & /waɪd/

3.Live /lɪv/ & /laɪv/

4.Tear

5.Invalid

6.Bow

7.Dove

Identifying Homographs

Polysemy or Homonymy*?

GRASS: herbage used for grazing animals; marijuana

LEECH: a bloodsucking worm; a hanger-on who seeks advantage

RANGE: A cooking stove; a series of mountains

KEY: An instrument used to apply to a lock; an answer sheet for tests or assignments

RACE: the act of running competitively; people belonging to the same genetic grouping

Homonymy or Polysemy ?

PASS ?

6. Meronym / 7. Holonym

PARTS OF A WHOLEMeronym: Part of a whole

Holonym: The whole to which parts belong

8. Metonym

Metonym: is a _____ ________where a thing is called by the name of something closely associated to it.

Examples of METONYMS

"ear" means "attention” ex: lending an ear

“Washington” for the “United States government”

ex: Washington passed a law“Sword” for “military power”

ex: not by sword


Crown - in place of a royal personThe White House - in place of the President or others who work thereThe suits - in place of business peopleDish - for an entire plate of foodCup - for a mugThe Pentagon - to refer to the staffThe restaurant - to refer to the staff


Ears - for giving attention ("Lend me your ears!" from Mark Antony in Julius Caesar)

Eyes - for sightThe library - for the staff or the booksPen - for the written wordSword - for military mightSilver fox - for an attractive older manHand - for help

Application: Bible Translation

A case study of a polysemous word :

I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.

1 Timothy 2:12 (English Standard Version)Context: I allow no woman to teach or to have authority over men; she is to remain in quietness and keep silence [in religious assemblies].

1 Timothy 2:12 (Amplified Bible)Polysemy and Cooccurance: “Woman” or “Wife” ? But I suffer not a woman to teach, neither to have lordship on the husband [neither for to have lordship on the man], but to be in silence.

1 Timothy 2:12 (Wycliffe New Testament)Key word Bible:

Review of the text: Ambiguity in College Writing (Stageberb, Norman C.,

in Linguistics at Work: A Reader of Application, by Dallin D. Oaks, 1998)

Ambiguity

Multiple Meanings

LEXICAL (or POLYSEMANTIC) AMBIGUITY E.g. For many purposes they used obsidian or

volcanic rock.SYNTACTIC (or STRUCTURAL) AMBIGUITY

E.g. a fat lady’s manCLASS (or PART-OF-SPEECH) AMBIGUITY:

E.g. Many hands make light work. (in given example)SCRIPT AMBIGUITY:

E.g. I am an outdoor lover. “lover of the Out-of-doors” … or … ?

Ambiguity in College Writing (Stageberb)

What Ambiguity?Lexical (or polysemantic) ambiguity?Syntactic (or structural) ambiguity?Class (or part-of-speech) ambiguity?Script ambiguity?



What Ambiguity?Lexical ambiguity?Syntactic

ambiguity?Class ambiguity?Script ambiguity?



What Ambiguity?Lexical ambiguity?Syntactic

ambiguity?Class ambiguity?Script ambiguity?

PRELIMINARY THEORY TO SEMANTICS

Concept, Referent and Form

The Abstract Side of Language

Don’t think of a pink elephant!

Referent: the actual thing

CONCEPT: the thought in our headSYMBOL: the associated sounds in our

head

Qu’est-ce que le langage? (Leclerc)

[bərd][bərd]

Referent, Concept and SYMBOL

Qu’est-ce que le langage? (Leclerc)Ferdinand de Saussure

[bərd]

The _______ refers to the linguistic elements (word, sentence, etc.),

the _______ refers to the object in the world of experience,

and THOUGHT or REFERENCE refers to _______ .

Referent, Concept and Symbol

Referent, Concept and Symbol

Referent

Concept

Refers to

Symbol

evokes

Stands for

There is not a direct link between the sound of the word dog (Symbol) and the object it refers to.

What is called the signified is not actually what we have been shown but an abstract concept formed in our mind.

Ogden & Richards

no direct relationship

ROMEO AND JULIETTE (SHAKESPEARE)

ROMEO AND JULIETTE (SHAKESPEARE) Juliet:

'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;

Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.

What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,

Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part

Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!

WHAT'S IN A NAME? THAT WHICH WE CALL A ROSEWHAT'S IN A NAME? THAT WHICH WE CALL A ROSE

BY ANY OTHER NAME WOULD SMELL AS SWEET;BY ANY OTHER NAME WOULD SMELL AS SWEET;

So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,

Retain that dear perfection which he owes

Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,

And for that name which is no part of thee

Take all myself

Review: The Abstract Side of Things

SYMBOL CONCEPTSounds bərd]

-Mental representation of the sound

-« acoustic image » (sound pattern)

-A string of phonemes (sounds)-Psychic imprint

- We refer to this mental imprint to understand when

someone speaks

-Common to speakers of that language (therefore

conventional)

Concept (mental representation of

reality)-Psychic

-Mental image of the referent

- Ex: covered in feathers, has a beak, etc.

Ferdinand de Saussure

Concepts Across Languages

WIN (English) = GAGNER (French)•Both are intransitive verb = Subject + verb

DEVANCER (French) = “to pass”, “to move ahead” or “to be ahead” (English)•In the French word, there is more emphasis on the fact of “being ahead” than on the idea of passing.

BEAT (English) … not really a French equivalent (in Standard French)•Transitive verb = Subject + verb + object

So what happens when I want to say that I beat someone in French?•JE T’AI GAGNÉ (Litt. Translated: “I won you”)

• transitive verb•JE T’AI BEATÉ (Acadian French)

• transitive verb

A FEW APPROACHES TO MEANING

1. Connotation2. Referents:

Denotation Extension

3. Intention: Semantic

Analysis

4. Syntax: Word

Combination

What does it mean when you say you know the meaning of a word?

What does it mean when you say you know a word, such as “bird” “blue”, or “happy” ?

How do we _______ of a word meaning?

What is “word meaning”?

Approaches to Word Meaning

Here are a few ways to look at meaning:

1.Connotation2.Referents:

Denotation Extension

3. Intention: Semantic

Analysis4. Syntax:

Word Combination

1. Connotation

« Set of associations that a word’s use can _______ »

Ex: winter

Let’s do some word mapping around the word winter !

This is not enough to define the meaning …

According to _______ _______ …To equate meaning to a word or phrase with actual entities to which it refers

2. Referents: Denotation

An animal that can bark

Prime Minister of Canada

dog Stephen Harper

To equate meaning to a word or phrase with actual entities to which it refers

But what about imaginary things that have no referents !!!

2. Referents: Denotation

And what about words/expressions that have ______referents for one thing,

for the same thing

e.g. Stephen Harper

the Prime Minister of Canada

‡the leader of Conservative Party

Referents: Denotation

3. Referents: Extension

Extension in Child Speech

Overextension is when a child uses a word too broadly. Like if they called

ALL males 'daddy'All animals 'dog'


Underextension is the opposite. For example, a child may only call black labs 'dog' but no other dogs.

Ex: Calling their rattle a rattle, but calling other ones 'toys'.


UnderextensionEx: Calling soft ball “balls”, but not when

they are hard as in a pool ball.

Extension often in Adults

Underextension :Ex: Calling oranges and apples fruit, but not

including tomatoes.

KIDS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS !!!

My cousin's daughter looked at my feet the other day and saw the state of my torn shoes.

She looked over to her mother and said: "Mommy, look. She has broken feet!“

Classic example of over-extension of “feet” :)

Overextension

Referents: Denotation vs.Extension

ALSO CALLED:COMPONENTIAL ANALYSIS

OR SEMANTIC DECOMPOSITION

4. Intention: Semantic Analysis

4. Intention

Semantic properties: The _________ of meaning of a word.

Distinctive feature Analysis: to illustrate semantic properties linguist’s use a notational system for expressing the ______ or _______ of semantic properties by “+” and “-”.

Example of Distinctive feature Analysis analysis:

“baby” is [+ young], [+ human]

Contemporary Linguistics Analysis: p.

196

Intention: Semantic Analysis(or Distinctive feature Analysis )

SOW

Definition: a fully grown female pig

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/

Semantic Analysis: [+ animal], [+ pig], [- male]

[+ adult] or [+ female]



PIG HOG SOW PIGLET[PIG]

(species) + + + +[ADULT] + + + -[MALE] +/- + - +/-

[FEMALE] +/- - + +/-


1. (a) widow, mother, sister, aunt, maid (b) widower, father, brother, uncle, valet

The (a) and (b) words are The (a) words are The (b) words are

[+ ______][+ ______][+ ______]

2. (a) bachelor, paperboy, pope, chief (b) bull, rooster, drake, ram


[+ _______][+ _______][+ _______]

3. (a) table, stone, pencil, cup, house, ship (b) milk, alcohol, rice, soup, mud

The (a) words are The (b) words are

[+ _______][- ]

4. (a) pine, elm, sycamore (b) dandelion, aster, daisy


[+ ][+ ]

[+ ]


CAR

Definition: A vehicle moving on wheels


Semantic Analysis: [+ vehicle], [+ motorized], [+ 4 wheels]

…

How would we know that it is not a truck?


BUTTERFLYDefinition: any of numerous slender-bodied diurnal lepidopteran

insects including one superfamily (Papilionoidea) with broad often brightly colored wings and usually another superfamily comprising the skippers


Semantic Analysis: [+ ], [+ ], [-

] …


2 COMPLEMENTS:2 COMPLEMENTS: NO COMPLEMENT:NO COMPLEMENT: Fax Murmur Radio Mumble Wire Mutter Phone Shriek

Emphasis on: Emphasis on:- ____________ - ____________

So there’s a link between _______ and _______ !!!

5. Syntax Subcategorization of Verbs

The Word’s Context / Word Combinations

THE IMPORTANCE OF WORD COMBINATION:

An example:

What is wrong with this sentence: The colorless green ideas sleep

furiously.

The Word’s Context / Word Combinations

There are many reasons why two words cannot be combined:

Meaning• Inherent meaning (ex: colorless green*)• Connotation (ex: sleep furiously*)• Semantic limits of words (ex: watched the

intelligence*; or green ideas*)Syntax

• Complements (ex: he closed the telephone*)• Subject (ex: the door danced*)

A FEW APPROACHES TO MEANING

Therefore:

The colorless green ideas sleep furiously.

“IDEAS” cannot have a color since it is [+ abstract] “FURIOUSLY” has to modify a verbs where one is

conscious, amongst other things. “SLEEP” has a “restful” connotation. “FURIOUSLY”

doesn’t. Something cannot be “colorless” and “green” at the

same time. There is semantic contradiction here.

THE MEANING OF WORDS CAN EVOLVE INTO MORE POLYSEMANTIC MEANINGS

Meaning of Words Through Time

Neologism (or Coinage)

Neologism (or Coinage)

Using derivation:

Coffeefy …

Evolution of Meaning

Language Changes a lot, not just in adding new words here and there, but also as the meaning of these words change with time.

o « Cool » used to mean « not warm/cold ». Then the meaning changed.

o Now, « cool », is not really that « cool » anymore !

Evolution of Meaning = Polysemy

BARRÉ (Acadian French): - Blocked door (with actual bar)- Blocked door (locked)

- Blocked river- Blocked road

This is how you get _______

Evolution of Meaning

MEANING AND DICTIONARIES

Lexicology

Analogy

Definition of the French words “PLUME”:1. A feather2. A feather used for writing (“plume-

fontaine”)3. A ball point pen (ou “stylo”)

Definitions drawn out of a metaphor (or analogy).

From something concrete to something concrete.

Choi-Jonin & Delhay, 1998Dictionary.com

Analogy, Figurative Sense & Metonymy

Definition of the words “SWORD” : 1. a weapon (…). 2. this weapon as the symbol of military power, punitive

justice. authority, etc.Ex: The pen is mightier than the sword.

3. war, combat, slaughter, or violence.4. The Bible.

What meanings are drawn out of a certain metaphor? Analogy – from concrete to concrete: Figurative – from concrete to abstract:

Metonymy: pen and sword

Choi-Jonin & Delhay, 1998Dictionary.com

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