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What is semantics? associated with what the words conventionally mean concerned with linguistic meaning that is shared by all competent users of a language interested in the widely accepted objective/factual meaning of words rather than their subjective/personal meaning. ◄

Meaning(referential vs. associative) ◄ Referential meaning(denotation) refers to the basic components of meanings conveyed by the literal use of a word; i.e. the type of meaning described in dictionaries ◄ Associative/emotive meaning(connotation) refers to the different associations with the conceptual meaning ◄ E.g. needle= ‘thin, sharp, steel instrument’ is associated with ‘pain’, ‘blood’ or ‘illness’ How can we analyze the meaning of different words? There are three types of semantic analysis: ◄ Semanticfeatures ◄ Semanticroles ◄ Lexicalrelations

Semantic features ◄ Thebasicelementsinvolvedindifferentiatingthe meaning of each word in a language from every other word ◄ Themeaningofawordisacollectionof properties/features typically with two possible values (+ / -) (i.e.words are containers of meaning) ◄ Exampleofafeatureanalysis: boy is [ +animate, +human, -female, -adult] ◄ The approach of feature analysis does not work with all words in a language; there is more to the meaning of words than the basic types of features. ◄ Instead of thinking of words as containers of meaning, they may be viewed as fulfilling roles in events

Semantic/Thematic/Case roles ◄ Words are described according to the roles they fulfill within the situation described in a sentence. A- Agent and Theme: The boy kicked the ball verb: indicates action Boy : The entity that performs the action= agent Ball : The entity that is affected by the action= theme The theme can also be an entity (The ball) that is simply being described (e.g. The ball was red)

B- Instrument and Experiencer ◄ If an agent uses another entity in order to perform an action - - - - - instrument. The boy cut the rope with an old razor. He drew the picture with a crayon. ◄ An entity is the person who has a feeling, perception or state

• • • • • • experiencer. The boy feels sad. ◄ If we see, know or enjoy something, we’re not really performing an action (hence we are not agents). We are in the role of experiencer.

C-Location, Source and Goal: ◄ Whereanentityis(onthetable,intheroom)fills the role of location. ◄ Wheretheentitymovesfromisthesource(from Chicago) . ◄ Whereitmovestoisthegoal(toNewYork) We drove from Chicago to New York.

Lexical relations ◄ Words have relationships with each other; the meaning of a word can be explained in terms of its relationship with other words. ◄ e.g. the meaning of ‘big’ can be described as the same as that of ‘Large’ or the opposite of ‘small’. ◄ Analysis in terms of lexical relations includes: 1)Synonymy 4)Prototype 6)Polysemy 2)Antonymy 3)Hyponymy 5)Homophones and Homonyms 7)Metonymy

Synonymy ◄ Words that have the same meanings or that are closely related in meaning ◄ Examples of synonyms: answer/reply almost/nearly broad/wide buy/purchase freedom/ liberty car/automobile

◄ Synonyms can often, though not always, be substituted for each other in sentences (e.g. what was his answer/reply?) ◄ ‘sameness’ is not necessarily ‘total sameness’; only one word would be appropriate in a sentence. (e.g. Sandy only had one correct answer (NOT reply) on the test. )

◄ There are also regional differences in the use of synonyms: (e.g. American English: candy, chips, diaper, gasoline VS British English: sweet, crisps, nappy, petrol) ◄ Synonyms might differ in terms of formal versus informal uses. (e.g. My father purchased a large automobile VS My dad bought a big car)

Antonymy ◄ Words with opposite meanings ◄ Three main types: 1) Gradable antonyms: (opposites along a scale)

Used in comparative forms (e.g., I am smaller than you) The negative of one member does not necessarily imply the other. (e.g.‘’ My car isn’t old’’, doesn’t necessarily mean that ‘’My car is new’’. Non-gradable antonyms: (direct opposites/complementary pairs) Can’t be used in comparative forms (e.g., *He is more alive than you) The negative of one member of a non-gradable pair does imply the other member. (e.g.‘’My grandparents aren’t alive =My grandparents are dead). Reversives (one is the reverse action of the other) (e.g. enter/ exist, pack/unpack, lengthen/shorten, raise/lower, tie/untie, ascend/ descend)

Hyponymy ◄ The meaning of one word is included in the meaning of the other. ◄ Examples are pairs like: horse / animal rose / flower carrot / vegetable ant / insect boil / cook stab / injure

◄ There is some type of hierarchical relationship( e.g. a rose is a type of flower) ◄ The words of a higher level are called superordinate terms (e.g. flower) whereas those of a lower level are called hyponyms(e.g. rose); if two or more words share one superordinate term, they are called co-hyponyms

Prototypes ◄ Of co-hyponyms, the one which presents the best example/most characteristic instance of a superordinate term is called a prototype. ◄ Examples are pairs like: robin / bird shirt / clothing / chair / furniture

Homophones and Homonyms ◄ Homonymy: A word with one form(written & spoken) has two or more unrelated meanings. ◄ Examples are like: Bank: ‘financial institution’ ; ‘of a river’. Bat: ‘flying creature’ or ‘used in sports’ Race: ‘contest of speed’ or ‘ethnic group’ ◄ Homophones: words with different forms and pronunciation (e.g. two/ to / too; right /write) the same

Polysemy ◄ A Word with the same form and two or more related meanings ◄ Examples are like bright: ‘shining’ ; ‘intelligent’ ‘Foot’ofaperson,ofamountain,of abed. ◄ In dictionaries: polysemy (single entry) Homonymy (separate entries) ◄ Polysemy, homonymy and homophones are the basis of a lot of word play

Polysemy & homonymy ◄ A word like ‘’Date’’ can represent homonymy and polysemy: Homonyms: (two unrelated meanings/two entries) Date (= a thing we can eat) Date (= a point in time). Polysemy:( related meanings/ a single entry) day and month (= on a letter), an arranged meeting time (= an appointment) social meeting (= with someone you like)

Metonymy ◄ A word used in place of another word with which it is closely connected in everyday experience, e.g. He drank the whole bottle (=the liquid Not the glass object). ◄ That close connection can be based on: 1.a container–contents relation (bottle/water, can/juice) 2.a whole–part relation (car/wheels, house/roof) 3.a representative–symbol relationship (king/crown, the President/the White House)

◄ Metonymy is used when talking about: 1.filling up the car, 2.answering the door, 3.boiling a kettle 4. giving someone a hand, 5. needing some wheels.

Collocation ◄ Wordsthatfrequentlyoccurtogether(e.g. table/chair, butter/bread, salt/pepper, hammer/ nail.) ◄ In recent years, the study of which words occur together and their frequency of occurrence has received a lot of attention in corpus linguistics.

What is semantics?
associated with what the words conventionally mean concerned with linguistic meaning that is shared by all
competent users of a language
interested in the widely accepted objective/factual meaning of words rather than their subjective/personal meaning.
◄

Meaning(referential vs. associative)
◄ Referential meaning(denotation) refers to the basic components of meanings conveyed by the literal use of a word; i.e. the type of meaning described in dictionaries
◄ Associative/emotive meaning(connotation) refers to the different associations with the conceptual meaning
◄ E.g. needle= ‘thin, sharp, steel instrument’ is associated with ‘pain’, ‘blood’ or ‘illness’
How can we analyze the meaning of different words?
There are three types of semantic analysis:
◄ Semanticfeatures ◄ Semanticroles
◄ Lexicalrelations

Semantic features
◄ Thebasicelementsinvolvedindifferentiatingthe meaning of each word in a language from every other word
◄ Themeaningofawordisacollectionof properties/features typically with two possible values (+ / -) (i.e.words are containers of meaning)
◄ Exampleofafeatureanalysis:
boy is [ +animate, +human, -female, -adult]
◄ The approach of feature analysis does not work with all words in a language; there is more to the meaning of words than the basic types of features.
◄ Instead of thinking of words as containers of meaning, they may be viewed as fulfilling roles in events

Semantic/Thematic/Case roles
◄ Words are described according to the roles they fulfill within the situation described in a sentence.
A- Agent and Theme:
The boy kicked the ball verb: indicates action
Boy : The entity that performs the action= agent
Ball : The entity that is affected by the action= theme The theme can also be an entity (The ball) that is simply being described (e.g. The ball was red)

B- Instrument and Experiencer
◄ If an agent uses another entity in order to perform an action - - - - - instrument.
The boy cut the rope with an old razor.
He drew the picture with a crayon.
◄ An entity is the person who has a feeling, perception or state

• 
  
  
  
  • 
    
    
    
    • 
      
      
      
      • 
        
        
        
        • 
          
          
          
          • experiencer.
            The boy feels sad.
            ◄ If we see, know or enjoy something, we’re not really
            performing an action (hence we are not agents). We are in the role of experiencer.
          
          
          
          
        
        
        
        
      
      
      
      
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  

C-Location, Source and Goal:
◄ Whereanentityis(onthetable,intheroom)fills the role of location.
◄ Wheretheentitymovesfromisthesource(from Chicago) .
◄ Whereitmovestoisthegoal(toNewYork) We drove from Chicago to New York.

Lexical relations
◄ Words have relationships with each other; the meaning of a word can be explained in terms of its relationship with other words.
◄ e.g. the meaning of ‘big’ can be described as the same as that of ‘Large’ or the opposite of ‘small’.
◄ Analysis in terms of lexical relations includes:
1)Synonymy 4)Prototype 6)Polysemy
2)Antonymy 3)Hyponymy 5)Homophones and Homonyms 7)Metonymy

Synonymy
◄ Words that have the same meanings or that are closely related in meaning
◄ Examples of synonyms:
answer/reply almost/nearly broad/wide buy/purchase freedom/ liberty
car/automobile

◄ Synonyms can often, though not always, be substituted for each other in sentences (e.g. what was his answer/reply?)
◄ ‘sameness’ is not necessarily ‘total sameness’; only one word would be appropriate in a sentence. (e.g. Sandy only had one correct answer (NOT reply) on the test. )

◄ There are also regional differences in the use of synonyms: (e.g. American English: candy, chips, diaper, gasoline VS British English: sweet, crisps, nappy, petrol)
◄ Synonyms might differ in terms of formal versus informal uses. (e.g. My father purchased a large automobile VS My dad bought a big car)

Antonymy
◄ Words with opposite meanings ◄ Three main types:
1)
Gradable antonyms: (opposites along a scale)

Used in comparative forms (e.g., I am smaller than you)
The negative of one member does not necessarily imply the other. (e.g.‘’ My car isn’t old’’, doesn’t necessarily mean that ‘’My car is new’’.
Non-gradable antonyms: (direct opposites/complementary pairs)
Can’t be used in comparative forms (e.g., *He is more alive than you)
The negative of one member of a non-gradable pair does imply the other member. (e.g.‘’My grandparents aren’t alive =My grandparents are dead).
Reversives (one is the reverse action of the other) (e.g. enter/ exist, pack/unpack, lengthen/shorten, raise/lower, tie/untie, ascend/ descend)

Hyponymy
◄ The meaning of one word is included in the meaning of the other.
◄ Examples are pairs like:
horse / animal rose / flower
carrot / vegetable
ant / insect boil / cook stab / injure

◄ There is some type of hierarchical relationship( e.g. a rose is a type of flower)
◄ The words of a higher level are called superordinate terms (e.g. flower) whereas those of a lower level are called hyponyms(e.g. rose); if two or more words share one superordinate term, they are called co-hyponyms

Prototypes
◄ Of co-hyponyms, the one which presents the best example/most characteristic instance of a superordinate term is called a prototype.
◄ Examples are pairs like:
robin / bird shirt / clothing / chair / furniture

Homophones and Homonyms
◄ Homonymy: A word with one form(written & spoken) has two
or more unrelated meanings.
◄ Examples are like:
Bank: ‘financial institution’ ; ‘of a river’. Bat: ‘flying creature’ or ‘used in sports’ Race: ‘contest of speed’ or ‘ethnic group’
◄ Homophones: words with different forms and pronunciation (e.g. two/ to / too; right /write)
the same

Polysemy
◄ A Word with the same form and two or more related meanings
◄ Examples are like
bright: ‘shining’ ; ‘intelligent’
‘Foot’ofaperson,ofamountain,of abed.
◄ In dictionaries: polysemy (single entry) Homonymy (separate
entries)
◄ Polysemy, homonymy and homophones are the basis of a lot of
word play

Polysemy & homonymy
◄ A word like ‘’Date’’ can represent homonymy and polysemy: Homonyms: (two unrelated meanings/two entries)
Date (= a thing we can eat)
Date (= a point in time).
Polysemy:( related meanings/ a single entry)
day and month (= on a letter),
an arranged meeting time (= an appointment) social meeting (= with someone you like)

Metonymy
◄ A word used in place of another word with which it is closely connected in everyday experience, e.g. He drank the whole bottle (=the liquid Not the glass object).
◄ That close connection can be based on:
1.a container–contents relation (bottle/water, can/juice)
2.a whole–part relation (car/wheels, house/roof)
3.a representative–symbol relationship (king/crown, the
President/the White House)

◄ Metonymy is used when talking about:
1.filling up the car, 2.answering the door, 3.boiling a kettle
4. giving someone a hand, 5. needing some wheels.

Collocation
◄ Wordsthatfrequentlyoccurtogether(e.g. table/chair, butter/bread, salt/pepper, hammer/ nail.)
◄ In recent years, the study of which words occur together and their frequency of occurrence has received a lot of attention in corpus linguistics.