Semantics

SemanticsRabar A. Mahmood15500099

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SemanticsThere are different perspectives of defining Semantics by scholars, such as:According to Syal and Jindal (2007), Semantics is defined as the study of meaning in language.They further say that, semantics is the branch of linguistics mainly dealing with meaning.Semantics is the study of the meaning of words, phrases and sentences. (Yule,1996)

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Semantic relations among words (Lexical relations)Synonymy: freedom- liberty , answer-reply." Sameness of meaningThe meaning of conceal= hide

-Cathy had only one correct answer in the test, its near synonym reply would sound odd.

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Antonyms: happy-sad, alive- dead

A-Gradable antonyms: comparative, big, small.

B-Non-gradable antonyms (complementary pairs): that person is not dead indeed means that person is alive

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HypernymBuilding

Hyponym House Flat Factory

Villa CottageMansion

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Homonymy: Words that have the same spelling and same pronunciation, but different meaning.bank (of a river)-bank(financial institution)

Homograph: Words that have the same spelling, but different pronunciation and different meaning.-The dove is a white bird. -He dove into the pool.

Homophony: Words that have the same pronunciation, but different spelling and different meaning. meet-meat, waste-waist.

Polysemy: one form having multiple meanings, head, used to refer to the object on top of your body, on top of a glass of beer, on top of a company or department.

Homonymy

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Semantic relations involving sentencesParaphrasing: Korean husbands beat their wives.Korean wives are beaten by their husbands.

Entailment: whenever A is true then B must be true, if the B is false so the A must be false too.

A:Labo is a dog. B:Labo is an animal.

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Contradiction: Chacha is an orphan. Chachas father is here.

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Meaning

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Denotationcan be synonymous withreference,andconnotationwithsense.The denotation of this example is a redrosewith a green stem. The connotation is that is asymbolof passion and lovethis is what the rose represents.

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Extension and IntentionDavid Cameron is the leader of the governing party.

Individual (name) concept

Extension intension

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How semantics help us to understand the nature of language?

The hamburger ate the man.

My cat studied linguistics.

A table was listening to some music.

Theses sentences are syntactically correct but semantically odd

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The hamburger ate the man. NP V NPThe kind of a noun which can be subject of the

verb ate must donate entities which are

capable of eating.

The noun hamburger does not have this

property but man has.

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Semantic FeaturesSemantic properties: the components of meaning of a word.Meaning as collocation of properties/features typically with two possible values (+ / -)Example of componential analysis: Baby is [+ young],[+human],[+animate]

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Conceptual system

Conceptual system capable of organizing every imaginable aspect of our experience, inner feelings, perceptions, to cultural and social phenomena.Fuzzy concept: rich, old, strong, genius Graded Membership: Cristiano Ronaldo is

better foot ball star than Frank Lampard.

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Metaphor: your are wasting my time

he is living on borrowed time.

A spatial metaphor: -Positive (happy, health and life) up,I am feeling up. He is at the peak of health.

-Negative (sad, dead, sickness ) downI am feeling down. He is sinking fast.

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The lexicalization of ConceptsLanguages are different in terms of how they express particular concepts.Lexicalization: the process of making word to express a concept: aput is snow on the ground

Motion verbs: the rock rolled down the hill.

conflation pattern: (motion + manner)

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Grammatical ConceptsThey are used to express grammatical contrasts which includes:Affixes like -ed for past, more than one s.Re- for againIn-, un-for negationNon-lexical (functional) categories, not for negation, may for possibilityAnd for conjunction.

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Syntax and Sentence InterpretationIt studies the relationship between syntax and semantics. In this topic the interest is on how the positioning of words and phrases in a syntactic structure helps determine the meaning of the entire sentence.

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Constructional meaning: part of the meaning can come from the construction.

Sam moved the car into the garage.

NP V NP PP (caused-motion construction)

Structural ambiguity: sentences diagrammed more than one way Wealthy men and women.

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NP

AP N

A N

A N Con N

Wealthy men and women NP

NP NP

A N N

A N Con N

Wealthy men and women

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Thematic RolesAgent-PatientRoles of NP in a sentence .The boy kicked the ball .Doer V entity affected by the action 1 2 Agent theme/patient

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The boy hurt himself. Agent themeJenny cut the rope with a knife.Agent Theme instrumentMary saw a fly in the garden.agent theme locationMary borrowed a book from George.Agent theme source

The courier carried the documents from Aberdeen to London Agent theme sourcegoal

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Deep Structure and Semantic role

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The Interpretation Pronoun

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Principle A and B

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Thank you