Introduction to LinguisticsMs. Suha Jawabreh

Lecture 23

Review: Semantics

What is Semantics?

The study of the conventional meaning of sentences.

Semantics does not focus on what the speaker means.

Review: Types of meanings

There are two types of meanings:

1. The conceptual meaning It covers the basic components of meaning

( literal meaning, direct meaning)

2. The associative meaning it is concerned with the associations or

connotations.

Example

The word ‘needle’

The conceptual meaning : ‘thin , sharp, steel, instrument’

The associative meaning : painful

Question

What is the conceptual meaning of the word rose, lion ?

What is the associative meaning of the word rose, lion?

Semantic Analysis

There are two approaches to semantic analysis:

1. Semantic features

2. Semantic roles

Review: Semantic features

Read the following sentences:

- The hamburger ate the man.

- My cat studied linguistics.

- A table was listening to some music.

- What is ‘odd’ about these sentences?

Semantic features :

Animate, human, male, adult.

What are the semantic features that the following words have?

1. Table 2. Cow3. Girl4. Woman5. Boy6. Man

Semantic Roles-Words do not only have features, they can also fulfill roles.

Example :

The boy kicked the ball.Agent theme

The ball was kicked by the boy.Theme agent

The ball was red.theme

1.What is the agent?

-The agent is the doer of the action.

-An agent can be non-human.E.g. The car ran over the boy.

2.What is the theme?

-The theme is the receiver of the action or the entity that is being described.

-A theme can be human.E.g. The boy kicked himself.

3. Instrument E.g. I wrote with a pen. I ate with a spoon.

4. ExperiencerAn entity that sees, knows, or enjoys fulfills

the role of an experiencer.

E.g. I heard a noise.Mary saw Ahmed.

5. Location

E.g. I live in Paris.

The book is on the table.

6. Source : where the entity moves from. Goal: where the entity moves to.

E.g. I tarveled from Paris to London. I borrowed the book from Ali. I gave the magazine to Ahmed.

Exercise: Identify the semantic roles of the following NPs:

1. The door is open 2. John gave Mary a new book.3. The dog ate the meat. 4. He was scared. 5. It was bill who smelled the cakes first.6. People are afraid of snakes. 7. The window was broken by a hammer.8. The baby crawled from the kitchen to the door.9. The ship sank at sea.10. He threw the book at me.