Semantics

Collocation

A sequence of words that commonly occur together; their combined meaning is not fully predictable from the meanings of the individual words

Types of evidentiality

Belief, induction, sensory evidence, hearsay evidence, deduction

Belief

the information is already held by the speaker, who makes no overt reference to evidence, e.g.:

I think that democracy means more than just one person, one vote.

Induction

the speaker concludes the information from evidence, without specifying the type of evidence, e.g.:

Sensory evidence

information from perceptual evidence, e.g.:

It smells like  they´re having a barbecue next door.

Hearsay evidence

information acknowledged as being told to the speaker by others, e.g.:

They are supposed to be having an affair.

Deduction

the speaker uses a hypothesis to predict a fact, e.g.:

The snow should melt more quickly near the sea.

Achievement

achievements take place immediately (such as in "recognise" or "find")

Accomplishment

accomplishments approach an endpoint incrementally (as in "paint a picture" or "build a house")

theme

The entity that is moved or whose location is described, but whose constitutional state remains unchanged

theta-criterion

states that there must be a one-to-one correspondence between noun phrases and thematic roles

evidentiality

a semantic category that allows a speaker to communicate their attitude to the source of their information about a proposition

can be seen as a part of modality

Concept Overextension

A child's use of a word for more items than appropriate (e.g., calling every male “daddy”)

Concept Underextension

A child's use of a word for fewer items than appropriate (e.g., calling only their own dog “dog”)

Denotation

The relationship between a linguistic expression and the set of things in the world it applies to; what the expression stands for

Denotatum

An entity in the world that a linguistic expression refers to

Extension

The set of all possible referents of an expression

Frame

A structured representation of knowledge about a concept or situation; similar to idealized cognitive models

The basic idea is that one cannot understand the meaning of a single word without access to all the essential knowledge that relates to that word. For example, one would not be able to understand the word "sell" without knowing anything about the situation of commercial transfer, which also involves, among other things, a seller, a buyer, goods, money

Idioms

Fixed sequences of words whose meaning cannot be predicted from the meanings of the individual words

Idealized Cognitive Models

Cognitive structures used to organize knowledge; similar to frames and used to explain how concepts are mentally represented

Inclusion

A hierarchical link in conceptual networks allowing subordinate nodes to inherit attributes from superordinate nodes

the relationship where the meaning of one word (a hyponym) is included within the meaning of a more general word (a hypernym or superordinate

Mentalese

The hypothetical “language of thought” in which thinking occurs

Non-referring Expressions

Words that do not refer to actual entities in the world (e.g., “very”, “if”)

Phonaesthetic Words

Words whose sound shape hints at meaning (e.g., slattern, sloppy)

Prototype

A model of concepts where categories have central or typical members and less typical peripheral members

Quantifier

A word that expresses quantity (e.g., every, none)

Reference

The relationship by which language “hooks onto” the world; how expressions refer to entities

Referring Expression

A linguistic form used to pick out a referent in a specific context

Referent

The specific entity in the world that a linguistic expression refers to

Sense

The system of semantic relationships between linguistic expressions within a language

Speech Acts

Communicative actions performed through utterances (e.g., warning, promising, threatening)

a speech act is an utterance considered as an instance of action in a social context rather than as the mere expression of a proposition

Declarations words change the world S causes X Representatives make words fit the world S believes X Expressives make words fit the world S feels X Directives make the world fit the words S wants X Commissives make the world fit the words S intends X

Variable Reference

Reference that changes depending on context of use (e.g., “she”, “that man”, “the president”)

Constant Reference

Reference that remains the same in all normal contexts (e.g., the Moon, Britain)

Synonymy

The relation of conceptual equivalence between two expressions

Polysemy

A single word or lexeme having multiple related senses with a shared core meaning

Necessary Condition

A condition that must be met for something to fall under a given concept

Sufficient Set of Conditions

A set of criteria that guarantees something belongs to a category if all criteria are met

Non-referring Expression

An expression used without a specific referent in mind (e.g., “there is no Peter at this address”)

Ambiguity

A situation in which an expression can be interpreted as referring or non-referring depending on context

Linguistic Context

The surrounding linguistic material that helps determine whether an expression refers

the words, sentences, and surrounding language that help clarify the meaning of a specific word or phrase

Circumstances of Utterance

The situational factors that help fix reference in context

Proper Name

A name used to refer to a specific individual (e.g., Peter)

Definite Description

A phrase that typically refers to a specific referent (e.g., “the first sign of the monsoon”)

Indefinite Description

A phrase that can be referring or non-referring depending on context (e.g., “a man”)

Pronoun

A word such as he, she, it, whose referent depends on context

Generic Use

Use of an expression not referring to any specific individual (e.g., “a man is a mammal”)

Dictionary Definition

An expression that provides the sense of a word, not its referent

Circularity of Definitions

The fact that dictionary definitions rely on other words and cannot point directly to referents

Learning by Ostension

Acquiring word meaning by pointing to typical referents (e.g., teaching “chair” by pointing to one)

Referential Interpretation

The reading in which an expression picks out a specific entity

Non-referential Interpretation

The reading in which an expression does not pick out a particular entity

The concept of non-referential interpretation relates to how linguistic expressions can still carry meaning even when they do not point to a specific, identifiable entity or object in the real world (reference), or when their meaning goes beyond the literal, factual description of a situation.

Use of “certain”

A linguistic device to disambiguate reference (e.g., “a certain Norwegian”)

Conceptual Meaning

The core, literal meaning of a word; basic denotational content

Connotative Meaning

Associative meaning expressing additional values, overtones, or associations beyond conceptual meaning

Collocative Meaning

Associations a word acquires based on words that tend to occur in its environment

Thematic Meaning

Meaning conveyed by the way information is structured (word order, emphasis, given/new)

Affective Meaning

Meaning expressing the speaker’s feelings, attitudes, or emotional colouring

Reflected Meaning

Meaning arising when one sense of a word influences another, often via taboo contamination

Associative Meaning

Umbrella term for connotative, affective, reflected, and collocative meanings

Antonymy

The relation of oppositeness in meaning

Homonymy

Words that share form but differ in meaning and origin

Stylistic Meaning

Social or register-based information a word conveys (formal, informal, archaic, slang)

Taboo Contamination

Negative affective or reflected association caused by taboo senses of a word

Syntagmatic Axis

The linear axis of combination; how words combine in sequence

Paradigmatic Axis

The axis of substitution; what words can replace each other in a given slot

Basic Meaning

The primary, default sense of a word

Peripheral Meaning

Non-core meanings or associations not central to conceptual meaning

Expressive Meaning

Evaluative colouring of a word (positive, negative, or neutral)

Positive Expressivity

Positive evaluative colouring carried by a word (e.g., reputation)

Negative Expressivity

Negative evaluative colouring carried by a word (e.g., smelly)

Neutral Expressivity

Lack of evaluative colouring (e.g., animal)

Formal Style

High-register, formal words (e.g., capitulate)

Colloquial Style

Informal, everyday language (e.g., give up)

Informal Style

Slightly casual or low-register words (e.g., surrender)

Hyponymy

A semantic relation where the meaning of one word is included in the meaning of another

Hyponym

A word whose meaning is included in that of a superordinate

Superordinate

A more general term under which hyponyms fall (e.g., animal)

Lexicon

The complete list of words in a language with idiosyncratic information

Dictionary

A compiled list of words with definitions; a type of lexicon

Semantic Element

A minimal semantic component within a word’s meaning

Minimum Free Form

The smallest unit that can stand alone in speech; a word

Lexeme

An abstract vocabulary item representing all forms and senses grouped under one lexical entry

Lemma

The abstract form of a lexeme used for dictionary and teaching purposes

Meronymy

A part–whole lexical relation (e.g., nail–hand)

Transitivity (meronymy/hyponymy)

A property where if A is related to B and B to C, then A is related to C; applies to hyponymy but not always to meronymy

Taxonomic Sisters

Lexemes sharing the same superordinate at the same level in a taxonomy

Lexical Entry

A dictionary-style unit containing one or more lexemes and their information

Entailment

A semantic relation where truth of one sentence guarantees the truth of another

Cognates

Words historically descended from a common ancestor

Converses

Lexemes expressing the same relation from opposite perspectives (e.g., own–belong to)

Idiom

A fixed expression whose meaning is not predictable from the meanings of its individual words

Agentive Noun

A noun formed from a verb referring to the performer of the action (e.g., commentator)

Grammatical Word

a word with little independent meaning, serving primarily to show how other words relate in a sentence

Lexical Field

A group of lexemes belonging to a specific domain or area of knowledge

A lexical field (or semantic field) is a group of words related by a common theme, topic, or domain, like "colors," "family," or "emotions,"

Register

A variety of language associated with a particular situation, topic, or social context

Lexical Relations

Semantic relations between lexemes (e.g., synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy)

Reverses

Antonymic pairs describing opposite directions/processes (e.g., tie–untie)

Contradictory Antonymy

Antonymy dividing a domain into mutually exclusive alternatives

Contrastive Antonymy

Antonymy where terms denote opposite poles on a scale but are not exhaustive

Converseness

A semantic relation where two expressions describe the same relationship from opposite perspectives