SEMANTICS (linguistics)

What is language?

An arbitrary, complex, and dynamic system of conventional symbols or signs that is used in various modes for thought and communication.

What are important characteristics of language?

Language is rule governed, includes variability and change, and can be used to communicate in many different ways.

What are the 5 linguistic parameters of language?

Phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics.

What is semantics?

The study of the linguistic meaning of morphemes, words, phrases, and sentences.

What does semantics study the meaning of?

Morphemes, words, phrases, and sentences.

What are the two major areas of semantics discussed in this lecture?

Lexical semantics and compositional semantics.

What is lexical semantics?

The study of the meaning of individual words and morphemes and the meaning relationships between words.

What should you think of when you hear lexical semantics?

Individual words and morphemes.

What is compositional semantics?

The study of how the meanings of words are combined to form the meanings of larger syntactic units such as phrases and sentences.

What should you think of when you hear compositional semantics?

Syntax and how words combine to create the meaning of phrases and sentences.

What does it mean to have semantic knowledge?

To recognize whether words are meaningful or meaningless, recognize multiple meanings, identify same and opposite meanings, and understand relationships among words.

What is an example of recognizing a meaningful word?

Knowing that "dog" is meaningful.

What is an example of recognizing a meaningless word?

Knowing that "wog" is meaningless.

What is an example of knowing a word can have more than one meaning?

"Bear" can mean the animal or "bear" meaning to endure.

What is an example of two words having the same meaning?

Bunny and rabbit.

What is an example of two expressions having the same meaning?

"I hit the books" and "I studied."

What is an example of sentences having opposite meanings?

"She was absent from class" and "She went to class."

What is an example of knowing how words are related?

Knowing that a bunny is a type of animal.

What question does lexical semantics address?

What is the meaning of an individual word itself?

What example word is used in the lecture to explore lexical semantics?

Sandwich.

What is reference in lexical semantics?

The relationship between a symbol, or word, and its referent, or entity, in the real world.

What is a symbol in reference?

The word used to represent something.

What is a referent?

The entity in the real world to which a symbol or word refers.

Is the relationship between a symbol and its referent naturally determined?

No. The relationship is arbitrary.

What does arbitrary mean in the symbol-referent relationship?

There is not necessarily a natural or inherent connection between a word and the real-world thing it represents.

What is sense?

The properties that a referent may have.

How is sense related to definitions?

A definition describes properties or senses associated with a referent.

What difficulty arises when considering reference and abstract words?

Abstract concepts may not have a simple concrete entity in the real world that can serve as a referent.

Can one referent have many senses?

Yes. One referent can have many senses.

Using the sandwich example, what are different senses associated with one referent?

"Meat and veggies between bread," "a meal you can hold in your hand," "a deli order," and "my lunch."

Can the same sense describe different referents?

Yes. The same sense can describe multiple different referents.

What sandwich-related sense is shown describing different referents?

"Meat and veggies between bread."

What problem can occur when trying to define words?

Definitions can often be both too broad and too narrow, even at the same time.

What are lexical relations?

Meaning relationships between words.

What major lexical relations are discussed in the lecture?

Antonyms, synonyms, homonyms, and hyponyms.

What are antonyms?

Words that have opposite meanings.

What are the three types of antonyms discussed?

Complementary pairs, gradable pairs, and relational opposites.

What are complementary antonyms?

Opposites that form a complementary pair, such as asleep and awake.

What is an example of a complementary pair?

Asleep/awake.

What are gradable antonyms?

Opposites that can exist along a scale or continuum, such as big and small.

What is an example of a gradable pair?

Big/small.

What are relational opposites?

Words whose opposing meanings depend on a relationship between the two concepts.

What is an example of relational opposites?

Buy/sell.

What are synonyms?

Words with the same or similar meanings.

What is an example of synonyms from the lecture?

Happy/joyful.

What are homonyms?

Words/forms presented in the lecture as having the same or similar form but different meanings.

What examples of homonyms are given in the lecture?

Bear/bare, accept/except, book/book, and pen/pin.

What are hyponyms?

Words whose meanings fall within a broader semantic category.

What example of a hyponym is given in the lecture?

"Red" is a hyponym of "color."

In "red is a hyponym of color," which term is the more specific concept?

Red.

In "red is a hyponym of color," which term is the broader category?

Color.

What kinds of semantic concepts do young children initially learn?

Concrete concepts.

How do symbol-referent relationships develop in young children?

Young children initially learn the semantic meanings of concrete concepts, overgeneralization occurs first, and meanings are refined over time.

What occurs first during development of symbol-referent relationships?

Overgeneralization.

What happens after overgeneralization during semantic development?

Refinement over time.

What example is used to demonstrate overgeneralization?

A child using "doggie" broadly for multiple similar animals before refining the meaning.

What are semantic features?

Properties that comprise some of the meaning of a word or morpheme and clarify how certain words relate to other words.

What does the suffix "-ess" contribute as a semantic feature?

It indicates female.

What examples demonstrate the "-ess" semantic feature?

Tigress, actress, waitress, and hostess.

What are count nouns?

Nouns that can be counted and can take a plural -s.

What examples of count nouns are provided?

Potato/potatoes and dog/dogs.

What type of quantity word is associated with count nouns?

"Many."

What grammatical marker may occur with count nouns?

Plural -s.

What are mass nouns?

Nouns such as milk, rice, and water that generally do not take plural -s in the way count nouns do.

What examples of mass nouns are provided?

Milk, rice, and water.

Do mass nouns normally take plural -s according to the lecture?

No.

What type of quantity word is associated with mass nouns?

"Much."

What are eventives?

Verbs that describe events or actions.

What semantic feature characterizes eventives?

Action.

What are statives?

Verbs that describe states.

What examples of stative verbs are provided?

Like and own.

What is the difference between eventive and stative verbs?

Eventives describe events/actions, while statives describe states.

What is compositional semantics concerned with?

How the meanings of words combine to form the meanings of larger syntactic units such as phrases and sentences.

What is argument structure?

The number and type of arguments associated with a verb in a sentence.

What is an intransitive verb?

A verb that has one argument: the subject of the sentence.

How many arguments does an intransitive verb have?

One.

What is the argument of an intransitive verb?

The subject of the sentence.

What example of an intransitive verb is given?

Walk.

What is a transitive verb?

A verb that has two arguments: a subject and a direct object.

How many arguments does a transitive verb have?

Two.

What are the two arguments of a transitive verb?

The subject and the direct object.

What example of a transitive verb is given?

Hug.

What is a ditransitive verb?

A verb that has three arguments: a subject, direct object, and indirect object.

How many arguments does a ditransitive verb have?

Three.

What are the three arguments of a ditransitive verb?

Subject, direct object, and indirect object.

What example of a ditransitive verb is given?

Throw.

What are thematic roles?

Roles played by noun phrases in a phrase or sentence, determined by the nature of the verb.

What determines the thematic roles of noun phrases?

The nature of the verb in the phrase or sentence.

What thematic roles are discussed in the lecture?

Agent, theme, goal, source, experiencer, and instrument.

What is the agent thematic role?

The "doer" of an action.

What is the theme thematic role?

The "undergoer" of an action.

What is the goal thematic role?

The endpoint of an action.

What is the source thematic role?

Where an action originates.

What is the experiencer thematic role?

The one receiving sensory input.

What is the instrument thematic role?

The means used to accomplish an action.

What sentence is given as an example for thematic-role analysis involving Carlos?

"Carlos found a ball."

What sentence is given as an example involving an instrument?

"Letitia melted the ice with a blowtorch."

In "Letitia melted the ice with a blowtorch," what is the instrument?

The blowtorch.

What sentence is given as an example involving sensory input?

"Ahmed heard the music coming out of the speaker."

In "Ahmed heard the music coming out of the speaker," who is the experiencer?

Ahmed.