Semantics Study Guide

Semantics is the subfield of linguistics that studies linguistic meaning. It is divided into two areas: lexical semantics and compositional semantics. Lexical semantics deals with the meanings of words and other word-like expressions (idioms like kick the bucket). Compositional semantics deals with

phrasal meanings and how they are assembled.

True or False: Lexical semanticists focus on the meaning of words.

True

True or False: Compositional semanticists focus on how lexical meanings combine to give rise to phrasal meanings.

True

The two aspects of meaning are sense and reference. Sense is a mental representation or concept. Reference is

the relationship of an expression to the world: things, events, or circumstances in the world.

True or False: The sense of the word "dog" is a mental representation of what dogs are (four-legged, usually furry, barking, etc.).

True

The sense of a word clearly takes the form of

NOT a dictionary-style definition.

NOT a mental image or prototype.

 NOT a usage-based definition. (ans: none of the above)

True or False: The reference of the word "dog" is the set of things in the actual world that are dogs (Rex, Fido, Marley).

True

"Werewolf" does not have a referent because werewolves don't exist. Another word that does not have a referent is

"Pegasus"

True or False: "President of England" does not have a referent.

True

Not only is it possible for expressions to have a sense but no reference; it is also possible for multiple distinct expressions with different senses to pick out the same referent. Select the answer whose referent DOES NOT match the referent of the following phrase: "Oscar Winner for Best Actor in 2016"

"Nick Jonas"

The referents of proper names are the easiest to determine. "Arkansas" refers to

the state, Arkansas.

True or False: the referent of "Washington University in St. Louis" is the set of words "Washington," "University", "in," "Saint," and "Louis."

False

Common nouns are slightly more complicated than proper names: they focus the attention on all those things in the world that they denote, i.e. the common noun "cat" refers to the set of all cats. "Tower" refers to

the set of all the towers in the world.

Intransitive verbs refer to sets of entities. The reference of an intransitive verb like "swim" is the set of all swimmers in the world. What is the reference of the word “swim” in the following world?

Sandy, Marco, Jamie

Adjectives also refer to sets of entities: the reference of an adjective is the set of all things in the world that can be described by that adjective. Which of the following is part of the reference of the word “green"?

Lime

Hyponymy is a type of relationship between words. We say that a word X is a hyponym of a word Y if the set that is the reference of X is always included in the set that is the reference of Y. Hypernym is the opposite of hyponym. We say that a word X is a hypernym of a word Y if the set that is the reference of X always includes the set that is the reference of Y

true

What is the relationship between "baseball player" and "athlete"?

"Baseball player" is a hyponym of "athlete".

True or False: "athlete" is a hypernym of baseball player.

True

Synonymy is another kind of semantic relation. Two words are synonymous when they have exactly the same reference. It is difficult to come up with a pair of truly synonymous words, but which of the following comes closest?

ex.: rapid & quick

Antonyms are words that are "opposite" in some way. Which is NOT required for two words to be antonyms?

They must have similar spellings.

Two antonyms, X and Y, are complementary antonyms when there is nothing in the world that is both part of X's reference and part of Y's reference. Which of the following pairs are NOT complementary antonyms?

mammal/dog

Gradable antonyms typically represent points on a continuum, so while something can be one or the other but not both, it can also easily be between the two. For example, water may be hot, cold, or neither, but if you say that the water is not hot, it does not imply that it is cold. It may be warm, lukewarm, cool, chilly, or anywhere else in between. Select the gradable antonym pair from the list below.

wet/dry

Reverse antonyms are pairs of words that suggest some kind of movement, where one word in the pair suggests movement that “undoes” the movement suggested by the other. For example, the descent from a mountain undoes the ascent, and putting something together undoes taking it apart. Select the reverse antonym pair from the list below.

Open/Close

Converse antonyms have to do with two opposing points of view or a change in perspective: for one member of the pair to have reference, the other must as well. Select the converse antonym pair from the list below.

Teacher/Student

The principle of compositionality is the key principle governing the interpretation of phrases and sentences. It states that

the meaning of a phrase or sentence is determined by the meaning of its words plus its syntax.

True or False: the principle of compositionality is what allows speakers to comprehend the meanings of sentences they have never heard before, such as "The apple flew across the pasture and hit the cow right between his ears".

true

The claim expressed by a sentence is called a proposition. The reference of a sentence, or what a sentence expresses about its proposition, is its

truth value

True or False: All sentences that have truth values are true.

False

In order to know the truth value of a proposition, it is necessary to understand its

truth conditions

Some phrase meanings are not predictable given the meanings of their composite words: these expressions are called idioms. Idioms have to be stored in the mental lexicon along with their non-compositional meanings. Which of the following phrases has both a compositional and a non-compositional meaning?

all of the above

Entailment is a relationship between two sentences. Sentence A entails sentence B if and only if sentence B is true whenever sentence A is true. For the following sentences, select the term that best describes their relationship. Which of the statements below is true of the following pair of sentences: (X) Molly has flown with Delta, (Y) Molly has been in an airplane?

X entails Y, no other entailment exists.

Which of the statements below is true of the following pair of sentences: (X) Jamie is dating Chandler, (Y) Chandler is dating Jamie?

X and Y exhibit mutual entailment (synonymy).

Which of the statements below is true of the following pair of sentences: (X) Jamie is dating Chandler, (Y) Chandler is in love with Jamie?

none of the above

Propositions can also be incompatible. This means that it would be impossible for both of them to be true; that is, the truth conditions for one are incompatible with the truth conditions for the other. Which of the statements below is true of the following pair of sentences: (X) The dog is barking, (Y) The dog is not barking?

X and Y are incompatible

True or False: All phrases and sentences are compositional.

False

True or False: Idioms are non-compositional.

True