Semantics

Semantics

the study of the meaning of words, phrases and sentences

• the study of the linguistic meaning of morphemes, words, phrases and sentences

Semantic Analysis

• attempts to focus on what the words conventionally mean, rather than on what the speaker might think they mean

• concerned with objective or general meaning and avoids trying to account for subjective or local meaning

• attempts to spell out what it is we all know when we behave as if we share knowledge of the meaning of a word, phrase or sentence

Truth Conditions

capacity to discover when sentences are true or false

Pragmatics

study of how context affects meaning

Conceptual Meaning

basic, essential components of meaning that are conveyed by the literal use of the word

• dictionary-like descriptions

Associative/Conceptual Meaning

associations/connotations attached to a word

Conceptual Meaning - Oddness

the study of basic conceptual meaning might be helpful if used as a means of accounting for the oddness

• hamburger ate the boy (semantically odd, syntactically correct)

3 Types of Semantic Analysis

1. Semantic Features

2. Semantic Roles

3. Semantic Relations (Lexical Relations)

Semantic Features

identifying semantic features in a sentence to ensure semantic correctness

Semantic Roles

roles that words fulfill in the sentence

Semantic Roles - Examples

• Agent

• Theme

• Instrument

• Experiencer

• Location

• Source

• Goal

Agent

entity that performs the action

Theme

entity that is involved in or affected by the action

Instrument

entity that is used by the agent to perform the action

Experiencer

entity who has a feeling, perception or state

Location

where an entity is in the description of an event

Source

where the entity moves from

Goal

where an entity moves to

Semantic Relations

how words are or can be related to each other

Types of Semantic Relations

• Synonomy

• Antonomy

• Hyponomy

• Prototypes

• Homophones

• Homonyms

• Polysemy

• Metonomy

Synonomy

two or more words with very closely related meanings

• couch/sofa

Antonomy

words with opposite meanings

• big/small

Hyponomy

meaning of one form is included in the meaning of another

• fast/slow

Prototypes

characteristic instance of a category, ressemblance to the clearest example

• soccer, volleyball, hockey are co-hyponyms of each other and are all hyponyms of the superordinate sports

Homophones

two or more different words with the same pronunciation and different meanings

• bear/bare

Homonyms

one word has two or more unrelated meanings

• Bat (sports)/Bat (animal)

Polysemy

one word with two or more related meanings

• Head (foam on a mocha)/Head (on your body)/Head (person at the top of a company)

Metonomy

relationship between words based on a close connection in everyday experience

• container (bottle/water, can/juice)