Semantics Quiz

What is Semantics?

semantics is the study of "meaning" in language

What are the 2 types of meaning?

Denotation

Connotation

What is Denotation ?

the literal/dictionary meaning of a word

example: "Home"

- a place where individuals live

What is Connotation?

the feelings or concepts that are associated with a word that go beyond it's literal meaning

example: "Home"

- a place of warmth, safety, family etc...

What are the 2 types of Semantics?

Lexical Semantics

Sentence Level Semantics

What is Lexical Semantics?

focuses on the meaning of words

focuses on how we store words in our minds and understand their meaning

What is Sentence Level Semantics?

focuses on the meaning of sentences

looks at how structure and meaning work together

What is a mental lexicon?

a mental lexicon is the mental dictionary in our brain that stores all the words we know

an average person knows 60,000 words and bi lingual speaker knows more

How does our mental lexicon organize/store all the words we know?

1. Mimicking a dictionary

2. semantic network

3. Listing Features

Mimicking a dictionary ?

our brain will act like a mini dictionary

example:

- we will alphabetically categorize words

- we will group nouns, verbs and adj together

Semantic Network?

our brain will create a network and organize the words we know into different categories and subcategories

example: "shark" and "dolphin"

- put into the underwater animal section because they both live in the ocean, swim, have fins etc...

Listing Features?

our brain will create "features" associated with the words (semantic features)

example: "dog"

- dog is + animal - human + canine

How do we know that Semantic Features are real?

1. Lexical substitution in speech error

2. Semantic Printing

what is Lexical substitution in speech error?

when we make a speech error, the word that we accidentally say, usually shares a semantic features with the word we actually wanted to say

example: "bridge of the neck" vs "bridge of the nose"

- the reason we say "neck" instead of "nose" is because they both share a semantic feature

- both + body part

what is Semantic priming?

we respond to and recognize words much quicker when they are related in meaning

example:

- We are given a picture of a slide and then a chair and then a picture of a table and then a chair

- We have a quicker reaction time in being able to say "chair" after seeing the picture of the table because they share a semantic feature

- Both +furniture

What are Synonyms?

different words that mean the same thing (share semantic features)

example:

- big vs huge

- little vs small

- fast vs quick

What are Antonyms ?

"opposite" words

words that differ by 1 single semantic feature

example:

- hot vs cold

- tall vs short

- right vs left

What are Homophones?

words that sound the same but have different meanings

- can be spelled the same or differently

example:

- too vs to

- weather vs wether

- their, there, they're

- bank vs bank

- bat vs bat

What is polysemy?

1 single word that has multiple meanings that are all connected to each other

Example: "Crane"

A long necked bird

Can be a piece of construction equipment that is long and stretches

To "crane" your neck (to stretch)

Example: "Head"

The leading part of your body

The "leader" of a group

Example: "Branch"

A branch of a tree

A branch of a company

Both are an extension of something

Pratice:

a sharp knife ~ a dull knife

a smart kid ~ an intelligent kid

a river bank ~ a financial bank

a flying bat ~ a baseball bat

head of the department ~ head of the bed

antonymes

synonymes

homophones

homophones

polysemy

a) intelligent-stupid

b) casual-informal

c) rent (to)-rent (from)

d) steal-steel

e) garbage-trash

f) young-old

g) leech(the bug)-leech (person who borrows money and never pays it back)

h) genes-jeans

a) antonyms

b) synonym

c) polysemy

d) homophones

e) synonym

f) antonyms

g) polysemy

h) homophones

Meaning Compositionallity?

the meaning of a phrase/sentence comes from the individual words and parts of that phrase and the combination of them

example: "red striped sock"

- meaning comes from "Red" "stripped" "sock"

what about meaning compositionally and adjectives?

sometimes, depending on the noun an adjective is describing, the meaning of that adjective can stay the same (fixed meaning) or it can actually change (relative meaning)

fixed meaning:

example: the color (adj)

- red car

- red apple

- red shirt

- no matter what noun we use, the meaning of red (color) stays the same

relative meaning:

example: size (adj)

- big mouse vs big elephent

- the meaning of "big" actually changes depending on the noun that w use

Semantic Ambiguity?

when a phrase or sentence has more than 1 meaning

We see this with homophones (words that sound the same/spelled the same or different but are completely different)

Example :

"She went to the bank"

Which bank are we talking about ?

River bank or money bank?

Example:

"She saw her duck"

Which duck are we talking about"

The animal duck or bending down duck

3 ways we solve semantic ambiguity?

1. Context

2. Additional Information

3. Frequency

What is context?

we would try to find clues or background information to try and figure out the meaning

what is additional information?

we would try to find extra details

what is frequency?

some meanings of words are more frequently used than others

example: "she went to the bank"

- most people would assume that the women is at the financial institution rather than the river bank because "bank" is more frequently used to talk about money

Pragmatics?

studies the social meaning for words

how we use words in our daily lives and in what context we use them in

What does it mean that language p and c is context dependent?

language production and comprehension is heavily context dependent

we can say the same sentence but dependent on the context it is said in, its meaning can change heavily

ex: "I want an apple"

- saying it in a grocery store vs a Best Buy

3 major factors to consider in Langauge?

1. Context

- physical and linguistic

2. Speakers intention and listeners interpretation

3. World/ Social Knowodlge

What is Physical Context?

physical context

- the current time, place and location that a conversation is occurring

- physical context helps the speaker and listener have a shared understanding of what something is, where it is is occurring and when it is occurring

example: a lecture

- the lecture hall is the physical context

example: the professor pointing to a book and saying this or that everyone is able to understand what "this" or " that" means

what is Spatial Deictics?

spațial diectis are words like "this" "that" "here" "there"

Depending on the location/physical context of the speaker, the spatial deictics will change

In English, we have a 2 way spatial deictic system

1. Proximity to the speaker:

- "this" "here"

example: "this" apple

2. proximity to the listener/ father away from speaker:

- "there" and "that"

example: "that" apple

evidence that context matters!

What is Linguistic Context?

- the shared linguistic information between a speaker and listener that usually comes before and after a sentence

Why is the linguistic context important when it comes to meaning?

- it helps the speaker and listener understand the word and its meaning

- many words like "she" "it" "there" only make sense because of the previous sentence/linguistic context

example: "the girl saw the bunny hurt its leg at the parl. she took it from there and brought it home"

- the only reason we understand the she it and there is because of the linguistic context / previous senetence

What is Discourse?

when you have more than 1 sentence together

What is Old information vs New information?

in linguistic context we use new and old information

old information

- information that the speaker assumes that listener already knows

- we use define articles like "the" to mark old info

example: the girl

new info

- information being spoken about for the very first time

- we use indefinite articles like "a/an" to mark new infro

example: a girl

Simple Terms difference between Physical and linguistic Context?

Physical Context

Refers to the current/present time location and place conversation is occurring

Linguistic context

Refers to the shared knowledge between speaker and listener

Does not take place in current time location and place

You have to either have the shared knowledge of what happened in the previous sentence or you have to learn it for the very first time

What is Speakers Intention and Listeners Interoperation?

the meaning of a word changes depending on the intention of the speaker and the assumption, expectations and interpretations of the listener

What is Presupposition?

an assumption or background beielif that the speaker assumes the listener already knows

our assumptions alter the way we understand meaning of words and sentences

example:

- your brother is waiting outside

- assuming that that person has a brother

- John too was jailed

- assumed that someone else b4 him was jailed

Speech Act?

indirect vs direct speech act

What is Direct Speech Act?

when the speaker makes a direct request from the listener without having to give more contextual information

example:

- pass the pasta please

- close the door please

What is a Indirect Speech Act?

when the speakers makes a request without directly asking

listener might need more contextual information

example:

- it's very hot in here

- your room is such a mess

Pratice: I or D?

I'm curious whether Danny is dating a dentist.

Is Danny dating a dentist?

I'd appreciate it if you passed the potatoes.

Please pass the potatoes.

Bertha built a boat.

Be advised that Bertha is building a boat.

Carry the coconuts.

It would be cool if you could carry the coconuts

indirect

direct

indirect

direct

direct

indirect

direct

indirect

What is World/Social Knowledge ?

wether the listener shares and understands the same social and cultural knowledge as the speaker

speakers will change their langauge depending on If they believe their listener shares or does not share social and cultural knowledge

ex: if they do share they take short cuts and use direct names

ex: if they do not share they use more detailed long descriptions

What is common ground?

shared knowledge beliefs and experiences between listener and speaker

ex: group of friends that go out to see a broadway show

What is conversation?

joint activity between speaker and listener in which both parties take turns expressing feelings and experiences

Conversation as a Joint Action (Clark, 1996)?

there are 2 types of actions

autonomous action

- things you do on your own like speaking and listening

participorty action

- coordinated things you do with another invidual

According to Clark, when do conversations work best?

Conversations when both people are paying attention

if one is not then it is not a proper conversation

4 things you need for successful commucnation ?

1. Quantity

- give as much information as possible, do not give too much and do not give to less

2. Quality

- give the complete truth, do not lie

3. Relevence

- only say things that are relevant

4. Manner

- avoid ambiguity, be as clear as possible