Language of Science and Analysis Semantics Exam 4

semantics

•    branch of linguistics concerned with the study of meaning in language at the word, phrase, and sentence levels.

core areas of semantics

•    Lexical semantics (word meaning)

•    Compositional semantics (meaning from structure)

•    Semantic features and relations

•    Conceptual representation

child language and semantics

•   Early vocabulary growth

•   Overextensions (‘dog’ for all animals)

•   Underextensions

•   Fast mapping

semantics examines

•    Vocabulary diversity

•    Word retrieval

•    Semantic accuracy

•    Concept development

•    Narrative meaning

semantic ambiguity

•    Occurs when a word, phrase, or sentence has multiple meanings.This impacts comprehension, child language, and clinical assessment

•    This can lead to different interpretations depending on the context.

•    Lexical ambiguity - a single word has multiple meanings

•    Ex., bank (financial institution / river edge)

lexical relationships

•    Synonymy (big/large)

•    Antonymy (hot/cold)

•    Hyponymy (rose → flower)

•    Meronymy (wheel → car)

•    Polysemy (bank: river/financial)

•    Homonymy (bat: animal/baseball)

referential

•            Describes the child’s use of individual words to refer to objects or classes of objects and events in the environment.

•            Ex. The child’s use of a word to label

(refer to) an object in the environment

(e.g., “ball” or “bat”)

relational

•     Describes the meaning relationships expressed by words in relation to aspects of objects or events in the environment, or by words in relation to other words.

•     Ex. The child’s use of a word to describe the relationship between a previous situation and a current situation (e.g., “all gone” after eating pie) or two object labels in combination to describe the relationship between the two objects in the environment (e.g., “Daddy ball”)

analyzed in syntax

word order

phrase structure

agreement and grammatical relations

sentence types

analyzing the complexity of verb phrases

verb phrase complexity reflects tense, aspect, modality, and argument structure

analysis examines:

main verbs vs auxiliaries

use of modals (can,will)

verb + complement structures

focus of semantic analysis

To assess how individuals use language to express ideas, concepts, and relationships.

Ex. Identifying action words, descriptors, and categories in a language sample.

semantic analysis in assessment

Identifies vocabulary diversity and gaps

Detects overextensions and underextensions

Reveals word retrieval difficulties Informs treatment planning

Supports differential diagnosis

key components of a semantic analysis

• Word Classes: Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, etc.

• Semantic Roles: Agent, action, object, location, etc. '

• Lexical Diversity: Vocabulary range and richness

• Relational Terms: Understanding and use of spatial, temporal, and quantity terms.

individual semantic roles

methods for analyzing semantic conent

Transcript-based lexical counts

• Type-token ratio (TTR)- a measure of lexical diversity calculated by dividing the number of unique words (types) by the total number of words (tokens) in a text, often multiplied by 100 to show a percentage

• Semantic category analysis

• Verb argument structure analysis

• Bloom’s One-Word Utterance Analysis

• Nelson’s Semantic Relations

percentage of total utterances accounted for by 1-word utterances

Divide the total number of one-word utterances by total number of utterances and then multiply by 100 to get the percentage

• Ex. 52 one-word utterances, 100 total utterances = 52%

analyzing semantic content of 1-word utterences

When children are predominantly using one-word utterances (i.e., more than 50% of their utterances are one-word in length)

• 2 Different procedures:

• Categorization of one-word utterance types based on Bloom (1973)

• Classification scheme by Nelson (1973)

bloom’s 1-word utterance types

3 types of words used to convey meaning

• Substantive

• Refers to a generic object or event

• Ex. Ball, cookie or chair

• Naming

Ex. Family pet ‘Milo Gustavo’, parents, siblings, or other important people in the environment

• Refers to particular objects or events

• Function

• Refers to conditions shared by many objects or events and make reference across classes of objects or events

• Ex. A word like more does not just refer to an object, but indicates the recurrence, or desired recurrence of an object

calculating bloom’s 1-word utterance types

Count the number of words in each column ( 3 word types)

• Add all instances to obtain the total number of one-word utterances

• For each word type divide the total # by the total # of one- word utterances

• Ex. 11 Substantive words, 1 Naming Word, and 40 Function Words

• Total # of one-word utterances: 52 Practice items •

21.2% of total one-word utterances are substantive (11/52 = 21.15)

• Calculate for Naming Words

• Function words

nelson’s 1-word utterance types

general nominal

specific nominal

modifier

personal-social

action

function

individual semantic roles

how they are defined

context matters

action (individual role)

a perceivable movement or activity engaged in by an agent (animate or inanimate)

ex. mother: can you hit the ball (M addresses C)

child: sit down (c plops her standing bear into a sitting position)

locative (individual role)

place where an object or action is located or toward which it moves

ex: mother: put the flower there (in response to C’s query about where to set a flower

child: cookies in bowl (C pulling away from M)

Child: doctor ( in rsponse to M’s questions of where to take a broken doll)

agent (individual role)

performer (animate or inanimate) of an action

body parts and vehicles, when used in conjunction with action verbs are coded agent

ex. mother: i’ll push you (C sitting in wagon)

child: you kiss bunny (C holding stuffed bunny out to M)

mother: that car went fast

object (individual role)

a person or thing (marked by use of a noun or pronoun) that receives the force of an action

ex. Mother: let’s put away your books (M and C reading books together)

child: Jet chases the squirrel (M and C watching the dog (Jet) chasing a squirrel)

demonstrative (individual role)

the use of demonstrative pronouns or adjectives- this, that, these, those and the words there, here, as well as see and look when stated for the purpose of pointing out a particular referent

ex. mother: that big tree (M pointing to a tree in park)

child: there are 5 girls (in response to M’s query about how many girls are in C’s class)

child: see this? (C holding up a picture she made)

recurrence (individual role)

a request for or comment on an additional instance or amount,

the resumption of an event, or reappearance of a person or an object

ex: mother: another bubble (M suggesting C blow more bubbles)

child: one more cat daddy (C putting second toy cat into the toy box)

possessor (individual role)

a person or thing (marked by the use of a proper noun or pronoun) that an object is associated with or to which it belongs, at least temporarily

ex; mother: get baby’s blanket (M reaching for blanket)

child: my tower fell down (M and C playing with blocks)

child: this bone if for the dog (C holding up a doggie biscuit)

quantifier (individual role)

a modifier that indicates amount or number of a person or an object

prearticles and indefinite pronouns such as a piece of, lots of, any, every, and each are included

ex. Mother: there are sure a lot of bunnies in the yard (M referring to characters C is playing with)

child: five toes (C holding child’s hand and tapping its toes)

experiencer (individual role)

someone or something that undergoes a given experience or mental state

implies involuntary behavior on the part of the experiencer

when used in conjunction with state verbs body parts and vehicles, are coded experiencer

ex mother: i’d like to see Elmo please (M referring to characters C is playing with)

child: she feels sick (C hands baby doll to M)

child: my finger hurts (C holds finger up to M to examine)

recipient (individual role)

one who receives or is named as recipient of an object (person or thing) from another

often the word to is present

ex, dad: can you sing twinkle twinkle to her (D and C playing with a doll)

child: give me (C putting stickers in a book)

beneficiary (individual role)

one who benefits from or is named as beneficiary of a specified action

word for is present

ex: dad: i put jelly on it for you (D hands a piece of bread to C)

child: color it for me (C hands a coloring page to M)

comitative (individual role)

one who accompanies or participates with an agent in carrying out a specified activity

word with is present or implied

ex; mother: come with mommy (M standing, extending hand)

child: i go mommy (D puts C in car seat; C stretches out arms, requesting to go with M)

created object (individual role)

something created by a specific activity

for example a song by singing, a house by building, or a picture by drawing

ex; mother: can you make a snake (M and C playing with clay)

child: make worm (same as above)

instrument (indivudal role)

something an agent uses to carry out or complete a specified action

ex; dad: don’t color on table with that black pen (C writing on table)

child: paint with puff paint (D helping C make a picture for Grandma)

state (individual role)

a passive condition experienced by a person or object

implies involuntary behavior on part of the experiencer

ex; mother: would you like a chocolate cookie? (M and C playing with a tea set)

child: she feels better (C kisses stuffed bear and hands to M)e

entity (one-term) (residual role)

any labeling of a present person or object regardless of occurrence or nature of action being performed on or by it

to be coded as a on-term entity the utterance must contain only one semantic role or grammatical category

utterance may contain more than one role

ex; mother: the puppy (M and C looking at picture)

child: fishy (M and C looking in fish tank)

child: 3 (C pointing to number on block)

entity (multiterm) (residual role)

use of an appropriate label for a person or an object in the absence of any action on it (with exception of showing, pointing, touching or grasping, or someone or something that causes or is the stimulus to the internet state specified by a state verb; or an object or person that is modified by a possessive form

multiterm entity is used whenever an utterance contains more than the entity category

no substantial difference between 2 categories in terms of meaning

only difference between 2 categories is their occurrence in relation to other semantic roles and categories

ex: mother: dirty puppy (M pointing at puppy footprints on floor)

child: (there’s a bear (C pointing to toy bear)

negation (residual role)

expression of any of the following meanings with regard to someone or something or an action or state: nonexsitence, rejection, cessation, denial, disappearance

ex; mother: i didn’t have any eggs (M and C playing with tea set)

child; no cookies (C holding up empty bag)

attribute (residual role)

an adjectival description of size, shape, or quality of an object or person

noun adjuncts that modify nouns for a similar purpose (eg gingerbread man)

excluded are semantically coded categories of recurrence and quantifier

ex; Mother: where’s the big one? (D and C stackin gblocsk)

child: little block (same as above)

adverbial (residual role)

a modifier ofr an action indicating time, manner, duration, distance, or frequency

direction or place of action is coded separately as locative; repetition is coded as recurrenece

ex; mother: you can color it next time (M puts away coloring book, against C’s protest)

child: now go (C pushing next toy care in line)

also modifier indicating time, manner, quality, or intensity of a state, including predicate adjectives

ex; dad: they’ve go their cuddly pajamas on today (D holds up dolls to show soft pajamas)

child: i’m full (C puts spoon down and looks at D)

residual role

generalized