SEMANTICS

semantics

study of meaning in words, phrases, and sentences.

associative or emotive meaning

emotions or reactions individual identify with specific phrases. (connotative)

EX: home = warmth, comfort, care

conceptual or referential meaning

straightforward, literal, dictionary definition of the word (denotative).

semantic features

categories that allow us to classify the meaning of the word. (+ -)

semantic roles

examine the roles within the context depicted in the phrase.

semantic role: agent

doer that executes the action

semantic role: theme or patient 

involved in or impacted by the

semantic role: Instrument

tool used by the agent to perform the action

semantic role: experiencer 

perceives, feels, or experiences something 

semantic role: location

semantic role: source

starting point of movement

semantic role: goal

endpoint or destination of movement 

lexical relations 

relationship between words or lexical items within a language

synonymy

relationship of words with similar meanings. often used interchangeably.
EX: tiny=microscopic

antonymy

relationship between words with contradictory meanings.

opposites along a continuous scale. can compare using more or less.
EX: hot-cold tall-short happy-sad

non-gradable antonymy

show complete absolute opposition. if one term applies the other cannot.
EX: alive-dead true-false married-single

reversive antonymy

describe actions that uno or reverse each other.
EX: enter-exit tie-untie pack-unpack

hyponymy

specific word belonging to a category

prototypes

set of members of a group that best represents the group as a whole is called a ‘prototype’
EX: a robin is a prototype of a bird

homophones

words with different spelling and meaning have the same pronunciation 
EX: right/write 

homonym 

same spelling and pronunciation have different meanings 
EX: bat=animal bat=used for hitting the balll

polysemy 

two or more words that have the same shape and similar meanings.
EX: leg of a man | leg of a table

metonymy

word or phrase is used to represent something else that is related to it.
EX: i swear to the crown (crown is a metonymy for ‘king’ and ‘queen’)

collocation 

two or more words that are commonly used together in English. 
EX: heavy rain but not strong rain

word play

lexical relations can be used in word play or humor.