LING- Semantics

Semantics

The study of meaning, meaning of individual words and sentences because individual, isolated words cannot convey everything needed to be said.

Ambiguity

A problem. More then one possible meaning to words. Words can give more interpretations of the sentence.

Logical Entailment

The truth of one sentence can guarantee the truth of another. The truth of one sentence implies the truth of the other but not vice versa. Ex. John closed the door. - The door is shut.

Logical Equivalence

Two or more ways of saying the same thing. The truth of sentence 1 entails the truth of sentence 2.

Logical Contradiction

Two sentences cannot be true at the same time and they exhaust the realm of possibility. The truth of a sentence guarantees the falseness of the other.

Logical Contrariety

Two sentences cannot be true at the same time, however they can both be false. The two sentences do not exhaust the realm of possibility. More room for interpretation.

ex. John is smarter then Sam or Sam is smarter than John.

Logical Subordination/ Hyponymy

The set of things denoted by the word A is a subset of the set of things denoted by word B.

Ex. All dogs are mammals. - Fido is a dog.

from these sentences we can conclude that Fido is a mammal.

Hypernym

A category/ more broad label.

Hyponym

A member/type/kind of hypernym. More specific subset.

Partonomy/Meronymy

Part-Whole relationship. Meronym (a term used for the parts of the whole), Holonym (a term used for the whole.)

Logical Incompatibility

When the meaning of A and B do not overlap but not exhaust the set of relevant possibilities.

Ex. tall vs. short (possibilities: average height)

Homonymy

Involves words in which sounds alike (have similar forms) but have different, unrelated meanings.

Homophones

Words that always sound the same but may have the same spelling or different spelling, with unrelated meanings.

Homographs

May have different pronunciations or the same, but they are spelled the same and have unrelated meanings. Ex. Tear (from the eye) vs. Tear ( a hole).

Homonyms

Are two words that have different, unrelated meanings, but they are pronounced the same and spelled the same.

Polysemy

One word with multiple related meanings, encompassed by one word. Ex. Bright (A person or the sun)

Lexical Ambiguity

A polysemy or Homophony, it is clear in context.

Etymology

The origin of words. Homonymy’s have different origins while polysemy have a single source.

Synonymy

Words with the same/similar meaning

Antonymy

Words with opposite meanings

Graded Antonyms

May be placed on a scale. (very dark, dark, medium dark, medium light, light, very light).

Absolute/Complementary Antonyms

The meanings of A and B do not overlap and exhaust the set of relevant possibilities. Ex. Dead vs. Alive

Relational Antonyms

Are opposed in only one aspect/relation. Pair of words that indicate a reciprocal relationship between the two. Ex. Student vs. teacher.

Denotation

The real world referent of a word or phrase; relationship between the word and the things they stand for. Ex. Winter; the season between autumn and spring.

Solution

The two types of denotation

Extension

The set of entities (objects) referred to (denoted by) in the real world, more literal. (similar to denotation)

ex. The prime minister of Canada = Mark Carney

Intension

The concept evoked, inherent sense, the defining properties of a word, more interpretive.

ex. The prime minister of Canada = The leader of the governing party or the set of all possible PMs of Canada.

Connotation

The set of associations that a word or phrase evokes.

Semantic Features

Are things whose meaning is so obvious you do not have to define them further. Ex. (+animate); present, (-animate); absent.

Componential analysis/Semantic decomposition

Involves breaking up the meaning of the words into more basic components. _+human (boy vs. cat),

Ex. which of the above features (if any) do the words professor, nurse, uncle, girl, man have in common?

• (+animate), (+human)

Prototype theory

Intends to represent our mental lexicon with physiological validity. We understand the meaning of a word because we have a concept of the category in which the thing belongs.