semantics - walailak university

SemanticsIntroduction to Linguistics

Based on Finegan’s Chapter 6 The Study of Meaning: Semantics

Finegan, E. (2008) Language: its structure and use (5th Edition). Boston, MA, Thomson Wadsworth.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrWBU7b0Z3s

Semantics

• The study of the linguistic meaning of

morphemes, words, phrases, and sentences is

called Semantics.

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To understanding the meaning

• Know the word meaning

• Recognize the elements in the word

• Understand the context

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Meaning in context

• I went to the bank last week and

(1) … deposited money

(2) … caught some fish

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What do you think this means?

Change your words, change your world

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Let’s watch this…

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Brain exercise …

1. You are too young to drink.

2. You are not old enough to drink.

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3. Mathew spent several years in northern Tibet.

4. Mathew was once in northern Tibet.

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Brain exercise …

Brain exercise …

5. I really don’t enjoy that music.

6. I don’t really enjoy that music.

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Brain exercise …

7. The unmarried woman is married to a bachelor.

8. My toothbrush is pregnant.

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Brain exercise …

9. He may leave tomorrow if he finishes his term paper.

10. He will leave tomorrow if he finishes his term paper.

11. May I go to the toilet?

12. Can I go to the toilet?

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Brain exercise …

13. I saw her duck.

14.That can hurt you.

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Syntactic structure vs meaning

• That can hurt you.

• That can hurt you.

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Do they have a similar meaning?

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1) That’s beautiful!

2) That’s lovely!

In the examples, the meaning

is rather similar.

1. What is your brother’s job?

2. What is your brother’s occupation?

3. I did a good job.

4. I did a good occupation.

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1. What is your brother’s job?

2. What is your brother’s occupation?

3. I did a good job.

4. * I did a good occupation.

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1. He tried to escape.

2. He attempted to escape.

3. I tried sushi today.

4. I attempted sushi today.

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1. He tried to escape.

2. He attempted to escape.

3. I tried sushi today.

4. *I attempted sushi today.

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Lexical Semantics

Words Content words

Function words

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Denotation vs Connotation

A word may have

• Literal meaning

• Implied meaning

• Denotation = literal meaning

• Connotation = Implied meaning

Meliorative (+)

Pejorative (-)

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Example

A. The task is difficult.

B. The task is challenging.

Which one carries a pejorative meaning?

‘difficult’

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Example …

C. Michael is rather youthful.

D. Michael is rather childish.


‘childish’

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E. Most young women today appear slim.

F. Most young women today appear anorexic.


‘anorexic’

Example …

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Can you give examples of people

who make use of word meanings?

• Politician

• Copywriter / advertiser

• Campaign runner

• Salesperson

• Tourist guide

• Public speaker

• Everyone actually

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Lexical semantics

rain mist sprinkle shower spit

drizzle pouring down

What are their relations?

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Lexical semantics

• Hyponymy

• Synonymy

• Antonym

• Converseness

• Polysemy and homonymy

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Examine these…

1. Cup, mug, glass, goblet, tumbler, plastic cup, paper cup

2. Angry, sad, happy, exuberant, upset, depressed, afraid

3. Blue, yellow, green, black, purple, red

4. Indigo, saffron, royal blue, aquamarine, turquoise, ruby red

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Hyponymy

• …………….

Blue, yellow, green, black, purple, red

• ……………..

Cow, dog, cat, ape, human, whale, dolphin

• …………….

boil, fry, steam, toast, grill, bake

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Colour

Mammal

Cook

Synonymy • A is B and B is A

film – movie

(Every movie is a film, and every film is a movie.) Synonym

BUT …. blue – turquoise ???

(Every turquoise is blue, but not every blue is turquoise.)

Hyponymy

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Word meanings

Are they synonymous?

• Group 1 What does each word exactly mean?

walking wobbling shuffling staggering

pacing limping

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Word meaning

Are they synonymous?

• Group 2 Which one is more favourable to you?

skinny thin slender slim

gaunt anorexic bony

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Word meaning

• Group 3 Which characteristics would you like?

aggressive assertive domineering

dynamic pushy forceful

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Word meaning

• Group 4 Which one might well describe you?

shrewd egghead bright clever brilliant

cunning smart intelligent brainy genius

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Remember that …

• Not many words are truly synonymous.

• Most of the time, some word may belong to the same

group and carry rather similar meaning, but not exactly

the same.

• Thesaurus Let’s explore this.

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Antonymy

• large – small

• wide – narrow

• deep - ………….

• hot - ……………

• married - …………

• alive - …………….

• love - ……………… 48

shallow

cold

single

alive

hate

Gradable and nongradable antonyms Compare these:

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……………………. …………………….

married – single always – never

alive – dead hot – cold

win – lose difficult – easy

ignite – distinguish

reveal – conceal

remember – ………………

appear – ……………….

failure - …………………

Nongradable antonym Gradable antonym

success

disappear

forget

Converseness

wife – husband

father – mother

son – daughter

employer – employee

interviewer – …………….

doctor – …………….

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above – ………………

north – ……………….

give – receive

borrow - ……………

rent – …………..interviewee

patient

below

south

lend

rent

Polysemy / homonymy

• Plain – plain English

-- plain white shirt

-- plain Jane

PLAIN is polysemous / polysemic.

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Polysemy

• The sky is clear.

• It’s a clear day.

• The water is clear.

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CLEAR is polysemous / polysemic.

Homographs

• dove (v2) - dove (n)

• conduct (v) - conduct (n)

• record (v) - record (n)

• read (v) - read (v.3)

• bow (v) - bow (n)

• desert (v) - desert (n)

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• wind (v) - wind (n)

• wound (v2) - wound (n)

• tear (v) - tear (n)

• row (n) - row (n)

• fine (v, n) - fine (adj)

• second (adj, n, v) - second (n)

Homophones

• sea - see

• so - sow

• two – too – to

• plain – plane

• flower – flour

• boar – bore

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• bear – bare

• bank – bank

• still – still

• seam - seem

• son - sun

• steel – steal

Semantic roles & sentence meaning

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a. The lion licked the trainer.

b. The trainer was licked by the lion.

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C. David sliced the salami with a knife.

d. David used a knife to slice the salami.

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3

a. Michael was injured by a friend.

b. Michael was injured with a friend.

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C. Michael was injured by a stone.

d. Michael was injured with a stone.

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Semantic roles & sentence

meaning

Exercise

Analyze the statements

1)He wants only you to be happy.

2)Only she wants you to win.

3)She only wants to talk to her daughter.

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Idioms and expressions

1. Break a leg

2. Piece of cake

3. Beat around the bush

4. Bed of roses

5. Couch potato

6. Hit the sack

7. Cry over spilt milk

8. Hit the road

9. Once in a blue moon

10.Call it a day

11.The last straw

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Expressions

1. Tell you what / you know what

2. Tell me about it

3. Warts and all

4. Lalaland

5. To be fair

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Collocations

Definition: Co + location

• A collocation is two or more words that often go

together. These combinations just sound "right" to native

English speakers, who use them all the time. So, the

more collocations you know and use, the more natural your English will sound.

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Examples

1. Let me …………. a look at your note.

2. …………. your best for the exam.

3. The children ……………. a noise.

4. The company ……………. bankrupt.

5. Students need to ……………. in mind that they must conduct their

own learning at all time.

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Examples

1. Let me …………. a look at your note.

2. …………. your best for the exam.

3. The children ……………. a noise.

4. The company ……………. bankrupt.

5. Students need to ……………. in mind that they must conduct their


catch come do get go keep make take

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Examples

1. Let me …take…. a look at your note.

2. ….Do…. your best for the exam.

3. The children ……made…. a loud noise.

4. The company ……has gone………. bankrupt.

5. Students need to …keep…. in mind that they must conduct their


catch come do get go keep make take

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In brief ---

Semantics – the study of sentence meaning and word meaning

• Meaningful units are combined systematically to form larger meaningful units

• To understand the meaning, you need to understand the elements in sentences.

Pragmatics – the study of utterance meaning, especially the meaning in context

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semantics - walailak university

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