Chapter 6 Semantics

1. Chapter 6 Semantics

2. Outline • 1. Lexical meaning • 1.1 Theories of semantics • 1.2 Connotation vs. denotation • 1.3 The theory of semantic features • 2. Word connection in semantics • 2.1 Homonym • 2.2 Synonym • 2.2 Polysemy • 2.4 Antonym • 3. Compositional meanings • 3.1 Syntactic structure • 3.2 Semantic roles • 4. Other semantic structures • 5. Summary

3. Semantics • Semantics : search of rules for what is behind our mutual understanding.

4. 1. Lexical meaning 1.1 Theories of semantics 1.2 Connotation vs. denotation 1.3 The theory of semantic features

5. Lexical meaning • Speech communication works on the basis of common knowledge of what words and morphemes mean. water, juice, coffee, liquor refer to different objects share some common semantic properties (liquid in nature) • The semantic properties help group words into a category or a group. Animate: animals and human In-animate: stones, wood, and desks • In the same way, semantic properties distinguish verbs for animate from those for in-animate. John was killed. (O) The desk was killed. (X)

6. Lexical meaning • Apart from words, a morpheme has its own meaning cups→ a plural form She dances pretty well. → a verb of the 3rd person, singular, and present • Different theories of lexical meaning: • (a) mental image • (b) definition and prototype • (c) semantics and references • (d) the theory of semantic features.

7. Mental Image • Mental image: the position that the meaning of a word comes from the image rising from our mind. • Not all nouns or actions can be represented in a concrete image or picture. e.g. concept, honor, superiority, idea,

8. Definition and Prototype • The theory of definition and prototype: language acquisition begins with vocabulary, which has its own definition in the first beginning. mental lexicon (like a dictionary) Vocabulary in mind speak out • Given that every word is well defined, it becomes the prototyped meaning.

9. Definition and Prototype (problem) • Cyclic reasoning in rationale: which goes first, definition, or lexicon? • Lexicon is formed before the definition. • Many words whose meaning is arbitrarily given. • A word is usually defined depending on different contexts. e.g. Pineapple (pine + apple)

10. Reference–Connotation vs. Denotation • The theory of referents: aims to show that the meaning of a word gets a direct referent or denotation dove innocent love The Wings of the Dove • Connotation: historical, cultural, or literary backgrounds • e.g. Robert Frost’s Mending Wall(foreign to those without equal knowledge) • Denotation: linguistic • e.g. John was asked to paint the wall.

11. Reference – Intention vs. Extension • Extension: the referent (the object that is referred to) • e.g. John wants to keep a dog. (a whole set of dogs) • Intension: sense or the semantic nature of that word • e.g. He did not kill your dog. (a specific dog) • In normal cases: most words are meant by a combination of intension and extension. • e.g. cup (the cup in its form and in its usage)

12. Reference – Intention vs. Extension • Some proper names do not have intension meaning. • e.g. a fashion store might be named Woodhose. • a hot pot store named Grasshopper. • Some terms are without extension meaning • The king of the US is a bald. • (There is no king in the US.) • A Hobbit is running for the president of Taiwan. • (In the real world, there is no Hobbit.) • Different words may refer the same referent • John was put into jail last week. • My neighbor was put into jail last week. • The one who visited us was put into jail last week. co-referential

13. Reference – Intention vs. Extension(difficulty) • Function words: preposition or article • He lives in Taipei. (Taipei is a big city.) • He lives at Taipei. (Taipei is just like some places else.)

14. Semantic features • Following the theory of distinctive features in phonology, some semantic scholars try to adapt it and have it named the theoryof semantic distinctive features. What is meant to be adult? What age would be the criterion for adulthood?

15. Semantic features • Phonology features: clear and the amount is not too huge • The features of phonology depend on places and manners of articulation. • Semantic features: 1. not clear in terms of the correspondence between features and referents. e.g. Adulthood: the age & the look Color naming: black tea (in English) & red tea (in Chinese) 2. semantic features fail to distinguish category from individual. e.g. larks, sparrows, cuckoos are all [+bird] [+lark], [+sparrow], [+cuckoo] has to be adopted

16. 2. Word connection in semantics 2.1 Homonym 2.2 Synonym 2.2 Polysemy 2.4 Antonym

17. He lay asleep under the tree. He lays a book on the table. → identical in phonetics different in meaning wide←→narrow like←→ dislike antonym homonym bench―sofa 1. a bat for baseball Bat 2. a bat flying at night synonymy polysemy

18. Homonym homo (the same) nym (sound) homonym (words with identical sounds while mean differently) • (a) spelling and pronunciation identical, but meaning different • (b) spelling and meaning different but pronunciation identical.

19. Homonym • Homonyms: words with same pronunciation and spelling but different in semantic meanings the same spelling and pronunciation different meaning • the same pronunciation • different in spelling and meaning

20. Homonym • Lewis Caroll’sAlice’s Adventures inWonderland identically pronounced [flaur] homonym might give rise to communication problems 1. the earth 2. the past participle of grind • Homographs:homonym sharing the same spelling

21. Homonym • Not all homographs are homonym. e.g. bow [bo] for arrow bow [bau] to show one’s respect the same spelling (homophones different in meaning and in pronunciation • Heteronyms: two words spelled identically but different in pronunciation and meaning e.g. wind [wnd] vs. wind [waind] lead [lid] vs. lead [ld]

22. Synonym • Synonym: words with different spelling and pronunciation, but identical in meanings the pair of words is sometimes interchangeable e.g. silly/stupid, wise/clever, big/large, to have/to own • There are no two words with exact meanings, just like there are no two leaves with the exact identical shape

23. Polysemy • Almost all the words are polysemy, because few words are confined to one single meaning. iron→ 1. a metal 2. an instrument for clothing bank →1. side of a river 2. a place for money saving • Some words are different in meaning because they are of different categories. bear → (v.) to tolerate (n.) kind of animal

24. Antonym • Antonym: words with the opposite meanings • Complementary: • only one pole staying • Gradable antonym: • one pole called marked, the other called unmarked. Normally, the positive one is unmarked. e.g. wide/narrow, stop/continue, dead/live, e.g. live vs. dead, present vs. absent. e.g. long/short, sad/happy e.g. long, wide, tall, old

25. Antonym • Unmarked: it is used intuitionally • Marked: only when it is marked or labeled unmarked marked

26. 3. Compositional meanings 3.1 Syntactic structure 3.2 Semantic roles

27. Syntactic structure • Syntactic rules: • Semantics plays an equal role of syntactic structures in sentential expressions. • Semantics is closely associated with word order. both grammatical and acceptable sounds weird in semantics but grammatical entirely unacceptable in English

28. Syntactic structure • Ambiguous sentences can be made clear by sentence analysis. e.g. We met a lot of youngladies and gentlemen. both ladies and gentlemen are young only ladies are young

29. Syntactic structure • Ambiguous sentences can be made clear by sentence analysis. e.g. The boy saw a lady in the library It is the lady in the library that the boy saw. It is the library that that the boy saw the lady.

30. Semantic roles agent patient instrument • Semantic roles or thematic roles a. John broke the door with a stone. b. Thestonebroke the door. experiencer agent patient a. John felt happy with the grades. b. John drew some pictures. c. John was satisfied with what you did. agent goal patient a. John mailed Mary a pack of books. b. John changed the paper into a bird.

31. Semantic roles • Focus on the theta role that a word plays in a sentence. Each word or entry is implied to get the theta-role assignment

32. Semantic roles • Focus on the theta role that a word plays in a sentence.

33. Semantic roles • To summarize, we have the following findings for theta roles in the field of semantic studies. • ( i ) Compositional meaning is not necessarily a combination of each lexical meaning, but word order matters. • ( ii ) Semantic ambiguity can be solved by syntactic structures. • i.e. Visiting professors may be embarrassing: (a) It is visiting professors that is embarrassing. (b) It is embarrassing to pay a visit to professors. • ( iii ) Theta roles are mainly subject to the types of verbs or to the relation that a verb raises.

34. 4. Other semantic structures

35. Other semantic structures • Three types of structures that are culture-based: (a) anomaly (b) metaphors (c) idiomatic expressions

36. Anomaly • Anomaly: there is a semantic conflict between each component How does a widow have a husband?? semantic conflict e.g. a. The widow’s husband treats her gently. b. The dead man committed a suicide last night. How can a dead man committed suicide??

37. Anomaly • Anomaly: there is a semantic conflict between each component Other examples a. Colorless green ideas sleep furiously. b. He killed the dead umbrella. c. John killed the rabbit, but the rabbit ran away. d. He wanted to buy a triangular square. paradoxes

38. Metaphors • Metaphor: a figurative language in literature. • It should be decoded from cultural or historical perspective. • A brief form, condensing a lot of experiences and wit into a few words. Take time to think it over and figure it out A poem should be wordless. (ArsPoetica, A. Macleish, 1892-1982) In appearance, a wordless poem is nothing but a blank. Metaphorically, a good poem is hardly written in words.

39. Metaphors Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water (in the tombstone of John Keats,1795-1821) Metaphorically, the name is not noteworthy or is not everlasting. Wear the mask that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes. (We wear the mask, P. L. Dunbar, 1872-1906) Metaphorically, we are not ourselves any more in our daily life. ‘a grief ago’ (Dylom Thomas) It is touching due to the fact that grief always lasts for a long time. Metaphorically, it means a very long time ago.

40. Idiomatic expressions • Idiomatic expressions: in the form of sayings, proverbs, or idioms. e.g. Sam gets up on the wrong side of the bed. In general, either side of the bed will serve a right side for one to get up. It suggests that he do not feel good when he is getting up. • Sometimes there is a story for an idiomatic chunk. e.g. The origin of abaker’s dozen Normally, a dozen is 12 pieces. However, a baker’s dozen means 13.