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Semantics Continued

Semantics Continued. Semantic relationships Maxims of Conversation. Semantic relationships. The semantic relationships we discuss here are: Hyponymy Synonymy Antonymy Scalar/gradable pairs Homonym Homograph . Hyponymy. X is a hyponym of Y if X is a subset of Y.

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Semantics Continued

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  1. Semantics Continued Semantic relationships Maxims of Conversation

  2. Semantic relationships • The semantic relationships we discuss here are: • Hyponymy • Synonymy • Antonymy • Scalar/gradable pairs • Homonym • Homograph

  3. Hyponymy • X is a hyponym of Y if X is a subset of Y. • For example, consider the two words “bird” and “parakeet”. • Tweety and Polly are parakeets. • The current set of parakeets contains these two members. • The current set of bird contains at least these two members, possibly others. • Parakeet is a subset of bird, so parakeet is a hyponym of bird.

  4. Hyponymy • Hyponymy can be seen as the loss of specificity. • It involves moving from more specific to more general.

  5. Synonymy • Two words are synonymous if they share the same meaning. • While it is difficult to find two exactly identical words, there are examples of synonyms in our everyday language:

  6. Synonymy • couch/sofa • dog/canine • quick/rapid • Etc. • There is no dog that is not a canine. • Every couch is also a sofa.

  7. Antonymy • In its barest form, antonymy refers to the condition of being opposites. • Complementary/contradictory • Relational opposites/contraries • Scalar antonyms/gradable pairs

  8. Antonymy • Complementary/contradictory pairs • Given X and Y, every entity in the world is either in X’s set or in Y’s set, but never in both. • married/unmarried • visible/invisible

  9. Antonymy • Relational opposites / Contraries • Given X and Y, everything in the world is in X’s set, in Y’s set, or in neither set, but never in both sets. • over/under • An object can be over or under another, but never both. It could also be NEXT TO another object. • married/bachelor • A man can be married or a bachelor, but not both. He could also be a divorcé or a widower.

  10. Scalar/Gradable pairs • Scalar antonyms/Gradable pairs • Given X and Y, X and Y fulfill the conditions for being relational opposites but in addition can be interpreted as endpoints on some scale. • good/bad • hot/cold • strong/weak • A good test for this kind of relationship is the potential use of the modifier “quite”.

  11. Homonym • Lexical ambiguity • Different words pronounced the same and may or may not be spelled the same. • Tale/tail • Pen/pen

  12. Homograph • Different words spelled identically, and possibly pronounced the same. • Pen/pen • Lead/lead

  13. Pragmatics • “Want to see a movie tonight?” • “I have to study.” • “What do you want for your birthday? • “Well, my camera is broken…”

  14. Maxims of Conversation • Quantity • Don’t say more or less than is required • Relevance • Be relevant • Manner • Avoid ambiguity, be brief and orderly • Quality • Be truthful

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