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Lexical Semantics: Word Meaning and Semantic Relations, Apuntes de Filología Inglesa

Universidad de Sevilla (US)Filología Inglesa

Units of the subject Semantics and Pragmatics of English Language.

Tipo: Apuntes

2021/2022

Subido el 28/10/2023

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UNIT 2: WORD MEANING: LEXICAL
SEMANTICS
INDEX
1. LEXICAL SEMANTICS AND SENTENCE SEMANTICS.
1.1. WORDS, CONCEPTS AND THINKING.
1.2. AMBIGUITY.
1.3. SEMANTIC RELATIONS: POLYSEMY, HYPONYMY,
OPPOSITENESS AND SYNONYMY.
1. LEXICAL SEMANTICS AND SENTENCE SEMANTICS.
1.1. WORDS, CONCEPTS AND THINKING.
• Words have structured meaning:
o Lexeme: a pairing of a form with a sense.
o Orthographic form: the way the lexeme looks on the page.
o Phonological form: the way the lexeme sounds.
o Lexicon: finite list of lexemes.
1.2. AMBIGUITY.
• Ambiguity and vagueness:
o An expression is ambiguous if, in a given context, it can be
disambiguated to have a specific meaning, from a number of
discrete, possible meanings.
▪ For example: bank can refer to a financial institution in a
given context, but it also can refer to the riverbank in
another given context.
o An expression is vague, if it refers to a range of a scalar variable,
such that, even in a specific context, it’s hard to specify the range
entirely.
▪ For example: warm, cool, etc.
• Types of ambiguity: There are five different types of ambiguity:
o Categorial ambiguity: More than one terminal symbol for a
word (verb, noun, adjective, etc).
▪ For example: the word time can be a noun, a verb, or an
adjective, as in the following sentences: Time is money. |
Time me on the last lap. | Time travel is not likely in my
lifetime.
o In these cases, syntactic analysis can help to identify the correct
terminal.
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UNIT 2: WORD MEANING: LEXICAL

SEMANTICS

INDEX

1. LEXICAL SEMANTICS AND SENTENCE SEMANTICS.

1.1. WORDS, CONCEPTS AND THINKING.

1.2. AMBIGUITY.

1.3. SEMANTIC RELATIONS: POLYSEMY, HYPONYMY,

OPPOSITENESS AND SYNONYMY.

1. LEXICAL SEMANTICS AND SENTENCE SEMANTICS.

1.1. WORDS, CONCEPTS AND THINKING.

  • Words have structured meaning: o Lexeme: a pairing of a form with a sense. o Orthographic form: the way the lexeme looks on the page. o Phonological form: the way the lexeme sounds. o Lexicon: finite list of lexemes. 1.2. AMBIGUITY.
  • Ambiguity and vagueness: o An expression is ambiguous if, in a given context, it can be disambiguated to have a specific meaning, from a number of discrete, possible meanings. ▪ For example: bank can refer to a financial institution in a given context, but it also can refer to the riverbank in another given context. o An expression is vague , if it refers to a range of a scalar variable, such that, even in a specific context, it’s hard to specify the range entirely. ▪ For example: warm, cool, etc.
  • Types of ambiguity: There are five different types of ambiguity: o Categorial ambiguity: More than one terminal symbol for a word (verb, noun, adjective, etc). ▪ For example: the word time can be a noun, a verb, or an adjective, as in the following sentences: Time is money. | Time me on the last lap. | Time travel is not likely in my lifetime. o In these cases, syntactic analysis can help to identify the correct terminal.

o Word sense ambiguity: Word has one terminal symbol but can refer to different concepts. ▪ For example: o Structural ambiguity: More than one parse for a sentence. ▪ For example: You can have peas and beans or carrots with the set meal. (This is known as co-ordinate attachment). | Put the box on the table by the window in the kitchen. (This is known as prepositional attachment). o Speech uses intonation and pauses to disambiguate. Writing uses punctuation, as commas, to disambiguate. o Referential ambiguity: More than one object is being referred to by a noun phrase. ▪ For example: After they finished the exam the students and lecturers left. (They can refer to students only, to lecturers only, to both). | John gave Mark a present and he said thanks. | The director fired the worker. He was known to be aggressive. | Sue gave Lisa a coat because she was cold. | Sue and Lisa gave John and Mark some grotesque horror face masks because they liked them. o Syntax can identify the head (main) noun phrase. o Reference to this is more likely. o Close reference is preferred. o Ellipsis: Incomplete sentence where missing item is not clear. ▪ For example: Peter worked hard and passed the exam. Kevin too. (This sentence can have three different interpretations). 1.3. SEMANTIC RELATIONS: POLYSEMY, HYPONYMY, OPPOSITENESS AND SYNONYMY.

  • Homonymy is a relation that holds between two lexemes that have the same form with unrelated meanings. o Homophones: these are the ones which sounds equally but are written differently. o Homographs: these are the ones which are written equally but sounds differently.
  • Polysemy is a lexeme which has a number of senses. It is the phenomenon where a single lexeme has multiple related meanings. o Distinguishing polysemy from homonymy is not straightforward.
  • Hyponymy is a relation that holds between two lexemes where one denotes a subclass of the other. o A hyponym is always a subordinate term of a hyperonym , which will always be a superordinate term. o Hyponymy can also be explained in terms of an inclusion relation.

o There is several types of opposites : ▪ Antonyms: those which have different ends of a scale. ➔ Antonyms do not necessarily partition the conceptual space into two clearly distinct parts which cover the whole conceptual domain, but some overlap or space in between is possible. ➔ Adjectives which are antonyms are typically called gradable antonyms. Their meanings are relatively subjective, and they may depend on context. ➔ Antonyms refer to degrees of some variable property such as length, speed, weight, accuracy, etc. ➔ Antonyms have to be interpreted comparatively. The referent point must be an average value within a class. ➔ For example: tall/short – big/small – hot/cold – cheap/expensive. ▪ Complementaries: those which are alternatives in a field. ➔ Complementaries are a special class of oppositeness which divide the whole conceptual space exactly into two non-overlapping compartments. ➔ To test it: if one term is denied, the other term has to be asserted, and vice versa. ➔ Another way to test it: denying both terms should be odd. ➔ For example: even/odd - sister/brother – true/false – dead/alive – open/shut – pass/fail (an examination) – male/female.

▪ Directional: those which are ends of a physical scale. ➔ They are the ends or the positions of a physical scale. ➔ They differ from antonyms in that directional oppositeness are not gradable. ➔ For example: up/down, left/right. ▪ Converses: those which are argument reversals. ➔ If a predicate describes a relationship between two things (or people) and some other predicate describes the same relationship when the two things (or people) are mentioned in the opposite order, then the two predicates are converses of each other. ➔ For example: buy/sell - mother/daughter – parent/child.

  • Synonymy referred to the semantic qualities or sense relation that exist between words (lexemes) with closely related meanings. o If A is synonymous with B , then B can paraphrase A. o There are some synonymous words in English which can be viewed as more formal terms and that is because they derive from Latin and Latin was a language used in the most formal situations in the past. ▪ For example: postpone/put off – vomit/throw up – couch/sofa. o There can be several types of synonyms: ▪ Absolute synonyms: they are words that mean exactly the same thing, there is no difference in meaning. ➔ People can use absolute synonyms interchangeably; one synonym can replace another without changing the message.