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(Summary) Semantics
(Summary) Semantics
1. Synonymy
Synonyms are words or expressions that have (roughly) the same meaning in some or all contexts.
Some examples:
Youth // adolescent
Automobile // car
Remember // recall
Little // small
Words are rarely perfect synonyms - it's very rare to have two words or phrases with absolutely
identical meanings. Vacation and holidays may be interchangeable in particular contexts (I spent
my vacation/holidays in the Maritimes), but their meanings are not always identical. For example,
Christmas and Canada Day are holidays, but they are not necessarily part of one's vacation.
2. Antonymy
Antonyms are words or phrases that are opposites with respect to some component of their
meaning. Some examples are:
Dark // light
Boy // girl
Hot // cold
Up // down
In // out
Come // go
There are two subclasses of antonyms: gradable antonyms and absolute (non-graded)
antonyms. Antonyms from the former category could be placed on a scale. One example is hot //
cold. It could be hot, warm, tepid, or cool. Absolute antonyms has absolute differences. You're
either in one or the other. Alive // dead are absolute antonyms. You can either be dead or alive -
there is no inbetween.
3. Polysemy
Polysemy occurs where one form of a word has two or more related meanings. Examples include:
Word Meaning a Meaning b
Bright "Shining" "Intelligent"
To glare "to shine intensely" "to stare angrily"
A deposit "minerals in the earth" "money in the bank"
4. Homophony
Homophony exists where words sound the same but has two or more entirely distinct meanings.
Homophones do not require identical spellings.
Word Meaning a Meaning b
Light "Not heavy" "Illumination"
Bank "a financial institution" "a small cliff at the edge of a river"
Club "a social organization" "a blunt weapon"
4. Hyponymy
Hyponyms are words that belong in a general category. Think of "____ is a member of ____".
Dogs are a member of animals.
Androids are a member of phones.
5. Partonymy
Partonyms are words that have a part/whole relationship. Think of "____ is part of ____"
Fingers are a part of the hand.
The flagellum is a part of the cell.
1. Paraphrase
Two sentences that have the same meaning are said to be paraphrases of each other. These
following pairs of sentences are examples of paraphrasing:
The police chased the burglar. // The burglar was chased by the police.
I gave the summons to Erin. // I gave Erin the summons.
It is unfortunate that the team lost. // Unfortunately, the team lost.
Paul bought a car from Sue. // Sue sold a car to Paul.
The game will begin at 3:00 p.m. // At 3:00 p.m., the game will begin.
Each pair of paraphrase sentence has to be very similar in meaning. It would be impossible for one
sentence to be true without the other also being true. For example, if it is true that the police
chased the burglar, it must also be true that the burglar was chased by the police.
2. Entailment
When the truth of one sentence guarantees the truth of another sentence, we say that there is a
relation of entailment. Sometimes, this relation is mutual (as in, the truth of either sentence in the
pair guarantees the truth of the other), but other examples are asymmetrical. Some examples of
asymmetrical entailment are below:
The park wardens killed the bear. // The bear is dead.
If it is true that the park wardens killed the bear, then it must also be true that the
bear is dead. However, the reverse does not follow since the bear could be dead
without the park wardens having killed it.
Prince is a dog. // Prince is an animal.
Similarly, if it is true that Prince is a dog, then it is also true that prince is an animal.
Once again, the reverse does not hold: even if we know that Prince is an animal, we
cannot conclude that he is a dog. He could be anything like a horse or a cat.
3. Contradiction
Sometimes, if one sentence is true, then another sentence must be false. This is what we call a
contradiction. For example:
Charles is a bachelor. // Charles is married.
If it is true that Charles is a bachelor he can't be married.
Every word has an intension, but not every word has an extension. In addition, the extension of a
term may change; the intension does not.
Componential analysis
In some cases, a concept can be broken down into smaller items of meaning that help us not only
understand that concept, but relate it to other, similar concepts. This is the basis for componential
analysis. Componential analysis is used to analyze the meaning of words into more basic semantic
features. These semantic features are things whose meaning is so obvious you do not have to define
them further. Some examples of componential analysis:
Consider the semantic features, [human] and [male]. Each of these properties are either present (+) or
absent (-). With that in mind, we can describe both man and woman as: [+human, +male] and [+human, -
male], respectively.
Some words have boundaries (people are not certain about membership in such a category)
Ex. Mammals:
Dogs
Humans
Cats
Whales???
Whales is a bad example of mammals - people often confuse it. Thus there are varying degrees of
membership. This is known as graded membership. A prototype is the best example of most typical
member of a set (ex. Rambutan -> fruit)
A metaphor is an extension of the use of a word beyond its primary meaning to describe the referents
that bear similarity to the word's primary referent. It is the understanding of one concept in terms of
another.
Spatial metaphor
Emotions: In high spirits, down in the dumps
Health: in top shape, health declining
Etc.
Body metaphor
Heart of the matter
Face your problems
Etc.
Use of prepositions with more abstract concepts
Out of your mind
In love
Under the influence of
Etc.
Grammaticalization => concepts that are expressed in a language as affixes or functional categories.
Not a single word