1. COMPONENTIAL ANALYSIS: An attempt to give a semantic analysis of words in terms of semantic features or components (Katz & Fodor, 1963)
1.1. These components, sometimes called semantic primitives, are assumed to be the most basic notions expressed by linguistic meaning, the “givens” of the semantic system which cannot be broken down further by semantic analysis
1.2. They are thought to be universal, not language specific, part of the cognitive and perceptual system of the human mind
1.3. Semantic features are usually presented as a matter of opposition, paired positive and negative features, denoting the presence or absence of the particular feature in the meaning of the word
1.3.1. "father": +animate, +/-human, +male, +adult, +having children
2. DEFINITION: "Semantics is the study of linguistic meaning" (Laurel J.Brinton, 2000)
2.1. Lexical Semantics: the study of the meaning properties of individual words (lexical items) in isolation
2.2. Sentential Semantics: the study of the meaning properties of a sentence, of the semantic relationships among the parts of sentence
2.3. Text/Discourse Semantics: is the study of the meaning of extended discourse (spoken or written), of the semantic relationship among utterances used in context
3. BASIC SEMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS
3.1. 1. Paraphrase: an utterance is a paraphrase of another when it has the same meaning as another
3.1.1. "Philip purchased an automobile" is a paraphrase of "Philip bought a car"
3.2. 2. Entailment, or implication: one utterance entails another when the second is a logically necessary consequence of the first
3.2.1. "Alan lives in Toronto" entails "Alan lives in Canada."
3.3. 3. Inclusion: one utterance encompasses another
3.3.1. "I like all kinds of fruit" includes "I like apples"
3.4. 4. Contradiction: a statement or sequence of utterances is logically contradictory; that is, if one is true, the other must be false
3.4.1. "He is an orphan" contradicts "His parents are living"
3.5. 5. Anomaly: an utterance has no meaning in the everyday world; it violates semantic rules
3.5.1. "He swallowed a dream" or "The rock giggled"
3.6. 6. Lexical ambiguity: a word or phrase allows more than one meaning in context
3.6.1. "An old friend", which may denote a friend who is aged or a friend whom one has known for a long time (two different meanings of old)
3.7. 7. Denotation/connotation: words have literal or referential meanings (denotation) but also evoke feelings, attitudes, or opinions (connotations)
3.7.1. Some air blowing through a window is called "a draft" when it is cold and undesired, but "a breeze" when it is cool and desired
3.8. 8. Polysemy: a word has more than one meaning out of context; the meanings are related to one another
3.8.1. "Mouth": ‘opening through which an animate being takes food’, ‘the part of a river which empties into a lake or sea.
3.9. 9. Homonymy: two words sound and are written the same but are different in meaning
3.9.1. "bark 1": ‘outer covering of wood’ and "bark2": ‘harsh sound, uttered by a dog’
3.10. 10. Meronymy: a word denotes part of a whole
3.10.1. "Fender" is to "car", "week" is to "month"
3.11. 11. Presupposition: what is assumed beforehand by an utterance, or what is taken for granted, is said to be presupposed
3.11.1. "Have another cup of coffee" with trigger as "another" addressee the presupposition that he has already had a cup of coffee
4. STRUCTURAL SEMANTICS: "One description of the meaning relationships of words in a language" - given by the British linguist John Lyons
4.1. 1. Synonymy
4.1.1. Denotes sameness in meaning, or sense
4.1.1.1. unhappy/sad, huge/enormous
4.1.2. Context-dependent
4.1.2.1. "Pedigree" refers only to animals, while "ancestry", "genealogy", and "lineage" refer only to human beings, and "descent" may refer to either
4.1.2.2. Two words may have the same meaning in a particular context, but not necessarily in all contexts
4.1.2.2.1. Synonymous: The shirt is {pale/light} in color.
4.1.2.2.2. Not synonymous: The book is {light, *pale} in weight.
4.1.3. Synonymy may differ in denotations, connotations or degree/intensity
4.1.3.1. Synonymy ignores the connotations of words and recognizes only their denotations. Different connotations: horse/steed/nag
4.1.3.2. Degree/intensity: rain/showers/sprinkles/downpour
4.2. 2. Hyponymy
4.2.1. Hyponymy is a relation of inclusion or entailment
4.2.1.1. The meaning of the hyponym includes the meaning of the superordinate term: "red" includes "scarlet", "crimson"
4.2.1.2. The meaning of the hyponym entails the meaning of the superordinate term:"scarlet" entails "red"
4.2.2. The referents of superordinate term include the referents of hyponym
4.2.3. Hyponyms entail superordinate term but not vice versa
4.2.3.1. "I bought some roses" entails "I bought some flowers", but "I bought some flowers" does not entail "I bought some roses"
4.2.4. There may be different levels of hyponyms, a hierarchy. The lower one moves in this hierarchy, the more specialized, or “marked”, the terms become
4.2.5. Sometimes there are no superordinates term for existing hyponyms and vice versa
4.2.5.1. "Siblings: brother, sister" vs "???: uncle,aunt"
4.2.5.2. "Dead body: corpse (human beings), carcass (animals), ??? (trees)"
4.3. 3. Oppositeness
4.3.1. Complementary antonym is a relation of contradiction, in which the denial of one term is the assertion of its complementary term. "X is not Y and Y is not X"
4.3.1.1. single – married, male – female dead – alive
4.3.2. Gradable antonym refers to gradable concepts, which may be explicitly or implicitly compared
4.3.2.1. big – small/little, old – young/new high – low
4.3.2.2. Unlike complementary pairs, antonymous pairs, since they mark points on a scale, typically permit intermediate stages
4.3.2.2.1. hot, warm, cool, cold
4.3.2.3. With scalar pairs, one is “unmarked” (positive, unbiased) and one is “marked” (negative, biased)
4.3.2.3.1. How hot/cold is this?
4.3.3. Converseness denotes a kind of reversal
4.3.3.1. buy/sell, zip/unzip, north of/south of
4.3.3.2. Syntactically, active sentences and their corresponding passives denote converseness
4.3.3.2.1. "Sandy ate the strawberries" entails "The strawberries were eaten by Sandy"
4.3.3.3. A special kind of converseness is called symmetry
4.3.3.3.1. "Helen is married to David" = "David is married to Helen" = "Helen and David are married"
4.3.4. Reversive (dictional) antonyms: are pair in which each member express the reverse of the other. In this case, you can have one without the other
4.3.4.1. Verb: "rise" and "fall" >< "buy" and "sell"
4.3.4.2. Adverb: "backward" and "forward"