언어의 이해
(UNDERSTANDING OF LANGUAGE)
Topics: Semantics (II)
Reading: Finegan (Ch. 6)
Today’s class outline
Semantics
Semantics – Lexical Relations
We often describe meanings in terms of relations
between sets of words, e.g. good – not bad, nectarine – a
kind of fruit, similar to a peach
Which lexical relations (or
sense relations) do you
know?
synonymy, antonymy,
homonymy, homography,
homophony, polysemy,
hyponymy, meronymy
▪Many of these relations end in –onym:
derived from Greek “onuma”, meaning
“name”
Semantics – Synonyms
Synonyms are…
words (or phrases) that have
the same meaning
big= large, brave = courageous,
die = kick the bucket, mother =
mum
Does total (100%) synonymy actually exist?
Semantics – Synonyms
Synonyms of a word can be found in a THESAURUS
Friends clip: “Joey writes a letter”
([Link]
Semantics – Antonyms
Antonyms are…
words (or phrases) that are
opposite in meaning
dead alive, hot cold,
happy sad, buy sell
Complementary antonyms: e.g., dead/alive, awake/asleep,
present/absent
Gradable antonyms: e.g. hot/cold, short/tall, happy/sad
Relational antonyms: e.g. buy/sell, teacher/pupil, give/ receive
Some pairs of gradable antonyms contain a marked and an
unmarked term; the unmarked one is used in questions of
degree (e.g. How tall are you? – not How short are you?)
Semantics – Antonyms
On marked and unmarked terms in antonym pairs:
check which term is more frequently used
Semantics – Homonymy
Homonyms are…
words with different and unrelated meanings that are
pronounced the same; can be spelled the same or differently
e.g. bank (by the river)/bank (financial institution)
Homophones Homographs
Semantics – Aut(o)antonymy
Auto-antonyms (contranyms) are…
words that have two opposing meanings.
It has a homograph that has a contradictory
or opposite meaning.
Semantics – Polysemy
A polysemous word is a word that has two or more
meanings which are conceptually related
e.g. branch (of a tree/of a company), date (meeting
with someone/point in time), see (with your eyes/
understand), crane (bird/construction equipment)
Semantics – Hyponymy
Hyponymy is the relationship
between superordinate and
subordinate items that are members
of a semantic field
Superordinate term = HYPERNYM
Subordinate term = HYPERNYM
Semantics – Meronymy
Another type of hierarchical
relationship between words
Part/whole relationship,
e.g. head/body, eye/face,
hour/day
“X is part of Y” (not “X is a [Link]
kind of Y” ➔ hyponymy) kMDzRGujH4
Semantics – Semantic features
Properties that are a part of word meanings
Reflect our knowledge about what words mean
Meaning components of a word (represented by pluses
and minuses)
Woman: [+HUMAN] [+ADULT] [+FEMALE/-MALE]
Girl: [+HUMAN] [-ADULT] [+FEMALE/-MALE]
Boy: [+HUMAN] [-ADULT] [-FEMALE/+MALE]
Semantics – semantic features
▪ Words that share semantic features are said to be in a
semantic class
Semantics – Sematic features
Some problems with semantic features…
Another problem may be… damaged examples…
Dog: [+ANIMAL] [+MAMMAL]
[+FOUR LEGS]…
Semantics – semantic features
▪ Problems with semantic feature analysis:
▪ it does not capture connotations; e.g. bachelor vs. spinster
▪ It does not take polysemy into account; e.g. girl =
[+HUMAN], [-MALE], [-ADULT], but can be used to refer to
older females (“the girls in the office”, “Golden Girls”)
Semantics – semantic features
▪ Semantic features…
-are properties (that are part of word meanings)
-reflect our knowledge about what words mean
-may not account for connotations
▪ Although there is a potentially infinite number of
features, linguists attempt to express basic
properties of meaning wherever possible.
e.g., animate/human/gender/singular/plural, etc.
Semantics – Semantic features
Connotations What about “Cat Lady (Spinster)”?
Polysemy
Girl = [+HUMAN], [-MALE], [-ADULT], but can be used to refer to
older females
Like a GIRL
[Link]
Semantics – Semantic roles
1. The janitor opened the door. (Agent)
2. The door opened easily. (Patient)
3. His first record greatly expanded his audience.
(Instrument)
4. Bad weather ruined the grape harvest. (Cause).
5. Jorge heard his father whispering. (Experiencer)
6. The young artist won the prize. (Benefactive or
recipient)
7. Arizona attracts asthmatics. (Locative)
8. The next day found us on the road to Alice Springs.
(Temporal)
Next Wednesday
Bring the semantic assignment
