LEXICAL RELATIONS

The mental lexicon of alanguage is the set of words used by speakers of 2 community
to communicate. How significance is organised in our mental lexicon, the linguistic
signs, by their meaning (SENSE), can sustain among themselves different types of
associations.

Sense-Relations

The speakers of a language intuitively feel a relationship between certain pairs or sets
of lexemes which is not accounted for by an overt phonological or grammatical
similarity. The speakers of English, for instance, intuitively feel that the lexemes ‘parent’
and “child’” , for example, are semantically related in a way not shared by ‘parent’ and
‘take’; ‘bachelor’ and ‘married’ are different in meaning but more similar than ‘bachelor’
and ‘river” ; the lexemes ‘chair’, ‘stool’, ‘bench’ and ‘sofa’ are related in a way that ‘chair’
and ‘horse’ are not; and so on.

One of the goals of an adequate semantic theory is to characterize and explicate the
semantic relations holding between semantically related lexemes and how these
relations are being made use of in the communicative process. Any theory which fails
to capture these relations satisfactorily must be inadequate either in principle or in some
detail of the theory.

The theory of semantic fields makes use of a number of lexical relations in terms of
which the fields are structured. The lexical relations are those that are established
between the lexical meanings of the words. By lexical meaning we understand the
meaning of the word as it is stated in the dictionary , that is, the abstracted meaning of
the different forms of its contextual use.

The descriptive semantics tres to structure the lexicon of a language starting from the
paradigmatic and syntagmatic relationships, which in the language we know as lexical
relations which we will summarize:
- SAMENESS RELATIONS
- OPPOSITENESS RELATIONS
- INCLUSIVENESS (TAXNOMOIC) RELATIONS
- WHOLE-PART

SAMENESS RELATIONSHIPS
The first of these semantic relationships that we will mention is an intuitive concept of
sameness of meaning. which is often referred to as synonymy in the case of individual
lexical entities (synonymy) and can be extended to entire sentences (paraphrases) in a
language.

SYNONYMY:
Synonymy in semantics refers to a word with the same (or nearly the same) meaning as
another word.

big-large; small — little; easy — effortless; difficult — hard

Synonyms are different words which have the same or very similar meanings. For
example:

couch/ sofa, boy/Iad, lawyer/ attorney, toilet /lavatory, large/big

Sometimes the feature is subjective (connotative), referring to how the speaker feels
about the referent rather than any real difference in the referent itself:
die, pass away, give up the ghost, kick the bucket, croak.

Absolute (Perfect) synonyms are rare; most frequently, synonyms have different ranges
of distribution depending on a varety of parameters. Are there ‘real’ Absolute
synonyms, words with exactly the same sense?
Buy & Purchase
There are three criteria for absolute synonymy,
6] synonyms are absolute S_ if and only if all their meaning are identical;
(1) synonyms are Close S. if and only if they are synonymous in all contexts;
and
(1) synonyms are absolute S. if and only if they are identical in all relevant
dimensions of meaning.
By the first criterion, two lexemes can never be considered ‘true’ (‘absolute’ or ‘real’)
synonyms unless they occur in ALL contexts without the slightest change in meaning,
ie. they should have the same distribution in the totality of a language whether this
torality is taken to mean all actual utterances or all potential utterances or both. The two
lexemes ‘profound’ and ‘deep’, for example, are interchangeable in ‘He offered them
his profound sympathy’ and ‘He offered them his deep sympathy’. But in a context like
¥ T he bonfesankili sorsm mmemmnamsen water’ the lexemes ‘deep’ and ‘profound’ are not
interchangeable as “*The boat sank in profound water’ is unacceptable. Since there is
no total interchangeability between ‘deep’ and ‘profound’, they are not, it is claimed,
synonymous.
 By the second criterion, two or more lexemes may have the same descriptive
(conceptual or cognitive) meaning but differ in connotative (mainly emotive) meaning.
An oft-cited example is that of the three lexemes ‘economical’, ‘thrifty’ and ‘stingy’
which have the same cognitive meaning “careful in the spending of money, energy, etc.”
but differ in emotive meaning. The lexeme ‘economical’ is void of any emotive meaning;
‘thrifty” indicates approval and ‘stingy’ indicates ‘disapproval’.
If synonyms are conceived of in this way, that is, completely identical in ALL types,
or aspects, of meaning and totally interchangeable in ALL contexts, then it is
undoubtedly true that there are very few such synonyms in language. And, in fact, little
purpose is served by such a definition. We will avoid this narrow interpretation of
synonymy on theoretical and practical grounds.

Close synonymy is when two or more words have the same or very nearly the same
essential properties of meaning. They have the same meaning but not interchangeable
in all contexts, e.g.
Radio airport
wireless airfield

True Chose Partial

two or more having the w’:’:s‘;’i I’;‘g’[’;fi‘::;;?j’::i : the meaning of one lexicon
i
same exact meaning. entiroly the same but very onlyly a I; part
olof e
the meanin g
close.
[ “husbandand spouse: | [ war, battle, combat, fight, | [Hen s partial meaning of chicken. |

Partial synonymy is when the meaning of one lexicon only a part of the meaning of the
other.

Certain synonyms belong to different dialects in the past and then they became
synonyms to speakers of both dialects and gives the example of the Irish English
“press” and Brtish English “cupboard”.

Tn the following sentences, do the capitalized pairs of words have the same!
or very neasly the same) sense in the ways they are used here?
The thief tried to CONCEAL/HIDE the evidence [Yes /No |

! Feedback (1) Yes (2) Yes (3) No (4) No (5) Yes (6) Yes
 (2) | ’'m soins to PURCHASE/BUY a new coat I Yes / No I
3 These tomatoes are LARGE/RIPE I Yes / No I
This is a very LOOSE/SHORT definition
You have my PROFOUND/DEEP sympathy
(6) J It is a very WIDE/BROAD street I Yes / No I

Clearly the notions of synonymy and sense are interdependent. You can’t understand
one without understanding the other. In considering the sense of a word, we abstract
away from any stylistic, social, or dialectal associations the word may have.

1. We have a big problem.

a. We have a large problem. Although gigantic is synonymous with big, the
word combination of gigantic problem (Ic) doesn'd
have a huge problem. sound natural. This is what's called a collocation
(a pairing of words with a high level of frequency).
. We have a gigantic problem.
2a. The tickets can onlybe bought online. IGeneral.ly, buy and purchase mean 'to obtain
something by paying money for it' (Oxford
Learner's Dictionary). However, the two words
2 B. The tickets can only; be purchased online. differ in their register. Buy is considered a general
term, whereas purchase is) often used in. a more
formal context.

3a. It's been a very chilly autumn this year.

Both autumn and fall mean 'the season of the year|
between summer and winter.'
But, autumn is Commonly used in British English,|
3b. Born last Fall . while fall is used in American English. They differ|
in regional /social variety.

In the following sentences, do the pairs of words in capitals have the same
sense? Circle S for ‘same’ or D for ‘different’?
1) I He comes to see us every FALL/AUTUMN I S/D I
(2) I Nothing is more precious to us than our FREEDOM/LIBERTY I
Si/ DI
The body was found in the BOOT/TRUNK of the car
We’ve just bought 2 new HOUSE/APARTMENT

2 Feedback (1) S (2)S(3)S@ D (55D (6) S

 (5) J|John gota bullet wound in his HEAD/GUTS IS /D I
A BLOKE/CHAP I know has pickled onions for breakfast

Types of synonymy:
1) conceptual or total synonymy when the conceptual features of the meanings of
two terms coincide:
happen, take place regular hexahedron, cube.
2) Referential synonymy . The terms refer to the same reference but do not mean the
same: Juan entered the boss's office. Mr. Lopez looked at his subordinate with
contempt: that young man was odious

3) Connotative synonymy . When they dominate the connotations they can allude to
the same meaning terms that objectively have nothing to do with each other. Juan is a
monster / a savage / a beast.
4) Contextual or partial synonymy is more frequent: the terms that can be commuted
in a given context without altering the meaning of it.

(4) Joe is a bachelor,

(5) Joe is an unmarried male.

HOMONYMY:
Homonyms exist where a single form with the same pronunciation but have two or
more entirely distinct meaning. In such cases it assumes that are two (or more) separate
words with the same pronunciation rather than a single word with different meanings.

NoI Word I Meaning A Meaning B

1 I Bat I “a flying mammal” I a cricket/baseball equipment

Ring the bell Putting a wedding ring

4 Park Park a car Go to a park to jog

5 I Bank I “a financial institution ” I “a small cliff/ river edge”

 “a social organization” “a blunt weapon”

“a plan of a literary work™ [ “a small piece of ground”

“a writing instrument” “a small cage”

a part of the body when sitting down’.

HOMOPHONY
Homonyms are unrelated senses of the same phonological word. Some author
distinguish between homographs, senses of the same written word, and homophones,

senses of the same spoken word (look at above!). Examples:

1. Lexemes of the same category, but with different spelling: e.g. the verbs “ring”
and “wring” ; “knight” and the noun “night”
2. Lexemes of different categories, but with the same spelling. e.g. the pronoun “I”

and noun “eye” “not” and “knot”

Some lexeme are of the same spelling but different meaning and pronunciation such as
“present’ & “present”; “minnte’ & “minute’; “live> & “live”; “wind’> & “wind’ are called
“Homographs”
Polysemy

Polysemy is derived from the Greek poly- , ‘many’, and sem- ‘sense’ or ‘meaning’.
Polysemy is when a word acquires multiple meanings related by extension. Polysemy
results when two or more senses develop historically for the same word. The
process by which a word acquires multiple meanings related by extension. For
instance, the word ‘fix’ has many meanings such as arrange, attach, get ready (food
or drinks), set right (the hair), punish, and repair.

Both polysemy and homonymy are lexical relations that deal with multiple
senses of the same phonological unit. However, polysemy is used if the senses
are considered to be related and homonymy if the senses invoked are considered
to be unrelated. Unlike coincidental homonyms, polysemous words usually preserve
some perceptible semantic link marking the development of one meaning out of the
other, as in

leg of chair I VS I the leg of person I

the face of a person I VS I the face of a clock I

OPPOSITENESS RELATIONSHIPS
‘Oppositeness of meaning’, an area that traditionally was viewed in rather simple terms.
The sentences in the following pair appear to be opposite in meaning:

1) The bear killed the man 2) The man killed the bear

what would you say are the opposites of the following words>?

4) lend
Hot is not the opposite of co/d in the same way as borrow is the opposite of Jend. Thick is
not the opposite of #in in the same way as dead 1s the opposite of alive

ANTONYMS:
Antonyms are words which are opposite in meaning. However, there

are different ways in which one word is opposed to another word; that s,
it 1s possible to identify different types of relationships under the general
label of opposition.

The sense-relations of antonymy, complementarity, and converseness are traditionally

lumped together under one label “oppositeness of meaning’. It was Lyons (1963) who
first distinguished between these relations in linguistics and briefly outlined their
nature.

3 Feedback (1) cold (2) thin (3) sell (4) borrow (5) female (6) alive (7) no real opposite (breakfast, dinner?) (8) no real
opposite — part of a three-termed system, with solid and gas
BINARY ANTONYMS
Binary antonyms (sometimes also called (COMPLEMENTARITY ANTONYMS) are
predicates which come in pairs and between them exhaust all the relevant possibilities.

Binary antonymy implies that if A is not X then definitely A is Y; similady, is A is X

then definitely A is not Y. If someone is not present, then definitely that someone is
absent.
If the one predicate is applicable, then the other cannot be, and vice versa. Another way
to view this is to say that a predicate is a binary antonym of another predicate if it entails
the negative of the other predicate. “True” and “False” ; “Off” and “On” are binary
antonyms.

Which of the following pairs of predicates binary antonyms?*

(1) | chalk — cheese Yes / No

(2) | same — different Yes / No
(3) | copper —tin Yes / No
(4) | dead — alive Yes / No
(5) | married — unmarried Yes / No
(6) |love —hate Yes / No
GRADABLE ANTONYMS
They can admit gradation. Gradable antonyms of a many-member set can be placed on
a scale in which case they may be ordered: ‘hot, warm, cool, cold” and may be intensified
in a variety of ways (‘very hot’, ‘very warm’, ‘extremely cold’, etc.) to specify certain
points on the scale. Two predicates are GRADABLE antonyms if they are at opposite
ends of a continuous scale of values (a scale which typically varies according to the
context of use). Antonymy is a kind of relationship between opposites where the
positive of one term If does not necessarily imply the negative of the other; do not
represent absolute values in that the denial of one member of the pair does not imply
the assertion of the other.
To say “The water is not hot’ does not suggest that “The house is big’; it may be “fairly
big’. big / small (very small, very small, quite small, small, medium, large, quite large,
very large, huge).

Are the following pairs gradable antonyms?

(1) [tall—short [Yes / No

4 Feedback (1) No, if something is not chalk, it is not necessaxly cheese. (2) Yes, if two things are the same, they are not
different: if they are not the same, they are different. (3) No (4) Yes (5) Yes (6) No, if T don’t love you, T don’t
necessaily hate you.
 (2) |long — short Yes / No
(3) | clever — stupid Yes / No
(4) | top — bottom Yes / No
(5) |love —hate Yes / No

A good test for gradability, i.e. having a value on some continuous scale, as gradable
antonyms do, is to see whether a word can combine with very, or very much, ot how? ox
how much? For example, How tall is he? is acceptable, but How fop is that shelf? is not
generally acceptable.

CONVERSES
If a predicate describes single relationship from opposite perspectives, such as parent
versus child 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.

Parent and child are converses, because X s #he parent of Y (one order) describes the same
situation (relationship) as Y is the child of X (opposite order).

Are the following pairs of expressions converses®

Sl I below — above I Yes / No I
grandparent — grandchild

fove
] poee
(4) l conceal — reveal I Yes / No I
5) ‘ greater than — less than
[©6) | Jown
|own —_belongto
belong to

In both types of antonymy discussed so far, binary antonymy and converseness, the
antonyms come in pairs. Between them, the members of a pair of binary antonyms fully
fill the area to which they can be applied. Such areas can be thought of as miniatre
semantic systems. Such semantic systems are sometimes known as ‘semantic fields”.
Thus, for example, male and female between them constitute the English sex system,
true and false are the two members of the truth system etc.

5 Feedback (1) Yes, if X is below Y, Y is above X. (2) Yes (3) No (4) No (5) Yes (6) Yes
REVERSES
The characteristic of reverse relation is between terms describing movement, where one
term describes movement in one direction and the other the same movement in the
opposite direction, for example the terms push and pull on a swing door which tell
you in which direction to apply force, other such pairs are: come— go, when describing
motion the following go — return can be called converses.

INCLUSION: HIERARCHY
INCLUSION assumes that the meaning of one term includes that of another(s), it is
said to be its hyperonym; the inverse relationship is called hyponymy.

HYPONYMY
In linguistics, a hyponym is a word or phrase whose semantic field is included within
that of another word, its hyperonym or hyperym (see diagram below).

the set of all

/= the set of all

For example, that the sense of animal 1s included in the sense of cow. The sense of
color includes the sense of purple, red, blue, etc.

By ‘hyponymy’ is meant a relationship of inclusion in the sense that the meaning of

a specific lexeme is said to be included within the meaning of a general one. If X is 2
hyponym of Y and if Y 1s also a hyponym of X, then X and Y are synonymous.

Hypernym Color

Hyponyms Purple Green

Co-Hyponyms

Crimson Violet Lavender

For example, the meaning of ‘lily’, “daisy, ‘daffodil’, ‘tulip’, ‘rose’, etc. are included within
the meaning of “flower’. Similarly, the meaning of ‘pine’, ‘oak’, larch’, fir’ and ‘yew’ are
included within the meaning of ‘tree’; the meaning of ‘carrot’, ‘cucumber’, lettuce’ and
‘cabbage’ are included within that of ‘vegetable’, and so on. The general lexeme is
referred to, as we have already mentioned, by various names: ‘ARCHILEXEME”;
‘GENERIC TERM’; and ‘SUPERORDINATE LEXEME’ (or
‘SUPERORDINATE’). Each lexeme in the same level of the hierarchy is referred to
as a ‘hyponym’ of the superordinate. We shall say, for instance, that ‘flower’ is the
superordinate of ‘lily’, ‘daisy’, ‘daffodil’, ‘tulip’, ‘rose’, etc, whereas each of these lexemes
is a hyponym of ‘flower’ and collectively they are the co-hyponyms of ‘flower’.

Hyponymy is a relationship of unilateral implication or entailment. The hyponym

always implies or entails the superordinate lexeme. To say “This is an oak’ implies “This
1s a tree’; “Thus 1s a hound” implies “This 1s a dog’, etc.
But “This is a tree” does not imply “This is an oak’.
Incompatibility
The relationship of incompatibility is the reverse of hyponymy in that it is a
relationship of exclusion: the sense of one lexeme excludes the sense of other lexemes
associated with it in a particular semantic field. This relationship holds between co-
hyponyms such as to say: ‘He was running’is to say ‘He was not walking’, ‘He was
not dancing’, ‘He was not jumping’, etc. The lexemes ‘walk’, ‘dance’, jump’, ‘crawl’
are incompatibles.
Incompatibility is to be regarded as a lexical relation holding between lexemes in the
same semantic field or a related field rather than between lexemes belonging to totally
unrelated fields. Thus ‘walk’ is incompatible with ‘dance’, jump’, ‘crawl, etc. but not
with ‘steal’, ‘buy’, ‘win’, etc. as the latter lexemes belong to a completely different field.
PART-WHOLE
MERONYMY
Meronymy is a term used to describe a part — whole relationship between lexical items.
Thus, cover and page are, meronyms of book. We can identify this relationship by using
sentence frames like X is part of Y, or Y has X, as in: A page is a part of a book, A book
has pages. Meronymy reflects hierarchical classifications in the lexicon somewhat like
taxonomies: a typical system might be
N
Car

/‘\—:%\
wheel Engine tire

ye
N— - N—

piston
S
e s
radiator
Yot
 SENTENCE LEVEL

How are form and meaning systematically related in natural languages?

We may distinguish different hinguistic fields according to which part of this question
they focus on:

SENTENCE

Meaning can be accessible at different levels of linguistic:

linguistics Phonology: Park vs bark

Morphology: unwind vs rewind

Syntax: John killed Mary vs Mary killed John

John works vs John worked

Semantics: good vs bad

Pragmatics: government vs regime

Syntax: At the syntactic level, all syntactic units, namely words, phrases, clauses, and
sentences have encoded meanings which are called Grammatical Meanings/Sentence

Meanings. If we combine “Mary”, “killed”, “John”

1. * killed John Mary 2. *Killed Mary John

3. * Mary John Killed 4. * John Mary Killed
5. Mary Killed John [ John Killed Mary

1. SENTENCE MEANING
A SENTENCE is conceived as a context-independent abstract unit, composed of a
grammatically complete string of words put together by the grammatical rules of a
language, expressing a (partial) complete thought.

FORM, CONTENT/FUNCTION
1. Nouns: They name people, places, things, or ideas. Nouns act as the subjects of
verbs and as the objects of verbs and prepositions. (e.g., The dog chased the ball**)

2. Pronouns: They take the place of nouns. (e.g., She went to the store**)

3. Verbs: They express actions, states of being, or occurrences. Verbs are essential for
complete sentences and usually show tense (e.g., past, present, future). (e.g., She is

4. Adjectives: They describe or modify nouns and pronouns. (e.g., The red apple**))

5. Adverbs: They describe or modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. They often
answer questions like how, when, where, and how much. (e.g., She ran quickly.)

6. Prepositions: They show the relationship between a noun or pronoun and another

word in the sentence. (e.g., The book is on the table**.)

7. Conjunctions: They join words, phrases, or clauses. (e.g., He went to the store and

bought milk**.)
8. Interjections: They express strong emotions or sudden reactions. (e.g., Ouch! That
hurt**.)

These parts of speech work together to convey meaning in sentences. Nouns and verbs
form the core of a sentence meaning. Understanding how these parts function is crucial
for effective meaning making and interpreting of what you read and hear.

Grammatical categories
The relationship between sentence meaning and grammatical categories is deeply
intertwined. Grammatical categories act as a blueprint, providing structure and order to

words, ultimately shaping the meaning conveyed by a sentence.

Grammatical categories define how words relate to each other within a sentence.
Nouns and verbs, the cornerstones of a sentence, are identified by their respective
categories, making their functions (roles), (subject, object, etc.) clear. Similarly,

prepositions link nouns or pronouns to other words, showing their relative position or
function. This structure helps avoid ambiguity and ensures the intended meaning is
communicated effectively.

Different grammatical categories Encode /carry specific information that contributes

to the sentence's meaning. For example, adjectives provide qualities that modify nouns,
while adverbs modify verbs or other adverbs, adding crucial details and nuances.
Similarly, tense in verbs tells us when an action happened (past, present, future), while

aspect describes the ongoing nature or completion of an action.

Gender
In grammar, gender refers to the classification of nouns, pronouns, and adjectives into
categories like masculine, feminine, or neuter. English has a limited grammatical gender
system compared to many languages, with most nouns being considered neuter.

However, some nouns (like "actor" and "actress") and pronouns (like "he" and "she")
have different forms based on gender. This grammatical gender can sometimes affect
sentence meaning by indicating the sex or gender identity of the subject or object being
referred to.

More broadly, "gender" refers to the social and cultural roles, behaviours, and

expectations associated with being male, female, or non-binary. This understanding of

gender has a significant impact on how we interpret and construct sentences because:

« Itcaninfluence our choice of words: We may use gendered pronouns, nouns,

and adjectives to refer to individuals based on their perceived gender identity or

social role.

« It can influence our assumptions about individuals: Sentences may imply

certain things about a person's gender identity or experiences based on the

language used.

o It can affect the overall tone and message of a sentence: Consider the
difference between saying "The doctor saw his patient" and "The doctor saw
their patient." Both sentences convey the same basic information, but the second
one avoids making assumptions about the patient's gender and creates a more
inclusive tone.

Therefore, understanding both the grammatical and social/ cultural aspects of gender is

crucial for accurately interpreting and composing meaningful English sentences.

Person
n English grammar, the grammatical category of person refers to the relationship
between the subject of a sentence and the speaker, listener, or someone or something
being spoken about. There are three main categories of person:

1. First Person: This refers to the speaker of the sentence (eg., I, we). 2. Second
Person: This refers to the person being spoken to (e.g., you, you all). 3. Third Person:
This refers to someone or something being spoken about, other than the speaker or
listener (e.g., he, she, it, they).

Here are some key points about the category of person:

Verb conjugation: The form of a verb often changes depending on the person
of the subject (e.g., "I am," "you are," "he is").

Pronouns: Personal pronouns such as "L" "you," "he," "she," "it," and "we" all

have different forms depending on the person they represent.

Agreement: The category of person can affect other words in the sentence, such
as possessive pronouns and determiners (e.g., "my," "your," "their").

Shifting perspective: Writers and speakers can shift between different person
categories for various reasons, such as directly addressing the audience, narrating
a story from different perspectives, or adding emphasis to a point.

It's important to note that:

Some languages have other grammatical categories of person, such as dual

(referring to two people) or paucal (referring to a small number of people).

English has a separate category called the "royal we," " which is a first-person

plural pronoun used by a single person of high status, typically a monarch.

Person can interact with other grammatical categories, such as tense and
number, to create complex meaning in sentences.

Number
The grammatical category number in English refers to the quantity or amount being
expressed by a noun, pronoun, or verb. It usually has two options:

1. Singular: Indicates one entity (e.g., book, she, speaks). 2. Plural: Indicates more

than one entity (e.g., books, they, speak).

Here are some key points about the category of number:

Nouns: Most nouns have singular and plural forms, often created by adding -s
or -es (e.g., book -> books, cat -> cats). Some irregular nouns have unique plural

forms (e.g., tooth -> teeth, child -> children).

Pronouns: Personal pronouns, possessive pronouns, and demonstrative

pronouns all come in both singular and plural forms (e.g, I -> we, my ->
our, this -> these).

Verbs: Present tense verbs in the third person singular often conjugate
differently than other forms (e.g., he speaks, they speak).

Agreement: The number of a noun (subject) must agree with the number of its

verb and any related pronouns or adjectives.

Collective nouns: Some nouns, like "family" or "team," can be singular or plural

depending on the context (e.g., The team is playing well. / The team are all
going out for dinner.).

It's important to note that:

Some languages have more than two number categories, such as dual (referring
to two things) or paucal (referring to a small number of things). English has some

mass nouns that lack plural forms and are always singular
(e.g., water, information).

Number can interact with other grammatical categories, such as tense and
person, to create complex meaning in sentences.

Case
The grammatical category of case in English is an interesting topic with some

differences in opinion among linguists. While traditional grammar identifies six cases in
English (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, ablative, and vocative), modern

linguists often argue that English has lost most of its inflected case system and only
retains relics in specific contexts.

‘T'raditional perspective:

Nominative: Refers to the subject of a sentence (e.g., The dog chases the cat).

Genitive: Indicates possession (e.g., The cat's tail, John's house).

Dative: Denotes the mndirect object (e.g., She gave the book to John).

Accusative: Refers to the direct object (e.g., John saw the car).

Ablative: Indicates source, direction, or ~ means (e.g, He came from

London, He did it with a smile).

Vocative: Used to address someone directly (e.g., John! Come here).

Modern perspective:

Many linguists argue that these terms don't fully capture the nuanced ways
meaning 1s conveyed in English.

Instead of distinct case markings, word order, prepositions, and pronouns often
handle the functions traditionally associated with cases.

For example, "the dog" (nominative) and "the dog's tail" (genitive) rely on word
g
order and the possessive to distinguish their roles.

Aspect
In English, the grammatical category of aspect focuses on how an event or state unfolds

over time, rather than simply indicating when it occurs (like tense does). It gives us
information about the completion, duration, or repetition of an action. Unlike many
languages, English has a relatively limited formal aspect system, relying heavily on other
elements like verb choice and adverbials to convey aspect.

Here's a breakdown of the main aspects in English:

1. Simple: Most English verbs express a simple aspect, focusing on the action itself
without elaborating on its timeline. It doesn't indicate whether the action is completed,
ongoing, or repetitive. (e.g., "He wrote a letter," "She sleeps soundly.")

2. Progressive: The progressive aspect emphasizes the ongoing nature of an action at

a specific time. It uses the auxiliary verb "be" along with the present participle of the
main verb. (e.g., "He is writing a letter," "She is sleeping soundly.")

3. Perfect: The perfect aspect highlights the completion of an action before the present

moment or another point in time. It combines the auxiliary verb "have" with the past
participle of the main verb. (e.g., "He has written 2 letter," "She has slept soundly for
eight hours.")

4. Perfect progressive: This aspect combines the ongoing nature of the progressive
with the completion idea of the perfect, indicating an action that started in the past,
continues up to the present, and may still be ongoing. (e.g., "He has been writing a letter
for hours," "She has been sleeping soundly since midnight.")

5. Habitual: While not a formal aspect, English uses adverbs like "usually, " "often," or

"always" to convey habitual actions that occur repeatedly over time. (e.g., "He usually
writes letters on weekends," "She always sleeps soundly.")

Key points to remember:

« Aspect provides additional information about how actions unfold beyond their
time frame.
 English relies more on auxiliary verbs, verb combinations, and adverbs to
express aspect compared to languages with dedicated aspect markers.

Understanding aspect enhances your ability to communicate and interpret the

distinctions of actions and states in a sentence.

Tenses
Function of Tense:

Tense helps us situate actions and events within time frames, whether

past, present, or future.

It clarfies the relationships between different occurrences in a sentence or

narrative.

Understanding tense accurately ensures clear and effective meaning.

Time is real: Past Present
Tense is grammatical: Past, Present &Future

Grammatical vs. Semantic Tense:

Grammatical tense: Refers to the verb forms that signify different time frames

(e.g, sing, sang, sung).

Semantic tense: Refers to the actual time an action or event is taking

place, regardless of verb form (e.g,"I am eating" denotes present tense

grammatically, but the semantic tense could be past if referring to a dream).

Tense and Aspect Interaction:

Aspect describes the progress or completion of an action

(e.g., simple, progressive, perfect).
 « Tense and aspect often work together to provide a fuller picture of an event's
time frame (e.g., "He has been working here for five years" - present perfect
continuous tense reflects ongoing action in the past and continuing into the
present).

Grammatical Category of Voice

In English grammar, the grammatical category of voice deals with the relationship
between the verb and the nouns or pronouns it interacts with in a sentence. Specifically,

it describes who or what performs the action expressed by the verb. There are two main
voices in English:

1. Active Voice:

o The subject of the sentence actively performs the action expressed by the verb.

o This is the most common voice in English and follows a Subject-Verb-Object

order.

« Example: "The dog chased the cat." (The dog is actively performing the action
of chasing)

2. Passive Voice:

o The subject of the sentence receives the action expressed by the verb.

o The actual doer of the action is often mentioned using a prepositional phrase
with "by."

« Passive voice can sometimes sound more formal or impersonal than active voice.

o Example: "The catwas chased by the dog." (The cat is the recipient of the
action, and the dog is mentioned with "by.")

Factors to Consider:
Choosing between active and passive voice depends on your desired emphasis
and clarity.

Active voice usually emphasizes the doer of the action, while passive voice can
emphasize the action itself or the recipient.

Overuse of passive voice can make writing less engaging and more complex.

English also has a middle voice, a less common construction where the subject

performs the action but also experiences its effect (e.g., "He bathed himself").

Some verbs may not naturally fit into either active or passive voice due to their
inherent meaning (e.g,, "It happened").

Make informed choices about sentence structure and emphasis.

Avoid ambiguity and enhance clarity in your writing.

Appreciate the stylistic differences between active and passive voice.

SENTENCE SEMANTICS: ARGUMENTS-
PREDICATOR
Propositional Meaning
In metaphysics in particular, words acquire their meaning as a result of linguistic
usage, unless, that is, the meaning has been more precisely determined by logical
relations. However, the term “proposition” represents a thought. This indicates the
mental nature of meaning where it becomes internal rather than fully external.
Meaning seems to be fully sanctioned by linguistic usage, Logic is concerned
with determining the relation between its SUBJECT and PREDICATE. Aristotelian
logic identifies a proposition as a sentence which affirms or denies a predicate of a
subject with the help of a 'Copula’.

A PROPOSITION is that part of the meaning of a declarative sentence which

describes some state of affairs: A proposition is about a state of affairs. The state of
affairs typically involves persons or things referred to by REFERRING
EXPRESSIONS in the sentence and the situation or action they are involved in.

The meanings of whole sentences involve propositions; the notion of a

PROPOSITION is central to semantics.

A PROPOSITION is that part of the meaning of the utterance of a declarative sentence

which describes some state of affairs. The state of affairs typically involves persons or
things referred to by expressions in the sentence and the situation or action they are
involved in. In uttering a declarative sentence a speaker typically asserts a proposition

A proposition is an abstraction that can be grasped by the mind of an individual person.

In this sense, a proposition is an object of thought. Do not equate propositions with
thoughts, because thoughts are usually held to be private, personal, mental processes,
whereas propositions are public in the sense that the same proposition is accessible to
different persons: different individuals can grasp the same proposition. Furthermore, a
proposition is not a process, whereas a thought can be seen as a process going on in an
individual’s mind. Unfortunately, of course, the word thought may sometimes be used
loosely in a way which includes the notion of a proposition. For instance, one may say,
“The same thought came into both our heads at the same time.” In this case, the word
thought is being used in a sense quite like that of the word proposition. The relationship
between mental processes (e.g. thoughts), abstract semantic entities (e.g. propositions),
linguistic entities (e.g. sentences), and actions (e.g. utterances) is problematic and
complicated, and we will not go into the differences further here.

True propositions correspond to REALITY AND FACTS, in the ordinary sense of

the word fact. False propositions do not correspond to facts. One can entertain
propositions in the mind regardless of whether they are true or false, e.g. by thinking
them, or believing them.

Proposition’ we explicitly mentioned declarative sentences, but propositions are clearly

involved in the meanings of other types of sentences, such as interrogatives, which are
used to ask questions, and imperatives, which are used to convey orders. Normally,
when a speaker utters a simple declarative sentence, he commits himself to the truth of
the corresponding proposition: ie. he asserts the proposition. By uttering a simple
interrogative or imperative, a speaker can mention a particular proposition, without
asserting its truth. In saying, John can go’ a speaker assests the proposition that John
can go. In saying, ‘Can John go?’, he mentions the same proposition but merely
questions its truth.

A REFERRING EXPRESSION helps the hearer to identify the referent of a

referring expression. Speakers refer to things in the course of utterances by means of
referring expressions. The words in a referring expression give clues which help the
hearer to identify its referent.

So that any expression that can be used to refer to any entity in the real world or in
any imaginary world will be called a REFERRING EXPRESSION.

PRACTICE: Strip away referring expressions and the verb be (and possibly other
elements) to identify the predicators in the following sentences:

(1) T am hungry

(2) Joe is in San Francisco

(3) The Mayoris a crook

(4) The man who lives at number 10 Lee Crescent is whimsical

(5) The Royal Scottish Museum is behind Old College

Proposition can be defined as the basic semantic content of a sentence.

® Subject + predicate

e Topic + Comment

e Theme + Rheme
By examining the semantic structure of simple declarative sentences, such as

My dog bit the postman

Cairo is in Africa

Einstein nas a genius

John looked tired

Predicator and Argument

The semantic analysis of simple declarative sentences reveals two major semantic roles
played by different subparts of the sentence. These are the role played by the referring
expression(s).

® Predicator,

® Argument(s),

The semantic analysis of simple declarative sentences reveals two major semantic roles
played by different subparts of the sentence. These are the role of PREDICATOR,
illustrated below, and the role(s) of ARGUMENT(s), played by the REFERRING
EXPRESSION(s).
The semantic analysis of a sentence into predicator and argument(s) does not
correspond in most cases to the traditional grammatical analysis of a sentence into
subject and predicate.

The PREDICATOR of a simple declarative sentence is the word (sometimes a (partial)

group of words) which does not belong to any of the referring expressions. The
PREDICATOR describes the state or process in which the referring expressions are
involved.

— “asleep” is the predicator in “Mummy is asleep” and describes the state

Mummy is in. BE, ASLEEP(MUMMY)
 X
— “love” is the predicator in “The white man loved the Indian maiden” and
describes the process in which the two referring expressions the “white man”
and the “Indian maiden” are involved.
LOVE (MAN, MAIDEN)

X(v,2)
— “wait” is the predicator in “Jimmy was waiting for the downtown bus” and
describes the process involving Jimmy and the downtown bus.

WAIT (JIMMY, BUS)

— “Pilot” is the predicator in “the Jimmy is a pilot” describes the identity the
man embraces
BE, PILOT(JIMMY)
Asleep is a predicate of degree one (often called 2 ONE-PLACE PREDICATE)

S(ubject) V(etb)

Love (verb) is a predicate of degree two (a TWO-PLACE PREDICATE)

S(ubject) V(erb) O(bject)

Strip away referring expressions and identify the predicators in the following
sentences:

(1) T am hungry

(2) Joe is in San Francisco

(3) The Mayoris a crook
(4) The man who lives here is unusual
The predicators in sentences can be of various parts of speech: adjectives (red, asleep,
hungry, whimsical), verbs (write, stink, place), prepositions (in, between, behind), and
nouns (crook, genius).

In the following sentences, indicate the predicators and arguments as in the above
examples:

(1) Dennis is a menace

predicator: ... argument(s):

(2) Fred showed Jane his BMW

Predicator: ... ALGUMENT(S): ooviomeerreceeeecee

(3) Donald is proud of his family

predicator: ... argument(s):

(4) The hospital is outside the city

predicator: ... argument(s): .....

A verb that is understood most naturally with just two arguments, one as its subject,
and one as its object, is a two-place predicate.
SENTENCE SEMANTICS: PREDICATION AND THEMATIC ROLES

A SENTENCE

Typically, such sentences contain one or more referring expressions, plus

some developing expressions for that referring expression (predicate)

My dog bit the postman

Cairo is in Africa

Einstein was a genius

John looked tired

The semantic analysis of simple declarative sentences reveals two major

semantic roles played by different subparts of the sentence. These are the role
played by the referring expression(s).

o Predicator,

e Argument(s),

THEMATIC ROLES

Sentence predicator: argument:

John is English 18, (JOHN)

ENGLISH
 Jobn arrested Peter ARREST (JOHN, PETER)

]05/1 took Peter to London TAKE 00}1]\7 @geny PETERpasican,

LONDON (urger))
My Mommy is asleep IS, ASLEEP (MOMMY )

THEMATIC ROLES, also known as SEMANTIC ROLES or THETA ROLES,

are the various roles that a noun phrase may play with respect to the action or
state described by a governing verb in a sentence
- Thematic roles tell us what "role" the noun phrase plays in the action
described by the verb
- Examples of thematic roles include agent, experiencer, instrument, recipient,

location, path, and goal

- Thematic roles are important in functionalist and language-comparative
theories of language and grammar, and they define semantic relations that lie

at the interface between semantics and syntax

The King sent the salmon from Inverness to Edinburgh

It would be impossible to understand this sentences if we could not identify the laird as
the person who is responsible for sending something, the salmon as the thing that is
sent, and so on.

Look at some examples below!

1. Agent: the initiator of some action, capable of acting with violition.
eg David cooked the rashers.
The fox jumped out of the ditch.
 2. Patient: The entity undergoing the effect of some action, often
undergoing some charge in state.

eg. My father cut back these bushes.

The sun melted the ice.

3. Theme: the Synthetic sentences can be sometimes true, sometimes false,

depending on the circumstances.

eg. The plan is well

The book is in the library

4. Experiencer: The entity which is aware of the action or state described by the
predicate but which is not in control of the action or state.
eg. Kevin feltill

Mary saw the smoke

Luna heard the door shut

5. Causer: Causers are natural forces often inanimate (not alive) that cause a
change; they cause things to happen but without acting on puspose.
The iceberg sank Titanic. (subject = causer)

6. Event: the event that happened or caused change

Christmas party will come soon

The wedding cermony left massive trash

7. Beneficiary: The entity for whose benefit the action was performed.

eg. Robert filed in the form for his grandmother.

They bake me a cake.
8. Possessor: One who has something

The tail of the dog got caught

9. Instrument: The means by which an action is performed or something comes
about.
 eg. She cleaned the wound with an antiseptic wipe
They signed the treaty with the same_pen.
10. Location: The place in which something is situated or takes place.
e.g The monster was hiding under the bed.

The ban played in a marquee.

11. Goal: The entity towards which something moves.
e.g. Sheilla handed a licence to be policeman.

Pat told the joke to this friends.

12.Source: The entity from which something moves.

e.g. The plane come back from kin shasa.

We got the idea from a French magazine.