Semantics:

The Analysis of
Meaning
Prescriptive vs. Descriptive Grammar

• A descriptive grammar is built up by analyzing how speakers use a

language, and deducing the rules they are following.
• A prescriptive grammar is a set of explicit rules for using language that
are taught, or enforced, so that people will use the language in a
particular way. Typically the rules are handed down from generation to
generation.
• Both kinds of grammars have their places in the world.
Meaning
• To understand language
• the meaning of words and of the morphemes that
compose them
• Words into phrases and sentences
• Context which determines the meaning (Pragmatics)
Meaning

• Denotative vs. connotative meaning

• conceptual/denotative= literal use of the word.
• Associative/ connotative= different associations with the conceptual
meaning
• E.g. needle= ‘thin, sharp, steel, instrument’ is associated with ‘pain’,
‘blood’ or ‘illness’
• Other examples: night- rose?
What is Semantics?
• The study of meaning of words, phrases, and
sentences.
• Lexical semantics (words and meaning relationship
among words)
• Phrasal/ sentential semantics (syntactic units larger
than a word)

• What a speaker conventionally means (objective

or general meaning)- not what he is trying to say
(subjective or local meaning)
How can we describe the meaning of
different words?
• Three types of semantic analysis:

• Words as ‘containers’ Semantic features

• ‘roles’ they fulfill Semantic roles
• ‘relationship’ with other words lexical relation
Semantic features
• Syntactically correct sentences but semantically odd.
• The hamburger ate the man.
• My cat studies linguistics.
• The table listens to the radio
• Colourless green ideas sleep furiously.

• This relates to the conceptual components of the

words ‘hamburger, cat & table’ not human.
 Semantic Feature Analysis
• Semantic properties: The components of
meaning of a word.
• Meaning as collection of properties/features
typically with two possible values (+ / -)
• Example of componential analysis:
baby is [+ young], [+ human], [+animate]
Semantic Features
 Identify the features (1)

1. (a) widow, mother, sister, aunt, maid

(b) widower, father, brother, uncle
The (a) and (b) words are
[+ human]
The (a) words are [+ female]
The (b) words are
[+ male]
2. (a) bachelor, paperboy, pope, chief
(b) bull, rooster, drake, ram
 The (a) and (b) words are [+ male]
 The (a) words are [+ human]
 The (b) words are [+ animal]
Semantic roles
• Words are described according to the roles
they fulfill with the situation described in a
sentence.
• The boy kicked the ball
• verb indicates action
• Boy performs the action= agent
• Ball undergoes the action= theme
• The NPs describe the role of entities (people
or things) involved in the action, i.e. they
have certain semantic (or thematic) roles.
Semantic Roles
Agent= the entity that performs the action

Theme= the entity that undergoes the action

Experiencer= one who perceives something

Instrument= an entity used to perform an action

Location= the place where the action happens

Source= the place from which an action originates

Goal= the place where the action is directed

 John is writing with a pen
• agent instrument

Mary saw a mosquito on the wall

• experiencer theme location

Semantic roles The children ran from the playground to the pool
• agent source goal

The boy opened the door with a key

The dog bit the stick

With a stick, the man hit the dog.

 • What is the meaning of ‘big’?
Lexical relations • ‘Large’ or the opposite of ‘small’

• What is the meaning of ‘daffodil’?

• A kind of flower

• Analysis in terms of lexical relations- explain the meaning in

terms of the relationship with other words
• Synonymy
• Antonymy
• Hyponymy
• Prototype
• Homophones and Homonyms
• Polysemy
 Synonymy: words that have the
same meanings or that are closely
related in meaning

E.g. answer/reply – almost/nearly

– broad/wide – buy/purchase –
Synonymy freedom/ liberty

‘sameness’ is not ‘total E.g. Sandy only

had one answer
sameness’- only one word
correct on the
would be appropriate in a test. (but NOT
sentence. reply)

E.g
Synonyms differ in
buy/purchase –
formality automobile/car
Antonymy

• Antonymy: words that are opposites in meaning, e.g. hot & cold.

• Types
• Gradable= not absolute, question of degree
• Hot & cold – small & big
• Non-gradable:
• Dead & alive – asleep & awake

E.g. happy/sad married/single

present/absent fast/slow
Synonymy & Antonymy
Synonymy or Antonymy
 Flourish – thrive
 Intelligent – stupid
 Casual – informal
 deep-profound
 Drunk – sober
 Sofa – couch
 Hide – conceal
 cheap – expensive
 Rich - wealthy
Hyponymy

• Hyponymy: Words whose meanings are specific instances of a more

general word, i.e. one thing is included (kind of) in another thing.
• e.g. cats and dogs are hyponyms of the word animal.
• In this case cats and dogs are co-hyponyms share the same
‘superordinate’
• Other e.g. daffodil & flower / carrot & vegetable / ant & insect
Hyponymy
Prototypes
• Canary– dove– duck –flamingo –parrot-
robin ‘bird’
• The best example that belongs to a bird is
‘robin’, but what about ‘ostrich’ and
‘penguin’?
• Prototype: Characteristic instance
• Furniture – chair is a better example than
bench or stool.
• Clothing – shirts more than shoes
Why are rivers rich? Homophones and Homonyms

• Homonymy: A word which has two or more entirely

distinct (unrelated) meanings,
• e.g. bank: ‘financial institution’ ; ‘of a river’.
• Bat: ‘flying creature’ or ‘used in sports’
• Race: ‘contest of speed’ or ‘ethnic group’
• Homophony: Different words pronounced the same but
spelled differently,
• e.g. two, to and too.
• Flour and flower
• Meat and meet
• Right and write
Polysemy

• Polysemy: A word which has multiple meanings

related by extension,
• e.g. bright: ‘shining’ ; ‘intelligent’
• ‘Head’ of the body and the person at the top of a
company.
• ‘Foot’ of a body and of a mountain and of the bed
or chair.
• ‘Run’ a person runs, the water runs
Metonymy
• What do you think about these sentence?
• He drank the whole bottle. (container-content)
• The White House announced. (king-crown)
• I gave her a hand. (whole-part)

• A word substituted for another word with which it is closely

associated e.g. bottle is used for water

• Metonymy is "a figure of speech in which an attribute or commonly

associated feature is used to name or designate something." A short
definition is "part for whole."
Collocation

Words tend to
occur with other E.g. table/chair Butter/bread
words.

Salt/pepper Hammer/ nail