Ling 100 | Group Presentation # 2 | Semantics
Definition
● Study of the meaning of words, phrases
and sentences.
● How meaning is conveyed through the
symbols of a written language
● In semantic analysis, we are concerned
with objective or general meaning and
avoids trying to account for subjective
or local meaning.
Meaning
1. Conceptual Meaning
- Literal use of a word
- Snake is a long, limbless reptile
2. Associative Meaning
- Has connotations
- Snake is a treacherous person
Semantic Features
The is reading the newspaper.
N [+human]
This approach would give us the ability to
predict which nouns make this sentence
semantically odd. Some examples would be
table,​ ​horse a​ nd ​hamburger​, because none of
them have the required feature [+human].
Semantic Roles
● Agent​ - entity that ​performs t​ he action
● Theme​ - entity ​involved in ​or ​affected
by the action
● Instrument​ - agent uses another entity
to perform an action
● Experiencer​ - person who has a feeling,
perception, or state
● Location​ - where an entity is
● Source​ - where it is from
● Goal​ - where it moves to
Lexical Relations
● Synonymy ​- Two or more words with
very closely related meanings; not total
sameness
Ex: Large-Big; Rapid-fast
● Antonymy - ​Two words with opposite
meanings
1. Gradable - along a scale
(Old-New)
2. Non-gradable - direct opposite
(Alive-dead)
● Hyponymy ​- When the meaning of one
form is included in the meaning of
another (Animal → Dog)
❏ Superordinate - higher-level
term
❏ Co-hyponym - share the same
superordinate
● Prototypes ​- idea of the “characteristic
instance” of a category (Furniture:
chairs, table, dresser)
● Homonyms ​- same spelling, different
meaning (bank-bank)
● Homophones ​- different spelling, same
pronunciation (meat-meet
● Polysemy​ - one form, multiple
meanings related by extension (ex:
head)
● Metonymy ​- close connection based on:
❏ Container-content relation
(Bottle-water)
❏ Whole-part relation
(Wheels-car)
❏ Representative-symbol
relationship (White
House-president)
● Word Play ​ - humor, witty (ex: 789)
● Collocations ​- natural combination of
words closely affiliated with each other
(apple-pie)