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Semantics Lessons 1-7
Semantics Lessons 1-7
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Lesson 1
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محتويات الدرس األول
• What is semantics?
• Importance of semantics
• Lexical meaning:
Conceptual meaning
Associative meaning
Language Major Components
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlRNrSajB-0
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Language
Form Meaning
Sounds
2. Semantics provides speakers with a structure to use when they need to put
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words into sentences, creating meaning For example:
A sandwich has eaten a boy. X ( Structure OK, Meaning X)
A boy has eaten a sandwich. OK
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously. X ( Structure OK, Meaning X)
3. The true power of semantics is that it is less structured than syntax and easier
way to communicate information.
If I had said “The color of the sky is blue”, or “The sky is now blue”, or “I see a blue
sky”, you would generally get the same meaning that the sky is blue. The important
information in any of these variations are the words “sky” and “blue”.
Importance of Semantics
4. Structural ambiguity can also give reason for the importance of Semantic
research.
For example:
„The chicken is ready to eat'
This sentence can be an example of structural ambiguity. This sentence
could mean:
(1) The chicken (itself) is hungry and so it is ready to eat
(2) The chicken is ready to be served and eaten by somebody else.
Associative Meaning:
Blood= ( Personal) accident, killing, oblation ( Sacrifice)
Pig = (Cultural connotation) dirty and disgusting, illegal meat
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Relationship between Words
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c_5OW2wM4Q
مهم جدا ً وشامل
• https://www.slideshare.net/HameelKhan/semantics-
15569625
• https://www.slideshare.net/BerkayFrtna/semantics-
10890070?next_slideshow=1
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Semantics
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Lesson 2
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محتويات الدرس الثاني
• Lexical Relations:
Synonyms
Antonyms
Hyponyms
Homophones
Homonyms
Polysemy
Collocations
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Synonymy
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Synonymy
Synonyms are two or more words with very similar almost identical meaning.
Examples:
• almost/nearly
• buy/ purchase
• big/large
• broad/wide
• cab/taxi
• car/automobile
• freedom/liberty.
Synonymy
Note:
• There are many occasions when one word is appropriate in a sentence, but its
synonym would be odd. For example, whereas the word answer fits in the sentence:
Sara had only one answer correct on the test, the word reply would sound odd.
• The sentence My father purchased a large automobile has the same meaning as
My dad bought a big car, with four synonymous replacements, but the second
version sounds much more casual or informal than the first.
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Antonymy
Antonymy
Antonyms
Gradable Non-gradable
Can be compared ( Complementary)
متدرج غير متدرج
Hot warm cold married/single
old…new Relational
alive/dead
fast… slow عالئقي
Pairs going together
husband/wife
borrow/lend
murderer/victim
Gradable Antonyms
(can be used in comparative and superlative)
Beautiful Ugly
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Hyponymy
Hyponyms, Hypernyms (superordinate)
Co-hyponyms
Hyponymy: when the meaning of one word is included in the meaning of another.
Hypo= lower level
Hyper = higher level
Co= together
Examples:
animal/dog ( the word “dog” is a hyponym of “animal”)
the word “animal” is a hypernym of “dog”
vegetable/carrot( the word “carrot” is a hyponym of “vegetable”)
the word “vegetable” is a hypernym of “carrot”
Hyponymy and hypernymy
The colors red, green, blue and yellow are hyponyms. They fall under the
general term of color, which is the hypernym ( superordinate)
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Homophones
Homophones
Homonyms are words that have separate histories and meanings, but have
accidentally come to have exactly the same form.
Homonyms
Polysemy
Polysemy
Polysemy can be defined as one form (written or spoken) having
multiple meanings that are all related by extension
Examples
The word “head”
• object on top of your body
• at the top of a company or department
Agent
Theme
Instrument
Experiencer.
Benefactive (Recipient)
Locatives
Source and goal
Temporal (Time)
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Semantic Roles
Semantic roles describe the way in which words are used in sentences
and the functions they fulfil such as:
agent
theme
instrument
experiencer.
Semantics deals with the meaning conveyed by words, phrases and
sentences that are used in a language and tell us about an event that
happens in the real world. For example:
Ali cut the cake.
This sentence tells us about something that happened in reality.
A real boy (Ali) did an action ( cut) to a real thing (a cake)
Agent الفاعل
• The agent is the entity (somebody/ something) that
performs the action. (Subject)
Examples:
1. The boy has played football.
Agent/Subject
“+animate, −animate
+human, −human
+female, −female
+adult, −Adult
Semantic features
animate − + + +
human − _ + +
female − _ + _
adult − + + _
Semantic features
Example
Complete the following sentence. The subject should have the
following semantic features. [+human, +female, −adult].
Could we suggest: horse, table or hamburger? NO, because none of
them have the required feature [+human].
• The is reading the newspaper.
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Lesson 5
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Content
Seven Types of meaning According to Geoffrey Leech:
1.Conceptual / Denotative meaning
2.Connotative meaning
3.Social meaning
4.Affective/Emotive meaning
5.Reflected meaning
6.Collocative meaning
7.Thematic meaning
Conceptual or Denotative Meaning
https://www.slideshare.net/MiftadiaLaulaAmm/seven-types-of-
meaning?next_slideshow=2
Associative Meaning:
Blood= ( Personal) accident, killing, oblation ( Sacrifice)
Pig = (Cultural connotation) dirty and disgusting, illegal meat
Social Meaning
In the first sentence “who gave away the prize “is more
important, but in the second sentence “what did Mrs.
Smith gave is important”. Thus, the change of focus
changed the meaning
Seven Types of Meaning
Utterances
Sentences
Propositions
3 Semantic Expressions
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Semantic
Expressions
Sentence Proposition
Utterance
Utterance
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Utterance
Utterance Characteristics
خصائص الكالم المنطوق
1. Wow!
2. Yes
3. your book
4. I love my mother
( 1-5) are all utterances although they are not of the same length
Sentence
Sentence Characteristics
خصائص الجملة
It can be written or spoken.
Example
( No grammar in it)
Proposition
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Proposition
Proposition Definition
تعريف الفرضية
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg-h-6ZiEPI
Gatala Ahmad Salem. ( Here we started with the verb not the
grammar.
Another Example
1. Khalid bought an orange.
The three sentences have the same meaning. They express one idea or
concept which is BUYING ( Khalid ( Agent/subject), orange (
theme/object) in different languages regardless of grammar. ( See Arabic
we started with the verb, not the subject)
Levels of Abstraction
مستويات التجريد
-MoreAbstract
Proposition -We can‟t hear
Sentence Grammatical
-Less Abstract
Utterance ( concrete/ Physical)
-We can hear
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Lesson 7
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Content
1. Reference
2. Referent
3. Sense
4. Linguistic Expression
5. Referring Expression
Reference Vs. Referent
The referent is the actual thing in the world
Reference is an act (language expression) by which a speaker (or
writer) uses language to enable a listener (or reader) to identify
something in the real world.
Example:
Watch out for the car!
The word “car” is the( reference)
Referent
Reference, Referent & Sense
Example: car in real world
Watch out for the car!
The word “car” is the( reference -1)
( Sense- 3)
Reference, Referent & Sense
Example: Chinse)
汽车! ( See Cho) ( meaning car)
The word “汽车! ” is the( reference)
( Sense) ?
Types of References & Referents
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Types of references &
Referents
Constant
Physical ثابت ومحسوس
One expression= Multiple referents=
one referent One Expression
Variable
متغير
One expression=
Multiple referents
One expression= One referent in real world
Constant Physical Referents
Reference ( linguistic Physical Referent
Expression)
1. The moon
2. Saudi Arabia
color
Name of a company
2. Employee Ahmad
Khalid
Sami
John
Multiple expressions= One/same referent in real
world
Linguistic Expressions:
Book, the, is, on
Which one of the above expressions is a referring
expression?