R.

Albu, Phrase and Sentence Meaning

R.Albu, Semantics 4
PHRASE AND SENTENCE MEANING

"Then you should say rvhat you mear1" the March hare went on.
"I do,* Alice hastily replied, "at least--I mean what I sa,v--that's the same thing, y'ou know."
"ot the same thing a bit! said the Hatter. "You might just as well say that 'I see what I eat' is the same
thiug as 'I eat r,l,hat I see'I"
"You might just as rnell say," added the March ldare. "that 'I like what I get' is flre same thing as 'I get
what I like'!*
"You miglrt just as nell say," added the Dormouse... "that 'I breathe when I sleep' is the same thing as
'I sleep rvhen I breathe'!"
"It is the same thing with vou," said the Hatter.
Lewis Carroll, Alice's Advenfi,res in Wonderland

Words and morphemes are the smallest meaningful units in language. For the most part, however, we
communicate in phrases and sentences, w-hich also have meaning. The meaning of a phrase or sentence
depends on both the meaning of its words and how these words are structurally combined. (Idioms
are exceptional and will be discussed later.) Some ofthe semantic knowledge we have about words can be
applied to sentences. Thus we say that:
-Words are synonyms; sentences are parapkases.
-Words may be homonyms; sentences may be ambiguous.
-Words have opposites; sentences can be negated.
-Both words and sentences can be used to refer to, or point out, objects; and both may have some further
meaning beyond this refening capability, as we shall see in a later section.

Combining Words into Sentences

...I placed all my words with their interpretations in alphabetical order. And thus in a few days, by
the help of a very faithful memory I got some insight into their language.
Jonathan Swift, Gulliter's Tra,els

l{e comprehend sentences because we know the meaning of individual words und we know the
rulesfor combining their meanings

red boll.aon vs. large balknn

red brick vs. brick red

a good friend vs. a false friend

Thematic Roles

oSubcategoization of vsrbs for zero, one or twoNoun Phrase "objects", which stand in a cfiain meafling
relation to the verb, e.g., sleep,find andpu| resepectively.

oVerb as a nucleus. Valericy

valency a: It is raining valency 1" My brother swares

Valency 2: Mary iswashing the dishes. Valency 3: John prt the book on the desk.

oThematic roles

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