Lecture 3 Lexical Semantics

Three major types of paradigmatic relations

1. Hyponymy: X is a kind of Y

Similarly:

pet: cat, dog, budgie, snake, monkey..... fruit: apple, banana, pear, peach

Three major types of paradigmatic relations

2. Meronymy: X is a part of Y (part-whole relation)

Similarly:

car: engine, bonnet, roof, steering wheel, wing mirror, petrol tank....... hand/finger tree/branch

3. Synonymy: X is the same as Y a. Absolute synonymy (interchangeable in every context, very rare) water H2O b. Propositional Synonymy (a kind of logical sameness of meaning, but used in different registers, the same meaning in every context ) I bought a bicycle/bike (different registers: formal/informal) violin/fiddle (fiddle is less formal) autumn/fall c. Near-synonymy ( the same semantic field, but usually applied in different contexts, meaning is close but slightly different) pretty / handsome (semantic field = attractive appearance; contexts: f/m) old/ancient

Tutorial exercise
1. What kind of sense relations (if any) exist between the following pairs (specify hyponymy, meronymy, absolute / propositional / near synonymy) eagle:bird hyponymy keyboard:laptop meronymy weak:feeble near synonyms close meaning, sometimes used in different contexts: the economy is weak *the economy is feeble he is weak at Maths *he is feeble at Maths

 modem : internet
This pair is not covered by any of the -onymies. The words simply belong to the same semantic field---internet technology.The -onymies do not cover all sense relations by any means: most words are much more loosely related, belonging to broad semantic fields. For example: student, diploma, learn, essay, tutorial - semantic field of learning/studying money, cashier, cheque, overdraft, salary - semantic field of banking/finance

the items in the field are unordered, there is no natural way, as far as their meaning is concerned, of arranging them in any kind of order. But our intuition tells us they are related, co-occur frequently

shut:close

near synonymy shut/close the door close a bank account *shut a bank account--- not interchangeable in different contexts go:come antonymy sandal:footwear hyponymy boy:child hyponymy rain:downpour hyponymy (a downpour is a particularly heavy type of rain, with coordinate terms shower, drizzle, sprinkling. )

salt:NaCl piano:pianist pen:nib care:carer rider:jockey

absolute synonymy derivational meronymy derivational hyponymy (a jockey is a kind of rider, with coordinate term cyclist). typhoon:hurricane propositioanl synonymy the same kind of storm, but its called a typhoon in
the Pacific, and a hurricane in the Atlantic.

Meronymy
Integral: always present, and necessary for the correct functioning of the holonym e.g. engine: car iris: eye (iris is an integral part of a eye, directly attached). non-integral: beard: face (optional, not necessary to faces)

Borderline cases: informants are either unsure or in a disagreement. Judgements are affected by contextual factors. e.g. pan lid: pan

Tutorial exercise 2 a. integral examples of meronymy b. non-integral examples of meronymy c. borderline cases d. not examples of meronymy
belt:buckle b. Non-integral A buckle is part of a belt, but not all belts have a buckle shoe:lace b. Non-integral jacket:pocket b. Non-integral beard:hair d bread:crumb c. borderline case house:garden b. Non-integral fork:knife d fork:handle a. Integral

cd player:cd c: borderline The player wont function without a CD, but when you buy a player, the CD is not included, as an engine is always included with a car. door:window d door:hinge a. integral bed:sheet c. borderline book:library d book:spine a. integral book:reader d book:bookmark b. Non-integral

Entails means and therefore it logically follows that..... I went to HK entailsI went to a city i. A. X is a cat B. X has four legs YES, ii. A. X is an animal B. X is a cat. NO: it could be a dog iii. A. X is a pet B. X is an animal YES iv. A. X enjoys watching television B. X is human YES v. A. X has stopped smoking B. X used to smoke YES vi. A. X learned to drive B. X is not blind YES