SEMANTICS

The study of meaning

Aya's prop/Int to Ling (6)

Semantics
Under the subject of semantics, we shall deal with the following areas of
interest:
The fact that a word can have more than one meaning
e.g. Ball can be a dance or a round object for bouncing
The fact that different words appear to have the same meaning
e.g. Regal = Royal, Big = Large
The fact that some words can be analyzed into components.
e.g. Mare implies both adult, female, horse
The fact that some words seem to have opposites
e.g. long >< short, good >< bad
The fact that the meanings of some words are included in the meaning
of others
e.g. potato vegetables
The fact that certain combinations of words have meanings which are
very
different from the combination of their separate meanings
e.g. pass on = die (but different from the meaning pass & on)
Aya's prop/Int to Ling (6)

Synonymy (1)
A word which has the same or nearly
the same meaning as another word
e.g. hide & conceal
He hid the money under the bed
He concealed the money under the
bed
Aya's prop/Int to Ling (6)

Synonymy (2)
Attn

Synonymy is context dependant

e.g. carcass refers to animal, corpse refer to human
being
Two words may have the same meaning in
particular context but not necessarily in all
context
e.g. The shirt is {pale/light} in color

The book is {light, *pale}

Synonymy differs among the terms as well as
their distribution
e.g. Autumn (Br) Fall (US)
Smell (less formal) Odour/odor (more formal)
Aya's prop/Int to Ling (6)

Polysemy
A word which has more than one meaning out of
context; the meanings related to one another
e.g. Fire
(1) to burn or ignite
(2) to shoot a gun
(3) to discharge from ones employment
Attn:
Polysemy is different from Homonymy (words which
have the same sound and written form but different
in meaning
e.g. Swallow
(1) to ingest
(2) A type of bird
Aya's prop/Int to Ling (6)

Antonymy
A word which is opposite in meaning to another word

There are three types of oppositeness:

1. Implicitly graded antonyms
Refers to gradable concepts which may be explicitly
or implicitly compared
e.g. Big small, rich - poor
2. Complementary
A relationship of contradiction, in which the denial of
one term is the assertion of its complementary term
e.g. dead alive, male female, single -married
3. Converseness
Denoting a kind of reversal
e.g. buy >< sell, lend >< borrow, master>< servant

Aya's prop/Int to Ling (6)

Hyponymy
A relationship between two words in
which the meaning of the words
includes the meaning of the other
word
e.g.
Plant

Superordinate/hypernym

Flower

bush

tree

Aya's prop/Int to Ling (6)

Hyponym

Idioms

An expression which functions as a single unit whose meaning

can not be worked out from its separate parts
It can be categorized as follows;
1. Alliterative Comparisons
e.g. fit as a fiddle
2. Noun Phrase
e.g. A red letter day
3. Preposition Phrase
e.g. By hook or by crook
4. Verb + Noun Phrase
e.g. Spill the beans
5. Verb + Preposition Phrase
e.g. Be in a doghouse
6. Verb + Adverb
e.g. Put down

Aya's prop/Int to Ling (6)