Aya's prop/Int to Ling (6)

SEMANTICS

The study of meaning

Aya's prop/Int to Ling (6)

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)

Semantics

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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

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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)

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PolysemyA 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 one’s employment

Attn:Polysemy is different from Homonymy (words which have the same sound and written form but different in meaninge.g. Swallow

(1) to ingest (2) A type of bird

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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 - poor2. 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 -married3. Converseness Denoting a kind of reversal e.g. buy >< sell, lend >< borrow, master>< servant

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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 Hyponym

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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