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Chapter 3 Word Meaning and Relationships.pdf
- 1. Word Meaning and Relationshipsin Language Lexical Semantics Course: Semantics
- 2. Word Meaning (Lexical Semantics) • Each wordhas a meaning, but its meaning is influenced by connections to other words. • Example: • Sentence: I saw my mother today. • Inference: "Mother" refers to a woman, even though "woman" was not mentioned. Visual: A concept map linking "mother" to related words like "woman," "parent," and "family."
- 3. Relationships Between Words Entailment– Meaning That Must Be True • Entailment: If one sentence is true, another must also be true. • Examples: • My bank manager was murdered. → My bank manager is dead. (Necessarily true) • Rob failed his exam. → Rob did not pass his exam. (Necessarily true)
- 4. Inference – MeaningThat Might Be True •Some sentences suggest meaning but are not necessarily true. •Examples: • "Rob failed his exam." → "Rob won’t be a great statistician." (Just a guess) • "My bank manager was murdered." → "My bank will get a new manager." (Possible, but not certain)
- 5. Word Meanings andMental Lexicon • Words are stored in our minds like a mental dictionary (lexicon). • Meanings can change over time. • Example: • The word "mouse" originally meant a small animal. Now, it also refers to a computer device.
- 6. Grammatical Categories Grammatical Categories –How Words Function • Words belong to different grammatical categories based on their function. • Major categories include: • Names – Specific people or places • Common Nouns – General things • Pronouns – Replace nouns • Logical Words – Connect ideas Visual: Icons representing each category (e.g., globe for places, book for nouns, arrows for pronouns, etc.).
- 7. Example of Grammatical Categories- Names and Nouns Names – Referring to Specific People or Places Used to refer to individuals or locations. Examples: People: Albert Einstein, Serena Williams Places: Paris, Mount Everest Visual: Famous landmarks and historical figures.
- 8. Common Nouns –Referring to General Things • Refer to everyday objects or concepts. • Examples: • Animals: cat, elephant, bird • Objects: chair, phone, book • Places: city, school, hospital Visual: Collage of various common nouns.
- 9. Example of GrammaticalCategories - Pronouns and Logical Words - Pronouns – Changing Meaning Based on Context • Pronouns replace nouns, but their meaning depends on who is speaking. • Examples: • "I am tired." (Who is "I"?) • "She won the race." (Who is "she"?) Visual: A conversation bubble showing different speakers.
- 10. Logical Words –Connecting Ideas • Logical words link ideas but do not refer to objects. • Examples: • "not" (negation) → "I do not like coffee." • "and" (addition) → "I like apples and oranges." • "or" (choice) → "You can have tea or coffee." Visual: Venn diagram illustrating logical words in action.
- 11. Key Differences inWord Functions - Key Points: - Some words refer to things (names, nouns), others do not (logical words). - Pronouns change meaning based on context, logical words have the same meaning everywhere. - Words in the same category are closely related in meaning. - Example: man and woman are related, but man and or are not.
- 12. Understanding Lexemes, Word Definitions, and Morphemes Whatis a Lexicon? A lexicon is the complete set of words and vocabulary items in a language, along with their meanings, usage, and sometimes grammatical information. It serves as a mental dictionary for speakers of a language and can be found in traditional dictionaries, digital word banks, or even within a speaker's memory. In semantics, we focus on lexemes, which represent the main idea of a word even if its form changes. Example of Lexemes: The word "run" represents a lexeme, but it can appear in different forms: Run (base form) Runs (third-person singular) Running (present participle) Ran (past tense) Even though these words look different, they all share the same core meaning related to the action of moving quickly on foot. In semantics, they belong to the same lexeme family.
- 13. Difference Between aWord and a Lexeme •A word is any form that appears in speech or writing. •A lexeme is an abstract unit that groups together all inflected forms of a word. For example, "beautiful" and "beauty" are separate lexemes, but "run" and "ran" belong to the same lexeme because they are variations of the same base meaning.
- 14. Lexemes – OneMeaning, Different Forms Example: The lexeme "walk" He walks to school every day. He is walking to school now. Yesterday, he walked to school. Dictionaries list words in their base form (walk, sleep, eat).
- 15. What is aWord? (Challenges and Solutions) Defining a "word" is difficult because different languages structure meaning differently. Two Theories: Sapir’s View: Some languages use a single word to express an entire sentence. Example: Nootka language (one word = full sentence). Bloomfield’s Definition: A word is an independent unit that can stand alone. Example: "dog," "car," "run" can be spoken alone. Problem: Some small words (a, the, my) do not usually stand alone.
- 16. Defining Words Grammatically •Morpheme:The smallest unit of meaning. •According to Lyons (1968), words have stronger internal connections than between separate words. Words are made up of morphemes, which are the smallest units of meaning. These morphemes form a structured system within a word: •Root/Base Morpheme: The core meaning of the word (e.g., help in helpful). •Affixes: Prefixes and suffixes modify the meaning (un- in unhappy or -ness in kindness). •Inflectional Changes: Tense, number, or grammatical modifications (run → ran or cat → cats). These internal structures are strongly connected because they belong to the same lexeme and convey a single conceptual meaning.
- 17. Independent vs. BoundMorphemes •Independent Words: Can stand alone (walked, slowly). •Bound Morphemes: Cannot stand alone (s, ed). •Borderline Cases: Words like "the" act more like bound morphemes because they do not function alone.
- 18. Problems with PinningDown Word Meaning The Challenge of Word Meaning Pinning Down suggests challenges in defining and understanding the meaning of words. Word meaning is slippery and difficult to define precisely. Polysemy (Multiple Meanings): Many words have more than one meaning, depending on the context. •Example: The word bank can mean a financial institution or the side of a river. Homonyms and Homophones Words that sound alike or are spelled the same but have different meanings create ambiguity. •Example: Lead (to guide) vs. Lead (a type of metal). Even native speakers struggle to provide consistent definitions. Context influences meaning, as noted by Firth (1957), Halliday (1966), and Lyons (1963).
- 19. Contextual Influences onWord Meaning •Restrictive Influence: Collocation and Fossilization • Words co-occur in predictable patterns (collocation). • Example: • Strong arguments and powerful arguments are both acceptable. • Strong tea is correct, but powerful tea is not. • Some expressions become fixed over time (fossilization): • Husband and wife (not wife and husband). • Fish and chips, salt and vinegar. • Idioms emerge when words lose independent meaning (e.g., spick and span).
- 20. Word meanings evolvebased on cultural changes, trends, and societal shifts. •Example: Cool used to mean low temperature, but now it also means fashionable or impressive. Cultural and Social Influences
- 21. Expansive Influence: SemanticShift and Creativity Some words take on different meanings depending on context. Example: Run has various meanings: I go for a run every morning. (Exercise) The batsman added a single run. (Cricket score) We took the new car for a run. (Test drive) The bears are here for the salmon run. (Migration) The challenge: Ambiguity (distinct meanings) vs. Vagueness (general meaning adaptable to context).
- 22. Words and phrasesdo not always mean what their individual words suggest. •Example: Kick the bucket means to die, not literally to kick a bucket. Idiomatic and Figurative Language
- 23. Word meanings maynot have direct equivalents in other languages. •Example: The word Schadenfreude (pleasure from others' misfortune) has no exact English counterpart. •The Arabic word ( شِقال ط ة ) refers to a type of thick clotted cream commonly used in Middle Eastern desserts, but it has no exact English counterpart. While "clotted cream" or "cream" is sometimes used as a translation, Qishta has a unique texture and preparation method that makes it distinct. Translation and Linguistic Differences
- 24. Distinguishing Ambiguity from Vagueness Ambiguity ariseswhen a word has multiple distinct, well-defined meanings (e.g., "mole" can mean both "spy" or "burrowing mammal"). Linguists propose tests to determine if a word is ambiguous or vague. In the Do So Identity Test (Zwicky & Sadock, 1975; Kempson, 1977), replacing the ambiguous word with “do so” does not cause a breakdown in meaning, as it can apply to multiple interpretations. Vagueness arises when a word lacks precise meaning or has unclear boundaries (e.g., "publicist" or "tall"). In the Do So Identity Test, replacing a vague word with "do so" leads to an imprecise or indeterminate interpretation because the reference is unclear. Publicist = male or female → proves vagueness.
- 25. Sense Relations Test •Ifa word belongs to different synonym networks, it is likely ambiguous. •Example: Run • I go for a run every morning. (Run ≈ jog) • He built a new run for his chickens. (Run ≈ pen/enclosure) • Since jog cannot replace run in the second sentence, run is ambiguous.
- 26. Zeugma Test Zeugma occurswhen two meanings of a word are forced into one sentence, creating an odd or humorous effect. Example: Ahmad drew a picture and the curtains. (Draw = create art / pull closed) He planned a run for charity and one for his chickens. (Different meanings of run create confusion).
- 27. Challenges in IdentifyingWord Meaning •Difficulties in distinguishing contextual influence from distinct senses. •Ambiguity tests are sometimes hard to apply and subjective. •Lexicographers (dictionary writers) must decide when to list meanings separately.
- 28. Lexical Fields A lexicalfield is a set of words connected by a shared meaning or domain. These words are related by context, but not necessarily synonymous. Examples: •Education: Teacher, student, classroom, textbook, homework, exam •Sports: Football, referee, stadium, goal, match, coach •Medicine: Surgery, diagnosis, patient, treatment, prescription, hospital Note: Words within a lexical field may not mean the same thing but are related by their domain or category.
- 29. Homonymy Homonyms are wordsthat share the same form (spelling or pronunciation) but have unrelated meanings. Types of Homonyms: 1.True Homonyms (same spelling and pronunciation, different meanings): 1. Bank: (financial institution) vs. (side of a river) 2. Bat: (flying animal) vs. (sports equipment) 2.Homophones (same pronunciation, different spelling and meanings): 1. Flour (used in baking) vs. Flower (a plant) 2. Right (correct) vs. Write (to put words on paper) 3.Homographs (same spelling, different pronunciation and meanings): 1. Lead (/liːd/, verb, to guide) vs. Lead (/lɛd/, noun, a type of metal) 2. Tear (/tɪər/, a drop of liquid from the eye) vs. Tear (/tɛər/, to rip something)
- 30. Polysemy A polysemous wordhas multiple meanings that are related to each other. These meanings evolve based on context. Examples: Head: The part of the body (She has a headache). A leader (He is the head of the department). The front part of something (The head of the table). Mouth: Part of the body (She opened her mouth to speak). An opening of a cave or river (The mouth of the river flows into the ocean). Foot: Body part (He injured his foot). The base of an object (The foot of the mountain). A unit of measurement (The table is six feet long).
- 31. Synonymy Synonyms are wordsthat share similar meanings. However, they may differ in connotation, formality, or usage. Examples: •Happy: Joyful, cheerful, content, delighted, ecstatic •Fast: Quick, rapid, speedy, swift •Begin: Start, commence, initiate, launch Contextual Differences: •Big vs. Large: • A big mistake (common usage) • A large amount of money (more formal) •Buy vs. Purchase: • I bought a new phone (casual) • The company purchased new equipment (formal)
- 32. Antonymy (Opposites) Antonyms are wordswith opposite meanings. There are different types of antonyms: Complementary Antonyms (No in-between, either one or the other): Dead vs. Alive On vs. Off Pass vs. Fail Gradable Antonyms (Exist on a scale, allowing for degrees in between): Hot vs. Cold (can have warm and cool in between) Fast vs. Slow (can have moderate speed) Happy vs. Sad (can have content, neutral, etc.) Relational Antonyms (One word implies the existence of the other): Teacher vs. Student Doctor vs. Patient Buy vs. Sell
- 33. 1. Taxonomic Sisters Taxonomicsisters refer to words that are on the same level of a hierarchical classification system. They are closely related but do not overlap in meaning. Examples: •Colors: Red, blue, yellow, green, orange, etc. These are taxonomic sisters in the color hierarchy. •Days of the Week: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, etc. These are taxonomic sisters in the taxonomy of days. Taxonomic Sisters and Hyponymy
- 34. 2. Hyponymy: Inclusionin Taxonomies Hyponymy refers to a relationship of inclusion, where a specific word (hyponym) is included under a broader category (hypernym). Examples: •Animals: Dog, cat are hyponyms of animal. •Birds: Crow, hawk, and sparrow are hyponyms of bird. 3. Adult–Young and Male–Female Relations These are sub-categories of taxonomy, involving age or gender. Examples: •Dog → Puppy •Cat → Kitten •Boar → Sow
- 35. Meronymy describes apart-whole relationship, where one word refers to a part of a larger whole. Examples: •Page is a meronym of book. •Wheel is a meronym of car. Note: In meronymy, the whole is called the holonym. Meronymy
- 36. This relationship connectsan individual member to its collection. Examples: •Ship → Fleet •Tree → Forest •Book → Library Member–Collection
- 37. This involves arelation between a mass noun and its usual unit of measurement. Examples: •Drop of liquid •Strand of hair •Grain of salt •Drop of oil •Fragment of glass •Fleck of paint •Tear of fabric •Patch of grass •Spot of color •Wisp of smoke Portion–Mass
- 38. These are relationshipsthat result from transformations in word forms, such as causative verbs and agentive nouns. Examples: •Causative Verb: Widen (from wide) – "The City Council widened the road." •Agentive Noun: Skier (from ski) Derivational Relations
- 39. In lexical semantics,scholars examine how words' meanings shift due to factors like cultural change, technological advances, or social dynamics. This can involve processes like: Broadening: A word's meaning becomes more inclusive than its original sense. Example: The word "holiday" originally meant a religious festival but now refers to any day of celebration or leisure. . Lexical Typology
- 40. Narrowing: Aword's meaning becomes more specific than it originally was. Example: Meat used to mean any kind of food, but now it specifically refers to the flesh of animals Amelioration: A word takes on a more positive or elevated meaning. Example: "Noble" once referred to a person of high birth but now generally denotes someone of high moral character. Pejoration: A word takes on a more negative or less favorable meaning. Example: "Silly" used to mean happy or fortunate, but it now means foolish or lacking in sense. Shift in connotation: Words can evolve to carry different emotional or cultural associations over time, even if the literal meaning remains unchanged.
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