An Introduction to Semantics

An Introduction to Semantics
semantics
• All linguistic forms have sense, but not reference.
• The linguistic forms with the same sense may
have different references in different situations.
• Some linguistic forms with the same reference
might differ in sense.

The Major Branches of Linguistics:
• Phonology : That deals with systems of sounds with in a
language or between different languages.
• Phonetics : The study of the sounds of human speech.
• Morphology : The study of the formation of words.
• Syntax : The study of the formation and structure of
sentences.
• Semantics : The study of meanings. (logic concerned
with meaning )(word meanings and relation between
them)

SEMANTICS
• Semantics Branch of linguistics
and philosophy concerned with the study of meaning. In
historical linguistics, it generally refers to the analysis of
how the meanings of words change over time. In modern
linguistics and philosophy, semantics seeks to assess the
contribution of word-meaning to the meanings of phrases
and sentences, and to comprehend the relationship among
and between words and the things they refer to, or stand for.

lexical semantics
Lexical semantics &
Sentential semantics
Sentential semantics
1. How do we account for the
relationship between words and
concepts?
2. How do we decode the meaning of
complex sentences?
3. How is linguistic meaning related to
the world?
Formal semantics Conceptual semantics Cognitive semantics
Lexical semantics Cross-cultural semantics Computational semantics
Nano-semantics
Types of Semantics
Neuro-semantics

Components of Lexical Meaning
1. Designation
2. Connotation
3. Range Of Application

COMPONENTS OF LEXICAL MEANING
An examination of the following sentences will show that lexical meaning is a very complex phenomenon
Group –A
(1) The owner of the estate died
(2) The owner of the estate passed away
(3) The owner of the estate deceased
(4) The owner of the estate kicked the bucket
• In the English sentences 1 to 4 of group A all have the same
meaning from one point of view.
• They all mean that 'same particular estate owner is not alive or is not
living anymore', This is expressed by the words died, passed away,
deceased, kicked the bucket.
• But the question arises why four different words have been used in
four different sentences?

these sentence could have been used in different social contexts or with
different emotional attitudes. In sentence
(1) the verb died is an informal, matter of fact statement- relatives and
friends of the estate owner.
(2) the verb passed away - formal announcement or a newspaper report.
(3)The third sentence with the verb deceased - legal document.
(4)The fourth sentence using the idiomatic phrase kicked the bucket implies
that - it is used by a person who either belongs to lower category in
social strata.

• Now all the four words means that 'some one is not alive, is one
type of information or one type of meaning conveyed by the
speaker/user of the sentence which is common to all the four words.
• But as discussed above each word has additional information;
• the word died implies that it is 'informal' or 'matter of fact'.
• The word passed away implies that it is a formal announcement or
report.
• The use of word deceased in the sentence makes us understand that
it is a part of a legal document or proceedings.
• The use of the phrase kicked the bucket conveys some information
about either the social status of the speaker or his emotional attitude
towards the person died.

• Therefore, we understand that these English words have in their
meaning two types of information or 'components'.
• The shared common information, which is related to the reality of
'some one not being alive', is the basic information.
• The others are information or components added to the basic
information.
• The first is called (1) designation. (that is the basic information)
• The second category is called (2) connotation.
(additional Information)

1.DESIGNATION
• The content system of a language is concerned with the
study of how the expression system relate to the various
types of the activities of human beings their surroundings
etc., or the 'world'. Designation is concerned with how
lexemes or words are related to the parts of the world.
• To be exact it "is the relation which is existing between
single words and single parts of extra linguistic world as
conceived by the speakers of a particular language
(Zgusta, 1971 ,p,27)".

• For examples the English word Table is related designatively to all different types of
objects, which can be called as tables.
• To understand designation, we have to find out how these relations exist in a
particular language. The class of different types of objects to which the word is
related is called denotatum or referent.
• The word denotatum refers to not only to class of objects but to class of actions,
events, ideas, feelings, institutions, concepts etc., of the world or reality
which are referred to by particular words .
• For example the English word run has as its denotatum, the different types of
movements from the slowest to the fastest to refer to which the word can be
used.
• The word love has as its denotatum, all the different types of feelings such as
those of parents to children, husband to wife, that exist between friends, master
to servant, master to his pet animal etc.
• Therefore, ‚designation is the relation between different words and different types of
denotata ,which they refer to. But this relation is not a direct relation. It is
mediated through designatum.”

• The designatum is also referred to as concept or notion or
idea of the denotatum as conceived by the speakers of a
language. (Zgusta, 1971. p. 28).
• The denotata of a word has several properties.
Run
Table
Walk

They will help differentiate this class of objects from similar class of objects. Sum or total
of these properties or features constitute the designatum. In the case of table the
material by which it is made of, size, shape, number of legs, colour etc., may vary.
Only the following properties are shared by all the objects which are called table,
which belong to a class of objects called furniture:
(1) having flat or horizontal top,
(2) standing on one or more legs,
(3) used for putting things on or sitting around.
• These are the criterial features and these features together constitute the
desingnatum of the English word table. Thus we can see that the relation between
word form say English table; through the designatum i.e. the sum of criterial or
contrastive features given above to the denotatum i.e. the class of objects referred
to by the word form constitute the relation of designation.
• Finding out the criterial or contrastive features is the most important aspect of the
study of lexical meaning.

Ogden and Richard's meaning triangle
The relation of designation was explained in the form of a triangle by Ogden and
Richards (The Meaning of Meaning (1923) by Ogden and Richards) which they called
'basic triangle‟
The diagram shows that there is no direct relation between words (symbol) and the
things they stand for (Referent); the word 'symbolizes' a thought or reference which in
its turn 'refers' to the feature or event we are talking about.

• REFERENCE-- indicates the realm of memory where recollections
of past experiences and contexts occur.
• REFERENT-- are the objects that are perceived and that create
the impression stored in the thought area.
• SYMBOL-- is the word that calls up the referent through the
mental processes of the reference.
(Ogden & Richards, pp. 9-12)

Designatum
Expression Denotatum
(form of the word)
This triangle is used here with the labels and terms used by Zgusta (1971,p.34).
Ogden and Richard's 'thought or reference' is 'designatum' or concept or notion in
the relation of designation.
'Denotatum' is the 'referent'. This diagram clearly shows that there is direct relation only
between word form (expression) and 'designatum' and between 'designatum' and
denotatum (referent). But, there is no direct relation between the word and
denotatum.

COMPONENTS OF LEXICAL MEANING
DESIGNATUM
-------------------------------------
EXPRESSION DENOTATUM
dog
Zgusta(1971,p.34).
REFERENCE
---------------------------------------
SYMBOL REFERENT
Ogden and Richards

2.CONNOTATION
a number of verbs in Tamil/Kannda/ Hindi and English
meaning 'die' conveyed additional information like
formal, informal professional social situations,
psychological attitude of the speaker, or the
religious sect of the speaker. These additional
information are called connotation and this
information was added to the basic designative
meaning of all those words viz., 'someone is not alive'.

• 3.Range of application
Group –B
(5) He received his salary
(6) He received his stipend
(7)He received his remuneration
• In the English sentence 5 and 7, the words salary or stipend have the
same meaning as they refer to the 'remuneration' or 'wages' given for
the work done by some one.
• But these words are not interchangeable in all the contexts.
• Use of the word salary or stipend depends upon the nature of the work
of the person who does it.
• Stipend refers to the remuneration received by a religious father or
pastor (clergyman) or a public official (Concise Oxford dictionary).

• It cannot be used for the remuneration received by other types
of employees in which case the word salary is used. As in
English, here also there is restriction in use.
• Therefore, we understand that there is restriction in the use or
application of the pairs of English words which in one point of
view have the same meaning.
• The sameness of meaning is what we called above as
designation, i.e. these pairs of words have same designation.
But they differ in what semanticists call the 'range of
application' or restriction on their use. This is also a part or
component lexical meaning.

• As range of application is based on co-occurrence or collocational
restrictions of words it is also called as collocational meaning (Singh, 1982,
P.36).
• But the word collocation is a broad category referring to restrictions on the
coming together of words of different types some of which cannot be called
range of application.
• For example, the words referring to the cries of animals and birds differ
showing restriction. Eg. English
'the Lion roars,
‘Horse neighs,
‘Elephant trumpets,
‘Cock crows’ and
• Here the collocational restrictions will become part of the designative
meaning of particular words rather than an additional component.

Geoffrey Leech
LEECH'S SEVEN TYPES OF MEANING

LEECH'S SEVEN TYPES OF MEANING
INTRODUCTION
• Semantics in the broad sense of the term may be considered to
study 'all that is communicated by language, But some scholars
would like to restrict semantics to the study of logical or
conceptual meaning i.e. only those aspects of meaning which
are logically acceptable leaving out deviation and abnormalities.
Geoffrey Leech (1981, Ch.2. p.9-23) in his book semantics
breaks down 'meaning' in its widest sense into seven
different types giving primary importance to logical or
conceptual meaning.

The seven other types are
(1)Logical or Conceptual meaning
(2) Connotative meaning
(3) Social meaning
(4) Affective meaning
(5) Reflected meaning
(6) Collocative meaning and
(7) Thematic meaning (Leech, Semantics -1981, p-23).
Here Leech discusses meaning as a whole both sentential meaning and
word meaning.

• For example, the meaning of the English word woman can be specified
as consisting of the semantic features
+ HUMAN, -MALE, +ADULT.
• This word is differentiated from the word man having the features
+HUMAN, +MALE, and +ADULT and the word boy having the features
+HUMAN, +MALE, and -ADULT.
The contrastive features of conceptual meaning are the same as what
Zgusta (1971, p.27 -29) calls as criterial features which constitute the
designatum of lexical meaning.

• 2.CONNOTATIVE MEANING
• From this we infer that the three properties 'human', 'adult', and
'female' must provide the criterion of the correct use of that word. These
contrastive features in real world terms become attribute of the referent
or denotatum.
• This means that all persons to whom the word, 'woman' is used to refer
to will have the properties 'human', 'adult', 'female'.
• But the referent of the word woman will have a large number of
additional non-criterial properties, which the users of the word woman
expect a referent of woman to possess.

• Such properties include:
• physical characteristics (having two legs, having a womb
etc.,)psychological and sociological properties (having motherly
character, soft nature etc.,). Such properties constitute the
connotative meaning.
• As described above some of these properties are typical of a woman.
There are other assumed properties or attributed properties due to the
view point adopted by an individual or a group of people or a
whole society.

• For example,
• woman may be considered to have the properties' weak', 'prone to
tears', 'emotional', etc., in addition to the positive qualities like
'gentle', 'compassionate', 'sensitive', etc.
• The connotative meaning of a word may vary from individual to
individual and from age to age (periods).
• For example, 'not wearing trousers or wearing gown or skirt or saree
(saree in the Indian context) would have been the part of the connotative
meaning of woman a hundred years ago, which is not connotative in the
modern times.

• Leech's (1981) connotative meaning is concerned with the real world
experience one associates with a linguistic expression one uses or hears.
Connotative meaning is peripheral when compared with the conceptual
meaning.
• It is also relatively unstable as it varies according to culture,
historical periods and experience of the individual.
• Connotative meaning is indeterminate and open ended. This is because
this depends upon the knowledge and beliefs of the speakers and may
belong to any characteristics of the referent, real or imaginary as
identified by the speaker. But conceptual meaning consists of a closed
set of features which are finite in number.

3.SOCIAL MEANING
• These two meanings are concerned with two aspects of
communication which are derived from the situation or environment
in which an utterance or sentence is produced in a language. Of these
two, social meaning is that information which a piece of language
(i.e. a pronunciation variation, a word, phrase, sentence, etc.,)
conveys about the social circumstances of its use.
• Social meaning is understood through the recognition of different
dimensions and levels of style within the same language. Aspects of
language variation like social or regional dialect variation, style variation
like formal, informal, colloquial, slang etc., discussed as belonging to
connotation is treated here as social meaning
• here Leech includes under social meaning variation in all the aspects of
language structure like pronunciation, intonation, sentence structure etc.,
as revealing social meaning

Under social meaning Leech (1981 ,p, 15) also includes" what
has been called the illocutionary force of an utterance: for
example whether it is to be interpreted as request, an
assertion, an apology, a threat etc".
In a social situation a functional meaning of a sentence may differ
from its conceptual meaning due to its illocutionary force. For
example while eating at restaurant, if one says.
(1) I haven't got a knife
this sentence which has a form and meaning of an assertion, in
social reality it has the force of a request such as 'Please bring
me a knife'.

• 4.Affective meaning
• Affective meaning is the aspect of meaning which “reflects
personal feelings of the speaker, including his attitude to the
listener or his attitude to something he is talking about"
(Leech, 1981, p.15). As emotive meaning and included as part of
connotation as a component of lexical meaning but
• Leech includes as in the case of social meaning, not only
differences in the use of words or lexemes but also factors of
intonation and voice-timber referred to as tone of voice.
When someone wants to ask a group of people speaking loudly
to be quiet, he can say either of the following two sentences.

5.REFLECTED MEANING
is the meaning which arises in cases when a word
has multiple conceptual meaning or polysemous, when one sense of a
word forms part of our response ( or reaction) to another sense
• Especially in some cases of a word with taboo meaning people find it
difficult use them even in the general meaning. The English words
cock, contact, and erection which have tabooed senses connected with
the physiology of sex are avoided by people even in their general sense.
• The extreme case of this kind of reflected meaning, is completely
replacing the word cock by the word rooster in American English.
• 'urinate', pass motion are originally euphemisms for the corresponding
tabooed synonyms
. (word or phrase substituted for one considered offensive) meaning.

6.Collocative meaning - consists of the associations a word
acquires on account of the meanings of words which tend to
occur in its environments (Leech, 1981,p.17). The English
words pretty and hand some having the common meaning
'good-looking' differ by the range of nouns with which they
co-occur or collocate though in some cases they overlap.
girl
Handsome
boy
boy man
woman car
flower vessel
garden overcoat
colour airline
village typewriter
etc., etc.,
Pretty

ASSOCIATIVE MEANING
• Of the six types of meaning - except the conceptual meaning the other
five i.e. connotative meaning, social meaning, affective meaning,
reflected meaning and collocative meaning have something in
common. These meanings have open ended and variable character.
They can be analyzed in terms of varying scales or range. They
cannot be analyzed in clear-cut either-this -or-that terms.
Therefore, Leech groups all these under the heading of associative
meaning (Leech,1981, p.18).
• While conceptual meaning is part of the 'common system' of language
shared by members of the speech community, associative meaning is
less stable and varies with the individual's experience.

7.THEMATIC MEANING
Thematic meaning is that "what is communicated by the way in which a
speaker or writer organizes the message, in terms of ordering, focus,
and emphasis" (Leech, 1981,p.19). For example, in English a
sentence in the active voice differs from its passive voice equivalent in
thematic meaning though both the sentences have same conceptual
meaning, eg.
(5) Mr. Smith donated the first prize
(6) The first prize was donated by Mr. Smith
Of these two sentences, (5) the active sentence seems to be the
answer for the implicit question "What did Mr. Smith donate", while the
passive sentence (6) seem" to answer the implicit question "who
donated the first prize". (5) in contrast to (6) suggests that we know Mr.
Smith while (6) implies we do not know Mr. Smith but only that
someone donated the first prize.

1. CONCEPTUAL MEANING Logical, cognitive or denotative I content
2.CONNOTATIVE MEANING what is communicated by virtue of what language
refers to .
3. SOCIAL MEANING what is communicated of the social circumstances of
language use.
4. AFFECTIVE MEANING What is communicated of the feelings and attitudes of
the speaker / writer
5. REFLECTED MEANING What is communicated through association with
another sense of the same expression.
6. COLLOCATIVE MEANING What is communicated through association with
words, which tend to occur in the environment of
another word.
THEMATIC MEANING What is communicated by the way in which the
message is organized in terms of order and emphasis.
ASSOCIATIVE
MEANING

• The Definition of sense
• Sense refers to the inherent(natural) meaning of
the linguistic form; it is concerned only with
intra-linguistic relations. It is the collection
of all the semantic features of the linguistic
form; it is abstract and de-contextualized(In
general)

• What is the sense?
• Sense: n. an ability to understand, recognize, value or
react to something, especially any of the five physical
abilities to see, hear, smell, taste and feel.
• The above mentioned senses are associated with the
eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body. Therefore, language/
knowledge is perceived by the brain through these sense
organs.

• Lexical sense – it is the collection of all the semantic
features of the linguistic form, by the society.
41
(Sense: The firm/ strong/ doubt- free/ clear awareness of something.)

Sense and Denotation
• A lexeme which is related to other lexemes is related to
them in sense; and that a lexeme which is related to the
outside world is related by means of denotation .
For example „cow‟ denotes a class of entities which
is a proper subclass of entities denoted by animals ;
which differ from the class of entities denote by „bull‟ or
horse; which intersects with the class denoted by calf and
so on. (Lyons, 1981, p.152)

• Lexical meaning is derived from thousands
of sentences in which they are used by
thousands of speakers of the particular
language. This also has to account for the
future use of these words in newer contexts,
based on the productivity of language (see
Hockett, 1970 (1958) p.575).

Lexical semantics
Lexical meaning from two point of view :
2.Lexemes in relation to other lexemes in the same language
(Sense)
1.lexeme in relation to the world of activities, ideas..,
(Reference)
Lyons theory of sense or sense relations is based on the extension of Ferdinand de Saussure„s
structuralist approach to semantics
Lexeme as the basic unit of the study of lexical semantics
Lexical meaning from two point of view
1. lexeme in relation to the world of activities , ideas , institutions etc,. And
2.Lexeme in relation to other lexemes in the same language
First is called reference and the second is called sense

• Reference and sense are two complementary aspects of
lexical meaning. In other words , study of either referential
meaning or the sense relation of words alone will make
semantic description incomplete.
Two words may have same reference but differ in sense
Ex. My teacher is a woman
1. Teacher and woman have the same reference but differ in
sense
2. Teacher multiple contrast with doctor etc ….,
3. Women binary contrast with man

• Lexical sense relation :
• a) The relationship between one word and another
word.
(Bad and Good)
• b) The relationship between a word and its inner
sense of meaning. (Tree)
• C) Identity owing to its previous and succeeding
states
47

• The relation between Sense and Reference:
• All linguistic forms have sense, but not reference.
• The linguistic forms with the same sense may
have different references in different situations.
• Some linguistic forms with the same reference
might differ in sense.

• Lexical Sense-Relations
The Definition of sense
Varieties of sense relation:
1. Paradigmatic,
2. Syntagmatic, and 3.Derivational
1.Hyponymy
2.Meronymy
3.Synonymy
4.Homophones
5.homonyms
6.Antonymy( complementaries, converses and directional opposites.)
7.Polysymy (Sources of polysymy )
1. Shift in application
2. Specialization in social milieu(An environment or a setting)
3. Figurative language
4. Reinterpretation of homonyms and
5. Foreign influence

Lexical sense relations
Paradigmatic and Syntagmatic relations
1. Homonyms : bank1 financial institution/ bank2 of a river
2. Homophones : right/write,
3. Synonyms : big/large
4. Antonyms : married/unmarried; large/small
5. Hyponyms : Apple is a hyponym of fruit.: A is a type/kind of B.
6. Holonymy : is the opposite of meronymy
7. Hypernyms : dog is a hypernym of labrador (Superordinate or hyperonym)
8. Meronyms : wing is a meronym of bird / aeroplane : Meronym/(partonym)
9. Antonymy : day and night
10. Polysymy : sweet apple, sweet biscuit, sweet memories
11. Part whole relations: human body and hand , fingers

It can also be diagrammatically represented in the following manner.
1. One word form is related to several designata or meanings.
2. Several word forms are related to one designatum or meaning.
W1
M1 M2 M3 M4 M1
W1 W2 W3 W4
The first category is referred to as multiple meaning and the second synonymy.
The broad category of multiple meaning in which a single word form is related to one or
more meanings.
52
synonymy
multiple meaning

Tamil:
kaal 1.human/ animal body part
2.lower bearing part of the furniture like chair, table, bench, etc.,
3.post or pole on which a shed is erected.
paTi
1.read a book or study a subject
2.an instrument for measuring grains, milk etc.
3.the steps of a building, staircase etc., 53
1.The first category in
which the meanings of a
single word form are
relatable or similar is
called polysemy.
English:
crane 1.a kind of bird (common heron)
2.a machine for raising heavy weight
bank 1.a financial institution
2.sides of a river
2.The second category in
which the meanings are
not similar or unrelated
is called homonymy.

• But when we observe the two meanings of the English word form bank
and the three meanings of the Tamil word form paTi, they have no
such similarity between them.
• They are totally unrelated and in the case of Tamil word paTi, the first
meaning is an action in contrast to the other two, which are
objects or things.
The English word crane and Tamil word kaal are polysemous. The
English word bank and Tamil word paTi are homonymous.
Polysemy is considered as a case of one word having a number
of meanings.
Homonymy is considered as a case of different words :having
identical forms.
On this basis in dictionaries polysemous words are presented as
a single 'entry' or 'aritcles' continuously. 54

• Homonymous words are given as different entries or articles one
below other with superscript numerals
• (e.g.)
bank l,
bank 2
and
pati l,
pati 2,
pati 3,
where as English crane and Tamil kaal there will be only one entry
each and their meanings will be listed one after another.
55

Homonymy
Homonymy is the case of a single word form
having a number of meanings, which are not
relatable .

Polysemy
single word form having a number of
relatable or similar meanings which is
called polysemy

Word Core meaning
Meaning 1
Meaning 2
Meaning 3
Meaning 4
Meaning 5
single word form having a number of relatable or similar meanings which is
called polysemy
Polysemy

• Sources of polysmy
• There are a number of sources, which lead to a single word
developing a number of meanings or becoming polysemous. Of them
five sources are important. They are
• 1. Shift in application
• 2. Specialization in social milieu
• 3. Figurative language
• 4. Reinterpretation of homonyms and
• 5. Foreign influence

Semantic change is brought about by multiplicity of causes. However six
causes are very important. They are
(1) linguistic causes
(2) historical causes
(3) social causes
(4) psychological causes
(5) foreign influence and
(6) need for a new name.
Some of these cause have their own sub-divisions also. Each cause will
be studied with illustrative examples. (Ullmann, 1962,pp.197 -210)

• CHANGE OF MEANING: KINDS
• Based on this definition which he calls as a working hypothesis, he
classifies semantic change first into two categories (1) based on
association between sense and (2) the association between the
names. The association are of two types (1) similarity and (2)
contiguity. These two pairs of criteria yield four cardinal types or
kinds of semantic change:
1. change based on similarity of senses (Metaphor)
2. change based on contiguity of senses (Metonymy)
3. change based on similarity of names (Popular Etymology) and
4. change based on contiguity of names (Ellipsis) (Ullmann, 1962,
p.211-227).

The second category where several word forms are related to one meaning, the
words are synonyms and the relation between them is called synonymy. The
following sentence from English and Tamil.
English:
1. Kamala refused Ramu's proposal to marry her
2. Kamala rejected Ramu's proposal to marry her
3. Kamala declined Ramu's proposal to marry her
Two or more words if they are substitutable at least in one context without
meaning difference, then they are synonymous.
• A, B are synonyms A means B, B means A
• Take two sentences, S1 and S2, which differ only in one word – x is
substituted by y. If S1 and S2 are identical in meaning, then x and y are strict
synonyms in that context.
SYNONYMY

Paradigmatic sense relations:
Binary opposition

Binary opposition
• Binary opposition is of the most important paradigmatic sense
relations governing the semantics structure of language .
• In earlier on semantics it was called oppositeness of meaning
or antonymy. They are used more or less equivalently for
various kinds of binary contrast or contrast between two
lexemes.
• People generally think that binary opposite extreme from
identity of meaning; but it‟s not true. Opposites are drawn along
some dimensions of similarity.
• 1.this is big house
• 2. this is small house

John Lyons: Binary opposites are divided into four types. The
four types can be primarily classified into
1.gradable opposites and
2.ungradables.
This is on the basis whether the sets of opposites have the
feature of gradability or not. Gradability or grading means that
two object can be compared with reference to some quality
and can be placed in scale showing degrees of comparison.
Fore example the English

I. Gradable opposites big and small can be used to compare and arrange
object in a scale as follow.
En.
1. A big house
2. A little big house
3. Very big house
4. Very very big house
5. A small house
6. A little small house
7. Very small house
8. Very very small house
These gradable opposite are called antonyms by John Lyons

• II. All other opposites are ungraddable and belong to three subtypes called
1.complementaries,
2.converses and
3.directional opposites.
• The set of opposites belonging to these three subclasses cannot be graded or
will not involve comparison. For example ,in English day and night are
comlementaries.
• We cannot grade them. We cannot say ,
little day’,
very day ,
little night ,
very night,
very very night.
• Among the ungradable opposites complementaries divide a semantic domain
or field into parts.

• Paradigmatic sense relations:
Non- Binary contrast or incompatibility
• When semantically related lexemes show contrast between more
than two lexemes than its is called non- binary contrast.
• The relationship between lexemes or words included in sets such as
colour terms, names of flower , days of a week, months of a year , etc
are many member sets of incompatibility.
• “ the relationship of sense which holds between the lexemes in many
member sets (Sunday , Monday .. Saturday) ”

• Identity test for incompatibility
• If they differ only in that where s1 has the lexical item x and
the others have y, z, etc ., then ,x and y, z etc., are
incompatibles .
• This is blue shirt it implicitly denies this sentences
1. This is a white shirt
2. This is a red shirt
3. This is a green shirt
4. This is an yellow shirt etc.,
the sentence (1) again explicitly implies
1. This is not a red shirt
2. This is not a green shirt
3. This is not an yellow shirt etc.,

O
A
C
G
K
B
E
F
D
I J
H
L
Point of origin or root
labeled with O
Two branches are shown
from the point of origin :
broken lines are drawn to
show further branches on
the tree .
Here C and D are the
hyponyms of A ; E and F are
the hyponyms of B . G, h
are the hyponyms of C and
I, J are the hyponyms of D .
But G and H are not the
immediate hyponyms of A .

• Theory of semantics and semantic fields heavily influenced by de Saussure’s
structuralism and German idealism
• Origins: ideas of Wilhelm von Humboldt and Johann Gottfried Herder in the mid
19th first proposed by German and Swiss linguist. in the 20s and 30s of the 20th
Century
1. Jost Trier in the 1930s,
2. Stephen Ullmann 1960s,
3. John Lyons in the 1970s
4. Eva Kittay in the 1980s
5. Charles J. Fillmore in the 1990s
6. Porzig, Weisgerber
7. Adrienne J. Lehrer
8. K.Balasubramanian
9. S.Rajendran

ந
ன்
றி
3/14/2022
Sithantha irattinam
Dr.Sundarabalu.S
Department of Linguistics
BharathiarUniversity,Coimbatore-46
sundarabalu@buc.edu.in
9715769995

An Introduction to Semantics

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