1. Chapter 5 Semantics

2. 5.1 Definition of Semantics
Semantics is the study of meaning in language.
Meaning has been studied for thousands of years by philosophers, logicians and linguists. E.g. Plato & Aristotle.
Scholars with different scientific backgrounds have different understandings of language meaning.

3. Philosophers concentrate on the relation between linguistic expressions and things, persons and events in the world to which these expressions refer.
Linguists aiming to study the way in which meaning in a language is structured; different types of meaning.

4. The meaning of meaning
C. K. Ogden & I. A. Richards (1923). The Meaning of Meaning.
John means to write.
A green light means to go.

5. Health means everything.
His look was full of meaning.

6. What is the meaning of life?

7. What does ‘capitalist’ mean to you?

8. What does ‘cornea’ mean?
The transparent, convex, anterior portion of the outer fibrous coat of the eyeball that covers the iris and the pupil and is continuous with the sclera.

9. 5.2 Approaches to Meaning 5.2.1 Meaning as naming
5.2.2 Meaning as concept
5.2.3 Meaning as behavior
5.2.4 Meaning as context
5.2.5 Meaning as truth conditions

10. 5.2.1 Meaning as naming
proposed by the ancient Greek scholar Plato.
The meaning of an expression is what it refers to, or names, is often called referential theory or naming theory.
Words are names or labels for things.

11. Limitations -- Nouns only -- the imaginary things?
-- the abstract notions?
-- the same thing with different names?

12. 5.2.2 Meaning as Concept
The conceptualist view holds that there is no direct link between a linguistic form and what it refers to (i.e. between language and the real world); rather, in the interpretation of meaning they are linked through the mediation of concepts in the mind.

13. Ogden and Richards: Semantic triangle
Thought (concept)
Symbol
(the word)
Referent
(object)

14. airplane

15. The symbol or word signifies an object by virtue of the concept associated with the form of the word in the minds of the speaker; and the concept looked at from this point of view is the meaning of the word.

16. Limitation Some words have no obvious referents.
e.g. of, could, if, under …
What is precisely the link between the symbol and concept?

17. 5.2.3 Meaning as behavior
Behaviorists attempted to define meaning as “the situation in which the speaker utters it and the response it calls forth in the hearer”. (Boomfield 133:139)
the story of Jack and Jill
( Jill is hungry. She sees an apple and by saying something gets Jack to fetch it for her.)

18. (meaning as speaker’s stimulus and hearer’s response)
Jill Jack
S r s R
Meaning consists in the relationship between speech indicated by the small letters r…… s and the practical events represented by the capitalized letters S and R that precede and follow them respectively.
(meaning as speaker’s stimulus and hearer’s response)

19. Limitation
What if the listener does not cooperate or pretends not to understand?

20. 5.2.4 Meaning as context The contextualism
Meaning should be studied in terms of situation, use, context—elements closely linked with language behavior.
Two types of contexts are recognized:
Situational context: spatio-temporal situation
Linguistic context: the probability of a word’s co-occurrence or collocation.

21. Linguistic context
Linguistic context, some times known as co-text, is concerned with the probability of a word’s co-occurrence or collocation with another word, which forms part of the ‘meaning” of the word, and also the part of text that precedes and follows a particular utterance.

22. e.g.
Actually it is very light.
This suitcase looks heavy but actually it is very light.
It is not easy.
It is not easy if you ask her to stop.

23. Situational context
Situational context refers to the particular spatiotemporal situation in which an utterance occurs, the main components of which include, apart from the place and time of the utterance, the speaker and the hearer, the actions they are performing at the time, the various objects and events existent in the situation.

24. Factors of the situational context
The setting (formal, informal)
The speaker and hearer (relationship, position…)
The activities the are engaged in at the time
The presence or absence of other participants
The presence of various external objects and events

25. Truth condition: conditions which must hold for the sentence to be used to make a true statement (at least if it is used literally).
Thus, before we can truthfully say, on some occasion, The cat is on the mat, there must be some relevant feline occupying a specific position relative to an appropriate item of floor covering.

26. 5.2.5 Meaning as truth conditions
Knowing the meaning of a sentence is the same as knowing the condition under which the sentence is true or false.
S is true if and only if P.
sentence the set of conditions

27. For example The Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776.
Truth conditions are applicable to declaratives or statements.

28. Geoffrey Leech (1974, 1981). Semantics: The Study of Meaning
Geoffrey Leech (1974, 1981). Semantics: The Study of Meaning. Seven types of meaning:
Conceptual meaning
Connotative meaning
Social meaning
Affective meaning
Reflected and meaning
Collocative meaning
Thematic meaning
Associative
Meaning

29. 5.3.1 Sense and reference
Sense is concerned with the inherent meaning of the linguistic form. It is the collection of all the features of the linguistic form; it is abstract and de-contextualized. It is the way people relate words to each other within the framework of their language

30. The family tree 舅父 = ‘mother’s brother’
叔叔 = ‘father’s younger brother’
伯父 = ‘father’s elder brother’
姨妈 = ‘mother’s sister’
姑妈 = ‘father’s sister’

31. Reference deals with the relationship between the linguistic element and the non-linguistic world of experience. What a linguistic form refers to in the real, physical world.
chair car

32. Linguistic forms having the same sense may have different references in different situations; on the other hand, there are also occasions, when linguistic forms with the same reference might differ in sense, e.g. the morning star and the evening star, black tea and black hair.

33. 5.3.2 Seven types of meaning
Leech (1974) recognizes 7 types of meaning in his book Semantics.

34. (1) Conceptual meaning
Also called ‘denotative’ or ‘cognitive’ meaning.
Refers to logical, cognitive or denotative content.
Concerned with the relationship between a word and the thing it denotes, or refers to.

35. (2) Connotative meaning
The communicative value an expression has by virtue of what it refers to, over and above its purely conceptual content.
A multitude of additional properties, including not only physical characteristics but also psychological and social properties, as well as typical features.

36. Involving the ‘real world’ experience one associates with an expression when one uses or hears it.
Unstable: they vary considerably according to culture, historical period, and the experience of the individual.
Any characteristic of the referent, identified subjectively or objectively, may contribute to the connotative meaning of the expression which denotes it.

38. Step mother

40. (3) Social meaning
What a piece of language conveys about the social circumstances of its use. It chiefly includes stylistic meaning of an utterance.

41. domicile: very formal, official
residence: formal
abode: poetic
home: general
steed: poetic
horse: general
nag: slang
gee-gee: baby language

42. (4) Affective meaning
Reflecting the personal feelings of the speaker, including his attitude to the listener, or his attitude to something he is talking about.
You’re a vicious tyrant, and I hate you for it!
I’m terribly sorry to interrupt, but I wonder if you would be so kind as to lower your voices a little.
Shut up.

43. Affective meaning Commendatory tough-minded resolute, firm shrewd
childlike
wiseman
man of usual talent
portly, stout, solid, plum
slender, slim
Derogatory
ruthless
obstinate
sly, crafty
childish
wiseguy
freak
fleshy, fat, tubby
lean, skinny, lanky, weedy, scraggy

44. (5) Reflected meaning
Arises in cases of multiple conceptual meaning, when one sense of a word forms part of our response to another sense.
When you hear ‘click the mouse twice’, would you think of Jerry being hit twice by Tom?
Reflective meaning is the product of people’s recognition and imagination.

45. (6) Collocative meaning
The associations a word acquires on account of the meanings of words which tend to occur in its environment.
pretty: girl, boy, woman, flower, garden, colour, village, etc.
handsome: boy, man, car, vessel, overcoat, airliner, typewriter, etc.

46. (7) Thematic meaning
What is communicated by the way in which a speaker or writer organizes the message, in terms of ordering, focus, and emphasis.
Mrs Bessie Smith donated the first prize.
The first prize was donated by Mrs Bessie Smith.
They stopped at the end of the corridor.
At the end of the corridor, they stopped.

47. 5.3.3 Semantic fields
a set of words with an identifiable semantic connection. (lexical field)
e.g. vegetable: tomato, onion, cucumber, eggplant…
fruit: ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
color: ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
The meaning of a word is decided not by the word itself, but by relationships with other words in the same semantic field.

48. Lexical gap：The absence of a word in a particular place in a semantic field of a language.
sister – brother
daughter – son
cousin?

49. 5.3.4Componential analysis
Componential analysis---- a way to analyze lexical meaning. The approach is based on the belief that the meaning of a word can be dissected into meaning components, called semantic features. For example,

50. Man: [+HUMAN, +ADULT, +ANIMATE, +MALE]
Boy: [+HUMAN, -ADULT, +ANIMATE, +MALE]
Woman: [+HUMAN, +ADULT, +ANIMATE, -MALE]
Girl: [+HUMAN, -ADULT, +ANIMATE, -MALE]

51. The attraction of CA is that it allows a highly explicit and economical account of meaning relations such as hyponymy and incompatibility.
Hyponymy is the situation in which all the features of word A are included in those of word B.
e.g. woman ＋HUMAN ＋ADULT ＋FEMALE
spinster ＋HUMAN ＋ADULT ＋FEMALE ＋MARRIED

52. Limitation:
1 How many numbers of semantic features are necessary to define a word?
2 Which value should we select for a possible component? e.g. man [+male] or [-female]?

53. 5.3.5 Semantic relationships between words

54. Homonymy
Homonymy---- the phenomenon that words with different meanings have the same form, e.g. different words are identical in sound or spelling, or in both.

55. 1 Homographs bow: /bau/ /bәu/
Homographs are the words which are identical orthographically but different phonologically and semantically.
More homographs
sow: /sәu/ /sau/
wind: /wind/ /waid/

56. 2 Homophones eye/I too/two sea/see
Homophones are the words which are identical phonologically but different orthographically and semantically.
More homophones
ad/add blue/blew dear/deer
flower/flour meat/meet pair/pear
piece/peace right/rite threw/through
tail/tale weak/week son/sun

57. 3 Complete homonyms bank: 1 sloping ground on each side of river
2 a company where money is deposited, withdrawn, and borrowed
bear:
1 carry
2 heavy thick-furred mammal
Complete homonyms are the words which are identical both phonologically and orthographically but different semantically.

58. More examples long: 1 measuring much from end to end in space or time
2 have strong wish or desire for
swallow: 1 make or let food etc. pass down one’s throat
2 migratory swift-flying bird with forked tail
date: day of month
2 oval stone fruit
fair: just, equitable
2 periodic market

59. Polysemy
Polysemy: A word has two or more meanings that are related conceptually or historically, it is said to be polysemous or polysemic.
Most words in a language are polysemic.
But every word is monosemic when it is first coined.
The more commonly used a word is, the more likely it has acquired more than one meaning.

60. e.g. “table” may mean:
A piece of furniture
All the people seated at a table
The food that is put on a table
A thin flat piece of stone, metal wood, etc.
Orderly arrangement of facts, figures, etc. ……

61. Synonymy buy/purchase thrifty/economical/stingy autumn/fall
flat/apartment
tube/underground

62. Synonymy Synonymy: The sameness or close similarity of meaning.
Synonyms: Words that are close in meaning.
Absolute synonyms: words which are identical in meaning in every respect.
It is very rare or even non-existent. (denotative meaning & connotative meaning & collocative meaning & social meaning…)
Relative synonyms: Words which are similar or nearly the same in denotation, but have slight differences in one way or another.

63. Antonymy Antonymy: oppositeness of meaning
Antonyms: When words are opposite in meaning, they are antonyms.

64. Gradable antonyms can be regarded as a continuum with the two opposite terms as two points along the continuum.
huge/ very big/ big/ medium-sized/ small/ very small/ tiny
The denial of one is not necessarily the assertion of the other.
Three distinctive features for gradable antonyms:
1 relativity, no absolute criterion
2 They have comparative and superlative degrees
3 In the two opposite words of a gradable antonymous pair, one is marked, the other is unmarked. The unmarked member tends to be usual (more often used), the marked unusual.

65. E.g. How old are you?
How deep is the river?
big, long, heavy, wide
Chinese and English are quite similar concerning the markedness of gradable antonyms. But there are exceptions:
How many people are there in your family?
How much water is there on the earth?

66. Complementary antonyms are mutually exclusive and admit no possibility between them.
E.g. A dog is either dead or alive.
A man is either married or single.
present/absent absent/present asleep/awake true/false same/different boy/girl
The assertion of one means the denial of the other.
This type of antonyms cannot be modified by very.

67. 6.5 Hyponymy
Inclusiveness; a relationship between hyponyms and superordinates. The former is included in the latter.
A is included in / a kind of B.
Cf.: chair and furniture, rose and flower
Superordinate/hypernym: the more general term
Hyponym: the more specific term
Co-hyponyms: members of the same class

68. Hyponymy flower rose tulip lily orchid daisy daffodil snowdrop crocus
furniture
bed table chair dresser wardrobe bookcase cupboard
Hyponymy

69. Meronymy
a term used to describe a part-whole relationship between lexical items.
X is part of Y, or Y has X.
car
wheel engine door window …

70. 5.4.Sentence Meaning 5.4.1 Sentence and Proposition
sentence is “something that expresses a complete thought”.
Sentences are more knowable than thoughts. In spite of individual differences, speakers of a language generally agree on what is or is not a sentence in their language.
(1)a. We walk in the park.
b. our walk in the park
c. for us to walk in the park
(2)a. We enjoyed our walk in the park.
b. It’s not too late for us to walk in the park.

71. They have the same semantic content but different grammaticality
They have the same semantic content but different grammaticality. The semantic content shared by the three expressions (1a, b, c) is a proposition which may be judged by truth conditions. A proposition can be expressed in different sentences:
John broke the glass.
The glass was broken by John.
It was John who broke the glass.

72. Semantic roles
Words and sentences are the two units of language that carry meaning. The sentence meaning must rely on the meaning of individual words it contains. How we retrieve sentence meaning from word meaning is a complex question.
One obvious naive hypothesis is that the meaning of a sentence is simply the sum of the meanings of its words and other constituents which compose it. But this is not necessarily true.

73. (1)a. My wife has a new dog.
b. My new wife has a dog.
c. My new dog has a wife.
(2)a. The hunter bit the lion.
b. The lion was bitten by the hunter.
(3)a. Peter sliced the bread with a knife.
b. Peter used a knife to slice the bread.
Sentences in examples (2a,b), (3a,b) have the same proposition, but how?
The crucial factor in the way sentence meaning is constructed is the role played by each noun phrase in relation to the verb. We thus need to introduce the notion semantic role of a noun phrase.

74. By semantic role we mean such things as who did what to whom, with whom, and for whom.
In other words, the semantic role of a noun phrase is the role that its referent plays in the action, state or situation described by the sentence.
Semantic role is not an inherent property of a noun phrase: a given noun phrase can have different semantic roles in different sentences, as in the following:
(4) He lived in Beijing. (locative state)
(5) He went to Beijing. (locative motion)

75. The first semantic roles we need to identify are agent (the responsible initiator of an action) and patient (the entity that undergoes a certain change of state).
John (agent) kissed Mary (patient).
Mary (patient) was kissed by John (agent).
Another semantic role is about an experiencer (defined as that which receives a sensory input).
(6) John likes blueberry pancakes.
(7) John felt threatened by the lion.
(8) John sometimes astounds me with his wit.

76. Role of cause: any natural force that brings about a change of state
instrument—the intermediary through which an agent performs the action
(9) John was injured by a stone. (cause)
(10) John was injured with a stone. (instrument)
Instruments and causes can be expressed in prepositional phrases (as in the previous examples) or subjects as in:
(11) The silver key opens the door to the wine cellar. (instrument)
(12) The snow caved in the roof. (cause)
(13)* The silver key and John opened the door to the cellar.

77. An instrument can not be conjoined with an agent as in 13, but an instrument can be conjoined with another instrument, and agent with another agent:
(14) A push and a shove opened the door to the cellar.
(15) John and Tom opened the door to the cellar.
a noun phrase can be a recipient (that which receives a physical object), a benefactive (that for which an action is performed), a locative (the location of an action or state), or temporal (the time at which the action or state occurred).
(16) I gave John a puppy. (recipient)
(17) John passed the message to me for Tom. ( benefactive)
(18) Beijing is cold in winter. (locative)
(19) She left home the day before yesterday. (temporal)

78. The point of this theory is to characterize all possible semantic roles that noun phrases can play in a sentence. Every noun phrase in a clause is assigned a semantic role, and, aside from coordinate NPs, the same semantic role cannot be assigned to two different noun phrases within the same clause.
So, for example, sentence (20) is ruled out as being semantically anomalous because it contains two different instrumental noun phrases, namely the two italicized noun phrases:
(20) *This ball broke the window with a hammer.

79. In addition, in most cases a single noun phrase can be assigned only one semantic role. In rare cases, a noun phrase can be assigned two different roles. In the sentence
(21) John rolled down the hill.
If John rolled down the hill deliberately, he is both agent and patient, because he is at once the responsible initiator of the action and the entity that undergoes the change of state.
So far we can say that sentential semantics is concerned with semantic roles and with the relationship between words within a sentence.

80. 5.4.3 Semantic relationships between sentences
(1)   X is synonymous with Y
(2)   X is inconsistent with Y
(3)   X entails Y
(4)   X presupposes Y
(5)  Implicature

81. X is synonymous with Y X: He was a bachelor all his life.
Y: He never got married all his life.
X: The boy killed the cat.
Y: The cat was killed by the boy.
If X is true, Y is true; if X is false, Y is false.

82. X is inconsistent with Y
X: He is single.
Y: He has a wife.
X: This is my first visit to Beijing.
Y: I have been to Beijing twice.
If X is true, Y is false; if X is false, Y is true.

83. X entails Y X: John married a blond heiress. Y: John married a blond.
X: Marry has been to Beijing.
Y: Marry has been to China.
Entailment is a relation of inclusion. If X entails Y, then the meaning of X is included in Y.
If X is true, Y is necessarily true; if X is false, Y may be true or false.

84. X presupposes Y X: His bike needs repairing. Y: He has a bike.
Paul has given up smoking.
Paul once smoked.
If X is true, Y must be true; If X is false, Y is still true.

85. X is a contradiction *My unmarried sister is married to a bachelor.
*The orphan’s parents are pretty well-off.

86. X is semantically anomalous
*The man is pregnant.
*The table has bad intentions.
*Sincerity shakes hands with the black apple.

87. Implicature
Implicature is also a type of semantic relations between two sentences. For example, if we can draw conclusion b from sentence a, then b is the implicature of a:
a. Few girls are coming.
b. Some girls are coming.