1. Semantic relationships Maxims of Conversation
Semantics Continued
Semantic relationships
Maxims of Conversation

2. Semantic relationships
The semantic relationships we discuss here are:
Hyponymy
Synonymy
Antonymy
Scalar/gradable pairs
Homonym
Homograph

3. Hyponymy X is a hyponym of Y if X is a subset of Y.
For example, consider the two words “bird” and “parakeet”.
Tweety and Polly are parakeets.
The current set of parakeets contains these two members.
The current set of bird contains at least these two members, possibly others.
Parakeet is a subset of bird, so parakeet is a hyponym of bird.

4. Hyponymy Hyponymy can be seen as the loss of specificity.
It involves moving from more specific to more general.

5. Synonymy Two words are synonymous if they share the same meaning.
While it is difficult to find two exactly identical words, there are examples of synonyms in our everyday language:

6. Synonymy There is no dog that is not a canine.
couch/sofa
dog/canine
quick/rapid
Etc.
There is no dog that is not a canine.
Every couch is also a sofa.

7. Antonymy
In its barest form, antonymy refers to the condition of being opposites.
Complementary/contradictory
Relational opposites/contraries
Scalar antonyms/gradable pairs

8. Antonymy Complementary/contradictory pairs
Given X and Y, every entity in the world is either in X’s set or in Y’s set, but never in both.
married/unmarried
visible/invisible

9. Antonymy Relational opposites / Contraries
Given X and Y, everything in the world is in X’s set, in Y’s set, or in neither set, but never in both sets.
over/under
An object can be over or under another, but never both. It could also be NEXT TO another object.
married/bachelor
A man can be married or a bachelor, but not both. He could also be a divorcé or a widower.

10. Scalar/Gradable pairs
Scalar antonyms/Gradable pairs
Given X and Y, X and Y fulfill the conditions for being relational opposites but in addition can be interpreted as endpoints on some scale.
good/bad
hot/cold
strong/weak
A good test for this kind of relationship is the potential use of the modifier “quite”.

11. Homonym Lexical ambiguity
Different words pronounced the same and may or may not be spelled the same.
Tale/tail
Pen/pen

12. Homograph
Different words spelled identically, and possibly pronounced the same.
Pen/pen
Lead/lead

13. Pragmatics “Want to see a movie tonight?”
“I have to study.”
“What do you want for your birthday?
“Well, my camera is broken…”

14. Maxims of Conversation
Quantity
Don’t say more or less than is required
Relevance
Be relevant
Manner
Avoid ambiguity, be brief and orderly
Quality
Be truthful