1. Semantics

2. Talk about these sentences
The boy ate the Big Mac.
The boy eat the Big Mac.
Ate the boy the Big Mac.
The Big Mac ate the boy.
Which sentences are correct?
In the incorrect sentences, are the problems
syntactic?
morphological?
semantic?

3. Semantic features The main problem: only animals can eat!
Describe word meaning with features / characteristics
Boy
[+human]
[+male]
[-adult]
Big Mac?
From last semester, how did we define banana?
Elephant?
Language?
Please choose three English or Chinese words
Describe them using semantic features with [+…] and [-…]

4. Semantic features Now look at 101 and ex 1
It seems that we would need a large number of features to describe every word
For pregnant, how many features would we need?
[+human], [+female], [+big], [+uncomfortable], [+carrying_baby] (or [+pregnant]?!)
What about hot? [–cold]?
Cold? [–hot]? (The circularity problem)

5. Semantic roles (NOT “RULES”!) (agent, theme etc)
Semantic features describe word meaning
Semantic roles describe the role words play in a sentence
Check Yule 102ff
What are the semantic roles of NPs in this sentence?
John looked at the stars with a telescope
How about John saw a bright star
ex 2

6. Lexical relations
Semantic roles and semantic features explain and define one word
Linguists are also interested in the relationships between words
Two words may have
the same meaning (perhaps vs maybe)
opposite meanings (black vs white)
a broader meaning (dog vs animal)
a whole-part meaning (face vs nose)
Give examples of each

7. Lexical relations: Synonyms
Usually not exactly the same meaning
huge：large,
baby and infant
student and pupil
Or the meaning may be pretty similar, with the difference in the way we use the words
sick and ill
quickly and speedily
知道：曉得：懂：理解
appear：emerge
Task: Can you think of any absolute synonym pairs?
Are they easier to find in English or Chinese, do you think?
Is there a reason why absolute synonyms should not exist (or should be very rare)?

8. “Synonymy” across languages: cross-linguistic semantic equivalence
Although cat = 貓
we know that there is no automatic one-to-one mapping between English & Chinese (or any other pair)
at least, I hope we all know this
Consider again 知道 and 曉得. And 認識
Many Romance languages distinguish between知道 and 認識
In French, aimer can mean either like or love!
The t/v distinction: 你 vs 您
Please comment on other languages you know, regarding these points

9. Antonyms (using * for semantic oddness here)
Non-gradable
If you don’t pass, you fail
If you’re not dead, you’re alive
But a table is not alive and not dead: can you explain this
?He looks very dead
*She is deader / more dead than him
Gradable
*If you’re not rich, you’re poor
He looks very rich.
She is richer than him.

10. Hyponymy and meronymy A bike is a kind of vehicle.
Bike is a hyponym of vehicle.
A car is a kind of vehicle.
Car and bike are co-hyponyms of vehicle.
A wheel is part of a vehicle.
Wheel is a meronym of vehicle.
Vehicle is a superordinate term in all 3 cases.
Task: draw 2 trees
A hyponym tree
A meronym tree

11. Prototypes If you close your eyes and think of this:
BIRD
You will probably see a robin, or a sparrow
Not a chicken, and not an ostrich, and not a humming bird.
Could it be different, with you Chinese speakers, for ostrich?
Write prototypes and non-prototypes for 2 categories

12. Homonyms right-write 意義-異議
Most homonyms are also homophones and homographs
Bank, bat, 轉機, 制服
Some homonyms are just homophones
right-write
意義-異議
Some homonyms are just homographs
Buffet (beat/ restaurant)
Resume (continue/ summary).
覺 (but that’s just a morpheme, can you think of a word?)

13. Polysemy and homonymy Homonyms are totally different words
with a totally different meaning
Polysemous words have a similar meaning
Which two are polysemous?
He put the money in the bank.
He will bank the money.
We had a picnic on the bank of the river.
Now look at the date example, p 107.

14. Markedness task: 1-7; 3 new; C
Unmarked form: normal or default
Marked form: unusual or noteworthy
Dog / bitch
Lioness / lion
Man / woman
老闆 / 老闆娘
“How are you?” / “How’s your father”
Eat / ate
Happy / unhappy