An Introduction to Linguistics Session 12: Semantics Edi Brata
http://e-learning.edibrata.com Mathlaul Anwar University
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Overview What is semantics? Meaning Dimensions Semantic Roles
Lexical Relations
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Semantics? Semantics comes from the ancient Greek word
semantikos, an adjective meaning relating to signs. The study of
the meaning of words, phrases and sentences The systematic study of
meaning in language
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The Systematic Study of Meaning Psychologist : how the human
seeks meaning and works with them. Philosophers : how any
particular fact that we know as true is related to other possible
facts. Linguists : how language works.
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UTTERANCE, SENTENCE AND PROPOSITION
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UTTERANCE An utterance is any stretch of talk, by one person,
before and after which there is silence on the part of that person.
It is used by a particular speaker, on a particular occasion, of a
piece of language.
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SENTENCE A sentence is a grammatically complete string of words
expressing a (partial) complete thought. A sentence can include
words grouped meaningfully to express a statement, question,
exclamation, request or command. Example : After cooking, mother
speaks to father softly: I am tired
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SENTENCE Study these sentences: 1. We walk in the park.
(Complete sentence) 2.Our walk in the park. 3.For us walk in the
park. The difference is grammatical. The first expression asserts
something, makes a statement.
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PROPOSITION Proposition is the semantic content shared by the
three expressions. We walk in the park. (single proposition) We
dont walk in the park. (negation proposition) Do we walk in the
park? (question)
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PROPOSITION Proposition Position: a.Helen put on a sweater.
b.Helen put a sweater on. These are different English sentences,
but they convey the same message, they express the same
proposition. a.Richard wrote the report. b.Richard is the one who
wrote the report. c.The report was written by Richard. d.The report
is what Richard wrote.
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The Dimension of Meaning o Reference: the relation between a
language expression and whatever the expression pertains to in a
particular situation of language use. o Denotation : the potential
of a word to enter into such language expressions. o Connotation :
the affective or emotional associations. o Sense relations : the
meaning of any expression varies with context. o Lexical meaning :
with associations outside language. o Grammatical meaning : refers
to grammatical system. o Lexical ambiguity : many meanings.
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SEMANTIC ROLES
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Definitions of Semantic Role Actor is the role of an argument
that performs some action without affecting any other entity. e.g.
Sylvia left. Affected is the role of an argument that undergoes a
change due to some event or is affected by some other entity. e.g.
Music delighted Betty. A window broke.
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Definitions of Semantic Role Affecting is the role of an
argument that, without any action affects another entity. e.g.
Betty likes opera. Opera delights Betty. Agent is the role of an
argument that, by its action, affects some other entity. e.g. Tom
broke the window.
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Definitions of Semantic Role Associate is the role of an
argument that tells the status or identity of another argument.
e.g. Roger is a student. Effect is the role of an argument that
comes into existence through the action of the predicate. e.g.
Tillie baked a pie.
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Definitions of Semantic Role Place is the role of an argument
that names the location in which the action of the predicate
occurs. e.g. The fireman climbed a ladder. Theme is the role of an
argument that is the topic of a predicate that does not express
action a stative predicate. e.g. Audrey is a computer expert.
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Kinds of Semantic Roles: Valency Zero Valency One Valency
Two
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Valency Valency refers to the capacity of a verb to take a
specific number and type of arguments (noun phrase positions).
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Valency Zero It is snowing. It was rainy. It has been
thundering. The subject (it) doesnt name anything. The sentence has
a subject because English requires a subject, but this subject
doesnt correspond to anything in the underlying proposition.
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Valency One My brother snores. The sentence has a subject my
brother, verb snore but no object. This sentence uses intransitive
verb or one-argument predicate.
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VALENCY TWO
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The cat killed a rat.
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Syntactic Role The cat killed a rat.
subjectpredicateobject
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Semantic Role (Valency Two) The cat killed a rat. argument 1
predicateargument 2 agentactionaffected
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Some action by one entity which affects another entity.
Semantic Role (Valency Two) argument 1 predicateargument 2
agentactionaffected catkillrat Ibreakwindow AdehitSudirman
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Semantic Role (Valency Two) Gian dug a hole. argument 1
predicateargument 2 agentactioneffect
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The argument 2 is the result or effect of the action. Semantic
Role (Valency Two) argument 1 predicateargument 2 agentactioneffect
Giandighole Yektimakeomelet Widodocreatemasterpiece
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Semantic Role (Valency Two) Yudhie crossed the street. argument
1 predicateargument 2 actoractionplace
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The action involves movement to with respect to a place.
Semantic Role (Valency Two) argument 1 predicateargument 2
actoractionplace Yudhiecrossstreet Indraenterroom
Gunawanclimbtree
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Semantic Role (Valency Two) The decision surprised us all.
argument 1 predicateargument 2 affecting affectaffected The
sentence does not express any action. It tells how one entity
affects another entity.
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The predicates expresses an affect, the argument 1 names entity
that affects that has affecting role and argument 2 names the
entity that is affected. Semantic Role (Valency Two) argument 1
predicateargument 2 affectingaffectaffected decisionsurpriseus
youdisturbeverybody comedianimpressaudience
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Semantic Role (Valency Two) Oliver was envious of his brother.
argument 1 predicateargument 2 affectedaffectaffecting The sentence
does not express any action. It tells how one entity affects
another entity.
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If the Oliver envies, or loves, or hates, it is Oliver who is
affected by these emotions. Semantic Role (Valency Two) argument 1
predicateargument 2 affectedaffectaffecting Oliverenvybrother
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Semantic Role (Valency Two) Sheila is like her mother. argument
1 predicateargument 2 themelinkassociate The sentence are about
neither action nor affecting.
Semantic Role (Valency Two) argument 1 predicateargument 2
themelinkassociate Sheilalikemother isher Bantenwest ofJava island
is The booksonthe table are The banknearour campus is The next
gameatthree oclock will be
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SOME CHANGES IN VALENCY
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Agnes wrote her mother a letter. (full sentence) Agnes wrote a
letter. Agnes wrote her mother. Agnes wrote. The sentence is less
more informative when it has fewer arguments, but its still a
legitimate sentence and the meaning of write does not change. Some
Changes in Valency
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a)The car needs a new battery. b)We ate lunch (in the kitchen).
c)We ate (in the kitchen). d)Sisca bathed the baby (in the tub).
e)Sisca bathed (in the tub). f)I rolled the ball (down the street).
g)The ball rolled (down the street). Four Different Groups of Two-
Argument Verbs
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a)The car needs a new battery. Predicates like need always have
two arguments. (need, use, want, etc) b)We ate lunch ( in the
kitchen) c)We ate (in the kitchen) b) contains more specific
information than c), but the meaning of eat is the same.the
predicate eat inherently two arguments. Explanation
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d)Sisca bathed the baby (in the tub) e)Sisca bathed (in the
tub) e) does not simply have less information than d), it conveys
the information that Sisca bathed herself. Certain predicates, like
bathe are reflexive, self directed, if they occur without an
object. d) has two obvious arguments: Sisca, the actor, and the
baby, the affected. e), the argument Sisca could be said to have
two roles, actor and affected. Since, it is sisca who bathes and
Sisca who gets bathed. Explanation
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f)I rolled the ball (down the street) g)The ball rolled (down
the street) The predicate roll has two different, thought related,
meanings in the two sentences: G: Agent-Action-Affected; H:
Affected-Action Explanation
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LEXICAL RELATIONS
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Lexical Relations o Synonym: t wo or more words with very
closely related meanings big/large, buy/purchase, car/automobile. o
Antonym : two forms with opposite meanings alive/dead, big/small,
fast/slow, happy/sad. o Hyponym : the meaning of one form is
included in the meaning of another animal/dog, dog/poodle,
vegetable/carrot, ower/rose, tree/banyan. o Prototypes : the idea
of the characteristic instance of a category canary, cormorant,
dove, duck, amingo, parrot, pelican and robin are all equally
co-hyponyms of the superordinate bird.
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Lexical Relations o Homophones: two or more different (written)
forms have the same pronunciation bare/bear, meat/meet, our/ower,
pail/pale, right/write, sew/so and to/too/two. o Homonym : one form
(written or spoken) has two or more unrelated meanings pupil (at
school)/pupil (in the eye). o Polysemy : two or more words with the
same form and related meanings foot (of person, of bed, of
mountain) or run (person does, water does, colors do).
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Lexical Relations o Metonymy: u sing one word to refer to the
other He drank the whole bottle, although it sounds absurd
literally (i.e. he drank the liquid, not the glass object). o
Collocation : frequently occurring together If you say table,
theyll mostly say chair, and butter elicits bread, needle elicits
thread and salt elicits pepper.
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Hurford, James R, et. al. 2007. Semantics: A Course Book.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kreidler. 1998. Introducing
English Semantics. New York: Routledge. O Grady et al. 2005.
Contemporary Linguistics Fifth Edition. New York: Bedford St.
Martins. Riemer, Nick. 2010. Introducing Semantics. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. Todd, Loreto. 1987. An Introduction to
Linguistics. Singapore. Longman: York Press. Yule, George. 2006.
The Study of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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