LINGUISTICS

LINGUISTICS SEMANTICS

OUTLINEBackground knowledge on SemanticsSenseReferenceTruth

BackgroundLexical DecompositionCharacterizing the sense of words

///Semantic Features///

Lake Sea River

[-FLOWING][-FLOWING] [+FLOWING] [-SALINE][+SALINE] [-SALINE][+-LARGE][+-LARGE] [+-LARGE]

Lexical DecompositionSemantic Features:

ManWomanBoyGirl[adult]++--[male]+-+-Lexical DecompositionManWomanBoyGirlStallionMareColtFilly[adult]++--++--[male]+-+-+-+-[human]++++----Semantic Features:ReferenceStudy of what objects are referred to by linguistic expressions.

Washington , DC, is the capital of the U.S.

the same entity

Truth Conditional SemanticsIf Fred is 80 years old then

Fred is over 50 years old

necessarily TRUETruth Conditional SemanticsDoan Yksel is vice dean.

Then

Doan Yksel is an Assist.Prof.Dr.

Necessarily TRUESENSE Speaker-sense:Speaker`s intention

Linguistic-sense: Literal meaning

SENSEHere comes Queen Elizabeth

Speaker-senseWith an intention of SARCASM

SENSEHere comes Queen Elizabeth

Linguistic-sense NO intentions Literal Meaning

Lexical AmbiguityMore than one sensean insect Waldo saw a flya zippera ball

Lexically vague / ambiguous..Lexical AmbiguityMore than one sense American history teacher Vague?Lexically ? or Syntactically?

Structural Ambiguity[[American history] teacher]

A teacher of American History

[American [history teacher]]

A history teacher who is American

SynonymyDifferent WordsSame MeaningSame Sense

conceal hidestubborn obstinateNear SynonymMy big sisterMy large sister

Do not have the same meaning

RegisterUsing the language in a level of formality

A guy walks into a bar( telling a joke)

A man walked into the bar (giving courtroom testimony)

Hyponymy (Inclusion)a

Hyponymy (Inclusion)

OverlapWords overlapping in meaning.Intersection of meaning.

Not all sisters are nieces or not all nieces are sisters.All sows are pigs but not all pigs are sows.

SisterNieceAuntMotherPig (no overlap)Sow (no overlap)AntonymyBinary Antonyms Gradable AntonymsConverse AntonymsDeadAliveHot ColdAboveBelowGradable antonymsA gradable antonym is one of a pair of words with opposite meanings where the two meanings lie on a continuous spectrum. Temperature is such a continuous spectrum so hot and cold, two meanings on opposite ends of the spectrum, are gradable antonyms. Other examples include: heavy, light; fat, skinny; dark light; young, old; early, late; empty, full; dull, interesting.Complementary antonymsA complementary antonym is one of a pair of words with opposite meanings, where the two meanings do not lie on a continuous spectrum. There is no continuous spectrum between push and pull but they are opposite in meaning and are therefore complementary antonyms. Other examples include: dead, alive; off, on; day, night; exit, entrance; exhale, inhale; occupied, vacant; identical, different.

Relational antonymsA relational antonym is one of a pair of words with opposite meanings, where opposite makes sense only in the context of the relationship between the two meanings. There is no lexical opposite of teacher, but teacher and pupil are opposite within the context of their relationship. This makes them relational antonyms. Other examples include: husband, wife; doctor, patient; predator, prey; teach, learn; servant, master; come, go; parent, child.

Antonymy (Exercise C)1)BGCWide/ narrow2)BGCSmoking/nonsmoking3)BGCNear/far4)BGCDefeat/lose to5)BGCInnocent/ guilty

Antonymy (Exercise C)6)BGCWife/husband7)BGCIn front of/ behind8)BGCTrue/ false9)BGCOpen/closed10)BGCDebtor / creditor

Antonymy (Exercise C)11)BGCDeciduous/evergreen12)BGCTeacher / student13)BGCCheap / expensive14)BGCMan / woman

ReferenceSpeaker-referenceLinguistic-reference

ReferentExtension PrototypeStereotypeReferentThe entity identified / referred

I saw Picasso in Sabanc Museum (referring the paintings)

Either Tom, Dick or Harry can be the leaderUnknown referentAnyone can be referent

ExtensionAll potential referents for a referring expression.

Might be thought as a species / kind:

Bird for all birds

Car for all cars PrototypeA typical member of an extension( a species/brand)

Bird RobinFordFiestaOpelCorsa

Extension PrototypeStereotypeList of characteristics describing a prototype

Stereotype of BirdHas two legsTwo wingsHas feathersetc.CoreferenceTwo linguistic expression that refer to same real world entity.

Jay Leno is the host of the Tonight Show.(same)

Jay Leno and the host of the Tonight Show.(different)AnaphoraJasmine is one of the top models in France, she is beautiful

Jasmine She

Tattoos are dangerous for skin healthbut who cares?(no anaphora)Truthanalytic sentencesIndividual sentences contradictory sentencessynthetic sentences

entailmentBetween sentencespresuppositionAnalytic SentencesNecessarily true by virtue of words in it

A bachelor is someone who is not married( we don`t have to check it, cause its true)

True by definitionAlso referred as Linguistic TruthsContradictory SentencesOpposite of analytical sentencesNot true and necessarily false

A bachelor is a married man (all contradictory)

A blue gas is colorless A square has five equal sides

Also referred as Linguistic Falsities

Synthetic SentencesMay be true or false

My next door neighbor, Bud Brown, is married

(No evidence) Can`t judge its truth or falsity

Also referred as Empirical Truths or FalsitiesEntailmentA proposition that follows necessarily from another sentence.

Martina aced chemistry

Martina passed chemistry

(paraphrase)EntailmentA proposition that follows necessarily from another sentence.

Martina didn`t pass chemistry

Martina didn`t ace chemistry

(paraphrase)PresuppositionMartina aced chemistry(Martina took chemistry)

CONSTANCY UNDER NEGATION

Martina didn`t ace chemistry (she still took chemistry, and also she might have passed)Entailment vs. PresuppositionMartina aced chemistry

Martina took chemistry PRESUPPOSE ENTAILS

Martina passed chemistry???? ANY QUESTIONS ????

SERKAN GRKANKOCAEL UNIVERSITYLecturerserkan.gurkan@kocaeli.edu.tr