Adjective meanings

Adjective Meanings Curse (2000:289) notes that adjective meanings are often one-dimensional. Examples: thin-thick, fast-slow, cool-warm, young-old, true-false Thickness concerns only a minor dimension, not length or width; for speed, one can ignore temperature, height, age, etc. Such idea makes adjectives a good starting point in understanding word meaning.

Using language to give the meanings of words Little – small, not big, not much Small – little in size Big – large in size Much – large in quantity Large – ample in extent Ample – large in extent Tiny – very small Short – not long, small in stature, not tall We know meaning through the language itself by having them explained to us (a when a child is told that “tiny” means “very small). This means to understand the meaning of the word there is a need to look at the “sense relations”

Sense relations relevant to adjectives Entailments are propositions that follow when a given proposition is true, just as the dog’s tail follows whenever the dog comes in. Example: If it is true that a particular person has arrived in Edinburgh, then it must be true that the person is in Edinburgh at that time and made a journey from somewhere else. Synonyms – is equivalence of sense. The nouns mother, mom and mum are synonyms. Andy is impudent. Andy is cheeky. (2.2a 2.2b) & (2.2a 2.2a) *Andy is impudent but he isn’t cheeky. *Andy is cheeky but he isn’t impudent.

Complementaries See Figure 2.1 on page 28

Antonyms

Converses

Four sense relations compared

Meaning postulates

Constructions with adjectives Gradability

Adjectives modifying nouns

Larger sets than pairs