It’s just a matter of…. SEMANTICS

Words can “contain” 2 types of meaning – Conceptual Basic, essential components of meaning conveyed by the literal use of a word AKA: DENOTED MEANING – Associative What people perceive the word being associated with AKA: CONNOTATIVE MEANING What are your associative meaning for the words: Change Hope

Synonymy Synonyms are words with the same meaning. Big/large cheap/inexpensive However, synonyms do not always have “total sameness.” Context and associative meanings can make a difference (thesauruses don’t always work).

Antonymy Antonyms are words with opposite meanings. Fast/slowhappy/sadmale/female Like synonyms, there are some differences.

Hyponymy When a meaning is assumed in the meaning of another word, the relationship is hyponymy This occurs when a word belongs to a category “_______ is a kind of _________” For example, a car is a kind of vehicle These words are hyponymous

Homophones Words that have different written forms but are pronounced in the same way “sound-alikes” Great/gratebreak/brakesale/sail

Homonymy Homonyms – when a written form has two or more UNRELATED meanings Bankpart of a riverfinancial institution Flyinsectto look or be cool Clubsocial organizationblunt weapon Penwriting instrumentenclosed area All of these pairs of meanings are very different – NOT related.

Polysemy Polysemy—when a written form has RELATED meanings Markwritten symbol visible impression Footat the end of your legthe end of a bed Runmoving quicklywater flowing The meanings here are somewhat similar.

Word Play Usually used for comic effect Often possible because of polysemy or homophones: – Mary had a little lamb. (The nursery rhyme) – Mary had a little lamb, some rice, and beans. This is a play on words using a POLYSEMOUS word. – Why was 6 afraid of 7? Because 789.(ATE & EIGHT) This is a play on words using HOMOPHONES.

Collocations These are groups of words that “go together” These are based on our engrained socio- cultural associations Example: Salt and ______.Ladies and ______. Also, usually occur in a fixed order: “Blue, red and white” sounds funny “gravy and biscuits”

Fill in the blank with the FIRST WORD that comes to your mind. (All examples were taken from Folse, 2009.) figure ____ (separable phrasal verb) count ____ (non-separable phrasal verb) grow ____ (intransitive phrasal verb) introduce ____ (verb + preposition) complain ____ (verb + preposition) lose track ____ (idiom) trouble ____ (noun + preposition) ____ love (preposition + noun) once ____ a while (idiom) married ____ (adjective + preposition) _____ behalf of (three-word preposition) _____ night (idiomatic phrase) accustomed _____ (adjective + preposition) _____ pressure (preposition + noun)