Semantics

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?

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 [-…]

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)

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

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

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)?

“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

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.

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

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

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?)

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.

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