1. Dr. Bill Vicars Lifeprint.com

2. ASL Linguistics: Semantics
Linguistics, 5th Edition, Unit 18, Page

4. What is the sign for NAME?

5. What is the sign for ROME?

6. LIS = Italian Sign Language Lingua dei Segni Italiana

7. Meaning is determined by…

8. … a specific community of users.

9. Determined = decided = agreed

10. Dictionary problem:

11. Same sign / different glosses

12. Can you think of any signs that have more than one English interpretation?

13. Lets discuss types of meaning…

14. 3 types of meaning…

15. Referential Social Affective

16. Referential meaning…

17. idea, thing, state of affairs

18. CAT = 4 legs, tail, whiskers, etc.

19. The "cat" is a referent of the sign CAT.

20. REFER = NAME-(verb)

21. REFER = LABEL

22. -

23. Social Meaning…

24. Sign choices reveal social information

25. where from

26. male or female

27. African American or Caucasian

28. example: AWFUL

29. Affective Meaning…

30. Sign choices reflect your…

31. feelings, attitudes, opinions

32. Example: "fascinating research" vs…

33. "boring old project"

34. Shows your attitude

35. affective = feelings

36. Referential meaning = What

37. Social meaning = Who

38. Affective meaning = How feel

39. Referential meaning = denotation

40. Social and Affective meaning = Connotation

41. Example: “dEAF” = denotation

42. Example: DEAF = connotation

43. What is a lexicon?

44. A set of words known by users of a language.

45. Lexicon = Vocabulary set

46. What is a Lexical item?

47. A word (or sign).

48. The study of semantics includes considering…

49. Relationships of meaning between “lexical items” (words or signs)

50. Ways words are related in meaning

51. Will teach you six ways.

52. Consider: APPLE & CAR

53. APPLE & CAR Are not related

54. Consider:

55. BLUE RED YELLOW GREEN ORANGE PURPLE

56. …are types of what?

57. COLOR

58. BLUE, RED, etc. have a relationship with COLOR

59. That relationship is called:

60. 1. Hyponymy

61. BLUE, RED, YELLOW, etc. are hyponyms

62. COLOR is a hypernym

63. Example:

64. Sign Language: ASL, LSF, LIS, LSQ

65. “hyper” means “over” or above.

66. Is "RED" a color?

67. Duh. I have a point.

68. Consider: HAND & ARM

69. Is a HAND an ARM?

70. No.

71. We are not discussing hyponymy.

72. New type of meaning…

73. The relationship between a hand and an arm is a:

74. 2. Part/Whole Relationship

75. Another example:

76. PHONOLOGY and LINGUISTICS

77. Note…

78. RED is a type of color…

79. HAND is a part of an arm.

80. Phonology is not a type of linguistics.

81. Phonology is a part of linguistics.

82. So far we’ve talked about what two types of relationships between signs?

83. 1. Hyponymy 2. Part/Whole

84. New relationship…

85. Consider: soda & pop

86. sofa & couch

87. Two words that mean the same thing are…

88. Synonyms

89. 3. Synonymy

90. Consider however:

91. “Denotative Synonymy” means …

92. “Refer to the same thing.”

93. Two signs can denote (or refer to) the same thing but have a different connotation (social or affective meaning).

94. Can have different connotative meaning.

95. Connotatively not synonymous

96. Connotative = social and affective

97. Connotative = who & how feel

98. DEAF ("index" hand) & DEAF (A-5 hand) are denotatively similar (synonymy) but connotatively dissimilar.

99. DEAF ("index" hand) & DEAF (A-5 hand) both refer to the concept of “not hearing” but the two signs are different in terms of WHO uses them and HOW the user feels about being “Deaf.”

100. Are BED & #BED an example of Synonymy ????

101. Maybe at a basic referential level.

102. But they tend to be used differently in actual conversation.

103. BED & #BED are not synonymous at the sentence or conversation level.

104. That means not synonymous at the "discourse" level.

105. “Discourse" tends to mean the use of sentences or having a conversation.

106. Can you think of another pair of ASL lexicon that has sign version and a lexicalized fingerspelling version?

107. CAR and #CAR

108. BUSY and #BUSY

109. EARLY and #EARLY

110. So far we’ve talked about what three types of relationships between signs?

112. 1. Hyponymy 2. Part/Whole 3. Synonymy

113. New relationship…

114. Consider: LARGE and SMALL

115. They are opposite in meaning.

116. 4. Antonymy = opposites

117. There are two types of Antonymy

118. Gradable & Non-gradable

119. Gradable = levels, degrees, relative

120. Example: LARGER vs SMALLER

121. Non-gradable = one or the other but not both

122. Example: PREGNANT

123. ALIVE or DEAD

124. Gradable: English uses “-er"

125. Gradable: ASL often uses "depiction"

126. Example: "LIMO" vs V W Bug

127. THICK BOOK vs THICKER BOOK

128. ASL Gradation may also use…

129. Nonmanual signals ex: pursed lips / cha.

130. and structure changes, ex:

131. LIMO moves hands further.

132. Consider: GOOD & BAD

133. English GOOD/BAD phonological forms different

134. ASL GOOD/BAD phonological forms similar

135. Reversal of orientation for antonymy

136. Examples…

137. LIKE DON'T-LIKE

138. WANT DON'T-WANT

139. KNOW DON'T-KNOW

141. 1. Hyponymy 2. Part/Whole 3. Synonymy 4. Antonymy

142. New Relationship…

143. Consider: WIFE & HUSBAND

144. TEACHER STUDENT

145. AUNT NIECE

146. 5. Converseness

147. Converseness is sort of similar to antonymy

148. Converseness happens in pairs

149. often phonologically similar

151. 1. Hyponymy 2. Part/Whole 3. Synonymy 4. Antonymy 5. Converseness

152. New relationship…

153. 6. Metaphor

154. Metaphor = extension of meaning

155. Consider:

156. Orientational Metaphor example…

157. DEPRESSED

158. TIRED

159. THRILLED

160. HAPPY

161. Up = positive meaning

162. Down = negative meaning

163. Up = present (APPEAR)

164. Down = absent (DISAPPEAR)

165. -

166. Ontological means …

167. ... relating to or based upon being or existence.

168. The iconic nature of ASL …

169. is ontological

170. Signs (often) look-like what they are.

171. A sign often looks like…

172. …something that exists.

173. The sign ANALYSIS is …

174. mapped to the sign DIGGING…

175. which is mapped to …

176. the real life act of digging.

177. Ontological metaphors treat abstract…

178. entities states and events as if they were objects.

179. "Digging into your psyche."

180. "FALL-INTO an area of interest"

181. "HOLD-ONTO that idea"

182. -

183. Structural Metaphor:

184. Treat abstract concepts in terms of a more concrete concept.

185. "Time is money."

186. ASL ex: TIME-"run out of"

187. -

188. Metaphor: 1. Orientational 2. Ontological 3. Structural

189. 4.

190. 4. Families of signs

191. What signs can you do with an open-8 handshape?

192. FEEL

193. EXCITE

194. DEPRESS

195. PITY

196. SICK

197. SENSITIVE

198. …other example…

199. Can you think of some signs that seem related to “NOT”?

200. DENY

201. REFUSE

202. BLAME

203. SUFFER

204. Metaphor:

205. Metaphor: 1. Orientational 2. Ontological 3. Structural 4
Metaphor: 1. Orientational 2. Ontological 3. Structural 4. Sign Families

206. There are more types of meaning. Today we’ve discussed six.

207. What are the six types of word “meaning relationships”?

208. 1. Hyponymy 2. Part/Whole 3. Synonymy

209. 4. Antonymy 5. Converseness 6. Metaphor

210. Here is a way to remember those:

211. CHAMPS

212. 

213. Dr. Bill Vicars Lifeprint.com