1. LEXICAL RELATION (2) TRUTH CONDITIONAL SEMANTICS:
LEXICAL FIELDS, KINSHIP
HYPONYMY, SYNONYMY, ANTONYMY

2. TRUTH CONDITION AN APPROACH TO MEANING BASED ON THE TRUTH CONDITION
TRUTH A CORRESPONDENCE WITH FACT / CORRECT DESCRIPTIONS OF STATES OF AFFAIRS IN THE WORLD.

3. LEXICAL FIELDS 1. What set a lexeme belongs to.
e.g. sports (tennis, badminton, golf,
soccer)
and how it differs from other
members of the same set.
e.g. tennis vs soccer

4. 2. Some sets involve part-whole
relationships.
e.g. arm hand finger and thumb
3. Some sets form paradigms.
male Female
Adult man women
Child boy girl

5. Componential Analysis
Features:
Man = [ adult male human]
Binary features:
the labels [+male] and [-female],
instead of [male] and [female].

6. KINSHIP: ANOTHER COMPONENT ANALYSIS
SENSE RELATION INVOLVING BLOOD TIES AND MARRIEGE
FEATURES:
1. [parent], [offspring], [sibling] and
[spouse]
2. [male]M and [female] F

7. Combination of Features
father = M parent
mother = F parent
brother = M sibling
sister = F sibling
son = M offspring
daughter = F offspring
husband = M spouse
wife = F spouse

8. uncle = parent’s M sibling; parent’s
sibling’s M spouse
aunt = parent’s F sibling; parent’s
sibling’s F spouse
nephew = sibling’s M offspring;
spouse’s sibling’s M offspring
niece = sibling’s F offspring;
spouse’s sibling’s F offspring.

9. HYPONYMY
SOME WORDS HAVE A MORE GENERAL MEANING, WHILE OTHERS HAVE A MORE SPECIFIC MEANING, WHILE REFERRING TO THE SAME ENTITY.
e.g. tree and oak
oak is a more specific object than
tree.
tree may be used to refer to objects that are not oaks, but which share with them the essential features of “treeness” (e.g. large plants, with trunk, branches, leaves, etc)
 the term oak is the hyponym of tree, and the term
tree is the superordinate of oak.
 Hyponym is a word whose referent is included in the
referent of a more general word

10. ENTAILMENT Consider these pairs of sentences: 1a Rover is a collie
1b Rover is a dog
2a There are tulips in the vase
2b There are flowers in the vase
 THE TRUTH RELATIONSHIP:
a b b a
T T T ?
F ? F F
3a There is a tennis in the court
3b There is a game in the court

11. Notes:
1) There are co-hyponym without a
superordinate.
e.g. a knife, a fork, a spoon
2) This is an instance of a lexical gap
(see Kreidler 1998, 94-95)

12. SYNONYM: A RELATIONSHIP OF “SAMENESS OF MEANING”
THE TRUTH RELATIONSHIP:
3a Jack is a seaman
3b Jack is a sailor
a  b & b  a
~a  ~b & ~b~a
In tabular form:
a b
T T
F F

13. Synonymy is an instance of mutual entailment, and of mutual hyponymy.
e.g.
hide = conceal
skinny = slender

14. But Points to consider A dialect difference e.g. postman Vs. mailman
(2) Difference in connotation
e.g. skinny, thin Vs. slender
(3) A subtle matter of potential co-occurance
e.g. hide Vs. conceal
(4) Compatible with the same subject.
e.g. hard = difficult as in hard subject
hard Vs difficult as in hard chair

15. ANTONYMY: MUTUALLY CONTRADICTORY
1. Antonyms are opposite in meaning.
if one is true, the other must be false
e.g. The television is on now
The television is off now.
big vs. small
2. The meaning—like big, is very much dependent on the topics they are associated with: a big rat is not as big as small elephant.

16. BINARY AND NON-BINARY ANTONYMS
THERE IS NO MIDDLE GROUND
e.g. On Vs. Off
An electric light is on/off.
2. NON-BINARY ANTONYMS
THERE ARE OPPOSITE ENDS OF A
SCALE THAT INCLUDES VARIOUS
INTERMEDIATE TERMS
e.g. Old Vs. Young
Mr. Jones is very old.

17. 3. Non-binary antonyms can easily be
modified:
e.g. very old, rather young
4. But, it is also a fact that binary antonyms can be modified:
e.g. quite dead, wide open
5. Non-binary adjectives are gradable.
e.g. very long, rather short
6. Binary adjectives are considered ungradable though the expression “someone is too asleep.” is meaningful.

18. CONVERSE ANTONYMS
1. CONVERSE ANTONYMS  TWO LEXEMES SO RELATED THAT EITHER ONE PRESUPPOSE THE OTHER.
e.g. If A gives X to B, B receives X
from A
2.Converseness is a kind of antonymy between two terms.

19. Study these pairs of sentences:
1a Danny broke a window
1b A window was broken (by Danny)
2a Olga wrote a marvelous essay
2b A marvelous essay was written (by Olga)
3a Simon climbed the wall
3b The wall was climbed (by Simon)
4a This package weighs two kilos.
4b * Two kilos are weighed by this package.

20. Why 4b is not acceptable? Read Kreidler pp. 66-70
1. The object of the verb has the role of Associate (4a)
2. 1b, 2b, and 3b are accepted because if the object has the role of Affected (1a), Effect (2a), and Theme (3b).

21. SYMMETRY AND RECIPROCITY (A SPECIAL KIND OF CONVERSE)
SYMMETRY = INTERCHANGE
If X is a symmetrical predicate, the relationship a X b can also be expressed as b X a and as a and b X (each other).
e.g. 5a Line AB is parallel to Line CD
5b Line CD is parallel to Line AB
5c Line AB and Line CD are parallel to each other, or simple as:
5d Line AB and CD are parallel
(see Kreidler, 107)

22. RECIPROCITY
Reciprocity  A relationship that can be expressed by each other or one another.
If X is a reciprocal predicate, the relationship a X b does not entail b X a but a and b X entail a x b and b X a.
e.g. 6a The truck collided with the
bus.
6b The truck and the bus collided.