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Semantics Review

This document defines key concepts in semantics, including: - Denotation refers to a word's core meaning, while connotation refers to additional meanings and attitudes. - Speaker meaning is what a speaker intends to convey, while sentence meaning is a sentence's literal meaning. - Other concepts defined include utterances, propositions, reference, predicates, arguments, deixis, anaphora, sense relations, and types of sentences. The document provides definitions and examples of these fundamental semantic terms.

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Hân Lê
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61 views

Semantics Review

This document defines key concepts in semantics, including: - Denotation refers to a word's core meaning, while connotation refers to additional meanings and attitudes. - Speaker meaning is what a speaker intends to convey, while sentence meaning is a sentence's literal meaning. - Other concepts defined include utterances, propositions, reference, predicates, arguments, deixis, anaphora, sense relations, and types of sentences. The document provides definitions and examples of these fundamental semantic terms.

Uploaded by

Hân Lê
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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SEMANTICS

1. Denotation and connotation


2. Speaker (intended) meaning and sentence (literal) meaning
3. Utterance, sentence, proposition
4. Reference ( variable, constant, co-reference)
5. Sense, thematic roles
6. Referring expression, referent
7. Predicate, degree of a predicate (zero-place, one-place, two-place, three-place)
8. Argument, predicator
9. Deixis, anaphora, cataphora
10.Synonymy, paraphrase
11.Homonymy, polysemy
12.Hyponymy, entailment
13.Antonymy (gradable, binary, relational)
14.Ambiguous sentences (lexically/structurally)
15.Generic, equative, analytic, synthetic, contradictory
sentences
What is the
denotation of a
word?

core, central
The denotation of a word is the ………………. or
………………………..
referential meaning of the word found in a dictionary.

A content word may have its denotation described in terms of a set of


semantic features that serve to identify the particular concept associated
………………..
with the word.
What is the
connotation of a
word?

additional
The connotation of a word is the ……………….
meaning that the word has
beyond its denotative meaning. It shows people’s
emotions and/or
……………………….. towards what the word refers to.
attitudes
Sentence/ Speaker
word meaning?
meaning?

a speaker
means
Speaker meaning is what ………………. (i.e. intends to convey)
when he uses a piece of language.

Sentence meaning/ word meaning is what a sentence/ word means, i.e.


what it counts as the ………….of in the language concerned.
equivalent
Utterance, sentence, proposition?
An UTTERANCE is the USE by a particular speaker, on
particular piece of
a……………,
occasion of ……………..
language such as a sequence of sentences, a single
phrase, or even a single word.

grammatically
A SENTENCE is a ……… complete string of words expressing a
complete/partial thought.

the utterance
A PROPOSITION is that part of the meaning of the ………………
…………… of a declarative sentence that describes some state of
affairs.
Propositions are also involved in the meanings of other
types of sentences, such as ________and _______ .
interrogatives imperatives

➢ When a speaker utters a simple declarative sentence, he


asserts the __________.
proposition

➢ When a person utters a simple interrogative or


imperative, he can mention a particular ________
proposition
without asserting its truth.
an object an entity
A REFERENT is _________ or _________ in the real world or the
world of your imagination which is talked about.
relationship
The REFERENCE of a word or a linguistic expression is the _________
between that word or expression and the thing, the action, the event, the
quality, etc. it refers to.
➢ When the same linguistic expression refers to different
referents, it has _________________.
variable reference

➢ When one linguistic expression refers to one and the same


referent, it has _____________ .
constant reference

➢ When two or more linguistic expression share the same referent,


they have _____________ .
co- reference
The sense of a word or a linguistic expression shows the
internal
___________between that word or expression and others in the
relationship
________ of a language.
vocabulary

A dog is chasing a cat has some sense.


A dog is human has no sense.
Semantic
features
___________ are basic elements in differentiating the meaning of
each word in a language from other words.
A REFERRING
EXPRESSION
_________________ is any expression used in an utterance to
refer to something or someone (or a clearly delimited collection
of things or people), i.e. used with a particular referent in mind.

Ex: “Fred hit me” Fred is a referring expression.


“There’s no Fred at this address” Fred is not a referring
expression
A PREDICATE
_________________ is any word (or sequence of words) which (in a
given single sense) can function as the predicator of a sentence.

Predicates are commonly described as zero-place, one-place,


two-place, three-place, etc., according to the number of
_________ they take
arguments
THE PREDICATOR
_________________ of a simple declarative sentence is the word
(sometimes a group of words) that does not belong to any of the
referring expressions and which, of the remainder, makes the
most specific contribution to the meaning of the sentence.
the state or
The predicator describes _________the
process referring expressions
are involved.
Any linguistic form used to accomplish “pointing” is called a
__________.
deictic expression

A DEICTIC WORD
__________ is one which takes some element of its meaning from
the context or situation (i.e. the speaker, the addressee, the time,
and the place) of the utterance in which it is used.
ANAPHORA
__________ is a rhetorical device that features the repetition of a word
or phrase at the beginning of successive sentences, phrases, or clauses.

CATAPHORA
____________ is the use of a linguistic unit, such as a
pronoun, to refer to another unit.
Ex: Near him, John saw a snake.
Sense relations

Synonymy
__________ is the relationship between two predicates that
have the same use.

polysemy
__________ is a relation in which a single word has two or
more slightly different but closely related meanings.
Hyponymy
__________ is a relation in which the referent of a word is
totally included in the referent of another word.
Homonymy
__________ is a relation in which various words have the same
(sound and written) form but have different meanings.
Homophony
__________ is a relation in which various words have the same
sound form but have different meanings and written forms.
Antonymy

1. Binary/ complementary antonymy is a relation in which two


members of a pair of antonyms are mutually exclusive and cannot
be used in a comparative or superlative sense.
Ex: single ≠ married; alive ≠ dead
2. Gradable antonymy is a relation in which two members of a pair of
antonyms are gradable. (Palmer, 1981) and can be used in questions
with how to ask about degrees.
Ex: between “hot” and “cold” there are three intermediate terms i.e
warm, tepid/ lukewarm and cool.
3. Relational/converse antonymy
when two members of a pair of relational antonyms display
symmetry in their meaning.
ENTAILMENT
__________ is a relationship that applies between two
sentences, where the truth of one implies the truth of the
other because of the meanings of the words involved.

There are two types of entailment:


1. One way entailment

2. Two way entailment


AMBIGUITY
sentence
A _____________ is considered structurally ambiguous when
its structure permits more than one interpretation.

Any ambiguity resulting from the ambiguity of a word


is _____________ .
lexical ambiguity
ANALYTIC
SENTENCE
A/An _______________ is one that is necessarily TRUE, as a
result of the senses of the words in it.
CONTRADICTORY CONTRADICTION
SENTENCE
A/An _______________ , which is also called __________, is one
that is necessarily FALSE, as a result of the senses of the
words in it.

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