Week 15

Learning Outcome: Differentiate linguistic terms in semantics (connotative vs. denotative, hyponymy
vs. meronymy, presupposition vs. entailment etc.)

Unit 6: Semantics
Meaning Relations of Words and Phrases

Meaning Relations of Words and Phrases refer to how different linguistic units relate to each other in
conveying meaning. These meaning relations help in understanding the complexities and nuances of
language and how words and phrases relate to each other in communication. Here are the definitions
and examples for each:

1. Antonymy: Words or phrases that have opposite meanings.

Example: hot - cold

2. Synonymy: Words or phrases that have similar meanings and can be used interchangeably in
certain contexts.
Example: big - large

3. Hyponymy: Words or phrases that are more specific than another word (hypernym) and are within
its semantic field.
Example: Hypernym - animal; Hyponym - dog, cat, horse

4. Meronymy: Words or phrases that denote a part-whole relationship.

Example: Holonym - car; Meronym - wheel, engine

5. Homonymy: Words that are pronounced or spelled the same but have different meanings.

5.1 Homophone: Words that sound alike but have different meanings or spellings.
Example: "flour" (powder used in baking) and "flower" (part of a plant)

5.2 Homograph: Words that are spelled alike but may have different pronunciations and meanings.
Example: "óbject" (a noun which refers to a thing) and "objéct" (a verb which means to obstruct)

6. Polysemy: Words or phrases that have multiple related meanings.

Example: "Bank" can refer to the side of a river or a financial institution.

7. Metonymy: Words or phrases that are used to refer to something closely related to, but not part of,
the original concept.
Example: “The White House" is used to refer to the U.S. President or administration.

8. Retronymy: A new term created from an existing word due to the development of new technology
or concepts.
Example: "analog watch" (to distinguish from a digital watch)

Exercise 78
Identify the semantic/meaning relation found in each item.

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1. Flower - Rose, Tulip, Daisy
2. Book - Cover, Page, Spine
3. Bicycle - Pedal, Chain, Wheel
4. Erudite - Ignorant
5. Mouse (a small rodent) - Mouse (a computer device)
6. Lead (to guide) - Lead (a type of metal)
7. Acoustic guitar (to distinguish from an electric guitar)
8. Crane (a bird) - Crane (a construction equipment)
9. Hollywood (referring to the American film industry)
10. Ubiquitous - Omnipresent
11. Corps - Core
12. Exuberant - Lethargic
13. Pear - Pair
14. Fruit - Apple, Banana, Orange
15. Happy - Content

Exercise 79
Give two examples for each type of semantic/meaning relation.

Semantic/Meaning Relation Examples

1. Antonymy ➢ _________________________________________

➢ _________________________________________

2. Synonymy ➢ _________________________________________

➢ _________________________________________

3. Hyponymy ➢ _________________________________________

➢ _________________________________________

4. Meronymy ➢ _________________________________________

➢ _________________________________________

5. Homonymy ➢ _________________________________________
5.1 Homophone
➢ _________________________________________

5.2 Homograph ➢ _________________________________________

➢ _________________________________________

6. Polysemy ➢

7. Metonymy ➢

8. Retronymy ➢ _________________________________________
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 ➢ _________________________________________

Meaning Relations of Sentences

These concepts help in understanding the nuanced relationships between sentences and how meaning
is constructed and conveyed in different contexts.

An utterance is a specific instance of spoken or written language used by a speaker or writer in a

particular context. It is an actual expression of language in use, distinct from abstract sentence
structure.

Example: If someone says, "It's raining outside," that specific spoken instance is an utterance. The
same sentence written down or spoken at a different time would be a different utterance.

Presupposition refers to the background assumptions or beliefs that must be true for an utterance to
make sense or be meaningful. These are the implicit assumptions required by the context of the
utterance.

Example: The sentence "Jane's brother is visiting" presupposes that Jane has a brother. If the
statement is true or false, the presupposition (Jane has a brother) remains constant.

Entailment is a logical relationship between sentences where if one sentence (the entailing sentence)
is true, it necessarily means that another sentence (the entailed sentence) is also true.

Example: The sentence "It is raining today" entails "The ground is wet today" (If it's raining, the
ground will likely be wet).

Presuppositions are different from entailments. A presupposition can be false, but the sentence can
still be meaningful. An entailment, however, must be true if the first sentence is true.

Exercise 80
Provide presuppositions and entailments for the following utterances. Be guided by the examples
given.

Presuppositions Utterances Entailments

Example:
John used to smoke. John has stopped smoking. John is not smoking now.

Example:
Tom's brother did not arrive
Tom has a brother. Tom's brother arrived early.
late.

1. Mary's car is new.

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 She regretted telling him the
2.
truth.

They managed to finish the

3.
project on time.

We should call the plumber

4.
again.

The new restaurant is the best

5.
in town.

If you worked harder, you

6.
might have been promoted.

When I get home, I'm going

7.
straight to bed.

Despite the rain, we still had

8.
a great picnic.

That was the worst movie I've

9.
ever seen!

Let's go for a walk after

10.
dinner.

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Week 16
Learning Outcome: Use semantic techniques to arrive at connotative and denotative meaning of
words and sentences

Componential Analysis
Componential analysis in semantics, also known as feature analysis or semantic decomposition, is
a method used to analyze the meaning of words by breaking them down into their constituent
semantic features or components. This approach assumes that word meanings can be represented
as combinations of more basic, universal semantic features.

For example, the meaning of the word "man" can be analyzed into the following components:

[+human]
[+male]
[+adult]
Similarly, the word "woman" can be broken down into:

[+human]
[+female]
[+adult]
By breaking words down into their semantic features, componential analysis allows for the
systematic study of meaning relationships between words, such as synonymy, antonymy, and
hyponymy. It helps linguists understand how words with similar or related meanings differ from
each other in specific aspects.

This method is particularly useful in distinguishing between words that share many features but
differ in crucial ways, making it a valuable tool in the study of lexical semantics.

Exercise 81
Do a componential analysis of the semantically related words. Use the symbols “+” and “-” to
show the presence or absence respectively of the given features. Provide a short explanation of
your analysis. See the given example.

determiner article definite singular plural followed by

a consonant
a + + - + - +
an + + - + - -
the + + + +/- +/- +/-

The articles "a," "an," and "the" are determiners with distinct functions in English. "A" and
"an" are indefinite articles used with singular countable nouns to refer to non-specific items; "a" is
used before consonant sounds (e.g., "a dog"), while "an" precedes vowel sounds (e.g., "an apple").
In contrast, "the" is a definite article used with both singular and plural nouns, as well as
uncountable nouns, to refer to specific items known to both the speaker and listener (e.g., "the
book on the table" or "the information we need").

1.

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 action slow 2 feet 1212 movement
order
walk
run
jump
hop

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

2.
animate human female adult
chair
cow
boy
man
girl
woman

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

3.
high pitch verbal voiced high volume
scream
shriek
shout
growl
whisper
mumble
babble

________________________________________________________________________

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________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________