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Semantic Relations

The document discusses various types of semantic relations between words. It defines antonyms as words with opposite meanings, and describes three types: gradable antonyms which can be measured on a scale (e.g. hot/cold), morphologically related opposites formed by prefixes (e.g. possible/impossible), and non-gradable or binary antonyms that cannot both apply (e.g. on/off). Synonyms are words with similar meanings, including cognitive, descriptive, and near synonyms. Hyponyms are words with a subordinate relationship, like types of animals. Other relations discussed include meronyms (part-whole), member-collection, portion-mass, homonyms, polysemy, me

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Rya Earl
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1K views

Semantic Relations

The document discusses various types of semantic relations between words. It defines antonyms as words with opposite meanings, and describes three types: gradable antonyms which can be measured on a scale (e.g. hot/cold), morphologically related opposites formed by prefixes (e.g. possible/impossible), and non-gradable or binary antonyms that cannot both apply (e.g. on/off). Synonyms are words with similar meanings, including cognitive, descriptive, and near synonyms. Hyponyms are words with a subordinate relationship, like types of animals. Other relations discussed include meronyms (part-whole), member-collection, portion-mass, homonyms, polysemy, me

Uploaded by

Rya Earl
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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SENSE RELATIONS

SEMANTIC RELATIONS
SEMANTICS 304
FIRST SEMESTER-121
MS. SAHAR DEKNASH
Semantic Relations

When we try to explain the meaning of a word,


we sometimes rely on its referential association.
Other times we tend to find associations
between words to find a meaning for certain
words. Therefore, The meaning of a word may
be independent of its association with other
words because its referential meaning is fully
enough.
Semantic Relations

So, the meaning of a word needs not to depend on


its association with other words. The referential
theory of meaning defines the meaning of a word in
terms of the referent of the word. The meaning of
the word; ‘table’ is the object it refers. However,
sometimes we need to search for sense relations
between words because words are inter-related to
each other in a way that the word itself may convey
some different senses to other words.
Semantic Relations

Any native speaker of a language should have an


adequate knowledge about the relationship among
different words in their mental lexicon.

Words are semantically related to each other in


different ways. The terms that ate used to describe
these relations often end with the suffix –nym.
SEMANTIC RELATIONS

Antonym
The term antonym is used to describe oppositeness of
meaning (Palmer, 1996: 94–95). It is the most useful tool
of inter-lexical sense relations. Antonym is an example of
inter-lexical sense relations in the sense that, it expresses
a kind of relation that exists between words or sentences
that are mutually contradictory (Kreidler Charles
1998:100). For example,
SEMANTIC RELATIONS

Words Opposite

On Off
Old Young
Wide Narrow
Big Small
Male Female
Dead Alive
SEMANTIC RELATIONS

What is the minimum condition of oppositeness?

Charles Kreidler opines that two words are opposites if


they are mutually contradictory. The idea of mutual
contradiction also suggests the notion of mutual
exclusiveness. Two words are mutually exclusive if they
cannot be obtained together simultaneously. If someone is
‘dead’ then the person cannot be ‘alive’ and vice versa.
Therefore, the two words ‘dead’ and ‘alive’ are opposites.
Types of Antonyms
1. Gradable antonyms or opposites: These are antonyms
or opposites that are measure adjectives (Kreidler
Charles: 1998:100). Examples of gradable antonyms
are, ‘tall and short’, ‘long and short’, ‘high and low’,
‘hot and cold’, ‘big and small’ etc. Someone may say,
the water is hot or the water is cold. In these two cases,
‘hot’ or ‘cold’ suggests the notion of measurement.
Types of Antonyms

These adjectives can be used with qualifiers


like ( very, rather and quite), and it can be
used with the comparative –er and the
superlative –est degrees.
2. Morphologically related opposites: The
morphologically related opposites are formed by the
addition of negative prefixes like ‘un’, ‘in’, ‘ir’ and ‘im’ to
the
original words. For example:
Words Opposites (Prefixed Words)
friendly unfriendly
married unmarried
formal informal
active inactive
responsible irresponsible
regular irregular
possible impossible
material immaterial
The inter-lexical related oppositeness of each
pair is generated by the prefixes, ‘un’, ‘in’,
‘ir’ and ‘im’.
3. Non-gradable antonyms. Binary antonyms are
opposites that both opposites cannot be
obtained together. For example, pairs of words
such as ‘on and off’, ‘dead and alive’, ‘asleep and
awake’ are binary antonyms. old- young , narrow-
wide , bitter-sweet are all examples of non-
gradable antonyms.
4. Relational Antonyms:
They are the opposites that display symmetry in
their meaning.

If X gives Z, so Z receives Y from X.


If X is Y’s empolyee, so Y is X’s employer.
If X is Y’s teacher, then Y is X’s Pupil.

Words ending in –er and –ee are convey relational


opposites.
Synonymy:
Synonymy in semantics is an inter-lexical sense relation.
Synonymy is sameness of meaning . Synonymy has
different aspects i.e. Cognitive, Descriptive and Near
synonyms.
I. Cognitive synonyms: are synonyms that are
substitutable in any grammatically declarative sentence.
An example of a pair of cognitive synonyms is ‘seaman’
and ‘sailor’. He is a Seaman and He is a Sailor are
cognitively synonymous. Other pairs include ‘mailman and
postman’, ‘buy and purchase’, ‘hard and difficult’ etc.
II. Descriptive synonyms: are synonyms that are used
connotatively to express the speakers’ feelings towards what he or
she describes. For example,

Faisal is thrifty and Faisal is economical.


Khalid is a bachelor and Khalid is an unmarried man.
The orange is sour and the orange is rotten.

The pairs, thrifty and economical, sour and rotten, bachelor and
unmarried man are descriptively synonymous.
III. Near-synonyms are expressions that appear similar,
but not really identical in meaning because of the
variations in their meaning. Examples of near-synonymy
in English are ‘Mist and fog’, ‘stream and brook’. For
instance, ‘stream’ and ‘brook’ appear similar in meaning
but they are not really identical. ‘Brook’ is a small stream
while ‘stream’ is a small river. The same explanation
could be offered for ‘mist and fog’. ‘Fog’ is a thick cloud
while ‘mist’ is a ‘thin fog’ .
HYPONYMY

Hyponymy involves the logical relationship of


inclusion. For instance, the meaning of “animal”
is included in the meaning of lion, goat, dog and
so on. The term “animal” is the upper term known
as the SUPERORDINATE while the lower term
is called the HYPONYM.
Superordinate Terms Hyponyms

Reptiles lizards, geckos,


snakes, chameleons, Crocodiles

Color blue, red,


green, white, yellow

Stationery books, biros,


pencils, rulers

Flower tulip, rose,


Meronymy
A term that is used to describe a part-whole relationship
between lexical items. A has B means that B is part of A.

– A human has an arm


– An arm has a hand.
– A hand has a finger

So, ( arm, leg, body, elbow, hand, finger) are all


meronyms of human. Cover, and page are meronyms
of book, root and stem are meronyms of a plant.
Member-collection

This is a relationship between the word for a unit and


the usual word for a collection of units.
Word Collective word
ship fleet
tree forest
fish shoal
book library
bird flock
sheep herd
Portion-mass

A relationship between a mass noun and the


usual unit of measurement or division.
Ex.
Drop of water
Grain of salt/sand/wheat
Sheet of paper
Lump of coal
Strand of hair
Homonymy

A semantic relation that describes


a word that has unrelated senses.
There are two types of homonymy:
Homophones :when words have the same
pronunciation regardless their spelling with
different senses.
wring ring
Night knight
Not knot
Homographs: words that have the
same spelling regardless their
pronunciation with different
senses.
Polysemy: It is a word that is
derived from the Greek word poly
(many) and semia (related to meaning).
A word or an expression that has
multiple meanings that are related
conceptually or historically. It is also
called radiation or multiplication
Examples: diamond a. geometric shape
b. baseball field

guard a. a person who guards


b. a group of soldiers
c. a person who is in
charge of a train

bank a. financial institution


b. side of the river
‫‪In Arabic we say:‬‬
‫فتح طارق االندلس‬
‫فتح طارق الباب‬
Metonymy:
A word that has been taken from the
Greek word metonumia which means a
change of name. It is used as a figure of
speech when a concept is not called by
its name, but the name it is intimately
associated with.
Metonymy:
Ex. 1. The word Crown is used for the
king or royalty.

2. The white House refers to the US


government.

3. 10 Dawning Street refers to the


British government.
Metonymy:
4. Wall Street refers to American stock
market.

5. Pentagon refer to US Ministry of


Defense.

6. Kremlin refers to the Russian


Government House.
Retronymy:
Is a new name given for an object or
concept to differentiate the original
form or version of it from the more
recent form or version. Much
retronyms are driven by advances in
technology.
Retronymy:
Examples:
* Acoustic guitar (coined after electric
guitar)
* Analogy watch (coined after digital
watch)
• Biological parent (adopted parent)
• Hard copy ( soft copy)
• Snail mail ( email)
• Whole milk ( low- fat)
THANK YOU

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