Unit 6 The Meaning of English (I)
[Check your understanding]
State whether each of the following statements is True or False.
1. A grammatical sentence is also meaningful. F
Note: Not necessarily so.
2. Some words are always superordinates while some others are always hyponyms. F
Note: Words that are hyponyms to some superordinates can theoretically be the superordinates
to some other words.
3. Synonyms are those words that can be used interchangeably in all contexts. F
Note: theoretically so
4. Antonyms have opposite meanings. F
Note: Some antonyms are complementary in meaning.
5. All English words have their referents. F
■ In-Class Activities
ASK:
(1) Do you find the sentences sound queer?
Yes.
(2) If yes, give your explanation for their oddness.
a. The hamburger cannot eat because it is inanimate.
b. The television does not drink water because it is inanimate.
c. A dog does not write anything like poetry because it is not human.
(3) Is the public sign in the picture below semantically problematic?
Apparently so, because “left lane” filling the subject position cannot “turn left”, which fills the
predicate position. Being inanimate, a lane cannot turn. However, this sign is understandable
because we know it is a case of ellipsis. It is the vehicle on the left lane that must turn left.
(4) In Chinese, we may say “晒太阳”, “救火”, “吃火锅”, and the like. How are they special? Can
you think of more similar expressions? Are there similar expressions in English? How do you
translate the Chinese expressions into English?
We bask or get warmth under the sun rather than dry or solarize the sun. We save things out
of a fire rather than save the fire itself. We eat a mixture of food out of a pot rather than eat the
pot proper.
2．ASK:
(1) How can the following words be analyzed into semantic features? What feature is common to
them?
lamb [-ADULT]+[+OVINE]
calf [-ADULT]+[+BOVINE]
piglet [-ADULT]+[+POREINE]
puppy [-ADULT]+[+CANINE]
kitten [-ADULT]+[+FELINE]
[-ADULT] is common to all.
(2) Complete the following data by (a) devising a category that distinguishes the word bus from
the word car, and (b) giving the appropriate symbol for the words “bicycle” and “motorcycle”.
[POWERED] [CARRY PEOPLE] [FOUR-WHEELED] [PUBLIC TRANSPORT]
bus
+
+
+
+
car
+
+
+
van
+
+
bicycle
+
motorcycle
+
+
-
3. ASK:
(1) Can you give more examples for each type of the meronymy?
(1) component-object: window-house screen-computer
(2) member-collection: family-society
province-county
(3) portion-mass: quarter-hour day-year
(4) place-area: Beijing-China Jiangsu-China
(2) How are the various types of meronymy different from each other?
For (1), an object has other kinds of component. For (2), a collection has a (big) number of
similar or different members. For (3), a mass is divided into some portions. For (4), a place is
found within or inside an area.
(3) Do you think there are further types of meronymy?
a. feature — activity
(paying — shopping )
b. stuff — object
(aluminum — airplane, gold — ring)
c. phase — process
(adolescence — growing up)
4．ASK:
(1) Do you agree with the idea that the sentences above are redundant?
Yes.
(2) Given the fact that these sentences are used for communication, can you figure out the reason
for such combinations?
For the sake of emphasis.
(3) Can you give more examples of a similar nature?
the whole world the vast sea
5. ASK:
(1) Can you determine the “unmarked” member in each of the following pairs?
The words that are underlined are the “unmarked” members in the pairs.
small-big
cheap-expensive
wide-narrow
near-far
many-few
easy-difficult
early-late
dangerous-safe
full-empty
(2) Can you think of any special situations where the “marked” member is more appropriately
used?
For instance, when we talk about a dwarf, people will often ask how short the dwarf is. This
shows that one’s expectation and social convention play important roles in using the words.
6. ASK:
(1) Which words are being played on in the conversation?
flour-flower and ground (p.p. grind)-ground (n.)
(2) Are they cases of polysemy or homonymy?
They are typical cases of homonymy.
(3) How about the word “carry” in the following picture?
It is a case of polysemy. The two senses of the “word” as found in the slogan are basically
related.
7. ASK:
(1) What advantages are there in the analysis of English vocabulary into semantic fields?
The kind of analysis helps to establish connection among words and thus facilitates memory
and retrieval.
(2) Can you name a semantic field and list at least five members of it?
Profession: teacher, banker, lawyer, doctor, engineer, etc.
8. ASK:
(1) Why is it common to use antonyms in proverbs?
Life is dialectal. The opposite sides can shift under some circumstances.
(2) Can you give two more proverbs involving the use of antonyms?
Small sorrows speak, great ones are silent.
Sometimes gain is to lose.
9. ASK:
(1) How does “make” differ from “do” in terms of collocation? Give some examples to illustrate.
make a living/a meal/friends/a face/an effort/an attempt
do a job/one’s duty/the dishes/a favor
(2) Which verbs collocate with “effect” and “role”?
produce/cause/bring about/exercise/improve/heighten/weaken an effect
play/act/assume/fill/fulfill/perform a role
(3) What implications does collocation have for our learning of English?
Learn the collocation as a whole chunk.
10. Ask:
(1) Does your name have a meaning?
Omit.
(2) Do you agree that naming plays an important role in economic life? Use an example to
illustrate.
Yes. This explains why good brands must be good names, like“奔驰”，
“联想”
，etc.
Task 3: Study Questions
1. a. How would you describe the oddness of these sentences in terms of semantic features?
(1) Lighting is non-human and thus cannot do anything willingly.
(2) A cat is non-human and thus cannot study linguistics.
(3) A table is inanimate and thus cannot listen.
b. Semantic violations are frequent in poetry. For example, we may say “a week/hour/century
ago”, but usually do not say “a table/dream/mother ago”. However, Dylan Thomas does write
“a grief ago”. How would you account for the effect of such usage?
The usage adds a durational feature to grief for poetic effect.
c. Can you find more similar use of language in English literature?
The following are from e. e. cummings: “the six subjunctive crumbs twitch”, “a man …
wearing a round jeer for a hat”.
2. While “listen” and “hear” are semantically related, we usually say “we listen and we hear”.
Why is this order reversed in the picture?
Those disabled who may go deaf need to recover their hearing with the help of donators. If they
can get the help needed they may recover their hearing and listen to others like normal people.
3. Which of the following opposites are gradable, non-gradable, or reversive?
gradable: high- low
fair- unfair
non-gradable: absent- present
fail- pass
reversives/converse antonyms/relational opposites: up- down left- right
4. Study the following pairs of words. What is the basic lexical relation between these pairs of
words?
(1) shallow deep
antonymy (gradable)
(2) mature ripe
synonymy
(3) suite sweet
homonymy (homophones)
(4) table furniture hyponymy
(5) single married
antonymy (non-gradable / complementary)
(6) move run
hyponymy
For “mature” and “ripe”, give an example where one can be used for collocation but not the
other. For “suite” and “sweet”, give another pair with a similar semantic relation. For “move” and
“run”, give more words that are in the same semantic relation to “move” as “run”.
Mature/ripe: a mature player
a ripe time
Suite/sweet: flour / flower
past / passed
Move/run: dash, hop, walk, jog, etc.
5. The following are more pairs of antonyms:
alive-dead male-female boy-girl present-absent true-false hit-miss
a. Which of the following are complementary opposites?
All of the pairs.
b. How do you account for the following usages or misuses:
half dead/alive
*very dead/alive
more dead than alive *A is more dead than B
“dead/alive” are complementary opposites and thus they do not take degree modifiers. “half
dead/alive” is a vivid though unusual way of description. It deviates from the normal usage by
treating “dead/alive” as gradable. This usage has been conventionalized. “more dead than alive” is
also an idiomatic usage that is motivated in a similar way.
7. Componential analysis can also be applied to the study of English verbs. For example,
darken, kill, uglify … [CAUSE]
bring, fall, walk, run … [MOTION]
hit, kiss, touch, …. [CONTACT]
build, imagine, make …. [CREATION]
see, hear, feel …. [SENSE]
Now state a salient semantic property for each of the following verbs:
steal taste teach understand want write
like fear eat
[GET] steal eat
[CREATE] write
[SENSE] taste
[FEEL] like want fear
[COGNIZE] understand
[INFORM] teach
8. The following sentences are redundant in a semantic sense. Specify how each is so.
(1) Could you repeat that word again?
“repeat” means “doing sth. again".
(2) They had already heard he name before.
“had done” means “had already done sth.”
(3) And that was his final conclusion.
“conclusion” is something final.
(4) The church was in close proximity.
“Proximity” means close distance.
9. For each group of words given below, state what semantic property or properties are shared by
the (a) words and the (b) words, and what semantic property or properties distinguish the
classes of the (a) words from the (b) words.
(1) a. bachelor, man, son, paperboy, pope, chief
b. bull, rooster, drake, ram
Both are “male”.
(a) are “human”; (b)are “non-human”.
(2) a. table, stone, pencil, cup, house, ship, car
b. milk, alcohol, rice, soup, mud
Both are “objects”.
(a) are “countable”; (b) are “non-countable”.
(3) a. book, temple, mountain, road, tractor
b. idea, love, charity, sincerity, bravery, fear
Both are “objects”.
(a) are “concrete”; (b) are “abstract”.
(4) a. pine, elm, ash, weeping willow
b. rose, dandelion, aster, tulip, daisy
Both are “plants”.
(a) are “trees”; (b) are “flowers”.
(5) a. ask, tell, say, talk, converse
b. shout, whisper, mutter
Both are verbal acts.
(a) are verbal acts at normal volume; (b) are verbal acts above or below normal volume.
(6) a. alive, asleep, dead, married, pregnant
b. tall, smart, interesting, bad, tired
Both are adjectives.
(a) are non-gradable adjectives. (b) are gradable adjectives.
10. The noun “length” refers to the general dimension in which the adjectives “long” and “short”
describe regions. Find such abstract nouns for the following pairs of adjectives.
(a) tall: short height
(2) thick: thin
thickness
(3) heavy: light weight
(4) wide: narrow width
(5) old: young age
(6) fast: slow
speed
(7) far: near
distance
(8) clever: stupid intelligence
(9) hot: cold
temperature
11. There is substantial evidence that time and space should be considered realizations of the same
semantic primitive (the criteria are purely linguistic, not philosophical or based on physics).
On the basis of the list below, would you designate this primitive as (±SPACE) or (±TIME)?
Give as many reasons as you can. Before answering this question, use The Oxford English
Dictionary to check any preposition that seems surprising to you in either spatial or temporal
use.
The semantic primitive is (±SPACE). The listed words all convey the notion of space, while their
temporal aspects of meaning are derived. In some words, like “inside”, “behind”, “between”, etc.,
the metaphoric color is still tangible.
12. In English there are a number of ways to form antonyms. We can add the prefix un-, in- (ir-, il,
im), non-, dis-, a-, etc. How are they different in actual usage?
Un- and non- are highly productive while a- is almost not productive at all today. In-(ir-, il-, im-)
and dis- lie in between. Unlike words containing un- and in-, words containing non-, dis- and
a- are generally non-gradable.
13. Use the following examples to discuss the difference between sense and reference.
(a) The present president of America is humorous.
“The present president of America” has an interpretable sense and its reference can be any
president depending on the time the utterance is made.
(b) By the year 3000, our descendants will have left the earth.
“Our descendants” has an interpretable sense and its reference may be identified depending on
who speaks. Such people may not exist if the speaker does not have descendants that can live up
to the year 3000.
(c) Whoever tries to kill the president is insane.
“Whoever tries to kill the president” has an interpretable sense and its reference may exist or
not at all.
Sense refers to the abstract conceptual property of a semantic unit, which also manifests itself in
its relationship with other expressions. Nevertheless, reference relates to concrete entity, which
might not exist, or be unnecessary for the semantic completeness of an expression. Thus, all
expressions must have senses, but not all embody reference.
14. Slips of tongue not only occur in the articulation of sounds, as shown in Chapter 2, but also
relate to the expression of meaning. Look at the following:
Intended Utterance
Actual Utterance (Error)
bridge of the nose
bridge of the neck
when my gums bled
when my tongues bled
he came too late
he came too early
Mary was young
Mary was old
a horse of another color
a horse of another race
Discuss what types of semantic slips are represented in the data.
Nose-neck association: “nose” and “neck” are both parts of a human body. In addition, they both
begin with the /n/ sound.
Gums-tongues association: both “gums” and “tongues” are parts of the mouth. In addition, both
contain the /g/ sound.
Late-early association and young-old association: the pairs of words are opposite in meaning.
Color-race association: both “color” and “race” relate closely to the horse. They are just two
different aspects of the horse’s features.