Part 2
Lexical meaning
Chapter 1
Words as meaningful units
I - words
• Words
= meaningful units of a language
= forms + meanings
• Forms vs. expressions
If he is right and I am wrong, we are both in trouble.
 13 forms
 11 word-expressions (is, am, are = forms of 1 and the same word)
• Lexical vs. grammatical meaning
II - homonymy
1. Definition:
E.g.: He accepted the order with benevolent air
A few minutes later, Hyman asked to go up on deck where he said there might be some
more air
She arrived by air on Monday
• Homonymy:
+ Different meanings are associated with one form (by accident, coincidence)
+ These meanings are not related
• Absolute homonymy:
– unrelated in meanings
– identical forms
– grammatically equivalent identical forms
E.g.:
Bank
letter
Sole
bark
• Partial homonymy:
Find – found
rose (v) – rose(n)
well(adv)-well(n)
2. Homonym classification:
• Full homonyms (absolute homonyms)
Bark (n)
Bark (n)
• Homophones: identical in pronunciation only
Wait - weight
read - red
Know – no
sight - site
• Homographs: identical in spelling only
Wind (n) – Wind (v)
Tear (n) – Tear (v)
* Check: Explain the ambiguity in this joke:
- Why couldn't Cinderella be a good soccer player?
- She lost her shoe, she ran away from the ball, and her coach was a pumpkin.
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Iii - polysemy
• Polysemy:
+ Different meanings are associated with one form
+ These meanings are related
E.g.: I ran home – I ran the family’s restaurant
The voting was done by the show of hands – The hands of the clock showed half past ten
Way to London – way to success
Mouth – mouth of the river
Head – head of the class
IV - synonymy
• They live in a big house
• They live in a large house
But:
• He made a big mistake
• He made a large mistake ?
1. Synonymy:
• Synonyms:
- words of the same parts of speech which have similar but not identical meaning
- Possibly different in terms of denotation or connotation
• Absolute synonyms:
• All their meaning are identical
• They are synonymous in all context
• They are semantically equivalent on all dimensions of meanings
• Partial synonyms: fail to meet one or all of the 3 conditions
• Near synonyms: differ in denotation
Lazy/ idle
dangerous/ risky
love/like
2. Synonym classification:
• Absolute synonyms (rare)
• Semantic synonyms
Glance - glare
• Stylistic synonyms
Man - Guy
• Semantic-stylistic synonyms
House - Slum
• Phraseological synonyms
Do - Make
• Territorial synonyms
Film - Movie
• Euphemisms
Die/meet one’s maker (formal)/bite the dust
3. Sources of synonyms
– Borrowings
– Change of meaning
– Word-building
– Derivation and composition
V - Antonymy
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E.g.:
• Male/ female
• Dead/ alive
• Awake/asleep
 antonyms: + are opposite in meanings
+ share all but one semantic property
Unmarked
Marked
more basic, natural, frequent
• Heavy
• Light
• Thick
• Thin
• Large
• Little
• Long
• Short
• Wide
• Narrow
• Deep
• Shallow
• Big
• Small
• Tall
• Short
• Fat
• Thin
• Often
• Other adverbs of frequency
2. Antonym classification
• Proper/gradable:
Love/hate (attachment-liking-indifference-antipathy)
Long/short (medium)
• Complementary/ binary:
Right/wrong
Alive/dead
• Relational/ conversive:
Ancestor/descendent
parents/child
Right/left
at the back/ in front of
# Directional: Come/go Bring/take
Up/down
give/take
VI - Lexical variants and paronyms
- lexical variants of again: /gein/ /gen/
- Paronyms: kindred in origin, sound form and meaning but different semantically and usage
Effect (v): produce, make something happen
Affect (v): influence
• Full words and empty words
- Full words: lexical meanings, parts of speech (N, V, Adj, etc)
- Empty words: no lexical meanings, no concepts (articles, conjunctions, prepositions, etc)
• Descriptive and non-descriptive
She’s very happy
V: The only/main problem is …
X: The problem is only/main.
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