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1. The boy ate the Big Mac.
2. The boy eat the Big Mac.
3. Ate the boy the Big Mac.
4. The Big Mac ate the boy.
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Which sentences are correct?
In the incorrect sentences, are the problems
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– syntactic? morphological? semantic?
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The main problem: only animals can eat!
Describe word meaning with features / characteristics
Boy
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[+human]
[+male]
[-adult]
Big Mac ?
From last semester, how did we define banana ?
Elephant?
Language?
Please choose three English or Chinese words
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Describe them using semantic features with [+…] and [-…]
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Now look at 101 and ex 1
It seems that we would need a large number of features to describe every word
For pregnant , how many features would we need?
– [+human], [+female], [+big], [+uncomfortable],
[+carrying_baby] (or [+pregnant]?!)
What about hot ? [–cold]?
– Cold ? [–hot]? (The circularity problem)
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Semantic features describe word meaning
Semantic roles describe the role words play in a sentence
– Check Yule 102ff
What are the semantic roles of NPs in this sentence?
– John looked at the stars with a telescope
– How about John saw a bright star ex 2
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Semantic roles and semantic features explain and define one word
Linguists are also interested in the relationships between words
Two words may have
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 the same meaning ( perhaps vs maybe ) opposite meanings ( black vs white ) a broader meaning ( dog vs animal ) a whole-part meaning ( face vs nose )
Give examples of each
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Usually not exactly the same meaning
 huge ： large,
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– baby and infant student and pupil
Or the meaning may be pretty similar, with the difference in the way we use the words
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– sick and ill quickly and speedily
知道：曉得：懂：理解 appear ： emerge
Task : Can you think of any absolute synonym pairs?
– Are they easier to find in English or Chinese, do you think?
– Is there a reason why absolute synonyms should not exist (or should be very rare)?
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Although cat = 貓
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– we know that there is no automatic one-to-one mapping between
English & Chinese (or any other pair) at least, I hope we all know this
Consider again 知道 and 曉得 . And 認識
– Many Romance languages distinguish between 知道 and 認識
In French, aimer can mean either like or love!
The t/v distinction: 你 vs 您
Please comment on other languages you know, regarding these points
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Non-gradable
If you don’t pass, you fail
If you’re not dead, you’re alive
– But a table is not alive and not dead: can you explain this
?He looks very dead
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*She is deader / more dead than him
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Gradable
*If you’re not rich, you’re poor
He looks very rich.
She is richer than him.
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A bike is a kind of vehicle.
Bike is a hyponym of vehicle .
A car is a kind of vehicle.
Car and bike are co-hyponyms of vehicle .
A wheel is part of a vehicle.
Wheel is a meronym of vehicle .
Vehicle is a superordinate term in all 3 cases.
Task : draw 2 trees
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A hyponym tree
A meronym tree
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If you close your eyes and think of this:
– BIRD
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You will probably see a robin, or a sparrow
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Not a chicken, and not an ostrich, and not a humming bird.
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Could it be different, with you Chinese speakers, for ostrich ?
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Write prototypes and non-prototypes for 2 categories
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Most homonyms are also homophones and homographs
– Bank, bat, 轉機 , 制服
Some homonyms are just homophones
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– right-write
意義 異議
Some homonyms are just homographs
– Buffet (beat/ restaurant)
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Resume (continue/ summary).
覺 (but that’s just a morpheme, can you think of a word?)
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Homonyms are totally different words
– with a totally different meaning
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Polysemous words have a similar meaning
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Which two are polysemous?
– He put the money in the bank.
– He will bank the money.
– We had a picnic on the bank of the river.
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Now look at the date example, p 107.
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Unmarked form: normal or default
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Marked form: unusual or noteworthy
1. Dog / bitch
2. Lioness / lion
3. Man / woman
4.
老闆 / 老闆娘
5. “How are you?” / “How’s your father”
6. Eat / ate
7. Happy / unhappy
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