sImQntIks &
prQgmQtIks
Meaning & Usage
Important of Semantics
Suppose someone said:
“The assassin killed Thawcklehurst.”
What do we know beyond the fact that someone
was killed?
Semantic Properties
Word
Mare
Defenestrate
Colloquial
Semantic Properties
“Female,” “animal,” and
“equine.”
Semantic Properties
Semantic Property
Motion
Contact
Creation
Sense
Verbs Having It
Bring, fall, plod, walk, run
Evidence for Semantic Properties
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 early
The lady with the dachshund
The lady with the Volkswagen
That’s a horse of another color That’s a horse of another race
He has to pay her alimony
He has to pay her rent
Consider the Following:
If something swims, it is in a ____________.
If something is splashed, it is a _____________.
Which semantic feature do both examples
share?
-nyms
• Words are related to one another is a variety of
ways. These relationships have words to describe
them that often end in the bound morpheme –nym:
Homonyms and ploysemy
Synonyms
Antonyms
Hyponyms
Metonyms
Retronyms
Homonyms and Polysemy
• Homonyms=homophones
• Polysemous—when a word that multiple meanings that are
related conceptually or historically.
• Ex. Bear: “to tolerate,” “to carry,” and “to support” (amongst
others). Also a homonym.
• Homograph—different words that are spelled identically and
possibly pronouned the same.
• Ex. “pen” the writing instrument and “pen” the cage.
• Heteronym—homographs that are pronounced differently.
• Ex. “dove” the bird and “dove” the past tense of “dive.”
Synonyms
Please do not annoy, torment, pester, plague,
molest, worry, badger, harry, harass, heckle,
persecute, irk, bullyrag, vex, disquiet, grate,
beset, bother, tease, nettle, tantalize, or ruffle
the animals.
--Sign at the San Diego Wild Animal Park
--There are no perfect synonyms: agree or
disagree? (Couch vs. Sofa) (“a good scare” vs.
“a bad scare”).
Antonyms
• Ironically, the basic property of two words that are antonyms
is that they share all but on semantic property. (tall and
short)
• Often formed by adding un-,non-,in- (and less frequently misand dis-).
• There are types of antonyms:
 Complementary: alive/dead, present/absent
 Gradable: big/small, hot/cold, fast/slow
 Marked vs. unmarked: the unmarked member is the one used
in questions of degree. We ask “How high is the mountain?”
(not, “How low is it?”). Therefore, high is the unmarked
member of high/low.
 Relational opposites: give/receive, buy/sell, teacher/pupil
(words ending in –er and –ee are usually relational opposites).
Hyponyms
•
•
•
•
Word classes
Ex. [+ color]: red, yellow, blue, etc.
[+ feline]:
[+instrument]:
Metonyms
• A word used in place of another word or
expression to convey the same meaning
• Ex. “Brass” for “military officers”
• Ex. “Moscow” to refer to the “Russian
government”
Retronyms
• Day baseball, silent movie, snail mail, and
whole milk are all expressions that once were
redundant.
• While not singular words…still an
interesting member of the –nym class.
Proper Names
• Language’s short cuts:
• Imagine if we couldn’t name people, places,
institutions, gods (or think of when you don’t
know a person, place, or institution’s name
and you’re trying to describe them).
More…
• You can also talk about phrasal semantics
(evaluating sentences as noun-centered or
verb-centered)
• Or about sentential meaning (evaluating the
“truth” of sentences, passive vs. active voice,
pronoun reference, metaphor, and idioms).
• But we don’t have time for that today...so onto
Pragmatics…
Pragmatics
• Interpretation in context.
• There is a difference between linguistic
context and situational context.
Linguistic Context: Discourse
• Linguistic knowledge accounts for speakers’
ability to combine phonemes into morphemes,
morphemes into words, and words into
sentences. Knowing a language also permits
combining sentences together to express
complex thoughts and ideas. These larger
linguistic units are called discourse.
• There are many levels of discourse analysis;
we’ll just look at one example:
Discourse Analysis: Pronouns
• The 911 operator, trying to get a description of the
gunman, asked, “What kind of clothes does he have
on?” Mr. Morawaski, thinking the question
pertained to Mr. McClure, [the victim, who lay
dying of a gunshot wound], answered, “He has a
bloody shirt with blue jeans, purple striped shirt.”
• Pronouns should be used with the referential entity
is known to the discourse participants. When the
presumption fails, miscommunication occurs.
Discourse Analysis
• Consider the following snippet of
conversation:
“It seems that man loves the woman. Many
people think he loves her.”
What do these sentences mean?
What if you add an exclamation mark to the
second sentence? How does that change the
meaning?
Situational Context
• Much of the contextual knowledge is knowledge of
who is speaking, who is listening, what objects are
being discussed, and general facts about the world
we live in—this is situational context.
• For example, when we ask at a dinner table if
someone “can pass the salt” we are not questioning
their ability, we are politely asking they do so. Or if
I say “it’s cold in here” it might mean “shut the
window,” “turn up the heat,” or “let’s leave” (possibly
others) depending upon the situation.
Maxims of Conversation
• These are the “rules” of conversation.
• Maxim of Quantity—a speaker’s contribution to the
discourse should be as informative as required—
neither more nor less.
• Maxim of Relevance—a speaker’s contribution
should always have a bearing on, and a connection
with, the matter under discussion.
• Maxim of Manner—a speaker’s discourse should be
brief and orderly, and should avoid ambiguity and
obscurity.
• Maxim of Quality—a speaker should not lie or make
unsupported claims.
The Cooperative Principle
Maxim
Quantity
Relevance
Manner
Quality
Description
Say neither more nor less
than required.
Be relevant.
Be brief and orderly; avoid
ambiguity and obscurity.
Do not lie; do not make
unsupported claims.
Speech Acts
• The nonlinguistic accomplishments of an
utterance, such as a warning or promise, as
determined by context.
• Ex. There is a bear behind you.
• They are drive by performative (affirmative,
declarative) verbs (I bet, I challenge, I dare, I
fine, I move, I nominate, I promise, I resign!, I
pronounce…etc.)
Presuppositions
• Implicit assumptions about the world required
to make an utterance meaningful or
appropriate.
• Ex. Take some more tea! Presupposes that
you already had some tea.
Deixis
• When deictics, words or expressions whose
reference relies entirely on context, are analyzed.
• Ex. my, mine, you, your, yours, we, ours, us.
• Ex. this person, that man, these women, those
children.
• Time deixis: now, then, tomorrow, that time…
• Place deixis: here, there, this ranch, yonder
mountains.