Explain what linguists are trying to do when they deal with ‘semantics’; Examine how the meanings of ‘lexical items’ (words) are linked together in lexical structures; Explore the study of synonyms vs. opposites, hypernym vs. Hyponym, and classification, as well as fuzziness and family resemblances

1. Chapter 7:
Meaning
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2. 1-2
Learning Outcomes
After
studying
this
chapter,
you
will
be
able
to:
Explain what linguists are trying to do
when they deal with ‘semantics’
Examine how the meanings of ‘lexical
items’ (words) are linked together in
lexical structures
Explore the study of synonyms vs.
opposites, hypernym vs. Hyponym, and
classification, as well as fuzziness and
family resemblances
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3. Linguistics
Sounds Structures Meaning
Phonology
Phonetics Syntax
Morphology Semantics Pragmatics
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semantics
• Is the study of
meaning, focusing
on the literal
meanings of words,
phrases, and
sentences;
• is concerned with
how grammatical
processes build
complex meanings
out of simpler ones
pragmatics
• focuses on the
use of language
in particular
situations
• aims to explain how
factors outside of
language contribute to
both literal meaning
and nonliteral
meanings which
speakers communicate
using language.
There are two main fields within
linguistics that study meaning.

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• What do
linguists want to
know when
studying
semantics?
INTRODUCTION

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What do linguists want to know
when studying semantics?
 A linguist who is studying meaning
tries to understand why certain words
and constructions can be combined
together in a semantically acceptable
way, while others cannot.
 My brother is a bachelor.
 My brother is a spinster.
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What do linguists want to know
when studying semantics?
 A linguist studying semantics would
also like to know why anyone who
knows a language can recognize
certain phrases and sentences as
having similar meanings, and would
ask how it is that people can recognize
I am fatigued and I wish to retire.
I’m tired and I want to go to bed.
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What do linguists want to know when
studying semantics?
 A further human ability which needs
explaining why hearers not only can
recognize ambiguous sentences, but also
use the surrounding context to choose the
most likely of the possible interpretations.
1. Visiting great-aunts can be a nuisance.
 Are the great-aunts coming to see us, or are
we going to see them?
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Word Meaning (Lexical
meaning)
Sentence Meaning
(Phrasal or sentential
meaning)
SEMANTICS
 is concerned with
the meanings of
words and the
meaning
relationships
among words.
• is concerned
with the
meanings of
syntactic units
larger than the
word.

10. Word Meaning is concerned with …
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Content words
• are words with lexical
meanings: Ex. zoo ,
apple , jump , red
• NOT function words
(words with functional
meanings)]
• It is the type of
meaning that
dictionaries are
designed to describe.
Straightforward
descriptive
meaning
• Ex. Adolescent means
someone who is
between childhood
and adulthood.
• Ignoring emotive
meaning (connotation):
some people use the
word to imply that the
person concerned is
also likely to be
awkward, immature,
obstinate and moody.
Double-faced
meaning
• One element in a
language system,
whose ‘meaning’ is
dependent on
relationships with the
other words in the
system.
• its ‘meaning’ is linked
up with a certain class
of recognizable objects
in the external world

11. Word Meaning (Lexical Semantics)
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Linguists regard these two aspects as complementary:
they examine first one, then the other, starting with the
internal relationships between linguistic elements.

12. Word meaning
As with all linguistic
elements, every lexical
item has its own
particular place in the
pattern.
By studying the
relationships of
individual items,
linguists can build up a
picture of the overall
structure of a
language’s vocabulary
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13. What are Semantic fields
(Lexical fields)?
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• Another thing we know
about word meaning is
that words can be
divided into semantic
categories called
semantic fields.
• Semantic field:
• groups of lexical items which
seem to belong together;
• classifications of words
associated by their meanings
(Lobeck & Kristin, 2012)
• Ex. clothing, parts of the body,
emotions
• Each item in a group or set can be defined by its
place in relation to the other members of the set.

14. Examples of Semantic fields
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Adolescent denotes
someone who is no
longer a child, but
not yet an adult.
Cool is the
temperature
between cold and
warm.
• Copse refers
to an entity
between a tree
and a wood

15. Meaning Relationships: The Nyms
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• Part of knowing
the meaning of a
word includes
knowing the
semantic relations
among words.
nyms ..
• refer to meaning
relationships
among words—
antonyms,
synonyms,
homonyms, etc.

16. Synonyms:
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Words or phrases that have similar or the same
meanings as others. Perfect synonymy is rare.

17. Antonyms: Opposites
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Words are antonyms if they are opposed in
semantic meaning. Three types of antonyms may
be …

18. Types of Antonyms
Complementary
Pair:
Two antonyms
related in such a
way that the
negation of one is
the meaning of the
other (alive
and not dead).
Relational
(Converse):
A pair of antonyms in
which one describes a
relationship between
two objects and the
other describes the
same relationship
when the two objects
are reversed (John is the
parent of Susie)
Gradable Pair:
• Two antonyms
related in such a
way that more of
one is less of the
other (warm and
cool)
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19. Classification (inclusion)
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Classification
• … is a useful way of examining
lexical relationships, because it
reveals that the vocabulary is
partially hierarchically structured.
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• Much of the vocabulary is linked by such systems
of inclusion. Hyponym and hpernym are a
relation of inclusion
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Hyponyms
• are more specific words that constitute
a subclass of a more general word.
• Ex.
• Cat and Dog are hyponyms of animal.
• Maple,birch , and pine are hyponyms of tree .
• Sister and mother are hyponyms of women..
• Superordinate
s (Hypernym)
• Are more general words that more specific
words fall under their categories. It is
higher term in hyponyms.
• Ex:
• Animal is a hypernym of dog.
• Colour is a hypernym of red.
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Hypernym vs. Hyponym

21. Fuzziness
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Fuzziness
• describes a linguistic unit which
has no clearly defined boundary.
• In other words, words often have
fuzzy edges.
Example:
• There is no absolute divide between a
‘cup’ and a ‘mug’, a glass and a vase, or
a plate and a saucer.
• They might call it a vase if it held
flowers, and a glass if it held orange
juice.
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22. Family resemblances
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Family
resemblanc
es
• Describes a word which covers a whole range
of things and share characteristics with one
another, as do members of a family.
• Ex. Furniture
• Yet it may be impossible to think up a set of
characteristics which describes them all.
Note
• These problems indicate that it is impossible
to set down fixed meanings for all words.
Humans, it turns out, understand one another
not by learning fixed definitions, but by
working from a prototype, or typical example.
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23. Family resemblances
Prototype (typical example)
1. The most characteristic instance of a category (Yule, 2020);
2. Deciding whether an item is a member of a category by comparing it
with the most typical item(s) of the category (Santrock, 2017).
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• Robin is the prototype of Bird:
(a beak,wings,stick-like legs,and an
ability to fly.)
• A penguin or an emu is still
sufficiently like a bird to be
regarded as a bird, even
though it is not a normal bird.
• Flexibility: birds can be
classified as even a one-
legged, one-winged parrot
without a beak.

24. Making sense of the world
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• But what are these
shadowy prototypes, and
where do they come from?
• Humans build themselves
mental models in order
to make sense of the
world around them.

25. Making sense of the world
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Mental
Models
(‘Representation
’ a preferred term
in Cultural studies)
• was coined by psychologists for
the images people construct of the
world.
• The term covers not only
subconscious or inherited
representations, but also those
consciously put across by.
• Ex. Say politicians, when they invent
euphemisms /ˈjuː.fə.mɪ.z ə m/ such as pin-
point strikes to lead people into
believing that bombs can be precisely
dropped on particular targets.
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26. The meaning of sentences
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• Meaning does not stop at the word boundary, of
course.
• The meaning of words tells us quite a lot about the
meaning of sentences, since sentences are individual
words linked together by means of the syntax.
•  My brother is a spinster.
•  Colourless green ideas sleep furiously.
• The amalgamation of word meaning and
syntax not only enables us to reject
anomalous utterances, it also allows us to
make deductions about normal sentences.
• Anomalous utterances include words in
which the semantic properties do not match.

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