Semantics of English

Intended Learning Outcome: Determine and analyze the conceptions and levels of meaning 

                                                    (CLO1)

Introduction

      There are different orientations within the general field of semantics as such different authors classify the field in a slightly different way. For example, Lyons (1995) defines semantics as the study of meaning and linguistic semantics as the study of meaning in so far as it is systematically encoded in the vocabulary and grammar of natural languages. 

Preparation

Ready to Engage: Present the picture below and ask the students about it. 

https://www.communicationtheory.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/semantic-barriers.jpg

Presentation

      The basic idea is that semantics deals with conventional meaning, that is to say, with those aspects of meaning which do not vary much from context to context, while pragmatics deals with aspects of individual usage and context-dependent meaning. 

Different Units of Analysis

Words: Cruse explains how most people intuition that meaning is intimately bound up with individual words; that this is what words are for. 

Utterance: An utterance is created by speaking or writing a piece of language. It can also be said that an utterance is any stretch of talk, by one person, before and after which there is silence on the part of that person. 

Sentences: Sentences are abstract grammatical elements obtained from utterances. Sentences are abstracted or generalized from actual language use. Hurford (1983) defines a sentence as neither a physical event nor physical object. It is, conceived abstractly, a string of words put together by the grammatical rules of a language. 

Examples: 

1. Jim picked up the children and Jim picked the children up are different sentences.

2. Mary started her lecture late and Mary started her lecture late are the same sentences. 

3. Went to the toilet James and Mary the put on hat are not English sentences. 

4. Mary started her lecture late and Mary started her lecture late pronounced by two different persons are different utterances.

Proposition: In propositions logicians identify verbs as functions with subjects and objects as arguments of the function. One common way of representing formulas for propositions is by writing the verb as a function and its subjects and objects as arguments, of such a function as in: 

F x (a,b)

For example: 

brake (Mathew, glass)

end (war) 

tell (Lucas, lie, Nicholas) 

Propositions capture part if the meaning shared with other utterances. For example, the statement Lucas told Nicholas a lie, the question Did Lucas tell Nicholas a lie? And the command Lucas, tell Nicholas a lie! Might be seen to share a propositional element: LUCAS TELL NICHOLAS LIE. 

Saeed summarizes these ideas saying that utterances are real pieces of speech, and by filtering out certain types of (especially phonetic) information we can abstract grammatical elements, that is sentence. Then, filtering out again certain types of grammatical information we can get to propositions. 

Practice

Written Task : Decide whether the following could represent utterances. Indicate your answer by circling Yes or No. 

1. ‘Hello’ Yes / No

2. ‘Not much’ Yes / No

3. ‘Utterances may consist of a single word, 

a single phrase or a single sentence. They may

also consist of a sequence of sentences. It is 

not unusual to find utterances that consist 

of one or more grammatically incomplete 

sentence-fragments. In short, there is no 

simple correspondence between utterances 

and sentences.’ Yes / No

4. ‘Pxgotmgt’   Yes / No

5. ‘Schplotzenpflaaaaaaaargh!’   Yes   / No

Written Task: Consider the following pair of sentences. In each case, say whether it’s the same sentences or different sentences. 

1. Harry took out  the garbage. 

Harry took the garbage out.

2. John gave Mary a book.

Mary was given a book by John.

3. Isabel loves Tony.

Tony loves Isabel.

4. George danced with Ethel.

George didn’t dance with Ethel. 

5. Dr. Findlay killed Janet. 

Dr. Findlay caused Janet to die.

Written Task: Answer the following questions.

1. In the following utterances, is any proposition asserted by the speaker?

1. ‘Have you seen my toothbrush?’ Yes/No

2. ‘Get out of here this minute!’ Yes/No

3. ‘I’m afraid that I’ll have to ask you to leave?’ Yes/No

2. Would you say that the members of the following sentence pairs have the same propositional content?

1. Go away, will you? 

You will go away Yes/No

2. Pigs might fly 

I’m a Dutchman. Yes/No

3. I am an idiot

Am I an idiot? Yes/No

Performance

Collaborative Task: Form a group of 3-5 members. Summarize the relationship between the three notions. Fill out the columns with ( + ) and ( - ) . Analyze and discuss the relationship between three notions in your group. How these three notions differ or affect communication/meaning. 

Utterances

Sentences

Propositions

Can be loud or quite 

Can be grammatical or not

Can be true or false

In  particular regional accent

In a particular language

2. Can the same proposition be expressed by different sentences? (Hurford and Heasley, 1983: 

     23). 

3. Can the same sentence be realized by different utterances? (Hurford and Heasley, 1983: 

     23).

4. Your output will be presented in the following meeting.

References

Rambaud, M. (2012). Basic semantics, Universidad Nacional de Educacion a 

Distancia Madrid: UNED Publications. 

https://books-library.online/files/books-library.online-12310023Ot3R7.pdf

https://www.communicationtheory.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/semantic-barriers.jpg 

Intended Learning Outcome:

Interpret meanings of texts pertaining to Gender equality (CLO2)

Introduction

The same word can be said to two people and they can interpret them differently. That is why, one part of studying language calls for the understanding of the meanings of individual words.  

Preparation

1. What does seat in the sentence represent?________________________

2. What does table in the sentence represent? _______________________

3. What does the whole sentence mean? ___________________________________

Presentation

Semantics is the study of the meaning of words. Words give very similar meanings and it is important to be able to distinguish subtle differences between them.

Here is the link: https://youtu.be/OBEAGV2WSGw

TYPES OF MEANING

1. Descriptive and Non-descriptive meaning

The descriptive meaning concerns with the denotation of a word. 

Descriptive meaning is contained in the meaning of each word. Meaning is indicated by the symbol itself. So, if someone says water, then the issue is a liquid substance that is used for bathing, washing or drinking. If someone said, "Give me a glass of water," then, the listener would simply bring water instead of juice or milk tea. Understanding the meaning of the word water brings the water as one wishes.

Cruse (2004) limits descriptive meaning as to:

 a. whether the meaning is true false 

b. what the expression can be used to or referred to 

c. the objective sense that it establishes some distance between the speaker and what he says 

Cruse offers an extensive treatment of the different dimensions of descriptive meaning, such as quality and intensity.

Non-descriptive meaning is that aspect of meaning which does not concern the denotation of a given expression, but a speaker's attitude towards the denotation (emotive meaning) or also relationships between speakers (social meaning).

For example, the differences between

a) Gosh!

and

b) I am surprised

shows that:

 a) is subjective, expresses an emotional state in much the same way to a baby’s cry, and does not present a conceptual category to the hearer; whereas,

b) represents a proposition, which can be questioned or denied and can be equally expressed by someone else or at a different place or time. 

In a sense, a and b “mean the same thing” but vary in the mode of signifying. 

Words that possess, only expressive and non- descriptive meaning and are called expletives. 

For instance, in the following examples

1. It’s freezing; shut the bloody window!

2. I don’t need your damn money. Take that with you!

The expletives in italics do not contribute to the propositional content.

     2. Functional meaning and Content meaning 

         Lexical meaning and Grammatical meaning

Meanings can be categorized into lexical [content] and grammatical [function]. 

A lexical morpheme has a meaning that can be understood fully in and of itself—{boy}, for example, as well as {run}, {green}, {quick}, {paper}, {large}, {throw}, and {now}. Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs are typical kinds of lexical morphemes. 

Grammatical morphemes, on the other hand—such as {of}, {and}, {the}, {ness}, {to}, {pre}, {a}, {but}, {in}, and {ly}—can be understood completely only when they occur with other words in a sentence."(Murray,1995). 

 3. Literal and Non- literal meaning

Literal meaning is the denotation or the conventionally accepted meaning. The speaker communicates in a neutral, and factually accurate way.

Non- literal is a deviation from the conventionally accepted meaning and convey a more complicated meaning in order to achieve special effects. Non-literal use of language is traditionally called figurative and is described by rhetorical terms such as metaphor, irony, metonymy, synecdoche, hyperbole and litotes.

When you feel the effects of missing lunch, you might literally say, “I am hungry.” or you may nonliterally say, “My stomach thinks my throat’s cut”.

1. Contextual meaning

Contextual meaning depends on the surrounding words or phrases.

I left my phone on the left side of the room.

The baseball pitcher asked for a pitcher of water.

The committee chair sat in the center chair.

The crane flew above the construction crane.

While they are at the play, I’m going to play with the dog.

She will park the car so we can walk in the park.

https://www.spellingcity.com/multiple-meaning-words.html

Notice that the underlined words in each sentence have the same spelling but their meanings vary as another set of words are placed before or after them.

Recall:

Homophones are words that share the same pronunciation, regardless of spelling, or both.

Example: tail-tale

Homonyms are words which are homographs. They share the same spelling, regardless of pronunciation.

Example: ‘re-cord (noun)which means an account which is kept in writing or in an album or disc   

                   re-‘cord (verb) which means to set into writing or any permanent form

Polysemy is an interesting phenomenon that concerns cases in which a word or phrase enjoys multiple, related meanings.

Examples:

1. Let’s eat Grandma.

        Let’s eat, Grandma.

2. A woman: without her, man is nothing.

        A woman without her man is nothing.

3. Slow men are working.

        Slow! Men are working.

4. Ship sails today.  (A vessel shall sail today.)

        Ship sails today.  (An imperative sentence: The sails should be shipped or transported.)

2. Extensions of meaning: metaphor and metonymy

Metaphor is used for the substitution of two words. In contrast, metonymy is used for the association of the two words.

Example:

Her betrayal was a sword to my heart. (metaphor: betrayal and sword have common attribute, to inflict pain to the person)

Nobody dared to go against the sword. (metonymy: sword is associated to military power)

You can also watch this video for the other ways to categorize meaning in this link here: 

Practice

Interactive Streaming of Interpretations

Instructions:

Memes are posted below. Type your 5-8 sentence interpretation or impression of each meme. No copying or repetition of responses but you may react to your classmate’s response. Still, you are to maintain propriety of words.

How you will be rated in each interpretation:

Accuracy- 4 points

Grammar, spelling and word usage -  3 points

Propriety- 3 points

Total: 10 points  

1. Picture is not mine. Credits to the owner

2. Picture is not mine. Credits to the owner

3. Picture is not mine. Credits to the owner

4. Picture is not mine. Credits to the owner

5. Picture is not mine. Credits to the owner

Performance

A reaction paper is a written assignment that provides a personal opinion regarding a given piece of work. The paper should include a short summary/paraphrase of the work, but the main focus is your thoughts, feelings and rationalizations about what's discussed in the original text.

Write a 200- word reaction paper from the meme below. 

Picture is not mine. Credits to the owner

Reaction Paper Rubric

Source: Kristin Jacobson (2007)

(Please see the course pack for the rubric.)

References

Cruse, A. 2004. Meaning in Language. An Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics. Oxford: 

Oxford University Press

Jacobson, Kristin (2007). Reaction Paper Rubric. Blogs.stockton.edu Ret. Feb.18,2021

Murray, Thomas (1995). The Structure of English: Phonetics, Phonology, Morphology. 

Publisher, Allyn and Bacon, 1995.Retrieved at www.pearson.com on Feb. 18,2021.

Rambaud, M. (2012). Basic semantics, Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia Madrid: 

UNED Publications. https://www.spellingcity.com/multiple-meaning-words.html Ret.Feb.17,2021

Intended Learning Outcome: Critically analyze the components of words (CLO1)

Introduction

      Componential analysis refers to the kind of analysis using the list of identified meaning components in defining a word (Rambaud, 2012). This is also called semantic decomposition which can be traced in European structuralism with prominent names such as Ferdinand de Saussure and the American anthropology.

Preparation

Activating the Schema: How do you analyze a word? Explain.

Presentation

      Words are made up of elements such as adult, human, married, animate or inanimate, male or  female, and so on. These elements are named semantic components which can no longer be broken down anymore. A plus sign (+) or negative sign (-) can be used to demonstrate the elements evident in the word.

For example, the words such as girl, husband and man can be analyzed using the componential analysis in the following table:

Please see the course pack for the table. Here is the photo: 

Practice

Oral Recitation:

Direction: Fill out the columns with the positive or/and negative sign that 

                   corresponds to the evident element and explain your answers during 

                   the oral recitation.

Please see the course pack for the photo.

Performance

Collaborative Task

Directions: 

1. Form a group with 3-5 members. Pick three words and analyze their elements (female, human, married, adult, and animate).

2. Discuss with your groupmates about the instagram post on the women. 

How can you help your fellow teenager refrain from teenage pregnancy? 

3. Your output will be presented in the following meeting.

Please see the course pack for the photo.

References

Rambaud, M. (2012). Basic semantics, Universidad Nacional de Educacion a 

Distancia Madrid: UNED Publications. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://books-library.online/files/books-library.online-12310023Ot3R7.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjmxpfGsubuAhXVy4sBHaSGAskQFjAAegQIAhAB&usg=AOvVaw1QvyJlkanKyJ5S75PHI3IL

“Teenage pregnancy is most important problem of women today in ph-survey”

       Retrieved from Rappler instagram on February 17, 2021.

Intended Learning Outcome: 

Critically analyze the lexical relationships of words found in texts concerning gender sensitivity (CLO1)

Introduction

Sense relationships are concerned with approaching the meanings of words through relating them to other words within English sentences. Such relations are manifested according to the type of the relation that a word may have with another word or words as when having two words with close meanings, two words with opposite ones and so on. They play major role in explaining the exact meaning of words in relation to other words and not in relation to the meaning of the word itself. (Malik,2017). 

Preparation

1. Give the lexemes which are related to liquid. _________  __________

2. What insight does the caption give?____________________________

Lexical relations are a type of semantic relations which have a significant role in the explanation, analysis and use of the meanings of words within sentences. In communication, lexical relations are considered an effective way of explaining the meanings of words in various ways and thus, a better communication might be achieved (Malik,2017).

Presentation

Different types of Lexical Relations

1.Homonymy-is obtained when one word has several meanings

Example:

Bank  -land bordering on a river 

-financial institution

Homonymy come in different types depending on their syntactic behavior

a. Lexemes of the same syntactic category and same spelling 

Example:

 lap “circuit of a course” and 

  lap “part of the body when sitting down”

b. Lexemes of the same category but with different spelling 

Examples: ring and wring

                        know and no

c. Lexemes with the same spelling but different syntactic category

Example: keep (verb) keep (noun)

d. Lexemes of different categories and different spelling

Example: not and knot

                pale and pail

2.Polysemy- the coexistence of many possible meanings for a word or phrase

Examples: 

1. There comes a period in every man’s life, but she’s just a semicolon in his. (B.Evans) 

Period- (1) lapse of time

  (2) full stop, punctuation

b. Art for heart’s sake. (R. Goldberg)

Heart- (1) the organ in one’s chest 

                                   (2) soul

3. Synonymy- are different phonological words that have the same or very

similar meanings. 

Examples:

couch/ sofa 

boy/lad 

lawyer/attorney 

toilet /lavatory 

large/big

Synonyms may also have certain collocational restrictions. 

a. The synonymous pair

*a big house / a large house

where big and large both have the same meaning

b. The non-synonymous pair

*my big sister / my large sister

where big equals an older sister of the speaker and large refers to the sister’s size

4.Antonymy -words which are opposite in meaning 

However, there are different ways in which one word is opposed to another word:  

1. Simple antonyms

In this relation the positive of one term implies the negative of the

other. These pairs are often called binary pairs or complementary pairs:

dead / alive

pass / fail

hit / miss

1. Gradable antonyms

This relation is characteristic of adjectives and has three main features that can help identify gradable antonyms.

Example:

hot and cold, we can find some more terms:

hot ……… (warm, tepid, cool) ……… cold

which means that something may be neither hot nor cold

5. Reverse- is a relation between terms describing opposing directions of  movement 

Example:

pull / push on a swing door tells you in which direction to apply force. 

Other such pairs are:

come/go 

go /return 

ascend /descend

The following terms can also be called reverses when describing motion:

up / down 

in / out 

right / left (turn)

And, by extension, verbs referring to processes that can be reversed

can also be identified as reverse antonyms:

inflate / deflate 

expand /contract 

fill/ empty 

knit / unravel

6. Hyponymy-can be described as a “kind of ”or “type of ” relation

Examples:

A fox terrier is a kind of dog

A dog is a kind of mammal

A mammal is a kind of animal

Please see the course pack for the images.

7.  Metonymy- describes a part-whole relationship between lexical items.

                         - can be described as X is part of Y

Example:

8.  Special cases

a.  Adult-young relation

               Examples:

cow - calf

duck - duckling

swan – cygnet

b.lexicalized gender

    Examples:

dog- bitch

bull- caw

hog- sow

drake- duck

Practice

Word Hunt

Captions are given below. Search for sets and words and specify their lexical relationship.

Please see the course pack for the images.

Performance:

Construct a table for each e-poster to present the words and their lexical relations. 

Intended Learning Outcome: 

Create an infographic with nodes and collocates from the Coronavirus Corpus (CLO3)

Introduction

Collocation can be traced back to its roots in Latin verb, collocare which refers to ‘ setting in order or arranging (Saudin, 2015). Halliday and Mathiessen (2004 in Saudin, 2015) defined collocation as the co-occurrence tendency of items that are associative. 

Preparation

Activating the Schema: Write words that you can associate with coronavirus in 

                                          the comment box (googlemeet, zoom or google 

                                          classroom) for synchronous class. Submit the list of words 

                                          the next meeting when the class is asynchronous.

Presentation

     In defining the concept of collocation, experts have varying definitions. Almela, Cantos & Sanchez (2013) argued that a widespread assumption in collocational studies considered collocation as a bipartite structure. Every member or element of the collocation significantly falls either one of the two categories such as the node and the collocate. The node can also be called as the base while the collocate can be referred to as the collocator.

     Saudin (2015) reported the list of common examples of the lexical collocation as follows:

1. Verb + Noun: make mistakes

2. Adjective + noun: heavy rain

3. Noun + noun: human resources

4. Verb + adverb: laugh merrily

5. Adverb + Adjective: absolutely right

6. Adverb + adjective (linking verb collocation): keep clean

7. Noun+ verb: doctors diagnose

8. Noun+ adjective: crystal clear

Practice

Directions: 

Meet your groupmates again. Go to the website in the link below and search one word you identified in the preparation activity in this lesson https://www.english-corpora.org/coca and/or https://www.english-corpora.org/corona. Find the three collocates of the word, coronavirus and engage in an interactive discussion. Your output will be discussed in class.

Performance

Directions:  Choose any of the following collaborative tasks:

1. Organizing a Webinar

Directions: Invite  resource speaker who can talk about collocation theory.

                    Create committees who will prepare for the webinar.

2. Create an infographic with a word and its collocates  of any word related to the promotion of well-being in this time of pandemic using the  same link of the corpus of contemporary American English. Your output can serve as an Information, Education and Communication material you can post in facebook to promote the well-being of Filipinos.

e.g. word: exercise (regular exercise, mental exercise, exercise regularly)

     3. Discuss the insights gained from your data and infographic creation.

References

Almela, M., Cantos, P. & Sanchez, A. (2013). Collocation, co-collocation, 

     Constellation … Any advances in distributional semantics?, Procedia – Social 

     and Behavioral Sciences, 95, 231-240.

Kroeger, P. (2018). Analyzing meaning: An introduction to semantics and 

     pragmatics, Berlin: Language Science Press.

Miscin, E. (2015). Collocational competence of primary and secondary school       

      students, Explorations in English Language and Linguistics, 3.1, 8-25. doi:   

      10.1515/exell-2016-0008

Rambaud, M. (2012). Basic semantics, Universidad Nacional de Educacion a 

       Distancia Madrid: UNED

Saudin, H. (2015). Collocation: Theoretical considerations, methods and 

    Techniques for teaching it. Proceeding of the paper presented at the 

    Conference: Second International Language and Language Teaching Conference 

    At Yogyakarta, Indonesia.                                        

Intended Learning Outcomes:

1. critically analyze and evaluate the e-posters that promote the well-being (CLO1)

2. write the comprehensive interpretations and analysis of gathered e-posters related to COVID-19 (CLO3)]

Introduction

Ferdinand de Saussure was known to be the  first one who formulated ways in analyzing the language systematically that are useful in analyzing sign systems such as billboards, posters, memes, flyers, etc. (Umma, 2015).

Preparation

Activating Schema: What do you have in mind when you see a billboard of a 

                                               condominium project with a swimming pool and family? Explain Presentation

Umma (2015) reported Ferdinand de Saussure’s concepts of signifier and signified in analyzing signs, symbols and images. These concepts can be useful in analyzing print and digital advertisements and videos evident in social media and websites.

The linguistic sign is a two-sided psychological entity as demonstrated in the diagram below:

These two elements are intimately united. Each element recalls the other (Umma, 2015). He added that Saussure showed his concept of language through acknowledging the following:

1. signifiant: a shape of statement through signs (signifier

2. signifie – semantic aspect of symbol which referred to reference (signified).

Practice

Directions: 

Go to this link below and actively participate in the interactive discussion  https://images.app.goo.gl/2xL5ddLSMp1DPpAS7 (canva.com). Analyze the e-poster related to COVID-19 to promote well-being and discuss your interpretation using signifier and signified semiotics.

Performance

Directions: Meet your usual groupmates and find an e-poster in the Department of Health or

                   World Health Organization. Analyze the poster using signified and signifier concepts.

Intended Learning Outcomes:

Analyze and gain new insights on metaphor, idiomatic expressions and puns

Introduction

Lexical semantics is concerned with the meanings of words and the meaning of relationships among words, while phrasal semantics is concerned with the meaning of syntactic units larger than the word. Semantic properties are the components of meanings of words. For example, the semantic property "human" can be found in many words such as parent, doctor, baby, professor, widow, and aunt. Other semantic properties include animate objects, male, female, countable items and non-countable items.

Preparation

1. What have you learned from your previous lesson?

2. What is a phrase?

3. How is a phrase related to semantics in your own opinion?

Presentation

Phrasal Semantics: The Study of Phrases

Unlike the words, sentences cannot be memorized. The main reason why we cannot memorize the sentences is the creativity of the language. We can observe that there are a variety of ways of telling about a situation. For instance, there is no single sentence used to talk about a problem or express a feeling. There are variations in the word selection and combination of the selected words. The creativity of language enables humans to produce various phrases consisting of language's smaller units. According to the Rule of Compositionality, by looking at the smaller units' semantic features, such as words, in a sentence, we conclude the meaning of the bigger unit. Apart from the semantic features that give sense to the word, we also look at how these words are connected; in other words, the relation between the words. 

The Principle of Compositionality

The Principle of Compositionality is a rule that explains how we compute the meaning of sentences. According to this principle, as we have discussed, the meaning of a sentence is based on the meaning of its words and the way these words are connected. Now, let's understand what the principle tries to tell us with an example sentence.

The first rule of the Principle of Compositionality is that we compute the sentences' meaning based on the smaller units' sense. When we look at our example, "Justin loves tea.", it is apparent that there are three small meaningful units, which are Justin, loves, and tea.  The meaningful units are the parts, meanings of which we can easily comprehend. Let's write "M" and number them to indicate that they are meaningful. So, our list should be like Justin=M1, love=M2, tea=M3.

Having found the meaningful units in the sentence, we can continue with the second fact of the Principle of Compositionality. It says that the relationship between the words; in other words, how these words are connected in a sentence plays a crucial role in computing the phrases' meaning. Let's try to implement the second principle of the theory together.

In our example sentence, we need to establish a connection between the words. We can say that Justin is a subject, love is a verb, and tea is an object. In this sentence, the subject connects to a verb phrase. Briefly, the verb love and the noun tea merge. As a result, a new meaningful unit, which is a verb phrase, (M4) shows up. In the end, [Justin] (M1) is connected to the verb phrase [loves tea] and shapes the meaning of the sentence.

To sum up the Principle of Compositionality’s facts:

1. We compute the phrases based on the meanings of its smaller units: words.

2. We compute the meaning of the phrases based on the way words are combined.

When Compositionality Goes Awry: Metaphor

Metaphors are sentences that seem to be anomalous but are understood in terms of a meaningful concept. To understand a metaphor we must understand the individual words, the literal meaning of the expression, and facts about the world. To understand Time is money you need to know that in our society people are often paid according to the amount of time worked.

A metaphor is a figure of speech that is used to make a comparison between two things that aren't alike but do have something in common. Unlike a simile, where two things are compared directly using like or as, a metaphor's comparison is more indirect, usually made by stating something is something else. A metaphor is very expressive; it is not meant to be taken literally. You may have to work a little to find the meaning in a metaphor.

For example, a river and tears aren't very alike. One is a body of water in nature, while the other can be produced by our eyes. They do have one thing in common, though: both are a type of water that flows. A metaphor uses this similarity to help the writer make a point:

• Her tears were a river flowing down her cheeks.

As a river is so much larger than a few tears, the metaphor is a creative way of saying that the person is crying a lot. There are so many tears that they remind the writer of a river.

Metaphors help writers and poets make a point in a more interesting way. They also help the reader see something from a new perspective. By describing tears as a river, for example, the writer found a creative way to describe how great the girl's sadness was and helped the reader see a similarity between tears and a river that they might not have noticed before. This makes reading more fun and interesting.

The Difference Between Similes and Metaphors

Similes are another way to compare two different things, but a simile does so more directly, using the words like or as. For example:

• Her tears flowed like a river down her cheeks.

In this case, the simile tells the reader that the tears are similar to a river, but not the same. A metaphor, on the other hand, says that something is something else; that is, the girl's tears are equal to a river. A metaphor is not exactly true. It's meant to be understood as a figure of speech, not a factual statement.

Animal Metaphors

• The classroom was a zoo.

• The alligator's teeth are white daggers.

• She is a peacock.

• My teacher is a dragon.

• Mary's eyes were fireflies.

• The computers at school are old dinosaurs.

• He is a night owl.

• Maria is a chicken.

• The wind was a howling wolf.

• The ballerina was a swan, gliding across the stage.

• Jamal was a pig at dinner.

• The kids were monkeys on the jungle gym.

• My dad is a road hog.

• The stormy ocean was a raging bull.

• The thunder was a mighty lion.

Nature Metaphors

• The snow is a white blanket.

• He is a shining star.

• Her long hair was a flowing golden river.

• Tom's eyes were ice as he stared at her.

• The children were flowers grown in concrete gardens.

• Kisses are the flowers of affection.

• The falling snowflakes are dancers.

• The calm lake was a mirror.

• You are my sunshine.

• The moon is a white balloon.

• Her tears were a river flowing down her cheeks.

• The road ahead was a ribbon stretching across the desert.

• Donations to the charity were a tsunami.

• The park was a lake after the rain.

• The sun is a golden ball.

• The clouds are balls of cotton.

• The lightning was fireworks in the sky.

• That lawn is a green carpet.

• The stars are sparkling diamonds.

• Ben's temper was a volcano, ready to explode.

• Those best friends are two peas in a pod.

Everyday Life Metaphors

• John's suggestion was just a Band-Aid for the problem.

• The cast on his broken leg was a plaster shackle.

• Laughter is the music of the soul.

• America is a melting pot.

• Her lovely voice was music to his ears.

• The world is a stage.

• My kid's room is a disaster area.

• Life is a rollercoaster.

• Their home was a prison.

• His heart is a cold iron.

• At five o'clock, the interstate is always a parking lot.

• Books are the keys to your imagination.

• Her angry words were bullets to him.

• Your brain is a computer.

• The car was a furnace in the sun.

• Thank you so much, you are an angel.

• My baseball coach is an ogre.

Implied Metaphors

While simple metaphors make a direct comparison between two things, saying that one thing is the other, not all metaphors are as easy to understand. Implied metaphors don't directly state one of the objects being compared. Instead, they describe one item with the words you would typically use to describe another. 

For example:

• The girl stalked her brother before finally pouncing on her prey.

In this case, the girl is being described as something else, but what is it? The word stalked and the phrase pouncing on her prey give a clue. These words are often used to describe predatory animals, such as a tiger or lion. By describing the girl this way, the writer is making an implied comparison that the girl is like a big cat, without actually coming out and saying it.

Implied metaphors can be difficult to figure out when you're first learning about them since they have to trust their imaginations to understand what the comparison is about. This is a skill that can be learned over time, but it's best for most kids to start with direct metaphors for practice.

When Compositionality Goes Awry: Idioms

Idiomatic phrases are phrases with meanings that cannot be predicted based on the meanings of the individual words. The usual semantic rules for combining meanings do not apply drop the ball put his foot in his mouth hit it of. All languages have idioms, but idioms are rarely directly translatable kick the bucket = estirar la pata “to stretch the (animal) leg”

• For example, if someone tells you to go fly a kite, that means go away!

• Never bite off more than you can chew. - To take on a challenge that is too big

• When she started the job, she was still wet behind the ears. - Either very young or inexperienced.

• I am very nervous. - I have got butterflies in my stomach

• You are "barking up the wrong tree" when you are trying to find something, but you are looking in the wrong place.

• A task that can be accomplished very easily. - A Piece of Cake

• Lend Me Your Ear:- To politely ask for someones full attention.

• Never bite the hand that feeds you. - To harm someone who has been helpingyou.

• Bite Your Tongue. - To avoid talking.

SOME PROBLEM USING IDIOMS: 

• They are more difficult to produce.

• Idioms need specific settings to be used.

• You must understand the idiom as a whole.

• You use an idiom according the context.

• Idioms are too many you can’t learn all of them.

SOME BENEFITS USING IDIOMS:

• Extend your knowledge of the language.

• Help you to understand more

• Build confidence

• Increase your vocabulary

• Improve your foreign language

English Language is rich in its idiomatic expressions or in other words, it is rich in its idioms as a an important resource of knowledge in English.   An idiom is a common word or phrase with a culturally understood meaning that differs from what its composite words' denotations would suggest. If English isn't your native language, the best thing that you can do is have conversations with native speakers and ask them about phrases that you don't understand. Idiomatic expressions are a type of informal English that have a meaning different from the meaning of the words in the expression.  Since idioms are influenced by the culture, learning the idioms of a language can be very interesting and enlightening! These idioms are various and several.  At the same time, they are  little difficult studies. The learner must make great efforts to master them.

When Compositionality Goes Awry: Puns

Puns are usually a light-hearted gentle form of humour/humor. Puns commonly arise in jokes and spoken entertainment of some kind. Puns are common in scripted comedy plays and broadcast shows.

Puns feature mostly in audible communications, rather than in writing, because the effect is often aided when the spelling is not defined, although many written puns can be extremely effective too.

Puns may or may not involve two different spellings, but a pun by its nature requires that the two different interpretations have a similar sound.

The main technical terms for punning effects and words are:

• paronomasia - the punning effect 

• homophone - a punning word spelled differently 

• heteronym - one of several terms for punning words spelled the same 

Other related terms which involve punning include:

• malapropism - accidental funny substitution of punning word/words 

• dogberryism, basically same as a malapropism 

• egg corn - deliberate substitution of punning words for humorous/quirky effect 

Briefly these definitions, and a few others, are expanded as follows. 

Pun – a word (or word-combination) which sounds like another with a different meaning, usually in a contextual statement, joke, or piece of dialogue, usually spoken, but may also be written. Pun loosely refers to the pair of similar sounds/words. Pun also refers to the effect of the pun, loosely equating to a joke or equip which exploits the punning words. Pun is also a verb, used mainly when commenting that one word or another ‘puns’ with another. All of these senses may apply less commonly to double-meanings outside of written or spoken language, for example in visual art, music, and metaphorical imagery of all sorts.  

Dogberryism – accidental amusing substitution of a word or expression with a pun or near-pun-named after a Shakespearian character prone to this tendency, equating to a malaphropism.

Double-entendre – this equates to a pun and derives from old French meaning ‘double understanding’ – the expression ‘double-entendre’ is commonly used to refer to a pun which has rude or sexual implications.

Double-meaning  –  a less technical, looser and more general term for a pun, commonly used outside of written and spoken communications.

Egg corn –  a modern term referring to the (usually intentional substitution of the original sensible word/words in a phrase by similar-sounding word or words to produce a different and (typically) related meaning, usually for comedy or irony. For example, the adaptation of ‘Alzheimer’s disease’ to ‘old-timer’s disease’. The term ‘egg corn’ is named after linguistics blog referring to a woman who used the words ‘egg corn’ instead of the word acorn – by their nature ‘egg corns’ tend to be puns, although often of a very loosely matching variety.

Heteronyms, heterographs, homographs, etc. – various technical terms for words which sound the same are spelled the same but have different meanings.

Homophone – a word which sounds like another but has different meaning and spelling for example flour and flower.

Mondegreen – a modern term for a misheard word or word-combination, especially in songlyrics and poetry – the term was named after a misunderstood passage in an old poem in which the phrase ‘laid him on the green’ was misunderstood to be ‘Lady Mondegreen’ – by their nature mondegreens are almost always puns, and often of quite complex nature, involving obscure phrases, many of which could only have been discovered accidentally.

Malapropism – an old term for the (incorrect and supposedly accidental) substitution of a word by a similar – sounding word, usually in speech and funny, often scripted in light-entertainment forms. The term was named (some say first by Lord Byron in 1814) after Mrs. Malaprop in Sheridan’s 1775 play called The Rivals, whose line included such accidental puns.

Oronym – a word or word-combination which can be heard or read to mean something different by altering where the word – break (juncture) is, for example ‘ice cream/I scream’

Paranomasia – a technical term for the effect of a pun – this is used in a slightly different way to the word pun, for example: a word with a double-meaning is commonly called a pun (as is the punning effect) whereas the word paronomasia is not typically used to refer to a punning word itself, rather to the effect of the punning words. 

The word pun is first recorded in English in the mid-1600s, and is thought (according to the Oxford English Dictionary) to derive from a now obsolete longer English term “pundigrion”’ adapted from the word punctilio, which refers to ‘a fine or petty point of conduct or procedure”. Punctilio is from Italian ‘punctiglio’, and ‘punto’ meaning point.

The use of puns in literature and scripted spoken words can be traced back many hundreds of years.

Practice 

1. Create example sentences containing each of the following: metaphors (5), idiomatic expressions (5), puns (5).

2. Look for any infographics containing metaphor, pun or idiomatic expression.

Performance

Design a billboard of any theme containing metaphor, pun or idiomatic expression. Your output will be rated through the following: Content and Alignment to the instruction – 15, Creativity – 15, Cleanliness and organization – 10.

References

Kroeger, P. (2018). Analyzing meaning: An introduction to semantics and pragmatics, Berlin: 

Language Science Press.

https://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/231

https://ielanguages.com/semantics.html#:~:text=Lexical%20and%20Phrasal%20Semantics,components%20of%20meanings%20of%20words.

https://www.scofla.com/2020/09/phrasal-semantics-principle-of.html

https://www.businessballs.com/amusement-stress-relief/puns-and-double-meanings/

http://www.bchmsg.yolasite.com/phrasal-verbs.php

Learning Outcomes

1. Acquire thorough understanding about the concepts on sentential semantics

2. Create sentences and situations that Apply critical and creative thinking through the use of the understanding of the meaning of words in connection with other related words in the linguistic structure 

Introduction

In this section, we will study how to characterize certain semantic sentential relations. We will see for example the linguistic importance of the relation of semantic entailment and presupposition and how these can be characterized in terms of truth relations.

Preparation

What is the different between the following sentences?

1. I saw someone today. – I saw my father today.

2. I have an animal. – I have a dog.

Presentation

Sentential Meaning

The meaning of sentences is built from the meaning of noun phrases and verbs. Sentences contain truth conditions if the circumstances in the sentence are true. Paraphrases are two sentences with the same truth conditions, despite subtle differences in structure and emphasis. The ball was kicked by the boy is a paraphrase of the sentence the boy kicked the ball, but they have the same truth conditions - that a boy kicked a ball. Sometimes the truth of one sentence entails or implies the truth of another sentence. This is called entailment and the opposite of this is called contradiction, where one sentence implies the falseness of another. He was assassinated entails that he is dead. He was assassinated contradicts with the statement he is alive.

Sentential Semantics

 Some Sense Properties of Sentences

Analytic: An analytic sentence is one which is necessarily true, because of the senses of the words in it.  Therefore, an analytic sentence can be judged true without recourse to real world knowledge separate from the sense of the words contained in it. 

EXAMPLES: 

Elephants are animals.              Cats are not fish.                       My brother is male.

Contradictory: A contradictory sentence (or a contradiction) is a sentence which is necessarily false, because of the senses of the words in the sentence. 

EXAMPLES:             

Cats are fish.                       Corpses are alive.                  Elephants are not animals.

Synthetic: A synthetic sentence is one which is not analytic or contradictory, but which may be true or false depending on the way the world is.

EXAMPLES:             

My oldest cousin is female.          My brother is tall.                 Some cats eat wool.

Other Properties in Sentence Interpretation

Entailment

Entailment is a semantic relation that has to do with knowing whether a sentence is true or false in relation to another because of our knowledge of the language. Entailment is

not an inference in the normal sense because our knowledge of the truth

or falsity of a statement does not derive from our empirical knowledge of

the world but from our knowledge of a particular language where the

lexical relations between words hold.

The relation of entailment can be seen as a result of the linguist structure of a particular language. The source of entailment can be lexical or syntactic. In the example:

a) The terrorist was killed.

b) The terrorist died.

the source of entailment is clearly lexical. As the meaning components of kill include some of the meaning components of die, we can say that sentence 

a) implies sentence 

b). Active and passive versions of the same proposition entail each other.

The relation of hyponymy is a relation of inclusion where the hyponym includes the meaning of a more general word. For example, worm and snake are hyponyms of animal, and uncle and brother are hyponyms of man. This is why hyponymy is a regular source for entailment between sentences. 

Following the previous example, we can see that sentence a) below entails sentence b).

a) I can see the worm coming out of the apple.

b) I can see the animal coming out of the apple

Presupposition

See the following example: sentence a) “The head surgeon in the hospital is woman” presupposes sentence b) “there is a head surgeon in the hospital”.

How can we differentiate presupposition and entailment?

We will be following closely Saeed’s discussion of the delimitation of presupposition in relation with entailment. As this author explains, presupposition is a relation which can be approached from either the point of view of semantics or pragmatics. In fact, it lies at the borderline of the division between the two disciplines. In some respects, presupposition is, in the same way as entailment, a fairly automatic relationship, which involves no reasoning and seems free of contextual effects. 

In other respects, presupposition seems sensitive to facts about the context of utterance. As a result, approaches to presupposition arise from different ways of

viewing language. If meaning is seen as an attribute of sentences rather than something constructed by the participants, then semantics consists of relating sentence-object to another sentence-object and to the world. But if meaning arises from the communication that individual engage in when talking to each other, then presupposition is part of the packaging of an utterance. The first approach is semantic, while the second approach is pragmatic.

In relation to the truth value of sentences it is also important to remember at all levels that truth value is an attribute that applies to utterances and that the logical relations that apply to utterances are related to those that apply to sentences, but that they are not identical.

Differentiating entailment from presupposition can be done by negating both types of relations. Negating an entailment destroys the relation whereas negating a presupposition does not affect it. This fact proves that both types of relations could be formalized and thus manipulated. On the other hand, one important feature of presupposition is precisely that, being context-dependent, it can be blocked by our general knowledge of the world.

Entailment versus presupposition

There are similarities and differences between these two semantic relations. Entailment is a semantic relation with a strong logical background whereas presupposition, also a semantic relation, is much more related to the context in which the sentence appears.

 Please see the course pack for the succeeding discussion.

Practice

Write down 5 examples of entailment and another 5 examples of presupposition.

Performance

Identify if the following sentences are categorized as Entailments or Presupposition.

1. The emperor was assassinated. – The emperor died.

2. I saw Peter this morning. – I saw someone this morning.

3. Robin is a man. – Robin is a human.

4. She hasn’t stopped smoking. – She used to smoke.

5. My dog didn’t eat my bag. – I have a dog and I have a bag.

6. Ben’s wife went to Paris. – Ben has a wife.

7. Mary broke the window. – The window was broken.

8. Gretchen’s sister brought 2 dresses. – Gretchen’s sister brought something.

9. Dylan is sleeping in the car. – Someone is sleeping in thecar.

10. They wish they could expose their relationship – They cannot expose their relationship.

References

Rambaud, M. (2012). Basic semantics, Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia Madrid: 

           UNEDPublications.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://books-library.online/files/books-library.online 12310023Ot3R7.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjmxpfGsubuAhXVy4sBHaSGAskQFjAAegQIAhAB&usg=AOvVaw1QvyJlkanKyJ5S75PHI3IL

Kroeger, P. (2018). Analyzing meaning: An introduction to semantics and pragmatics, Berlin: Language Science Press.

https://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/231

Learning Outcomes

1. Gain adequate knowledge about the situation and types of verbs 

2. Critically examine logical concept of argument structure of verbs according to their internal characteristics

Introduction

In this section will describe elements of the meaning of verbs which correlate to differences of situation types. We will be following Saeed (2003) quite closely in this section, where some of his own examples have been are adapted.

Preparation

1. Recall what verbs are.

2. What do you think is its relation to semantics?

3. How do you think verb contribute meaning to language structures?

Presentation

Sentences and Situations: Situation Types and Verb Types

Please see the course pack for further discussions.

Practice

Classify the following verbs according to their internal characteristics (stative/dynamic, durative/punctual, telic/atelic, according to Vendler’s classification into states, activities, accomplishments, and achievements:

Know, believe, drive a car, walk to school, recover from illness, deliver a sermon, desire, run, love, run a mile, stop, reach the top, draw a circle, win the race, hate, spot someone, paint a picture, want, grow up, swim, push a cart.

1. 
   States

2. 
   Activities

3. 
   Accomplishments

4. 
   Achievements

Performance

1. Classify the following verbs according to their internal characteristics (stative/dynamic, durative/punctual, telic/atelic) according to Vendler’s classification into states, activities, accomplishments, and achievements.

1. know

2. believe

3. drive a car

4. walk to school

5. recover from illness

6. deliver a sermon,

7. desire

8. run

9. love

10. run a mile

11. stop

12. reach the top

13. draw a circle

14. win the race

15. hate

16. spot someone

17. paint a picture

18. want

19. grow up

20. swim

2. Classify the following verbs according to their internal characteristics (stative/dynamic, durative/punctual, telic/atelic) according to Van Valin’s classification into situation, action, event and process.

1. Know

2. March

3. Freeze

4. Explode

5. Love

6. Roll

7. Walk

8. Sing

9. Pop

10. Melt

References

Rambaud, M. (2012). Basic semantics, Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distanci Madrid, UNED Publications.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://books-library.online/files/books-library.online-12310023Ot3R7.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjmxpfGsubuAhXVy4sBHaSGAskQFjAAegQIAhAB&usg=AOvVaw1QvyJlkanKyJ5S75PHI3IL

https://annisaekakurniasih.wordpress.com/2016/05/24/semantics-verb-and-situation/