• Referential meaning: the basic components of meaning conveyed by the literal use of words, also described as “objective” or “conceptual” meaning.

• Associative meaning: the type of meaning that people might connect with the use of words (e.g. needle “painful”) that is not part of referential meaning.

• Emotive meaning: feelings or reactions to words that may be found among some individuals or groups but not others. 

NEEDLE: basic components = “thin, sharp, steel instrument.”

  associations or connotations = “pain,” or “illness,” or “blood,” or “drugs,” or “thread,” or “knitting,”   or “hard to find” 

• The noun boy has is “+animate” (=denotes an animate being) = (+)

• The noun hamburger has is “animate” (= does not denote an animate being) = (-)

• Semantic features: basic elements such as “human,” included as plus (+human) or minus (−human), used in an analysis of the components of word meaning.

•  Words as Containers of Meaning: The approach to analyzing word meaning is limited by its focus on "containers" carrying meaning components, and its view of words as "containers" may not be effective.

• Semantic role: the part played by a noun phrase, such as agent, in the event described by the sentence.

• Lexical relations: the relationships of meaning, such as synonymy, between words 

• Synonymy: the lexical relation in which two or more words have very closely related meanings (e.g. “conceal” is a synonym of “hide”)

• Antonymy: the lexical relation in which words have opposite meanings (“Shallow” is an antonym of “deep”)

1.  Gradable antonyms: words with opposite meanings along a scale (e.g. big–small; slower, sadder, colder)

2.  Non-gradable antonyms: words which are direct opposites (e.g. alive–dead)

3.  Reversives: antonyms in which the meaning of one is the reverse action of the other (e.g. dress–undress)

• Hyponymy:  the lexical relation in which the meaning of one word is included in the meaning of another (e.g. “daffodil” is a hyponym of “flower”).

1. Superordinate: the higher level term in hyponymy (e.g. flower–daffodil)

2. Co-hyponyms: words in hyponymy that share the same superordinate (“daffodil” and “rose” are co-hyponyms of “flower”)

• Prototypes:  the most characteristic instance of a category (the first thing u think of) (e.g. “robin” is the prototype of “bird”)

• Homophones: two or more words with different forms and the same pronunciation (e.g. to–too–two)

• Homonyms: two words with the same form that are unrelated in meaning (e.g. mole (on skin) – mole (small animal))

• Polysemy: a word having two or more related meanings (e.g. foot, of person, of bed, of mountain)

• Word Play: usually for humorous effect

• Metonymy: a word used in place of another with which it is closely connected in everyday experience (e.g. He drank the whole bottle (= the liquid))

That close connection can be based on:

+ a container–contents relation (bottle/water, can/juice)

+ a whole–part relation (car/wheels, house/roof) 

+ a representative–symbol relationship (king/crown, the President/the White House). 

• Collocation: a relationship between words that frequently occur together (e.g. salt and pepper)

• Corpus linguistics: the study of language in use by analyzing the occurrence and frequency o forms in a large collection of texts typically stored in a computer

1 What semantic feature must a noun have in order to be used in this sentence? 

The _____[+animate] / [+sentient]______ were discussing what to do.

2 Using semantic features, how would you explain the oddness of these sentences?

 (a) The television drank my water.

 (b) His dog writes poetry.

(a) The television drank my water.

1. Subject ("television"): [-animate], [-sentient]

2. Verb ("drank"): Requires a subject that is [+animate] and typically [+biological] (i.e., capable of the physical process of drinking).

3. Explanation: The oddness arises because television is [-animate] and [-biological], making it incompatible with the verb drank, which requires an animate and biological entity capable of drinking.

(b) His dog writes poetry.

1. Subject ("dog"): [+animate], [-sentient] in the context of complex cognitive tasks like writing poetry.

2. Verb ("writes"): Requires a subject that is [+sentient] and typically [+human] or [+highly intelligent], as writing poetry involves creativity and advanced cognitive abilities.

3. Explanation: The oddness here is due to the mismatch between the dog's level of sentience and the cognitive demands of the verb writes. While a dog is [+animate], it lacks the [+human] or [+intelligent] capacity to engage in the abstract thought necessary for poetry writing.

3 What phrase is used more often instead of “thematic roles” and what other term is used instead of “theme” in the semantic analysis of noun phrases?

The term "thematic roles" is frequently used in linguistic theory, particularly in generative grammar, to describe an entity directly affected by a verb's action.

4 What kind of opposites can be identified via the “negative test”?

The "negative test" is used to identify complementary opposites (also known as binary antonyms or contradictory pairs). These are pairs of words where the negation of one implies the assertion of the other, and there is no middle ground between them.

5 How is the term “prototype” used in semantics?

In semantics, the term "prototype" refers to the most typical or representative example of a category or concept. It is used in prototype theory, which suggests that some members of a category are more central or "prototypical" than others. These prototypes serve as cognitive reference points, making it easier for people to categorize and understand different concepts.

6 Identify the roles of the seven noun phrases in this sentence:

With her new golf club, Anne Marshall whacked the ball from the woods to the grassy area near the hole and she suddenly felt invincible.

1. "her new golf club" (in "With her new golf club"): Instrument: The golf club is used as the means by which the action (whacking) is performed.

2. "Anne Marshall": Agent: Anne Marshall is the doer or initiator of the action (whacking the ball).

3. "the ball": Theme/Patient: The ball is the entity that is affected by the action of being whacked.

4. "the woods" (in "from the woods"): Source: The woods is the starting point or origin from which the ball is hit.

5. "the grassy area" (in "to the grassy area"): Goal: The grassy area is the destination or endpoint to which the ball is directed.

6. "the hole" (in "near the hole"): Location: The hole serves as a reference point indicating where the grassy area is situated (near it).

7. "she" (in "she suddenly felt invincible"): Experiencer: "She" (Anne Marshall) is the entity experiencing the feeling of invincibility.

7 Which of the following words are co-hyponyms?

ant, cabbage, insect, plant, turnip, vegetable

10 Are the underlined words in these sentences best described as examples of polysemy or

metonymy? 

(a) The pen is mightier than the sword. metonymy

(b) I had to park on the shoulder of the road. polysemy

(c) Yes, I love those. I ate a whole box on Sunday! metonymy

(d) The bookstore has some new titles in linguistics. metonymy

(e) Computer chips created an important new technology  polysemy

(f) I’m going to sue your ass! metonymy

(g) I think that kind of music was called new wave. polysemy