1. **What semantic feature must a noun have in order to be used in this sentence?**
**"The ___________ were discussing what to do."**
The noun must have the semantic feature **[+animate]** because only animate beings (e.g., humans or animals) can discuss or deliberate. For example, "people" or "students" would work, but "tables" would not.
2. **Explaining oddness using semantic features:**
- (a) **"The television drank my water."**
This sentence is odd because "television" has the feature **[-animate]** and **[-biological],** which means it cannot perform actions like drinking that require biological capability, such as having a mouth or being able to ingest liquids.
- (b) **"His dog writes poetry."**
This is odd because a "dog" has the feature **[+animate]** but lacks the feature **[+human],** which is typically necessary for actions like writing or creating poetry.
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?**
Instead of "thematic roles," the term **"semantic roles"** is more commonly used. Instead of "theme," the term **"patient"** is often used to describe the noun phrase that undergoes or is affected by the action.
4. **What kind of opposites can be identified via the “negative test”?**
**Non-gradable antonyms** (also called **complementary pairs**) can be identified using the "negative test." For example, "alive" and "dead" are non-gradable antonyms because if something is not alive, it must be dead (and vice versa). The negative of one implies the other.
5. **How is the term “prototype” used in semantics?**
In semantics, **"prototype"** refers to the most typical or representative example of a category. For example, a "robin" is often considered a prototype of the category "bird" because it has many typical bird features (feathers, flight, song). Less typical members, such as penguins or ostriches, deviate from the prototype.
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."**
- **her new golf club**: Instrument
- **Anne Marshall**: Agent
- **the ball**: Theme/Patient
- **the woods**: Source
- **the grassy area**: Goal
- **the hole**: Location
- **she**: Experiencer (in the second part of the sentence)
7. **Which of the following words are co-hyponyms?**
Co-hyponyms are words that share the same superordinate category (hypernym).
- **ant** and **insect**: Not co-hyponyms (ant is a type of insect)
- **cabbage**, **turnip**, and **vegetable**: **Cabbage** and **turnip** are co-hyponyms because both are types of **vegetables.**
8. **Basic lexical relation between each pair of words:**
- (a) **assemble/disassemble**: Antonym (reversive)
- (b) **damp/moist**: Synonym
- (c) **deep/shallow**: Antonym (gradable)
- (d) **dog/schnauzer**: Hyponym (schnauzer is a type of dog)
- (e) **furniture/table**: Hyponym (table is a type of furniture)
- (f) **married/single**: Antonym (non-gradable)
- (g) **move/run**: Hyponym (run is a type of movement)
- (h) **peace/piece**: Homophone (same sound, different meanings)
- (i) **pen/pen**: Polysemy (two related meanings: writing instrument and animal enclosure)
9. **Opposites and their types:**
- (a) **absent/present**: Non-gradable
- (b) **appear/disappear**: Reversive
- (c) **fail/pass**: Non-gradable
- (d) **fair/unfair**: Non-gradable
- (e) **fill it/empty it**: Reversive
- (f) **high/low**: Gradable
10. **Polysemy or metonymy in these sentences:**
- (a) **"The pen is mightier than the sword."**: Metonymy (pen refers to writing or communication, sword refers to violence or military power)
- (b) **"I had to park on the shoulder of the road."**: Polysemy (shoulder refers to both a body part and a part of the road)
- (c) **"Yes, I love those. I ate a whole box on Sunday!"**: Metonymy (box refers to the contents of the box, not the box itself)
- (d) **"The bookstore has some new titles in linguistics."**: Metonymy (titles refer to books, not just their names)
- (e) **"Computer chips created an important new technology."**: Polysemy (chips refer to both food and electronic components)
- (f) **"I’m going to sue your ass!"**: Metonymy (ass refers to the person)
- (g) **"I think that kind of music was called new wave."**: Polysemy (new wave refers to both a movement and a genre of music)