SEMANTICS ASSIGNMENT

SEMANTICS FEATURES and LEXICAL SEMANTICS

Lecture: Drs. Sugianto

By:

1. Laily Rohana 2. Lina Indah C. 3. Marita Ayu 4. Rudi Artopo

09.1.01.08.0137 /3B 09.1.01.08.0142 /3B 09.1.01.08. 0157 /3B 09.1.01.08. 0234/3B

ENGLISH DEPARTEMENT FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF NUSANTARA PGRI KEDIRI 2012

Definition of Semantics Features

Semantics feature is one of a set of abstract element,used systematically in various combination to define individual meanings or a set of meaning. Semantics feature is used to distinguish the meaning of any word from every other word. Semantics features of a word or an expression refer to the meanings that related to the meaning of the word or expression as agreed by speakers of the language. The Semantic features categorize the different elements of the meaning of a word. Some words have more semantic features than others. The meaning of words is analyzed in several different ways in order to account for as many aspects of meaning as possible. First of all, words are analyzed in terms of their semantic features that is basic elements which enabzle the differentiation of meaning of words.Apart from the semantic features of words also semantic roles (sometimes called thematic roles) are examined. Semantic roles describe the way in which words are used in sentences and the functions they fulfill. Lexical feature is way of analyzing lexical meaning is to decompose word meanings into more basic parts. This process is called lexical decomposition. The idea is that most words have meanings that are "built up" from simpler meanings. For example, the words mare, stallion, hen, and rooster all have the common meaning of ANIMAL in them. We could say that these four words share the common semantic feature ANIMAL. In addition, mare and hen share the common feature FEMALE while stallion and rooster share MALE. Another illustration of lexical decomposition comes from causatives. Consider these pairs of sentences, which use the intransitive verbs boil, open, bake, and turn and their transitive counterparts: The water boiled. The door opened. The cake baked. The car turned. Robin boiled the water. The wind opened the door. Robin baked the cake. Robin turned the car.

We can analyze the meaning of the verbs in terms of causes. In Robin boiled the water, the transitive verb boil can be analyzed as X CAUSES Y to BOIL. For another example, consider the difference in meaning between cement and concrete. Although many of use them interchangeably, they actually mean different things. Dr. Starosta might have explained the differences as:

cement concrete

+wet (or - dry) -wet (or + dry)

The difference between cement and concrete is that cement is a wet while concrete is dry. There are other ways to describe the two words (cement is a mix combined with water while concrete is the hardened after-product), but you can see how narrowing words down to their basic differences opens up a new way in which to view words. hide conceal murder assassinate - bad intentions + bad intentions (you don't want the person to find what you've hidden) - prominence + prominence (you can't "assassinate" a janitor)

This is example of semantics feature

Man [+Human] [+Adult] [+Male] Woman [+Human] [+Adult] [+Female] Boy [+Human] [-Adult] [+Male] Girl [+Human] [-Adult] [+Female]

Whereas: King [+Human] [+Adult] [+Male] [+Status] Queen [+Human] [+Adult] [+Female] [+Status] Prince [+Human] [-Adult] [+Male] [+Status] Princess [+Human] [-Adult] [+Female] [+Status]

LEXICAL SEMANTICS
According Pustejovsky (1995) Lexical semantics is a subfield of linguistic semantics. It is the study of how and what the words of a language denote .Words may either be taken to denote things in the world or concepts, depending on the particular approach to lexical semantics. The units of meaning in lexical semantics are lexical units, which a speaker can continually add to throughout their life, learning new words and their meanings. By contrast, one can only easily learn the grammatical rules of one's native language during a critical period when one is young. Lexical semantics covers theories of the classification and decomposition of word meaning, the differences and similarities in lexical semantic structure between different languages, and the relationship of word meaning to sentence meaning and syntax . Thus Lexical semantics the study of what individual lexical items mean, why they mean what they do, how we can represent all of this, and where the combined interpretation for an utterance comes from meaning. Lexical Semantics is about the meaning of words. Although obviously a central concern of linguistics, the semantic behaviour of words has been unduly neglected in the current literature, which has tended to emphasize sentential semantics and its relation to formal systems of logicin lexical semantics include idiomaticity, lexical ambiguity, synonymy, hierarchical relations such as hyponymy and meronymy, and various types of oppositeness. Syntagmatic relations are also treated in some detail. The discussions Although a familiarity with traditional grammar is assumed, readers with no technical linguistic background will find the exposition always accessible. All readers with an interest in semantics will find in this original text not only essential background but a stimulating new perspective on the field. Lexical semantics deals with a language's lexicon, or the collection of words in a language. It is concerned with individual words (unlike compositional semantics, which is concerned with meanings of sentences.) Of the many ways that lexical semantics can be studied, we'll look in general terms at the meaning relationships that word meanings have with one another and the semantic features that help to differentiate similar words. Lexical semantics focuses on meanings in isolation, that is, without attention to their contribution to reference or truth conditions.

Kinds of semantic relationships in lexical semantics

A. HOMONYMS Homonyms, also called homophones (meaning "same sound") are pairs of words that have different meanings with identical sounds. For example: fair/fare pair/pare boar/bore capitol/capital to/too/two

Homonyms are words that have different histories, called a word's etymology, and probably had different pronunciations back in history. For example, the words fair and fare are pronounced identically today but have completely different origins: gloss: visually beautiful, become clear and sunny, other meanings fair from: ME fair, fager from OE faeger "clear" gloss: "a transportation charge, food and drink, others fare from: ME faren "to travel, go" from OE faran Here's another example: gloss: two corresponding things designed for use together pair from: ME paire from OF from Latin paria "equal things" gloss: to trim off an outside, excess, or irregular part of pare from: ME from MF parer "to prepare or trim" from Latin parare "to prepare"

By the way, the etymologies of words also help to explain spelling. For example, the silent letters k and e in the word knife were pronounced at one point in history but were lost over time. We'll look at historical linguistics in an upcoming module. B. HYPONYMS We can say that word X is a hyponym of word Y if in all possible scenarios, X's set is always contained in (is always a subject of) Y's set. Koa, oak, and cedar as well as wood are hyponyms of tree. Consider the words poodle and dog. Suppose that the current set of poodles includes Princess. The current set of dogs will then include at least this dog and possible others as well (such as Buttercup the Rottweiler and Killer the Chihuahua.) Dog is a hyponym of animal; poodle is a hyponym of dog.

animal dog poodle Princess

C. SYNONYMS Two words are synonymous is they have similar meaning and are often used interchangeably. But look a little closer at common synonyms, and you'll realize that the two words aren't always 100% the same and interchangeable. 100% same regional formality quick/rapid, sick/ill, couch/sofa tap/faucet/spigot, skillet/pan, hot cakes/pancakes, soda/pop pass away/die/pop off

emotion/political freedom fighter/guerrilla/terrorist legal kill/manslaughter/murder

D. ANTONYMS Two words are antonymous if their meaning is opposite. There are several ways a pair of words can be opposites.

Contradictory pairs are words that are nearly complete opposites -- everything is one or the other: married/unmarriedvisible/invisible alive/dead over/under

Scalar antonyms or gradable pairs are words that are not completely polar opposites because each word has no endpoint and can very from one person to another (so, for example, hot can mean one thing to one person and something else to another person): hot/cold good/bad strong/weak happy/sad short/tall

E. AMBIGUOUS Words that have double meanings are ambiguous. Many words have more than one meaning such as bank (of a river, a financial institution) and glasses (eyeglasses, sunglasses, drinking glasses.) Notice the many meanings of the word trunk in this cartoon

F. ANOMALOUS Anomalies are nonsensical words and phrases: His cheeseburger has bad intensions and My printer doesn't like me. Example of Lexical Semantics the [magnate-bought] shop (the) shop the magnate bought the [small-child-bought] shop (the) shop at which the small child shopped another example Interpret the following: the [bought-book] author the [bought-book] person the [bought-book] reason

REFERENCES

Hurley, 2011. What is Lexical Semantics? http://emedia.leeward.hawaii.edu Nmmumaw, 2012. What are examples of semantic features? http://www.answers.com Pustejovsky, James. 1995. Presents a theory of lexical semantics and The Generative Lexicon. MIT Press Fromkin, victoria and Robert Rodman. 1993. An intoduction to Language. Horcourt Brace Javanovich College Publisers: New York