Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios

Licenciatura en Idiomas Extranjeros

Introduction to Linguistics

Name: Erika Brigith Hidalgo Ortiz -641175

SEMANTICS

1) What’s the difference between conceptual and associative meaning? Given an example
different from the ones in the text.

Conceptual meaning refers to the literal meaning of a word or the linguist function
of a word that provides its meaning, for example:
 Money: any article or substance used as a medium of exchange, measure of
wealth, or means of payment.
Associative meaning refers to associations or connotations attached to a word, for
example:
 Money: job, coins, rich, poor, wallet, bank, etc.

2) Why is the sentence below weird? Explain your answer based on the concept of
‘semantic features’.
 The dog is texting his master.

The sentence is syntactically good, but semantically weird, because according to the
reading the kind of noun that can be the subject of the verb “texting” must denote
an entity that is capable of “texting”, so that is why the sentence “The dog is texting
his master” is weird and meaningless because the noun “dog” does not have this
property.

3) Complete the grid below with the corresponding semantic roles.

Sentence Semantic Role

The kid ate the cookies. Agent: The kid
Theme: The cookies
Jane opened the can with a knife. Agent: Jane
Theme: The can
Instrument: a knife
John is worried about the rent. Experiencer: John
Arthur lives in Moscow, but he’s from St. Location: In Moscow
Petersburg. He comes to his parents’ house Source: St. Petersburg
at New Year’s Eve. Goal: His parent’s house

4) Give an example of a set of gradable antonyms, a set of non-gradable ones and a set of
reversive ones different from the book, i.e.
 Gradable: big/small
 Non-gradable: clean/dirty
 Reversive: tie/untie
 Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios
Licenciatura en Idiomas Extranjeros
Introduction to Linguistics
Gradable:
 Wet / Dry
 Easy / Difficult
 Beautiful / Ugly
 Expensive / Cheap
 Wide / narrow

Non-gradable:
 North / South
 Full / Empty
 Before / After
 Wrong / Right
 Open / Close

Reversive:
 Arrive / Depart
 Come / Go
 Up / Down
 Bring / Take
 Night / Day

5) Classify the following verbs according to their relationship of hyponymy. Make a

scheme like the one on page 105.

Stare—see--look at—peep--perceive
Perceive

See

Look at Stare
Peep –––

6) Based on the words above, complete the sentences below according to their
relationship of hyponymy.
a) Perceived is a superordinate of See
b) Peep is a hyponym of See
Look at is a hyponym of See
 Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios
Licenciatura en Idiomas Extranjeros
Introduction to Linguistics
Stare is a hyponym of See

c) Peep is a co-hyponym of Look at and Stare

7) Give an example of a set of homonyms and a set of homophones different from the
ones in the book, i.e.
 Homonyms: pupil (student) /pupil (part of the eye)
 Homophone: right/write
Homonyms:

 Pen (a holding area for animals) / Pen (a writing instrument)

 Book (something to read) / Book (the act of making a reservation)
 Right (correct) / Right (direction opposite of left)
 Rock (a genre of music) / Rock (a stone)
 Spring (a season) / Spring (coiled metal)

Homophone:

 Sea / See
 Hour / Our
 Knight / Night
 Hear / Here
 Cell / Sell

8) What’s the difference between homonymy and polysemy? How do you identify each
one?

Homonyms are two or more different words that have the same spelling or
pronunciation but there is no relation between them, so they have different meaning
and origins, but Polysemy is when a word has multiple meanings. Therefore we can
identify each one through their meanings because Polysemy has different, but related
meanings, Homonymy has completely different meanings. Also, we can identify each
one through their origins, since Polysemy has related word origins, but Homonymy has
different origins, and finally we can identify them through dictionaries because
polysemous words are listed under one entry in dictionaries and homonymous words
are listed separately.

9) What’s metonymy? Give an example.

Metonymy is another type of relationship between words, based simply on a close

connection in everyday experience, which it is a way of replacing an object or idea with
something related to it instead of stating what is actually meant, thus Metonymy enable
 Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios
Licenciatura en Idiomas Extranjeros
Introduction to Linguistics
to express a word or thought in a different way using a closely related word or thought.
For example:
 Hollywood - to refer to the film industry
 Ears - for giving attention, listening
 Suits - in place of business people

10) What’ a collocation? Give an example.

Collocation refers to a group of two or more words that frequently occurring or go

together. For example:

 To do homework
 To make noise
 To come close
 To get a job
 To keep quiet
 To have a rest
 To take notes