1 |CHAPTER 5 LESSON 1 NOVEMBER 15_21_ 2021

CHAPTER 5
SEMANTICS

LESSON 1.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
SENSE, 1. describe the meaning of linguistic expression: sense
REFERENCE AND and reference
TRUTH 2. illustrate the truth embodied in individual and between
CONDITIONS sentences

CONTENT
Semantics is the branch of linguistics that studies meaning in language. It is generally accepted that
words, phrases, and sentences have meaning. The meaning of words is part of human linguistic
knowledge. The meaning of the majority of words is conventional, i.e. all speakers of a language intuitively
agree on their meanings. If they did not, it would not be possible for people to communicate with each
other.
SENSE can be divided into two areas: speaker-sense and linguistic sense. Speaker-sense is the speaker’s
intention in producing some linguistic expression. For example, if someone utters the sentence Fred is a
real genius sarcastically, then the speaker-sense of the sentence might be “Fred is below average in
intelligence.” Speaker-sense because it has to do with nonliteral meaning. Linguistic-sense is the meaning
of a linguistic expression as part of a language. The sentence Fred is a real genius means literally something
like “Fred has a truly superior intellect.” Linguistic sense is the domain of semantics since it deals solely
with literal meaning and is independent of speaker, hearer and situational context.
Sense properties:
1. Lexical Ambiguity/Heterosymy. A word is lexically ambiguous if it has more than one sense. E.g. bank,
pen
2. Synonymy. Two words are synonymous if they have the same sense; that is, if they have the same values
for all of their semantic features. E.g. conceal and hide, big and large. Moreover, in all likelihood there
are no absolute synonyms in any language-that is, words that mean exactly the same thing in all
contexts. For example, even though big and large are (near) synonymous, the phrases my big sister and
my large sister certainly do not have the same meaning.
3. Antonymy. Two words are antonyms if their meanings differ only in the value for single semantic feature.
Three groups of antonyms:
a. Binary/Non-gradable/Complementary antonyms are pairs that exhaust all linguistic possibilities
along some dimension. E.g. dead-alive (one can be either dead or alive, there is no middle ground
between the two)
b. Gradable/Scalar antonyms are pairs that describe opposite ends of a continuous dimension. E.g.
hot-cold (a liquid can be hot or cold or in between)
c. Converse/Relational synonyms are pairs that describe the relationship between two items from
opposite perspectives. E.g. husband-wife
4. homonymy- refers to one form (written and spoken) having two or more unrelated meanings. E.g. bank,
pupil, bat
5. heteronymy- refers to words spelled the same but pronounced differently and having different
meanings and lexical category. E.g. wind(n), wind(v), live(v)-live(adj), bass(n)-bass(n)

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 REFERENCE is the systematic denotation of some linguistic expression as part of a language.
Linguistic reference includes coreference, anaphora and deixis.
a. Coreference. Two linguistic expressions that refer to the same real-world entity are said to be
coreferential. E.g. Jay Leno is the host of the Tonight Show. The expressions Jay Leno and the host of the
Tonight Show are coreferential because they both refer to the same entity.
b. Anaphora. A linguistic expression that refers to another linguistic expression is said to be
anaphoric or anaphor. E.g. Mary wants to play whoever thinks himself capable of beating her. In this
sentence, the linguistic expression himself necessarily refers to whoever; thus himself is being used
anaphorically in this case.
c. Deixis (dike-sis). A deictic expression has one meaning but can refer to different entities
depending on the speaker and his or her spatial and temporal orientation. Obvious examples are
expressions such as you and I, here and there, right and left.

TRUTH CONDITIONS. The study of truth or truth conditions falls into two basic categories: the study of
different types of truth embodied in individual sentences ( analytic, contradictory and synthetic) and the
study of truth relation that hold between sentences (entailment and presupposition)

a. Analytic/Tautology is a sentence that is necessarily true simply by virtue on

the words in it. For example, the sentence A bachelor is an unmarried man is
true not because the world is the way it is, but because the English language
is the way it is. Analytic sentences are true by definition. They are
sometimes referred to as linguistic truths because they are true by virtue of
the language itself.
b. Contradictory is just the opposite of analytic. While analytic sentences are
necessarily true as a result of the words in them, contradictory sentences
are necessarily false for the same reason. E.g. A bachelor is a married man.
The sentence is false simply by knowing the meaning of words in it.
Contradictory sentences are referred to as linguistic falsities because they
are false by virtue of the language itself.
c. Synthetic may be true or false depending upon how the world is. Synthetic
sentences are not true or false because of the words that comprise them,
but rather because they do or do not accurately describe some state of
affairs in the world. E.g. My next door neighbor, Donnie Marasigan, is a
married man. (This must be verified or falsified empirically)
d. Entailment is a proposition (expressed in a sentence) that follows
necessarily from another sentence. For example: Arianne aced Chemistry
entails Arianne passed Chemistry, because one cannot ace Chemistry
without passing Chemistry. The test for entailment: Sentence (a) entails
sentence (b) if the truth of sentence (a) ensures the truth of sentence (b)
and if the falsity of sentence (b) ensures the falsity of sentence (a).
e. Presupposition is a proposition (expressed in a sentence) that must be
assumed to be true in order to judge the truth or falsity of another sentence.
E.g. Have you stopped beating your wife? presupposes that You have been
beating your wife.

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 TASK 1. Circle any deictic expression in the following sentences:
1. I saw her standing there.
2. Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away.
3. The treasure chest is to your right.
4. These are the times that try men’s souls.
5. There is a tide in the affairs of men which taken st the flood leads on to fortune.

TASK 2. There are several kinds of antonymy. By writing a B, G, or R in column C, indicate

whether the pairs in columns A and B are Binary, Gradable or Relational opposites.

A B C
Good bad ____________
Expensive cheap ____________
Parent offspring ____________
Beautiful ugly ____________
False true ____________
Male female ____________
Tutor tutee ____________
Pass fail ____________
Legal illegal ____________
Asleep awake ____________
Lessor lessee ____________
Mother child ____________
Rude polite ____________
Larger smaller ____________
Buy sell ____________

TASK 3. The following sentences are either Analytic/Tautulogy, Contradiction or Synthetic. Write A by
the Analytic, C by the contradiction and S by the Synthetic.
1. _____Queens are monarchs. 11. ______Dogs are carnivores.
2. _____Kings are female. 12. ______Uncles are male.
3. _____Kings are poor. 13. ______My aunt is a man.
4. _____Circles are round. 14. ______Witches are wicked.
5. _____Queens are ugly. 15. ______ My brother is a witch.
6. _____Queens are mothers. 16. ______My sister is an only child.
7. _____Kings are mothers. 17. ______Babies are adults.
8. _____Dogs are four-legged. 18. ______Babies can lift one ton.
9. _____Cats are felines. 19. ______Puppies are human.
10. _____Cats are stupid 20. ______My bachelor friends are all lonely.

TASK 4. For each definition, write in the first blank the word that has that meaning and in the second
(and third if present) a differently spelled homonym that has a different meaning.
E.g. ä pair”: two, too, to
a. naked b ____________ b__________
b. base metal l_____________ l___________
c. worships p____________ p___________ p____________
d. eight bits b____________ b___________ b____________
e. one of the senses s____________ s___________ c____________
f. several couples p____________ p___________ p____________
g. not pretty p____________ p___________
h. purity of gold unit k____________ c___________
i. a horse’s coiffure m___________ m__________ M___________
j. sets loose f____________ f___________ f____________

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 TASK 5. The following sentences have certain presuppositions that ensure their appropriateness.
What are they? Example: The minors promised the police to stop drinking.
Presupposition: The minors were drinking.
1. We went to the ballpark again. 6. Mary was horrified to find a cockroach in her bed.
2. When did you stop smoking? 7. Hey, your brother is looking for you.
3. My car is a wreck. 8. Estella no longer writes fiction.
4. Have you stopped eating meat? 9. Have you talked to Evelyn?
5. Angel saw the horse with two heads. 10. RJ lost his wallet.

TASK 6. Give the entailment of the following sentences:

1. (a) The President was assassinated.
(b)______________________________________
2. (a) Andrei broke the window.
(b)___________________________________________
3. (a) Louis rides a bike to school every morning.
(b)_____________________________
4. (a) Eric Neil’s car is new.
(b)_______________________________________________
5. (a) Wal-Mart defended itself in court today against claims that its female
employees were kept out of job in management because they are women.
(b)_________________________________

TASK 7. Are the following statements true or false? Tick the appropriate cell:
Statement True False
1 The sentences below contain homonyms:
She entrances me. The building has several entrances.
2 The sentences below contain a polyseme:
Don’t seal that letter. I love the old seal at the zoo.
3 The sentence below contains a hyponym:
Among all the groddies in the world, my favourite is the blooie.
4 The sentences below contain a meronym:
Mary had a little lamb. Its fleece was white as snow.
5 Given that cantoupe and lartoupe are relational antonyms, Sasha
is Lorenzo’s cantoupe entails that Lorenzo is Sasha’s lartoupe.
6 Given that sadertort and mangleford are complementary
antonyms,
My aunt is not mangleford and My aunt is sadertort entail each
other.
7 Given that crandle and sackle are synonyms, The private eye
crandled his favourite client and The private eye sackled his
favourite client entail each other.

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 TASK 8. Identify the relationship of oppositeness expressed in the following
sentences.
1. The window pane is open, but it should be shut.
2. This class is better than last year's class.
3. This painting is similar to that one.
4. He pushed the lever forwards instead of backwards.
5. This plant was sick, but now it's healthy.
6. My poor relatives envy my rich relatives.
7. He ordered a sweet and sour dish.
8. It is better to give than to receive.

TASK 9. Give the end-of-scale equivalents for these normal scalar adjectives
1. tired
2. wet
3. poor
4. sad
5. hot
TASK 10. Name the structural relation expressed by each of the following pairs
of words.

1. casual/informal
2. parent/offspring
3. university/college
4. right/wrong
5. right/left
6. odd/even
7. odd/unusual
8. bring/take
9. rude/polite
10. wind/breeze
11. moist/damp
12. present/absent
13. fair/foul (ball)
14. intelligent/smart
15. employ/use
16. mathematics/history
17. glass/tumbler
18. doctor/patient
19. own/belong to
20. ancestor/descendant
21. predator/prey
22. benefactor/donor
23. enter/leave
24. rise/fall
25. dress/undress

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