Demonstrating Semantic Knowledge NOTES

SEMANTICS, Fall 2021/2022 Dr.
Najib Ismail Jarad
DEMONSTRATING SEMANTIC KNOWLEDGE
1. Speakers know, in a general way, whether something is or is not meaningful in their

language.
1a. Henry drew a picture. (meaningful).

1b. Henry laughed. (meaningful).
1c. *The picture laughed. (Not possible)
*The flowers stole the pie and ran home. (Not possible).
1d. *Picture a Henry drew. (Not possible)
*The fish likes to go to school. (Not possible).
Sentences with (*) are called ‘Anomalous’ sentences, they have abnormal meaning, fails to make
sense.
Anomalous sentences;
 *A table was listening to music. (Nonsense)
 *My toothbrush is pregnant again this morning. (Nonsense)
 *My saucepan is honest. (meaningless)
 *Colorless green ideas sleep furiously. (meaningless)
Sentences my adhere to two things,

- Make sense syntactically.
- Make sense semantically.
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SEMANTICS, Fall 2021/2022 Dr. Najib Ismail Jarad
2. Speakers generally agree as to when two sentences have the same meaning and when
they do not. [This is what we call Paraphrase]
2a. Rebecca got home before Robert.

2b. Robert got home before Rebecca. [2a, 2c]; Paraphrase each other
2c. Robert arrived at home after Rebecca. [2b, 2d]; Paraphrase each other
2d. Rebecca got home later than Robert.
Paraphrase is the process of producing alternative versions of a sentence or text without

changing the meaning.
 How do we paraphrase?
1. Synonyms; (words with similar meaning)

‘My dad bought an apartment’. (My father purchased a house).
‘The professor gave profound comments’. (The professor gave deep comments).
‘He had a deep cut on his arm’. (Deep = cannot be replaced by ‘profound’).
2. Transformation (change the syntax of a sentence, using active voice);

‘The boy broke the window’.
The window was broken by the boy. (Passive)
It was the boy who broke the window. (It-cleft)
It was the window that the boy broke. (It-cleft)
What the boy did as (to) break the window. (Wh-cleft)
What the boy broke was the window. (Wh-cleft)
The window was what the boy broke. (Reversed Wh-cleft)
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Paraphrasing examples:
[Here we change it using ‘Synonyms’]:
 1a. The individual who lacks affection, recognition or the fulfillment of other
emotional needs may turn to food.
1b. A person who is unloved or unrecognized may eat for emotional satisfaction.
 2a. We might well find that we need more than three weeks in which to complete a
report of this kind.
2b. It is quite likely that 21 days won't be sufficient for us to finalize a report.
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3. Speakers generally agree when two words have essentially the same meaning --in a
given context.
3a. Where did you purchase these tools?

(Use, buy, release, modify, take)
3b. At the end of the street, we saw two enormous statues.
(Huge, nice, original, pink, smooth)
Here we talk about what we call ‘Synonymy’, when two lexical words share identical or near
identical meaning [It’s a lexical relation].
For Example,
 I phoned you yesterday but there was no.….........
Nouns: (answer, reply, response) / Its possible to use the three of them.
 John got all the ……….. on the exam correct.
Nouns: (answer, reply, response) / It’s also possible to use ‘responses’
 The fall semester ……….. on the 29th of August.
Verbs: (Begin, start, commence) / Its possible to use the three of them.
These all are Synonyms; (Freedom-liberty), (broad-wide), (conceal-hide), (cab-taxi), (big-large),

(rapidly-swiftly).
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4. Speakers recognize when the meaning of one sentence contradicts another sentence.
4a. The movie has a happy ending

4b. The movie has a sad ending. [4a, 4b]; contradict each other
4c. The soldier is awake. [4c, 4d]; contradict each other

4d. The soldier is sleepy.
For Example,
 My brother is jealous of me because I am an only child.

Contradictions
 I never write sentences in the negative form.
Oxymoron (the use of two contradictory words together as in ‘’True-lies’). It’s a figure of speech.
Contradiction is the relation between two propositions, that every sentence has a proposition, and
a proposition is just a statement or the meaning of a sentence or affairs. If one part is true, the other
must be false.
Proposition is the meaning of a sentence that makes a statement about some state of affairs.
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5. Speakers generally agree when two words have opposite meanings in a given context.
5a. Beth cut a thick slice of cake.

(Bright, new, soft, thin, wet).
5b. The train departs at 12:25.
(Arrives, leaves, swerves, waits).
Antonyms:
I. Gradable Antonyms. They can be used in a comparative and superlative.
Ex, (‘Thick’, the thicker, the thickest), (‘Thin’, thinner, thinnest).
They can be modified by an intensifier. Ex, (Very thick, very thin, extremely thick, extremely
thin).
II. Non-gradable Antonyms. They cannot be graded, absolute state, no grey area (either this
or that), they cannot be modified by an intensifier.
(Female-male), (True-false), (Single-married).
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6. Synonyms and antonyms have to have some common element of meaning to be,
respectively, the same or different.
6a. (street, lane, road, path, house, avenue); They all share the feature of being ‘Public
way’ of access of something.
6b. (acquire, buy, inherit, steal, take, use); They all share the feature of ‘Legal Possession’
Man +male, + adult, +human

Women -male, +adult
Boy +male, -adult
Girl -male, -adult
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7. Some sentences have double meanings; they can be interpreted in two ways.
[Speakers are aware of this fact because they appreciate jokes that depend on two-way
interpretation, like the following]:
 We have two types of Ambiguity: Lexical; structural

Lexical Ambiguity is when the word itself is ambiguous in a particular context, and
there is more than one interpretation to it.
Lexical Ambiguity:
 My sister cannot bear children.
1. She cannot give birth to children because she is sterile.
2. She cannot put up with or tolerate children because they are noisy.
.‫ال يؤكل الليمون بعد العصر‬ 

)‫ ال يؤكل الليمون بعد صالة العصر (الوقت‬. 1
ّ ‫ ال يؤكل الليمون بعد العصر (أ‬. 2

)‫ي بعد عصره‬
 Marjorie doesn't care for her parakeet.

1. Doesn't like her parakeet.
2. Doesn't take care of her parakeet.
 Mary thinks the present is nice.

1. Gift.
2. Present time.
 An old friend of mine teaches at that school.

1. A longtime friend.
2. My friend is not young (old).
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 The chicken is too hot to eat.

1. Temperature sense (hot).
2. Spicy.
3. Sick; ‘The chicken is too hot’.
 We will give you a ring tonight.

1. Diamond ring in your finger.
2. Call you.
 John took my picture.

1. Photographed me.
2. Stole my picture, borrowed.
 Iraqi Head Seeks Arms.

1. Head = President.
2. Arms = Weapons.
 Police Chase Snakes Through city.

1. [NP Police] [VP Chase [NP Snakes] Through City].
2. [NP Police Chase] [VP Snakes Through City].
 Eye Drops off Shelf.

1. Eye drops removed from the shelf.
2. Eye drops falls down.
3. [NP Eye drops] off shelf.
 Squad helps dog bite victim.

1. A group of people who help a victim got bitten by a dog.
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 They fed her dog biscuit.

1. Fed a dog biscuit. They fed [NP her dog] [NP biscuit].
2. Fed a girl dog biscuit. They fed [NP her] [NP dog biscuit].
Structural Ambiguity.
 Flying planes can be dangerous.
1. The flying of planes can be dangerous.
2. Planes that fly can be dangerous.
 Visiting relatives can be boring.

1. You get bored when visiting relatives.
2. Relatives who visit are boring.
8. Speakers know how language is used when people interact between each other.
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9. Speakers are aware that two statements as related in such a way that if one true, the
other must also be true.
Entailment is a relation between a pair of sentences such that the truth of the second
sentence necessarily follows from the truth of the first sentence.
This is what we call ‘Hyponymy’; The specific is included in the general.
 There are tulips in the garden. (Specific)

 There are flowers in the garden. (General)
 John keeps a dog. (Specific)

 John keeps an animal. (General)
 The criminal was executed last night. (Specific)

 The criminal is dead. (General)
We have two types of Entailments:
1. One-way Entailment (It doesn’t mean the same thing when flipped)
 Donald Duck is a duck = Donald Duck is a bird.

 Henry murdered his bank manager = Henry’s bank manager is dead.
2. Two-way Entailment; . (It means the same thing both ways)
 He is the father of my mother = He is the maternal grandfather.

 Today is Tuesday = Yesterday was Monday.
 Everyone will lose = No one will win.
 The bottle is half-empty = The bottle is half-full
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10. Speakers know that the message conveyed in one statement may presuppose other
pieces of knowledge.
Presupposition is a relation between an utterance and one or more implicit assumptions

triggered by the word/phrase/ utterance.
For Example;
 Andy Murfee usually drives his Datsun to work.
a. There is a person named Andy Murfee

b. Andy Murfee works or has a job.
c. There is a Datsun that belongs to Andy Murfee.
d. Andy Murfee knows how to drive a car.
 Mary stopped beating her boyfriend.
a. There is a person called Mary.

b. Mary has a boyfriend.
c. Mary used to best her boyfriend.
 John returned to Cambridge.
a. There is a person named John.

b. John has been to Cambridge before.
 John regrets to inform Mary that her application has not been successful.
a. (John hasn’t informed Mary yet but he is going to tell her, ‘’to inform’’).
 John regrets informing Mary that her application has not been successful.
a. (John has already informed Mary and regrets it ‘’informing’).
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SEMANTICS, Fall 2021/2022 Dr.

Najib Ismail Jarad

DEMONSTRATING SEMANTIC KNOWLEDGE

1. Speakers know, in a general way, whether something is or is not meaningful in their

1a. Henry drew a picture. (meaningful).

Sentences my adhere to two things,

2a. Rebecca got home before Robert.

2d. Rebecca got home later than Robert.

Paraphrase is the process of producing alternative versions of a sentence or text without

1. Synonyms; (words with similar meaning)

2. Transformation (change the syntax of a sentence, using active voice);

[Here we change it using ‘Synonyms’]:

3a. Where did you purchase these tools?

These all are Synonyms; (Freedom-liberty), (broad-wide), (conceal-hide), (cab-taxi), (big-large),

4a. The movie has a happy ending

4c. The soldier is awake. [4c, 4d]; contradict each other

 My brother is jealous of me because I am an only child.

5a. Beth cut a thick slice of cake.

Man +male, + adult, +human

 We have two types of Ambiguity: Lexical; structural

.‫ال يؤكل الليمون بعد العصر‬ 

ّ ‫ ال يؤكل الليمون بعد العصر (أ‬. 2

 Marjorie doesn't care for her parakeet.

 Mary thinks the present is nice.

 An old friend of mine teaches at that school.

 The chicken is too hot to eat.

 We will give you a ring tonight.

 John took my picture.

 Iraqi Head Seeks Arms.

 Police Chase Snakes Through city.

 Eye Drops off Shelf.

 Squad helps dog bite victim.

 They fed her dog biscuit.

 Visiting relatives can be boring.

This is what we call ‘Hyponymy’; The specific is included in the general.

 There are tulips in the garden. (Specific)

 John keeps a dog. (Specific)

 The criminal was executed last night. (Specific)

We have two types of Entailments:

 Donald Duck is a duck = Donald Duck is a bird.

2. Two-way Entailment; . (It means the same thing both ways)

 He is the father of my mother = He is the maternal grandfather.

Presupposition is a relation between an utterance and one or more implicit assumptions

 Andy Murfee usually drives his Datsun to work.

a. There is a person named Andy Murfee

 Mary stopped beating her boyfriend.

a. There is a person called Mary.

 John returned to Cambridge.

a. There is a person named John.

a. (John has already informed Mary and regrets it ‘’informing’).

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