SEMANTICS

Lexical Semantics

Pn MAZURA ANUAR
Adapted from: ASSOC. PROF. DR ANEALKA AZIZ HUSSIN
ACADEMY OF LANGUAGE STUDIES, UiTM
WHAT IS SEMANTICS?

Semantics is a study of the

meaning of words, phrases and
sentences.
Sub-fields of Semantics
a) Lexical Semantics
It concerns with the meaning of morphemes and words and the
meaning relationships among words.

b) Compositional Semantics
It concerns with how the meaning of morphemes and words are
combined to form the meaning of a larger syntactic units such as
phrases and sentences.

We learn words independently and individually but we don’t learn

sentence meaning. Instead, we compute them via compositional
rules.
Why learn Lexical Semantics?

Knowledge of word meaning helps to understand:

a. Reference and sense
b. Word relations – synonyms, antonyms, homonyms,
polysemy
c. The semantics features of nouns and verbs
d. The thematic roles of the noun phrases
Lexical Semantics (Word Meanings)
Meaning of a phrase or sentence is partially a function of meanings of
words it contains. Similarly, the meaning of a morphologically complex
word is a function of its component morphemes.

However, there is a fundamental difference between word meaning

and sentence meaning. The meaning of most sentences is constructed
by the application of the semantic rules, while the meaning of words is
conventional; people agreed to the meanings and children simply learn
those meanings outright.

The agreed meanings may change from time to time but it is not done at
will. If it does, we may not be able to communicate / understand each
other
Lexical Semantics: Reference and Sense
Knowledge of word meaning helps us to understand Reference and Sense.
Every expression that has meaning has sense, but not every expression has
reference.

The reference of a word is the relation between the linguistic expression and

the entity in the real world to which it refers. In contrast to reference, sense is
defined as its relations to other expressions in the language system.

Reference refers to concrete concepts and it can be proved by the thing in real
world. Abstract deals with abstract concepts and it does not have a real object.
It requires us to imagine and compare to our own experience.
Lexical Semantics: Reference and Sense
Example: My roommate is a student.
Lily is a student. The champion is a student.
NP She is a student.
Her sister is a student.
Explanation:
The word Lily refers to a specific person. It is a proper noun. Proper Nouns are noun
phrases (NP). The NP in this sentence can be substituted with other NP like my
roommate, the champion, she or her sister and still maintain the grammaticality of
the sentence. These other NPs are the references to the referent (Lily).

The references of NP (which specifically refers to Lily) is part of the meaning of the
NP.
Lexical Semantics: Reference and Sense
Example:
No baby swims alone.
NP

Explanation:
Based on your linguistic knowledge, the NP in this sentence does not refer to any
specific individual. No baby has no reference but the sentence is not meaningless.

There must be something more than meaning than reference alone. Speakers know
meanings of many words that have no real world referents (unicorns, hobbits – not
real. Only in movies).

Additional elements of meaning  sense.

Lexical Semantics: Lexical Relations

Knowledge of word meaning helps to understand

that words are semantically related to one another
in a variety of ways - synonyms, antonyms,
homonyms, polysemy.
Lexical Semantics: Lexical Relations
Synonymy refers to two or more words with very closely related
meanings but not necessarily “total sameness”.

e.g. Beautiful: Attractive, Pretty, Lovely, Stunning

Funny: Humorous, Comical, Hilarious, Hysterical
Rich: Affluent, Wealthy, Well-off, Well-to-do
Strong: Stable, Secure, Solid, Tough

e.g.We are looking for strong people to move the log. (√ )

We are looking for stable people to move the log. (x)
Lexical Semantics: Lexical Relations
Antonymy refers to words that have opposite meanings.
Types of antonyms:
a) Gradable Pairs
big / small fast / slow
hot / cold happy /sad
b) Complementary pairs (direct opposites)
alive / dead present / absent male / female
married / single true / false awake / asleep
c) Relational Opposite
buy / sell
employer / employee
Lexical Semantics: Lexical Relations
Homophones: When two or more different (written) forms have the same
pronunciation.
e.g. pail / pale
to / two / too
Homonyms: When one form (written or spoken) has two or more unrelated
meanings.
e.g. Bank - bank of a river
bank (financial institution)

Pupil - pupil of the eye

pupil at school
Examples of Homophones
BAIL A container used to remove water from a boat.
BALE A large bundle of goods such as a bundle of hay.

BOARD A long, thin, flat piece of wood.

BORED Not interested

CELL A small room

SELL To exchange for money

DEW Moisture condensed upon the surfaces of cool bodies especially at night.
DO To perform / execute
DUE Required or expected to happen in a particular place at a particular time.
Examples of
Homophones
Examples of
Homonyms
 Riddle 1

Why is a book as noble as a lord?

It has a title and many pages, too.

TITLE:
- name of a book, picture, etc.
- word used to show a person’s rank, occupation, status, etc.

PAGE:
- one side of a leaf of a paper in a book, periodical, etc.
- boy servant, usually in uniform, in a hotel, club, etc.
 Riddle 2
Why is an empty purse always the same?

There is no change in it.

 Riddle 3

How do we know the ocean is friendly?

It waves.
Lexical Semantics: Lexical Relations
Polysemy refers to two or more words with the same form (written or spoken) and
have multiple related meanings that are all related conceptually or historically.

e.g.HEAD
- object on top of your body
- person at the top of an organization
e.g.FOOT
- of a person
- of a bed
- of a mountain
Lexical Semantics: Lexical Relations
POLYSEMY & HOMONYM of DATE

HOMONYMS – Date is a kind of fruit.

Date is a point of time.

POLYSEMY - date is a point of time

- arranged meeting
- social meeting with someone we like.
- the person we like
Lexical Semantics: Lexical Relations
Hyponymy refers to lexical relation in which the meaning of one word is
included in the meaning of the other word.
e.g. Cat is a hyponym of animal.
Apple is a hyponym of fruit
Jasmine is a hyponym of flower.

The concept of inclusion is involved in this relationship is the idea that if an

object is a Jasmine, then it is necessarily a flower. The meaning of flower is
included in the meaning of Jasmine. Jasmine is a hyponym of flower.
Lexical Semantics: Semantic Features

Knowledge of word meaning helps to understand how meaning

of words or morphemes are related through their shared
semantics features. The semantic features are among the
conceptual elements that contribute to the meaning of words
and sentences.
Lexical Semantics: Semantic Features
For example, two words can be antonyms only if they share a principle
semantic feature in which they differ.
Semantic Feature Wet Dry
Liquid + -
The two words are complementary pairs. One word has the feature of
being liquid an the other does not have the feature.

Semantic Feature Buy Sell

Change in Possession + +
The two words are relational opposite. Both involve a change in
possession but they differ in terms of the direction of the change.
Lexical Semantics: Semantic Features
Semantic features can be morphologically marked. The feature “female” can
indicated by the suffix – ess.
Semantic Feature actress actor princess prince
Female + - + -
One word has the feature of being female an the other does not have that feature.

Semantic features may have syntactic and semantic effects.

Semantic Feature pin rice potato milk

Count Noun + - + -
Count nouns can be enumerated and pluralized. Rice and milk are Mass Nouns.
Lexical Semantics: Semantic Features
Semantic features of verbs may have syntactic consequences. Some verbs are eventive
/ stative in nature.

Verbs can either be:

Events – She ate the cake.
States – She liked the cake.

The eventive / stative difference is mirrored in the syntax.

Eventives Statives
The cake was eaten by her. The caked was liked by her.
She is eating the cake. She is liking the cake.
Eat the cake! Like the cake!
She purposely ate the cake. She purposely liked the cake.

Eventive sentences still sound naturally when Stative sentences seem peculiar, if not
passivized, when expressed progressively, when ungrammatical when passivized, when expressed
used as imperatives and with certain adverbs progressively, when used as imperatives and with
certain adverbs
Lexical Semantics: Semantic Features
Semantic features of verbs may have syntactic consequences. Some verbs have
• Expressions such as ever, anymore are ungrammatical in certain simple
“negative” as a
affirmative sentences but grammatical in negative ones. component of their
• Such expressions are called negative polarity items because they require a
meaning.
negative element such as not elsewhere in the sentence.

Mary will ever smile. X Mary will not ever smile.√

I can visit you anymore. X I cannot visit you anymore. √
• The negative feature in verb provides the required support for the negative
polarity item ever even without the presence of not.

Alia thinks that she’ll ever participate in the contest again. X Doubt and refuse but not think and
Alia hopes that she’ll ever participate in the contest again. X hope have “negative” as a component
Alia doubts that she’ll ever participate in the contest again. √ of their meaning.
Alia refuses that she’ll ever participate in the contest again. √
Lexical Semantics: Semantic Features
Semantic features of verbs may have syntactic consequences.
Some ditransitive
Amir threw / tossed / kicked / flung the ball to the boy. verbs have different
force of motion as a
The verbs are ditransitive verbs. They can take two objects. The sentence can be component of their
rearranged into this structure. meaning that affect
the word order
Amir threw / tossed / kicked / flung the boy the ball. possibilities.

Amir push / pull / lifted / hauled the ball to the boy. The verbs in the first box
involve a single quick
The verbs are ditransitive verbs. They can take two objects. But the sentence does not motion while the second
allow rearrangement as it will be ungrammatical. box involve a prolong
used of force.
Amir push / pull / lifted / hauled the boy the ball.
Lexical Semantics: Thematic Roles
• Arguments refer to the various NP
that occur with the verb. Agent

• Thematic / Sematic roles express Goal Theme

the kind of sematic relation between
the argument of the verbs and the
types of situation the verb
describes. Source Instrument

• There are seven (7) thematic /

semantic roles that a noun phrase
Location Experiencer
can perform depending on the
situation.
AGENT AND THEME
– Agent refers to the one who performs the action of the verb in an event.
– Theme refers to the entity involved in or affected by the action of the
verb in an event.
eg. The girl ate the ice-cream. / The ice-cream was eaten by the girl.
– Non-human entities can also be the agent.
e.g. The heat melts the ice-cream.
– The same physical entity can appear in two different sematic roles.
e.g. The girl cut herself.
LOCATION, SOURCE AND GOAL
– Location refers to the semantic role of the noun phrase identifying
where an entity is.
The green book was on the table.
– Source refers to the semantic role of the noun phrase identifying
where an entity moves from.
The boy took the book from the shelves.
– Goal refers to the semantic role of the noun phrase identifying where
an entity moves to.
The boy brought the book to the counter.
INSTRUMENT AND EXPERIENCER

– Instrument refers the entity which the agent uses to perform an action.
e.g. The man wrote a letter with a pen.
The manager cut the rope with a pair of scissors.

– Experiencer refers to the entity which has the feeling, perception or

state (not necessarily performing an action) described by the verb.
e.g. The man felt sad and angry.
Did you hear that noise?
Thank You