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Substitutional and combinatorial sense relationsIV.2. OTHER TYPES OF SENSE RELATIONSHyponymyMeronymySemantic fieldsParaphrases and contradictionLexical gapsMarked and unmarked termsIV.4. ENTAILMENT AND THE TRUTH OF SENTENCESThe anarchist assassinated the emperor.The emperor is dead. The shirt is red.The shirt is not white.
CHAPTER IV SENSE RELATIONS CHAPTER OUTLINE IV.1 Substitutional and combinatorial sense relations IV.2 Other types of sense relations IV.3 Componential analysis IV.4 Entailment and the truth of sentences IV.1 SUBSTITUTIONAL AND COMBINATORIAL SENSE RELATIONS Substitutional relations are those existing between members of the same grammatical category such as noun, verb, adjective and adverb (paradigmatic relations) The tall girl is nice / wonderful / difficult / tough IV.1 SUBSTITUTIONAL AND COMBINATORIAL SENSE RELATIONS Combinatorial relations are those existing between items of different grammatical categories, such as adjectives co-occuring with nouns (syntagmatic relations) The tall girl is nice IV.2 OTHER TYPES OF SENSE RELATIONS Hyponymy Meronymy Semantic fields Paraphrases and contradiction Lexical gaps Marked and unmarked terms HYPONYMY The hyponym is the member whose intensional meaning is specific enough to cover the meaning of the superordinate whereas the superordinate member is the one whose extensional meaning is broad enough to cover the hyponym E.g superordinate hyponyms flower lily tulip rose jasmine There was a fine old rocking-chair that his father used to sit in, a desk where he wrote letters, a nest of small tables and a dark imposing bookcase Now all this furniture was to be sold, and with it his own past Rocking-chair, desk, bookcase (hyponyms-lower class), furniture (superordinateupper class) Pneumonia has arrived with the cold and wet conditions The illness is striking everyone from infants to the elderly emotion joy hate fear grief love • J Lyons (1977) observes that hyponymy is a transitive relation If X is a hyponym of Y and Y is a hyponym of Z, then X is the hyponym of Z Cow is a hyponym of mammal Mammal is a hyponym of animal Cow is a hyponym of animal • Hyponymy is related to synonymy in such a way that if X is a hyponym of Y and Y is a hyponym of X, then X and Y are synonyms of each other Mercury and quicksilver are hyponyms of each other, then they are synonyms MERONYMY The relation of meronymy is a part-whole relation Car: door, driving wheel House: living room, bedroom, kitchen Body: arm, face, chest, eye, hand, head Now you must not think that at the bottom of the sea there is only white sand No, here grow the strangest plants and trees; their stems and leaves are so subtle that the slightest current in the water makes them move, as if they were alive. (Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen) MARKED AND UNMARKED TERM - - Markedness is formal because it is based on the presence or absence of some particular element of form hat (unmarked) vs hats (marked) lion vs lioness happy vs unhappy Marking may be semantic, where the unmarked member has a more general sense old vs young far vs near tall vs short Dog (male/female - unmarked) vs bitch (female marked) IV.3 COMPONENTIAL ANALYSIS (CA) - Componential analysis is a way of formalizing, or making absolute precise, the sense relations that hold between words or lexemes - Componential analysis is grounded in structuralism, which says that the sense or meaning of an expression is the totality of its possible relations with all other words IV.3 COMPONENTIAL ANALYSIS (CA) - The method involves the analysis of sense (meaning) of words into component parts commonly referred to as semantic features, or semantic properties or just semes boy = [+human], [+male] and [- adult] man = [+human], [+male] and [+adult] Features Male Female Adult Human Man + + + Woman + + + Girl + + Boy + + •Semantic features may be classified into markers and distinguishers •The markers are descriptive of the sense, whereas the distinguishers are to distinguish between different senses •A semantic feature may be used as a marker in a certain environment, and a distinguisher in another Semantic feature “male” as a distinguisher in woman and man, but as a marker in boy and man Generally speaking, componential analysis is applied to a group of related words which may differ from one another only by one or two semantic features Features allow smb use money long (time) short (time) property only anything Hire + + + + + + Rent + + + + + + Let + + + + + + - Advantages of CA CA can help us see clearly different sense relations E.g If two words share the same semantic features, they are synonyms CA can help us choose the right word in collocation Disadvantages of CA We cannot find a set of features that capture what is common in meaning for all words The analysis of its meaning into its sense components is not enough It does not include other types of meaning as sometimes words can be used figuratively or pragmatically E.g “Be a man.” Here we cannot use CA to explain the word “man” IV.4 ENTAILMENT AND THE TRUTH OF SENTENCES Entailment is a relationship that applies between two propositions, where the truth of one implies the truth of the other because of the meanings of the words involved E.g a Mr Smith has just married Mary b Mary is now a married woman Sentence (a) necessarily implies or entails sentence (b) IV.4 ENTAILMENT AND THE TRUTH OF SENTENCES The anarchist assassinated the emperor The emperor is dead The shirt is red The shirt is not white Sentences can be necessarily or contingently true (or false) A necessarily true sentence is one that is true (or false) in all possible circumstances or by virtue of linguistics alone E.g Dogs are animals All girls are female John is as tall as himself Snow is white A contingently true sentence is one whose truth-value might have been, or might be, different in other circumstances (possible worlds) E.g Christopher was the first to discover America Our ability to recognize the falseness or truth of a sentence depends on our knowledge of the sentence meaning and history of the world Part of the meaning of a sentence is knowledge of its “truth condition”, the conditions under which a sentence can be true or false Let us consider: The president believes that America has won the peace This sentence is true if somebody referred to as the president does believe the statement, and is false if he does not THE END .. .CHAPTER OUTLINE IV.1 Substitutional and combinatorial sense relations IV.2 Other types of sense relations IV.3 Componential analysis IV .4 Entailment and the truth of... and Y are paraphrases of each other It seems that she is a good boss She seems to be a good boss 4 PARAPHRASES AND CONTRADICTION Contradiction is a relationship where a proposition must be false... figuratively or pragmatically E.g “Be a man.” Here we cannot use CA to explain the word “man” IV .4 ENTAILMENT AND THE TRUTH OF SENTENCES Entailment is a relationship that applies between two