Semantics: Ling 525

Semantic Terms and Relations

Linguistics 525

Term

Definition

Examples

Entailment p entails q (p ==> q) if and only if whenever p is true, q is true.
John broke the vase
==>
The vase broke.

The vase broke.
does NOT ==>
John broke the vase

Fred killed John.
==>
John is dead.

John died.
==>
John is dead.

John is dead.
?? ==> ??
John died.

John sold the book to Mary
==>
Mary bought the book from John

Mary bought the book from John
==>
John sold the book to Mary

Mary bought the book from John
<==>
is (logically) equivalent to
John sold the book to Mary

Analytically
True
Sentence
A sentence that must be true in virtue of the meanings of the words in it. A bachelor is unmarried
A dog is a mammal.
If Fido is a dog, then Fido is a mammal.
A boy is male.
Two beans is fewer beans than three beans.
Someone who is very tall is tall.
A tall man is a man.
Lexeme A word (with a particular [core] meaning) in all its forms walk: walk, walking, walked, walks (but not walker, walkathon)
steal: steal, stealing, stole, stolen, steals (but not thief, theft)
Synonymy the relation two linguistic forms (for example, lexemes) have when they mean the same None of the following examples are uncontroversial:
sofa davenport couch
lad boy
aubergine eggplant
cilantro coriander
permit allow
I know a man who speaks French A man I know speaks French
John bought the book from Mary Mary bought the book from John.
Word ???
polysemy The property a lexeme has when it has a number of closely related meanings. I go for a run every morning.
The bears are here for the salmon run.
There's been a run on the dollar.
ambiguity
(lexical case: = homonymy)
The property a linguistic form has it when it has two clearly distinct meanings (one form; two lexemes) The Israelites wandered for many years after their flight from Egypt.
John waited a long time at the airport for his flight from Egypt.
vagueness The property a linguistic form has it when it applies to a variety of situations, with the distinctiuons between them determined by context (one lexeme; multiple functions contextually determined) Cowell Mountain is little more than a hill a by Rocky Mountain standards.
The workmen left a hill of dirt in my backyard.
John is tall (for a basketball player).
Our publicist will attend. He/she .....
collocational
variation
A single meaning that seems to change forms based on words in context herd, pack, flock, coven, exaltation
strong (coffee, medicine), powerful (car)
antonymy The relation that holds between two words when they have opposite (?!) meanings. In the case of simple antonyms, the negation of one implies the other. A minimal condition on all antonyms A and B is that they are incompatible. Nothing can be both A and B at the same time.
hot cold gradable
tall short gradable
precise vague gradable
happy sad gradable (incompatible?)
dead alive simple
pass fail simple
forbid allow simple
inflate deflate reverse: B reverses A
wrap unwrap reverse
permit require dual: A = NOT B NOT
above below converse: x is A y implies y is B x
taller than shorter than converse
hyponymy Word A is a hyponym of word B if and only if the meaning of B is more general than the meaning of A dog, cat are hyponyms of animal
kestrel is a hyponym of hawk which is a hyponym of bird
meronymy Word A is a meronym of word B if and only if the meaning of A names a PART OF B finger is a meronym of hand
keel is a meronym of ship
taxonomic
sisterhood
Word A is a taxonomic sister of word B if and only if word A and word B are hyponyms of all the same words (sisters in a hyponymic hierarchy) Basic color terms are taxonomic sisters
dog, cat are not taxonomic sisters (canine, feline)
dog, cat are taxonomic sisters (if we stick to basic vocabulary)
adjective
inchoative
causative
The inchoative of an adjective is an intransitive verb for which x VERBs means y BECOME-ADJ; the causative is a transitive verb for which x VERBs y means x CAUSES y to BECOME ADJ
adj intran tran
cool cool cool
hot heat heat
full fill fill
dead die kill
?? rise raise
?? boil boil