Intro to EL, Lecture 8, PN 2018

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LEVELS Semantics


LEVELS • SEMANTICS • Greek – semantikos (having meaning) • meaning of words, phrases and clauses/ sentences • meaning related to linguistic units • strings of sounds (words) acquire specific meanings


LEVELS • the combinations of these strings also have meanings • meanings of units, combinations of meanings of these units, relations between meanings of units (e.g. the same or opposite meaning) • differences in meaning, ambiguities and semantic irregularities, e.g.


LEVELS • 1) She cannot bear children. • 2) His unmarried sister is married to a bachelor. • the notion of meaning difficult to define • philosophers, linguists – still some unsolved issues • meanings - ideas or concepts we relate to


LEVELS • linguistic units (words, phrases, sentences), phenomena from our reality • problems: • a) meaning of THE, FOR • b) vampire, unicorn • c) abstract notions (hate, worry etc.) • Several kinds of meanings:


LEVELS • A) lexical and grammatical • lexical - notions from our reality (objects, persons, ideas), • grammatical - gramatical categories (number, person, tense etc.) • often both meanings in words: • books – concept + plural • B) referential and emotive


LEVELS • referential: objective, without special attitude (father, mother) • emotive: special attitude, emotionally coloured (dad, mom) • C) concrete and abstract • concrete - specific, material objects (book, car) • abstract - ideas (beauty, success)


LEVELS • • • • • • •

D) literal and figurative literal: primary meaning figurative (metaphorical) developed from literal GLAVA, NECK E) denotation and connotation denotation: the concept denoted connotation: associations with the concept


LEVELS • roof - part of a house, protection Historical semantics – changes of meaning in time/language development a) narrowing/specialization (meat) b) widening/extension (bird) c) deterioration (knave) d) elevation (knight)


LEVEL • meaning is not stable, it changes in time • • • • •

borrowing: meaning sometimes changes e.g. meanings in Serbian of magistar (from Latin) majstor (from German) maestro (from Italian)


LEVEL • also: miting (rally, meeting) dres (dress, jersey) • • onomatopoeic words (iconic words) • MOO, MEOW


LEVELS • Semantics is divided into • A) lexical semantics (meanings of words, phrases) • B) sentential semantics (meanings of clauses/sentences) • meanings studied in the context


LEVELS • Lexical semantics • meanings of words/phrases and relations between the meanings of words • Semantic features • meanings of words not simple, but complex, may consist of several semantic components • tigress – kind of animal + female


LEVELS • meanings can be decomposed into semantic distinctive features, • e.g. +/- human, +/-adult, +/-male etc. • MAN GIRL • +human +human • +adult -adult • +male -male • componential analysis


LEVELS • not only nouns , also verbs (GIVE = make sb have, DARKEN = cause to become dark) • some other distinctive features: +/-motion (fall, walk, bring), +/-sense (see, hear, feel) • Semantic relations between words • meanings of specific words, but also


LEVELS • semantic relations between words • The most important semantic relations: • 1) homonymy and polysemy • homonyms: the same pronunciation, often written in the same way, different meaning Serbian: STO, KOSA • English: BANK


LEVELS • homographs and homophones • homographs: same pronunciation and spelling, different meaning (BAT) • homophones: same pronunciation, different spelling and meaning (TOO/TWO, FLOWER/ FLOUR) • if different meanings are related, derived


LEVELS • from the common basic meaning – polysemy (višeznačnost) • GLAVA, KRILO • NECK • 2) Synonymy and euphemisms • synonyms: same meaning, different form • no absolute synonyms – differences in


LEVELS • nuances of meaning, style, connotation, use • Serbian: IZVOR & VRELO, STID & SRAM, VATRA & OGANJ • English: HAPPY & GLAD, TRUCK & LORRY • Sometimes: common domestic + formal foreign, different context: • POKROVITELJ & SPONZOR, POSLUŽITI & SERVIRATI (JELO)


LEVELS • ANCESTRY & PEDIGREE • economy principle causes differentiation between synonyms • 2 words with the exactly the same meaning? • one word slowly disappears • e.g. ČASOVNIČAR & SAJDŽIJA • PRODAVNICA& DUĆAN


LEVELS also specialization: • DEEP&PROFOUND • MATURE & RIPE • Euphemisms • replacements for the words denoting unpleasant notions/associations (death, illness etc.)


LEVELS • POKOJNIK, ZAOBILAZITI ISTINU, SLOBODNA RADNA SNAGA (=nezaposleni) • PASS AWAY (= die) • THE UNDERPRIVILEGED (= the poor) • 3) ANTONYMY • words with the opposite meaning, e.g. short & tall, narrow & wide, buy & sell


LEVELS • a common feature, so not nice & tall • prefixes for antonyms: • able & unable, behave & misbehave • 3 kinds of antonyms: • A) gradable (gradacioni/stepenovani) • usually pairs of adjectives, opposite qualities:


LEVELS • big & small, young & old, good & bad • sometimes possible to grade that quality: • hot – warm – tepid – chilly – cold • negation of one member not the other member: not happy ≠ sad, not tall ≠ short


LEVELS • unmarked and marked member in these pairs • • unmarked member - more general, used in questions like How --- is he/she? • How tall is he/she? NOT How short is he/she? • B) complementary (dopunski)


LEVELS • • • •

usually adjectives, without gradation alive & dead, married & single negated member = the other member not alive → dead, not present → absent, not awake → asleep

• C) relational (relacioni) • specific opposite relations


LEVELS • prepositions: (above & below) • verbs (give & receive) • nouns (teacher & pupil, husband & wife)


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