The course introduces the basic concepts of meaning and characteristics of meaning, mainly focusing on the meaning of words word meaning and some sentence meanings.. In this topic, we wi
THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF ENGLISH DISCUSSION ENGLISH SEMANTICS TOPIC SENSE RELATIONS Group : 03 Class : 2305ENTH0911 Supervisor : PhD Nguyen Thi Thuy Chung Hanoi, 2/2023 MEMBER OF GROUP Presentation order Name Task Lê Thị Thúy Hiền Introduction, definition, conclusion Phùng Thị Hiền Groups of sense relations Lê Thị Hiền Types of sense relations Đinh Thị Hồng Some features Lưu Thanh Hiền Semantic fields Vũ Thị Thanh Hoài Entailment and the truth of sentences Score TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION CONTENT Sense relations 1.1 Definition 1.2 Groups of sense relations 1.2.1 Synonymic group 1.2.2 Antonymic group 1.3 Types of sense relations 1.3.1 Coordination 1.3.2 Superordination 1.4 Some features of hymonomy 1.4.1 The relation of hyponymy is often defined in terms of inclusion 1.4.2 Hyponymy relations makes substitution possible 1.4.3 Hyponymy is a transitive relation 1.4.4 Hyponymy is related to synonymy 1.4.5 Meronymy Semantic fields 2.1 Definition 2.2 Ways of grouping words 2.2.1 Thematically 2.2.2 Ideographically Entailment and the truth of sentences 3.1 Entailment 3.1.1 Definition 3.1.2 Types of entailment 3.2 The truth of sentences CONCLUSION 11 REFERENCES 12 INTRODUCTION English semantics is a subject of the linguistics group English (Linguistics) The course introduces the basic concepts of meaning and characteristics of meaning, mainly focusing on the meaning of words (word meaning) and some sentence meanings Whether or not the study of sense relations can provide a solid basis for the development of semantic theories (and there are good reasons for assuming they cannot), nevertheless the elaboration and discussion of such meaning relations can shed light on the nature of the problems we confront in providing such theories, not least in helping to illuminate features of meaning that are truly amenable to semantic analysis and those that remain mysterious In this topic, we will learn about Sense relations and discuss some issues related to it 1 CONTENT Sense relations 1.1 Definition According to Mathew (1997), sense relations refer to any relation between lexical units within the semantic system of a language This means that it has to be a relation in meaning between lexical units of a language It does not matter if this relation expresses some kinds of identity or non-identity Sense relation is relations of meaning between words, as expressed in synonym, hyponymy, and antonym Thus, sense relation can be seen from the similarity of meaning as in synonymy, the inclusion of meaning as in hyponymy, and oppositeness of meaning as in antonymy (Kreidler, 1998) Hence, sense relation can be defined as the relations between words or predicates in which a linguistic unit enters through being contrasted or substitutable in a particular environment with other similar units so as an individual lexical unit can be replaced by another 1.2 Groups of sense relations Cruse (2004) classifies sense relations into two classes: The first class discusses the sense relations between words whose meanings are similar or included in other ones The second class discusses the sense relations between words whose meaning are opposite or excluded from other words 1.2.1 Synonymic group This class discusses the sense relations between words whose meanings are similar or included in other ones, it includes the notions of synonyms, homonymy, and hyponymy a Synonym Richard and Schmidt (2002) define sense relations as a word which has the same sense, or nearly the same as another word These words have the same or nearly the same meaning but these words cannot be used in another context to bring the same sense The student speaks with a broad British accent The student speaks with a wide British accent Hence they have the same or nearly the same sense but not in the other contexts to mean the same However this kind of sense relation means words of the same meaning" (Leech, 1981) Synonym is a condition in which two lexemes or words have more or less the same lexical meaning This condition results from the contiguity or sameness in meaning between two lexemes or words b Homonomy Homonyms are generally defined as words different in meaning but either identical both in sound and spelling or identical only in sound or spelling Homonym's words are written the same way and sound alike but which have different meanings Our house is on the West bank of the river I want to save my money in the bank c Hyponomy According to Richard and Schmidt (2002) hyponymy is the relationship between two words in which the meaning of one of the word includes the meaning of other words For instance, this can be seen in the relationship between cat and animal, pigeon and bird, orchid and flower In these examples cat is said to be a hyponymy of animal, pigeon is said to be the hyponymy of bird, and orchid is said to be the hyponymy of flower Therefore, animal is said to be the super-ordinate (also called hyperonym) of cat Cat, dog, cow, donkey, and goat are animals on which the word animal is their super-ordinate 1.2.2 Antonymic group This is the sense relation whereby words are related by having opposite meaning According to Leech, (1981), antonymy is the standard technical term for opposite meaning between lexemes There are three types of antonyms (Cruse, 2004) a Polar antonyms This is the type of oppositeness which can be easily modified with degree modifiers such as very, rather, quite, slightly, extremely, and the like The essay is very long The test is quite easy His performance is not extremely bad b Equipollent antonyms This type of antonym refers to subjective sensation as hot - cold bitter - sweet, painful - pleasurable, or emotions as happy - sad, proud of - ashamed of c Overlapping Antonyms Document continues below Discover more from: ngôn ngữ khoa 2001 Trường Đại học… 140 documents Go to course AV 11 UNIT Global Warming khoa ngôn ngữ 100% (7) Group 18 Presupposition&… khoa ngôn ngữ 100% (5) Slide marketing 129 khoa ngôn ngữ 100% (3) Slide Lý thuyết dịch 60 - Good khoa ngôn ngữ 100% (2) ĐỀ-THI-VẤN-ĐÁP15 TIẾNG- Trung-1.4 khoa ngôn ngữ 100% (1) Ngữ âm học (B1&B2) 71 1029065 khoa ngôn Kind of an antonym whereby pairs have an evaluative polarity as part of their 100% (1) ngữ generally explains meaning as good – bad, cruel - kind and clever - dull Cruse (2004) the words which have opposite meaning hence t S quite meaningful connection to the definition given by Leech (1981) which is that antonym is the sense relation whereby words arc related by having opposite meaning By considering their idea, antonym concerns words or pairs of opposite meaning 1.3 Types of sense relations 1.3.1 Coordination a Substitutional (paradigmatic) Substitutional relations are those existing between members of the same grammatical category She is nice/cute/lovely -> Relations between nice/cute/lovely may be described as substitutional since they are interchangeable and belong to the same category of adjectives, their lexical meanings are not the same The weather is very hot today -> The adjective “hot” could be substituted with a synonym like “sweltering” or “scorching” without changing the overall meaning of the sentence Overall, substitution occurs in many different contexts and serves a variety of functions, such as reducing repetition and adding variety to language b Combinatorial (syntagmatic) Combinatorial relations normally hold between items of different grammatical categories, such as adjectives which co-occur with nouns Relations between “nice” and “woman” in “a nice woman” is combinatorial because we can not speak about interchangeability whatsoever in this case Rather, it is a case involving an adjective and a noun Another example of combinatorial is the way in which words can be combined to form sentences For example, the words “The cat” can be combined with the verb “is” and the adjective “hungry” to form the sentence “The cat is hungry” This combination of individual linguistic units follows the rules of English syntax and creates a meaningful sentence Overall, the combinatorial nature of language allows for an infinite variety of linguistic structures to be created from a finite set of linguistic units This ability to combine and recombine linguistic units is what allows us to create and understand complex language Note: A number of words tend to co-occur with others which are described as collocational (e.g: False/forged passport, To make friends, To commit a crime…) 1.3.2 Superordination a Hyponymy - Definition: Defined in terms of inclusion Hyponymy is the relationship between two words in which the meaning of one of the words includes the meaning of the other This relationship is “Asymmetrical” (hierarchical) relationship A example of hyponymy in semantics is the relationship between the words “dog” and “poodle” The word “poodle” is a hyponym of “dog” In other words, “poodle” is a more specific term that falls under the more general category of “dog” Another example of hyponymy is the relationship between the words “Lotus” and “flower” The word “Lotus” is a hyponym of “flower” Hyponymy is a fundamental aspect of language, and it allows speakers to communicate more efficiently and effectively by using more specific and precise language to convey their meaning b Meronymy - Definition: Defined as part-whole relation An example of meronymy is the relationship between the words “finger” and “hand” The word “finger” is a part of the larger whole of the “hand”, which means that “finger” is a meronym of “hand” Another example of meronyms is the relationship between the words “wheel” and “car” The word “wheel” is a part of the larger whole of the “car”, so “wheel” is a meronym of “car” Meronymy is a useful linguistic relationship that helps us describe complex concepts by breaking them down into their constituent parts It allows us to be more specific and precise in our language use and facilitates communication by providing a shared understanding of the relationships between words 1.4 Some features of hymonomy 1.4.1 The relation of hyponymy is often defined in terms of inclusion This relation can be exemplified by such pairs as "animal" and "tiger”, of which "tiger" is the hyponym of "animal" "Animal" is the superordinate 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 The sense of "tiger" includes the sense of "animal", not necessarily the other way round A tiger is an animal, but not every animal is a tiger "Tiger, bear, lion" are co - hyponyms of "animal" Other examples include " flower/ rose", "car / Mercedes", "color / red" 1.4.2 Hyponymy relations makes substitution possible The relation of Hyponymy reflects the point of view of intention and extension It means the term of Hyponym already involves both a wider meaning of the term of Hypernym and the specific meaning of itself (e.g‚ rose is a member of‚ flower; thus it has both general characteristics of a flower and individual one of a rose); therefore it is possible for them to exchangeable I bought a Honda yesterday The car is not expensive However, if an X is a Hyponym of Y, whether it is possible to say that: A small spoon is a kind of spoon A white shirt is a kind of shirt The answer is it is not because the terms ‚small spoon‛ and ‚white shirt‛ are respectively not exactly a kind of spoon and shirt It is only possible to say "a small spoon is a spoon or a white shirt is a shirt, although it is rather forced 1.4.3 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 For example, "cow" is a hyponym of "mammal" and "mammal" is a hyponym of "animal" Therefore , "cow" is a hyponym of "animal" 1.4.4 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 For example , "mercury" and "quicksilver" are hyponyms of each other , then they are synonyms It is observed that synonymy can be seen as a special case of hyponymy, symmetrical hyponymy 1.4.5 Meronymy Part - whole relation is another kind of sense relations , different from the hierarchical relationship of hyponymy This is exemplified by "arm", "eye", "hand", "head" An arm is not a kind of body like a rose is a kind of flower , but a part of our body Thus, a phrase like "arms and other kinds of body" is nonsensical There are various kinds of parts - whole lexical relations in language The part - the whole relation which holds between discrete referents is clearly transitive: If something X is part of something Y which is part of something Z, then X is described as part of Z For example, the "drive" is part of the "CPU", and the "CPU" is part of the "computer" Thus, in a sense, we can speak about "drive" as the part of the computer That would not speak about a computer with a drive Semantic fields 2.1 Definition The theory of semantic fields was first put forward by a number of German and Swiss scholars in the 1920s and 1930s such as Ipsen (1924), and notably Trier (1934) Trier’s theory is based on Saussure’s theory of language as a system of networks held together by differences, oppositions and values A semantic field is a set of words (or lexemes) which are related in meaning Semantic field is also known as a word field, lexical field, field of meaning, and semantic system (Nordquist, 2017) Semantic field more specifically is as a set of lexemes which covers a certain conceptual domain and which bear certain specifiable relations to one another (Lehrer (1985, cited in Nordquist, 2017) In order to clarify the meaning of semantic field and exemplify it, Nordquist (2017) states that “the words in a semantic field share a common semantic property Most often, fields are defined by subject matter, such as body parts, landforms, diseases, colours, foods, or kinship relations” (p.1) A lexical/semantic field is the organization of related words and expressions into a system which shows their relationships to one another A semantic field can be also be defined as “a set of words with identifiable semantic affinities” The semantic field of adjectives describing human emotional states: angry, sad, happy, afraid, etc 2.2 Ways of grouping words 2.2.1 Thematically Words of the same part of speech that cover the same conceptual field The words are associated because the things they name occur together and are closely connected in reality Terms of kinship: father, cousin, mother-in-law, uncle Names for parts of the human body: head, neck, arm, foot, thumb Colour terms: blue, green, yellow, red / scarlet, crimson, coral Military terms: lieutenant, captain, major, colonel, general 2.2.2 Ideographically Words of different parts of speech but thematically related Here words and expressions are classed not according to their lexicogrammatical meaning but strictly according to their signification Trade: to buy, to sell, to pay, to cost, a price, money, cash, a receipt, expensive etc Bird: penguin (noun), feather (noun), wings (noun), to fly (verb), etc Entailment and the truth of sentences 3.1 Entailment 3.1.1 Definition “Entailment” is a relationship that applies between two sentences, where the truth of one implies the truth of the other because of the meaning of the words involved John was killed entails John died Obviously, John died could not be true any time before it was true that John was killed An entailment is something that logically follows from what is asserted in the utterances Shirley: “It’s so sad George regrets getting Mary pregnant” Jean: “But he didn’t get her pregnant We know that now” In the above conversation Jean’s utterance of “he didn’t get her pregnant” actually entails “George didn’t get Mary pregnant” as a logical consequence “The entailment (a necessary consequence of what is said) is simply more powerful than the presupposition (an earlier assumption) Entailment are inferences that can be drawn solely from our knowledge about the semantic relationships in a language This knowledge allows us to communicate much more than we actually “say” 3.1.2 Types of entailment a One-way entailment The entailments of this first type come about because of hyponymic relations between words: “Chi saw a bear asymmetrically” entails “Chi saw an animals” If Chi saw a bear then she necessarily saw an animals, but if Chi saw an animal, she could have seen a bear but not necessarily It could be a big bad wolf, for example “Dung ate the pizza asymmetrically” entails “Dung did something to the pizza” Since the meaning something to is found in eat, the sentence Max ate the pizza asymmetrically entails Dung did something to the pizza; but if Dung did something to the pizza, he could have eaten it but not necessarily He could have baked or bought it, for example b Two way entailment The entailments between a pair of sentences are mutual since the truth of either sentence guarantees the truth of the other “Paul borrowed a car from Sue” symmetrically entails “Sue lent a car to Paul” “The police chased the burglar” symmetrically entails “The burglar was chased by the police” It is interesting to notice that hyponymic relations between words results in a great number of one-way entailments; paraphrases are two-way entailments; and relational pairs of antonyms such as sell-buy, lend-borrow, own-belong to, etc something to two-way entailments 3.2 The truth of sentences A contingently true sentence is one whose truth-value might have been, or might be, different in other circumstances (possible worlds) Let us consider the following sentence: - The Genever Agreement was signed in 1954 We can understand it because we can assign a certain meaning to the sentence: we know the meaning of the words that go into the makeup of the sentence But we not really know whether it is truth or false Our ability to recognize the falseness or truth of the sentence then depends on our knowledge of the sentence meaning and history of the world Another technical term for this type of truth is “synthetically true” Thus, part of the meaning of a sentence, then, is knowledge of its “truth conditions”, 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 We will know mention a limitation of the notion “analytic, synthetic” Remember that they are defined in terms of truth Indeed, some sentences are neither true or false like imperative and interrogative sentences Thus, they cannot be analytic or synthetic The other important point worth nothing is that in the real world, synthetic sentences are potentially more informative than the analytic counterparts We are more likely to come across sentences like “That man is tall” than “That man is male” or “That man is human” 10 CONCLUSION There is no way we can speak about structure without relation, and vice versa J Lyons (1995) offers a very accurate anology, a structure is like a web in which each strand is one such relationand each knot in a web is a different word or expression From time immemorial investigation of meanings has bore the hallmark of sense relations (e.g synonyms, antonyms, homonyms, etc.) However, we can say that a study of sense relations now assumes great significance in semantics in general and in structural semantics in particular Sense relations are one of important elements with regard to learning semantics, the study of language meaning The sense of a word can be understood from its similarity with other words On the other hand, it can also be learned from its oppositeness with other words 11 REFERENCES Nguyen Hoa, Hanoi National University Press (2004), Understanding English Semantics Boran, G (2018), Semantic fields and efl/esl teaching https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1259000.pdf Menik Winiharti, Sense relations in language learning https://media.neliti.com/media/publications/167019-EN-sense-relations-in-languagelearning.pdf 12 More from: khoa ngôn ngữ 2001 Trường Đại học… 140 documents Go to course AV 11 UNIT Global Warming khoa ngôn ngữ 100% (7) Group 18 Presupposition&… khoa ngôn ngữ 100% (5) Slide marketing 129 60 khoa ngôn ngữ 100% (3) Slide Lý thuyết dịch Good khoa ngôn ngữ 100% (2) More from: Lê Thúy Hiền 165 Trường Đại học… Discover more Nhóm - trách nhiệm 25 21 XH Honda Kinh doanh quốc tế None Nhóm - chiến lược KDQT Coca Cola Kinh doanh quốc tế None Recommended for you AIR AND Combustion 24 10 48 Chemistry 100% (6) MS1hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Korean 100% (4) 535298372 e Book Muscle Up by Saibov Physiquechimie 100% (3) Hist Essaay BCM Histoiregéographie 100% (1)