Semantics Continued

Semantic relationships

Maxims of Conversation

Semantic relationships

The semantic relationships we discuss here are:– Hyponymy– Synonymy– Antonymy

• Scalar/gradable pairs

– Homonym – Homograph

Hyponymy

X is a hyponym of Y if X is a subset of Y.For example, consider the two words “bird” and “parakeet”. – Tweety and Polly are parakeets.– The current set of parakeets contains these two

members. – The current set of bird contains at least these two

members, possibly others.– Parakeet is a subset of bird, so parakeet is a hyponym of bird.

Hyponymy

Hyponymy can be seen as the loss of specificity.

It involves moving from more specific to more general.

Synonymy

Two words are synonymous if they share the same meaning.

While it is difficult to find two exactly identical words, there are examples of synonyms in our everyday language:

Synonymy

– couch/sofa– dog/canine– quick/rapid– Etc.

There is no dog that is not a canine.

Every couch is also a sofa.

Antonymy

In its barest form, antonymy refers to the condition of being opposites.– Complementary/contradictory– Relational opposites/contraries– Scalar antonyms/gradable pairs

Antonymy

Complementary/contradictory pairs– Given X and Y, every entity in the world is

either in X’s set or in Y’s set, but never in both.

• married/unmarried• visible/invisible

Antonymy

Relational opposites / Contraries– Given X and Y, everything in the world is in

X’s set, in Y’s set, or in neither set, but never in both sets.

• over/under– An object can be over or under another, but never

both. It could also be NEXT TO another object.

• married/bachelor– A man can be married or a bachelor, but not both.

He could also be a divorcé or a widower.

Scalar/Gradable pairs

Scalar antonyms/Gradable pairs– Given X and Y, X and Y fulfill the

conditions for being relational opposites but in addition can be interpreted as endpoints on some scale.

• good/bad• hot/cold• strong/weak

– A good test for this kind of relationship is the potential use of the modifier “quite”.

Homonym

Lexical ambiguity

Different words pronounced the same and may or may not be spelled the same.– Tale/tail– Pen/pen

Homograph

Different words spelled identically, and possibly pronounced the same.– Pen/pen– Lead/lead

Pragmatics

“Want to see a movie tonight?”– “I have to study.”

“What do you want for your birthday?– “Well, my camera is broken…”

Maxims of Conversation

Quantity– Don’t say more or less than is required

Relevance– Be relevant

Manner– Avoid ambiguity, be brief and orderly

Quality – Be truthful