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PRESENTED TO: Honorable Mr.Nazir Malik. .Muhammad Atif Rafiq-.Muhammad Zeeshan-.Gulraiz Qadir Gulfam-.Muhammad Kashif Shahbaz-.Muhammad Abu Bakkar-DEPARTMENT OF S.S&H. UNIVERSITY OF MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY, LAHORE.2

What is semantics?-------ATIF History of Semantics.-------ZEESHAN What is meant by Linguistic and Speakers meanings? & Theories of Meaning--------GULRAIZ Lexical Semantics.-----KASHIF Types of Sense Relations.----ABUBAKKAR

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Semantics is the study of meanings of words,

phrases and sentences.In

semantic analysis there is always an attempt to focus on what the words conventionally mean, rather than on what a speaker might want the words on a particular occasion.

George Yule

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It has also been of concern

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Many, if not all, philosophical problems can be

solved by the study of ordinary language.

For linguists logic is the most cherished area

of philosophy .

palmer

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Interest of AnthropologistsLanguage as an essential part of the cultural and

behavioral patterns of the people.

Interest of Semantists To study the kinship relations of many societies.

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Inception of psycholinguists Concerned with the process of production and

reception of language following behaviorists approach.

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Michel Bral (1883):

la smantique (meaning on the verbal level) widening of meaning narrowing of meaning Bral and Pierre de Coubertin (marathon 1896) Lady Welbys theory of Significs KorzybskisGen.SemTheor y more general and organismally fundamental.9

(Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913Cours de linguistique gnrale :1916 Langue and parole diachronic vs. synchronic study of language Substance and structure A theory of signs - Semiotics sign: signifiant + signifi

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Semantics

Grammar

Phonetics

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WORLD WAR 1

.Semantic was not respectable

1965 Added to Grammar

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It was noted earlier that semantics was first

used to refer to the change in meaning.Bloomfield an American Linguist in 1933 noted a

number of types, each given a traditional name.

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Narrowing-------meat--------food Widening--------bird---------nestling Metaphor--------bitter--------biting

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Metonymy (nearness in space or time) Jaw---------cheek Synecdoche (whole or part relation) Town------fence Stove------heated room Hyperbole (stronger to weaker meaning) Astound----------strike with thunder Litotes (weaker to stronger relation) Kill----------torment

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Degeneration Knave-------boy Elevation Knight-------boy

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MEANING ?

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Structurlists view not to deal with it

or Rely on it at all. Beauty Love Goodness

1,2,3 1,2,3 1,2,3

Meaning is variable and not to be taken for grantedLoretto Todd

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Linguistic Meaning Speakers Meaning

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For Example : Some of the basic components of a

word like needle in English might include thin sharp steel instrument.

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In

associative meaning you may have associations or connotations attached to a word, For example : like needle which lead you to

think of painful whenever you encounter the said word.This association is not treated as a conceptual

meaning of needle.

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When linguists investigate the meaning of

words in a language they are normally interested in characterizing the conceptual meaning and less concerned with the associative meaning of words. poets and advertisers are very interested in using

terms in such a way that their associative meanings are evoked. Generation Next24

For example: In the adv. of Pepsi

or in Zong adv. Sub Keh Do.

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Deals with the relation between Linguistic

expression and what it refers to.

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How does semantic approach help us to

understand the nature of language?

It might be helpful as a means of accounting for the

oddness which we experience when we read English sentences such as the follows:For example: 1- The hamburger ate the man. 2- My cat studied linguistics. 3- A table was listening to some music.

Above sentences are syntactically right but

semantically odd.

George Yule

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According to some basic syntactic rules for

forming English sentences we have well structured sentences. The hamburger ate the man NP V NP This sentence is syntactically good, but semantically odd.

Since the sentence The man ate the hamburger is perfectly acceptable.

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The kind of noun which can be subjects of the

verb ate must denote entities which are capable of eating.The noun hamburger does not have this property

and man has.

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Table Animate Human Male Adult -

Cow + -

Girl + + -

Woman + + +

Boy + + + -

Man + + + +

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The _______ is reading a book. Here the noun should be (+Human),

who qualifies reading.

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Words are not just a containers of meanings. They fulfill

different roles within the situation described by a sentence

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For example: If the situation is a simple event

such as The boy kicked the ball The verb kicked describes an action. The noun phrases The boy and the ball describe

the roles of entities such as people and things involved in the action.

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The entity that performs the action is technically known as agent. For example:

The boy kicked the ball. As in the sentence one role is taken by the boy

and the boy performs the action, so it is agent.George Yule

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Although agents are typically human, they

can also be non-human forces, machines or creatures.

For example: The wind blew the ball away. The car ran over the ball. The dog caught the ball.

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The entity that is involved in or affected

by the action is technically known as theme.

For example: The boy kicked the ball.

In this sentence ball is the theme

because it is affected by the action performed by the agent.George Yule

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The theme can also be an entity that is simply

being described. example, The ball was red.

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The theme can also be human. Indeed the

same physical entity can appear in two semantic roles.

For example: The boy kicked himself. Here boy is

agent and himself is theme.

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If an agent uses another entity in performing an

action, that other entity fills the instrument. For example: She hit the bug with the magazine.

role

of

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In writing with a pen or eating with a

spoon the phrases a pen and a spoon have the semantic role of instrument.

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When a noun phrase designates an entity

as a person who has a feeling, a perception or a state, it fills the role of Experiencer.

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If we see, know or enjoy something, we do

not perform any action. In this way we are in the role of Experiencer.

For

example: Did you enjoy that song?

The Experiencer is you and theme is that song.

George Yule

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When an entity is in the description of the

event then it fills the role of Location. (on the table, in the room etc). For example:

Mary saw a mosquito on the wall. In this sentence on the wall is location.

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Where an entity moves from is the Source and

where it moves to is the Goal. For example: When we talk about transferring

money from savings to checking, the source is savings and goal is checking.

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Words are not only the containers or

as fulfilling roles. They can also have relationships. We describe the meanings of words in terms of their relationships.

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For example meanings of word conceal might be same as hide. The meaning of shallow as the opposite of deep. meaning of daffodil as it is a kind of flower.

In doing so we are characterizing the meaning

of a word not in terms of component features, but in terms of relationship to other words.

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Sense Relations

Synonym y

Antonym y Homonym y

Hyponym y

Homophon y

Polysymy

Metonym y

CollocationGeorge Yule

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Sameness of meaning. Synonyms are two or more forms with same sense, which are often, but not always, intersubstitutable in sentences. For example: broad=wide, hide=conceal, almost=nearly, cab=taxi, liberty=freedom, answer=reply There is a degree of closeness in meaning. Strict and loose synonymy Synonymy like all sense relations is context

dependent.George Yule

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Synonymy is context dependent For example: Cathy had only one answer

correct in the test. Its near synonymy would reply would sound odd

Absolute synonymy i) Interchangeability in all contexts ii) Identity in both cognitive and emotive

import

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Inclusion of meaning When the meaning of one form is included in the meaning of another, the relationship is described as hyponym. For example: Daffodil= Flower, dog= animal, poodle= dog, carrot= vegetable, banyan= tree. For example: If any object is a daffodil, then it is necessary a flower, so the meaning of flower is included in the meaning of daffodil. Daffodil is hyponym of a flower. Inclusion of a more specific term in a more

general term. Taxonomies

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Division of lexical items to their component

parts is known as componential analysis. Lions and Tigers: wild animalness. Man woman child Bull cow calf Rooster hen chicken Drake duck duckling Stallion mare foal Ram ewe lamb

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Two forms with opposite meanings are called antonyms. For example: quick=slow, big=small, long=short, rich=poor, happy=sad, hot=cold, old=young, male=female, true=false, alive=dead. For example: quick=slow, big=small, long=short, rich=poor, happy=sad, hot=cold, old=young, male=female, true=false, alive=dead Oppositeness is of three types: i)Complementarity:

single: married and male: female

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Antonyms of this class are gradable e.g big

and small ,old and young, good and bad. The comparison may be explicit or implicit E.g our house is big OR our house is bigger than yours. Antonymy also depends upon context. Antonymy and complementarity

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Oppositeness that exist between words such

as buy and sell and husband and wife

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Homonyms are words which have quite separate

meanings, but which have accidentally come to have exactly the same form. Two or more meanings associated with the

same form. Bank: Bank of a river Bank: for the deposit of money Homonyms are separate entities. HOMOGRAPHY: Orthography is at variance with phonolgy Lead him away and lead of the phone.George Yule

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When two or more different written forms

have the same pronunciation, they are described as Homophones. For example: Bare Bear, Meat Meet, Flour Flower, Pail Pale,

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If a word has multiple meanings, that is called

polysemic. Relatedness of meaning accompanying identical form is technically known as polysemy. For example: The word head is used to refer to the object on the top of our body, on top of a glass of beer, on top of a company or department. Another word foot has multiple meanings such as foot of a person, of bed, of mountain etc. Difference between polysemy and homonymy?

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There is another type of relationship between

words based simply on a close connection in everyday experience. That close connection can be based on a container- contents relation (bottle- coke; can- juice), a whole- part relation (car- wheels; house- roof) or a representative- symbol relationship (kingcrown; The President- The White House).

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Frequently

occurring together is known as collocation. Words tend to occur with other words. For example: If you ask a thousand people what they think when you say hammer, more than half will say nail, if you say table they will mostly say chair and for butter- bread, for needle- thread, for salt- pepper. Some collocations are joined pairs of words such as salt and pepper or husband and wife.

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