SEMANTIC RELATIONSSEMANTICS 304

FIRST SEMESTER-121MS. SAHAR DEKNASH

SENSE RELATIONS

Semantic Relations

When we try to explain the meaning of a word, we sometimes rely on its referential association. Other times we tend to find associations between words to find a meaning for certain words. Therefore, The meaning of a word may be independent of its association with other words because its referential meaning is fully enough.

Semantic Relations

So, the meaning of a word needs not to depend on its association with other words. The referential theory of meaning defines the meaning of a word in terms of the referent of the word. The meaning of the word; ‘table’ is the object it refers. However, sometimes we need to search for sense relations between words because words are inter-related to each other in a way that the word itself may convey some different senses to other words.

Semantic Relations

Any native speaker of a language should have an adequate knowledge about the relationship among different words in their mental lexicon.

Words are semantically related to each other in different ways. The terms that ate used to describe these relations often end with the suffix –nym.

SEMANTIC RELATIONS

Antonym

The term antonym is used to describe oppositeness of meaning (Palmer, 1996: 94–95). It is the most useful tool of inter-lexical sense relations. Antonym is an example of inter-lexical sense relations in the sense that, it expresses a kind of relation that exists between words or sentences that are mutually contradictory (Kreidler Charles 1998:100). For example,

SEMANTIC RELATIONS

Words Opposite

On OffOld YoungWide NarrowBig Small

Male FemaleDead Alive

SEMANTIC RELATIONS

What is the minimum condition of oppositeness?

Charles Kreidler opines that two words are opposites if they are mutually contradictory. The idea of mutual contradiction also suggests the notion of mutual exclusiveness. Two words are mutually exclusive if they cannot be obtained together simultaneously. If someone is ‘dead’ then the person cannot be ‘alive’ and vice versa. Therefore, the two words ‘dead’ and ‘alive’ are opposites.

Types of Antonyms

1.Gradable antonyms or opposites: These are antonyms or opposites that are measure adjectives (Kreidler Charles: 1998:100). Examples of gradable antonyms are, ‘tall and short’, ‘long and short’, ‘high and low’, ‘hot and cold’, ‘big and small’ etc. Someone may say, the water is hot or the water is cold. In these two cases, ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ suggests the notion of measurement.

Types of Antonyms

These adjectives can be used with qualifiers like ( very, rather and quite), and it can be used with the comparative –er and the superlative –est degrees.

2. Morphologically related opposites: The morphologically related opposites are formed by the addition of negative prefixes like ‘un’, ‘in’, ‘ir’ and ‘im’ to theoriginal words. For example:Words Opposites (Prefixed Words)friendly unfriendlymarried unmarriedformal informalactive inactiveresponsible irresponsible

regular irregularpossible impossiblematerial immaterialThe inter-lexical related oppositeness of each pair is generated by the prefixes, ‘un’, ‘in’, ‘ir’ and ‘im’.

3. Non-gradable antonyms. Binary antonyms are opposites that both opposites cannot be obtained together. For example, pairs of words such as ‘on and off’, ‘dead and alive’, ‘asleep and awake’ are binary antonyms. old- young , narrow- wide , bitter-sweet are all examples of non-gradable antonyms.

4. Relational Antonyms:They are the opposites that display symmetry in their meaning.

If X gives Z, so Z receives Y from X.If X is Y’s empolyee, so Y is X’s employer.

If X is Y’s teacher, then Y is X’s Pupil.

Words ending in –er and –ee are convey relational opposites.

Synonymy:Synonymy in semantics is an inter-lexical sense relation. Synonymy is sameness of meaning . Synonymy has different aspects i.e. Cognitive, Descriptive and Near synonyms.I. Cognitive synonyms: are synonyms that are substitutable in any grammatically declarative sentence. An example of a pair of cognitive synonyms is ‘seaman’ and ‘sailor’. He is a Seaman and He is a Sailor are cognitively synonymous. Other pairs include ‘mailman and postman’, ‘buy and purchase’, ‘hard and difficult’ etc.

II. Descriptive synonyms: are synonyms that are used connotatively to express the speakers’ feelings towards what he or she describes. For example,

Faisal is thrifty and Faisal is economical.Khalid is a bachelor and Khalid is an unmarried man.

The orange is sour and the orange is rotten.

The pairs, thrifty and economical, sour and rotten, bachelor and unmarried man are descriptively synonymous.

III. Near-synonyms are expressions that appear similar, but not really identical in meaning because of the variations in their meaning. Examples of near-synonymy in English are ‘Mist and fog’, ‘stream and brook’. For instance, ‘stream’ and ‘brook’ appear similar in meaning but they are not really identical. ‘Brook’ is a small stream while ‘stream’ is a small river. The same explanation could be offered for ‘mist and fog’. ‘Fog’ is a thick cloud while ‘mist’ is a ‘thin fog’ .

HYPONYMY

Hyponymy involves the logical relationship of inclusion. For instance, the meaning of “animal” is included in the meaning of lion, goat, dog and so on. The term “animal” is the upper term known as the SUPERORDINATE while the lower term is called the HYPONYM.

Superordinate Terms Hyponyms

Reptiles lizards, geckos, snakes, chameleons, Crocodiles

Color blue, red, green, white, yellow Stationery books, biros, pencils, rulers

Flower tulip, rose,

MeronymyA term that is used to describe a part-whole relationship between lexical items. A has B means that B is part of A.

– A human has an arm– An arm has a hand.– A hand has a finger

So, ( arm, leg, body, elbow, hand, finger) are all meronyms of human. Cover, and page are meronyms of book, root and stem are meronyms of a plant.

Member-collection

This is a relationship between the word for a unit and the usual word for a collection of units. Word Collective word ship fleet tree forest fish shoal book library bird flock sheep herd

Portion-mass

A relationship between a mass noun and the usual unit of measurement or division.Ex. Drop of waterGrain of salt/sand/wheatSheet of paperLump of coalStrand of hair

Homonymy

A semantic relation that describes a word that has unrelated senses. There are two types of homonymy:

Homophones :when words have the same pronunciation regardless their spelling with different senses. wring ring Night knight Not knot

Homographs: words that have the same spelling regardless their pronunciation with different senses.

Polysemy: It is a word that is derived from the Greek word poly (many) and semia (related to meaning). A word or an expression that has multiple meanings that are related conceptually or historically. It is also called radiation or multiplication

Examples: diamond a. geometric shape b. baseball field

guard a. a person who guards b. a group of soldiers c. a person who is in charge of a train

bank a. financial institution b. side of the river

In Arabic we say:االندلس طارق فتح

الباب طارق فتح

Metonymy: A word that has been taken from the Greek word metonumia which means a change of name. It is used as a figure of speech when a concept is not called by its name, but the name it is intimately associated with.

Metonymy: Ex. 1. The word Crown is used for the king or royalty.

2. The white House refers to the US government.

3. 10 Dawning Street refers to the British government.

Metonymy: 4. Wall Street refers to American stock market.

5. Pentagon refer to US Ministry of Defense.

6. Kremlin refers to the Russian Government House.

Retronymy:Is a new name given for an object or concept to differentiate the original form or version of it from the more recent form or version. Much retronyms are driven by advances in technology.

Retronymy:Examples:* Acoustic guitar (coined after electric guitar)* Analogy watch (coined after digital watch)•Biological parent (adopted parent)•Hard copy ( soft copy)•Snail mail ( email)•Whole milk ( low- fat)

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