Lexical Semantics: Sense, Referent, Prototype 1. Semantics Lexical Semantics (word meaning) Sentential Semantics (phrasal, clausal meaning) 2. A word is different from its meaning The three phonemes in the word /tri/ are different from that thing growing outside with pine cones on it. That same thing can be denoted by other words, e.g., fir. That same thing can be denoted by other words in other languages: arbre, arbol, baum, tre, mti. That same word can denote other things such as the kind of thing men put into their shoes (a shoetree). 1
3. Sense and Reference: The two fundamental aspects of meaning Words are used in language in two basic ways: to refer to things and to express the sense of things: I want a tree just like John s tree. I want a tree, not a bush! Sense refers to general or category meaning and referent refers to a particular instance of that meaning. A dog barked (not a fox) : general meaning The dog barked (a particular known dog) Most words have both sense and reference A dog barked (not a fox) : although the general meaning is highlighted, there is still some particular dog which is barking The dog barked: although it is a known dog which is barking, that dog has the basic properties of all dogs But not all words have both sense and reference: 2
Reference but no sense: proper names (fixed reference), pronouns (variable reference) Sense but no reference: the noun one seems to have variable sense but no reference: I want a green one. Graphic representation word: denoted by writing it and underlining or italicizing it sense : denoted by giving it a label and enclosing the label in single quotes. NB: the label is just that: it is a name for the meaning, not the meaning itself, just as tree is not a tree. Convention I a straight line is used to link a word with its sense a curved line is used to link a word with its referent. Referents themselves are often identified with indices. Convention II a labelled directed arc is used for both see Fig. 71 (p. 191) in text 3
a horizontal dotted line separates a word from its sense and its referent. This horizontal line can be thought of as the separation between syntax and semantics. 4. Hyponymy The Greek preposition, hypo- under is the basis for the term hyponym, which means a more specific meaning. (-nym is the other part and means name.) E.g. fir is a hyponym of tree. Graphically, a triangle (with the apex and a line pointing to the hyponym) is used to associate a hyponym with its superordinate term. a hyponym isa its superordinate term a fir isa tree, a beagle isa dog Hyponym chains a fir isa tree isa plant a beagle isa dog isa mammal isa animal Hyponymy helps us relate a word s sense and its referent 4
a particular dog isa dog, so a referent is a hyponym of its sense in A dog barked, barked also has a referent: it is a particular instance of barking (which isa barking ) diagram on p. 191 (Fig. 71). A special case: Since hyponyms are (mostly) senses, not words, we can have words in which a hyponym and its superordinate sense are associated with the same word as in duck the species (not a goose) and duck the female of the species (not a drake), or the controversial two senses of man ( human being, male human being ). The commonest test for a hyponym (if A is a kind of B, then A is a hyponym of B) is nonsense here man is a kind of man, therefore man is a hyponym of man so have this more complicated test for hyponymy given: If every potential referent of A is also a potential referent of B, but not vice verse, then A is a hyponym of B 5
5. Anaphora words which derive their meaning from other words Anaphora of reference: pronouns Anaphora of sense: one tests for referents: if a word can be linked by anaphora to a pronoun such as he or it then it has a referent: My dog barked, and he went on all night the definite article the can be used to identify referents: A dog barked, and the noise went on all night tests for senses: if a word can have an anaphoric link with the pronoun one then it has a sense: A dog barked, and another one howled with verbs, use the adverb so: a dog barked, and so did a fox or use verb ellipsis (deletion under identity of sense): Her dog barked, and his did too By these tests, verbs have referents and proper nouns have no sense: 6
(i) John stole my bike. It was so unlike him. (ii) I saw Mary yesterday. I haven t seen her/!one for years. 6. Sense/reference and morphology lexemes have sense, inflections have reference In Some dogs barked the plural inflection changes the referent from a single dog to a number of them but doesn t change the sense of DOG the past-tense inflection changes the time reference from now to before now but doesn t change the sense of BARK See Fig. 72 on p. 192 for diagrams 7. Prototypes What is a sense really like? So far we have just given senses labels such as tree and connections to words. What does a tree look like in our minds? On a piece of paper, draw an image of the tree you see in mind. 7
Note that what a tree is can be said to have 2 components: an image and a collection of facts or propositions (a tree has a trunk, a tree has leaves, a tree has x height, a tree has a relation of leafy part to bare part of y to z, the shape of a tree s branches and leaves is round or ellipsoid, etc.) What about losing its leaves? Does a typical tree lose its leaves? Let s start with something we can be sure is essential such as having a trunk: A maple tree is a tree, so it has a trunk.!a maple tree is a tree, so it doesn t have a trunk. A maple tree is a tree, but it doesn t have a trunk.!a maple tree is a tree, but it has a trunk. (Note that the actual truth or falsity of these sentences is irrelevant we know that maples do have trunks, but that doesn t prevent the 3rd sentence from making a certain sense and the 4th from being nonsense.) Now let s test the typicality of losing leaves: A maple tree is a tree, so it loses its leaves.!a maple tree is a tree, so it doesn t lose its leaves. 8
A maple tree is a tree, but it doesn t lose its leaves.!a maple tree is a tree, but it loses it leaves. And now with a tree which actually doesn t lose its leaves. A Douglas fir is a tree, so it loses its leaves.!a Douglas fir is a tree, so it doesn t lose its leaves. A Douglas fir is a tree, but it doesn t lose its leaves.!a Douglas fir is a tree, but it loses it leaves. (For me, I think, at least as I write this on 22.11.09, that losing leaves is typical, but maybe we won t all feel this way and maybe even I won t feel this way on Jan 6, 2010) Formal definitions for these tests we ve been using: The so test for typical characteristics: If a concept allows so X, the X is typical for that concept. The but test for untypicality: If a concept allows but X, then X is not typical for that concept. 9
8. Brief summary: Lexical semantics & sentential semantics Words & Meanings Senses & Referents Hyponymy Hyponym chain Anaphora Sense/Reference & Morphology Prototypes 10