LexSemWF

Question 1

Define lexicology

Answer 1

-The study of words and their meaning
-An integral part of any theory of language
o The conception of language is tripartite – describing separately the sounds, the grammar and the meaning
-Studies total word-stock = ‘lexicon’, ‘lexis’, ‘vocabulary’
-Studies both individual words and the vocabulary as a whole
-The study of words must be done in relation to other levels of language description

Question 2

What is lexicography?

Answer 2

-Lexicography = making of dictionaries – pragmatic study applying the principles of lexicology for a purpose determined by the intended use of the dictionary by non-linguistic factors

Question 3

Vocabulary

Answer 3

perhaps a more important tool of communication than grammar, but it is a relatively infrequent object of systematic study

Question 4

With what the LExicology deals?

Answer 4

oThe size and structure of the vocabulary
oThe link with extra-linguistic knowledge
oThe centre and the periphery of the lexical system and its subsystems
oThe synchronic vs. The diachronic approach
oThe contact areas with morphology and word-formation
oThe notions of ‘word’ and ‘language unit’
oThe concept-forming power of the word (a more abstract level)

Question 5

What is lexicon?

Answer 5

● lexicon contains systems of lexical items which are interrelated and in which the meaning of each individual word depends on its opposition to other items in the set

Question 6

What is semasiology?

Answer 6

The study of meaning involves semasiology, onomasiology, semantics, semiotics, pragmatics
-Semasiology preceeds from word to concept (dictionaries are semasiological works)

Question 7

What is onomasiology?

Answer 7

The study of meaning involves semasiology, onomasiology, semantics, semiotics, pragmatics
-Onomasiology – proceeds from concept to word (this approach found in thesauruses)

Question 8

What is semantics?

Answer 8

The study of meaning involves semasiology, onomasiology, semantics, semiotics, pragmatics
-Semantics (more or less synonymous with semasiology) – implies the study of meaning

Question 9

What is semiotics?

Answer 9

The study of meaning involves semasiology, onomasiology, semantics, semiotics, pragmatics
-Semiotics – the study of signs, both verbal and nonverbal (body language, ie. Gestures and facial expressions) = semiology coined by saussure

Question 10

What is pragmatics?

Answer 10

The study of meaning involves semasiology, onomasiology, semantics, semiotics, pragmatics
-Pragmatics – the study of the relation between the language sign and its user (sometimes ‘sociopragmatics’)

Question 11

What is lexical unit?

Answer 11

-basic unit of lexical semantics
o Single form, single meaning
o Each lexical unit must be a semantic constituent – must have a meaning
o Each lexical unit must be at least one word (no suffix nor prefix can be a lu)
 Er = linguistic sign, but not a lexical unit, no word, just a morpheme
 Kick a bucket – in this expression, bucket is not a lexical unit either – the idiom functions as a single unit, cannot be separated

-Lexical unit is not word, – word in general is a confusing term difficult to define - lexicologists prefer lexical units – basic units of lexical semantics
-Different concepts of word
-Ideal case – 1 form, 1 meaning

Question 12

What is ambiguity?

Answer 12

• Only context can help us deduce the meaning in some cases
• We should never study lexical units in isolation

Question 13

Paradigmatic relations

Answer 13

• Saussure
• Concerns relations at the level of the system
• Substitutional relationship, concerns signs that could replace it in its position
• Pr are based on
  o A common base (teacher-teaching)
  o A common affix
  o A common conceptual field- all works concerning education
• Pr operate
  o At the level of sounds in a language,
   Contrast with one another on the basis of a single sound
• E.g. Back, bag and bat, fat, mat
  o On the lexical level
   The paradigmatic contrast
• Indicates which words belong to the same word class (part of speech) so that they can fill the same slot in the sentence pattern
• E.g. He walked/went/ran/rushed/strolled across the road
  o Stroll, rush, walk, run, etc.
   Though all these verbs imply ‘going’,
• Stroll implies ‘going slowly’, that is ‘walking’,
• Rush implies ‘going fast’, that is ‘running’.
   So the pairs walk/stroll and run/rush are incompatible.
• Paradigmatic substitutions
  o Allow items from a word set (semantic set) to be grouped together.
• Types of paradigmatic relations
  o Homonymy
  o Polysemy
  o Synonymy
  o Antonymy
  o Hyponymy/hyperonymy

Question 14

Syntagmatic relations

Answer 14

• Based on syntagma introduced by saussure
• Expresses relation between sentence members/lexical units functioning at the sentence level
• Signs in linear sequence
• On the level of sounds
  o Reveal which combinations are possible word beginnings in english
   (str- spr- yes, stl- not)
• On the semantic level
  o Syntagmatic associations indicate compatible combination
   The sun rose rather than the sun spoke
   Pale moon rather than black-and-white moon.

Question 15

Sememe

Answer 15

– meaning of a lexical unit
 Decomposes into semes/semantic components

Question 16

Lexeme

Answer 16

conceived as a combination of all the related meanings attached to a particular form

Question 17

Polysemous unit

Answer 17

single form representing all the related meanings

Question 18

• What is crucial in understanding individual sentences?

Answer 18

o Knowing the meaning of the lexical units
o Grammar, grammatical rules (word order…)
o Context

Question 19

Principle of composionality

Answer 19

-Meaning of a composite expression is a function of the meanings of its component expressions
-Any constituent part of a sentence that bear a meaning which combines with the meanings of other constituents to give the overall meaning of the sentence is a semantic constituent
o This means that it’s not only single lexical unit which can be considered a semantic constituent, it can be a combination of semantic units
 E.g. The cat on a mat
* The cat is a semantic constituent - part of a sentence which contributes to its interpretation
* On the mat another semantic constituent
* Single lexical unit is a minimal semantic constituent but there are larger semantic constituents
-Poc is a reliable semantic criterion (words&phrases)
-Poc works for phrases and sentences for the syntactic level
* The meaning of a sentence/phrase is a genuine combination of the meaning of its words
-This principle of compositionality can´t be applied to words to lexical units either divide words or compound words because each such result of word formation is a shortcut
o E.g. Blackboard – as a compound unlike black board cannot be interpreted on the principle of compositionality
 Bc. Blackboard - an instrument in classroom used on a wall, but not all blackboards are black
 We only identify motivating constituents black+board represent the whole class of words
 Black board phrase
* A board that is black
* We get the meaning by means of principle of compositionality
- If you can´t apply principle of compositionality
o You can safely say you are dealing with a word
- If the principle of compositionality works
o You are dealing with phrases, syntagma, sentences
- POC can’t be applied to idioms
o To kick the bucket = to die
 To die – cannot be inferred from the meanings from its parts
 The individual constituents of the idiom are devoid of their meaning (no meaning of their own)

Question 20

Word

Answer 20

↳ -various definitions but as a semantic entity
- it is a linguistic unit of single meaning, believed to convey one complete thought

Question 21

Influence of context on interpretation of lexical units

Answer 21

• 2 situations
• We finally reached the bank – ambiguous sentence – financial institution/river bank

Question 22

Selection by means of context

Answer 22

o Different reasons for ambiguity – homonymy in this case
o Chicken is ready to eat – the structure of the sentence causes ambiguity
o Flying planes can be dangerous – structure again

Question 23

Semantic transparency

Answer 23

• Bolinger – introduces the terms transparency and opaqueness
  o E.g. Gettable is more transparent than accessible
• The degree to which the meaning of a word or phrase can be easily understood or deduced from its individual components or parts.
• In other words, it refers to the extent to which the meaning of a compound word or a phrase can be transparently derived from the meanings of its constituent elements.
• The compound word “lighthouse” is semantically transparent because its meaning can be inferred from its components: “light” and “house.” a lighthouse is a structure that contains a light used to guide ships.
• The word “butterfly” is semantically opaque because its meaning cannot be derived from the individual meanings of “butter” and “fly.” the term “butterfly” refers to a specific type of insect and has no direct connection to butter or flying.

Question 24

Where is semantic transparency present?

Answer 24

• Idioms - scale of idiomaticity – scale for transparency based on principle of compositionality
  o Semantic transparency
  o Opaque expressions – opacity
   Ladybird
• Opaque but not totally opaque
• Bird suggests that the object can fly…at least some degree of transparency
   Red herring = false clue
• Totally opaque
• Clipping
• Principle of the economy (economy of articulatory effort) and transparency (semantic transparency)

Question 25

Principle of language economy

Answer 25

– existing synonyms should be differentiated in meanings or senses

Question 26

Idioms

Answer 26

-An expression whose meaning cannot be inferred from the meanings of its parts -The principle of compositionality – we suggested that the principle of compositionality is based on adding up the meanings of the constituent parts to get the overall meaning o To kick the bucket = to die o To die – cannot be inferred from the meanings from its parts o The individual constituents of the idiom are devoid of their meaning (no meaning of their own) -Idioms function as a single semantic unit -Idiom as a whole is a single semantic constituent -Idiom is a lexical complex which is semantically simplex o Lexical complex = consists of several lexical elements o Semantically simplex = carries single meaning -Idioms – idiomaticity – a matter of a degree -Scale of idiomaticity – scale for transparency based on principle of compositionality o Semantic transparency o Opaque expressions – opacity Ladybird Opaque but not totally opaque Bird suggests that the object can fly...at least some degree of transparency Red herring = false clue Totally opaque -Irreversible binominals (neznam co to) o Expressions usually consisting of two nouns, 2 constituents and the order of the constituents cannot be changed - change of order destroys the meaning o Fish and chips – special type of dish...chips and fish can be anything (any sort of fish, any serving...violating basic meaning)  Opaque to a certain degree – cannot get the way of serving dish, etc.

Question 27

Collocations

Answer 27

- Can be analysed as location and co (co = coexistence, cooccurrence) - 2 constituents that frequently/typically cooccur - Strong bond between the constituents due to frequent cooccurrence Light drizzle, fine weather, high winds... - Principle of compositionality can be applied to this type of lexical units

Question 28

Collocational ranges

Answer 28

o Peculiar to each word, o E.g. Disease and illness are very close in meaning, and yet catch a disease is acceptable and *catch an illness is not  No two words share exactly the same range and frequency of occurrences within a range

Question 29

Habitual collocations

Answer 29

o Clichés – languages may differ, e.g. ‘smiling sun’ is much more frequent in czech than in english

Question 30

Semantic cohesion

Answer 30

o Sometimes the bond can be strengthened – semantic cohesion – the link is very strong between the constituents – two situations  One situation: one of the words is not used in its core meaning * Heavy drinker (heavy not in its core meaning, rather meaning of high consumption)  If one constituent can only be used with one word, the bond is very strong * To foot the bill – to pay the bill...only used in this context, cannot use i will foot it

Question 31

LExical relations

Answer 31

- Lexicology is concerned with structures in the system of lexemes, which are of twofold nature o Internal  Morphologically complex (compounds, suffixations, prefixations) and simple o External  Syntagmatic and paradigmatic

Question 32

Logical relations

Answer 32

-4 types based on relation between 2 sets of elements: o Identity – if the 2 sets share the same elements/same meaning  Lexical relation – synonymy o Inclusion – if one set of elements is a part of a larger set of elements/the meaning is included in a broader meaning of another lu  Lexical relation – hyponymy/hyperonymy o Overlap – if the 2 sets share certain elements but they also have some other elements,  Lexical relation – polysemy, antonymy o Disjunction – if the two sets share no element, have no element in common  Lexical relation – homonymy, antonymy -Logical relations enable us to identify individual lexical relations – talking about the meaning

Question 33

Quasi-relations

Answer 33

-Relations that are idiosyncratic o Dog – animal o Cat – animal  If it is a dog/cat - it is an animal But o Knife – cutlery  Doesn’t work, knife is not a cutlery  Cutlery includes more - doesn’t exist for a single lexical unit but for a group of lexical units o Fork, spoon, knife – cutlery = quasi-relation o Red, green – colours  Colour – excludes 2 colours – black, white

Question 34

Synonymy

Answer 34

-Onomasiological approach -Situation in which 2 lexical units have identical meaning -But, in language, it doesn’t make sense to have multiple lexical units with identical meaning – huge number of lexical units, impossible to remember, not economical -Synonymous relations link words from different lexical strata (standard, dialect, informal) o But many lexicologists disregard this kind of synonymy and regard  Dialectal synonyms (valley - dale)  Standard - slang synonyms (gir/ - bird)  Synonyms from two standards (sidewalk/pavement?) (tautonyms)

Question 35

Absolute synonymy

Answer 35

- Not good - Not many absolute synonyms - 2 lexical units can be replaceable in every possible context without destroying or even modifying the meaning - Agree in denotation, distribution and connotation - Usually avoided, disadvantageous – avoid synonymy principle - Matter of competition – darwinian principle – the fittest wins - One unit is eliminated or one of the lexical units finds its specific niche – finds a specific use while the other one is more general

Question 36

English – rich in borrowings

Answer 36

- Not only the lexical unit that was taken over, also suffixes – now 2 suffixes, one home, the other borrowed - One became more productive – more dominant - The other may have ceased to be productive; or acquired a new meaning

Question 37

Cognitive synonymy

Answer 37

-Refers to lexical units which share the basic denotative meaning, but they differ in connotation -Connotation – may refer to opposition between formal and informal language, differ in register, literal language vs slang o Father – daddy o Rich vs wealthy o Go on – continue

Question 38

Synonyms vs variants

Answer 38

- Spelling variants – gray/grey - Pronunciation variants – direction/direction - Morphological variants – eg.: words with the prefix a-: wait - await, wake - awake; - Nominal vs verbal constructions – smoke/have a smoke, laugh/have a laugh - Doublets due to conversion – laughter/laugh, reading/read - Paraphrases – aptitude/natural ability

Question 39

Synonyms in phraseology

Answer 39

-There are phrases in which one element (the verb or noun) can be replaced by a certain synonym and the meaning of the phrase remains unchanged o Beat around/about the bush o Don’t give a damn/a hang

Question 40

Close synonyms differing in one seme

Answer 40

-Jump - leap: o Both mean ‘movement away from the surface and change in vertical position’, but leap in addition to that contains the seme ‘change in horizontal position’

Question 41

Synonyms differing in intensity

Answer 41

-Greater intensity is often accompanied by expressive or stylistic connotations o Break - smash; cry — shout, scream, screech

Question 42

Semantic co-occurrence restrictions

Answer 42

-Every lexical unit has certain restrictions in its use -Cannot say – table worked all day – table = inanimate -To die: animate: human, animal, plant -To kick the bucket – cannot be used with plants or animals, just humans – no logical reasons -Selectional restrictions – have logical justification -Collocational restrictions – restriction without logical justification o E.g. Idioms

Question 43

Polysemy

Answer 43

-Based on lexemes with related meanings o E.g. Fox, football -Sometimes, revealed by antonymy o Man vs woman, man vs boy, man vs animal – 3 different meanings of man (male, adult, human) -Economic principle – one form – many meanings -Single meaning-single form – semantic transparency - doesn’t contribute -Communication process is difficult -A special case of polysemy o When one sense is general and the other specific  E.g. Cat as the beast of pre * So that the term includes tiger, lion, panther  Cat as the common cat * A pet animal which includes various breed

Question 44

Homonymy

Answer 44

- One form represents two different lexemes - Nothing in common, absolute disjunction - Mostly one-syllable words - Homonyms differ in declination and conjugation (lie-lie:different past tense forms) - Identical form, unrelated meanings

Question 45

3 types of homonyms

Answer 45

o Homographs lead vs lead o Homophones sun vs son o Full homonyms bat vs bat -Sometimes, etymology (origin) is taken into consideration o Ear – organ of hearing as well as head of corn  Became full homonyms in the course of history, didn’t used to be full homonyms o Flower vs flour – from etymological point of view  2 meanings of a single polysemous word – used to have an identical form

Question 46

Antonymy

Answer 46

- Opposite meaning - Contradictory – complementary, inversion - Contrary – gradable, negation of one does not imply the other

Question 47

Full antonyms/complementary

Answer 47

- Admit only 2 options - Not gradable - Negation of one implies the other o Dead – alive

Question 48

Graded antonyms/antonymy in narrow sense

Answer 48

-Scales of antonymy -Gradable -Negation of one doesn’t necessarily imply the other -Degree/scale o Cold – warm  Several other degrees – lukewarm, icy, hot...all share a particular feature

Question 49

Converseness

Answer 49

- Identified by implication – directional implication - Not gradable - Negation of one doesn’t imply the other - Teacher vs student - John is peter’s student implies that peter is john’s teacher

Question 50

Directional opposition

Answer 50

- Based on the notion of contrary motion - Up-down, come-go

Question 51

Non-binary

Answer 51

- Scales, cycles, ranks

Question 52

Scales

Answer 52

-No absolute value but the value is shown by comparison o Boiling hot, hot, warm, tepid, cold, ice-cold form a scale

Question 53

Lexical field=lexical configuration

Answer 53

- Theoretical foundations on lexical field laid by german linguist weisgerber, but it is john trier who is considered the founder of theory of lexical field

Question 54

John trier

Answer 54

-John trier – founder of the theory of lexical field o 1931 – fundamental work german word-stock in conceptual field of reason the history of language field o Formulates theoretical principles of field theory and examines how the terminology for mental properties developed from the beginning of the 13th century – development of words belonging to a particular field of human knowledge and how it is reflected in language and how it develops – diachronic point of view (how relations can change) o Word should not be considered in isolation – first to treat word in interrelations o You cannot identify objectively the meaning of a word without taking into consideration all the words that are related to it semantically o His understanding of lexical field – mosaic – means that if you take all the words from the lexical field, they are related but the individual words fit the scheme of the mosaic – the borderlines between individual words are in his view clearly identifiable -Trier – field in reference to a collection of semantically related words that mutually determine each other's value

Question 55

LExical field according to Trier

Answer 55

-Trier – structuralist – reflected in his conception of lexical field o Lexical field = system which is internally structured, and the individual units of this structure are interrelated o Structural system of units that are interrelated

Question 56

Criticism of trier

Answer 56

-His theory faced criticism – 2 points o 1st point – metaphor of mosaic – metaphor suggests that the mosaic covers the whole lexical field – suggest that all the individual possible positions in the system are filled, no gaps – not true – there are gaps in all lexical fields – the gaps can be potentially filled, but this depends on extralinguistic factors (is there something that requires such a name? Does the speech community consider the naming process relevant/useful?) - lehrer o 2nd point – delineation of its internal structure – the words in the field are separated by means of sharp lines – matter of borderlines between the meanings of the individual words  Trier – lexical fields consisting of compartments separated from each other, each compartment has a well-defined meaning  Situation in language is different – the meanings of words overlap, there is no strict borderline in the meanings of semantically related words – fuzzy meaning - Terminology varies – lexical field/semantic field/word field - One linguist – 2 fields – conceptual field and lexical field - Selection of the term depends on what you wish to emphasize -Lexical field concerns paradigmatic relations, but the lexical items are related also syntagmatically -Semantic co-occurrence restrictions which depend on the semantics – no lexical unit can be combined with any lexical units – the meaning restricts the combinability with other lexical units o You shall know a word by a company it keeps – firth

Question 57

Lexical configuration based on hyperonymy/hyponymy

Answer 57

-One type of lexical field – lexical configuration based on hyperonymy/hyponymy relations – relations of superordination and subordination – can be represented as unidirectional implications o Mammal – hyponym of animal o Animal – hyperonym of mammal o Hyperonym – broader meaning o Hyponym – more narrow meaning o Animal is supraordinate to a subordinate mammal thanks to its more general meaning o Unidirectional implications – hyperonym is implied by its hyponym...but hyponym is not implied by hyperonym

Question 58

Non/branching

Answer 58

-Lexical configurations – branching and non-branching o Lexical field/configuration of animals – animal branches into mammal, mammal branches into a large number of mammals...for example dog than branches further... Multilevel hierarchy with the most specific meanings at the bottom and the most general meaning at the top o Particular lexical unit functions both as hyperonym and hyponym o Lexical configuration – hierarchical structured system o Non-branching example – hierarchy based on the complexity

Question 59

BRanching configurations-2 principles

Answer 59

-2 basic principles control constitution of such branching configuration o Principle of dominance – reflects the principle of superordination and subordination  More general lexical unit dominates the more specific lexical unit o Principle of difference – lexical units at the same level of hierarchy must differ in at least one feature (semantic feature)

Question 60

In/transitivity

Answer 60

-Another aspect of lexical relations – transitivity/intransitivity o Transitive: if a:b and b:c – a:c o If john is taller than peter and peter is taller than james – john is taller than james o 2 same relations – if the same relation can be transferred to a and c – transitive o Intransitive o If john is father of peter and peter is father of james, john is father of james - doesn’t work o If this doesn’t work – intransitive

Question 61

Proportional series

Answer 61

-Special kind of lexical relation – proportional series – picture o Relations between elements must be such that from any three elements the fourth one can be determined o Male and stallion – same relation as ewe and ram – relation based on gender o If such a relation can be extended = extendable proportional series o Extend it horizontally by adding the young o Extended vertically by adding other animals with the same relation

Question 62

Lexical relations

Answer 62

-Lexicology is concerned with structures in the system of lexemes, which are of twofold nature: Internal-Morphologically complex (compunds, suffixiation) and simple External-syntagmatic and paradigmatic

Question 63

- What is a semantic trait and what is its status

Answer 63

o Semantic trait – a particular feature of an object represented by a lexical unit o Status – the degree of significance of lexical trait regarding the definition of the meaning of a lexical unit