Lexical Semantics
Theories of word meaning
• “A word means an entity outside language
that it denotes (= refers to or stands for).” –
naming theory
a. King Sejong- proper names
b. dog, tree, boy, frog
However there are words that do not have
real-world referent.
c. (??) unicorn, dragon, Harry Potter
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Reference and sense
• Some words do not have reference (or
denotation) but have sense.
• There are words that have the same referent (=
are coreferential) but have different meaning.
• Sense has to do with the inherent meaning, i.e.
the notation that it evokes.
a. My neighbor is my neighbor. (tautology)
b. My neighbor is Prime Minister.
c. The morning star is the evening star.
(the morning star = the evening star = Venus)
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• Proposal: Meaning of a word is the
image that is conjured up in the
speakers’ mind.
• There are words that are meaningful but
do not have clear (mental) image.
(?) faith, hope, love, virtue
(?) or, not, entire, early, infer, work, but
Lexical relations
• How words are organized in the lexicon
• Word meaning can be characterized in
terms of its relationship to other words.
• examples
a. conceal means hide.
b. shallow means not deep.
c. daffodil is a kind of flower.
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Synonymy
Antonymy
Hyponymy
Homophones and homonyms
Polysemy
Metonymy
Collocation
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Synonymy
• The relationship of ‘sameness’ or
‘closeness’ in meaning
• Synonyms: words that have a very
closely related meaning
a. big/large, buy/purchase,
car/automobile, couch/sofa,
freedom/liberty, kingly/royal/regal
think/consider/ponder
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• Synonyms are not identical in meaning
or not interchangeable in every context.
a. Sandy had only one answer/?reply
right in the test.
b. It is cool/chilly in the room.
c. John looks cool/?chilly today.
d. My dad bought a big car.
e. My father purchased a large
automobile.
f. kill – murder – assassinate -massacre
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Antonymy
• the relationship of ‘oppositeness in
meaning’
• Antonyms: the words with opposite
meanings
• happy/sad, good/bad, many/few,
alive/dead, married/single, enter/exit,
dress/undress, give/take, sell/buy,
• Types of antonyms: gradable,
nongradable, reversive, converse
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Gradable antonyms:
opposites along a scale
• good/bad, big/small, old/young, high/low,
hot/cold
1. An elephant is bigger than the ant.
2. My car is not old. (≠ My car is new.)
3. How old are you?
cf. How young are you?
4. There were twice as many/*few boys as girls in
math class.
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Non-gradable (complementary)
antonyms
• alive/dead, signle/married, male/female
1. *John is very dead.
2. *John is more married than Ted.
3. My grandparents are not alive.
(= My grandparents are dead.)
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Relational antonyms
1.give/take, lend/borrow, buy/sell,
parent/child
2. employer/employee
interviewer/interviewee
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Hyponymy
• the ‘inclusion’ relationship
a. ‘Rose’ is a hyponym of ‘flower.’
(= a rose is a kind of flower.)
b. injury –stab, shoot, punch, slash
c. A rose is a flower.
d. ?A flower is a rose.
rose
flower
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Homophones and Homonyms
• Homonyms: words that have the same form
but unrelated meanings
bank (of a river) – bank (financial institution)
bat (flying creature) – bat (in baseball games)
배, 이상
• Homophones: words that have the same
pronunciation
bare/bear, flour/flower, right/write, to/two/too
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Polysemy
• An identical form has more than one
meaning and the meanings are related.
• Metaphorically extended meaning
• head - Definitions from Dictionary.com
• Homonymy and polysemy are not
categorically distinguished.
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Word play
a. Mary had a little lamb.
b. Mary had a little lamb, some rice and
vegetables.
c. Why are trees often mistaken for dogs?
Because of their bark.
d. Why is six afraid of 7?
Because 789.
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