Eleventh Session: 16.01.2007

Summary of the session: *-*

Homework: *-*

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• This session is dedicated to the forth component of the lexical information up to now. It revises our knowledge about dictionary definitions and adds something more to it. It is about semantics and a little bit about pragmatics.

• internal structure of words – morphology

• external structure of words – syntax

• SEMANTICS: THE STUDY OF MEANING

  • There cannot be a form without a meaning and a meaning without a form

  • There are different kinds of definitions: semasiological definitions (in a semasiological dictionary) and onomasiological definitions (in a onomasiological dictionary)

• MAIN TYPES OF DEFINITION – REVISION

  • Componential definition: it splits the meaning of a lexical item into components; it is a SDD by genus proximum and differentia specifica

  • Syntagmatic definition (in a larger context): 1. contextual definition 2. definition by text examples – in a semasiological dictionary

  • Paradigmatic definition (of similarity and difference): 1. word fields (e.g. in a thesaurus, synonym dictionary) 2. semantic relations (hyponyms, hyperonyms; co-hyponym: synonyms, antonyms) – in a onomasiological dictionary

• ANALYZING A CORPUS

• A text about poodles is given and a task on it:

Semantic decomposition:

Define definition - it is a form of words which states the meaning of a term. There are different type of definitions.

Select a small number of words from these texts, and provide definitions for them:

poodle – a dog with a haircut

coat – the fur, wool, or hair that covers an animal"s body

breed – a type of animal that is kept for a pet or on a farm

Imagine the meaning of the word "bread" is composed of lots of little bits of meaning. List these bits of meaning:

bread:

1. a type of food

2. it is made from flour and water

3. it is prepared by frying dough

4. it is made in a bakery

5. etymology – from old English

6. contextual definition: Would you like some bread with your soup?/a slice of bread

Semantic relations – select a small number of words from these texts, and find antonyms for them:

popular vs. unpopular, undemocratic

big vs. small, little

deliberately vs. accidentally

hygienic vs. unsanitary

poodle vs. terrier (as two hyponyms of one and the same hyperonym)

Semantic fields – sets of related words:

1. poodle, dog, pet

2. hybrid, experimentation, hygienic

3. breed, cross hybrid

• MICROSTRUCTURE: revision

  • Properties of lexical entries: types of lexical information or lexical data categories (DATCATS)

  • Properties of words as lexical items: 1. Modality/Appearance – orthographic, phonemic; 2. Structure – internal (morphology) and external (syntactic context) 3. Meaning (SDD or paradigmatic relations/word fields)

  • Model of types of lexical information: 1. Modality – appearance, rendering; 2. Structure – organisation, syntax; 3. Meaning – content (semantics, pragmatics)

• MICROSTRUCTURE INFORMATION TYPES:

• Lexical semantics: Components and Word fields, relations

• SDD:

  • X is a Y kind of Z

  • Definitio per genus proximum et differentia specifica:

    • definition by nearest kind and specific differences

    • definition: definiendum and definiens

    • definiendum: the word to be defined

    • definiens: 1. genus proximum + differentia specifica; 2. a list of examples 3. a pointer to a text corpus 4. a model (a picture) 5. a real example

• COMPONENTS OF A DEFINITION:

  • genus proximum or superordinate term or hyperonym

  • differentia specifica

  • definiendum or the hyponym or the subordinate term

  • They could be put together in a taxonomy.

• Semantic relations (Summary):

  • Taxonomy (generalization-specialization relations, paradigmatic relations): 1. hyperonyms; 2. hyponyms: 2.1. synonym 2.2. antonym 2.2.1. opposite (dead-alive) 2.2.2. complimentary (more than two, different co-hyponyms: red vs. yellow, blue, green,etc.; terrier, poodle,etc.) 2.2.3. inverse (parent-child, buy-sell) 2.3. co-hyponym

  • Meronomy: a part-whole relation, syntagmatic relations – car-wheel, arm-body; door-house

• Ostensive definition – a model

• “Ginger beer” – a text for practice and for homework (or another text)

back to the beginning

Homework:

No homework for today!

back to the beginning

GO TO THE NEXT LECTURE: Lecture 10 *-*