Linguistic Week 2

1) What semantic feature must a noun have in order to be used in this sentences?
The …… were discussing what to do.

+ Animate
+ Human
2) Using semantic features how would you explain the oddness of these sentences.
The television drank my water. ( There is no animate.)
His dog writes poetry. ( There is animate but the verb requires human.)
3) What phrase is used more often instead of “thematic roles” and what other term is used
instead of “theme” in the semantic analysis of noun phrase?
Thematic role is semantic role sor case roles. Theme is patient.
4) What kind of opposites can be identified via the negative test?

It is a non-gradable antonymy.
5) How is the term “prototype” used in semantics?

It can be described as the first example awaked in our mind when we talk about a group. It
can change because of the countries of the culture. For example: Flowers (Rose)
7) Which of the following words are co-hyponyms?

Cabbage, turnip
8) What is the basic lexical relation between each pair of words listed here?
a) assemble/disassemble: Anti Antonym
b) Damp/ moist: Synonym
c) deep/shallow: Gradable Antonym
d) Dog/ Schnauzer: Hyponym
e) Furnuture/ table: Prototype
f) Married/ Single: Non-gradable Antonym
g) Move/ Run: Synonym
h) Peace/piece: Homophone
i) Pen/pen: Homonym (polysemy)
9) Which of the following opposites are gradable, non-gradable or reversive?

a) absent/present: Non-gradable
b) Appear/disappear: Reversive
c) fail/pass: Non-gradable
d) Fair/ unfair: Reversive
e) Fill it/ Empty it: Gradable
f) High/low: Gradable
10) What is the lexical relation between the english words swallow (= a small bird) and
swallow (= make food or drink go down the throat)
Swallow ( a small bird) : cannotative meaning
Swallow ( make food or drink go down the throat): denotative meaning
11) What is the hierarchicalrelationship in the meanings of this set of words: bronchitis,
disease, influenza, pneumonia, tuberculosis?
Disease: (hyponym)
bronchitis, influenza, pneuntonia, tuberculosis. (co-hyponym. )
12) Are the underlined words in these sentences best described as examples of polysemy or
metonymy?
a) The pen is mightier than the sword. (Metonymy)
b) I had to park on the shoulder of the road. (Polysemy)
c) Yes, i love those. I ate a whole box on Sunday! ( Metonymy)
d) The bookstore has some new titles in linguistic. (Polysemy)
e) Computer chips created an important new technology.( Polysemy)
f) I’m going to sue your ass! ( Metonymy)
g) I think that kind of music was called new wave. (polysemy)
TASKS
A) What is the connection between an English doctor called Peter Mark Roget an the
study of lexical relations?
He is a doctor and lexicographer. He wrote the Thesaurus of English Words and
Phrases, a classified collection of related words.
B) In this chapter, we discussed metonymy, but not metophor. What is the difference
between these two ways of using words?
A metaphor uses another type of word to describe a particular word, whereas
metonymy uses a related term to describe a specific word. Metaphor is used for the
substitution of two words. In contrast, metonymy is used for the association of the two
words.
C) The adjective pairs listed here are antonyms with a “marked” and “unmarked”
member in each pair. Can you list the unmarked members and explain your choice?
Big/Small
Empty/Full
Fast/Slow
Heavy/Light
Old/ Young
Short/Tall
Strong/Weak
All the words are unmarked because they have not a mark such as un, im etc..
D) Which of these pairs words are converses (also known as reciprocal antonymy)?
above/below
asleep/awake
dry/wet
brother/sister
Buy/sell
follow/precede
husband/wife
older/younger
doctor/patient
enter/exit
expensive/inexpensive
true/false
E) Another less common relation between word meanings is known as transferred epithet
or hypallage. Why do we need to talk about this special type of meaning relation in the
analysis of the meaning of the phrases listed here? Can you think of any other similar
examples? a quiet cup of coffee, a nude photo, a sleepless night, one of my clever
days.
An example of a transferred epithet is: "I had a wonderful day." The day is not in itself
wonderful. The speaker had a wonderful day. The epithet "wonderful" actually
describes the kind of day the speaker experienced. Some other examples of transferred
epithets are "cruel bars," and "suicidal sky."
F) Metonymy and synecdoche (/smɛkdaki/) are two ways of using words with non- literal
meanings. Can you identify the clear uses of synecdoche in these examples?
(1) I read in a magazine that you shouldn't wear pink if you're a redhead.
(2) Some people expect the government to look after them from the cradle to the
grave.
(3) There has been a significant increase in reports of white-collar crime.
(4) I was surprised when five new faces turned up in my first class.
(5) If I don't want to spend too much, I take a small amount of cash in my pocket and
leave the plastic at home.
(6) The Pentagon has announced plans to upgrade their cybersecurity.
(7) They have something on the menu called "Sunf and Turf" which consists of both
fish and steak on the same plate.
(8) We'll never have progress as long as the greybeards remain in control.
G) There is often a connection between English prepositions and semantic roles:

(i) Can you use an analysis based on semantic roles to explain the use of the
prepositions by and with in the following examples?
(ii) Why are examples (5)-(8) treated as ungrammatical?
(1) The walls of her room were decorated with large posters. ( Instrument)
(2) One of the roads was blocked by a fallen tree. (Source)
(3) The store was robbed by a masked man with a gun. (Instrument)
(4) A small band of rebels was defeated by a larger force with superior weapon.
(Instrument)
(5) Nuvas surprised with the sudden bang outside my window. (Source)
(6) "Most of his sketches were draun by charcoal. (Souce)
(7) "Some people are embarrassed unith photos from their teenage years. (Source)
(8) The Christrmas tree uNIS COvered by ornaments and lights. (Instrument)
L) There is a meaning relationship between some English words that can be described
as inchoative. In this relationship, the sense of one word "X" is incorporated in another
word meaning "become X." For example, the word die means "beceme dead" and grou
means "become big." In some languages, this meaning relationship is marked by an
inchoative affix. If you can identify the inchoative affix in the following examples,
you should be able to fill the spaces in (1)-(6) below.
These examples are from Wangkajunga., an Aboriginal language that was spoken in
the Great Sandy Desert area of North Western Australia, as described in Jones (2011).
miiturriwa ("die")
walarriwa ("hurry")
jarlurriwa ("grow")
vikarirriwa ("smile"
palyarriwa ("improve")
putarriwa ("decay")
("quick"): Be quick
("bad") make a bad
("good") make a good
("big") go big
("dead") go die
("happy") be happy

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1) What semantic feature must a noun have in order to be used in this sentences?

The …… were discussing what to do.

4) What kind of opposites can be identified via the negative test?

5) How is the term “prototype” used in semantics?

7) Which of the following words are co-hyponyms?

9) Which of the following opposites are gradable, non-gradable or reversive?

G) There is often a connection between English prepositions and semantic roles:

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