WEEK 7 Composition and Lexical Semantics

Composition
and Lexical
Semantics
By: Karylle Keye Aranda and
Joshua Sustento
is the study of how language is used to
Semantics represent meaning
Denotation Connotation
refers to the meanings that

includes the literal
we associate with the word-
definition of the beyond the literal dictionary
word. definition. The connotation of
a word includes all of the
emotions and feelings that go
along with the use of the
word
Semantics looks
at denotation
not
connotation
Lexical semantics is Lexical Semantics
the study of word
meaning.
- are often identified
Lexical to clarify the links between
particular words, including
Relations synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy,
homophony, homonymy, polysemy.
Synonymy
words or expressions that have the

same meaning in some or all
contexts
Example
funny and humorous
Antonymy are words that are opposite in
meaning
Types of Antonyms
Complementary Gradable pairs Relational
have a relationship are typically pairs of display symmetry

where there is no adjectives that can be in their meaning
middle ground qualified by adverbs
present/absent hot/cold give/receive

Hyponymy
involve the relationship between

a general term and specific instances
of that term
rose, iris, daisy, and poppy are all a kind of

flower, so rose, iris, daisy, and poppy are all
hyponyms of the word flower
Homophony
are forms that sound the exact same but

spelled differently and they have unrelated
meanings.
sea/see
Homonymy
words that have different meanings but are

pronounced the same or words with both
identical pronunciations and identical
spellings but different meanings
bank/bank
Polysemy
are words with multiple,

conceptually or historically related
meaning
diamond: the geometric shape; a

baseball field
Componential
Analysis
01 MALE
[ + Man + Boy - Girl - Woman]
Words can be analyzed and 02 WOMAN
described in terms of their [ + Human + Adult - Male]
semantic components. 03 MAN
[+ Human + Adult + Male]
Compositional
Semantics How the meaning
of the phrases and
sentences is built
up from the
meanings of
individual words
(lexical semantics)
Compositional Semantics Rules
Compositional semantics: to account for

speakers’ knowledge of truth, entailment,
and ambiguity, we must assume that
grammar contains semantic rules for how
to combine the meanings of words into
meaningful phrases and sentences
• Semantic Rule I: if the S
meaning of NP (an individual) is
a member of the meaning of the
VP (a set of individuals), then NP VP
S is TRUE, otherwise, it is FALSE
Word Meaning
Jack refers to the individual Jac Jack Swims
swims refers to the set of individuals that
swim
If the NP, Jack, is among the set of individuals that
swims (the VP) then the sentence is TRUE
Semantic Rule 2
Jack kissed Laura.
Word Meanings;
Jack refers to (or means) the individual Jack
Laura refers to (or means) the individual Laura
kissed refers to (or means) the set of pairs of individuals X and
Y such that X kissed Y.
Here is the phrase structure tree.
S
NP VP
V NP
Jack
Kissed Laura
The meaning of the transitive verb kiss is still a set,
but this time a set of pairs of individuals. The meaning
of the VP, however, is still a set of individuals, namely
those individuals who kissed Laura.
the meaning of the sentence becomes true whenever
the meaning of Jack is a member of the set that is the
meaning of the VP kissed Laura. In other words, S is
true if Jack kissed Laura and false otherwise.
When Compositionality
goes awry
The principle of
compositionality asserts that
the meaning of an expression
is composed of the meaning of
its parts and how the parts are
combined structurally
Examples
[NP Blue books]
– Blue set of everything blue
• Books – Set of all books
• Blue∩ Books =[NP Blue books]
Anomalies
The phenomenon that a
sentence, though it is
grammatically correct, is
meaningless because
Colorless green ideas sleep there is an incompatibilty
furiosly of the meaning of the
The ball kicked andy. words.
The picture laughed at me.
Idioms Examples:
Give the benefit of the
doubt
Fill the bill
An idioms is a group of words

which have different meaning
when used together from the
Rock the boat
one they would have if you
took the meaning of each Down-to-earth
word seperately. Break a leg
Metaphors
Metaphors are sentences that seem to be anomalous

but are understood in terms of a meaningful concept
To understand a metaphor we must understand the

individual words, the literal meaning of the expression,
and facts about the world
To understand Time is money you need to know that in
our society people are often paid according to the amount
of time worked
She is an early bird.
Apple of my eye
He is a shining star.
Walking Encyclopedia
REFERENCES
https://dsls.indiana.edu/Stringer_2019_Lexical-Semantics_published.pdf
https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/adam/files/meaning.ppt.pdf
Componential Analysis (ship.edu)
https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/adam/files/meaning.ppt.pdf
https://www.123helpme.com/essay/Examples-Of-Compositional-
Semantics-
521414#:~:text=Another%20part%20of%20compositional%20semanti
cs,Colorless%20green%20ideas%20sleep%20furiously.
https://courses.grainger.illinois.edu/cs447/fa2022/
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Composition

refers to the meanings that

words or expressions that have the

Complementary Gradable pairs Relational

have a relationship are typically pairs of display symmetry

present/absent hot/cold give/receive

involve the relationship between

rose, iris, daisy, and poppy are all a kind of

are forms that sound the exact same but

words that have different meanings but are

are words with multiple,

diamond: the geometric shape; a

Compositional semantics: to account for

An idioms is a group of words

Metaphors are sentences that seem to be anomalous

To understand a metaphor we must understand the

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