OUTLINE
1.What is semantics?
2.Approaches to Meaning3. Lexical Meaning
(1) Sense and Reference
(2).G.Leechs seven types of meaning(3).Ambiguity of meaning4.Semantic Analysis
(1) Semantic features (Componential analysis)(2) Semantic roles
5.Semantic relations
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3.SEMANTICANALYSIS(1) SEMANTICFEATURES
(COMPONENTIALANALYSIS)
Componential analysisis a way to analyze word
meaning. It was proposed by structural semanticists. ?The approach is based on the belief that the meaning of a word can be divided into meaning components, which are called semantic features.
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(1) SEMANTICFEATURES
(COMPONENTIALANALYSIS)
?
Plus (+) and minus (-) signs are used to indicate whether a certain semantic feature is present or absent in the meaning of a word, and these feature symbols are usu. Written in capitalized letters. ?E.g. man
?[+ANIMATE, +HUMAN, +ADULT, +MALE]
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(1) SEMANTICFEATURES
(COMPONENTIALANALYSIS)
?E.g. Look at some sentences with good
syntactic rules, but with odd semantical meaning.
?The breadlike the girl.?The breadstudied English.
?Thebreadis listening to the music. ?S=NP + V+ NP
?If subject is a N, N should be ANIMATE BEING, that is +ANIMATE, +HUMAN
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(1) SEMANTICFEATURES
(COMPONENTIALANALYSIS)
?
So we have to analyze the meaning in terms of
semantic features like +/-ANIMATE, +/-HUMAN, +/-MALE, +/-ADULT.?Eg. Boy
[+ANIMATE, +HUMAN, +MALE, -ADULT]
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