Semantics Continued

1
Semantics Continued

• Semantic relationships
• Maxims of Conversation

2
Semantic relationships

• The semantic relationships we discuss here are
• Hyponymy
• Synonymy
• Antonymy
• Scalar/gradable pairs
• Homonym
• Homograph

3
Hyponymy

• X is a hyponym of Y if X is a subset of Y.
• For example, consider the two words bird and
  parakeet.
• Tweety and Polly are parakeets.
• The current set of parakeets contains these two
  members.
• The current set of bird contains at least these
  two members, possibly others.
• Parakeet is a subset of bird, so parakeet is a
  hyponym of bird.

4
Hyponymy

• Hyponymy can be seen as the loss of specificity.
• It involves moving from more specific to more
  general.

5
Synonymy

• Two words are synonymous if they share the same
  meaning.
• While it is difficult to find two exactly
  identical words, there are examples of synonyms
  in our everyday language

6
Synonymy

• couch/sofa
• dog/canine
• quick/rapid
• Etc.
• There is no dog that is not a canine.
• Every couch is also a sofa.

7
Antonymy

• In its barest form, antonymy refers to the
  condition of being opposites.
• Complementary/contradictory
• Relational opposites/contraries
• Scalar antonyms/gradable pairs

8
Antonymy

• Complementary/contradictory pairs
• Given X and Y, every entity in the world is
  either in Xs set or in Ys set, but never in
  both.
• married/unmarried
• visible/invisible

9
Antonymy

• Relational opposites / Contraries
• Given X and Y, everything in the world is in Xs
  set, in Ys set, or in neither set, but never in
  both sets.
• over/under
• An object can be over or under another, but never
  both. It could also be NEXT TO another object.
• married/bachelor
• A man can be married or a bachelor, but not both.
  He could also be a divorcé or a widower.

10
Scalar/Gradable pairs

• Scalar antonyms/Gradable pairs
• Given X and Y, X and Y fulfill the conditions for
  being relational opposites but in addition can be
  interpreted as endpoints on some scale.
• good/bad
• hot/cold
• strong/weak
• A good test for this kind of relationship is the
  potential use of the modifier quite.

11
Homonym

• Lexical ambiguity
• Different words pronounced the same and may or
  may not be spelled the same.
• Tale/tail
• Pen/pen

12
Homograph

• Different words spelled identically, and possibly
  pronounced the same.
• Pen/pen
• Lead/lead

13
Pragmatics

• Want to see a movie tonight?
• I have to study.
• What do you want for your birthday?
• Well, my camera is broken

14
Maxims of Conversation

• Quantity
• Dont say more or less than is required
• Relevance
• Be relevant
• Manner
• Avoid ambiguity, be brief and orderly
• Quality
• Be truthful