semantics & pragmatics

Question 1

what is semantics?

Answer 1

the study of meaning in language

Question 2

what is the Ogden & Richards’ meaning triangle?

Answer 2

a model showing the relationship between a word (symbol), its concept (thought), and referent (object)

Question 3

what is ‘sense’ in semantics?

Answer 3

the central and literal meaning of a word within the language system

Question 4

what is ‘reference’?

Answer 4

the relationship between a word and what it refers to in the real world

Question 5

what is a connotation?

Answer 5

the associations or emotional overtones a word carries beyond its literal meaning

Question 6

what is synonymy?

Answer 6

a relationship where two words have similar meanings (e.g., hide and conceal)

Question 7

what is a euphemism?

Answer 7

a polite or indirect term for something unpleasant or taboo

Question 8

what is antonmy?

Answer 8

a semantic relationship between two opposites (e.g., hot vs. cold)

Question 9

what are complementary antonyms?

Answer 9

pairs where the presence of one excludes the other (e.g., alive/dead)

Question 10

what are gradeable antonyms?

Answer 10

pairs with a scale or continuum (e.g., hot/cold)

Question 11

what are relational antonyms?

Answer 11

pairs where one implies the other (e.g., parent/child)

Question 12

what is hyponmy?

Answer 12

a ‘type of’ relationship, e.g., rose is a hyponym of flower

Question 13

what is meronymy?

Answer 13

a ‘part of’ relationship, e.g., wheel is a meronym of car

Question 14

what is prototype theory?

Answer 14

a theory suggesting categories are based on the most typical member (e.g., with the category ‘fruit’, ‘apple’ is more typical than ‘tomato’

Question 15

give an example of a prototype

Answer 15

a robin is a prototypical bird

Question 16

what is a metaphor?

Answer 16

a figure of speech mapping one domain of experience onto another

Question 17

what are the source and target domains in a metaphor?

Answer 17

source= familiar domain, target = abstract concept being explained

Question 18

what is the difference between denotation and connotation?

Answer 18

denotation is the literal meaning, connotation includes the emotional/ associative meaning

Question 19

can a word have sense but no reference?

Answer 19

yes, e.g. ‘unicorn’ has sense but no real-world referent

Question 20

what is a word association?

Answer 20

a response given when prompted with a word, revealing cognative links

Question 21

what is a pradigmatic word association?

Answer 21

a relation based on word class (e.g., synonyms, antonyms, hyponyms)

Question 22

what is a sintagmatic association?

Answer 22

words that often co-occur in sequences (e.g., cause + accident)

Question 23

what is a clang/phonological association?

Answer 23

a response based on sound similarity (e.g., “access” from “accident”)

Question 24

what is homonymy?

Answer 24

two unrelated words that share the same form (e.g., bank- money vs. river)

Question 25

what is polysemy?

Answer 25

one word with multiple related meanings (e.g., leg- human vs. table)

Question 26

what is ambiguity?

Answer 26

a situation where a word or sentence has more than one meaning

Question 27

what is structural ambiguity?

Answer 27

a sentence-level ambiguity due to syntax (e.g., "time flies like an arrow")

Question 28

what is phraseology?

Answer 28

the study of fixed or semi-fixed expressions in language

Question 29

what is a collocation?

Answer 29

a paor/group of words that frequently go together (e.g., heavy rain)

Question 30

what is an idiom?

Answer 30

a phrase with a meaning not deducible from individual words (e.g., red herring)

Question 31

how do idioms differ from collocations?

Answer 31

idioms are more semantically opaque than collocations

Question 32

what is pragmatics?

Answer 32

the study of how context affects meaning in communication

Question 33

what is deixis?

Answer 33

words that require contextual information to interpret (e.g., here, now, i)

Question 34

what are the main types of deixis?

Answer 34

person (I/you), spatial (here/there), temporal (now/then)

Question 35

what is discourse deixis?

Answer 35

reference to parts of the conversation or text (e.g., "as mentioned above")

Question 36

what is a speech act?

Answer 36

an utterance that performs an action (e.g., "i promise")

Question 37

what is illocutionary force?

Answer 37

the intended effect of a speech act on a listener

Question 38

what are felicity conditions?

Answer 38

conditions under which a speech ac is successful or appropriate

Question 39

what is arbitrariness in language?

Answer 39

the lack of inherrent connection between word form and meaning

Question 40

what is discreteness in language?

Answer 40

language breaks continuous phenomena into discrete units (e.g., colours, sounds)

Question 41

give an example of a polysemous word

Answer 41

paper- can mean a sheet to write on, a newspaper, or an academic essay

Question 42

what is an example of a gradable antonym?

Answer 42

hot vs cold- you can be somewhere in between (e.g., warm, cool)

Question 43

which of these is an idiom? a) take a decision b) red herring

Answer 43

b) red herring- it has a figertive meaning unrelated to fish

Question 44

identify the hyponym: bird, parrot, animal

Answer 44

parrot- it's a hyponym of bird

Question 45

what's a relational antonym pair?

Answer 45

buy and sell- one action implies the other

Question 46

what does "i now pronounce you man and wife" illustrate?

Answer 46

a performative speech act (marrage declaration)

Question 47

which phrase shows deixis? a) the dog barked b) he's over there

Answer 47

b) it includes person and spatial deixis (he, there)

Question 48

whats an example of a metaphor based on the domain ACTIVITY = WAR

Answer 48

"she ignored my argument"