An Introduction To Semantics

Muhammad Ali Alkhuli

Description

This is؟ book on the nature of meaning, sense similarity, sense dissimilarity, sense ambiguity, analysis of meaning, semantic fields, etc. It can be used as؟ textbook for university students (the English Department).

Sujets

• LANGUAGES

Informations

• Publié par: Dar Al-Falah for Publishing & Distribution
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 9
• EAN13: 9796500002651
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

AN INTRODUCTION TO SEMANTICS Dr. Muhammad Ali Alkhuli يίϮاوήθحاراد: ήشΎا Publisher : DAR ALFALAH  818Ώ.ι818P. O. Box  11910يϮصSwaileh 11910 ϥدرأاJordan 009626ـ5411547سΎوفتΎھTel & Fax 009626 - 5411547

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Copyright : by the Publisher All rights are reserved .  No part of this book may be translated, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying recording, without the prior written permission of the publisher . 2008 Edition يίϮاوήθحاراد:ήشΎاPublisher : DAR ALFALAH  818Ώ.ιP. O. Box 818  11910يϮصSwaileh 11910 ϥدرأاJordan 009626ـ5411547سΎوفتΎھTel & Fax 009626 - 5411547

ΔطϮاΔΒϤاΓήئادϯعايامقر

 2002 / 6 / 1483  420  Alkhuli, Muhammad Ali An Introduction to Semantics / Muhammad Ali Alkhuli . Amman  : Dar Al Falah, 2002  ( 184 p. )  Deposit No. : 1483 / 6 / 2002  Descriptors : English Language / Semantics  .ΔطϮاΔΒϤاΓήئادلΒقنΔوأافاوΔήاΕΎΎبداإمت*  2002 / 6 / 1410ήθاوΕΎϮΒϤاΓήئادϯلϤاΓίΎجامقر ISBN 9957 – 401 – 49 – 1 ( كدر)

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ﻢﻴﺣﺮﻟا ﻦﻤﺣﺮﻟا ﷲ ﻢﺴﺑ CONTENTS ……………………………………………. Preface Chapter 1 . Introduction …………………………... The Triangle of Meaning ………………… Types of meaning ………………………... Meaning and Information ………………... The Semantic Theory ……………………. Sentence and Utterance ……………….…. Sentence and Proposition ………………... Proposition, Sentence, and Utterance ……. Sense and Reference ……………………... Referring Expressions and Referents ……. Sense and Referent ………………………. Exercises …………………………………. Chapter 2. The Concept of Reference …………. Referring expressions ……………………. The Equative Sentence …………………... Predicator ………………………………... Predicate ………………………………… Predicate Degree ………………………… Reference and Definiteness ……………… Referring Expression and Predicate ……... Generic Sentence ………………………… Universe of Discourse …………………… Deictic Words ……………………………. Extension ………………………………… Prototype ………………………………… Exercises ………………………………… Chapter 3. Similarity of Senses ………………….  3

8 9 9 11 13 13 14 15 17 18 19 21 21 25 26 27 28 29 30 32 33 33 34 36 38 39 40 44

Chapter 4. Chapter 5.

Synonymy ………………………………... Paraphrase ……………………………….. Hyponymy ……………………………….. Hyponymy-Synonymy Relationship …….. Entailment ……………………………….. Entailment-Paraphrase Relationship …….. Entailment-Hyponymy Relationship …….. Exercises …………………………………. Dissimilarity of Senses ……………… Antonymy ………………………………... Binary Antonymy ………………………... Converse Antonymy ……………………... Gradable Antonymy ……………………... Perpendicular Antonymy ………...………. Extensional Antonymy ………...………… Partial Antonymy ………………………... Cyclic Antonymy ………………………... Rank Antonymy …………………………. Affinity Antonymy ………………………. Bilateral and Multiple Antonymy ……….. Contradictoriness ………………………… Antonymy-Contradictoriness Relation …... Exercises …………………………………. Ambiguity of Senses ………………… Homonymy ………………………………. Polysemy ………………………………… Homonymy and Synonymy ……………… Accounting for Polysemy and Homonymy. Sentence Ambiguity ……………………... Word-Ambiguity and Sentence Ambiguity. Grammatical Ambiguity …………………. Sentence Ambiguity and Paraphrase …….. Exercises …………………………………. 4

44 47 48 49 50 52 53 55 62 62 63 65 66 67 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 75 76 81 82 83 85 86 87 88 89 90 91

Chapter 6.

Chapter 7.

The Types of Meaning ……………… 95 Analytical Meaning and Synthetic Meaning ……………………………... 95 Contradiction …………………………….. 97 Lexical Meaning and Grammatical Meaning ……………………………... 98 Meaning and Context ……………………. 100 Meaning and External Factors …………… 101 Relative Meaning ………………………... 102 Psychological Meaning ………………….. 103 Literal Meaning and Figurative Meaning ... 104 Meaning and Definition …………………. 105 Meaning and Stereotype …………………. 106 Basic Meaning and Secondary Meaning … 107 Stylistic Meaning ………………………… 108 Echoic Meaning ………………………….. 109 Semantic Units …………………………... 109 Meaning and Parts of Speech ……………. 110 Meaning and Roles ………………………. 111 Exercises …………………………………. 113 The Analysis of Meaning …………… 118 Word Form ………………………………. 118 Word Distribution ……………………….. 119 Meaning of Meaning …………………….. 120 Semantic Features ……………………….. 120 Types of Semantic Features ……………... 121 Relations between Semantic Features …… 122 Semantic Features and Synonymy ………. 123 Semantic Features and Antonymy ……….. 123 Basic Semantic Features …………………. 125 Rules of Semantic Features ……………… 126 Measurement of Meaning ………………... 127 Exercises …………………………………. 129

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Chapter 8. Semantic Fields ………………………. Nature of the Semantic Field …………….. Members of the Semantic Field …………. Multiple Membership ……………………. Examples of Semantic Fields ……………. Words and Semantic Fields ……………… Types of Semantic Fields ………………... Relations within the Semantic Field ……... Applications of Semantic Fields ………… Exercises ………………………………… Chapter 9. Meaning and Logic …………………. Logical Words …………………………… The Logic ofAnd………………………… Inference fromAnd………………………. Truth Probalilities ofAnd……………….. The Logic ofOr…………………………. Truth Probalilities ofOr…………………. The Logic ofBut………………………… The Logic of Negators …………………… Truth Probabilities of Negators ………….. The Logic ofIf…………………………… Exercises …………………………………. …………………………. Answers to the Exercises ……………………………… Selected Bibliography ……………………………… Appendix I : Symbols ……………………... Appendix II : Abbreviations ………………………………………... Subject Index ………………………………… The Author’s Books TABLES

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133 133 134 135 136 137 137 138 139 140 144 144 144 145 146 148 149 150 152 153 154 155 158 169 174 175 176 182

Table (3 – 1 ): Relations between some Terms ………….. Table ( 4 – 1 ): Quadrilateral Relations ………………….. Table (4 – 2 ): Sense Relations ………………………….. Table ( 5 – 1 ): Homonymy, Polysemy, and Synonymy … Table ( 7 – 1 ): Antonomy and Semantic Features ………. Table ( 7 – 2 ): Meaning-Measurement Scale …………… Table ( 9 – 1 ): Truth Probabilities ofAnd………………. Table ( 9 – 2 ): Truth Probabilities ofOr………………… Table ( 9 – 3 ): Truth Probabilities ofBut………………. FIGURES Figure (1 – 1 ): The Triangle of Meaning ……………….. Figure ( 4 – 1 ): Types of Antonymy …………………….

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53 65 74 86 124 128 147 150 152

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PREFACE  Semantics is a branch of theoretical linguistics, and it is often an obligatory course taken by students majoring in English or in linguistics . Such students may find some interest in this book, especially when similar books are either not available or too complicated for undergraduates .  This book contains nine chapters, discussing these topics respectively : introduction, referring expressions, similarity of senses, dissimilarity of senses, ambiguity of senses, types of meaning, analysis of meaning, semantic fields, and finally the relation between meaning and logic . Every chapter ends in an adequate number of exercises .  At the end of the book, there are the following : (1) answers to the exercises, (2) selected bibliography, (3) an appendix for symbols, (4) an appendix for abbreviations, and (5) a subject index . Whenever the student finds a new symbol, he is to refer to Appendix I at the end of the book to know the indication of the symbol . For abbreviations, he is to refer to Appendix II .  This book is designed to be a textbook for university students taking a course on semantics . It is hoped that it may be useful as a general reference as well . Author  Dr. Muhammad Ali Alkhuli  8

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION  Semantics, as the morphology of the term tells, is the study of meaning, i.e., meanings of words and sentences . Semantics is a branch of linguistics . As we know, linguistics is divided into two major branches : theoretical linguistics and applied linguistics . Theoretical linguistics mainly includes syntax, morphology, phonetics, the history of language (L), and semantics . On the other hand, applied linguistics mainly includes language teaching, L testing, lexicography, translation, psycholinguistics, and sociolinguistics . The Triangle of Meaning  The word is to be heard or read . Thus, it has two forms : the audible orspoken form, which consists of phones that we hear through our ears and the readable orwritten form,which consists ofgraphemes,letters, that we can perceive through our i.e., eyes . The word has ameaning stored inside our minds, and it

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