Adjective Meanings - Griffiths PDF

Sense relations are semantic relationships between the senses of expressions. The ties between senses have a bearing on denotation because with words interconnected by well- defined sense relations, as a start in the network of relationships, can develop an understanding of the meanings...

Sense relations are semantic relationships between the senses of expressions. The ties between senses have a bearing on denotation because with words interconnected by well- defined sense relations, as a start in the network of relationships, can develop an understanding of the meanings (senses) in the rest of the system. 9 These most rigorous varieties of semantics are called formal semantics because they use systems of formal logic to set out descriptions of meaning and theories of how the meanings of different sort of expressions are conducted from the meanings of smaller expressions. 13 Synonymy is equivalence of sense. The nouns mother, mom and mum are synonyms (of each other). When a single word in a sentence is replaced by a synonym – a word equivalent in sense – then the literal meaning of the sentence is not changed: My mother’s/mum’s/mom’s family name was Christie. 14 Complementary (antonyms): expressions which come in pairs and which, between them, exhaust all the relevant possibilities. Being "not X" automatically means being "Y" and being "not Y" means being "X", if X and Y are complementary antonyms. EXAMPLES: dead/alive on/off married/unmarried male/female 23 These are pairs of complementary terms. Complementaries are defined in terms of a pattern of entailment. With complementaries we get entailments from affirmative sentences (the ones lacking NOT in (2.7c)) to negative sentences (the ones with NOT in 2.7c) and back again from negative to affirmative. 27 Antonyms: The term antonymy is sometimes employed to mean any kind of oppositeness. EXAMPLES: the street was noisy / the street was silent. Antonymy is defined by a pattern of entailments 28 Antonymy is defined by a pattern of entailments such as the one in (2.8c): if we know that (2.8a) is true, then we can be sure that, with regard to the same (part of) the same street at the same time, (2.8b) is false, or equivalently that the negation of (2.8b) is true Loading… (2.8a NOT2.8b). And if we know that (2.8b) is true, it follows – again provided that we keep the place and time constant – that the street was not noisy (NOT 2.8a). 29  2.2.4 Converses A general feature of the members of antonym pairs is that they have what grammarians term comparative forms, with the comparative suffix –er (thicker, poorer, humbler, for instance) or in the construction more + adjective (for example, more humble, more patient, more obstinate, with some words, like humble, forming the comparative by either method). The comparative forms of an antonym pair have an interesting sense 32 relation between them, called converseness. The entailment pattern in converseness is a similar relationship to synonymy, but there is an important additional difference between them. Can you pin point that difference? 36 Converses: expressions which express a relationship between two things such that one of the expressions conveys the relationship in one order and the other expression conveys the relationship in the opposite order. EXAMPLES: buy/sell husband (of)/wife (of) above/below 37 Converseness is found not only between comparative adjectives but also in other word classes. Some examples are noted in (2.11). (2.11) parent of child of (nouns) precede follow (verbs) above below (prepositions) 38