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Lexical Semantics

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Lexical Semantics is a study of the sense and reference of words. Proper names refer to one specific entity. However, common nouns, adjectives, and intransitive verbs refer to sets of entities.

Relationships Between Words

  • Homonyms: Words that sound the same, but have totally unrelated meanings. (e.g., two and to)
  • Polysemous: A word has multiple, related meanings.
  • Hyponym: X is a hyponym of Y if and only if the reference of Y is a superset of the reference of X.
  • Hypernym: X is a hypernym of Y if and only if the reference of Y is a subset of the reference of X.
  • Synonyms: X and Y are synonyms if and only if they have the same reference.
  • Antonyms: X and Y are antonyms if and only if their references contrast in some way.
    • Complementary antonyms: Two words X and Y are complementary antonyms if and only if there is no entity in the reference of both X and Y.
    • Gradable antonyms: Gradable antonyms identify different directions on a scale.
  • Meronymy: A part-whole relationship where an individual component makes up part of a larger whole. (e.g., wheel is a meronym of car).

Semantic Ambiguity

  • Lexical ambiguity: A word is lexically ambiguous if it has two or more possible meanings in a sentence. (e.g., My bat is one of the best things in the world.)
  • Structural ambiguity: A sentence has more than one structures that leads to more than one possible meanings. (e.g., Young men and women dominate the company.)
  • Scope ambiguity: There’s more than one way to distribute the NPs doing the action in the sentence. (e.g., in a sentenceFour body builders moved two trucks., the number of trucks could be 8 or 2 in total)

Mind Representation of the Sense of a Word

  • Dictionary-Style Definitions: Dictionary definitions are circular.
  • Mental Images: different People may get different images for the same word
  • Usage-Based Definitions: The sense of a word is defined in terms of the contexts where it can be used.

Composition of Adjectives and Nouns

  • Pure intersection The Reference of the Adj+N is the intersection of the reference of the Adj and the reference of the N. (e.g., Healty cow, Blue suit)
  • Relative intersection: The Reference of the Adj+N is a subset of the reference of the N, defined by the Adj. (e.g., Tall person, Loud music, Good food)
  • Nonintersection: The Reference of the Adj+N combination is not necessarily a subset of the reference of the N. (e.g., alleged crime, potential customer)
  • Anti-intersection: The Reference of the Adj+N combination is definitely not a subset of the reference of the N (e.g., fake gun, imitation leather)

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