How to make a dictionary - Lecture 10

Lecture Ten, 18th of December 2007

Types of lexical meaning: Semantics


1. Introduction
2. Learner's Diary
3. Tasks and Quizzes
4. Evaluation
5. References


1. Introdution

Today's Lecture was about the lexical information in a dictionary, especially semantics and a revision of parts of speech.


2. Learner's Diary


Glue categories: Interjections

Conjunctions

coordinating conjunctions ( and - joins two verb phrases)
subordinating conjunctions (because – reason, cause; after)


Adverbs

e.g. accidentally (of manner)


Verbs

e.g. arrested, jailed, …
- transitive verb (asks for an object/ passive)
- intransitive verb ( active)


Semantics

Semantics describe the studies of meaning. There is a distinguish between

Paradigmatic definition

Sense (intensional) definition
- Componential definition (e.g. standard dictionary definition)
- Relational definition (e.g. synonym, antonym)
- Field definition (e.g. the word field of furniture / animals)

Reference (extensional) definition
- Ostensive definition
- Definition by model (illustration, etc)


Syntagmatic definition

Definition in context
- examples
- text selections


Paradigmatic approaches

Semantic fields
- sets of related words
- hierarchical organisation (set inclusion & overlap)

Semantic relations
- defining relationships within semantic fields
- hierarchical relations:
- taxonomy (hyponymy/hyperonymy)
- meronomy (relations between parts of wholes)
- co-hyponymy relations: synonymy, antonymy

Semantic components
- splitting meanings into smaller parts
- associating components of meanings with broader semantic fields


Standard Dictionary Definition

1. Definito per genus proximum and differentia specifica
2. X is a Y kind of Z

- definition by nearest kind and specific differences
- definition: definiendum = definiens
- definiendum: the word to be defined

Defines:
- genus proximum + differentia specifica
- a list of examples
- a pointer to a text corpus
- a model (e.g. picture)
- a real example


Relational Definitions - Taxonomies

Taxonomies are used in many contexts, in traditional lexicography:
- cross-references in standard definitions
- thesaurus construction



Summery of semantic relations

taxonomy (generalisation-specialisation relation, paradigmatic relations)

- hyperonym
- hyponym
- synonym: compatible words, which do not change the general meaning
- antonym: expresses the opposite of a word
- opposite
- complementary
- inverse
- co-hyponym: one of the hyponyms

meronomy (part-whole relation, syntagmatic relations)



3. Tasks and Quizzes


Semantic decomposition into semantic components

Define “definition”

A definition is a statement of the meaning of a word or phrase. The term to be defined is known as the definiendum (Latin: that which is to be defined). The words which define it are known as the definiens (Latin: that which is doing the defining).

(Wikipedia article "definition". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definition, 23.12.2007)


Select a small number of words from these texts, and provide definitions for them

boat - is a watercraft to transport something over water
bread - is a kind of food, made of dough
water - is a common chemical substance, essential to all forms of life

Imagine the meaning of the word “” is composed of lots of little bits of meaning. List these bits of meaning


Semantic relations

Select a small number of words from the text, and find antonyms for them

hot - cold
woman - man
child - adult


Semantic fields
Sets of related words

synonyms - friend and chap
antonyms - dry and cold
hyponym - Pumpernickel is a kind of bread
hypernym - bread is a hypernym of Pumpernickel


Discuss the following using the Ginger Beer text, giving examples

semantic components

yeast, sugar, ethyl alcohol, carbon diokide


semantic relations

wine, beer and champagne are hyponyms of the hyponym beverages
raising, brewing and carbonating are synonyms of fermentation


semantic fields

beverages - wine, beer, champagne an effervescent drinks
chemistry - ethyl alcohol, carbon, dioxide


different types of definitions

Componential definitions
Syntagmatic definitions
Paradigmatic definitions




4. Evaluation

An interesting and funny lecture and not to many information. The recipe for the Christmas pudding was a nice gift to the students.



5. References

http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/~gibbon/Classes/Classes2007WS/ITL/index.html