Semantics Exercis 答案上海英语口语培训
State whether each of the following statements is True or Fal.
1.A grammatical ntence is also meaningful. F
2.Some words are always superordinates while some others are always hyponyms.F
3.Synonyms are tho words that can be ud interchangeably in all contexts.F
4.All English words have their referents.F
The fact that we can understand the meaning of a ntence does not mean that the ntence is mantically well-formed.
The hamburger ate the man.
The television drank my water.
His dog writes poetry.
Do you find the ntences sound queer?
If so, give your explanation for their oddness.
(1) Do you find the ntences sound queer?
Y es.
(2) If yes, give your explanation for their oddness.
a. The hamburger cannot eat becau it is inanimate.
b. The television does not drink water becau it is inanimate.
c. A dog does not write anything like poetry becau it is not human.
nessusWhen applying componential analysis, we need to know that for a term void of a particular feature like [ MALE], we often u the notion [--MALE] instead of [ FEMALE].
How are the following words be analyzed into mantic features? What feature is common to them ?
Lamb calf piglet puppy kitten
lamb [-ADULT]+[+OVINE]
calf [-ADULT]+[+BOVINE]
piglet [-ADULT]+[+POREINE]
puppy [-ADULT]+[+CANINE]
kitten [-ADULT]+[+FELINE]
[-ADULT] is common to all.
Marked and unmarked
Can you determine the “unmarked” member in each of the following pairs?
small-big cheap-expensive wide-narrow
near-far many-few easy-difficult
early-late dangerous-safe full-empty
The words that are underlined are the “unmarked” members in the pairs.
small-big cheap-expensive wide-narrow
near-far many-few easy-difficult
early-late dangerous-safe full-empty
Can you think of any special situations where the “marked” member is more appropriately ud? For instance, when we talk about a dwarf, people will often ask how short the dwarf is. This shows that one’s expectation and social convention play important roles in using the words.
•“How is bread made?”
•“I know that!” Alice cried eagerly.
•“Y ou take some flour—”
•“Where do you pick the flower?” the White Queen asked. “In a garden, or in the hedges?”
•“Well, it isn’t picked at all,” Alice explained; “it’s ground—”
•“How many acres of ground?” said the White Queen.
Which words are being played on in the conversation?
flour-flower and ground (p.p. grind)-ground (n.)
Are they cas of polymy or homonymy?
They are typical cas of homonymy.
Semantic field
English are related to each other , and they form different mantic fields. Tho that belong to the same mantic category, like color words, fall into the same mantic field. Here are some examples:
a.vegetable: cabbage, cucumber, pepper, onion, tomato, etc.
c.
What are the advantages are there in the analysis of English vocabulary into mantic field?
The kind of analysis helps to establish connection among words and thus facilitates memory and retrieval.
Can you name a mantic field and list at least five members of it?
Profession: teacher, banker, lawyer, doctor, engineer, etc.
grandpa
英文名字转换Look at the following ntences, and then answer the questions that follow:
a.Lightning willingly hit the boy.
b.My cat studied linguistics.
c.A table was listening to some music.
Q1. How would you describe the oddness of the ntences in terms of mantic features?
(1) Lighting is non-human and thus cannot do anything willingly.
(2) A cat is non-human and thus cannot study linguistics.
(3) A table is inanimate and thus cannot listen.
Q2. Semantic violations are frequent in poetry. For example, we may say “a week/hour/century
ago”, but usually do not say “a table/dream/mother ago”. However, Dylan Thomas does write “a grief ago”. How would you account for the effect of such usage?
The usage adds a durational feature to grief for poetic effect.
Which of the following opposites are gradable, complimentary or relational?
1.abnt prent
造化弄人英文2. high low
3. up down
4. fail pass
height是什么意思5. fair unfair
6. left right gradable: high- low fair- unfair
non-gradable: abnt- prent fail- pass
reversives/conver antonyms/relational opposites: up- down left- right
Study the following pairs of words. What is the basic lexical relation between the pairs of words?
(1) shallow deep (2) mature ripe (3) suite sweet (4) table furniture
(5) single married (6) move run
(1) shallow deep antonymy (gradable)
(2) mature ripe s ynonymy
(3) suite sweet homonymy (homophones)
(4) table furniture hyponymy
(5) single married antonymy (non-gradable / complementary)
(6) move run hyponymy
For “mature” and “ripe”, give an example where one can be u d for collocation but not the other. F
or “suite” and “sweet”, give another pair with a similar mantic relation. For “move” and “run”, give more words that are in the same mantic relation to “move” as “run”.
Mature/ripe: a mature player a ripe time
Suite/sweet: flour / flower past / pasd
Move/run: dash, hop, walk, jog, etc.
The following are pairs of antonyms:
Alive / dead male / female boy / girl east / west true / fal hit / miss
1.which pairs are complimentary opposites?
alive-dead male-female boy-girl true-fal hit-miss
2.how do you account for the following usages or misu?
Half dead / alive * very dead / alive
More dead than alive * A is more dead than B.
“dead/alive” are complementary opposites and thus they do not ta ke degree modifiers. “half dead/alive” is a vivid though unusual way of description. It deviates from the normal usage by treating “dead/alive” as gradable. This usage has been conventionalized. “more dead than alive” is also an idiomatic usage that is mot ivated in a similar way.
For each group of words given below, state what mantic property or properties are shared by the (a) words and the (b) words, and what mantic property or properties distinguish the class of the (a) words from the (b) words.
(1) a. bachelor, man, son, paperboy, pope, chief
b. bull, rooster, drake, ram
(2) a. table, stone, pencil, cup, hou, ship, car
b. milk, alcohol, rice, soup, mud
(3) a. book, temple, mountain, road, tractor
superdome
if this was a movieb. idea, love, charity, sincerity, bravery, fear
(4) a. pine, elm, ash, weeping willow
b. ro, dandelion, aster, tulip, daisy
(5) a. ask, tell, say, talk, conver
b. shout, whisper, mutter
motorcycles(6) a. alive, asleep, dead, married, pregnant
b. tall, smart, interesting, bad, tired
(1) a. bachelor, man, son, paperboy, pope, chief
b. bull, rooster, drake, ram
Both are “male”.
(a) are “human”; (b)are “non-human”.
portable(2) a. table, stone, pencil, cup, hou, ship, car
b. milk, alcohol, rice, soup, mud
Both are “objects”.
(a) are “countable”; (b) are “non-countable”.
(3) a. book, temple, mountain, road, tractor
b. idea, love, charity, sincerity, bravery, fear
Both are “objects”.
(a) are “concrete”; (b) are “abstract”.
(4) a. pine, elm, ash, weeping willow
b. ro, dandelion, aster, tulip, daisy
Both are “plants”.
(a) are “trees”; (b) are “flowers”.
(5) a. ask, tell, say, talk, conver
b. shout, whisper, mutter
Both are verbal acts.
(a) are verbal acts at normal volume; (b) are verbal acts above or below normal volume.
(6) a. alive, asleep, dead, married, pregnant
b. tall, smart, interesting, bad, tired
Both are adjectives.
(a)are non-gradable adjectives. (b) are gradable adjectives.
