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11/2/2017

SEMANTIC FEATURES: EXERCISE 1 Identify the semantic features in each of the following words: 1. child 6. tiptoe 2. aunt 7. owe 3. bachelor 8. plod 4. actress 9. palm 5. chick 10. flower

SEMANTICS

exercises BÙI HUỲNH THỦY THƯƠNG

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4. Actress: [+ human, + female, + professionally artistic, + perform a role] 5. Chick: [+ animate, + bird, + fowl, + young, + male] 6. Tiptoe: [+ motion, + walk, + on toes, + silently] 7. Owe: [+ state, + be in debt, + obligation/ duty, + pay/repay] 8. Plod: [+ motion, + walk, + slowly & labouriously]

ANSWER KEY 1. Child: [+ human, + young (or - mature), + male, + innocent] 2. Aunt: [+ human], + mature, + female, + father’s/mother’s sister (-in-law)] 3. Bachelor: [+ human, + mature, + male, + stay single]

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SEMANTIC FEATURES: EXERCISE 2

9. Palm:

[+ part of a hand, + inner surface, + between the wrist and the fingers] Palm: [+ plant, + tree, - branches, + a mass of wide leaves at the top, + in warm or tropical climate] 10. Flower: [+ part of a plant, + coloured, + usually good-smelling, + bloom/blossom, + fruit or seed is developed]

Study question 2, p. 123 Using semantic features, how would you explain the oddness of these sentences? (a) The television drank my water. (b) His dog writes poetry.

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SEMANTIC FEATURES: EXERCISE 3

(a) The television drank my water. (a) The verb drink requires a subject with the feature [+animate] and the noun television has the feature [-animate].

Explain the anomaly of each of the following sentences: 1. Christopher is killing phonemes. 2. The tiger remained alive for an hour after the hunter killed it. 3. My brother is a spinster. 4. The boy swallowed the chocolate and then chewed it.

(b) His dog writes poetry. (b) The verb write requires a subject with the feature [+human] and the noun dog has the feature [-human]. 7

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SEMANTIC FEATURES: EXERCISE 3 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

ANSWER KEYS

Babies can lift one ton. The bigger key and John opened the door. James sliced the ideas. Jack’s courage chewed the bones. I hear the cloud.

1. Christopher

is killing phonemes. This sentences is semantically anomalous because the verb kill requires a subject with the feature [+animate] and the noun phonemes has the feature [-animate].

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2. The

tiger remained alive for an hour after the hunter killed it. This sentences is semantically anomalous because no living organism can remain alive after being killed. In fact, the tiger died right at the moment the hunter killed it.

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4. The

boy swallowed the chocolate and then chewed it. This sentences is semantically anomalous because of the wrong order of the 2 verb phrases – swallowed the chocolate & chewed it. 5. Babies

can lift one ton. This sentences is semantically anomalous because babies is [+young, -strong], whereas the verb phrase can lift one ton requires a subject that is [+strong].

3. My

brother is a spinster. This sentences is semantically anomalous because my brother is [+male], whereas a spinster is [-male]. 11

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6. The

bigger key and John opened the door. This sentences is semantically anomalous because of its instrument (the bigger key) cannot be cojoined with its agent (John).

8. Jack’s

7. James

sliced the ideas. This sentences is semantically anomalous because the noun phrase the ideas is [+abstract notion], whereas the verb phrase sliced requires an object that is [+concrete, +long, +round, +soft] like a sausage or a tomato.

courage chewed the bones. This sentences is semantically anomalous because Jack’s courage is [+abstract notion, -animate] whereas the verb chewed requires a subject that is [+animate]. 9. I

hear the cloud. This sentences is semantically anomalous because the verb hear requires an object that is [+audible], whereas the noun cloud is [-audible].

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I wandered lonely as a cloud  agent The cloud floats on high o'er vales and hills,  agent location When all at once I saw a host of golden  experiencer theme daffodils beside the lake, beneath the trees,  location location The daffodils are fluttering and dancing in  Agent the breeze.  location

SEMANTIC ROLES: EXERCISE 4 Identify the semantic roles of the underlined parts: The little Stone is happy  Experiencer The little Stone rambles in the Road alone  Agent Location

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SEMANTIC ROLES: EXERCISE 5

Actor has lived in the ’Hood.  experiencer location

Study question 3, p. 123 Identify the semantic roles of the seven noun phrases in this sentence.

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SEMANTIC ROLES: EXERCISE 5

SYNONYMY: EXERCISE 6

With her new golf club, Anne Marshall  instrument agent whacked the ball from the woods to the grassy  theme source goal area near the hole and she suddenly felt  location experiencer invincible.

For each pair of partial synonyms below, (a) give a sentence in which they can be used interchangeably

& (b) give another sentence in which one of them can be used.

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SYNONYMY: EXERCISE 6 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

edge/side deep/profound ripe/mature broad/wide soil/earth

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ANSWER KEYS

6. ask/inquire 7. eat/have 8. help/assist 9. buy/purchase 10. former/older

1. edge/side (a) The house is on the edge/side of the forest. (b) I’ll be on your side/edge. Their economy is on the edge/side of collapse. a knife with a sharp edge/side

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3. ripe/mature (a) This cheese is ripe/mature for us to eat. (b) We cannot eat this fruit because it is not ripe/mature yet. The government decided the time is ripe/ mature for an election. Mature/Ripe apple trees are typically 20 feet tall.

2. deep/profound (a) You have my deep/profound sympathy. (b) How deep/profound is the river? She gazed at him with wide deep/profound blue eyes. Jenner is a profound/deep thinker.

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5. soil/earth (a) We can plant trees on this soil/earth. a lump of soil/earth (a) The rocket fell back on earth/soil. the most powerful man on earth/soil the planet Earth/soil

4. broad/wide (a) The Thames is a broad/wide river. a hat with broad/wide brim a broad/wide tree-lined road (b) My boss is not very broad-minded/wideminded. We have offices in 56 countries worldwide/ worldbroad.

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6. ask/inquire (a) I am writing to ask/inquire about your advertisement in “The Times”.

7. eat/have (a) I usually just eat/have a sandwich for breakfast.

(b) I couldn’t ask/inquire for a better boss. The two men entered without bothering to ask/inquire for permission.

(b) This car eats/have petrol. She has/eats dark hair & brown eyes.

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8. help/assist (a) Some of the guests helped/assisted with the preparation of the food.

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9. buy/purchase (a) Where did you buy/purchase the car? (b) ‘Can we talk about it later?’ he said, trying to buy/purchase a little more time.

(b) Crying won’t help/assist. Please help/assist yourself to some cake. Some of the guests helped/assisted us to prepare the food. assist s.b to do sth

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10. former/older (a) The car’s former/older owner didn’t take good care of it.

ANTONOMY: EXERCISE 7 Study question 5, p. 123. Which of the following opposites are gradable, non-gradable, or reversives? • Gradable antonyms: (d) fair/unfair (f) high/low • Non-gradable antonyms: (a) absent/present (c) fail/pass • Reversives: (b) appear/disappear (e) fill it/empty it

(b) Years go by and Miss Emily is getting older and older/former and former.

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HYPONYMY: EXERCISE 8

HYPONYMY: EXERCISE 8

• Draw a chart to show the relationship between a hypernym and a hyponym.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

colour red yellow ...

blue

green

greenish aquamarine blue

black

royal blue

cook & deep-fry animal & foal (baby horse) animal & child plant & coconut vocal organ & tongue tip

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ANSWER KEYS

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2. animal & foal (baby horse) animal

1. cook & deep-fry cook

fish bird insect

grill toast boil fry roast bake smoke ...

stir-fry

sauté

/ˈsəʊteɪ/

deep-fry

mammal reptile

human

...

animal (beast)

dog horse sheep ...

...

stallion

mare foal

* sauté (v): to cook sth in a little hot oil/fat 35

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3. animal & child

4. plant & coconut animal

fish bird insect human

plant

mammal reptile

flowering plant

...

animal (beast)

bush/ shrub

tree

pine

man woman child

coconut

moss

palm betel

grass ...

gum

...

sago palm

...

* betel /ˈbiːtl/ (n): cau * sago /ˈseɪgəʊ/ palm (n): 37

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PROTOTYPES: EXERCISE 9

5. vocal organ & tongue tip vocal organ

Study question 1, p. 123: How is the term “prototype” used in semantics?

lip tongue nose larynx lower jaw ...

The prototype is the characteristic instance of a category, as in the case of “robin” being the clearest example, or prototype, of the category “bird” for many American English speakers.

tongue tongue tongue tongue tongue tip blade front back root

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HOMOPHONY: EXERCISE 10

ANSWER KEYS

Find the homophones of:

Find the homophones of:

1. ad

6. altar

11. blew

1. ad, add

6. altar, alter

11. blew, blue

2. air

7. aren't

12. thrown

2. air, heir

7. aren't, aunt

12. thrown, throne

3. aisle

8. flower

13. sweet

3. aisle, I'll, isle 8. flower, flour 13. sweet, suite

4. fair

9. board

14. allowed

4. fair, fare

9. board, bored 14. allowed, aloud

5. tale

10. won

15. farther

5. tale, tail

10. won, one

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15. farther, father 42

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LEXICAL AMBIGUITY: EXERCISE 11 Explain the lexical ambiguity in each of the following sentences: 1. We were waiting at the bank. 2. I saw her duck. 3. We like the ball. 4. The long drill is boring. 5. That robot is bright. 6. He was knocked over by the punch.

LEXICAL ROLES: EXERCISE 12 Study question 4, p. 123 What is the basic lexical relation between each pair of words listed here? (a) damp/moist (d) married/single (b) deep/shallow (e) move/run (c) furniture/table (f) peace/piece

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POLYSEMY & METONYMY: EXERCISE 13 (a) damp/moist (b) deep/shallow (c) furniture/table (d) married/single (e) move/run (f) peace/piece

synonymy antonymy hyponymy antonymy hyponymy homophony

Study question 6 (p. 123) Are these underlined words best described as examples of polysemy or metonymy? (a) The pen is mightier than the sword. metonymy (b) I had to park on the shoulder of the road. polysemy 45

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(c) Yes, I love those. I ate a whole box on Sunday! metonymy (d) The bookstore has some new titles in linguistics. metonymy (e) Computer chips created an important new technology. polysemy (f) I’m going to sue your ass! metonymy 47

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