Questions tagged [semantics]
Semantics is the study of meaning, used to understand expressions through language.
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Semantic loans; words borrowing a meaning already there?
What exactly is a semantic loan, how can a word borrow a meaning it already has?
I am trying to figure out whether there are any limitations (can we choose any morphemes) on the recipient word and the ...
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What is like irony but used not to deride but to be polite?
When I say the opposite of what I mean (or at least minimize the truth) that can be used as what we call irony and is used for derision. But the (apparently) same strategies are used for politeness. ...
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English native intuitions about combining `only' with ellipsis
I am interested in the following sentence:
Only Bill can fix his car and only Jack cannot
where the universe includes Bill, Bill's car, Jack, Jack's car and optionally Jeff and Jeff's car.
Also, his ...
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Linguistic name for the change of meaning: 'apocalypse'in Greek New Testament meaning 'revelation' and the present use meaning 'catastrophy, etc
The first word in John's "Revelation" is a Greek word 'apokalipsis'. Yet, in modern times the word 'apocalypse' and its equivalents in many languages means 'catastrophe', 'tragedy', etc.
So ...
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Are there semantically well-defined purely ternary+ relations?
By purely ternary+, I mean a relation that cannot be expressed using binary ones. For example, "B is closer to A than to C" is ternary, but can be expressed using only a binary relation.
B ...
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What effect does the wrong T-V pronoun have on truth-value?
Suppose someone uses the wrong T-V pronoun in a sentence, e.g. a French person uses "tu" instead of "vous". Is that considered to render the sentence (a) false or (b) without truth-...
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Why are "eat" and "drink" different words in languages?
In theory, the words "eat" and "drink" are fundamentally the same action to me: putting something (...edible?) in your mouth. Oftentimes when speaking English, I confuse the words &...
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What is the semantic type and the lexical entry for 'to be right'?
Does somebody know what the lexical entry for '(be) right' is? And the semantic type of 'right' when its in the syntax tree.
Is it an attitude predicate?
For example in the sentence 'Beth is right ...
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Do all tautologies mean the same thing in Formal Semantics?
Since all tautologies share the same truth condition, that they're true no matter what, do all of them mean the same thing in Formal Semantics? Or does Formal Semantics analyze meaning beneath the ...
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Formal syntax and semantics for Turkish
as a student of linguistics and admirer of Turkish, I wondered whether there are good introductory books for formal syntax and (Montague) semantics for Turkish. Thanks in advance!
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Is there a reason why certain verbs use certain cases?
For examples, in German there are certain verbs that always use the dative cases and others that always use the accusative case. Is there a logical or semantical reason for this?
Does the use of a ...
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How do you attest that two modal particles in different languages are of similar semantic attributes?
especially fellow English-Dutch speakers.
I am wondering as to how we can attest that two modal particles in different languages share similar semantic attributes. Is there any metrics/theories to ...
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How do people discussing NSM primes ensure they're thinking of the same meanings?
Natural Semantic Metalanguage sets out number of semantic primes. A semantic prime is a meaning which cannot be reduced to a combination of simpler meanings. The Wikipedia article has a table of them, ...
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Is "non-existent" a privative adjective?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privative_adjective
Is "non-existent" a privative adjective like "imaginary", "fictional", "hypothetical", etc.?
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Why "Location" but not "Theme"?
When I was reading "Semantics: A Coursebook" (2nd ed), I came across this semantic roles identifying exercise "Detroit is a big city. The answer key is that "Detroit" is ...
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Semantic roles "Location" or "Goal"?
In this sentence: "We've just arrived at the airport." Is the semantic role of "the airport" Goal (because the airport is the destination where we moved to) or Location (because we ...
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Metastasizing attributes of a member of a class to a class, in cognitive grammar
I would like to know if there is a theoretical analysis regarding how people cognitively process information about, and form judgments about, a class of things, based on knowledge of specific members ...
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To say of something, must it exist at least as a concept?
To refer to x, must x exist at least as a concept? Is there any sense in which a nonsense term can refer to anything?
For example,
If "Round square" doesn't refer to anything, is "I ...
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Can the root ש ל ם be used to mean “Submission”?
In Arabic, the root S-L-M (س ل م) has a general meaning of "Peace", but can also be used for "Submission" (such as in the words Islam/Muslim). Given the close relation between Hebrew and Arabic, I'm ...
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Definite descriptions and 'concrete numbers' in language
'Concrete numbers' are a type of phrase consisting of a number and a unit expressed with a noun, such as 'two metres', 'three apples' etc. Historically called numerus numeratus
Take '5 men', it does ...
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Are there any languages that either effectively don't have verbs or that somehow get around using a "standard" verb system?
By this, I'm asking whether there are languages (natural or constructed) which somehow function without verbs, relying instead upon other types of words like prepositions or something like that.
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Does Sanskrit निस् • (nis) "out, forth, away" come from PIE *ni- "in; down?" with meaning shift from "in" to "out"?
निस्·nis "out, forth, away" > nirvana "to blow out, extinguish; out of breath?"
नि·ni "down, back, in, into" < PIE *h₁én "in; down?"
My question is ...
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Having a hard time distinguishing between the simple and perfective aspects
It seems to me that the truth conditions for "David baked cookies" are identical to "David has baked cookies," in that both are true if at some moment of time in the past "...
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Semantics and Coordination
Is coordination only governed by syntax?
What about sentences like "I am afraid of and independent of him"?
Is there nothing odd about it?
The coordinated element is a PP, so it conforms to ...
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The Liar's Paradox : a linguistic perspective
The sentence "This sentence is false." is a paradox (called the "liar's paradox) as even though being well formed it is a contradiction.
While logicians can call this a case of un-decidability what ...
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What is the relationship between complement, adjunct, argument and modifier?
For the terminology used in linguistic papers, it is quite confusing. It seems that [complement] and [adjunct] are a pair of concepts that are often distinguished from each other. However, sometimes, ...
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On an argument concerning whether weather *it* is truly an expletive
Morgan (1968) claims that many instances of unstressed it are meaningless. He offers the following argument: the pronoun he in (1a) can refer to either John or Bill but the gap in (1b) can only refer ...
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What is the difference between attributive adjective and predicative adjective?
When I began to read articles related to English adjectives, I often encountered these two names: "predicative adjectives" and "attributive adjectives". It seems that the author ...
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By what mechanism do `want` and `know` fail to form commands?
Verbs like want and know seem to resist being used in imperative constructions. In particular, it does not seem possible to use them to command people to change their mind about what they want or to ...
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Is there a "Range" Phrase?
Is anyone aware of any discussion in linguistics of the possibility of a "range" phrase? As I tentatively conceive of the range phrase, a true range phrase refers to a readily identifiable ...
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The Power of Word Choice in Changing Perceptions
I am looking for any studies, research, or theories about how choosing particular words or descriptions can lead to perceptual changes and judgements. This would be like loaded or emotive language.
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Question on the semantics of perfective form
I learn that in English, accomplishment predicates in the simple past (perfective) form usually entail that the event has reached its culmination point and the theme has entered into the result state. ...
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Is situational context of discourse analysis widely accepted?
I really need to know how widely {situational context of discourse analysis} is accepted as legitimate across linguists. Is it widely acknowledged that ignoring {situational context} can result in the ...
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Sememe and semanteme
I'm not sure I understand what is the relationship between sememes and semantemes.
I have the following definitions :
A sememe is a semantic content of a lexeme.
A semanteme is a unit which together ...
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Are there two senses of "grammar" with respect to semantics?
Are there two senses of "grammar"?
Is it correct that
in linguistics, semantics (and maybe also pragmatics) belongs to and is specified in grammar? (My impression from limited reading of a ...
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What are the target and source domain of this metaphor
The metaphor is: "the shower of arrows was over".
Could "War" the source domain? And the target domain could be "water"? It doesn't make sense to me.
I have read the ...
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What are the semantics of questions and requests/commands?
In linguistics, is it correct that statement i.e. declarative clause (sentence) has a truth value (true or false or maybe other value?) i.e. logic as its semantics?
What does a question (yes-no, or ...
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Does the function of a clause belong to semantics or syntax?
In linguistics, is it correct that a clause is classified according to its function into declarative/statement, interrogative/question (yes-no, or content one), and imperative/request/command?
Does ...
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Is there any way to describe how languages are typically spoken, like there is a way to describe grammar?
In English, when ordering food, you'd say "I would like x," not "Please let me purchase x," even though both are grammatically correct. You can say that "I would be liking x&...
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Is there a descriptive term for the demonstrative pronoun "that" which conveys the underlying notion of pointing to something *out there*?
I have read (somewhere) that the demonstrative pronoun describes something outside or away from the observer and that this has a descriptive term, philosophically not as a grammar term. That out there....
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Axioms in English: If we try to find the root meaning of every English word in the dictionary,which word will we land on the most [duplicate]
Assume an alien has landed on Earth and wants to learn English with the help of an English Dictionary.
He looks up the meaning of "the".
Meaning of "the":
"denoting one or more people or things ...
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Is there any constructed language that builds concepts from primitives?
I know about semantic primitives but I was curious about a usable system where you actually construct words out of those primes.
The idea is to have a keyboard of the primes and to build concepts by ...
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What does Salikoko Mufwene mean with regards to #3 on the progressive aspect?
From Wikipedia:
Salikoko Mufwene contrasts the effect of the progressive form on the
meanings of action verbs versus those of lexically stative verbs:
It converts events expected to be punctual into ...
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In absolute numerical terms, what is the computational size of human language, particularly semantic processing?
What is a numerical estimate for the “RAM” of the human brain required to actually compute resolutions of the semantic content of sentences?
For example, consider there is an algorithm that expends 1 ...
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What is the relationship between lambda calculus and logical form?
I was introduced to lambda calculus as a notation to express the semantics of a phrase, based on the semantics of its parts.
I am under the impression lambda calculus does more than that, but I don’t ...
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Do the subjects of verbs such as "watch," "listen for," and "read" stand for agents, experiencers, both, or something else?
one: It’s well-known that the subjects of different verbs in different contexts can take subjects that have different semantic roles.
For example, in the sentence “Jill ate a hamburger,” “Jill” ...
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Does Swedish "varje" have both distributive and collective readings?
"Varje" is often translated as "each" or "every" in English. However, "each" and "every" have different uses in regard to collectivity/distributivity....
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What is a leading framework for describing world-states?
In light of this article:
Mondal, Prakash. "Towards a unified representation of linguistic meaning" Open Linguistics, vol. 9, no. 1, 2023, pp. 20220225. https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2022-022
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Why words are the basic building blocks of language?
I'm asking this both in the sense that for me (as a human) words seem to be the fundamental building blocks of language, and from the perspective of NLP applications, where word-vectors and word-...
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Are there any natural languages that have one or more morphemes that each stand for both "other(s)" and "more"?
I've been working on the quantifiers for a conlang of mine and noticed that the concepts "other" and "more" are each related to the notion of additional quantities. So, we have ...
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