Some lexical structures and their empirical validity¹

Discussions of a semantic theory of language can flounder on the determination of the data which that theory is intended to describe. In this paper we shall avoid questions of the legitimacy of particular goals for semantic theory. Nor are we concerned primarily with the nature of the computational device used in analyzing the meanings of whole sentences. Rather we report some recent investigations of several kinds of lexical devices which are necessary formal prerequisites for the description of semantic phenomena.

 

The empirical reality of any descriptive device is initially supported by the facts it describes. It is further supported by the validity of predictions which it justifies. In this paper we show that certain hierarchical structures proposed for an adequate description of semantic lexical structure also correctly predict the potential occurrence of certain types of words and interpretations and correctly reject the potential occurrence of other types of words and interpretations.

 

The empirical phenomena and the formal devices which describe them are reflections of problems and solutions which arise in other behavioral phenomena (e.g. in anthropology or psychology). The basic phenomenon we explore is the representation of classes of words by features, like ‘animateness’, ‘plantness’, and ‘ livingness ’. These features are themselves organized hierarchically (e.g. anything that is ‘living ’ must be a ‘ plant ’ or ‘ animate ’). Finally, certain hierarchies express relations between particular words rather than between classes or words. These relations are maintained in the metaphorical extensions of the literal interpretations of these words. At each point we show how the linguistic facts justify certain formal constraints, and we demonstrate the empirical extensions of each of these descriptive devices.

الاكثر قراءة في Semantics

Semantic features

Hierarchies of hyponyms

Hyponymy

Primary and Secondary verbs

Types associated with the Adjective class

Antonymy

Hyponymy and the has-relation

Lexical relations

Polysemy

Adverbs with manner but not sentential function

Situation types

Agent and theme

Adjective types and derived adverbs

Semantic roles

Words and clitics

اخر الاخبار

اخبار العتبة العباسية المقدسة

شعبة الشهداء والجرحى تباشر مرحلة التدقيق الشامل لأكثر من 10 آلاف إضبارة مؤرشفة

قسم الشؤون الفكرية يصدر كتابًا تخصصيًّا في إعراب الصحيفة السجادية وبيانها

أكاديمية التطوير الإداري تنظم ورشة عن الإتيكيت الوظيفي لطلبتها

سماحة السيد الصافي يزور معهد الكفيل للنطق والتأهيل المدرسي ويشيد بالدور الإنساني والتربوي لملاكاته

المزيد

الآخبار الصحية

العلاج بالماء البارد.. باحثون يكشفون فوائده الصحية

من دون صالة رياضية.. عادة بسيطة لتحسين الصحة وخسارة الوزن

لصحة القلب وتفادي السرطان.. استهلك هذا النوع من الطعام

دراسة تحذر من خطر شرب القهوة في أكواب البلاستيك

المزيد

الآخبار التكنلوجية

إنجاز طبي تاريخي.. جراحة قلب بلا شق في الصدر

اليابان.. مراحيض توفر فحص للحالة الصحية عبر "تحليل البراز" !

اختراق واسع لمنصة "إنستغرام".. ونشر بيانات على "الدارك ويب"

علماء يحذرون: هكذا سيفنى كوكب الأرض

المزيد

مواضيع ذات صلة

Anaphora vs. deixis

Grammatical case vs. semantic case

Semantic roles and Grammatical Relations Conclusion

Arguments and semantic roles

Semantic roles and Grammatical Relations

Constituency

Identifying meaningful elements Summary

Identifying meaningful elements within words

Identifying meaningful elements Identifying word meanings

Consequences of modifying Gunlogsons 2001 model

A case study of the semantics of clear - Factivity revisited

A case study of the semantics of clear - The analysis