Semantics is the study of meaning, used to understand expressions through language.
Questions tagged [semantics]
660 questions
8
votes
1 answer
Why do most semantic theories assume no bottom/null element for mereological approaches to events?
Mereological theories of events usually assume that the domain of events forms a join semilattice with no bottom element.(Landman 2004's "Indefinites and the Type of Sets" is one of the few exceptions I've found.) There are probably good reasons…
user177
- 616
- 3
- 10
6
votes
3 answers
What is the evidence for the arbitrariness of the sign?
The "arbitrariness of the sign" is a fundamental principle of modern linguistics: that is, that there's nothing intrinsic about the sound sequence [kʰæt̚] or the phoneme sequence /kæt/ that links it to a small furry animal. English-speaking humans…
Draconis
- 65,972
- 3
- 141
- 215
4
votes
1 answer
How do I write the predicate logic notation for a proposition containing a plural argument?
I need to translate a sentence with an indefinite plural object, as in "I eat apples" to predicate logic notation.
If I write it as EAT(i, a), how will the plurality of the argument be accounted for (if it needs to be accounted for)? On the other…
Alice
- 41
- 1
4
votes
0 answers
How would languages that use an absolute frame of reference say that the heart is on the left side of the body?
In languages that use a relative frame of reference we can say that the heart is on the left side of the body, and no matter what direction you are facing that is true. But in an absolute frame of reference, if you said that the heart is on the west…
r0se
- 57
- 1
4
votes
1 answer
What's a good illustration of the difference between syntagmatic, paradigmatic, and attribute semantic relations?
In the book Concepts, Ontologies, and Knowledge Representation, the author makes a distinction between syntagmatic and paradigmatic semantic relations. That's clear enough - but then he raises a third kind of semantic relation called attributes (see…
Teusz
- 2,701
- 1
- 15
- 29
4
votes
2 answers
Why is "human volunteers" felicitous in English but not in Russian?
From "Risks from GMOs due to Horizontal Gene Transfer", by Paul Keese:
"The introduced gene could not be detected in faeces from human volunteers with intact digestive tracts following the consumption of a meal containing GM soya, indicating that…
CopperKettle
- 141
- 5
3
votes
1 answer
How to express semantics in functions
As I understand it, the function is assigned the predicate ( e.g. let f(x) denote [[ _ is red]] ), the domain is the set of all possible referents and the range is the set of all possible propositions. (I.e. if there are two possible referents,…
Hal
- 295
- 1
- 2
- 9
3
votes
1 answer
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.?
user43077
3
votes
1 answer
What is a modern framework for a “complete” description of a concept’s content?
I am wondering if there is a theory/field/framework in linguistics today which attempts to explicitly describe completely the intrinsic content of a “concept”.
Of course, concepts reside in the mind-brain so it would either need to be an “average”…
Julius Hamilton
- 523
- 3
- 27
3
votes
1 answer
What are the possible theta roles for to-infinitives in these sentences?
For example, in the sentence I want to sleep.
The verb want takes two arguments, which get two theta roles, I gets the agent role, what theta role does to sleep get?
Here is another example: I want her to sleep.
What theta role does to sleep…
Jenny
- 175
- 7
3
votes
0 answers
Question on the semantic role of the objects of verbs indicating prevention
It goes without saying that the title of this question is perhaps rather prolix, so allow me to illustrate what I mean.
Consider the below sentence.
The man's heroic actions prevented the innocent woman's death.
The focus of this question extends…
Eric
- 305
- 1
- 5
3
votes
2 answers
How can a remark not refer to the speaker's attitude?
Source: p 34, Understanding Semantics (2 ed, 2013) by Sebastian Löbner
Interjections and exclamations can be used as complete utterances. Other
expressives such as hopefully, (un)fortunately or thank God can be inserted into
a sentence in…
user5306
2
votes
2 answers
How I can identify semantic features?
Actually, I want to know what are the factors to notice in determining semantic features of different parts of speech.
I recognize some of them like +/- animate, +/- human, +/- male, and +/- young.
But are there any other features? For example, how…
zahra
- 129
- 1
- 2
- 6
2
votes
0 answers
On semantic roles
What is the semantic role of the direct object in the below sentence? If I'm not mistaken, the answer is 'patient' (since 'He' is doing something [in this case, 'crossing'] to the river). However, I find it difficult to understand why this is so (if…
Eric
- 305
- 1
- 5
2
votes
2 answers
Metaphors meaning “understand”
All major branches of the IE family use variants of a metaphor that equates understand with grasp, but they use various roots, all of which have PIE pedigrees: Sanskrit has gŗbhnate < GhŖBh with double meaning, but English grabs and Russian грабит…
Bert Barrois
- 570
- 3
- 9