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Lecturer(s)
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Martinková Michaela, Mgr. Ph.D.
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Course content
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Semantics and semiotic. Outline of theoretical approaches to lexical meaning: Componential analysis of meaning. Prototype theory. Frame semantics and its relation to syntax. Conceptual metaphor theory. Vagueness and ambiguity.
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Learning activities and teaching methods
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Dialogic Lecture (Discussion, Dialog, Brainstorming), Work with Text (with Book, Textbook)
- Attendace
- 24 hours per semester
- Homework for Teaching
- 36 hours per semester
- Preparation for the Course Credit
- 40 hours per semester
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Learning outcomes
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The course introduces theoretical approaches to linguistic meaning: formal semantics, componential analaysis of meaning, cognitive semantics, frame semantics.
Students will be capable of reading and understanding demanding English texts on the topic of lexical meaning and approaches to its analysis.
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Prerequisites
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Prerequisite: Lexicology and Lexicography (LEX1)
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Assessment methods and criteria
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Student performance, Written exam
Homework assignments - moodle quizzes, presentation of a linguistic paper in class, final test Exam topics for ANT1, ANT2 - SEM1 GROUP B: SEM1: Semantics 1. The English lexicon: differences between mental lexicon and dictionary. Size and structure, clues to mental lexicon. Learner dictionaries, unabridged dictionaries, dictionary entry. Core vocabulary, General Service List. Semantic/lexical fields. Basic units in the description of English lexicon (lexeme, lexical unit/item, lemma, word, word forms). 2. Compositionality. Open choice principle versus idiom principle. Syntactic properties of idioms. Idioms of decoding and idioms of encoding. Collocation and the ways of measuring its strength. Semantic prosody. 3. Semantics as part of semiotics. Denotational and representational theories of meaning. Semiotic triangle. Sense and reference, denotation. Referring and non-referring expressions. Types of reference. Sentence, utterance and proposition. Simple statements in predicate logic, quantifiers. Entailment. Meaning postulates. 4. Word meaning: descriptive (propositional) versus non-descriptive (non-truth conditional, connotative) meaning. Types of non-descriptive meaning and its treatment in dictionaries. Lexical relations: synonymy; antonymy and complementarity, reversive and converse relationship; hyponymy, meronymy in terms of sense relations. 5. Word meaning: Descriptive meaning and its systematic description: componential approaches (classical approach to conceptual categories) and their representatives. Evidence for semantic features, drawbacks of the approach. Selectional restrictions. Parametres of descriptive meaning. 6. Word meaning and concepts. Prototype theory, prototype effects. Categorization of colour. Basic level categories. Categories with the structure of Family resemblance. Language and thought, linguistic relativity. 7. Frame semantics and its origin: predicates, arguments and semantic roles, valence. Tests for agenthood. Grammatical functions and semantic roles. Frames and lexical units, polysemy in frame semantics. Framenet. 8. Literal and non-literal meaning. Conceptual metaphor theory, types of conceptual metaphor. Mapping and metaphorical linguistic expressions, metaphors in discourse. Conduit metaphor. Metonymy, synecdoche. 9. Ambiguity and vagueness, tests for ambiguity. Contextual effects. Polysemy and homonymy. Ambiguity and quantifiers. Polysemy, homonymy.
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Recommended literature
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Aarts, Bas. (1997). Predicates, Arguments and Thematic Roles. In: English syntax and argumentation..
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Cruse, Alan. (2004). Meaning in Language: An Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics.
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Fillmore, Charles. (1975). An alternative to the checklist theories of meaning.
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Fillmore, Charles. (1982). Frame Semantics.
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Kovecses, Zoltan. (2010). Metaphor: a practical introduction. OUP.
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Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson. (1980). Metaphors We Live By.
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Leech, G. (1974). Seven types of meaning. In: Semantics..
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Nida, Eugene. (1975). Componential Analysis of Meaning.
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Radford et al. (2009). Linguistics: An Introduction. CUP.
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Saeed, John. (2015). Semantics.. Wiley-Blackwell.
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