Word Relations
Word
As words are Saussurean signs - the linguistic form of the word is known as the signifier while the meaning encoded is the signified.
Associations between the signified
Hyponym and hypernym
Hypernym
Superset/collection
Example
Great ape (as a hypernym of human)
Hyponym
Subset/member within the collection
Example
Human (as a hyponym of great ape)
Hyponym and hypernym relation
, but
Holonym and meronym
Holonym and meronym refers to a 'part of' relation
Holonym
Entire unit
Meronym
Part of the unit
Associations between signifiers
Polyseme
Word with multiple related meanings
Homonym
Word with separate unrelated meaning
Polysemes and homonyms require the understanding of the word's etymology
Etymology
Origin and historical development
Homophones
Words pronounced the same way, with unrelated meanings
Homographs
Words spelt the same way, with unrelated meanings, irrespective of pronounciation.
Synonym
Words with approximately the same meaning
Antonym
Words with the opposite meaning
Complementary antonym
There is
- nothing in the world that is part of what both X and Y refer to
- if something is not X, it must be Y.
Gradable antonyms
There is
- nothing in the world that is a part of what both X and Y refer to
- if something is not X, it may or may not be Y.
Generally, it is possible to ask about the extent of a gradeable antonym.
Reverses
Pair of words that denote opposing processes
ascend/descend, expand/contract
Converses
Pairs of words that represent two opposing points of view.
left/right, employer/employee
Relations between sentences/phrases
Paraphrase
Phrases/sentences that have approximately the same meaning
Contradiction
Phrases/sentences that mean the opposite and cannot be true at the same time.
Entailment
If sentence A is true, then sentence B must be true. However, makes no claim about what happens when sentence B is true.
Entailment relations disappears after negation
Presupposition
Sentence B is an implicit assumption of sentence A.
is always true regardless of .
Layers of meaning
Denotation vs connotation
Denotation refers to the literal meaning, while connotation refers to the association evoked by the said word.
What begins as a connotation may eventually be encoded as part of the denotation.
Extension (aka reference) vs intension (aka sense)
Extension is what the expression refers to (the object itself) while intension is the intrinsic meaning of the expression
Demonstratives
Intension is fixed, but extension depends on speaker