Student resources for Chapter 07: Semantics
Study guide for Chapter 07: Semantics
Terminology
You should be able to simply define or explain the following terms and concepts.
| Sense | Reference | Lexeme |
| Sign | Signifier | Signified |
| Icon | Index (noun) | Symbol |
| Connotation | Denotation | Exonym |
| Proposition | Propositional content | Entailment |
| Presupposition | Prototype | Antonymy |
| Contrary | Synonymy | Hyponymy |
| Polysemy | Profile | Frame |
| Script | Metaphor | Metonymy |
| Conceptual Metaphor |
Skills
On completion of this chapter, you should be able to perform the following tasks:
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Distinguish semantic from pragmatic meanings of expressions
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Distinguish between sense and reference
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Distinguish between icons, indexes, and signs
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Identify inferences, entailments, and presuppositions associated with lexemes and propositions, and provide arguments for your analysis using the “contradiction test”
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Identify semantic relations of synonymy, hyponymy, and antonymy that hold between lexemes
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Define the term ‘prototype’ as it relates to semantics and discuss its role in contributing to meanings of particular lexemes
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Identify semantic frames associated with a group of lexemes and distinguish between frames and profiles
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Give examples of how particular semantic components of a word are activated in particular contexts
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Distinguish between vagueness and polysemy, and for polysemous lexemes, state whether the polysemy is based on metonymy or metaphor
