Glossary

6.3 Semantic relations and thematic roles

2 min read•july 25, 2024

Words connect through meaning, shaping how we use language. Semantic relations like synonyms, antonyms, and hyponyms create networks of related concepts. Understanding these links helps us grasp vocabulary structure and word choices.

Thematic roles reveal how words interact in sentences. They show who does what to whom, helping us interpret meaning. Roles like , , and clarify relationships between verbs and their arguments, deepening our understanding of sentence structure.

Semantic Relations

Types of semantic relations

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  • Semantic relations connect words or concepts based on meanings shape vocabulary and language structure

  • involves words with similar or identical meanings (big/large, smart/intelligent, happy/joyful)

  • encompasses words with opposite meanings

    • Gradable antonyms exist on a spectrum (hot/cold, big/small)
    • Complementary antonyms are mutually exclusive (alive/dead, on/off)
    • Relational antonyms describe reciprocal relationships (teacher/student, parent/child)

  • establishes hierarchical relationships between general terms (hypernyms) and specific instances (hyponyms)

    • Hypernym: flower
    • Hyponyms: rose, tulip, daisy

  • represents part-whole relationships (finger/hand)

  • occurs when words have same form but different meanings (bank - financial institution/river edge)

  • involves words with multiple related meanings (head - body part/leader)

Concept of thematic roles

  • Thematic roles describe semantic relationships between predicates and arguments show how participants engage in actions or states expressed by verbs

  • Roles provide crucial information about who does what to whom in sentences help disambiguate similar structures contribute to overall coherence and interpretation

  • Core thematic roles include:

    • Agent initiates or performs an action
    • Patient undergoes or is affected by the action
    • experiences change of state or location
    • perceives or experiences a mental state
    • Instrument serves as means for action performance

Assignment of thematic roles

  • Identifying thematic roles involves:

    1. Locating the main predicate (typically a verb)
    2. Determining number of associated arguments
    3. Analyzing semantic relationships between arguments and predicate

  • Examples of role assignment:

    • "John [Agent] broke the window [Patient] with a rock [Instrument]"
    • "Mary [Experiencer] heard a loud noise [Theme]"
    • "The book [Theme] is on the table [Location]"

  • Context may influence role assignment some arguments can have multiple possible roles passive constructions alter surface representation of roles

Interaction of semantics and roles

  • Verbs select arguments based on semantic properties hyponymy relationships affect which nouns fill certain roles

  • Synonymous verbs often share similar thematic role structures ("give" and "donate" involve Agent, Theme, Recipient)

  • Antonymous verbs may reverse thematic roles ("buy" - Agent is buyer vs "sell" - Agent is seller)

  • Polysemous words require different thematic role structures for various senses ("run" as physical action vs managing a business)

  • Complex sentences involve shared or distinct roles in coordinate structures subordinate clauses introduce additional role relationships

  • Semantic classes of nouns exhibit role prototypicality (animate nouns as Agents, inanimate nouns as Instruments)

Key Terms to Review (22)

Agent: An agent is a participant in a sentence that performs an action or causes an event to happen. This concept is crucial in understanding how different entities interact within language, particularly in the analysis of meaning and sentence structure. Agents are typically expressed as subjects in active sentences and are central to the understanding of thematic roles, influencing how relationships among participants are understood in communication.
Ambiguity: Ambiguity refers to the quality of being open to multiple interpretations or meanings in language, which can arise from words, phrases, or sentences. It can create confusion in communication but also enriches language by allowing for creativity and depth. Ambiguity plays a significant role in understanding how meanings can shift based on context and can be particularly important in analyzing relationships between words and their roles in sentences, as well as in developing applications in natural language processing.
Antonymy: Antonymy refers to a semantic relationship between words that have opposite meanings. This relationship is crucial in understanding how words convey meaning and contrast with one another, allowing speakers to express distinctions in language. Recognizing antonyms can enhance communication by providing clarity and nuance, as well as contributing to the organization of vocabulary in the mental lexicon.
Collocation: Collocation refers to the habitual juxtaposition of a particular word with another word or words, creating a natural combination in a language. These combinations often feel more 'right' to native speakers than other possible word combinations and are key in understanding semantic relations and thematic roles within language. By exploring how words collocate, we can gain insights into meaning, usage, and the underlying structures that govern language.
Compositional semantics: Compositional semantics is the study of how the meanings of complex expressions are derived from their parts and their syntactic arrangement. It emphasizes the principle that the meaning of a whole is determined by the meanings of its constituents and how they combine. This approach helps in understanding semantic relations, thematic roles, and also plays a crucial role in computational models for processing natural language.
Contextual meaning: Contextual meaning refers to the specific interpretation or significance of a word, phrase, or sentence based on the surrounding context in which it appears. This concept emphasizes that the meaning of language is not fixed but can change depending on factors such as the situation, speaker intentions, and cultural background. Understanding contextual meaning is crucial for grasping how people communicate effectively and how different interpretations can arise from the same words.
Experiencer: An experiencer is a semantic role that refers to an entity that has a certain experience or perception, often involving emotions, sensations, or mental states. This role is crucial in understanding how meaning is constructed in sentences, as it highlights the relationship between the experiencer and the events or states described in language. Experiencers are often associated with verbs that denote psychological states, feelings, or perceptions, and they can help differentiate between the subject and object of a sentence in terms of who feels what.
Figurative language: Figurative language refers to the use of words, phrases, or expressions that convey meanings beyond their literal interpretation. This type of language adds depth, creativity, and emotion to communication, often engaging the audience in a more meaningful way. By employing techniques such as metaphors, similes, and personification, figurative language helps to express complex ideas and relationships among different elements.
Frame semantics: Frame semantics is a theory of meaning that emphasizes the role of mental structures, or 'frames', in understanding language. These frames provide context and shape our interpretation of words and sentences, connecting language to our experiences and knowledge about the world. By analyzing how different frames influence meaning, we can better understand semantic relations and thematic roles in language.
Homonymy: Homonymy refers to the phenomenon where two or more words share the same spelling or pronunciation but have different meanings. This can lead to ambiguity in language, as context is crucial in determining which meaning is intended. Understanding homonymy is essential in exploring semantic relations and thematic roles, as it highlights how meaning can shift based on usage and context.
Hyponymy: Hyponymy is a semantic relationship where the meaning of one word is included within the meaning of another, typically representing a more specific term compared to a broader category. This relationship helps to establish hierarchies of word meanings, allowing for better understanding of language and its structure. In this way, hyponymy plays an important role in categorizing concepts and understanding their relationships within language.
Instrument: In linguistics, an instrument refers to the entity that is used to carry out an action in a sentence. It plays a crucial role in understanding how actions are performed and who or what is involved in those actions, connecting closely to the concepts of semantic relations and thematic roles.
Meronymy: Meronymy is a semantic relationship in which a word denotes a part of something, while that something is referred to as the whole. This relationship is crucial for understanding how words connect with each other and convey meaning, particularly in terms of how parts relate to their wholes. It plays a significant role in shaping the way we understand lexical semantics and the meanings of words, as well as in recognizing the thematic roles that different entities play within a sentence.
Object: An object is a grammatical term that refers to a noun, noun phrase, or pronoun that typically receives the action of a verb within a sentence. Objects are essential for providing completeness to the meaning of transitive verbs, as they specify what or whom the action is directed towards. They can be direct or indirect, depending on whether they directly receive the action or indicate to whom or for whom the action is performed.
Oblique: In linguistics, the term 'oblique' refers to a noun or pronoun that is not in the subject or direct object position within a sentence. Oblique arguments typically provide additional information about the action of the verb and can denote various roles such as location, direction, or means. These elements enrich the sentence by specifying context without being central to the core subject-verb-object structure.
Patient: In linguistics, a patient refers to the entity that undergoes an action or is affected by an event within a sentence. This role is crucial in understanding how meaning is constructed in relation to the actions performed by agents and the involvement of other participants.
Polysemy: Polysemy refers to a linguistic phenomenon where a single word or phrase has multiple related meanings. This concept is crucial for understanding how word meaning can shift and evolve based on context, allowing speakers to use the same term in various situations without confusion. Recognizing polysemy helps in analyzing word usage and how different meanings relate to each other, which is essential for grasping the subtleties of communication.
Semantic shift: Semantic shift refers to the phenomenon where a word's meaning changes over time, leading to new interpretations or usages that may differ from the original sense. This shift can occur due to various factors such as cultural changes, social influences, and the evolution of language, impacting how words are understood within different contexts and relationships.
Subject: In grammar, the subject is the part of a sentence or clause that indicates who or what the sentence is about, typically performing the action of the verb. It plays a critical role in determining the structure and meaning of sentences, interacting closely with other elements like predicates and objects.
Synonymy: Synonymy refers to the relationship between words that have similar meanings, allowing them to be used interchangeably in certain contexts. This relationship is crucial for understanding lexical semantics, as it helps to illustrate how word meanings can overlap while still having distinct nuances. Recognizing synonymy also aids in grasping semantic relations among words and how they can fit into various thematic roles within sentences.
Theme: In linguistics, a theme refers to the participant or entity in a sentence that is being talked about or described. It is usually the focus of the action or state expressed by the verb, and it plays a central role in understanding the overall meaning of a sentence. The concept of theme is closely related to semantic relations and thematic roles, which help clarify how different elements in a sentence interact and contribute to its meaning.
Truth conditions: Truth conditions refer to the specific circumstances under which a statement or proposition is considered true or false. This concept is fundamental in understanding how meaning is constructed in language, particularly regarding the relationship between language and reality. It plays a critical role in various aspects of linguistics, such as how sentences convey meaning, how they relate to each other semantically, and the roles that different entities play in the meanings of those sentences.
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