Chapter 9 - Semantics - Exercises - Key [PDF]

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11/2/2017



SEMANTIC FEATURES: EXERCISE 1 Identify the semantic features in each of the following words: 1. child 6. tiptoe 2. aunt 7. owe 3. bachelor 8. plod 4. actress 9. palm 5. chick 10. flower



SEMANTICS



exercises BÙI HUỲNH THỦY THƯƠNG



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4. Actress: [+ human, + female, + professionally artistic, + perform a role] 5. Chick: [+ animate, + bird, + fowl, + young, + male] 6. Tiptoe: [+ motion, + walk, + on toes, + silently] 7. Owe: [+ state, + be in debt, + obligation/ duty, + pay/repay] 8. Plod: [+ motion, + walk, + slowly & labouriously]



ANSWER KEY 1. Child: [+ human, + young (or - mature), + male, + innocent] 2. Aunt: [+ human], + mature, + female, + father’s/mother’s sister (-in-law)] 3. Bachelor: [+ human, + mature, + male, + stay single]



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SEMANTIC FEATURES: EXERCISE 2



9. Palm:



[+ part of a hand, + inner surface, + between the wrist and the fingers] Palm: [+ plant, + tree, - branches, + a mass of wide leaves at the top, + in warm or tropical climate] 10. Flower: [+ part of a plant, + coloured, + usually good-smelling, + bloom/blossom, + fruit or seed is developed]



Study question 2, p. 123 Using semantic features, how would you explain the oddness of these sentences? (a) The television drank my water. (b) His dog writes poetry.



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SEMANTIC FEATURES: EXERCISE 3



(a) The television drank my water. (a) The verb drink requires a subject with the feature [+animate] and the noun television has the feature [-animate].



Explain the anomaly of each of the following sentences: 1. Christopher is killing phonemes. 2. The tiger remained alive for an hour after the hunter killed it. 3. My brother is a spinster. 4. The boy swallowed the chocolate and then chewed it.



(b) His dog writes poetry. (b) The verb write requires a subject with the feature [+human] and the noun dog has the feature [-human]. 7



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SEMANTIC FEATURES: EXERCISE 3 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.



ANSWER KEYS



Babies can lift one ton. The bigger key and John opened the door. James sliced the ideas. Jack’s courage chewed the bones. I hear the cloud.



1. Christopher



is killing phonemes. This sentences is semantically anomalous because the verb kill requires a subject with the feature [+animate] and the noun phonemes has the feature [-animate].



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2. The



tiger remained alive for an hour after the hunter killed it. This sentences is semantically anomalous because no living organism can remain alive after being killed. In fact, the tiger died right at the moment the hunter killed it.



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4. The



boy swallowed the chocolate and then chewed it. This sentences is semantically anomalous because of the wrong order of the 2 verb phrases – swallowed the chocolate & chewed it. 5. Babies



can lift one ton. This sentences is semantically anomalous because babies is [+young, -strong], whereas the verb phrase can lift one ton requires a subject that is [+strong].



3. My



brother is a spinster. This sentences is semantically anomalous because my brother is [+male], whereas a spinster is [-male]. 11



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6. The



bigger key and John opened the door. This sentences is semantically anomalous because of its instrument (the bigger key) cannot be cojoined with its agent (John).



8. Jack’s



7. James



sliced the ideas. This sentences is semantically anomalous because the noun phrase the ideas is [+abstract notion], whereas the verb phrase sliced requires an object that is [+concrete, +long, +round, +soft] like a sausage or a tomato.



courage chewed the bones. This sentences is semantically anomalous because Jack’s courage is [+abstract notion, -animate] whereas the verb chewed requires a subject that is [+animate]. 9. I



hear the cloud. This sentences is semantically anomalous because the verb hear requires an object that is [+audible], whereas the noun cloud is [-audible].



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I wandered lonely as a cloud  agent The cloud floats on high o'er vales and hills,  agent location When all at once I saw a host of golden  experiencer theme daffodils beside the lake, beneath the trees,  location location The daffodils are fluttering and dancing in  Agent the breeze.  location



SEMANTIC ROLES: EXERCISE 4 Identify the semantic roles of the underlined parts: The little Stone is happy  Experiencer The little Stone rambles in the Road alone  Agent Location



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SEMANTIC ROLES: EXERCISE 5



Actor has lived in the ’Hood.  experiencer location



Study question 3, p. 123 Identify the semantic roles of the seven noun phrases in this sentence.



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SEMANTIC ROLES: EXERCISE 5



SYNONYMY: EXERCISE 6



With her new golf club, Anne Marshall  instrument agent whacked the ball from the woods to the grassy  theme source goal area near the hole and she suddenly felt  location experiencer invincible.



For each pair of partial synonyms below, (a) give a sentence in which they can be used interchangeably



& (b) give another sentence in which one of them can be used.



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SYNONYMY: EXERCISE 6 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.



edge/side deep/profound ripe/mature broad/wide soil/earth



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ANSWER KEYS



6. ask/inquire 7. eat/have 8. help/assist 9. buy/purchase 10. former/older



1. edge/side (a) The house is on the edge/side of the forest. (b) I’ll be on your side/edge. Their economy is on the edge/side of collapse. a knife with a sharp edge/side



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3. ripe/mature (a) This cheese is ripe/mature for us to eat. (b) We cannot eat this fruit because it is not ripe/mature yet. The government decided the time is ripe/ mature for an election. Mature/Ripe apple trees are typically 20 feet tall.



2. deep/profound (a) You have my deep/profound sympathy. (b) How deep/profound is the river? She gazed at him with wide deep/profound blue eyes. Jenner is a profound/deep thinker.



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5. soil/earth (a) We can plant trees on this soil/earth. a lump of soil/earth (a) The rocket fell back on earth/soil. the most powerful man on earth/soil the planet Earth/soil



4. broad/wide (a) The Thames is a broad/wide river. a hat with broad/wide brim a broad/wide tree-lined road (b) My boss is not very broad-minded/wideminded. We have offices in 56 countries worldwide/ worldbroad.



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6. ask/inquire (a) I am writing to ask/inquire about your advertisement in “The Times”.



7. eat/have (a) I usually just eat/have a sandwich for breakfast.



(b) I couldn’t ask/inquire for a better boss. The two men entered without bothering to ask/inquire for permission.



(b) This car eats/have petrol. She has/eats dark hair & brown eyes.



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8. help/assist (a) Some of the guests helped/assisted with the preparation of the food.



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9. buy/purchase (a) Where did you buy/purchase the car? (b) ‘Can we talk about it later?’ he said, trying to buy/purchase a little more time.



(b) Crying won’t help/assist. Please help/assist yourself to some cake. Some of the guests helped/assisted us to prepare the food. assist s.b to do sth



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10. former/older (a) The car’s former/older owner didn’t take good care of it.



ANTONOMY: EXERCISE 7 Study question 5, p. 123. Which of the following opposites are gradable, non-gradable, or reversives? • Gradable antonyms: (d) fair/unfair (f) high/low • Non-gradable antonyms: (a) absent/present (c) fail/pass • Reversives: (b) appear/disappear (e) fill it/empty it



(b) Years go by and Miss Emily is getting older and older/former and former.



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HYPONYMY: EXERCISE 8



HYPONYMY: EXERCISE 8



• Draw a chart to show the relationship between a hypernym and a hyponym.



1. 2. 3. 4. 5.



colour red yellow ...



blue



green



greenish aquamarine blue



black



royal blue



cook & deep-fry animal & foal (baby horse) animal & child plant & coconut vocal organ & tongue tip



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ANSWER KEYS



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2. animal & foal (baby horse) animal



1. cook & deep-fry cook



fish bird insect



grill toast boil fry roast bake smoke ...



stir-fry



sauté



/ˈsəʊteɪ/



deep-fry



mammal reptile



human



...



animal (beast)



dog horse sheep ...



...



stallion



mare foal



* sauté (v): to cook sth in a little hot oil/fat 35



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3. animal & child



4. plant & coconut animal



fish bird insect human



plant



mammal reptile



flowering plant



...



animal (beast)



bush/ shrub



tree



pine



man woman child



coconut



moss



palm betel



grass ...



gum



...



sago palm



...



* betel /ˈbiːtl/ (n): cau * sago /ˈseɪgəʊ/ palm (n): 37



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PROTOTYPES: EXERCISE 9



5. vocal organ & tongue tip vocal organ



Study question 1, p. 123: How is the term “prototype” used in semantics?



lip tongue nose larynx lower jaw ...



The prototype is the characteristic instance of a category, as in the case of “robin” being the clearest example, or prototype, of the category “bird” for many American English speakers.



tongue tongue tongue tongue tongue tip blade front back root



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HOMOPHONY: EXERCISE 10



ANSWER KEYS



Find the homophones of:



Find the homophones of:



1. ad



6. altar



11. blew



1. ad, add



6. altar, alter



11. blew, blue



2. air



7. aren't



12. thrown



2. air, heir



7. aren't, aunt



12. thrown, throne



3. aisle



8. flower



13. sweet



3. aisle, I'll, isle 8. flower, flour 13. sweet, suite



4. fair



9. board



14. allowed



4. fair, fare



9. board, bored 14. allowed, aloud



5. tale



10. won



15. farther



5. tale, tail



10. won, one



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15. farther, father 42



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LEXICAL AMBIGUITY: EXERCISE 11 Explain the lexical ambiguity in each of the following sentences: 1. We were waiting at the bank. 2. I saw her duck. 3. We like the ball. 4. The long drill is boring. 5. That robot is bright. 6. He was knocked over by the punch.



LEXICAL ROLES: EXERCISE 12 Study question 4, p. 123 What is the basic lexical relation between each pair of words listed here? (a) damp/moist (d) married/single (b) deep/shallow (e) move/run (c) furniture/table (f) peace/piece



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POLYSEMY & METONYMY: EXERCISE 13 (a) damp/moist (b) deep/shallow (c) furniture/table (d) married/single (e) move/run (f) peace/piece



synonymy antonymy hyponymy antonymy hyponymy homophony



Study question 6 (p. 123) Are these underlined words best described as examples of polysemy or metonymy? (a) The pen is mightier than the sword. metonymy (b) I had to park on the shoulder of the road. polysemy 45



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(c) Yes, I love those. I ate a whole box on Sunday! metonymy (d) The bookstore has some new titles in linguistics. metonymy (e) Computer chips created an important new technology. polysemy (f) I’m going to sue your ass! metonymy 47



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