Semantics


Microstructure: remember the three component sign model which consists of three components → appearance, structure and meaning.

To gather enough information to give a short and precise definition of the meaning of a word (semantics) we need to have a source: → text corpus.

There are two ways of defining
 Paradigmatic definition:
                                        - on the basis of sense:
                                           • standard dictionary definition 
                                             (X is a Y kind of Z)
                                           • related definition 
                                             (synonyms/antonyms)
                                           • word fields
                                         - on the basis of reference
                                           • ostensive definition
                                           • model definition

Syntagmatic definition:
                                         - give examples
                                         - refer to a text corpus        


In order to give a semantic definition on a paradigmatic level:

→ define a semantic field:
                                          - set of related words  
                                            (compare to onomasiological definitions)

→ define semantic relations within the field:
                                           - taxonomy
                                             • hyperonomy/hypononymy (co-hyponomy)
                                           - meronomy

→ define semantic components:
                                             - components which define the semantic field
                                               (compare to semasiological definitions)