English Language - Semantics

What are the different types of semantic change?

- Amelioration - Pejoration - Broadening or expansion - Narrowing or specialisation - Bleaching or weakening

Example of collocation?

- Bread and butter - Tea and Biscuits - Pay attention

Example of Amelioration?

- Cool simply referred to a temperature. But now is seen as a positive adjective describing something that is on trend or good

Example of Pejoration?

- The word Villain simply referred to someone of low class and lived in the country , drawn from a synonym for villager - However over time, the word has become associated with evil and cruel actions

Example of Bleaching/Weakening?

- The word dead has been weakened by it becoming an intensifier e.g. dead tired, dead boring

Synonym?

refers to a word with a similar meaning as another

Example of a connotation?

- Using the word swarm to describe the movement of people conveys negative connotations because it is associated with insects and pests

Amelioration?

- Where the meaning of a word becomes more positive over time

Narrowing or specialisation?

- Where the original meaning of a word was much broader but has become more precise over time

Bleaching or Weakening?

- Where the original power or load of a word becomes reduced over time

Example of a metonym?

- if a newspaper reported ' The word form Number 10 is...' they are using the address of the PM as a metonym for the government

Example of a hyponym?

- if the hypernym was red, then crimson scarlet and vermillion would be hyponyms

Homonym?

- refers to a word that has the same form but two different meanings

Hypernym?

- refers to a word with a broad coverage of meaning - also called the Superordinate

Antonym?

- refers to a word with the opposite meaning to another

Hyponym?

- refers to the more specific elements 'under' a hypernym

Metonym?

- refers to the use of an attribute to refer to the thing or concept

Collocation?

- refers to two or more words that typically go together as a set phrase

Pejoration?

- the meaning of a word becomes less positive over time

Example of Narrowing/specialisation ?

- the word deer is derived from an Old English word that simply meant small creatures. It has narrowed to refer to a specific type of creature

Example of broadening/expansion?

- the word holiday is derived from holy day, a time when people would stop work and observe religious practices - it has broadened to refer to any break from work or other occupation

Example of a Homonym?

- the word reserves can mean someone who is shy as well as holding a room,table or place for someone

Example of a hypernym?

- tree can refer to oaks, beeches, willows etc

Broadening or expansion?

- whether the original meaning of a word expands to encompass more ideas

Example of an antonym?

Hot is an antonym of cold

Example of a Synonym?

Huge and massive are considered synonyms of big

Connotation?

Refers to the associated meanings of a word that go beyond their literal definition