5.3 Componential analysis 成分分析
Semantic features语义特征
semantic components语义成分
1. Analysis of meaning includes:
a. componential analysis成分分析------a way to analyze lexical-meaningb. predicatin analysis述谓结构分析-------sentence meaning
2. what is componential analysis?什么是成分分析？
“Componential analysis”---- defines the meaning of a lexical element in terms of semantic components.
Componential analysis refers to an approach adopted by structural semanticists in describing the meaning of words or phrases. This approach is based on the belief that the total meaning of a word can be analyzed in terms of a number of distinct elements or meaning components (called semantic features)成分分析法：是一种分析词汇抽象意义的方法。成分分析法研究的是“概念上”的词汇-----语义关系(conceptual---lexical relations)的一种尝试。其基本特点是，所有实词的意义都可以分解成一些“语义成分”。这种语义成分也可称作语义特征（Semantic features）、语义标示（Semantic Markers）、或义素（Sememes）
Semantic features are parallel to the way a phoneme is analyzed into smaller components called distinctive features.
Plus(+) and minus(-) signs are used to indicate whether a certain semantic feature is present or absent in the meaning of a word, and those features symbols are usually written in capitalized letters.
The study of meaning in any language shows that lexical items overlap in meaning and share common properties e.g. Lions and tigers both contain an element of “wild animal ness”. Calf puppy and baby can be considered as all sharing an element of non adultness, while cow, woman and tigress all containing an element of “femaleness, But because of other properties each word contains, none of them will be said as being synonymous to any one of the others.
One attempt to account for this phenomenon is to assume that lexical items, like phonemes are made up out of a number of component parts. Componential analysis is often seen as a process aiming at breaking down the meaning of a word into its minimal distinctive features or properties, which are also called components by some linguists. One way of describing the components of a word is to use feature symbols, which are usually written in capitalized letters, with “+” “-“ before them, plus sign indicates the presence of a certain property, and minus sign indicates the absence of it.
For example, we may “clip” the following words “Man”, “Woman”, “Boy” and “Girl” so that we have only separate parts of them.
man : + HUMAN+ ADULT+ MALE
woman: + HUMAN+ ADULT- MALE
boy: + HUMAN- ADULT+ MALE
girl: + HUMAN- ADULT- MALE
words like father, mother, daughter and son, which involves a relation between two entities, may be shown as follows:
father = PARENT (X,Y) & MALE (X)
mother = PARENT (X,Y) & MALE (X)
verbs can also be analyzed in this way, for example
take = CAUSE (X, (HAVE (X,Y))
give= CAUSE (X, (HAVE (X,Y)))
•Advantages: by specifying the semantic features of certain words, we may better account for sense relations,
Synonymy ---- having the same semantic components
Antonymy ----- having a contrasting component
Hyponymy-----having all semantic components of another.
•Disadvantages: It would be senseless to analyze the meaning of every word by breaking it into its meaning components.
3. semantic component语义成分:---- a distinguishable element of meaning in a word with two values,e.g<+human>又叫语义特征。
.compositionality组合原则-----: a principle for sentence analysis, in which the meaning of a sentence depends on the meanings of the constituent words and the way they are combined.句子意义由成分词的意义及其组合方式所决定的。
.selection restriction选择限制-----:semantic restrictions of the noun phrases that a particular lexical item can take,e.g.regret requires a human subject.
4. In what way is componential analysis similar to the analysis of phonemes into distinctive features?
In the light of componential analysi, the meaning of a word consists of a number of distinctive meaning features; the analysis breaks down the meaning of the word into these features: it is these different features that distinguish word meaning . similarly, a phoneme is considered as a collection of distinctive sound-features; a phoneme can be broke down into these distinctive sound features and it is these sound features that distinguish different sounds.
5.Sense relations between sentences句子间的语义关系
Sense relationships also exist between sentences
Six major sense relations between sentences.
(1)A is synonymous with B 同义句关系
Examples:a. A: He was a bachelor all his life. B: He never married all his life.
Ais the same with B.
b. A: The boy killed the dog. B: The dog was killed by the boy.
In terms of truth condition, if A is true, Bis true, and if A is false, B is false.
(2) A is inconsistent with B 对立句关系
A: John is married B: John is a bachelor
A: This is my first visit to your country. B: I have been to your country before.
In term of truth value: If A is true, B is false and if A is false, B is true.
(3). A entails B ( A is an entailment of B ) 蕴涵句关系
Entailment 衍推------relation between propositions one of which necessarily follows from the other. E.g. “Mary is running” entails, among other things “Mary is not standing still.”
A: He has been to France. B: He has been to Europe.
A: John picked a tulip. B: John picked a flower.
Entailment is a relation of inclusion if x entails y, the meaning of x is included in y.两个命题之间的语义关系或逻辑关系。
In term of truth value: If x is true, y is necessarily true; If x is false, y may be true or false; If y is true, x may be true or false, If Y is false, x is false.
In formula: A→B
-B→-A
(4) Presupposition (A presupposes B)预设句关系
A Presupposes B (B is prerequisite of A)
A: The queen of England is old. B: England has a queen.
A: Is your father at home? B: You have a father.
A: John’s bike needs repairing . B: John has a bike.
It refers to the kind of meaning which the speaker doesn’t assert but assumes the hearer can identify form the sentence.
Presupposition------Similar to entailment, presupposition is a semantic relationship or logical connection. The above-mentioned A ,B is also true with presupposition.

In term of truth value: If A is true, B must be true. If A is false, B is still true; If B is true, A is either true or false. If B is false, no truth value can be said about A.
In formula: A→B
-A→B
(5) A is a contradiction 矛盾关系
When Ais contradiction, it is invariably false.
My unmarried sister is married to a bachelor.
(6) A is semantically anomalous 语义上的不规则关系
When A is semantically anomalous, it is absurd in the sense that it presupposes a contradiction.
The table has bad intentions. The blackboard has a bad temper.
5.5 . Sentence meaning句子意义
1．The defining of sentence meaning has turned out to be a more complicated issue than the defining of the meanings of individual lexical items.
The meaning of a sentence is the sum total of the meanings of all it components.
The meaning of a sentence is a product of both lexical and grammatical meaning. There are two aspects to sentence meaning: grammatical meaning and semantic meaning.
2．What is predication analysis? What is a one-place predicate? What is a two-place predicate? What is a no-place predicate? What are down-graded predications?
“Predication analysis” is a new approach for sentential meaning analysis. “Predication” is usually considered an important common category shared by propositions, questions, commands, etc. Predication is to break down the sentence into their smaller constituents: argument (logical participant) and predicate (relation element). The “predicate” is the major or pivotal element governing the argument. We may now distinguish a “two-place predicate” (which governs two arguments, e.g., subject and object), a “one-place predicate” (which governs one argument, i.e., subject) and a “no-place predicate” that has simply no argument (no real subject or object).
述谓结构分析：所谓述谓是指句子的抽象的语义内容，绝大多数的句子内容都是由一个人或物以及对这个人或物的表述构成的。从语义结构角度看，这两部分分别称为论元（argument）和谓语（predicate）。所谓述谓结构分析是指通过对这两部分的分析以达到对句子意义进行分析的许多模式中的一种。“述谓”和“谓语化”是所有的健全语句（如命题、即肯定句、否定句、疑问句和祈使句等）的共同特征。因此，语义学家就用“述谓”这一范畴并把它分解成变元和谓语，前者是“逻辑参加者”，后者是“关系因素”，负责把变元联系起来。
5.5.1 An integrated theory 一个整体理论
the principle of compositionality组合原则-----the idea that the meaning of a sentence depends on the meanings of the constituent words and the way they are combined is usually known as the principle of compositionality.句子意义由成分词的意义及其组合方式所决定，这一观点通常叫做组合原则。
5.5.2 Logical semantics 逻辑语义学
1. prepositional logic命题逻辑:---- also known as prepositional calculus or sentential calculus,is the study of the truth conditions for propositions:how the truth of a composite propositions and the connection between them.也叫命题演算或句子演算，研究命题的真值条件“复合命题真值是如何由成分命题真值及成分命题之间的关系决定的。
proposition命题;-----what is talk about in an utterance,that part of the speech act which has to do with reference.命题是陈述句并用语叙述事件时所表达的意义。
predicate logic谓词逻辑------: also predicate calculus,which studies the internal structure of simple.也叫谓语演算，它研究简单马那瓜体的内部结构。
Prepositions-----whatever is seen as expressed by a sentence which makes a statement. It is property of propositions that they have truth values.
2. What is a logical operator?
“Logical operator ” make only one kind of the “logical factors” or “logical means”, others being “definiteness”, “coreference”, “tense” and “time”, since predication is not the whole of a sentence or proposition. All these factors play a part in prepositional actualization of the predication ---the pining of a predication down a claim about reality. Example of logical operators are “not”, “and”, “or”, “some”, “if”, “false”, etc. The term “logical operation” reflects the fact that these meaning elements are often thought of as performing operations, controlling elements of the semantic system, so to speak.
3. What is grammaticality? What might make agrammatically meaningful sentence semantically meaningless?
Grammaticality-----the grammatical well-formedness of a sentence. A sentence may be well-formed grammatically, i.e. it conforms to the grammatical rules of the language, but it is not necessarity semanticaly well-formed, ie. It may not make sense at all.
4. Try to analyze the following sentences in terms of predication analysis:
(1) The man sells ice-cream.------two place predication consisting of two arguments: MAN and ICE-CREAM, and the predicate (SELL)
(2) Is the baby sleeping?-----one-place predication BABY(SLEEP)
(3) It is snowing.-----no-place predication : (SNOW)
(4) The tree grows well.----one-place predication : TREE(GROW)
(5) The old man sells toys.-----Two-place predication: MAN and TOYS are predicate(SELL)
(6) It is raining.---No-place predication
(7) It is late.-----No-place predication.
(8) Is the baby crying? -----One-place predication: BABY(CRY)
(9) The flower smells sweet.----One-place predication :FLOWER(SMELL)
5. Sentence meaning is that there are two aspects to sentence meaning: grammatical meaning and semantic meaning.
The grammatical meaning of a sentence refers to its grammaticality, i.e. , its grammatical well-formedness.
Selectional restrictions------whether a sentence is senmantically meaningful is governed by rules, i.e., constraints on what lexical items can go with what others.
In semantic analysi of a sentence, ite basic unit is called predication, which is the abstraction of the meaning of a sentence. This applies to all forms of sentence, including statements, imperative and interrogative forms.
A predication consists of argument and predicate.
An argument is a logical participant in a predication, largely identical with the nominal elements in a sentence.
A predicate is something said about an argument or it states the logical relation linking the arguments in a sentence.
6. Accoding to J. Lyons, “A proposition is what is expressed by a declarative sentence when that sentence is uttered to make a statement.” In this sense, we may very loosely equate the proposition of a sentence with its meaning.根据J. Lyons，“命题是陈述句被用于陈述事件时所表达的意义。“在这一意义上，我们可以非常不严格地把句子的命题和它的意义等同起来。
7．A very important property of the proposition is that it has a truth value. It is either true of false. And the truth value of a composite proposition is said to be the function of , or is determined by, the truth values of its component propositions and the logical connectives used in it.命题的一个极为重要的性质是有真值，它要么真要么假。复合命题的真值据称是成分命题真值和所用逻辑连词的函数，通俗地说，其真值由成分命题真值和所用逻辑连词决定。
Homework
Exercises: Identify the relations between the following pairs of sentences:
A: Tom’s wife is pregnant.
B: Tom has a wife.
A: My sister will soon be divorced.
B: My sister is a married woman.
A: He likes swimming.
B: He likes sports.
A: John is an orphan.
B: John has no father.