Semantics
HUFLIT

truongvananh@cvseas.edu.vn

Unit 5: Word Meaning
MEANING POSTULATES
In this unit we outline the shape of a linguistic
semanticist's dictionary, that is, we investigate in greater
detail how the semantic information in the dictionary
can be represented. Such a dictionary is a list of
predicates and their senses. For each sense of a
predicate there is a dictionary entry which lists the sense
properties of that predicate and the sense relations
between it and other predicates.
We will begin with an informal example in order to give
you a more concrete idea of the shape of the dictionary.

Ex: HUMAN BEING: One-place
synonym of MAN1
MAN1:
One-place
synonym of HUMAN BEING
MAN2:
One-place
hyponym of MALE
hyponym of ADULT
hyponym of HUMAN BEING
MARRY1:
Two-place
symmetric
WOMAN:
One-place
hyponym of FEMALE
hyponym of ADULT
hyponym of HUMAN BEING

A MEANING POSTULATE is a formula expressing
some aspect of the sense of a predicate. It can
be read as a proposition necessarily true by
virtue of the meaning of the particular
predicates involved.
Ex: x MAN1 6 x HUMAN BEING

CONTRADICTION is most centrally a logical term. The
basic form of a logical contradiction is p & ~ p.
Anything that is clearly an instance of this basic logical
contradiction, e.g. John is here and John is not here,
can be called a contradiction.
ANOMALY is semantic oddness (as opposed to
grammatical oddness) that can be traced to the
meanings of the predicates in the sentence concerned.
Thus Christopher is killing phonemes is anomalous
because the meanings of the predicates kill and
phoneme cannot be combined in this way. Anomaly
involves the violation of a selectional restriction.

We have seen that meaning postulates play a central
part in the traditional approach to constructing a
semantic dictionary. Meaning postulates can be used to
deduce information about sense relations, including
hyponymy and some forms of antonymy, and about
selectional restrictions and anomaly. Hyponymy
relations and selectional restrictions are expressed by
meaning postulates that look formally alike. Anomaly is
seen as an indirect case of contradiction. Areas not
easily handled by meaning postulates include change-ofstate verbs and gradable predicates which require some
kind of statement about the context in which the
predicates are used.

PARTICIPANT ROLES
The basic semantic ingredients of a common type of simple
sentence, as we have analysed it, are (1) a predicate, and
(2) a number of referring expressions. The referring
expressions correspond to actual things, persons, etc. in
the world more or less directly, via the device of reference.
The function of the predicate is to describe the specific
relationship between the things, persons, etc. referred to,
i.e. to describe how the things and/or people participate in
the particular situation described. In this unit, we shall
investigate a proposed way of being more precise about
the different ways in which things and people participate in
some of the real-world situations described by sentences.

• The AGENT of a sentence is the person deliberately
carrying out the action described, e.g. John in John
opened the door.
• The AFFECTED participant is the thing (not usually
a person, although it may be) upon which the
action is carried out, in many cases the thing
changed by the action in the most obvious way, the
door in our example. Some semanticists refer to
the affected participant as the PATIENT.
• The INSTRUMENT is the thing (hardly ever a
person) by means of which the action is carried
out, the key in our example.

The role of LOCATION is played by any expression referring
to the place where the action described by a sentence
takes place.
The BENEFICIARY is the person for whose benefit or to
whose detriment the action described by the sentence is
carried out. It is usually assumed that the Beneficiary, if
mentioned, is distinct from both the Agent and the
Affected. Note that the word 'beneficiary' as used in
semantic theory has a special technical sense that differs
from the way it is used in everyday English. This is clear
from the fact that the Beneficiary of an action might not
always be positively affected by that action, but could be
negatively affected, depending on the action in question.

Ex: AFFECTED

LOCATION

Caesar was assassinated in Rome
 
AGENT

BENEFICIARY

Keith gave

Gill

AFFECTED

a replica of the Venus de Milo

 
AGEN

BENEFICIARY

AFFECTED

The terrorists sent the Prime Minister a letter bomb.

The EXPERIENCER is typically a person who is
mentally aware of, perceives, or experiences
the action or state described by the sentence,
but who is not in control of the situation.
(Experiencer
characteristics
can
also
sometimes be attributed to animals.)
The THEME participant is a thing or person
whose location is described, or a thing or
person that is perceived by an Experiencer.
Ex: EXPERIENCER
THEME
 
The children heard the loud noise

The notion of participant role adds a new
dimension to the study of sense relations.
Participant roles indicate relationships between a
verb (and possibly other predicators) and the
referring expressions in a sentence. We have
illustrated a number of such roles that have been
proposed, namely Agent, Affected, Instrument,
Location, Beneficiary, Experiencer, and Theme. We
have seen how dictionary information involving
roles can be presented and we have mentioned
several problems with the notion of participant
role.

GOOD LUCK!