SEVERAL EXAMPLES

now I show you lots of examples and some brief definitions in a web page

“HOMONYM, SYNONYMS, ANTONYM, POLYSEMY, HYPONYM”

 click here for examples

  

antonyms

   http://ningningocha.wordpress.com/2010/07/30/assignment-of-introduction-to-linguistic-%E2%80%9Chomonym-synonyms-antonym-polysemy-hyponym%E2%80%9D/ 

 

METONYMY

Metonymy is a figure of speech used in rhetoric in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept. For instance, "Westminster" is used as a metonym (an instance of metonymy) for the Government of the United Kingdom, because it is located there.
Metonymy may also be instructively contrasted with metaphor. Both figures involve the substitution of one term for another. In metaphor, this substitution is based on some specific similarity, whereas, in metonymy, the substitution is based on some understood association (contiguity).
Metonymy works by the contiguity (association) between two concepts, whereas metaphor works by the similarity between them. When people use metonymy, they do not typically wish to transfer qualities from one referent to another as they do with metaphor: there is nothing press-like about reporters or crown-like about a monarch, but "the press" and "the crown" are both common metonyms.
Two examples using the term "fishing" help make the distinction better.The phrase "to fish pearls" uses metonymy, drawing from "fishing" the idea of taking things from the ocean. What is carried across from "fishing fish" to "fishing pearls" is the domain of metonymy.
In contrast, the metaphorical phrase "fishing for information" transfers the concept of fishing into a new domain. If someone is "fishing" for information, we do not imagine that he or she is anywhere near the ocean; rather, we elements of the action of fishing (waiting, hoping to catch something that cannot be seen, probing) into a new domain (a conversation). Thus, metonymy works by calling up a domain of usage and an array of associations (in the example above, boats, the ocean, gathering life from the sea), whereas metaphor picks a target set of meanings and transfers them to a new domain of usage.

Examples

Sometimes, metaphor and metonymy can both be at work in the same figure of speech, or one could interpret a phrase metaphorically or metonymically.For example, the phrase "lend me your ear" could be analyzed in a number of ways. We could imagine the following interpretations:

• Analyze "ear" metonymically first — "ear" means "attention" (because we use ears to pay attention to someone's speech). Now, when we hear the phrase "lending ear (attention)", we stretch the base meaning of "lend" (to let someone borrow an object) to include the "lending" of non-material things (attention), but, beyond this slight extension of the verb, no metaphor is at work.
• Imagine the whole phrase literally — imagine that the speaker literally borrows the listener's ear as a physical object (and the person's head with it). Then the speaker has temporary possession of the listener's ear, so the listener has granted the speaker temporary control over what the listener hears. We then interpret the phrase "lend me your ear" metaphorically to mean that the speaker wants the listener to grant the speaker temporary control over what the listener hears.
• First, analyze the verb phrase "lend me your ear" metaphorically to mean "turn your ear in my direction", since we know that literally lending a body part is nonsensical. Then, analyze the motion of ears metonymically — we associate "turning ears" with "paying attention", which is what the speaker wants the listeners to do.

It is difficult to say which of the above analyses most closely represents the way a listener interprets the expression, and it is possible that the phrase is analysed in different ways by different listeners, or even by one and the same listener at different times. Regardless, all three analyses yield the same interpretation; thus, metaphor and metonymy, though quite different in their mechanism, can work together seamlessly. For further analysis of idioms in which metaphor and metonymy work together, including an example very similar to the one given here, read this article titled Metaphor and Metonymy in Contrast

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metonymy

AN IMAGE

This is an image from Venn diagram showing the relationships between heteronyms and related linguistic concepts

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homonym

A learning funny song

  

http://www.schooltube.com/video/8cacfe2e55bd7a81a26a/Synonyms-Antonyms-Homonyms-Song-By-Charles-H-Johnson-wwwedusoulnet

HOMONYMY

Homonymy

Homonyms are different lexemes with the same form (written, spoken or both). For example, bank is both an elevated area of ground and a place or business where money is kept. You may think these are the same words, but this is not so, since the meaning is an essential feature of a word. In some cases, the same form (as with paper) has the same origin but this will not always be the case. The etymology of a lexeme will tell us where it comes from and how it acquired a given meaning.
Identity of form may apply to speech or writing only. David Crystal calls these forms “half” identical. They are:

• Homophones - where the pronunciation is the same (or close, allowing for such phonological variation as comes from accent) but standard spelling differs, as in flew (from fly), flu (“influenza”) and flue (of a chimney).
• Homographs - where the standard spelling is the same, but the pronunciation differs, as in wind (air movement or bend) or refuse (“rubbish” or “disallow”, stress falls on first and second syllable, respectively). 
•  Heteronymy. Heteronyms are homonyms that share the same spelling but have  different pronunciations. That is, they are homographs which are not homophones. Such words include desert (to abandon) and desert (arid region)
•  Capitonymy. Capitonyms are homonyms that share the same spelling but have different meanings when capitalized (and may or may not have different pronunciations). Such words include polish (to make shiny) and Polish (from Poland).
  

       A DIDACTIC VIDEO ABOUT HOMOPHONE

http://www.teachit.co.uk/armoore/lang/semantics.htm#15
Notes from Topic: Semantics, Linguistics Signature, Ms Jimenez, Yolanda, Universidad Camilo Jose Cela
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homonym
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HS8lsaAIL-0&feature=related

HYPONYM AND HYPERNYM

In linguistics, a specific term used to designate a member of a class. For instance, oak is a hyponym of tree, and dog is a hyponym of animal. The opposite of a hyponym is a hypernym.

Examples and Observations:

• "In general, there are a number of hyponyms for each subordinate. For example, boar and piglet are also hyponyms of the subordinate pig, since the meaning of each of the three words sow, boar, and piglet 'contains' the meaning of the word pig. (Note that in defining a word like sow, boar, or piglet, the subordinate word pig is often used as part of the definition: 'A sow is an adult female pig.') Thus, it is not surprising that hyponymy is sometimes referred to as inclusion. The subordinate is the included word and the hyponym is the including one."
  (Frank Parker and Kathryn Riley, Linguistics for Non-Linguists. Allyn and Bacon, 1994)
• "Hyponymy is a less familiar term to most people than either synonymy or antonymy, but it refers to a much more important sense relation. It describes what happens when we say 'An X is a kind of Y'--A daffodil is a kind of flower, or simply, A daffodil is a flower."
  (David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, 2003)
• "House is a hyponym of the subordinate building, but building is in turn, a hyponym of the subordinate structure, and, in its turn, structure is a hyponym of the subordinate thing. A subordinate at a given level can itself be a hyponym at a higher level."
  (Patrick Griffiths, An Introduction to English Semantics and Pragmatics. Edinburgh University Press, 2006)

A linguistic term for a word whose meaning includes the meanings of other words; the opposite of hyponym.

Examples and Observations:

• "The foot of footstep narrows down the type of step being expressed to the step made by a foot. A footstep is a kind of step; or, in more technical terms, footstep is a hyponym, or subtype, of step, and step is a hypernym, or supertype, of footstep. . . . Doorstep is also a hyponym of step, and step is a hypernym of doorstep."
  (Keith M. Denning, Brett Kessler, and William Ronald Leben, English Vocabulary Elements. Oxford Univ. Press, 2007)
• "The most illuminating way of defining a lexeme is to provide a hypernym along with various distinguishing features--an approach to definition whose history can be traced back to Aristotle. For example, a majorette is 'a girl' (the hypernym) 'who twirls a baton and accompanies a marching band.' It is usually possible to trace a hierarchical path through a dictionary, following the hypernyms as they become increasingly abstract, until we arrive at such general notions (essence, being, existence) that clear sense-relations between the lexemes no longer exist."
  (David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2003)
• "A hypernym is a word with a general meaning that has basically the same meaning of a more specific word. For example, dog is a hypernym, while collie and chihuahua are more specific subordinate terms. The hypernym tends to be a basic-level category that is used by speakers with high frequency; speakers usually refer to collies and chihuahuas as dogs, rather than using the subordinate terms, which are consequently of relatively low frequency."
  (Laurie Beth Feldman, Morphological Aspects of Language Processing. Lawrence Erlbaum, 1995)

http://grammar.about.com/od/fh/g/hyponymterm.htm

SYNONYM, ANTONYM AND POLYSEMY

SYNONYMS
Synonyms are different words which have the same meaning, or almost the same meaning.

The words stones and rocks are synonyms.

Synonyms can be nouns, verbs, adverbs or adjectives, as long as both are the same part of speech.

For example:
- chair and seat (nouns)
- go and leave (verbs)
- quickly and rapidly (adverbs)
- long and extended (adjectives)

Synonyms need not be single words, as in war and armed conflict.

Here are more synonyms:

- tremendous and remarkable
- cat and feline
- baby and infant
- sick and ill
- quickly and speedily

A word can have more than one synonym depending on which meaning you use for the word.
For example:
- expired could have the synonym no longer fresh, if you mean milk that's past its sale date.
- expired could have the synonym dead, if you mean no longer alive.
  
ANTONYMS 
Antonyms are words which have opposite meanings.

The words hot and cold are antonyms. So are up and down, and short and tall.

A word can have more than one antonym, depending on which meaning you use for the word.
For example:
- short could have the antonym tall if you are referring to a person's height.
- short could have the antonym long if you are referring to to the length of something.

In many languages, including English, you can sometimes make antonyms by adding a prefix:
- real and unreal are antonyms
- flexible and inflexible are antonyms
However, English is well known for its exceptions to the rules, so you have to watch out for words like flammable and inflammable, where this doesn't work ... they're synonyms!

There are actually four types of antonyms:

• Gradable antonyms are opposites at either end of the spectrum, as in slow and fast.
• Complementary antonyms are absolute opposites, like mortal and immortal.
• Relational antonyms are opposites where one word describes a relationship between two objects, and the other word describes the same relationship when the two objects are reversed.
     For example, parent and child, teacher and student, or buy and sell.
• Auto-antonyms are the same two words that mean the opposite.
     For example, fast (moving quickly) and fast (stuck in place).

 POLYSEMY
Polysemy  is an intimidating compound noun for a basic language feature. This happens when a lexeme acquires a wider range of meanings.
For example, paper comes from Greek papyrus. Originally it referred to writing material made from the papyrus reeds of the Nile, later to other writing materials, and now to things such as government documents, scientific reports, family archives or newspapers.

More Examples

Mole

1. a small burrowing mammal
2. consequently, there are several different entities called moles (see the Mole disambiguation page). Although these refer to different things, their names derive from 1. :e.g. A Mole burrows for information hoping to go undetected.

Bank

1. a financial institution
2. the building where a financial institution offers services
3. a synonym for 'rely upon' (e.g. "I'm your friend, you can bank on me"). It is different, but related, as it derives from the theme of security initiated by 1

However: a river bank is a homonym to 1 and 2, as they do not share etymologies. It is a completely different meaning. River bed, though, is polysemous with the beds on which people sleep.

Book

1. a bound collection of pages
2. a text reproduced and distributed (thus, someone who has read the same text on a computer has read the same book as someone who had the actual paper volume)
3. to make an action or event a matter of record (e.g. "Unable to book a hotel room, a man sneaked into a nearby private residence where police arrested him and later booked him for unlawful entry.")

Milk

The verb milk (e.g. "he's milking it for all he can get") derives from the process of obtaining milk.

Present

1. right now, the current moment
2. a gift
3. to show or display (e.g. "Michael was next to present")
4. to be physically somewhere (e.g. "Stephen was present at the meeting")

Wood

1. a piece of a tree
2. a geographical area with many trees
3. an erection

Crane

1. a bird
2. a type of construction equipment

http://www.worsleyschool.net/socialarts/synonyms/page.html 
http://www.teachit.co.uk/armoore/lang/semantics.htm#14
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polysemy

LEXICAL SEMANTICS. looking for a definiton

Lexical semantics is the study of how and what the words of a language denote. Words may either be taken to denote things in the world, or concepts (abstract ideas).

Lexical units are the words so lexical semantics involves the meaning of each individual word. Lexical semantics is the one area of linguistics to which we can continually add throughout our lives, as we are always learning new words and their meanings whereas we can only learn the rules of our native language during the critical period when we are young.

As tools, lexical relations (study of relations between different linguistic expressions) like synonymy, homonymy, antonymy, polysemy, paronyms, hypernymy, hyponymy, meronymy, metonymy, holonymy are used in this field.

Notes from topic:Semantics, Linguistics signature, Ms Jimenez, Yolanda, Universidad Camilo Jose Cela

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION

Dear all,

Welcome to this Blog related with English Semantics focusied in Lexical Semantics with theory, examples and images that will give you useful information to improve your knowledge in that field


First I am going to introduce you in the awesome world of the English Semantics

Semantics is the study of meaning. It is a wide subject within the general study of language. An understanding of semantics is essential to the study of language acquisition (how language users acquire a sense of meaning, as speakers and writers, listeners and readers) and of language change (how meanings alter over time). It is important for understanding language in social contexts, as these are likely to affect meaning, and for understanding varieties of English and effects of style. It is thus one of the most fundamental concepts in linguistics. The study of semantics includes the study of how meaning is constructed, interpreted, clarified, obscured, illustrated, simplified negotiated, contradicted and paraphrased.

http://www.teachit.co.uk/armoore/lang/semantics.htm