Lexical Semantics

An introduction to the study of meaning with a focus on lexical semantics

[@WittyProfileName]

Anyone else sent here because your own professor doesn't know what they're doing? Seriously man, thank you so much for putting all of this out here in a clear and concise way.

[@milena1766]

Sadly...oh yes.

[@astridchristyanti4786]

this is literally me

[@viktorkarlsson5998]

This. Also classmates taking up valuable lecture time and putting the professor off with their own anecdotes. God I hate my class this semester. GREAT VIDEO!

[@carolinekongai3490]

Me😂😂😂😂😭

[@imperiacut9390]

I feel the same way. Urgh! I have been trying to comprehend what's on my notes and my lecturers voice record but to no avail. These videos are quite handy.

[@k4eru20]

if I had a professor who spoke so steadily and succinctly in each course i would cry and also get straight As

[@xxYU1984xx]

Introduction to Linguistics brought me here. :)

[@azrouina]

Me too😂 s4

[@amazworld5764]

Same 🤣🙌🏻

[@ranziedraws09]

same😭

[@jusltv]

me tooooo

[@iraqi7858]

Thank you, sir.. I work as a teacher in an primary school and now a third stage in college. These lessons were difficult for me until I followed your short and beautiful explanation

[@gokuljayakumar619]

Thank you Prof. Ashworth. I absolutely enjoyed watching this lecture on Lexical semantics.

[@alahna733]

Brilliant video! So clearly explained in detail but in such little time - Just what you want in an educational video

[@jesusstudentbrett]

Thank you professor Ashworth... this video and a few others I have seen from you, are top-notch, clearly communicated and oh so helpful. God bless you.

[@tahirchang6453]

Explained in a very brief and clear way. Thank you for clearing all the concepts and helping in the studies of linguistics.

[@QuanTran-xv3db]

Thank you for taking your time to make these videos. They have made my study of Linguistics a lot easier. :)

[@om5335]

Another great video of this channel , Interesting context ,neither too much nor too less info, Presented in an informative as well as funny manner

[@kadirisoumia373]

Honestly ! You're such an inspiration. Kudos to you, you're doing a great job

[@withlovenicole533]

Thanks for the great content! I have been using your videos as supplementary materials in some of my classes. I hope you upload more insightful contents soon.

[@21stcenturyvideo75]

I am very grateful for the lectures you have given us. We love you so much from the VOLTA Region of GHANA 🇬🇭. Please we want more from you on semantics

[@fdz1370]

A lot of love from Algeria. Thank you for your explanation

[@mazenshawamra9181]

Which year ?

[@fdz1370]

@@mazenshawamra9181 Master linguistics

[@mazenshawamra9181]

Good for you , good luck

[@Markone99]

I couldn't stop laughing at "a cat is a hyponym of a vomit maker" 🤣

[@kranjcat]

Can this dude please explain every abstract concept? So succinct and precise. Great retoric and great usage of words.

[@garryi.8898]

thank you, Sir. i am working with NLP and your lesson helped a lot!

[@nilruwanfernando5471]

These videos are very useful and easy to understand. Thank you very much for clearing out doubts.

[@usmansani7486]

Great sir. I am your regular student, I'd say if you create different playlist and explain each minor subject in linguistics in detail, so that will help us alot. Eg: A playlist on language origin, evolution, speech and writing, phonetics, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, discourse analysis, psycholinguistics, Sociolinguistics, computational linguistics, anthropological linguistics , , , , and many more

[@zainab.mensouzainab5143]

Thank u, you've put the video at the moment I need hhh i have an exam in semantics tomorrow 🙏

[@kawtharkhalfaoui8725]

You are a great teacher , thank u sir🌸 all love from Algeria 🔮

[@ivancrespo8741]

Hi Evan! One more great lesson! Thanks for sharing

[@asmaalmannai21]

Thank you! you have the skill of grasping a person's attention. helpful video!!!

[@OudieLindore]

A cat is a hyponym of a vomit maker 😅Thank you for a clear and concise explanation sir 🙏

[@jiayou11]

Thank you so much professor! You are such a wonderful teacher ❤🎉

[@gangabalasooriya9608]

Great lessons and hope you will continue in doing more lessons. Thank you very much

[@hc6306]

Your speech is amazing! Thanks a lot, with love from Russia :)

[@josetrujillo738]

Awesome. You are a great teacher. Thank You

[@rebinbuyaki3354]

Great video. Has really helped me with my assignment. Watching from Kenya.

[@malaikahafeez7808]

That's amazing and greatly knowledge..... ❤❤... Thank for your efforts

[@maryahmad5888]

Million thanks , it is clear , simple and really useful.

[@MsLoumon]

Very clear explanations! ( Thank you for the digression!)

[@shubhangisonal1825]

Lot of love from India.. You are amazing ..your videos genuinely helped me a lot!!

[@renzraphaelpenpina113]

Really big help.. Thank you from PHILIPPINES

[@aroyaki]

My man, you have, so far, helped me pass 4 subjects. I'm here for the 5th😅 Thank you!

[@samiraabdelhani90]

Thank you so much. It really helped me for my lecture of lexical semantics.

[@TheFarahProject.]

I'm very grateful to you, Sir. Please make more videos about semantics. We have this subject in our current semester.

[@mariabirlea4311]

Thanks a lot for the explanation, it was not only useful but also entertaining.

[@fatimaezzahraessaber2962]

Thank u from Morocco 🇲🇦 u helped me a lot 🙏🏻

[@shiprapathak6470]

Thanks a lot sir, the lecture is immensely helpful

[@MITKOMvideos]

This is so beautiful and insightful prof; I will make an effort to watch every video of yours.

[@haalandboy9502]

Big respect from Indonesia...😍

[@hindloubna4550]

Thanks a lot sir❤️ you make the lesson way easier

[@hashemalshukri1068]

What a great teacher!

[@gogo-vi2jp]

Great Sir I always listen your videos upon linguistics, very informative are they.

[@asaduzzamanafridi592]

Wanted more linguistics lecture. Respect for you.

[@leenmasri9390]

can not thank you enough... i always refer to ur videos and watch them more than once will studying

[@canerbaykara2639]

Came for the semantics and got a great movie recommendation, loved the movie.

[@saleemafghan7286]

Thanks Sir. You have explained quite nicely.

[@Stellax-bt6ow]

This was really well explained! x3 Thanks~

[@moeza112]

Thank you Evan... but i am wondering why there some one put thumb down.. if the one doesnt interesting with this... just leave it.. really unnecessary to put thumb down🤨.. Evan put really big effort in making all videos.. which are really awesome.. Sallute Evan..👍

[@mohamedakharraz6580]

Great Great! thanks for your useful videos.

[@vivianagambetta9197]

Really useful video!! Thank you very much

[@humanstillalive]

Really thank you ,you just saved a life ❤, can you plz talk about extention and intention ❤

[@khadija.almaltialmalti4752]

Great work thanks for clarification

[@waqasali-so8bj]

Thanks for your well explained Video lesson on these topics. Would you please make another Video explaining grammatical semantics? Your efforts are appreciated!

[@raniamaz802]

Amazing explanation thank you soooo much🥰🥰🥰

[@abatnealy2683]

Thank you My best teacher You helped me

[@paninkinklab2140]

thank you your video made me more understand of this topic

[@shintp2216]

Thank you so much, that was really useful💗!

[@user-xu7wp3zd9n]

جيد شكرا ً .. نحتاج محاضرة اوسع عن هذا الموضوع للدارسات المتقدمة .. Thank you, good . We and another lecture but it should be more deep and extend in lexical semantics for advanced studies..

[@mjunaidswabian315]

Thanks... it's so great... Sir! Can you share a video on types of meaning with details?

[@norahalsaeed1180]

Thank you very much you helped me a lot !

[@hulyaark5499]

you are the bestt thanks from Turkeyyy👍💜

[@aarchaantonjoy4424]

Thank you... ❤️ From India

[@minmboys3923]

thank you so much you are a life saver

[@arthurwieczorek4894]

I found something in Language Habits in Human Affairs by Irving J. Lee (1941) that I call Lee's Elucidation: A finite number of words must be made to represent an infinite number of things and possibilities. I wonder if this principle has a formal, proper name?

[@planetpanama6731]

I’m hooked!

[@mohamedshalaby8253]

Amazing !

[@mothnightxix]

list for those that your own professor is insufficient

[@user-oo6sb6hi6w]

You a great person

[@cherylguinto3366]

Thank u soo much Im from Philippines 😍

[@ismaill-0819]

Thanks a lot for the explanation, you really help me. And also for the movie recommendation Synecdoche, New York it's really masterpiece and will haunts me for the rest of my life. Thank you.

[@evanashworth490]

Thanks for watching, and I'm glad you enjoyed that film. It is indeed haunting!

[@barbaradelcerro5350]

Thank you so much!

[@hanadeva1220]

this is informative and hilarious at the same time

[@nooresahar5008]

Thank you so much ❤

[@blushymae]

Awesome video! I have a question about prototype theory. It's been a while since I was in school for linguistics so I may be off base here, but I seem to remember something about the Platonic theory about the ideal of an object as part of this idea. Is that related?

[@evanashworth490]

Hello! Platonic idealism--admittedly, a topic I don't know a lot about--is indeed related to the concept of prototypes, and I'm sure Eleanor Rosch would be able to talk more specifically about how platonic idealism formed some of the groundwork for prototype theory. I think the differences may lie in the application. That is, Platonic idealism (at least, as I understand it), exists as a philosophical concept (e.g., who we are as humans, where we come from), whereas prototype theory is intended as a psychological/psycholinguistic idea, attempting to demonstrate how we as humans make meaning from the things in the world around us. Really good question here!

[@sourpotato6023]

What a life saver

[@duaabbas3900]

Please do more videos on semantics thank you🙏🏻

[@Education4iq1]

Thank you ❤️

[@AnushaK]

Thank you sir, please do more videos

[@ritaenglish5575]

Thank u so much from.algeria

[@moatazmahmoud9101]

Thank you sir iam watching you all the way from Egypt I have i final tommorro you saved me lol

[@Ronya777]

Thank you so much

[@ms.chahinez8923]

Thank you very much🇩🇿

[@elizabethewoe]

Love this

[@JessicaMartinezSosa2622]

Lucky those ones who can have an entire class regularly with this professional... some years ago I found your videos and I wished you could share more often and I even dreamt of enrolling in your classes from university were you work... but I found nothing. Now, with this ironic environment, we are forced to study online and I have the same question: is there any program that is focused on your field where people from different places in the world can have access to high quality lessons like yours? I hope this message can be read and considered. Greetings from Argentina

[@evanashworth490]

Thanks for your kind words, Jessica. As far as I know, one has to be enrolled in a university in order to register for any class. However, it is possible that there are linguistics classes on Masterclass or similar sites. I simply don't know--sorry I can't be of more help!

[@gogo-vi2jp]

Great words for such great professional professor

[@sadiqsabah7747]

Thank you so much sir I am so happy .can you compelete other chapters of George yule

[@SarinaMotta]

Amazing video! thank you! I'm just so curious. Where is your accent from?

[@evanashworth490]

I would say that I speak Western American English

[@blancheneige9733]

thank you sir ..

[@benmansourmaream5824]

thank you so much sure

[@jonpersson3924]

Not sure if I was supposed to but I laughed a bit too much when you said I ate the whole bag! just the way my mind works I guess.😄

[@tamaradjordjevic3264]

Thank youuuuu

[@amoskimutai1675]

thank you so much sir

[@nakiryamaria1088]

Thanks 👍👍👍

[@naghamalhefnawi]

hi everyone welcome thanks for joining me in this video i will be discussing semantics which has to do with the study of meaning in terms of words phrases and sentences specifically in this video i'll be • 0:15talking about lexical semantics which has to do with the study of words now in this video i'll be covering several concepts including lexical relations componential analysis and prototype theory first let's clarify the scope of • 0:30semantics itself semantics is concerned with denotational meaning rather than connotational meaning meaning that semantics is focused on what something means rather than how it is used in context • 0:45that is the domain of pragmatics now for example consider this image is this a chair what about this or this there's no easy answer to those questions and hopefully by the end of this video you will see that it largely • 1:00depends on the person being asked that question so first let's talk about lexical relations now lexical relations has to do with the meanings of words in relationship to one another and there are several of these that we'll talk about first let's • 1:15talk about synonymy synonyms are words with similar meanings such as big and large small and little doctor and physician each pair there has very similar meanings so they might be different words but they have • 1:30very similar meanings those are synonyms now we could also talk about antonyms which is the opposite because antonyms are words that have opposite meanings there's actually two types of antonyms • 1:45there's gradable antonymy and non-gradable antonymy gradable antonyms are those in which there's a kind of graded difference it's something that you could imagine on a continuum or a spectrum for example wide and narrow something • 2:00could be kind of wide and kind of narrow it's unclear where one stops and the other begins similarly with kind of short and kind of tall it's unclear where one stops and the other begins so non-gradable antonyms are different

[@naghamalhefnawi]

2:15they they are either one or the other and they fail the kind of test so you can either be alive or dead you can't really say something is kind of alive or kind of dead never mind all the zombies that you've • 2:30seen in movies if you think about the meaning of something as a living being it's either alive or it's dead similarly somebody could either be married or unmarried you're either one or the other there is no kind of • 2:45in-between it's not a graded category those are non￾gradable antonyms next we can talk about hypotony and hypotonomy is when the meaning of one form is actually included in the meaning of a larger other form so • 3:00for example a daisy is a hyponym of flour a carrot is a hyponym of vegetable aspen is a hyponym of tree a cat is a hyponym of a vomit maker these are all examples of the meaning • 3:15of one word being included in the meaning of a larger category now we can next talk about homophony and homophony are forms that sound the exact same and that's what the word means homo as in same and • 3:30phone same sound but they are actually spelled differently and they have very unrelated meanings so we could talk about c the c is in the body of water and we could talk about c as in the action that you perform with the eyes to look we could also talk • 3:45about bear as in being naked and we could talk about bear as in the creature that you don't want to encounter in the woods these are homophones these are often confused with homo nyms so that means same name homonym • 4:00so homonyms are forms that sound the same and they are spelled the same but they have unrelated meanings so for example consider the word uh bank as in the side of a river and bank as in a financial institution • 4:15they spell this they're spelled the same they sound the same but they have very unrelated meanings we could also talk about a pen as in a writing instrument and a pen as in a small enclosed space where we might keep livestock or unruly children in both of those

[@naghamalhefnawi]

4:30examples again we're talking about forms that are the exact same they're spelled the same they sound the same but unrelated meanings now we could talk about polysemy and polysimi has to do with words • 4:45that are the same they they're spelled the same they sound the same but they have related meanings often based on metaphor so for example consider the foot as in an anatomical part but we could also • 5:00talk about the foot of a table or the foot of a mountain so using the metaphor here of the anatomical part that's sort of the start the source for us to understand that it's the part of the table that's holding the rest of the table up • 5:15or the same thing with a mountain similarly we could talk about a mole as in the mammal that burrows underground spends most of its life in the subterranean environment and we could also talk about a mole as in a spy or somebody who's been planted for the purpose of • 5:30espionage that's sort of using a metaphorical relationship with the animal because it is a mole as in a human being a spy is perceived as being hidden or unseen that's polysemy the pali • 5:45meaning many and seem meaning meaning so many meanings next we could talk about metonymy and metonymy is really interesting because it's a big category but it's really the idea that you're referring to one thing • 6:00based on some close relationship to another thing and this could be in terms of association like for example when a server says table 14 needs water of course table 14 doesn't need anything it's an inanimate object • 6:15but it is used to refer to the customer who is seated at that table they're the ones who need water so it's based on association but we could also talk about metonymy in terms of referring to a container to talk about the contents like when for example i say i ate the • 6:30whole bag i didn't literally eat the bag if i did i wouldn't be making this video i would be in the hospital so i'm just referring to bag to talk about the container the chips that

[@naghamalhefnawi]

are inside of it for example but we could also talk about metonymy in • 6:45terms of a part whole relationship where for example a captain might say on a boat all hands on deck that means that the people themselves they have to go up and do work they have to be on deck but we're just picking out one salient feature of the • 7:00human being the hand to refer to the whole body so incidentally that last example of a part whole relationship is often called synecdoche and many scholars treat metonymy and • 7:15synecdoche as two separate ideas and also incidentally if you're really interested in seeing a great example of synecdoche on film i encourage you to watch synecdoche new york it's a fantastic movie and it really provides a cinematic display of this concept of a part whole • 7:30relationship and i think philip seymour hoffman's hoffman's best role anyway i digress so now let's talk about confidential analysis componential analysis involves analyzing the meaning of words based on • 7:45certain identifiable semantic features so for example we can take the word bird and we can assign a number of semantic features to it based on what we see in the real world that for example birds have feathers they may sing songs • 8:00and they can fly this is not an exact exhaustive list of course it's just a really short and simple list but this is probably what we most identify with birds right so this is really useful for differentiating the meaning of the word • 8:15bird to compare compared to other critters in the animal kingdom such as a dog because a dog has none of these things but this approach is not without its problems so as you may have noticed there is a reliance here on binary categorization • 8:30and that means that something either is or is not a member of a category and that's kind of a problem because while a robin may sing songs it may have feathers and it may fly what about a penguin a penguin has none of these things yet

[@naghamalhefnawi]

8:45we still call it a bird so this actually brings us to prototype theory which addresses some of the problems with confidential analysis prototype theory addresses some of the problems with componential analysis namely its reliance on binary semantic • 9:00features because prototype theory instead looks at meaning as a lot of gray area it's a scaled idea here so it's not as if something either is or is not a member of a category it's • 9:15whether or not something is or is not a best representation of that category so all of this really started back in the 1970s with the work of eleanor roche who revolutionized the figure the field of cognitive psychology and semantics in linguistics • 9:30by looking at meaning in this way rather than in terms of a traditional uh aristotelian or coming from aristotle approach in which something either is or is not a member of a category so now we can return to this example of • 9:45a bird and not look at it in terms of its semantic features but look at it from a prototype perspective and we can do this through a brief thought experiment so if i ask you what is your birdiest bird that might sound like a strange question • 10:00but i am not asking what is your favorite bird rather i'm asking when i say the word bird what type of bird appears in your mind now depending on who you are and your immediate environment you might say • 10:15a robin or a sparrow a hawk perhaps an eagle but you're not likely to say a penguin or an emu an ostrich or a roadrunner all of those are of course birds but they don't readily possess the • 10:30qualities that we tend to identify with most birds so some represent some types of birds are better representations of that category than others and this is the idea of prototype theory that there are some representatives that • 10:45are better for that category than others similarly i could ask you what is your fruitiest fruit another weird question right but i'm not asking your favorite fruit but when i say fruit what type of fruit appears in your mind for most people or well depending on

[@naghamalhefnawi]

11:00where you are raised but most americans might say an apple an orange a banana but probably you're not going to say a tomato because even though a tomato is technically a fruit it doesn't possess the quality that we • 11:15readily associate with fruit which is sweetness so again some members of a category are better representatives of that category than others so unfortunately prototype theory is not without its problems just like with confidential analysis prototype theory • 11:30really works best when we're talking about concrete objects such as birds or fruit but it's less useful when we're talking about abstract concepts such as fear and love in which a prototypical member of that category is more difficult to • 11:45conceive of still prototype theory is really useful for linguists who take especially a usage-based approach to the study of language because it acknowledges meaning as a shifting fluid thing that is also culturally determined so depending on • 12:00where you live you're going to say that your prototypical fruit or your prototypical bird is different than perhaps somebody who is living in the united states that's just based on the fruit and the birds that you see around you in your immediate environment • 12:15so it has its advantages and disadvantages but i would invite you to consider prototype theory as an improvement upon the older confidential analysis approach which was based on binary semantic • 12:30features it's more inflexible and rigid okay that's all for this video i hope that you found this useful in the meantime thank you so much for watching and i'll see you next time take care

[@nissrinemaghfoul9505]

More videos please !

[@lamasaqer4330]

Excuse me, what is the relationship between that pair( running water and running athletic) of lexical relations

[@evanashworth490]

I would say they are in a "polysemic" relationship because the meaning of "running" (as in water) and "running" (as in athletics) are metaphorically related (there is energetic movement).

[@burakbilecen9841]

I don't want to complain about my linguistic teacher but... you teach much better. Thanks for the video!

[@abdelmonimbachir6738]

Excellent explanation. Could you discuss topics like optimality theory. Thanks

[@evanashworth490]

It is possible I will make a video on Optimality Theory in the future, but I don't feel comfortable enough right now in my knowledge of the subject to teach it.