Semantics

SEMANTIC ROLES &
SEMANTIC FEATURES

SEMANTIC ROLES
Linguistic semantics deals with the meaning conveyed by
words, phrases and sentences that are used in a language.

These words, phrases and sentences tell us about an event
that occurs in the real world.

e.g. Ali cut the cake
tells us about something that happened in reality.
A real boy Ali, did an action [cut]
to a real thing [cake]

SEMANTIC ROLES
Thus the sentence describes a situation.
And the words used in the sentence fulfill some ‘roles’ ,
in the given situation.

The verb of the sentence describes the action that took
place. i.e. cutting of the cake.
The boy cut the cake.

The noun phrases describe what roles were played by
the entities involved in the action.
‘boy’ had the role of the cutter
‘cake’ had the role of the one who was cut

SEMANTIC ROLES

These roles are called SEMANTIC ROLES

Semantic roles describe the relation of the
constituents of an utterance to their meaning.

Why do we need to consider
Semantic Roles?

SEMANTIC ROLES

The girl opened the door
Subject Object

The key opened the door
Subject Object

Syntactically, the key and the man are equivalent –
both are subjects.
Both open the door…………

SEMANTIC ROLES
But obviously, they do different things. One instigates the
action [girl], the other is used to perform the action [key].

This is understood by assigning them different semantic
roles.
Semantic Roles tell us
Who does/did what
Or more specifically
Who did what to whom

These Semantic roles are also called
Thematic Roles

SEMANTIC ROLES
In the previous example, the semantic roles are:

The girl opened the door
Subject Object
AGENT PATIENT

The key opened the door
Subject Object
INSTRUMENT PATIENT

SEMANTIC ROLES

We can see

AGENT: the one ‘that performs the action, possibly
intentionally’ [the girl]

PATIENT: that which is affected by the action, something
happens to it [door]

IINSTRUMENT: that which is used by the agent to
perform the action, physical cause of action
[key]

SEMANTIC ROLES
Patient is the entity which is affected by an action.
It is also called THEME.

But theme is used in another sense.

It is also the entity that is being described in some way
Described--- It is not performing an action

The sailboat is white.
The woman is beautiful.

SEMANTIC ROLES
So we have:

Agent who?

Patient, Theme to whom?; described

Instrument with what?

SEMANTIC ROLES

Agents are mostly human, but can be non human. e.g.
The cat chased the mouse. [animal]
The truck hit the cart. [machine]
The hurricane destroyed the town. [natural force]

Themes are typically non human, but can be human. e.g.
The dog bit the boy
The woman slapped her daughter

SEMANTIC ROLES
We know that the agent is the one
who performs the action, mostly intentionally

But what if the action is not intentional?
What if he endures or experiences something?
e.g.
Asif felt sad.
Sana heard a gunshot.
The actions felt and heard are experienced by Asif and Sana.

So Asif and Sana are here, in the role of the
EXPERIENCER

SEMANTIC ROLES

Hence, the Experiencer is
the living entity that experiences
the action mentioned in the predicate

Another example,

Did you enjoy the ride?

Here the experiencer is the noun phrase ‘you’.

Benefactive (or Recipient):
The living entity that benefits from
the action[s] of an agent

Sadia gave Khalid the tickets
Huda brought her mother some water
I gave him a lift

SEMANTIC ROLES
We know the roles of Agent
Patient/theme
Instrument
Experiencer
Recipient
There are some other roles that provide further details of a
situation. e.g.
She was hiding under the bed
The book is on the table
Zainab is at her parents' house

The underlined words that describe where an entity is
located or is present, are the LOCATIVES

SEMANTIC ROLES
LOCATIVES:
the specific place or location where an action
or event happens/ is situated
e.g. The mosquito bit on his arm

If an entity changes its location,
moves from one place to another
or is moved from one place to another

The first location is the Source
And the final location is the Goal

SEMANTIC ROLES
Source: from where the entity moves
Goal: the destination where the entity arrives

e.g.
Ali went from Peshawar to Islamabad
I carried the dish from the kitchen to the terrace
She took the pickles from the shelve
He gave the book back to Khawar

SEMANTIC ROLES
Agent
Patient/theme
Instrument
Experiencer
Locative
Source
Goal

Similarly, Time roles specify when an event or action takes
place
e.g.

On Monday I have a doctor's appointment
He is always late
I will go there in the morning

SEMANTIC ROLES
Agent Who did it

Experiencer Who experienced

Theme/patient To whom

Instrument With what

Recipient who benefited

Locative Where

Source From where

Goal to where

Temporal [time] when

Exercise:
Salim went to Saudia by plane
Zara cut the thread with a pair of scissors
Zubair repaired his car in the garage
The ball flew outside the ground
Mina carried the flowers into the drawing room
He saw a thief outside his window
Amjad showed me the pictures
The car smashed through the wall into the restaurant
Sara brought her grandma a shawl
She finished her breakfast on the bus

What's wrong with these sentences?

The door kicked the man
The ship died

Are they wrong grammatically?
Is the syntax incorrect?
Then what?

The problem is with the meanings of the words used. They
are wrong SEMANTICALLY.

The door kicked the man
The ship died

Door and ship lack the crucial features or attributes that are
required to kick and die.
They cannot be the subject of these verbs

Only living entities can perform the actions of
Kicking or Dying

So the entity/ noun able to perform these
actions,
should have an attribute [+]
Of being alive/ animate
Or in other words [+animate]

We may specify a list of attributes that are necessary for
performing an action. e.g.
Ali picked up his daughter and swung her.

Ali should have the attributes of:
Being a human [+human]
Being a male [+male]
Being an adult [+adult]

And the daughter should be:
[+human]
[+female] a bundle of attributes
[+child]

She cannot be:
A male [-male]
An animal [-animal]
An adult [-adult]

This bundle of attributes is called the
SEMANTIC FEATURES of the word

SEMANTIC FEATURES ANALYSIS

Semantic feature analysis allows us to decompose
words into
bundles of attributes.

This is based on how an event or action is expressed linguistically.
The conceptual meaning of the word is considered as part of its
semantic features;
not some personalized meaning.

Features that can be considered may be as general as
+animate / -animate
+human / -human
+male / -male
Or if the words are fairly similar, they may be made as specific as
required.

KING and Duke may share the features of being:
+male, +human, +adult, +royal
But they are dissimilar in
King [+ruler] & Duke [-ruler]

Semantic features can be used to describe differences between
antonyms, super-ordinates and their hyponyms, and near
synonyms.

"HAPPY" "SAD“ antonyms
+EMOTION +EMOTION
+POSITIVE -POSITIVE

"HAPPY" "THRILLED“hyponyms
+EMOTION +EMOTION
+POSITIVE +POSITIVE
+EXCITEMENT

 Uses of semantic feature analysis?

 Shows in what ways words are similar or different

 Draws attention to the unique attributes of a word

 Clarifies student concepts [increases comprehension]

 May easily be integrated within a lesson, at any stage

[Pre reading, While reading, Post reading]

Activates the student schemata about what they

understand about a word
Initiates discussion about what are the crucial attributes

or information about a word
Enhances vocabulary skills

Erases confusions about certain words

SEMANTIC FEATURE ANALYSIS GRID
Semantic features analysis is performed using a grid. E.g. the
grid for analysis of King and Prince is:

Human Male Adult Royal Ruler

King +
+ + + +

Duke + + + + -

 How to make a semantic feature analysis chart

Select a category or topic for the semantic feature analysis. e.g.
animals, food types etc.

Provide students with key vocabulary words and important
features related to the topic.
E.g. for animals:
Vocabulary: cat, dog, rabbit………………
Features: four legged, two legged, tree climbing…..

List vocabulary words down the left column.
And the features on the top row.
 Place a "+" sign in the grid
when a vocabulary word has the feature
mentioned in the top row.

If that feature is absent, put a "–" in the grid.

Analysis of Ali, dog, parrot, car
animate human Found in animal machine pet
the home

Ali + + + - - -

dog + - + + - +

parrot + - + - - +

car - - + - + -

SEMANTIC FEATURE ANALYSIS OF
Slippers vs Joggers vs High heels

Clothing Footwear For going comfortable Running Formal
out Wear

Slippers

Joggers

High
Heels

Analysis of car, motorcycle, bus, bicycle, cart

Semantics

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Semantics