knowing semantics more detail

3. How do you classify sentence meaning? Explain and use example in your answer.

à Sentence meaning is meaning carried by a sentence. The branch of semantics that deals with sentence meaning is called sentence semantics. It aims to uncover the basic relationship that exists between noun phrase and the verb of the sentence. The relationship are called semantic roles.

Example:

1.      My mother made a delicious cake.

(the noun phrase “my mother” serves as an agent of the verb “made”)

2.      A delicious cake made quickly.

(the noun phrase “a delicious cake” serves as a patience of the verb “made”)

4. Supply as many paraphrases as possible to the following sentences:

a.       My brother is actually clever

-          Actually my brother is clever. (grammatical paraphrase)

b.      To say is easy

-          Easy to say (grammatical paraphrase)

c.       My father is fond of smoking

-          My father is love of smoking (lexical paraphrase)

5. The following sentences are ambiguous. Describe the ambiguity in detail:

a.                          Hilda does not like her dentist, and neither does Julie.

-          Its mean that Hilda and Julie doesn’t like the service from her dentist.

-          Or Hilda and Julie hate her dentist.

b.                          He waited at the bank.

-          Its mean that he is waiting for someone at the bank.

-          Or he was waited by someone at the bank.

c.               The long drill was boring.

-          Its mean that the long drill for a month was boring.

-          Or the long drill in a day but there isn’t time to break was boring.

6. What is meant by semantic roles? How do you classify them? Explain and give examples!

à  Semantic role is the way in which the referent of the noun phrase contribute to the state, action, or situation described by the sentence.

Semantic roles divided into 9 types.

1.      An agent (the responsible initiator of an action)

-          E.g.: She swept the floor

2.      A patient (the entity that undergoes a certain change of state)

E.g.: The window opened easily

3.      An instrument (the intermediary through which the agent performs the action)

E.g.: we will boil the water use a pan

4.      A cause (any natural force that brings about a change of state)

E.g.: the rain ruined to go to cinema

5.      An experiencer (which receives a sensory input)

E.g.: she heard he playing guitar

6.      A recipient (that receives a physical object)

E.g.: I sent much money to my parents

7.      Benefactive (for which an action is performed)

E.g.: He won the silver medal.

8.      A locative (the location of an action or state)

E.g.: My apartment is near from my school

9.      A temporal (the time at which the action or state occurred)

                  E.g.: I will go to Surabaya in the next day