SEMANTIC GROUPING OF THE ENGLISH LEXICON

I. True or false?

1) Conceptual groupings in the lexicon are paradigmatic.

2) Semantic fields derive from reality.

3) The scope of the word's meaning is determined not only by its reference but also by its relations to other items within vocabulary.

4) All members of a semantic field belong to the same part of speech.

5) All members of a semantic field express one concept therefore they are characterised by a common denominator of meaning.

6) All members of a semantic field are incompatibles.

7) All semantic fields have a certain kind of order.

8) The whole of the vocabulary is structured into overlapping semantic fields.

II. Give at least five members of each semantic field:

SLEEP, FEELING, THINK.

III. Are the following lexico-semantic groups ordered? If so, state the type of order.

MEAL: dinner, lunch, snack, supper, breakfast...

COLOUR: blue, red, yellow, green, orange, brown...

MEASURES OF WEIGHT: pound, ounce, stone, grain, quarter...

PART OF DAY: morning, midday, evening, night, afternoon...

IV. How is the following LSG structured? Which items belong to the core, to the periphery? Explain your answer.

Add some more words to the core and to the periphery.

PARTS OF THE BODY: arm, leg, head, face, finger, limb, pancreas, spleen, intestine, guts, belly, mug, loaf, eye, colon, extremities, pins.

V. What is hyponymy? Why is hyponymy a hierarchical relation, or the relation of inclusion?

Group the following words into hyponymic structures: Identify the hyporonym; add some more hyponyms to each set.

officer, car, to murder, to poison, to execute, vehicle, vessel, to electrocute, to kill, colonel.

VI. Study this three diagram. Can you add more words to the tree? State the type of relationship between all the words in the diagram.

 

 

 

VII. Can you give the hyporonym?

1. boots, bootees, wellingtons;

2. ketch, sailing-boat, dinghy, yacht;

3. bowler, hat, trilby, sombrero, boater.

VIII. What is a thematic group?

Which are more important in language learning: semantic fields or thematic groups. Explain your answer.

 

 

IX. Complete this bubble-network for the word CAT.

Add as many other bubbles as you like. What are the associations between the words?

 

X. Draw a word-tree for HOLIDAYS or for SCHOOL.