27 The fifth type is „deictic features‟. Lipka notes that deictic features are used to
explain certain locative, temporal relations and direction. For example the feature [± PROXIMATE] symbolizes proximity to the speaker for lexemes now vs. then, or
come vs. go. The sixth type is „inferential features‟. According to Lipka, inferential features
IFs do not occur in traditional semantics. From a synchronic point of view, as he sees it, only variable IFs can explain fuzziness in meaning, polysemy, regional,
stylistic, and other variations. On the diachronic scale, they capture semantic restriction, extension, shift and other changes in meaning. According to Lipka, IFs
may be used for formalizing the properties of a referent or denotatum and may occur in paraphrases, e.g. feature {STICK} to explain the word to beat and feature {TO
GET ATTENTION} to the word to nudge. The braces used in this notation of IFs are taken from Lehrer Lipka, 2002: 126.
The seventh type is „distinctive features‟. Distinctive features are a super-class of features discussed in points 1-5 above. Lipka defines distinctive feature as all
semantic features that serve to distinguish a pair of lexemes that are otherwise identical in meaning. Thus for example cat and kitten are only distinguished by
denotative feature [± ADULT], or steed and horse by the connotative feature [+ARCHAIC].
2.1.6. Contrastive Meaning
Lexicon is the part of the grammar that contains the knowledge speakers have about individual words and morphemes, including semantic properties. Fromkin et al.
1996:154 says that words that share a semantic property are said to be in a semantic
28 class, e.g. the semantic class of „female‟ words. Semantic classes may intersect, such
as the class of words with the properties „female‟ and „young‟. In some cases, however, the presence of one semantic property can be inferred from the presence or
absence of another. For example, words with the property „human‟ also have the property „animate‟, and lack the property „equine‟.
One way of representing semantic properties is through the use of semantic features. Semantic features are a formal or notational device for expressing the
presence or absence of semantic properties by pluses and minuses. For example, the lexical entries for words such as woman, father, girl, mare, and stalk would appear in
the table as follows:
Table 2.2: semantic features Fromkin et al., 1996: 155
woman father
girl mare
stalk
+ female + male
+ female + female
+ motion + human
+ human + human
– human + slow
– young + parent
+ young – young
+ purposeful In order to analyze any referential meaning, whether of a root word, such as
dog, of an idiom, such as dog in the manger, we must identify those necessary and sufficient features that distinguish the meaning of any one form from every other
from which might compete for a place within the same semantic territory. It is necessary also to find out what the relations are between the components, since that
also is crucial for the understanding of meaning. To determine the meaning of any lexical unit, from the level of a morpheme to
the level of an entire discourse, it is essential to establish the basis of contrast. To do so effectively, those units most closely related semantically must be identified, that is
to say those units which share the greatest number of common components and differ
29 from one another in the smallest number of diagnostic components. Such meanings
should be on the same hierarchical level, since on this basis they are likely to share the greatest number of common components, while differing most clearly with
respect to crucial contrasts. The analysis is then called a contrastive meaning analysis. One simple example to illustrate the analysis is the set of words chair, stool,
bench, and hassock. Four of them obviously share a number of common components: First, artifacts in contrast with stone ledges on which one might sit; second, pieces
of furniture in contrast with other constructions, e.g. banks or sawhorses which can serve for sitting; and third, for sitting in contrast with beds or dressers on which one
may sit, but which are not designed for sitting. In order to determine the diagnostic feature of the meanings of these four units, we can then establish three basic types of
features evidently to provide the contrasts: First, the number of persons for which the piece of furniture is designed; second, the occurrence or lack of a back; and third, the
occurrence or lack of legs. These related features may be clearly indicated in the table below:
Table 2.3: Analysis on features related in semantics Nida, 1975: 71
Number of persons
Existence of back Existence of legs
One One
With back
Without back
With legs
Without legs
CHAIR –
+ +
– +
– BENCH
+ –
+ +
+ –
STOOL –
+ –
+ +
– HASSOCK
– +
– +
– +
Nida 1975 also highlights that for the purpose of understanding the possible variety of components and the relations of sets of meanings to one another,
one of the most useful series consists of meanings involving physical movement through space. He begins with a related set of meanings represented by the terms run,
Words Semantic
Features
30 walk, hop, skip, jump, crawl, and dance. It is important as to insure not being
confronted at first with a number of variables, e.g. the hopping of toads, the dancing of trained bears, and the crawling of cars through traffic.
Although we already know that what appears to be an obvious contrast between run and walk is relative speed, the important diagnostic feature is the nature
of the contact between the feet and the supporting surface. In run, hop, skip, jump, and some uses of dance, there are moments when neither foot is touching the ground.
Whereas crawl, walk, and other uses of dance, at least one foot is always in contact with the ground. Another contrast in this set of meanings is the distinction between
crawl, which needs four limbs to perform, and the other meanings, which need only two. Yet, the most specific set of contrasts involves the order of movement of the
feet. For walk and run the order of contact with the ground is alternating 1 –2–1–2–1–
2; for hop the order is 1 –1–1–1 or 2–2–2–2; for skip the order is 1–1–2–2–1–1–2–2;
and crawl the order is usually 1 –3–2–4–1–3–2–4, if the limbs are numbered
clockwise, but there are several different possible orders. Number one represents the right leg, number two represents the left leg, number three represents the left arm, and
number four represents the right arm. For dance the order of contact with the ground varies greatly, but one distinguishing feature is that it is rhythmic, while for jump the
order of contact at the beginning or end of the jump is irrelevant. What counts is the relatively greater distance involved in which there is no contact with the surface.
Nida found that the contrasts in meaning of these seven terms involve only three major types of features, namely the type of contact with the surface, the order of
contact and the number of limbs. He showed the contrasts in the following table:
31
Table 2.4: Contrastive analysis of seven terms involving three types of properties
one or another limb always in
contact vs. no limb at times in
contact order of contact
number of limbs
RUN –
1 –2–1–2
2 WALK
+ 1
–2–1–2 2
HOP –
1 –1–1 or 2–2–2
1 SKIP
– 1
–1–2–2 2
JUMP –
not relevant 2
DANCE +
–
variable but rhythmic
2 CRAWL
+ 1
–3–2–4 4
Later, Nida found that the adjustment of a set of diagnostic components to a wider range of participants in a series of events is not only a means of testing the
original analysis, but also a process by which more generalized descriptions or rules may be ascertained. However, the addition of other meanings to a basic set normally
requires the introduction of new diagnostic components. Thus, Nida added four basic series of the related meanings, i.e. swim, fly, roll, and slide. Swim and fly can be
differentiated at least from three types of environments: First, a supporting surface for the basic seven meanings, plus those of roll and slide; second, a liquid for swim;
and third, air for fly. The meaning of swim is in the same class as crawl with respect to the use of all the limbs, but fly involves the forelimbs of bats or birds and cannot be
performed to persons, except with an additional component of „vehicular movement‟, as in the sentence Her husband flew to Chicago. Roll and slide also imply a
supporting surface, and in both instances there is continuous contact with the surface. For slide it is not important what part of the body is involved in the contact. With roll
the contact is continuous but with different points of the body in a rotating sequence. Nida has extended the series more and added the related meanings of fall,
sink, and climb and he added components involving vertical movement. The other
Semantic Properties
Words
32 verbs before are indeterminate as to the vertical horizontal distinction. One may walk
up, down, or on the level, and the same is true of run, hop, skip, crawl, jump, swim, fly, roll, and slide although the gradient in swim is normally horizontal or nearly so,
and roll and slide more often than not refer to downward movement. However, fall and sink tend to be related to downward movement. The meanings of fall and sink
also contrast with most of the other meanings in being related primarily to the force of gravity rather than involving internal energy. In contrast with the downward
movement in fall and sink, climb implies upward movement, i.e. without some seman
tic “corrective”, e.g. down or through, climb has a diagnostic component of upward movement. For instance, when one says She climbed the stairs, it implies the
upward movement. The downward movement must usually be specifically marked, e.g. He climbed down the stairs. The analysis can be presented in table 2.5.
2.1.7. Contextual Meaning
