Andrew Radford - Linguistics An Introduction [Second Edition]

V-ed to finish the book and see what additional classes of such

verbs you can discover.

Model Answer for (1a) -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We first consider (i):

(i)

Max didn’t manage to finish the book

It is clear that (i) entails (ii):

(ii) Max didn’t finish the book

If we wish to be convinced of this, we can note that (iii) is a

contradiction:

(iii) Max didn’t manage to finish the book and Max finished the book

What this shows is that it is not possible for (i) and the negation of

(ii) (Max finished the book) to be true together, and this, in turn,

shows that whenever (i) is true, (ii) must also be true.

Next, consider (iv):

(iv) Max didn’t fail to finish the book

It may be felt that there are reasons to suggest that (iv) entails (v):

(v) Max finished the book

However, reflection might persuade us that this is not the case. If

(iv) entails (v), then whenever (iv) is true, (v) is also true. But

now consider circumstances in which Max has not even tried to

read the book. In these circumstances, (vi) is not a contradiction;

indeed, it is true:

(vi) Max didn’t fail to finish the book because he didn’t even start it

And, of course, if (vi) is true, (v) is false – it’s not possible for

Max to finish something that he’s not started. Accordingly, we

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have circumstances where (iv) is true and (v) is false, so (iv) does

not entail (v).

(The fact remains that we might normally expect (v) to be true if

(iv) is true, and there is an interesting question as to how we might

deal with this sort of relationship between pairs of sentences (see

section 27, pp. 392ff. for relevant discussion).)

2.

Consider the sets of sentences below and decide for each set whether

(i), (ii) or both entail (iii):

(a)

i. Smith knows that trupids are a type of kontel

ii. Smith doesn’t know that trupids are a type of kontel

iii. Trupids are a type of kontel

(b)

i. Brown believes that prons grow on fargets

ii. Brown doesn’t believe that prons grow on fargets

iii. Prons grow on fargets

(c)

i. Green maintains that byfters eat mung

ii. Green doesn’t maintain that byfters eat mung

iii. Byfters eat mung

(d)

i. Jones recognises that pogballs make you greep

ii. Jones doesn’t recognise that pogballs make you greep

iii. Pogballs make you grepe

By considering other verbs which can be followed by the complemen-

tiser that and an embedded sentence, try to develop an informal

hypothesis which will account for your data.

3.

Which of the following statements are true?

(a) tennis is a hyponym of sport

(b) pea and vegetable are co-hyponyms

(c) plant is a superordinate of tree

(d) lamb is a hyponym of creature

(e) lemon and tomato are co-hyponyms

(f) poker is a hyponym of game

(g) game is a hyponym of sport

(h) poker is a hyponym of sport

(i) bread is a co-hyponym of butter

(j) disease is a superordinate of influenza

(k) swing and toy are co-hyponyms

Use your answers to construct partial taxonomies for the relevant

sections of vocabulary. For each taxonomy, try ‘extending’ it upwards

and downwards beyond the levels which the words in (a)–(k) require

and comment on any difficulties or points of interest which arise.

4.

In the text, we have supposed that animal is a co-hyponym of bird and

reptile, but it may be felt that mammal should occupy this place in the

taxonomy. Then, it could be maintained that animal is a superordinate

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words

for mammal, bird and reptile, and this would be consistent with birds

and reptiles being viewed as types of animal. Use this difference

to discuss the implications of the existence of ‘expert’ vocabulary

in particular domains for claims we might make about semantic

structure.

5.

The relation of hyponymy is transitive. What this means is that if A is

a hyponym of B and B is a hyponym of C, then A is a hyponym

of C. Identifying the meronymy relation with that of part–whole, we

have (i):

(i) A is a meronym of B if and only if an A is a part of a B

Thus, arm is a meronym of body as an arm is a part of a body. Use the

following sets of expressions to investigate whether meronymy is

transitive:

(a) knuckle, finger, hand, arm, body

(b) handle, door, room, house, street, city, country (= nation)

6.

The examples of verbs of movement which appear in (148) could be extended to include such examples as swim, fly, fall, ascend, descend,

cross, etc. Suppose we regard the instances in (148) as all types of deliberate movement on land with no inherent direction. This characterisation would exclude the items in the above list and would lead

to the construction of a more complex taxonomy for verbs of move-

ment. Starting from the above items, try to identify what factors might

be important in constructing such a taxonomy. Present your taxonomy,

clearly indicating lexical gaps where they occur.

7.

The following sets of lexemes are cognitive synonyms. For each

member of each set, think of a sentential context in which it is more

acceptable than other members of its set.

(a) HORSE, NAG

(b) SUP, DRINK

(c) BUY, PURCHASE

(d) FIDDLE, VIOLIN

(e) MUM, MOTHER, MA

8.

It is interesting to try to ascertain which types of objects can be both

tall and short. Obviously, people can, but ‘short’ buildings are low

buildings (as opposed to high, that is tall, buildings!) and ‘short’ trees

are just small trees. List further examples of types of object which are

typically regarded as having vertical extent, and see which dimen-

sional adjectives are used for referring to this extent. Repeat the

exercise for types of object which are typically regarded as having

horizontal extent, starting from wide road, narrow road, wide ocean,

*narrow ocean (here the asterisk means that the phrase is odd in some

way – there is nothing wrong with it syntactically).

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9.

The comparative forms of adjectives (bigger, older, etc.) have been

introduced in section 9. Many adjectives do not occur with this -er suffix but form their comparative using more (e.g. more suspicious,

more intelligent, *suspiciouser, *intelligenter). For the purposes of

this exercise, both the -er form and the more form are both simply

referred to as the comparative. Starting from the examples given in the

text and adding as many of your own examples as you can, investigate

the status of the comparatives of antonymic and complementary

adjectives. In your investigation, you should comment on the inter-

pretation of sentences such as the following:

(a) Smith is more married than Brown

(b) Green is more alive than Jones

10.

Consider the subset of English kinship vocabulary including father,

mother, son, daughter, grandfather, grandmother, grandson, grand-

daughter. By considering pairs or sets of lexemes from these items

which exhibit the same semantic relationships, devise a set of semantic

features according to which each of the items receives a distinct

semantic representation. Next, extend the analysis so that it includes

uncle, aunt, nephew, niece and cousin.

11.

You are to investigate directly the proposal that semantic representa-

tions of lexemes may exhibit prototype structure. Begin by construct-