Editing Semantic property

{{short description|Aspect of a linguistic unit}}
'''Semantic properties''' or '''meaning properties''' are those aspects of a linguistic unit, such as a [[morpheme]], [[word]], or [[Sentence (linguistics)|sentence]], that contribute to the meaning of that unit. Basic semantic properties include being ''meaningful'' or ''meaningless'' – for example, whether a given word is part of a language's lexicon with a generally understood meaning; ''[[polysemy]]'', having multiple, typically related, meanings; ''[[semantic ambiguity|ambiguity]]'', having meanings which aren't necessarily related; and ''anomaly'', where the elements of a unit are semantically incompatible with each other, although possibly grammatically sound. Beyond the expression itself, there are higher-level '''semantic relations''' that describe the relationship between units: these include [[synonym]]y, [[antonym]]y, and [[hyponymy]].<ref>Akmajian, Adrian; Richard A. Demers, Ann K. Farmer, Robert M. Harnish (2001). ''Linguistics: An Introduction to Language and Communication''. MIT Press. {{ISBN|0-262-51123-1}}. pp. 237–241</ref><ref>Small, Steven Lawrence; Cottrell, Garrison Weeks & Tanenhaus, Michael K. (1988). ''Lexical ambiguity resolution: perspectives from psycholinguistics, neuropsychology, and artificial intelligence''. Morgan Kaufmann. {{ISBN|0-934613-50-8}}, {{ISBN|978-0-934613-50-7}}.</ref><ref>Murphy, M. Lynne (2003). ''Semantic Relations and the Lexicon: Antonymy, Synonymy, and Other Paradigms.'' Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-78067-5}}, {{ISBN|978-0-521-78067-4}}.</ref>

Besides basic properties of semantics, semantic property is also sometimes used to describe the semantic components of a word, such as ''man'' assuming that the referent is ''human'', ''male'', and ''adult'', or ''female'' being a common component of ''girl'', ''woman'', and ''actress''. In this sense, semantic properties are used to define the [[semantic field]] of a word or set of words.<ref>Brinton, Laurel J. (2000). ''The structure of modern English: a linguistic introduction''. Illustrated edition. John Benjamins Publishing Company. {{ISBN|9027225672}}, 9789027225672. p.112</ref><ref>Leech, Geoffrey (1974). ''Semantics''. Pelican Books. {{ISBN|0-14-021694-4}}. pp. 96-102</ref>

==Semantic properties of nouns==

Semantic properties of nouns/entities can be divided into eight classes: [[specificity (linguistics)|specificity]], [[boundedness (linguistics)|boundedness]], [[animacy]], [[grammatical gender|gender]], [[kinship terminology|kinship]], [[honorific|social status]], physical properties, and function.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Frawley|first1=William|title=Linguistic Semantics|date=1992|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|page=138}}</ref>

'''Physical properties''' refer to how an entity exists in space. It can include shape, size, and material, for example.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Frawley|first1=William|title=Linguistic Semantics|date=1992|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|page=121}}</ref>

The '''function''' class of semantic properties refers to noun class markers that indicate the purpose of an entity or how humans utilize an entity. For example, in the [[Dyirbal language|Dyirbal]] language, the morpheme ''balam'' marks each entity in its noun class with the semantic property of edibility,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Lakoff|first1=George|title=Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things|url=https://archive.org/details/womenfiredangero00lako|url-access=registration|date=1987|publisher=University of Chicago|location=Chicago|page=[https://archive.org/details/womenfiredangero00lako/page/93 93]|isbn=9780226468037 }}</ref> and Burmese encodes the semantic property for the ability to cut or pierce. Encoding the functional property for transportation, housing, and speech are also attested in world languages.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Frawley|first1=William|title=Linguistic Semantics|date=1992|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|pages=129–130}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==See also==
* [[Semantic class]]
* [[Semantic feature]]

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[[Category:Semantics]]
[[Category:Semantic relations]]

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