Sense relations

Lexical and sense relations

• Lexical relations

• (syntagmatic relations)

• collocations

• Sense relations (paradigmatic relations)

Synonimy,

Antonimy

Hyponimy

Homonymy/polysemy

Synonimy/antonimy: Translation ‘problems’

• synonymy/antonymy in polysemous words

• One synonym/antonym for each propositionalmeaning

• Light (cf. p. 19)• Meaning 1. well lit

(a light room)

• Synonym bright

• Antonym dark

Translation ‘problems’ I

• synonymy/antonymy in polysemous words

• One synonym/antonym for each propositionalmeaning

• Light (cf. p. 19)• Meaning 1. well lit 2. not bright

(a light room) (light colours)

• Synonym bright pale

• Antonym dark bright

A light room

Una stanza luminosa (ariosa?)

(Dressed in) light colours

Colori pastello

How would you translate this in Italian?

‘antonym

• Rough surface even

• Rough skin smooth

• Rough sea calm

• Rough voice soft

• Rough crowd polite

• Rough work skilful

• Rough estimate exact

i.e. synonyms are not always interchangeable

another example:

calore /ka'lore/ s. m. [lat. calor -ōris, der. di calēre "essere caldo"]. - 1. a. [sensazione determinata dalla vicinanza con un oggetto o ambiente di temperatura più elevata: il c. della fiamma, del sole] ≈ caldo

Are calore and caldo interchangeable here?

Are calore and caldo interchangeable here?

Translation problems

NON-EQUIVALENCE• (culture-specific concepts: food, dwelling, religion, institutions…)

– E.g. agriturismo-masseria

Synonyms but not always interchangeable because of cultural-specificity

Strategies• use a hypernym: farm, farm stay• Use a loan word: ‘masseria’• use a loan word (with explanation): ‘masseria’, a farm offering

accommodation, restoration and recreation in the south of Italy.

The last sense relation: Homonymy

two words with the same form (with no meaning relation)

– My dog barks at the mailman

– The tree’s bark was a rusty brown

Translation problems: choosing the right sense

• An organic farm with wonderful views over Manifold Valley, Beechen Hill is a delightful place. A farm trail winds throughmeadows and woodland, and…

trail n ([sth] drawnbehind)

scia, traccia nf

The plane crossed the sky, leaving a white trail in its wake.

L'aereo attraversò il cielo lasciando una scia bianca in coda.

trail n (path for hikers)

sentiero, cammino nm

If you like hiking, there are a lot of great trails around here.

Se ti piace fare escursioni, ci sono tantissimi sentieri fa

wind n (moving air) vento nm

The wind is strong around skyscrapers.

Il vento è forte attorno ai grattacieli.

wind [sth]vtr

(wrap or twist)

avvolgere⇒vtr

I had to wind up the kite string after we had finished playing with it.

Ho dovuto avvolgere il filo dell'aquilone dopo che avevamo finito di giocarci.

Translation problems

• Polysemy and homonymy are often exploitedfor witticism (wordplay or pun), but differentlanguages may have different degrees of polysemy for equivalent words, and homonyms may not correspond as well.

• Activities 3.4.1

Can you spot puns based on polysemy?

Germany’s Bright Idea

Every night at 11 p.m., the village of Dörentrup in central Germany is thrown into total darkness. Strapped for cash for the past few years, the local council has taken to switching off all the streetlights. But while the scheme saves money, it left residents like Dieter Grote and his wife worrying about their children coming home in the dark. "My wife has all the good ideas," says Grote, who runs an advertising agency. "I discussed the problem with her and we thought it must be possible to have the lights available on demand." Grote got in touch with the local utility company Lemgoand noodled a solution: How about turning on the village lights with a simple telephone call? A few months later, Lemgo had developed a special modem and software and, together with Grote, launched Dial4Light — billed as the first project of its kind in Europe.

Master Stroke. Swimming, Nicola Keegan’s debut novel, understands that life is most interesting at

the deep end

• If you've ever wondered what deep thought might pass through the mind of a champion swimmer being honored as SPORTS ILLUSTRATED's female athlete of the year, flip to page 220 of Nicola Keegan's novel Swimming (Knopf; 305 pages), on which Philomena (Pip) Ash, fictitious Olympic gold medalist and the novel's heroine, observes that "it will be the only night in my life where I will dine almost entirely surrounded by people taller than myself."

“Germany’s Bright Idea”1. Homonym, double meaning of “bright”:2. 1. Full of light3. 2. Clever

“Master Stroke”, homonym, double meaningof ‘stroke’

1. Masterstroke is a skilful action or plan which resultsin complete success (colpo da maestro)

2. “stroke” repeated arms movement made whenswimming (bracciata)

Can you explain the puns in theseutterances

• Rose, the cereal killer (Headline about a woman serving breakfast in prison, who poisonedinmates)

• A provost at Eaton once boasted that he could do The Times crossword in the time it took hismorning egg to boil, prompting one wag tosuggest that the school may have been Eaton, butthe egg wasn’t. (Bill Bryson, Mother Tongue, Ch. 15 Wordplay p.223)

• Sofa, so good

(Furniture advertisement)

• Sonia and yet so far (headline, The Economist20th May 2004

(About the President of the Indian National Congress Sonia Gandhi’s refusal to serve asprime minister)

…another sense relation: homophony

• Homophones

Cereal/serial /ˈsɪə.ri.əl/

Eaten/Eaton /i:.tən/

• Quasi-homophony

• /səʊ fɑː/ /ˈsəʊ.fə/

• /səʊ nɪə/ /sɔ.nja/

1. Sofa and so far are homophones

2. Sonia and So near are homophones

metaphors

• Conventional vs creative mataphors