Prototype Semantics and Crossword Puzzles

Returning to yesterday's post - an example of how prototype semantics are used on a daily basis is exhibited by some of the common methods used in solving crossword puzzles. Prototype semantic categories are an important part of the mental process people use in solving a crossword puzzle clue. Though it may not seem obvious, the use of these categories goes well beyond synonymous word clues. Prototype categories are also called upon when solving hyponymous, “a kind of” clues. This can be seen by the example clue: a kind of oven. The answer could be oast or kiln as they are both types of ovens. The answer a solver comes up with would depend on what that solver thinks is a more prototypical example of the category oven. When you think about it, a case really could be made for the use of prototype semantics in answering just about every type of clue based on the fact that a solver always looks for the best exemplar to fit the category of every answer. Prototypes can even be considered with the syntactic meanings of clue forms. For example, a clue in the plural will prototypically have an answer that ends in “s” as will a past tense clue prototypically have an answer that ends in “ed”. However, more challenging puzzles often use irregular plurals and tenses so they are not syntactically prototypical. So remember - when working a crossword puzzle the clue answers may not always be the most prototypical ones, but that is usually the best place to start.

Prototype Semantics - A Bird is Not Always a Bird

In the mid 1970’s, a prototype approach to meaning was suggested by Eleanor Rosch. Rosch conducted psycholinguistic research on the internal structure of categories and the influence of categories on word meaning. This research has proven to be very important to the field of semantics. People think in categories and categories underlie much of our vocabulary and much of our reasoning. Rosch concluded that people assign an object to a category by comparing that object to their view of the best exemplar associated with the category. Rosch further added “the task of category systems is to provide maximum information with the least cognitive effort.”

Take the category of birds as an example. We know that birds generally have feathers and a beak, lay eggs, fly and eat worms. A robin is a fairly prototypical bird but an ostrich is not because ostriches don't fly and they are larger than the average bird. And how about ducks? We don't typically think of fish-eating and water-floating when we think of birds.

The following are features of prototypicality:
1. Members of a category do not always share the same amount of features.
2. The structure of categories takes the form of a set of clustered and overlapping meaning.
3. Categories exhibit degrees of membership.
4. Categories have fuzzy boundaries.

As far as the way people measure similarities when determining category membership, appearance plays an important role for some categories while in others similarity can be judged by degree of variation and/or influence of use.

Calendar Names

Another interesting item from the July 28th Newsweek is an article about a 2008 Mormon calendar that is causing much controversy. The calendar features good looking and well-toned Mormon missionaries in and out of uniform and is called "Men on a Mission." Apparently the Mormon who came up with the idea for the calendar has been excommunicated. His excommunication, however, has not stopped him from planning his next calendar, the name of which I find very amusing - "Mormon Muffins." Knowing that the calendar is being created by the same person who brought us "Men on a Mission," you might expect a calendar named "Mormon Muffins" to feature attractive Mormon women with nice physiques. Surprise, surprise..."Mormon Muffins" will feature Mormon mothers and their favorite recipes. I love it.

Sagging is Not Stylish

The July 28th Newsweek has an article that references the style of wearing pants low on the hips and revealing boxer shorts. Until I read this article, I did not realize that there are technical terms that describe this style (other than sloppy, silly and juvenile). The act of dressing in such a way is called sagging and a person who sags is called a sagger. Talk about taking droopy drawers to new and unnecessary extremes. I sure hope my boys don't follow this trend or pick up this vocabulary. If you ask me, sagging is downright idiotic-looking.

Polish Vowel Sounds

POLISH DIVORCE

A Polish man moved to the USA and married an American girl. Although his English was far from perfect, they got along very well until one day he rushed into a lawyer's office and asked him if he could arrange a divorce for him -"very quick." The lawyer said that the speed for getting a divorce would depend on the circumstances, and asked him the following questions:
LAWYER: "Have you any grounds?" POLE: "JA, JA, acre and half and nice little home."LAWYER: "No," I mean what is the foundation of this case?" POLE: "It made of concrete." LAWYER: "Does either of you have a real grudge?" POLE: "No, we have carport, and not need one." LAWYER: "I mean, What are your relations like?" POLE: "All my relations still in Poland." LAWYER: "Is there any infidelity in your marriage?" POLE: "Ja, we have hi- fidelity stereo set and good DVD player." LAWYER: "Does your wife beat you up?" POLE: "No, I always up before her." LAWYER: "Is your wife a nagger?" POLE: "No, she white." LAWYER: "WHY do you want this divorce?" POLE: "She going to kill me."LAWYER: "What makes you think that?" POLE: "I got proof." LAWYER: "What kind of proof?" POLE: "She going to poison me. She buy a bottle at drugstore and put on shelf in bathroom I can read, and it say, 'Polish Remover.'"

By the way, I have many good friends who are Polish so this is all in good fun.

Speaking of Idioms

An interesting thing about idioms is that even though they are made up of more than one linguistic unit (the morphemes that build the words that build the phrase), they are generally treated as one unit. If a word or even a morpheme that grammatically marks a word in an idiom is changed, it usually loses its idiomatic meaning. For example: when wishing an actor good luck we say, "break a leg," but if the actor did well we would not say, "he broke a leg." Also, you can "beat a dead horse," but not "beat a dead cow," or "beat two dead horses." And, it is the "dog days of summer," not the "cat days of summer," or the "dog month of summer," or even "a dog day of summer."

Regional Idioms

I am currently reading a memoir about a Jewish family living in Tennessee in the 1920's. The title of the book is "The Jew Store" and it is a very enjoyable read that I would recommend to anyone. At any rate, I bring this up because I came across an idiom in the book that I had not previously heard. The idiom refers to lack of trust and basically says that when you don't trust someone - you trust them "about as much as a goat in the gladiolas." This got me to thinking about the role geography plays in idioms. In Michigan, when we don't trust a person, we say, "I trust him about as far as I can throw him."

I think it would be fun to start a list of region-specific idioms. If anyone can think of an idiom that they grew up with that is not common across the U.S. please send it to me by clicking on comment below.

Mondegreen Green Grass of Home

To stick with the theme of yesterday's post about oronyms, very similar to oronyms are mondegreens. While oronyms result from not knowing where one word ends and the next begins in speech, mondegreens usually result from hearing entirely different words that sound similar. And more importantly, the term mondegreen is generally used when referring to song lyrics.

Here are some examples of mondegreens:

Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix
"Excuse me while I kiss the sky." heard as "Excuse me while I kiss this guy."
Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater
"There's a bad moon on the rise." heard as "There's a bathroom on the right."
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds by The Beatles
"The girl with kaleidoscope eyes." heard as "The girl with colitis goes by."
Higher Love by Steve Winwood
"Bring me a higher love." heard as "Bring me an iron lung."
When The World Is Running Down by The Police
"You make the best of what's still around." heard as "You make the best homemade stew around."
Kodachrome by Paul Simon
"Mama don't take my Kodachrome away." heard as "Mama don't take my clothes 'n' throw 'em away."

If you are wondering how the term mondegreen came to be used for this phenomenon, it dates back to a 1954 Harper magazine column by Sylvia Wright. Wright had always believed that the last line of the first stanza in the Scottish folk ballad The Bonny Earl of Murray was: "And Lady Mondegreen." when in actuality it is: "And they laid him on the Green." So thanks to Sylvia Wright we have the word mondegreen.

I Scream for Oronyms

In speech, it is often hard to tell where one word ends and the next begins. The result of this phenomenon is a string of words that sounds the same as another string of words but is spelled differently and is composed of different words with different meanings. These strings of words are called oronyms. A classic oronym that many people grew up singing is, "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream."

Here are a few more oronyms to have fun with:

The florist had tulips of brilliant red.
The florist had two lips of brilliant red.

The stuffy nose can lead to problems.
The stuff he knows can lead to problems.

The poker player called for a new deal.
The poker player called for a nude eel.

I don't know how mature people enjoy such a show.
I don't know how much your people enjoy such a show.

If you listen you can hear the night rain.
If you listen you can hear the night train.

I'm taking a nice cold shower.
I'm taking an ice cold shower.

Word Up

For my fellow word lovers, if this email has not found its way to your in box, check it out ---

How do non-natives ever learn all the nuances of English??? There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that word is "UP."

It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP? At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report? We call UP our friends and we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car. At other times the little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses. To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special.

And this UP is confusing:
A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP. We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night. We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP !To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4 of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions. If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more.When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP. When it rains, it wets UP the earth. When it doesn't! rain for awhile, things dry UP.

One could go on & on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now my time is UP, so ....Time to shut UP.....!Oh...one more thing: What is the first thing you do in the morning & the last thing you do at night? U P

Crossword Puzzle Clues and Semantics

I have always been a huge fan of crossword puzzles and, in a round-about way, my love of crossword puzzles was partly responsible for my decision to study linguistics in graduate school. So naturally, I tend to semantically analyze crossword puzzle clues while working a puzzle. As a result, I believe that the relationship between crossword puzzles and semantics should be seen as reciprocal because working a puzzle not only calls on semantic knowledge, it also reinforces and adds to a person's semantic knowledge, whether consciously or not.

The role semantic knowledge plays in solving a crossword should become clear by looking at some of the common crossword puzzle clue categories and the semantic concepts with which they can be compared.

Traditional dictionary definitions = reference
Thesaurus = synonymy
Encyclopedic = reference
Names = reference
Opposites = antonymy
Puns and wordplay = vagueness and ambiguity, polysemy
“A kind of” = hyponymy
Indirect = vagueness and ambiguity

Take Two Paregorics and Call Me in the Morning

A good friend and I were tossing around some words recently and she mentioned the word paregoric. Though the word is not commonly used outside of the medical profession anymore, I think it should be. Not only is paregoric a pleasant sounding word, it is also far less embarrassing to ask a pharmacist for a paregoric than an antidiarrheal.

Paregoric is defined in medical dictionaries as: A camphorated tincture of opium, taken internally for the relief of diarrhea and intestinal pain.

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, a paregoric was originally a "medicine that soothes pain," 1704, from adj. (1684) "soothing," from Late Latin paregoricus, from Greek paregorikos "soothing, encouraging, consoling," from paregorein "speak soothingly to," from paregoros "consoling," from para- "beside" + root of agoreuein "speak in public," from agora "public assembly."

Indiana Jones Nukes the Fridge

Though I have not seen (nor do I have any desire to see) the new Indiana Jones sequel, my 13-year-old son (who has seen the series in its entirety) tells me that it deserves each and every one of the bad reviews it has received. Indeed, according to the July 7/July 14 issue of Newsweek, a new phrase was coined only two days after the movie opened on May 22 that enunciates the extent of the movie's tanking. The phrase is "nuke the fridge" and it is comparable in movie lingo to television's "jump the shark." To refresh your memory, Happy Days, which was once a great television series, clearly went a season to long when it resorted to having the Fonz jump a shark on waterskis. Ever since then, the phrase "jump the shark" has been used to describe what happens when a popular television series runs an episode that causes the series to plummet into absurdity. And now we have a phrase that can be applied to a movie series that plummets into absurdity. "Nuke the fridge" is based on a scene in which Indy survives a nuclear blast by closing himself in a refrigerator. I always enjoyed the Indiana Jones movies and I am sad to hear that it has "nuked the fridge."

Dialect as Identity Exhibited by Yooper We-Type Solidarity

There are many ways an individual's dialect can be used as a form of identity. People who speak the Upper Peninsula or "Yooper" dialect are able to use their dialect as a form of identity by choosing not to switch to a more common dialect for their audience in an effort to make those who don't speak the dialect feel left out. This has been called a We-type solidarity because it gives the impression that speakers of the dialect think they are better than others and contributes to the us-them distinction that can make people from lower Michigan feel like outsiders. This can also be viewed as a form of retaliation because often people from lower Michigan make speakers of the Upper Peninsula dialect feel like lesser people by teasing them about the way they talk.

A perfect example of the Yooper We-type solidarity can be found in my previous post of the Yooper Map of Michigan.
http://walkinthewords.blogspot.com/2008/06/yooper-map-of-michigan.html

UPS Gripe Sheets

After every flight, UPS pilots fill out a form, called a "gripe sheet," which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics correct the problems, document their repairs on the form, and then pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight. Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humor. Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by UPS pilots (marked with a P) and the solutions recorded (marked with an S) by maintenance engineers. By the way, UPS is the only major airline that has never, ever, had an accident.

P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.
P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.
P: Something loose in cockpit
S: Something tightened in cockpit
P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.
P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minutedescent
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.
P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.
P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.
P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That's what friction locks are for.
P: IFF inoperative in OFF mode.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.
P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you're right.
P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on rightwing after brief search.
P: Aircraft handles funny.
S: Aircraft warned to: straighten up, fly right, and be serious.
P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.
P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.
P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget.

Semantic Funnies: Signs from Above? Part III

At a Car Dealership: 'The best way to get back on your feet - miss a car payment.'

Outside a Muffler Shop: 'No appointment necessary. We hear you coming.'

In a Veterinarian's waiting room: 'Be back in 5 minutes. Sit! Stay!'

At the Electric Company 'We would be delighted if you send in your payment. However, if you don't, you will be.'

In a Restaurant window: 'Don't stand there and be hungry, Come on in and get fed up.'

In the front yard of a Funeral Home: 'Drive carefully. We'll wait.'

At a Propane Filling Station: 'Thank heaven for little grills.'

Sign at a Chicago Radiator Shop: 'Best place in town to take a leak

Possessive Company Names in Michigan

Michigan's history of possessive company names all began in the early 1900's with the Ford Motor Company. The Ford Motor Company was owned by Henry Ford and therefore the factory was known all over Michigan as Ford's Factory. If a person was asked where he or she worked the response would be, "I work at Ford's." Too keep things simple, in written communication the apostrophe was dropped, thus Ford Motor Company became Fords.



One thing always leads to another, hence Meijer became Meijers, Kroger became Krogers, and oddly, K-Mart became K-Marts (though we all know there is no K-Mart family, it is the Kresge family, so technically it should be K's-Mart).

Reborn Metaphors

Metaphors are usually classified as either living or dead, though it is often hard to distinguish the difference as language is constantly changing. A metaphor is said to die when its figurative meaning becomes accepted as part of the standard lexicon of a particular language. However, one of the aspects of language change is that the meaning of metaphors can be extended to take on new meanings; therefore, even a metaphor that is thought to be dead can be reborn with a new extended meaning. An example of this rebirth is demonstrated by the metaphoric extension of clotheshorse. A clotheshorse was originally an object that physically resembled a horse in its framework and functioned to hold clothing; however, through metaphoric extension clotheshorse came to be interpreted as a person who habitually wears or shows off clothing.

Along with Zippers, Kleenex and Speedo Fall Prey to Genericide

The June 30th Newsweek had an article about Speedo's LZR suit. If you have not heard about it yet, it is the suit that is helping swimmers break a multitude of records. The article notes that Speedo is the number 1 swim brand in the world and reinforces this statistic by quoting analyst Marshal Cohen, "Speedo is the Kleenex of swimwear." I really got a kick out of seeing this quote as it fit right in with my previous post about brand name genericide (genericide being the process by which a trademarked or brand name becomes a generic name for the product category). While Kleenex was not on the list in my original post, a reader commented that it should have been and I fully agree. And certainly Speedo should be added to the list as the generic name for competitive swimwear and tank suits (which I grew up calling banana hammocks, ha ha).

Ella Minnow Pea or LMNOP

If you are looking for a linguistically-entertaining, quick, fun, summer read, check out "Ella Minnow Pea" by Mark Dunn. The full title of the hardcover version is Ella Minnow Pea: a progressively lipogrammatic epistolary fable, the paperback version's title was shortened to Ella Minnow Pea : A Novel in Letters. You can read a summary of the book and more by clicking on the book link in my Bookshelf below left. In the meantime, here are some words with which to familiarize yourself if you don't already know them...

Lipogrammatic: Omitting a letter; composed of words not having a certain letter or letters; as, lipogrammatic writings.

Epistolary: 1. Of or associated with letters or the writing of letters. 2. Being in the form of a letter: epistolary exchanges. 3. Carried on by or composed of letters: an epistolary friendship.

Logomaniac: one who is obsessed with words

Alphabetarian: A learner of the alphabet; an abecedarian.

Abecedarian (a·be·ce·dar·i·an):
noun 1. One who teaches or studies the alphabet. 2. One who is just learning; a beginner.
adjective 1. Having to do with the alphabet. 2. Being arranged alphabetically. 3. Elementary or rudimentary.

The College Professor

At Penn State University , there were four sophomores taking chemistry and all of them had an 'A' so far. These four friends were so confident, that the weekend before finals, they decided to visit some friends and have a big party. They had a great time, but after all the hearty partying, they slept all day Sunday and didn't make it back to Penn State until early Monday morning!Rather than taking the final then, they decided that after the final they would explain to their professor why they missed it. They said that they visited friends but on the way back they had had a flat tire. As a result, they missed the final. Since they were four of his better students, the professor agreed to let them make up the final the next day. The guys were excited and relieved, and they studied very hard that night for the exam.

The next day the Professor placed each of them in a separate room, and gave them a test booklet. They quickly answered the first problem worth 5 points. Cool, they thought! Each one in separate rooms, thinking this was going to be easy ..... then they turned the page! On the second page was written....

For 95 points: 'Which tire?'

The Semantics of an Aging Woman's Body

Aging Aunt Mildred was a 93-year-old woman who was particularly despondent over the recent death of her husband. She decided that she would just kill herself and join him in death.
Thinking that it would be best to get it over with quickly, she took out his old Army pistol and made the decision to shoot herself in the heart, since it was badly broken in the first place.
Not wanting to miss the vital organ and become a vegetable and a burden to someone, she called her doctor's office to inquire as to just exactly where the heart would be on a woman. The doctor said, 'Your heart would be just below your left breast'.
Later that night… Mildred was admitted to the hospital with a gunshot wound to her knee.

The Etymology of Fireworks

Celebrating The 4th of July

The 4th of July is noted for its fireworks, barbecues and parades. Originally called rockets, the term fireworks was not coined until 1777. Later, fireworks that made noise were invented and called fire crackers and in 1880 sparklers were created.

The Ass Family

Fun Expressions on T-Shirts

As many people are travelling this holiday week, I thought I would share with you one of my favorite tourist t-shirts. The t-shirt is from The Asylum in Jerome Arizona, "A Restaurant on the Fringe," and was a gift from my parents. I absolutely love the expression on the back of the t-shirt, as my parents knew I would.

Abnormality is the normality at this locality.