Lexical Semantic Features
and Lexical Relations
This is a practice assignment. You can do it on your own. If you wish, you can test out data on native speakers of English from outside the class. You don't need to consult a dictionary for this assignment (it can be misleading). Practice in careful thought probing your own and/or other speakers' native intuitions is the main point here.
What semantic features (or components or meaning properties; terminology is flexible at this point) are present in the meaning of the word ASSASSINATE? For each feature, give justifications. In your justifications, support your claims by citing normal, odd, and abnormal uses of the word in phrases or sentences, as for example the following sentences with assassinate in them:
Several U.S. presidents have been assassinated while in office.
??The cat assassinated the bird.
???He slowly assassinated the prime minister.
(Use some reasonable way of indicating degree of normality/acceptability, e.g. question marks as above, or words such as ODD).
You can also support your analysis by citing other words which contrast with the target word with respect to particular features.
© 2003 Suzanne Kemmer