[With answers]

5.4 Problems

Compositionality and idiomaticity

Note: if you're not a native speaker of English, you might want to collaborate with a native speaker for this assignment since it requires understanding idiomatic expressions.

The purpose of this assignment is to show that you understand compositionality and idiomaticity, that is, that you can distinguish what aspects of the meaning of a phrase can be derived from the meanings of the words and the grammatical relation and what aspects of the meaning come from somewhere else.

For each of the following noun + noun phrases (or words), say first whether it is familiar to you. If it is familiar, say what the conceptual relation between the two categories is and what, if anything, is idiomatic about the meaning. If it is unfamiliar, say what you can know about the meaning from composition alone, say what conceptual relation you think holds between the noun meanings, and say how you guessed the relation: using world knowledge or by analogy with other noun + noun phrases.

1. B is a part of A.
2. B contains or is made from A.
3. B is used for A.
4. B is located at/near A.
5. B is a location or an occasion for A.
6. B resembles A.
7. B deals with A.
8. Some other relation (please specify what).

Examples:

• tooth decay
  This is a familiar phrase for me.
  The conceptual relation is 4 or 1.
  There is nothing idiomatic about the phrase, but from world knowledge, I know a lot about how this kind of decay differs from, say, decaying fruit or meat.
• potato bath
  This is an unfamiliar phrase for me.
  From composition alone, I know only that this designates a subcategory of bath that has some conceptual relation to potatoes. The relation could be 2; that is, it could designate a sort of bath that potatoes are added to (maybe because of what they do for the skin).
  I guessed what the phrase means using my world knowledge: how people sometimes add plants (rose petals, citrus fruits) or other food items (egg) to bath water or to shampoo.
• seahorse
  This is a familiar word for me.
  The relation is 4, but this phrase is idiomatic because it doesn't designate a subcategory of horse at all, but rather a fish that looks a little like horse.

1. pancake
   This phrase is familiar to me. The relevant relation is 4 or perhaps 8. (B is prepared in A). The word is idiomatic in that it is not really a prototypical cake, but rather a flat. breadlike thing.
2. carrot cake
   This phrase is familiar to me. The relevant relation is 2. There is really nothing idiomatic about the phrase, though the phrase suggests a particular way of preparing a cake from carrots; for one thing, the carrots are cut up so finely that they don't seem much like carrots in the cake.
3. turnip cake
   This is not a familiar phrase to me. From composition alone, I know only that this designates a subcategory of cake whose members have some relation to turnips. I believe the relevant relation is 2, and I understand it by analogy with carrot cake.
4. turnip beetle
   This is not a familiar phrase to me. From composition alone, I know only that this designates a subcategory of beetle whose members have some relation to turnips. I believe the relevant relation is 4. I understand it by analogy with phrases like boll weevil and tomato hornworm.
5. turnip scientist
   This is not a familiar phrase to me. From composition alone, I know only that this designates a subcategory of scientist whose members have some relation to turnips. I believe the relevant relation is 7, and I think I understand it by analogy with phrases such as cloud scientist that I've heard.
6. turnip face
   This is not a familiar phrase to me. From composition alone, I know only that this designates a subcategory of face whose members have some relation to turnips. I believe the relevant relation is 6. I think I figure it out by analogy with phrases like potato head.
7. tennis ball
   This is a familiar phrase for me. The relevant relation is 3. There is really nothing idiomatic about this phrase. I know a lot about what a tennis ball is like, but I think that's my world knowledge, not lexical knowledge.
8. handball
   This is a familiar phrase to me. In its more literal meaning, it designates a type of ball used in two particular sports (relation 3), not just any ball that could be manipulated with the hand. In its more abstract meaning, it designates one of the sports themselves, so it is not a ball at all. In this metonymic sense it is quite idiomatic. However, there are a number of similar such expressions ending in ball and used both for a kind of ball and a kind of sport, so some of this knowledge goes beyond the single lexical item handball.
9. water polo
   This is a familiar phrase to me. It designates a game which is not a kind of polo but which resembles polo in some ways. Hence the meaning is idiomatic and results from a metaphoric shift. The relation is 4.
10. web site
    This phrase is familiar to me. From the lexicon I know that it designates an abstract "place" on the World-Wide Web and not, for example, the location of a spider's web. Thus the phrase is quite idiomatic. The relation is 4 or 3.
11. webhead
    I've never heard anyone else use this word, but I believe I have used it. I created it by analogy with expressions such as pothead which designate people who are fascinated by something (the category of the A noun). The idea, I think, is that such people have a head that is full of pot (or the web or whatever), and by metonymy, the expression can refer to the person as well. Since these expressions don't designate a subcategory of head at all, they are quite idiomatic. The relation is perhaps 7.
12. web party
    This phrase is not familiar to me, and I can only hazard a guess at what it might mean. By analogy with other phrases ending in party such as slumber party and salsa party, I can infer that it designates a subcategory of party that somehow deals with the web (hence relation 7). Perhaps it's a party for webheads :-)
13. road hog
    This is a familiar phrase for me. A hog is thought to be an animal that is gluttonous or greedy, so a road hog is a person who tries to take up the whole road they are driving on. Thus it doesn't designate a kind of hog at all, an example of metaphorical extension, and it is quite idiomatic. The relation is 4 or perhaps 7.
14. hall hog
    This is not a familiar phrase to me, but I can understand it by analogy with road hog. This apparently designates a person who takes up the whole hallway. The relation again is 4 or 7.