Semantic and semantic theory

Semantics is the study of meaning and linguistic semantics is the study of meaning as
expressed by the words, phrases and sentences of human languages. It is, however, more
usual within linguistics to interpret the term more narrowly, as concerning the study of those
aspects of meaning encoded in linguistic expressions that are independent of their use on
particular occasions by particular individuals within a particular speech community. In other
words, semantics is the study of meaning abstracted away from those aspects that are derived
from the intentions of speakers, their psychological states and the socio-cultural aspects of the
intentions of speakers, their utterance are made. (1: )

According to Kempson (1977: 4), are stated in (1) and may be adopted as criteria for
ascertaining the adequacy of semantic theories which apply in addition to general conditions
on scientific theories of falsifiability and rigour. There are many other aspects of meaning that
can be included in the domain of linguistics semantics, but a theory conforming to the four
criteria

(1) A semantic theory must:

1. Capture for any language the nature of the meaning of words, phrases and
sentences and explain the nature of the relation between them;
2. Be able to predict the ambiguities in the expressions of a language;
3. Characterise and explain the systematic meaning relations between the words,
the phrases and the sentences of a language.

One may add to these the condition that a semantic theory should provide an account of the
relation between linguistic expressions and what may be called things in the world. In other
words, it is a primary concern of semantic theory to explain how human being can use their
language to convey information about the external world.

Kempson also stated that a semantic theory must provide an account of the relation between
linguistic expressions and the things that they can be used to talk about.

Semantics
The word semantics which comes from Greece sema (noun) which means symbol or sign.
The verb is Semaino which means signify. The symbol of the synonymy of sema is
linguistic sign (France: sine linguistique) (Chaer, 1995: 2). Saussure (1996) states that
linguistic sign consists of (1) the signifier, component, in sort of sounds and (2) the signified,
the referent outside of language. Semantics is a term which is used in linguistics, which
studies the relation between linguistic sign and signified thing. In other words, semantics is a
branch of linguistics which studies about the meaning.

Halliday (1985: XVII) states that the term semantics does not simply refers to the meaning
of words; it is the entire system of meanings of a language, expressed by grammar as well as
by vocabulary. Semantics brings in symbol using and symbol system outside language, but
the central place of language in human symbol systems makes language its primary concern.
In semantics, one is trying to make explicit, the ways in which words, and sentences of
various grammatical construction are used and understood by native or fluent speakers of a
language.

Arcnoff and Miller (2003:370) says that semantics focuses on theories of meaning which
apply to sentences that make statements, and are taken to be either true are false. This
assumption shows that there is relationship between linguistic expression and the world
which is at the core of linguistic meaning.

Semantics as a general explanation is about the study of meaning of the words, phrases,
sentences, and discourse. Lyons (1977:1) states that semantics is generally defined as the
study of meaning. Palmer (1981:1) argues that semantics is the technical term used to refer to
the study of meaning, and, since meaning is a part of language, semantics is a part of
linguistics. Unfortunately, meaning covers a variety of aspects of language, and there is no
general agreement about the nature of meaning, what aspects of it may properly be included
in semantics, or the way in which it should be described.

Lehrer (1974:1) asserts that semantics, the study of meaning, is a vast field, touching on most
aspects of the structure and function of language as well as problems in psychology,
philosophy, and anthropology. Tarigan (1985:7) states that semantic s is a meaning
determination. Semantics studies about both symbols and signs that state a meaning and
connect a meaning to another. Therefore, semantics is a technical term referring to the study
of meaning, and since meaning is a part of language, semantics is a part of linguistics.
Semantics is the study of meaning. The word "semantics" itself denotes arrange of ideas,
from the popular to the highly technical. It is often used in ordinary language to denote a
problem of understanding that comes down to word selection or connotation. This problem of
understanding has been the subject of many formal inquiries, over a long period of time. The
formal study of semantics intersects with many other fields of inquiry, including proxemics,
lexicology, syntax, pragmatics and others, although semantics is a well-defined field in its
own right, often with synthetic properties http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantics.
Meaning relations

Another aspect of meaning that must be accounted for by any semantic theory is the
systematic relations that hold between different expressions in a language. According to the
condition of adequacy theory must satisfactorily analyze the intuitions speakers of English
have about semantic relations between lexemes and between sentences. This assumes that
expressions in a language which may not be syntactically related may be semantically and,
indeed, such is the case. Consider the sentences in (6)

Definitions of Translation

Translation is a phenomenon that has a huge effect on everyday life. This can range from the
translation of a key international treaty to the following multilingual poster the welcomes
costumers to a small restaurant near to the home of one of the authors.

The term translation itself has several meaning: it can refer to the general subject field, the
product ( the text has been translated) or the process (the act of producing the translation,
otherwise known as translating). The process of translation between two different written
language involves the translator changing an original written text (the source text or ST) in
the original verbal language (the source or SL) into a written text (the target text or TT) in
different verbal language ( target language or TL). ( Munday, 2001 5).

2.2 Semantic translation and communicative

Nida (1964a: 33ff) Describes various scientific approaches to meaning related to work that
had been carried out by theorist in semantics and pragmatics. Central to Nidas work is the
move away from the old idea that an ortograpic word has a fixed meaning and towards a
functional definition of meaning in which a word acquires meaning through its context and
can produce varying responses according to culture.
Meaning is broken down into linguistic meaning (borrowing elements of Chomskys model),
referential meaning (the denotative dictionary meaning) and emotive ( or connotative)
meaning. A series of technique, adapted from work in linguistics, is presented as an aid for
the translator in determining the meaning of different linguistic items. Techniques to
determine referential and emotive meaning focus on analyzing the structure of words and
differentiating similar words in related lexical fields.

These include hierarchical structuring, which differentiates series of words according to their
level (for instance, the super ordinate like animal and its hyponyms goat, dog, cow, etc.) and
techniques of componential analysis. The latter of seek to identify and discriminate specific
features of a range of related words. The results can be plotted visually to assist in making an
overall comparison. One example (Nida 1964a: 84-5) is the plotting of relationship terms
(grandmother, mother, cousin, etc.) according to the values of sex (male, female), generation
(the same, one, two or more apart) and lineality (direct ancestor/descendant or not). Such
result are useful for a translator working with languages that have very different kinship
terms.

Another technique is semantic structure analysis in which Nida (1964a: 107) separates out
visually the different meaning of spirit (demons, angels, god, ghost, ethos, alcohol, etc)
according to their characteristics (human vs. non-human, good vs. bad, etc.). The central idea
of this analysis is to encourage the trainee translator to realize that, good vs. bad, etc.). The
central idea of this analysis is to encourage the trainee translator to realize that the sense of a
complex semantic term such spirit (or, to take another example, bachelor) varies and most
particularly is conditioned by its context.

Even (or perhaps especially) when it does, as in the Holy Spirit, its emotive or connotative
value varies according to the target culture (Nida 1964: 36). The associations attached to the
word are connotative value and these are considered to belong to the realm of pragmatics or
the language in use. Above all, Nida (p.51) stresses the importance of context for
communication when dealing with metaphorical meaning and with complex cultural idioms,
for example, where the sense of the phrase often diverges from the sum of the individual
elements.

Newmark 1981 and 1988 state communicative translation attempts to produce on its readers
an affect as close as possible to that obtained on the readers of the original. Semantic
translation attempts to render, as closely as the semantic and syntactic structures of the
structures of the second language allow, the exact contextual meaning of the meaning.
Newmark 1981: 39

From this statement description of communicative translation resembles Nidas dynamic

equivalence in the effect it is trying to create on the TT reader, while semantic translation has
similarities to Nidas formal equivalence. However, Newmark distance himself from the full
principle of equivalence effect, since that effect inoperant if the text is out of TL space and
time (1981: 69). An example would be a modern British English translation of Homer. The
translator (indeed any modern translator, no matter what the TL) cannot possibly hope or
expect to produce the same effect on the TT reader as the ST had on listeners in ancient
Greece. Newmark (p.51) also raises further questions concerning the readers to whom Nida
directs his dynamic equivalence, asking if they are to be handed everything on plate, with
everything explained for them.

Newmarks definitions (1981: 39-69) of his own terms reveal other differences; table 1.1
summarizes these definitions. Newmark (p.63) indicates that semantic translation differs from
literal translation in that it respect context, interprets and even explains (metaphors, for
instance). Literal translation, on the other hand, word-for-word translation in its extreme
version and, even in its weaker form, sticks very closely to ST lexis and syntax.

Importantly, literal translation is held to be the best approach in both semantic and
communicative translation.

In communicative as in semantic translation, provided that equivalent effect is secured, the

literal word-for-word translation is not only the best, it is the only valid method of translation
(Newmark 1981: 39)

Table 1.1 comparison of Newmarks semantic and communicative translation

Parameter Semantic Translation Communicative

Translation
Transmitter/addressee Focus on the thought Subjective, TT reader
focus processes of the focused, oriented
transmitter as an towards a specific
individual; should language and culture
only help TT reader
with connotations if
they are a crucial part
of message
Culture Remain within the SL Transfers foreign
culture elements into the TL
culture
Time and origin Not fixed in any time Ephemeral and rooted
or local space; in its own
translation needs to be contemporary context
done anew with every
generation
Relation to ST Always inferior to May be better than
ST; loss of meaning the SL; gain of force
and clarity even if loss
of semantic content
Use of form of SL If ST language norms Respect for the form
deviate, then this must of the SL, but
be replicated in TT; overriding loyalty to
loyalty to ST author TL norms
Form of TL More complex, Smoother, simpler,
awkward, detailed, clearer, more direct,
concentrated; more conventional;
tendency to tendency to
overtranslate undertranslate
Appropriateness For serious literature, For the vast majority
autobiography, of texts, e.g. non-
personal effusion, literary writing,
any important technical and
political (or other) informative texts,
statement publicity, standardized
 types, popular fiction
Criterion for Accuracy of Accuracy of
evaluation reproduction of the communication of ST
significance of ST message in TT

Newmarks terms semantic translation and communicative translation have often been quoted
in the literature of translation theory, but have generally received far less discussion than
Nidas formal and dynamic equivalence. This may be because, despite Newmarks relevant
criticisms of equivalent effect, they raise some of the same points concerning the translation
process and the importance of the TT reader. One of the difficulties encountered by
translation studies in systematically following up advances in theory may be indeed be party
attributable to the overabundance of terminology. (Newmark 1981: 52)

Semantics Referential Meaning

Semantics, is the study of meaning (Leech 1981: 9), its goal a systematic account of
the nature of meaning (1981: 4), by this, Leech initially avoids the circular conundrum of
defining the meaning of meaning, a phrase that echoes the title of perhaps of the best-
known book on the subject, by Ogden and Richard (1923) who were the first of a series of
famous proponents of the scientific study of meaning during the twentieth century.

Nida states analysis of meaning was major practical problem because inexperienced
translators, some of them non-native speakers of English, were sometimes confused by the
intricacies and ambiguities of the ST, especially multiple sense, figurative meaning and near
synonyms.

Nida (1964) borrows Chomskys surface structure-deep structure concepts in his

analysis-transfer-restructuring model of translation. The analysis phase, which is of most
interest in this chapter involves examination of sentence structure and of two kinds of
linguistic meaning referential and connotative.

Concept box Nidas two types of meaning

 Nida also defining two types of meaning, first is referential meaning (otherwise
known as denotation), which deals with words as signs or symbol and connotative meaning
(connotation), the emotional reaction engendered in the reader by word.

The key problem for the translator is the frequent lack of one-to-one matching across
languages. Not only does the signifier change across languages but each language depict
reality differently (i.e. the semantic field occupied by individual signs often does not match).
Some concept are very language or culture specific; Jajobson claimed that any concept can be
rendered in any language, but that still does not help the translator find an easily useable
equivalent or an acceptable translation. Larson (1984/1998; 117-8), where the truthfulness of
the statement is crucial. Nida attempted to overcome this problem by adopting then current
ideas from semantics for analysis of meaning across languages.

(p35 Translation an advanced resource book basil hatim and Jeremy munday, 2004, New
York Routledge.

Referential meaning various linguistic problems relating to referential meaning are described
by Nida and Taber (1969; 58-9). For instance, the word chair is polysemous has several
meaning): as a noun, it can be item of furniture, a university position as professor or the
chairperson at a meeting, and, as a verb, can mean to preside over a meeting.

For example, the word spirit also has a wide range of senses, including liquor, determination
and ghost as well as the holy spirit use more prevalent in the Bible. The correct sense for the
translator is determined by semotactic environment or co-text (the other words around it).
Some meaning are figurative and need to be distinguished from the literal meaning; father of
a child, our father in heaven, father Murphy, father of an invention or a country, and so on,
each perhaps requiring a different translation.

Words such a heart, blood and children are frequently used figuratively in the scriptures; so
children of wrath does not mean angry children but has a figurative sense of people who
will experience Gods wrath (1969; 89). Nida also assumes that as a reader the translator first
needs to disambiguate (differentiate between) the various possible sense of the ST term as a
step towards identifying the appropriate TL equivalent. This is done by contrastive semantic
structure analyisis.

Seven Types of Meaning in Semantics

A M.A Project By Litton Prosad

Introduction:

The word semantic (from French smantique) was invented by Michel Bral during the 19th
century.

Some people would like semantics to pursue study of meaning in a wider sense of all that is
communicated by language; others (among them most modern writers within the framework
of general linguistics) limit it in practice to the study of logical or conceptual meaning. It
needs no great insight to see that semantics in the former, wider sense can lead us once again
into the void from which Bloomfield retreated with understandable misgivings- the
description of all that may be the object of human knowledge or belief. On the other hand, we
can, by carefully distinguishing types of meaning, show how they all fit into the total
composite effect of a linguistic communication, and show how method of study appropriate
to one type may not be appropriate to another.

It has been observed that there is tremendous renewal of interest in semantic theory among
linguists in the last few years. The main reason is the development of generative grammar
with its emphasis on the distinction between deep structure and surface structure. On the
one hand semantics deals with the way words are and sentences are related to objects and
processes in the world. On the other hand, it deals with the way in which they are related to
one another in terms of such notions as synonymy, entailment, and contradiction.
According to John I Saeed, Semantics is the study of meaning communicated through
language. He further says that a speakers semantic knowledge is an exciting and challenging
task.

The semantic analysis, generally, must explain how the sentences of a particular language are
understood, interpreted, and related to states, processes and objects in the world.

Seven Types of Meaning

A piece of language conveys its dictionary meaning, connotations beyond the dictionary
meaning, information about the social context of language use, speakers feelings and
attitudes rubbing off of one meaning on the another meaning of the same word when it has
two meanings and meaning because of habit occurrence.

Broadly speaking, meaning means the sum total of communicated through language. Words,
Phrases and sentences have meanings which are studies in semantics.
Geoffrey Leech in his Semantic- A Study of meaning (1974) breaks down meaning into
seven types or ingredients giving primacy to conceptual meaning.

The Seven types of meaning according to Leech are as follows.

1) Conceptual or Denotative Meaning:

Conceptual meaning is also called logical or cognitive meaning. It is the basic propositional
meaning which corresponds to the primary dictionary definition. Such a meaning is
stylistically neutral and objective as opposed to other kinds of associative meanings.
Conceptual

Meanings are the essential or core meaning while other six types are the peripheral. It is
peripheral in as sense that it is non-essential. They are stylistically marked and subjective
kind of meanings. Leech gives primacy to conceptual meaning because it has sophisticated
organization based on the principle of contrastiveness and hierarchical structure.

E.g.

/P/ can be described as- voiceless + bilabial + plosive.

Similarly

Boy = + human + male-adult.

The hierarchical structure of Boy = + Human + Male-Adult

Or Boy =Human Male/Female-adult in a rough way.

Conceptual meaning is the literal meaning of the word indicating the idea or concept to which
it refers. The concept is minimal unit of meaning which could be called sememe. As we
define phoneme on the basis of binary contrast, similarly we can define sememe Woman as
= + human + female + adult. If any of these attribute changes the concept cease to be the
same.

Conceptual meaning deals with the core meaning of expression. It is the denotative or literal
meaning. It is essential for the functioning of language. For example, a part of the conceptual
meaning of Needle may be thin, sharp or instrument.

The organization of conceptual meaning is based on two structural principles-

Contrastiveness and the principle of structure. The conceptual meanings can be studied
typically in terms of contrastive features.

For example the word woman can be shown as:

Woman = + Human, -Male, + Adult.

On the contrary, word

Boy can be realized as:-

Boy = + human, + male, - Adult.

By the principle of structure, larger units of language are built up out smaller units or smaller
units or smaller units are built out larger ones.

The aim of conceptual meaning is to provide an appropriate semantic representation to a

sentence or statement. A sentence is made of abstract symbols. Conceptual meaning helps us
to distinguish one meaning from the meaning of other sentences. Thus, conceptual meaning is
an essential part of language. A language essentially depends on conceptual meaning for
communication. The conceptual meaning is the base for all the other types of meaning.

2) Connotative Meaning:

Connotative meaning is the communicative value of an expression over and above its purely
conceptual content. It is something that goes beyond mere referent of a word and hints at its
attributes in the real world. It is something more than the dictionary meaning. Thus purely
conceptual content of woman is +human + female+ adult but the psychosocial
connotations could be gregarious, having maternal instinct or typical (rather than
invariable) attributes of womanhood such as babbling, experienced in cookery, skirt or
dress wearing etc. Still further connotative meaning can embrace putative properties of a
referent due to viewpoint adopted by individual, group, and society as a whole. So in the past
woman was supposed to have attributes like frail, prone to tears, emotional, irrigational,
inconstant , cowardly etc. as well as more positive qualities such gentle, sensitive,
compassionate, hardworking etc. Connotations vary age to age and society to society.

E.g. Old age Woman - Non-trouser wearing or sari wearing in Indian context must
have seemed definite connotation in the past.

Present Woman---- Salwar/T-shirt/Jeans wearing.

Some times connotation varies from person to person also

. E.g. connotations of the word woman for misogynist and a person of feminist vary.

The boundary between conceptual and connotative seems to be analogous. Connotative

meaning is regarded as incidental, comparatively unstable, in determinant, open ended,
variable according to age, culture and individual, whereas conceptual meaning is not like
that . It can be codified in terms of limited symbols.

3) Social Meaning:

The meaning conveyed by the piece of language about the social context of its use is called
the social meaning. The decoding of a text is dependent on our knowledge of stylistics and
other variations of language. We recognize some words or pronunciation as being dialectical
i.e. as telling us something about the regional or social origin of the speaker. Social meaning
is related to the situation in which an utterance is used.

It is concerned with the social circumstances of the use of a linguistic expression. For
example, some dialectic words inform us about the regional and social background of the
speaker. In the same way, some stylistic usages let us know something of the social
relationship between the speaker and the hearer

E.g. I aint done nothing

The line tells us about the speaker and that is the speaker is probably a black American,
underprivileged and uneducated. Another example can be

Come on yaar, be a sport. Dont be Lallu

The social meaning can be that of Indian young close friends.

Stylistic variation represents the social variation. This is because styles show the geographical
region social class of the speaker. Style helps us to know about the period, field and status of
the discourse. Some words are similar to others as far as their conceptual meaning is
concerned. But they have different stylistic meaning. For example, steed , horse and nag
are synonymous. They all mean a kind of animal i.e. Horse. But they differ in style and so
have various social meaning. Steed is used in poetry; horse is used in general, while nag
is slang. The word Home can have many use also like domicile ( official), residence
(formal) abode (poetic) , home (ordinary use).

Stylistic variation is also found in sentence. For example, two criminals will express the
following sentence

They chucked the stones at the cops and then did a bunk with the look

(Criminals after the event)

But the same ideas will be revealed by the chief inspector to his officials by the following
sentence.

After casting the stones at the police, they abandoned with money.

(Chief Inspector in an official report)

Thus through utterances we come to know about the social facts, social situation, class,
region, and speaker-listener relations by its style and dialect used in sentences.

The illocutionary force of an utterance also can have social meaning. According to the social
situation, a sentence may be uttered as request, an apology, a warning or a threat, for
example, the sentence,

I havent got a knife has the common meaning in isolation. But the sentence uttered to
waiter mean a request for a knife

Thus we can understand that the connotative meaning plays a very vital role in the field of
semantics and in understanding the utterances and sentences in different context.

4) Affective or Emotive Meaning:

 For some linguists it refers to emotive association or effects of words evoked in the
reader, listener. It is what is conveyed about the personal feelings or attitude towards the
listener.

E.g. home for a sailor/soldier or expatriate

and mother for a motherless child, a married woman (esp. in Indian context) will have
special effective, emotive quality.

In affective meaning, language is used to express personal feelings or attitude to the

listener or to the subject matter of his discourse.

For Leech affective meaning refers to what is convey about the feeling and attitude of the
speak through use of language (attitude to listener as well as attitude to what he is
saying). Affective meaning is often conveyed through conceptual, connotative content of
the words used

E.g. you are a vicious tyrant and a villainous reprobation and I hate you

Or I hate you, you idiot.

We are left with a little doubt about the speakers feelings towards the listener. Here
speaker seems to have a very negative attitude towards his listener. This is called affective
meaning.

But very often we are more discreet (cautious) and convey our attitude indirectly.

E.g. I am terribly sorry but if you would be so kind as to lower your voice a

little

. Conveys our irritation in a scaled down manner for the sake of politeness. Intonation and
voice quality are also important here. Thus the sentence above can be uttered in biting
sarcasm and the impression of politeness maybe reversed while

e.g.

Will you belt up?- can be turned into a playful remark between intimates if said with
the intonation of a request.

Words like darling, sweetheart or hooligan, vandal have inherent emotive quality and they
can be used neutrally.

I.A. Richards argued that emotive meaning distinguishes literature or poetic language
from factual meaning of science. Finally it must be noted that affective meaning is largely
a parasitic category. It overlaps heavily with style, connotation and conceptual content.

5) Reflected Meaning:

Reflected meaning and collocative meaning involve interconnection

At the lexical level of language, Reflected meaning arises when a word has more than one
conceptual meaning or multiple conceptual meaning. In such cases while responding to one
sense of the word we partly respond to another sense of the word too. Leech says that in
church service the comforter and the Holy Ghost refer to the third in Trinity. They are
religious words. But unconsciously there is a response to their non-religious meanings too.
Thus the comforter sounds warm and comforting while the Ghost sounds awesome or
even dreadful. One sense of the word seems to rub off on another especially through
relative frequency and familiarity (e.g. a ghost is more frequent and familiar in no religious
sense.).

In poetry too we have reflected meaning as in the following lines from Futility

Are limbs so dear achieved, are sides,

Full nerved still warm-too hard to stir

Owen here uses dear in the sense of expensiveness. - But the sense of beloved is also
eluded.

E.g. Daffodils

The could not but be gay

In such jocund company

The word gay was frequently used in the time of William Wordsworth but the word now is
used for homosexuality.

In such type cases of multiple meaning, one meaning of the word pushes the other meaning to
the background. Then the dominant suggestive power of that word prevails. This may happen
because of the relative frequency or familiarity of the dominant meaning. This dominant
meaning which pushes the other meaning at the background is called the reflected meaning.

Reflected meaning is also found in taboo words. For examples are terms like erection,
intercourse, ejaculation. The word intercourse immediately reminds us of its association
with sex (sexual intercourse). The sexual association of the word drives away its innocent
sense, i.e. communication. The taboo sense of the word is so dominant that its non-taboo
sense almost dies out. In some cases, the speaker avoids the taboo words and uses their
alternative word in order to avoid the unwanted reflected meaning. For example, as
Bloomfield has pointed out, the word Cock is replaced by speakers, they use the word
rooster to indicate the general meaning of the word and avoid its taboo sense. These words
have non-sexual meanings too. (E.g. erection of a building, ejaculate-throw out somebody)
but because of their frequency in the lit of the physiology of sex it is becoming difficult to use
them in their innocent/nonsexual sense.

Thus we can see that reflected meaning has great importance in the study of semantics.

6) Collocative Meaning:
Collocative meaning is the meaning which a word acquires in the company of certain words.
Words collocate or co-occur with certain words only e.g. Big business not large or
great.Collocative meaning refers to associations of a word because of its usual or habitual co-
occurrence with certain types of words. Pretty and handsome indicate good looking.

However, they slightly differ from each other because of collocation or co-occurrence. The
word pretty collocates with girls, woman, village, gardens, flowers, etc.

On the other hand, the word handsome collocates with boys men, etc. so pretty
woman and handsome man. While different kinds of attractiveness, hence handsome
woman may mean attractive but in a mannish way. The verbs wander and stroll are
quasi-synonymous- they may have almost the same meaning but while cows may wonder
into another farm, they dont stroll into that farm because stroll collocates with human
subject only. Similarly one trembles with fear but quivers with excitement. Collocative
meanings need to be invoked only when other categories of meaning dont apply.
Generalizations can be made in case of other meanings while collocative meaning is simply
on idiosyncratic property of individual words. Collocative meaning has its importance and it
is a marginal kind of category.

7) Thematic Meaning:

It refers to what is communicated by the way in which a speaker or a writer organizes the
message in terms of ordering focus and emphasis .Thus active is different from passive
though its conceptual meaning is the same. Various parts of the sentence also can be used as
subject, object or complement to show prominence. It is done through focus, theme (topic) or
emotive emphasis. Thematic meaning helps us to understand the message and its implications
properly. For example, the following statements in active and passive voice have same
conceptual meaning but different communicative values.

e.g.

1) Mrs. Smith donated the first prize

2) The first prize was donated by Mrs. Smith.

In the first sentence who gave away the prize is more important, but in the second
sentence what did Mrs. Smith gave is important. Thus the change of focus change the
meaning also.

The first suggests that we already know Mrs. Smith (perhaps through earlier mention) its
known/given information while its new information.

Alternative grammatical construction also gives thematic meaning. For example,

1) He likes Indian good most.

2) Indian goods he likes most

3) It is the Indian goods he likes most.

Like the grammatical structures, stress and intonation also make the message prominent. For
example, the contrastive stress on the word cotton in the following sentence give
prominence to the information

1. John wears a cotton shirt

2. The kind of shirt that john wears is cotton one.

Thus sentences or pairs of sentences with similar conceptual meaning differ their
communicative value. This is due to different grammatical constructions or lexical items or
stress and intonations. Therefore they are used in different contents.

Ten thousand saw I at a glance

Wordsworth here inverts the structure to focus on ten thousand

Sometimes thematic contrast i.e. contrasts between given and new information can be
conveyed by lexical means.

e.g.

1) John owns the biggest shop in London

2) The biggest shop in London belongs to John.

The ways we order our message also convey what is important and what not. This is basically
thematic meaning.

Associative Meaning:

Leech uses this as an umbrella term for the remaining 5 types of meanings( connotative,
social, affective, reflective and collocative).All these have more in common with connotative
than conceptual meaning. They all have the same open ended, variable character and can be
analyzed in terms of scales or ranges ( more/less) than in either or contrastive terms. These
meanings contain many imponderable factors. But conceptual meaning is stable

Summary of Seven Types of Meaning.

1. Conceptual Meaning = Logical, cognitive or connotative content.

2. Connotative Meaning = What is communicated by virtue of what language

refers

3. Social Meaning = What is communicated of the social circumstances of

Language
4. Affective Meaning = What is communicated of the feelings and attitudes of

the Speaker through language.

5. Reflected Meaning = What is communicated through associations with

another Sense of the same world.

6. Collocative Meaning = What is communicated through associations with

words which co-occur with another word.

7. Thematic Meaning = What is communicated by the way in which the

message is organized in terms of order and emphasis.

Conclusion:

Study of meaning, one of the major areas of linguistic study. Linguists have approached it in a variety of ways. Members of
the school of interpretive semantics study the structures of language independent of their conditions of use. In contrast, the
advocates of generative semantics insist that the meaning of sentences is a function of their use. Still another group
maintains that semantics will not advance until theorists take into account the psychological questions of how people form
concepts and how these relate to word meanings.

In linguistics, semantics is the subfield that is devoted to the study of meaning, as borne on
the syntactic levels of words, phrases, sentences, and even larger units of discourse (referred
to as texts). As with any empirical science, semantics involves the interplay of concrete data
with theoretical concepts. Traditionally, semantics has included the study of connotative
sense and denotative reference, truth conditions, argument structure, thematic roles, discourse
analysis, and the linkage of all of these to syntax.

According to Leech there are only seven types of meaning. Meaning plays a vital role in
understanding what is communicated. Thus, there are seven types of meaning and they
contributed much to the field of semantics. The study of meaning is a new field of this
century, in days to come; this field of study will progress and will have much value in
analysis of meaning in field of linguistics.

Certificate

This is to certify that Mr. Litton Prosad Mowalie has worked on the topic Seven Types of
Meaning A term paper on SEMANTICS AND PRAGMATICS, Paper - VIII in partial
fulfillment of M.A. in English in Institute of Advanced Studies in English. The sources she
cited in this work duly acknowledged in the Bibliography.

Acknowledgements

I take this priviledge to acknowledge and to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Sridhar
Gokhale and Miss Madhuri Gokhale who inspired and provided ample materials in the class
for the better understanding of the subject. It is because of their marvelous teaching, I am able
to comprehend the topic and write a term paper. I would also like to express my gratitude to
my classmates who have supported me with notes and books. I am indebted to Dr. Ashok
Thorat for the opportunity of studying in his institute and to the librarian for the good support
with books.

Abstract

The place of English language in the cultural and educational life of India is now a well-
explored field. But language itself stubbornly resists all attempts to pin down into categories
and pigeon holes. The matrixes and certainties of one generation give way inevitably to the
perplexities of the next. Whatever were the original reasons for the promotion of English
language. It has its own value all over the world. To understand what is communicated
through language, the meaning is the most vital part without which no communication can be
called a communication. So study of meanings becomes a very important aspect of linguistics
and semantics.

This term paper is titled as Seven types of Meanings as a part of curriculum in Institute of
Advanced studies in English, Pune. The paper deals with various types of meaning. Since
meaning is important, it becomes inevitable to study about it deeply. This term paper has been
prepared with a great deal of effort to bring out the different types of meaning available in the
study of semantics specially the seven types of meaning proposed by Geoffrey Leech.. The
paper gives a comprehensive presentation on seven types of meaning with many examples
and explanation. I am sure this paper will be beneficial for anyone who reads with enthusiasm
of learning. The term paper concludes in the last part of it with the associative meaning
which is not an eight type of meaning but it includes five from the seven types of meaning.

Bibliography

1. Napoli, 1994, Linguistics

- Oxford University Press

2. Paul Cobley, 1993, The Cambridge Companion to Semiotics and

Linguistics. Routledge

3. Chapel F. Hockett, 1986, Mordern Linguistics. Oxford and IBH.

4. Kaplan, 1983, The Oxford Handbook of Applied Linguistics. Oxford

University Press.
BILBIOGRAPHY

Nida, E. (1964a/2000) toward a science of translating, Leiden: E.J.Brill.

Jeremy Munday. Translation Studies theories and application 2001. Rouldge: New York.