What is semantics?

Definition
Here are two senses for semantics:
1. Semantics is, generally defined, the study of meaning of linguistic
expressions.
2. Semantics is, more narrowly defined, the study of the meaning of linguistic
expressions apart from consideration of the effect that pragmatic factors, such
as the following, have on the meaning of language in use:
 Features of the context
 Conventions of language use
 The goals of the speaker

http://www-01.sil.org/linguistics/glossaryoflinguisticterms/WhatIsSemantics.htm

Semantics
Semantics is the study of meaning...

What is meaning?

How is meaning created in language?

How do people understand language and why do we understand it like we do?

These are some of the questions that semantics tries to answer. One of the main reasons we use language is to pass meaning from
another, and semantics looks at how it all works.

Geoffrey Leech, Author of Semantics (1974) talks about why he chose to study Sem
"When I was a student, 55 years ago, the current climate

of linguistic thinking was against semantics. This was the era when American structuralism was in the ascendant, and it was consid
could not be studied objectively, and therefore had to be ignored.

At that time (1962) I was working with Michael (M.A.K.) Halliday, the most brilliant mind in British linguistics, who was developin
asked him which of two fields (morphology or semantics – both of which I thought needed to be developed within his theory) I shou
recommended semantics. This pleased me, as it had seemed to me absurd that linguists of that era concentrated on phonetics, phonol
ignored meaning.

After all, what is the point of language without meaning?

After that I wrote my PhD thesis on the semantics of English, and it was later published as a book (1969). I was then asked to write a
on semantics for the general reader – a book that came out in the Penguin linguistic series in 1974. The rest, as they say, is history!"

Professor Geoffrey Leech

https://sites.google.com/a/sheffield.ac.uk/all-about-linguistics/branches/semantics

hat is semantics?
Semantics is a sub discipline of linguistics which focuses on the study of
meaning. Semantics tries to understand what meaning is as an element of
language and how it is constructed by language as well as interpreted,
obscured and negotiated by speakers and listeners of language.[1]
Semantics is closely linked with another sub discipline of linguistics, pragmatics,
which is also, broadly speaking, the study of meaning. However, unlike
pragmatics, semantics is a highly theoretical research perspective, and looks at
meaning in language in isolation, in the language itself, whereas pragmatics is
a more practical subject and is interested in meaning in language in use.

Semantics is the study of meaning, but what do we mean by 'meaning'?

Meaning has been given different definitions in the past.

Meaning = Connotation?

Is meaning simply the set of associations that a word evokes, is the meaning
of a word defined by the images that its users connect to it?

So 'winter' might mean 'snow', 'sledging' and 'mulled wine'. But what about
someone living in the amazon? Their 'winter' is still wet and hot, so its original
meaning is lost. Because the associations of a word don't always apply, it was
decided that this couldn't be the whole story.

Meaning = Denotation?

It has also been suggested that the meaning of a word is simply the entity in
the World which that word refers to. This makes perfect sense for proper
nouns like 'New York' and 'the Eiffel Tower', but there are lots of words like
'sing' and 'altruism' that don't have a solid thing in the world that they are
connected to. So meaning cannot be entirely denotation either.

Meaning = Extension and Intention

So meaning, in semantics, is defined as being Extension: The thing in the

world that the word/phrase refers to, plus Intention: The concepts/mental
images that the word/phrase evokes.[2]

Semantics is interested in:

 How meaning works in language:

The study of semantics looks at how meaning works in language, and because of this it
often uses native speaker intuitions about the meaning of words and phrases to base
research on. We all understand semantics already on a subconscious level, it's how we
all understand each other when we speak.

Semantics introductory podcast by AllAboutLinguistics

 How the way in which words are put together creates meaning:

One of the things that semantics looks at, and is based on, is how the meaning of
speech is not just derived from the meanings of the individual words all put together,
as you can see from the example below.
[2]
The Principle of Compositionality says that the meaning of speech is the sum of the
meanings of the individual words plus the way in which they are arranged into a
structure.

 The relationships between words:

Semantics also looks at the ways in which the meanings of words can be related to
each other. Here are a few of the ways in which words can be semantically related.
Semantic relationship Definition Example

Synonymy Words are synonymous/ synonyms Begin and start,

when they can be used to mean the Big and large,
same thing (at least in some contexts - Youth and adolescent.
words are rarely fully identical in all
contexts).

Antonyms Words are antonyms of one another Big and small,

when they have opposite meanings Come and go,
(again, at least in some contexts). Boy and girl.

Polysemy A word is polysemous when it has two Bright- shining and bright- intelligent.
or more related meanings. In this case Mouse- animal and mouse- on a
the word takes one form but can be computer.
used to mean two different things. In
the case of polysemy, these two
meanings must be related in some way,
and not be two completely unrelated
meanings of the word.

Homophony Homophony is similar to polysemy in Bat- flying mammal and bat-

that it refers to a single form of word equipment used in cricket.
with two meanings, however a word is a Pen- writing instrument and pen-
homophone when the two meanings small cage.
are entirely unrelated.

[2]

 The relationships between sentences:

Sentences can also be semantically related to one-another in a few different ways.

Semantic relationship Definition Example

Paraphrase One relationship that two sentences 'The boys like the girls' and 'the girls
can have with each other is being are liked by the boys',
paraphrases of each other. This is a 'John gave the book to Chris' and
good example of how we all understand 'John gave Chris the book'.
semantics already on some level
because people can easily tell when a
sentence is a paraphrase, because when
two sentences are paraphrases of each
other, even though the form is different
you will understand the same meaning
from them. Paraphrases have the
sametruth conditions; if one is true, the
other must also be true.

Entailment Entailment is a little more tricky than

paraphrase in that the two sentences
don't mean exactly the same thing,
instead, when one sentence entails
another, for the second sentence to be
true, the first one must be true. There
are two different types of entailment.

Mutual enatilment When each sentence entails the other, 'John is married to Rachel' and 'Rachel
i.e. each sentence must be true for the is John's wife',
other to be true. 'Chris is a man' and 'Chris is human'.

Asymmetrical entailment With asymmetrical entailment, only one 'Rachel is John's wife' entails 'John is
of the sentences must be true for the married' (but John is married does not
other to be true, but that sentence may entail Rachel being his wife), 'Rachel
be true without the other sentence has two brothers' entails 'Rachel is not
nescessarily having to be true. an only child' (but Rachel not being an
only child does not entail Rachel
having two brothers).

Contradiction Sentences can also be semantically 'Rachel is an only child' and 'Rachel's
related when they contradict each brother is called Phil', 'Alex is alive'
other. Sentences contradict each other and 'Alex died last week'.
when for one to be true the other must
not be.

[2]

 Ambiguity:
One of the aspects of how meaning works in language which is studied most in
semantics is ambiguity. A sentence is ambiguous when it has two or more
possible meanings, but how does ambiguity arise in language? A sentence can
be ambiguous for either (or both!) of the following reasons:
Lexical Ambiguity: A sentence is lexically ambiguous when it can have two or
more possible meanings due to polysemous (words that have two or more
related meanings) or homophonous (a single word which has two or more
different meanings) words.

Example of lexically ambiguous sentence: 'Prostitutes appeal to the

Pope'. This sentence is ambiguous because the word 'appeal' is polysemous
and can mean 'ask for help' or 'are attractive to'.

Structural Ambiguity: A sentence is structurally ambiguous if it can have two

or more possible meanings due to the words it contains being able to be
combined in different ways which create different meanings.

Example of structurally ambiguous sentence: 'Enraged cow injures farmer

with axe'. In this sentence the ambiguity arises from the fact that the 'with
axe' can either refer to the farmer, or to the act of injuring being carried out
(by the cow) 'with axe'.[2]

Semantics in the field of Linguistics

Semantics looks at these relationships in language and looks at how these

meanings are created, which is an important part of understanding how
language works as a whole. Understanding how meaning occurs in language
can inform other sub disciplines such as Language acquisition, to help us to
understand how speakers acquire a sense of meaning, and Sociolinguistics, as
the achievement of meaning in language is important in language in a social
situation.

Semantics is also informed by other sub disciplines of linguistics, such

as Morphology, as understanding the words themselves is integral to the study
of their meaning, and Syntax, which researchers in semantics use extensively
to reveal how meaning is created in language, as how language is structured is
central to meaning.
To find out about some of the key researchers in semantics please follow this
link.

https://sites.google.com/a/sheffield.ac.uk/all-about-linguistics/branches/semantics/what-is-
semantics

Examples of Semantics
Semantics is the study of the meaning of language. It also deals with varieties
and changes in the meaning of words, phrases, sentences and text.

Semantics Examples
Multiple Meanings
One part of studying a language is knowing the many meanings of individual
words. Here are some examples of words with more than one meaning:

 A water pill at first glance could be a pill with water in it; but, it is
understood to be a diuretic that causes a person to lose water from his body.
 Crash can mean auto accident, a drop in the Stock Market, to attend a party
without being invited, ocean waves hitting the shore or the sound of a
cymbals being struck together.
 A child’s alphabet block could be described as a wooden cube, learning aid,
toy or block.
 Some see the glass half empty and others see the glass half full.
 A flowering plant could be referred to as a weed or a garden flower.
 One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
 Some may consider an X-rated book pornography and others may consider it
adult-themed photos.
 Paying a child for chores may be considered a bribe or simply incentive.
 A human can be referred to as a male, female, child, adult, baby, bachelor,
father or mother.
 Young can mean a colt, filly, piglet, baby, puppy or kitten.
 A female animal can be a tigress, ewe, hen, doe, mother, daughter or sister.
 The verb motion can mean walk, run, fall, plod, hurry or fly.
 The word create can mean build, make, construct, erect, compose or imagine.
 A flower may be yellow; but, the hair color would be blonde.
 A barking dog can be good, especially if he is a guard dog, or can be bad
because he is untrained and awakens people.
 The simple word "on" can have many meanings, such as: on call, on the roof,
on cloud nine, on edge, on fire, on purpose, on demand, on top, or on the
phone.
Words Without Meanings
Advertisers use certain words, some without any real meaning at all, to convey
certain impressions. For example:

 Cleans like a white tornado

 Do you have tired blood?
 Go for the gusto
 At Birdseye we've got quality in our corner
 Goodyear radials: made for American cars
 Chevron gasoline with F-310
 Pennzoil with Z-7
Words That Are Plays on Words
Words can be a pun, a play on words. Puns use multiple meanings of words and
homophones (where the pronunciation is the same but the spelling and meaning
are different).

Here are some examples of puns:

 "One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas

I'll never know."-Groucho Marx
 Let’s talk about rights and lefts. You’re right, so I left.
 Seen at a pizza shop - 7 days without pizza makes one weak.
 Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
 Diet slogan: Are you going the wrong weigh?
 I fired my masseuse today. She just rubbed me the wrong way.
 The best way to communicate with a fish is to drop them a line.
 Two silkworms had a race. They ended up in a tie.
 A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.
Now you can see more about words and how the study of words through
semantics provides a better understanding of the meaning of the words.
http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-semantics.html
semantics
Silabificación: se·man·tics

Pronunciación: /səˈmantiks

SUSTANTIVO
[USUALLY TREATED AS SINGULAR]

1The branch of linguistics and logic concerned with meaning. There are a
number of branches and subbranches of semantics, including formal
semantics, which studies the logical aspects of meaning, such as sense,
reference, implication, and logical form, lexical semantics, which studies
word meanings and word relations, and conceptual semantics, which
studies the cognitive structure of meaning.
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/es/definicion/ingles_americano/semantics