(THE MEANINGS OF LANGUAGE)

SEMANTICS
 Semantics refers to meaning of language.
 Areas of interests:
1. The fact that a word can have more than one meaning.
E.g.: ball can be both a dance and a round object for bouncing
2. The fact that different words appear to have the same meaning.
E.g.: regal and royal ; big and large
3. The fact that some words can be analysed into components such as adult, female,
etc.
E.g.: mare implies both adult and female.
4. The fact that some words seem to have opposites.
E.g.: long and short ; good and bad ; but not desk or table.
5. The fact that the meanings of some words are included in the meaning of others.
E.g.: vegetable => potato ; tree => elm
6. The fact that certain combinations of words have meanings which are very different
from the combination of their separate meanings.
E.g.: pass + on => pass on not die
 POLYSEMY
 Polysemy means “many meanings”
Examples:
1. The word “star”:
- celestial body
- thing suggesting star by its shape, especially a figure or object with
radiating points.
- (in card game) additional life bought by player whose lives are lost.
- principal actor or actress in a company.

2. The word “pupil”:

- one who is taught by another, scholar.
- circular opening in centre of iris of eye regulating passage of light to the
retina
 SYNONYMY
 Synonymy means “having the same meaning”
Examples:
1. Synonyms of partial word: the word “tall” and “high”
- we can have both: a tall building ; a high building
- we can have: a tall boy ; but not in: a high boy
2. Synonyms belong to different dialects:
British usage US usage
autumn fall
estate agent realtor
pavement sidewalk
3. Synonyms which differ stylistically (formality):
die pass on/over ; kick the bucket decease
steal relieve one of ; pinch/half inch purloin
smell odour ; stink/pong effluvium
 ANTONYMY

 Antonymy means “the oppositeness of meaning”

Examples:
1. Implicitly graded antonyms: pairs of items
E.g.: big and small ; good and bad ; young and old
2. Complementarity: the existence of such pairs that the denial of one implies E.g.:
male => female food => drink
land => sea transitive => intransitive
3. Converseness: the relationship that holds between such related pairs of sentences
E.g.: - John lent the money to Peter - John sold it to me
- Peter borrowed the money from John - I bought it from John

- John rented the house to Peter - John married Mary

- Peter rented the house from John - Mary married John
 HYPONYMY
 Hyponymy relates to “complementarity and incompatibility”. Whereas the
relationship of implicit denial is called incompatibility; the relationship of
implicit inclusion is called hyponymy.
Examples:
flower includes daisy, rose, etc.
* the term flower => superordinate
* the term daisy, rose => co-hyponyms

Taxonomic Hierarchies
Plant

flower bush tree

deciduous coniferous
pine fir
 IDIOMS

 An idiom is a group of words whose meaning cannot be explained in terms of the

habitual meanings of the words that make up the piece of language. Thus “fly off the
handle” which means “lose one’s temper” cannot be understood in terms of the
meanings of “fly”, “off”, or “handle”.

 Idioms involve the non-literal use of language and they can be categorised as follows:
1. Alliterative comparisons: E.g.: good as gold
2. Noun phrases: E.g.: a red letter day (a day that will never be forgotten)
3. Preposition phrases: E.g.: at sixes and sevens (unable/unwilling to agree)
4. Verb + noun phrase: E.g.: kick the bucket (die)
5. Verb + preposition phrase: E.g.: be in the doghouse (be in disgrace)
6. Verb + adverb: E.g.: put down (kill)
THANK YOU
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