1.

INTRODUCTION

This chapter attempt to outline a brief account of several basic issues in semantics. The
discussion covers the definition and scope of semantics, meaning, sense and reference, goals of
semantic theory, semantics properties, and semantics relations.

1. What is semantics ?

Semantics is generally defined as the study of meaning. However this definition has led to
question about the nature of meaning itself or about the way in which it should described.
Therefore, a more specific term such as the study of linguistic meaning is more often used for the
sake of analytical convenience. The term semantics itself is a recent addition to the English
language. Before the introduction of the term in 1890’s, the word semantic was once used in the
phrase semantick philosophy to mean ‘divination’. The use of this term in English, perhaps, can
be traced back to the use of the French term semantique which was coined from Greek in the
same decade. In fact, the term semantics (semantique in French) was not simply to refer to
meaning but its development. Such a definition of semantics has been even in use until this
century as can be evident from The Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English.

It also interesting to find out that this dictionary has recorded semantics as a plural noun. In
fact, this dictionary also classifies such a term as linguistics into plural as opposed to the other
words like physic, economics, etc. Meanwhile, it was not until the publication of M. Breal’s book
in English version: Semantics studies in the science of meaning in 1900 that the term semantics
was treated as the ‘science’ and that it was not primarily concerned with the historical change of
meaning (historical semantics) alone.

There are many terms have been used besides semantics to refer to the study of meaning.
They include significs, semasiology, semology, semiotics, sememics and semics. However, scholar
have often used some of these terms to suit their own interests and orientation, i.e in both wider
and narrower senses than the definition given ant the beginningog this section.

1.2. The Scope of Semantics

Earlier in section 1.1 it said that theres is no general agreement either about the nature of
meaning or about the nature of meaning or about the way it which it should be described. More
specifically, if an adequate semantic description of natural languages must record facts of
meaning, which facts of are relevant to semantics ? like terms, there are also several different
approaches to the way in which meaning im language is studied. Philosophers, for example, have
investigated the relation between linguistics expressions, such as the words of language, and
persons things and events in the world to which these words refer. Linguists have investigated,
for instance, the way in which meaning in a language is structered and have distinguished
between differnt types of meanings. There have also been studies of the semantic structure of
sentences. Three basic terms have been widely mentioned in these approaches, i.e. meaning,
sense reference.
 1.22. Meaning

The term meaning is simply derived from the word mean. In everyday English we use this
word in a number of different ways :

 That was no mean (insignificant) accomplishment.

 They are so mean (cruel) to me.
 This will mean (result in) the end of second class citizenships.
 Without ice cream, life wouldn’t mea anything (have any purpose).
 I mean (intend) to help if I can.
 Keep of the grass, thie means (refers to) you.
 His losing his jov means (implies) that he will have to look again.
 Lucky Strike means (indicates) fine tobacco.
 Those clouds mean (are a sign of) rain.
 She doesn’t mean (believe) what she said.

Except for the last two sentences, we can’t see that each of the uses of the word mean.
The last two sentences, in fact, exemplify two importantly different sorts of meaning, i.e linguistic-
meaning and speaker-meaning.

In using the language a speaker may sometimes use a word mean something different
from what it means as the following quatation xan show us :

Alice is quite right. We cannot make words mean what they do not mean. Of course if
we wish to redefine the meaning of each word as we use it we are free to do so, but this would e an
artificial, clumsy, use of language, and most people woul not wait around very long to talk to us. In
fact, a new word may be created, but it enters the language with its sounds-meaning relationship
already determined.
lthough we are supposed not to make words mean what they do not mean. We
sometimes mean something different from what our words mean. In ohter words, we sometimes
speak nonliterally.Thus, if we are speaking nonliterally, then we will mean something different from
what our words mean. What a speaker means in producing an utterance, i.e either nonliterally or
literally, is often called speaker-meaning.