VIỆN NGOẠI NGỮ

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC BÁCH KHOA HÀ NỘI

CHAPTER 1- BASIC IDEAS IN SEMANTICS

UNIT 1- ABOUT SEMANTICS
 What Is Semantics?

Semantics is the study of meaning in language.

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 Meaning
(4) (p.2) In asking “What did John mean when he said he’d be back later?
Is the questioner primarily asking:
(a) what the SENTENCE I’ll be back later means, or
(b) what John meant in saying it?
=> 1. Understanding, like meaning, can be taken in ( at least ) two
different ways
=> 2. To work out a theory of what meaning is, the first step is to
distinguish between what the speakers mean (SPEAKER MEANING)
and what the words or sentences mean (SENTENCE/WORD
MEANING)

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 Meaning
1. SPEAKER MEANING: is what a speaker means ( i.e. intends to
convey) when he uses a piece of language
2. SENTENCE MEANING ( WORD MEANING ) : is what a sentence
(or word) means, i.e. what it counts as the equivalent of in the
language concerned
3. Example:
Can you close the door?
Speaker meaning:…….
Sentence meaning: ……..
Exercise: (1)-(8) (p.5)

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BÀI 1: KHÁI NIỆM CHUNG
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BÀI 1: KHÁI NIỆM CHUNG
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 Meaning

Many sentences do carry information in a straightforward way

while many sentences are used by speakers not to give
information at all, but to keep the social wheels turning smoothly
Exercise: (1)-(8) (p.4)
Underline the informative sentences
The social relationships formed and maintained by the use of
language are not all courteous and amicable. Speaker meaning
can include both courtesy and hostility, praise and insult,
endearment and taunt
Exercise: (2), (4),(8) (p.5)

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 Meaning
Exercise: (1)-(5) (p.6)
 Speakers can convey meaning quite vividly by using
sentences whose meanings are in some sense problematical

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 Theory
- Theory: is a precisely specified, coherent, and economical
frame-work of interdependent statements and definitions,
constructed so that as large a number as possible of particular
basic facts can either be seen to follow from it or be describable
in terms of it
Examples:
Iron rusts in water
Alive means the opposite of dead

- Semantics is an attempt to set up a theory of meaning

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 Semantics Across Languages

Native speaker: “ndoho” (Sar language) means “nine”

European professor of semantics: “ndoho” means “ten”
Who do you believe, the Sar-speaker or the professor?
The meanings of words and sentences in a language can safely
be taken as known to competent speakers of the language. Native
speakers of languages are the primary source of information
about meaning
Semantics concentrates on the similarities between languages,
rather than on the differences

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 Semantics Across Languages
Similarity Difference
1. Proper names ( like English John or Is there an exact equivalent in French
German Hans or French Jean) have for the English word “parent”?
a different kind of meaning from
common nouns ( like English man, => No, French “parent” something
German Mann or French homme) broader, translatable by English
2. If a French speaker says, “J’ai “relative” or “kinsman”
essaye d’acheter du riz”, or an
English speaker says “I tried to buy
rice”, his hearer would normally infer
that he had failed to buy rice

=> 1. Many basic facts about English have exact parallels in other
languages. However, there are also differences between languages
Semantics concentrates on the similarities between languages,
rather than on the differences

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