IMPORTANCE OF SEMANTICS

Semantics is the study of how language is used to represent meaning. More precisely, semantics
aims to explain how literal meanings are linguistically encoded and decoded by speakers and
hearers. Other approaches to meaning include pragmatics, which deals with how meanings are
inferred in relation to context, and semiotics, which is a more general study of how we interpret
both linguistic and nonlinguistic signs. For example, if one person shows a ring to another,
saying “Here is the ring”, there are several layers of meaning that could be examined. At the
level of semantics, the deictic pronoun here indicates a proximal location; the verb be signifies
existence in a location; the determiner the shows that both speaker and hearer have previous
knowledge of this ring; and the word ring picks out a particular type of object in the world. At
the level of pragmatics, depending on the context, the hearer might infer that this speech act is a
proposal of marriage, or a request for a divorce, or a directive to embark upon a magical quest. In
terms of semiotics, the ring itself may be understood as a symbol of a bond, alliance, or vow,
which by extension might signify matrimony, allegiance to a college, or religious authority. In
comparison with pragmatics and semiotics, semantics has a narrower scope of investigation in
that it restricts its concern to linguistic aspects of meaning.

Semantics studies the interpretation of individual words, the construction of sentences and the
literal interpretation of text the way it is written. Proper understanding of semantics relates to all
academic disciplines in all languages, as a clear understanding allows students and teachers to
communicate their messages clearly without fear of misinterpretation.

Language Acquisition

Scientists gain an understanding of how language is learned through an understanding of

semantics. Because semantics is the study of the meaning of words, the study of this discipline is
closely related to language acquisition. Students learn language at first by the replication of
sounds for verbal speech and images for written. Eventually, however, those sounds and images
need to be assigned meaning, which is the area of semantics. People learn the meaning of words
in a basic fashion at first, but then as facility with a language grows, more complex meanings
emerge. Semantics explains the various types of meaning that exist within a language, granting
insight into how a person builds ability and understanding with that language.
Structure

Semantics is critical to a language because without it, there would be no real structure to a
language. Without the basic, intrinsic understanding of semantics that comes along with
language acquisition, speakers could string words together in any order they wanted, and
listeners would have a very hard time deriving meaning from those sentences. Semantics
provides speakers a structure to use when they need to slot words into sentences, creating
meaning.

Words Distinguish

Many words have very similar meanings and it is important to be able to distinguish subtle
differences between them. For example, ‘anger’ and ‘rage’ are similar in meaning (synonyms)
but ‘rage’ implies a stronger human reaction to a situation than ‘anger.’ It is also important for
children to know the opposite meanings of words (antonyms). For example, ‘near’ and ‘far’
would be considered opposite in meaning. Words that have more than one meaning (homonyms)
can also be confusing. For example, ‘watch’ could mean ‘observing’ (a verb) or could refer to a
timepiece worn on the wrist (a noun).

Inferences

Much of the meaning of language is conferred through inferences. Humans write things, and then
the reader infers based on the information available to him something about the sentence.
Pronouns are a type of inference. For example, in the sentence: "Mark went to the store. He
bought some milk," it is not explicitly shown that the second sentence refers to Mark. However,
the first sentence makes us infer that it is Mark that bought milk. Writers must understand some
degree of semantics to know when their meaning will be properly inferred.