Semantics

What is semantics?
• Semantics is the systematic study of meaning.
(Kreidler: 2002)
• Semantics is the the study of the meanings of
words and phrases in language.
(Merriam Webster Dictionary)
• Semantics is the study of linguistic meaning;
the meaning of words, phrases, and sentences.
(Parker: 1986)
• Semantics has been the subject of discourse for
many years by philosophers and other scholars but
later was introduced formally in literature in the late
1800’s.
• Semantics is a term that was first formally used by
Breal in 1897.
• Philosophical semantics examines the relationship
between linguistic expressions and the phenomena
they refer to in the external world.
• Philosophical semantics focuses on examining the
conditions under which such linguistic expressions
and the phenomena they refer to are true or false.
• Alfred Korzybski was the first person to attempt
studying semantics as a distinct discipline, separate
from the discipline of philosophy.
• Korzybski started by describing all entities and
realities by assigning labels to them. He went further
to group the names into three.
1. common objects such as chair, stone, cow etc.
2. groups and collections like nations, animals, people
etc.
3. labels do not have identifiable referents in the
outside world.
• “Sign Theory” by Ferdinand de Saussure
Signifier (Sound-image) : a word in the
language
Signified (concept) : the object in the world
that it stands for, refers to, or denotes.
m-e-j-a ‘sejenis perabot rumah
tangga/kantor’
 What is meaning?
• Meanings are ideas or concepts that can be
transferred from the mind of the speaker to
the mind of the hearer. (Ahmadin: 20)
 Ogden and Richard’s Triangle (1923)

Thought or reference

---------------------------------
Symbol Referent

• Symbol is the actual pronunciation or

orthographic representation.
• Thought or reference is the concept of our mind.
• Referent is the physical object or situation which
the word identifies in the real world.
 Basic terms in Semantics

1. Anomaly : A meaningless sequence of words

which deviates from the rules for sentence
formation (wrong semantically and
grammarly).
Example :
a. Henry drew a picture.
b. My sister is pregnant.
c. My toothbrush is pregnant.
d. Picture a Henry drew.
e. The colourless chair is gray
2. Paraphrase : Sentences that make equivalent
statements about the same entities.
Example:
a. Rebecca got home before Robert.
b. Robert got home after Rebecca.
c. Robert arrived at home after Rebecca.
d. Rebecca got home later than Robert.
e. They bought a new apartment
f. It was a new apartment that they bought
g. A new apartment was bought by them
h. They purchased a new apartment
3. Synonymy : words that have sameness of
meaning.
Example :
• purchase = buy
• enormous = huge
4. Antonymy : words that have oppositeness of
meaning
example :
• wide >< narrow
• young >< old
• big >< small
 Synonymy or antonymy
Flourish – thrive
Intelligent – stupid
Casual – informal
Deep-profound
Drunk – sober
Sofa – couch
Hide – conceal
Cheap – expensive
Rich - wealthy
5. Ambiguity : A sentence that has two
meanings or it can be interpreted in two
ways.
Example :
a. The team has many goals
b. She prepared tables
c. They promoted all English teachers
d. Boiling water can be dangerous
6. Semantic feature : Supposed indivisible atoms of
meaning which combine to form more complex
meanings. (the components of meaning of a word).
Example:
baby is [+ young], [+ human], [+animate]
bachelor
(+man), (+human), (+animate), (-married)
widow
(-man), (+human), (+animate), (-married)
7. Contradiction : The relation between two
propositions such that if one is true,the
other must be false (two opposing
proposition at the same time).
Example :
• The drains are flooded because there are
no rains
• That circular house is rectangular
• Edgar is married. Edgar is bachelor.
8. Adjacency pairs : When a question and an
answer, or any two utterances, can go
together in a conversation and the second is
obviously related to the first.
Example :
• When did you last see my brother?
Ten minutes ago. Last Tuesday. Very nice.
Around noon. I think it was on the first of
June.
9. Entailment : a pair of sentences where the
truth of one derives from the truth of other,
or the truth of one (A) requires the truth of
the other (B).
Example :
a. John killed Ema
b. Ema died
c. Tracy is a spinster
d. Tracy is a female
10. Presupposition : In presupposition, there is usually a
piece of information which the speaker assumes the
hearer already knows. This assumption is based on
some shared background knowledge between the
speaker and the hearers. An outsider in the circle of
communication may be at a loss.
Example:
 Andy Murfee usually drives his Datsun to work.
• There is a person named Andy Murfee.
• Andy Murfee works.
• There is a Datsun that belongs to Andy Murfee.
• Andy Murfee knows how to drive an automobile.