 Every human speaks through language and

the language contains meaning.

 Crystal (2008:428) defines semantics as a
major branch of linguistics devoted to the
study of meaning in language.
 Semantics concerns its study on the
relationship among form, meaning, and
referent.
Kinds of Meaning

 Literal and figurative meaning.

 Connotative and denotative meaning.
 Lexical and grammatical meaning.
 Primer and seconder meaning
Literal vs. Figurative
meaning
 Literal meaning - the sentence means what it
says. Also known as 'utterance' meaning.
 “Literal” has the same root as “literary,” which
means “related to a book.” A “literal” meaning is
a meaning that is “by the book,” that is,
according to the dictionary meaning. This may
be thought of as the “direct” or “straight”
meaning.
 I love you just the way you are.
 The rain is falling.
 I want to attend the class of math 305.
 Figurative meaning doesn't mean exactly what it says. It
has meaning beyond literal words
 Figurative meaning is not intended to be interpreted as a
literal sense. It always makes use of a comparison between
different things. Figurative meaning compares two things
that are different in enough ways so that their similarities,
when pointed out, are interesting, unique and/or surprising.
 “Figurative” has the same root as “figure,” which is another
word for a diagram, display; an image or illustration. A
“figurative” meaning is a meaning that is not literal; the
meaning used is not the meaning of the word or phrase
itself, but a different meaning implied by it. This meaning is
dependent on culture and history. This is the “indirect”
meaning.
 You treat me like a rose.
 I want to lay you on a bed of roses.
 Jamie runs as fast as the wind.
 The leaves danced in the wind on the cold October
afternoon.
 I want to wake up in the city that doesn’t sleep
 Her hair was silk
Denotative vs. connotative
meaning
 The denotative meaning of a word is its actual meaning,
with no spin on it intended to persuade.
 Denotation is the strict dictionary meaning of a word
 The meaning of a denotative word has no change in a
sentence.
 Example:
 Father – He is my father.
 Mother – She is my mother.
 Father means male parent and Mother means female
parent.
 Woman + human +female + adult.
 Man – +human +male +adult
 Connotation is the emotional, cultural, and
figurative meaning or association
surrounding a word
 The unspoken, hidden meaning that gives a
word more emotional impact
 A gives the reader or listener a distinct
impression or feeling, calling on emotion
rather than fact. • Through their
connotations, words set a tone and can reveal
hidden opinions, attitudes, or judgments.
What does this mean:
 Home:
 House:
 Residence:
 Dwelling:
 The words home, house,
residence, and dwelling all
have the same basic definition,
but the meaning of each word is
very different.
What Does This Mean?

 What is the definition of

home, house, residence, and
dwelling?

• ……Where a person
lives at any given time.
 Conotation
 Home: cozy, loving, comfortable
 House: the actual building
 Residence: cold, no feeling
 Dwelling: primitive or basic
surrounding
 Lexical meaning refers to the meaning of
words that belong to one of the four lexical
word classes
 Lexical meaning also can be defined as
dictionary meaning.
Lexical vs. grammatical
meaning
 Grammatical meaning is the meaning conveyed in a
sentence by word order and other grammatical signals.
Also called structural meaning.
 grammatical meaning includes the meaning of
grammatical items (e.g. function words and inflectional
affixes), grammatical functions (e.g. subject and object),
and different sentence-types (e.g. declarative and
interrogative)
 Grammatical meaning is the meaning which is formed by
grammatical process such affixation or compounding
  Linguists distinguish grammatical meaning from lexical
meaning (or denotation)--that is, the dictionary meaning of
an individual word
 Example:
 Next summer I am going to Spain for my
holidays. [adverb] 
Next summer will be wonderful. [noun]
 Good – Better – Best
 Play, played, playing, player
Primary vs. secondary meaning

 Primary meaning can be defined as the real

meaning or main meaning or the basic meaning.
 Lexical meaning.
 Literal meaning.
 Denotative meaning.
 Secondary meaning can be defined as the
derivative meaning, second meaning
 Connotative meaning
 Figurative meaning
 Grammatical meaning