Unit 5: Semantics

Semantics
It is the study of the meaning of words, phrases and
sentences. It focuses on what the words
conventionally mean, rather than on what a speaker
might want the words to mean on a particular
ocassion.
Semantics deals with:
The fact that a word The fact that different
01 can have more than one 02 words appear to have
the same meaning.
meaning.

The fact that some The fact that some

03 words can be analyzed
into components.
04 words seem to have
opposites.

The fact that the The fact that some word

combinations have
05 meanings of some words
are included in the 06 meanings different from the
combination of their
meaning of others. separate meanings.
Linguists are interested in the
conceptual meaning and not in
the
associative or stylistic
meaning of words.
 Types of meaning
CONCEPTUAL
OR LINGUISTIC
MEANING ASSOCIATIVE
MEANING SOCIAL
Literal use of the word, MEANING AFFECTIVE
phrase or sentence. Stylistic meaning of a MEANING
word, phrase or sentence. It refers to sentences that
-Objective and general - convey information about
Conventional meaning -subjective and local - the identity of the person It refers to the speaker’s
meaning used by who has uttered the words feelings/attitudes towards
advertisers and poets or about the situation in the content or the ongoing
which they have been context.
uttered.

The linguistic meaning of an expression is frequently

called its denotation, in contrast to connotation,
which includes associative, social and affective
 Word, Sentence and Utterance Meaning

WORDS
SENTENCES
UTTERANCES
CONTENT WORDS
&
FUNCTION The sum of the The circumstances
WORDS meaning of create different
individual words? meanings, although
the linguistic
meaning remains
unchanged
 • ví
Words • negro

• Ví al negro
Sentences • Without intonation , we rely on the written context

• Ví al negro
• With intonation we rely on the context, relationship
Utterances between the speakers and intonation
 • If- condition
Words • Might- possibility

• “Eric might lose his job if he arrives late at work

Sentences again"

• By his boss
Utterances • By a friend
Lexical Semantics
It is primarily concerned with
discovering relationships in the lexicon
of languages. By knowing how the
meaning of a word interacts with the
meaning of others, we can begin to
understand its meaning.

Those relationships are called semantic fields or lexical

relations .
01 Polisemy
One form that has two or more RELATED
meanings.

party

a social event
a political
where people
organization
meet for fun
02 Homonymy
One form (written or spoken) has two or more UNRELATED meanings.

BANK

the land
a financial
alongside a
institution
river or lake
02 Homonymy
One form (written or spoken) has two or more UNRELATED meanings.

dove (bird)
ate & eight &
saw & saw dove (past of
peace & piece
dive)
03 Synonymy

Two or more forms have very closely related meanings, which can often
be replaced by each other depending on the context.
 04 Antonymy
Oppositeness of meaning. There are three types of antonyms.
1. Gradable antonyms: used in comparative structures. The negative

of one doesn’t necessarily imply the other.

2. Non-gradable antonyms or complementary pairs: not used in
comparative structures. The negative of one member implies the
other

3. Converseness: reciprocal semantic relationship between pairs of

words
05 Hyponymy
The relationship of implicit inclusion. There is a superordinate term
which includes subordinates terms called hyponyms.

Colors
Colors

Purple
Purple Red
Red Blue
Blue Green
Green

Lavende
Crimson Violet
r
06 Protype

A concept that helps explain the meaning of certain words

*not in terms of component features

*but in terms of resemblance to the clearest example.

07 Metonymy
Based on a close connection in everyday experience. It implies a sense of
belonging. The relation can be based on:

 A container-content relationship

 A whole-part relationship

 A representative-symbol relationship
Semantic roles

Instead of thinking of words as containers

of meaning, we can look at the “roles “
they fulfill within the situation described
by a sentence
 Agent: the entity that performs the action

Theme or patient: the entity that is involved in or affected by the action

The boy rolled a red ball. The janitor opened the door.

Harry brought two

coffees.

The cookies were eaten in the kitchen by the baker. The ball was small and red.
Experiencer: the person who has a feeling, perception or state

Benefactive or recipient: the entity that receives or is

advantaged/disadvantaged by the action

I baked Reggie a cake.
He enjoyed the party.

Susan heard the song.

Mary studied hard for her mother.

 Location: the place where an entity is

Source: the place where an entity moves from

Goal: the place where an entity moves to

Instrument: the entity used in order to perform an action

Harriet works at the library. Mary bought the book from John.

The boy threw the red ball to the girl. He cut the bread with a
knife.