SEMANTICS

Shandrabhannu a/p Uthayakumar

Kirrthana a/p Karikalan
Hazirah binti Mustapa
Pravina a/p mohan
Definition
Semantics is a term which is used in
linguistics, which studies the relation between
linguistic sign and signified thing. In other
words, semantics is a branch of linguistics
which studies about the meaning.

Semantics as a general explanation is about

the study of meaning of the words, phrases,
sentences, and discourse
Semantics (semasiology) is a branch of
lexicology that is devoted to the study of word
meaning.
the semantics of a word = the meaning of a word
Usually defined as that part of Linguistics that
deals with meaning
word meaning
sentence meaning
The components of meaning
the denotative component (denotation)

the connotative component (connotation)

It is the essential and inextricable part of what language
is, and is widely regarded as the central factor in verbal
communication. It is also called logical, cognitive, or
denotative meaning. Here is the semantics feature of
conceptual meaning:
a.       Man:                [+HUMAN+ADULT+MALE]
b.      Women:           [+HUMAN+ADULT+FEMALE]
c.       Girl:                 [+HUMAN-ADULT+FEMALE]
d.      Boy:                [+HUMAN –ADULT+ MALE]
e.       Bull:                [-HUMAN +ADULT +MALE]
jpkc.hrbu.edu.cn:8080/jpkcjs/Linguistics/6kczy/kj/08c/2
.ppt
 DENOTATION

Denotative is meaning of word

Eg: “needle”-the conceptual meaning is it is a thin,

sharp, steel instrument

 Thus, conceptual meaning covers those basic

essential components of meaning that are
conveyed by the literal use of a word.
The denotative component of meaning
(denotation)
is the principal part of meaning that makes
communication possible. It expresses the
conceptual content of a word.
lonely: alone, without a company
notorious: well known
celebrated: well known
to adore: to love
to glare: to look
to glance: to look
Linguistic meaning
Referential meaning: Defining a word or sentence
that makes reference
Eg: Scott’s dog refers to the particular
domesticated canine belonging to Scott
The particular animal can be said to be the
referential meaning of the linguistic expression
Scott’s dog
The dog picked out or identified by the expression is
its referent
 CONNOTATIVE
SOCIAL MEANING

Representing actions, states & mental processes

Conveys information about the situation in which they

have been uttered.

 So I says to him, “You can’t do nothin’ right.”

Use of the verb says with the first-person singular pronoun

I indicates something about the speakers social status.
 Is it a doctor in here?
the form it where some other varieties use there
indicates a speaker of an ethnically marked variety
of English.

 Y’all gonna visit over the holiday?

Y’all identifies a particular regional dialect of
American English (southern).
AFFECTIVE
 Striking contrast is provided by sentences that differ
only in terms of stress or intonation

Erin is really smart.

1) without emphasizing any word
2) words really and smart are stressed in an exaggerated
manner, sentence maybe interpreted sarcastically to
mean exactly the opposite.

The level of meaning that conveys the language user’s

feelings, attitudes, and opinions about a particular
piece of information or about the ongoing context
The connotative component of meaning
(connotation)
is what the word implies in addition to its
denotative meaning. It is the set of associations
that a word’s use can evoke.
E.g. a hovel: “a small house” + “miserable, dirty, in
bad repair, unpleasant to live in”.
Types of connotation:
emotive
evaluative
expressive (intensifying)
pragmatic (i.e. connotation of duration, manner,
cause, etc.)
The connotative component
lonely: unhappy
(emotive connotation)

to glance: briefly
(connotation of celebrated: about
duration) something good
(evaluative
connotation, positive)

notorious: about to glare: steadily

something bad (evaluative (connotation of
connotation, negative) duration) + in angry,
fierce way (emotive
connotation)

to adore: deep
feeling (expressive
connotation)
Denotative and connotative components
Often a word’s connotation is fully explained in
the dictionary.
Otherwise it can be realized through the context.
E.g. Los Angeles is notorious for its smog.
Denotative and connotative components make up
the semantic structure of a word.
 Reading – Word Analysis
Denotation and Connotation

UNUSUAL UNUSUAL
Denotation - extraordinary Connotation - bizarre
They think about the denotation
of a word – its dictionary meaning
and the connotation – the implied
meanings and associations when
choosing words.
 Denotation
is the literal meaning of a word

Connotation
is adding attitude to a
word
A word can have positive or negative
associations or connotations. Study the
following chart.

Positive Negative
Word Connotation Connotation
plain easy gawky

unusual extraordinary bizarre

firm determined unyielding

Here is a sample of a word that has
denotative meaning and connotative
associations:
“She’s my baby.”
Denotation
infant
Connotation
girl friend
Now let’s try one together:
The word player can have two meanings.
The soccer goalie was a real player.
(discuss the denotative meaning)
The word player can have two meanings.
The soccer goalie was a real player.
Denotation:
one who plays in a game

(discuss the connotative meaning)

The word player can have two meanings.
The soccer goalie was a real player.

Connotation
one who uses people
Denotation vs. Connotation
DENOTATION CONNOTATION

Cat Four-legged, furry, Stealthy, spiteful,

purry animal calculating, quiet

Feelings What someone senses/ Happy, sad, frightened,

emotions glad

Success Ability to pass or get Positive feeling,

through some happiness, sense of
difficulty achievement

Home Shelter and place of Protection, affection,

refuge love, peace
Phrase meaning
• Noun-centered meaning

• Verb-centered meaning
Noun-centred meaning
Noun Centered meaning: the semantics for adjective noun
combinations.
The Examples are;
 Red balloon, large balloon
 A good friend vs. a false friend
 A cold-hearted murderer vs. an alleged murderer

Example of class Truth of An Adj is an X

• Good, red, large true
False, on-existent, fake false
Alleged, purported, putative undetermined
Noun Centered meaning: the semantics for
adjective noun combinations
 Red balloon, large baloon
 A good friend vs. a false friend
 A cold-hearted murderer vs. an alleged murderer

Knowing the meaning of a NP means knowing how

to discover what objects the NP refers to
 To put the red brick on the wall
 To spray brick red on the wall
Verb-centred meaning
The verb plays a central role in the meaning and
structure of most sentences.
In English, the verb determines the number of
objects and limits the semantic properties of both
its subjects and objects.
Sub categorization:
Give, V. [ _ NP1 NP2]
Walk, V. [ _ PP]
Find, V. [ _ NP PP]
Thematic Roles: The NP subjects and the
constituents of the verb phrases

are semantically related in various ways to the

verb. The relations depend on the meaning of the
particular verb.
 Agent: the
one who
performs an
Theme: the action Location:
one or thing the place
that where an
undergoes action takes
an action place

Instrument
Experiencer
: the means
: one who
by which an
perceives
action is
Goal: the place something
performed
to which an
action is
directed
 Agent active person, actor
Entity affected by deed of agent
Patient or cause
Location Location of deed/event
Entity employed by an agent in
Instrument a deed
Time Time of deed/event

Recipient Receiver of result of deed of

agent
Experiencer Perceiver of a stimulus
Entity perceived/experienced by
Stimulus an experiencer
Cause Cause not an agent (non-
volitional / non-intentioanal)
Targeted location (also
Goal 'purpose' or 'finality')
Examples
The boy feared the snake.
Fear: Experiencer as subject

The snake frightened the boy.

Frighten: Experiencer as object

*The boy opened the door with the sky.

Theta Criterion: a particular thematic role may occur only once
in a sentence.
*The boy opened the door with the key with a lock-pick.
*the boy’s red hat of Bill
Sentence meaning
Semantic verbal relations may affect syntactic relationships.
Examples:
John resembles Bill.
*Bill is resembled by John

The book cost ten dollars

*Ten dollars was cost by the book

He believes that John is genius.

John believes that he is a genius.
LEXICAL DECOMPOSITION
Lexical decomposition is a means of
characterising the detail lexical features of a
word.
For example taking the words “kitten” , “puppy”
and “fawn”, we can see some commonality in
them.
 Kitten – young, four-legged, animated
 Puppy - young, four-legged, animated
 Fawn - young, four-legged, animated
If we add “chicken” or “baby” to this set, the
decomposition will be:
 Chicken - young, two-legged, animated
 Baby - young, two-legged, animated
Thus, we can tabulate such decomposition as:

kitten puppy fawn chicken baby

Young + + + + +
Animated + + + + -
Human - - - +
Two- - - - + +
legged

Four- + + + - -
legged
 LEXICAL RELATIONS
Words are not only the ‘containers’ or as fulfilling
‘roles’. They can also have ‘relationships’. We
describe the meanings of words in terms of their
relationships.
For example :if we are asked the meanings of
word ‘conceal’ we might reply it is same as ‘hide’.
The meaning of ‘shallow’ as ‘the opposite of
deep’.
The meaning of ‘daffodil’ as ‘it is a kind of flower’.
In doing so we are characterizing the meaning of
a word not in terms of component features, but in
terms of relationship to other words.
The types of lexical relations
SYNONYMY
Synonyms are two or more forms with very
closely related meanings, which are often, but not
always, intersubstitutable in sentences.

For example: broad=wide, hide=conceal,

almost=nearly, cab=taxi, liberty=freedom,
answer=reply. [e.g. of synonyms are in pairs]
The idea of ‘sameness of meaning’ used in
discussing synonymy is not necessarily ‘total
sameness’ .
For example: Cathy had only one ‘answer’ correct in
the test. Its near synonymy would ‘reply’ would sound
odd.
ANTONYMY
Two forms with opposite meanings are called
antonyms.
For example: quick=slow, big=small, long=short,
rich=poor, happy=sad, hot=cold, old=young,
male=female, true=false, alive=dead.
Antonyms are divided into two parts.
Gradable antonyms: such as the pair
big=small, can be used in comparative
constructions like bigger than =smaller than.
Negative of one member of the gradable pair
does not necessarily imply the other. For
example: Dog is not old, it does not mean that
dog is young.
Non-gradable Antonyms: Such antonyms have
“complementary pairs, comparative constructions
and negative of one member does imply the
other.
For example : The person is not dead, does
indeed mean that person is live.
Reversives: It actually means to reverse. For
example: Tie= untie, enter= exit, pack= unpack,
lengthen= shorten, raise= lower and dress=
undress.
HYPONYMY
When the meaning of one form is included in the
meaning of another, the relationship is described
as hyponym. For example: Daffodil= Flower,
dog= animal, poodle= dog, carrot= vegetable,
banyan= tree.
The concept of “inclusion’ involved here.
For example: If any object is a daffodil, then it is
necessary a flower, so the meaning of flower is
included in the meaning of daffodil. Daffodil is
hyponym of a flower.
We look at the meaning of words in some type of
hierarchical relationship. (Tree-Diagram).
 HOMOPHONY
 When two or more different written forms have the same
pronunciation, they are described as “Homophones”.

For example: Bare – Bear, Meat – Meet,

Flour – Flower, Pail
– Pale, Sew – So.
 HOMONYMY
Homonyms are words which have quite separate
meanings, but which have accidentally come to
have exactly the same form.
The term homonym is used when one form written
or spoken has two or more unrelated meanings.
 For example:
1- bank= (of a river)
bank= (financial institution)
2- bat= (flying creature)
bat= (used in sports)
3- race= (contest of speed)
race= (ethic group)
 POLYSEMY
If a word has multiple meanings, that is called
polysemic.
 Relatedness of meaning accompanying
identical form is technically known as polysemy.
 For example: The word “head” is used to refer
to the object on the top of our body, on top of a
glass of beer, on top of a company or
department.
Another word “foot” has multiple meanings such
as foot of a person, of bed, of mountain etc.
 MENTONYMY
 There is another type of relationship between
words based simply on a close connection in
everyday experience. That close connection can
be based on a container- contents relation
(bottle- coke; can- juice), a whole- part relation
(car- wheels; house- roof) or a representative-
symbol relationship (king- crown; The President-
The White House).
 COLLOCATION
 Frequently occurring together is known as
collocation. Words tend to occur with other
words.
 For example: If you ask a thousand people what
they think when you say ‘hammer’, more than
half will say ‘nail’, if you say ‘table’ they will
mostly say ‘chair’ and for ‘butter- bread, for
needle- thread, for salt- pepper.
 Some collocations are joined pairs of words
such as salt and pepper or husband and wife.