SEMANTICS

Shandrabhannu a/p Uthayakumar Kirrthana a/p Karikalan Hazirah binti Mustapa Pravina a/p mohan
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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.

Semanticsasa general explanation

is about the study of meaning of the words, phrases, sentences, and discourse
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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

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THE COMPONENTS OF MEANING

THE DENOTATIVE COMPONENT

(DENOTATION)

THE CONNOTATIVE COMPONENT

(CONNOTATION)

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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: [+HUMAN+ADULT+MALE]

a.Man: b.Women:

[+HUMAN+ADULT+FEMALE]

c.Girl:
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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.
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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
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LINGUISTIC MEANING
Referential meaning: Defining a word or

sentence that makes reference

Eg: Scotts 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 Scotts dog

The dog picked out or identified by the

expression is its referent

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CONNOTATIVE MEANING
SOCIAL MEANING

AFFECTIVE MEANING

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CONNOTATIVE
SOCIAL MEANING

q Representing actions, states & mental

processes

q Conveys information about the situation

in which they have been uttered.

- So I says to him, You cant do nothin right.

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- 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.
- Yall gonna visit over the holiday?

Yall identifies a particular regional dialect of American English (southern).

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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 users feelings, attitudes, and 7/30/12

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 words 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)

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THE CONNOTATIVE COMPONENT

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DENOTATIVE AND CONNOTATIVE COMPONENTS

Often a words 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 7/30/12

Reading Word Analysis

Denotation and Connotation

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They think about the denotation of a word its dictionary meaning and the connotation the implied meanings and associations when choosing words.
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Denotation
is the literal meaning of a word

Connotation
is adding attitude to a word
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A word can have positive or negative associations or connotations. Study the following chart. Word plain unusual firm Positive Connotation easy Negative Connotation gawky

extraordinary bizarre determined unyielding

Here is a sample of a word that has denotative meaning and connotative associations:

Shes my baby.

Denotation infant Connotation girl friend

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Now lets try one together: The word

player

can have two meanings. player.

The soccer goalie was a real (discuss the denotative meaning)

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

Denotation:
one who plays in a game

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

Connotation
one who uses people

Denotation vs. Connotation

DENOTATION Cat Four-legged, furry, purry animal CONNOTATION Stealthy, spiteful, calculating, quiet

Feelings

What someone senses/ emotions

Happy, sad, frightened, 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

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PHRASE MEANING

Noun-centered meaning Verb-centered meaning

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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 Truth of An

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Example of class Adj is an X

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
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VERB-CENTRED MEANING
The verb plays a central role in the

meaning and structure of most sentences. number of objects and limits the semantic properties of both its subjects and objects.

In English, the verb determines the

Sub categorization:
Give, V. [ _ NP1 NP2] Walk, V. [ _ PP] Find, V. [ _ NP PP]
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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.

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Agent Patient Location Instrument Time Recipient Experiencer Stimulus Cause Goal

active person, actor Entity affected by deed of agent or cause Location of deed/event Entity employed by an agent in a deed Time of deed/event Receiver of result of deed of agent Perceiver of a stimulus Entity perceived/experienced by an experiencer Cause not an agent (non-volitional / non-intentioanal) Targeted location (also 'purpose' or 'finality') 7/30/12

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.

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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
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LEXICAL DECOMPOSITION
Lexical decomposition is a means of

characterising the detail lexical features of a word. and fawn, we can see some commonality in them.
Kitten young, four-legged, animated Puppy - young, four-legged, animated Fawn - young, four-legged, animated

For example taking the words kitten , puppy

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 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 Young Animated Human Twolegged Fourlegged + + + puppy + + + fawn + + + + 7/30/12

chicken + +

baby + + + -

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. deep.

The meaning of shallow as the opposite of The meaning of daffodil as it is a kind of

flower.

7/30/12 In doing so we are characterizing the meaning of

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.

q For example:

broad=wide,

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q The idea of sameness of meaning used in

discussing synonymy is not necessarily total sameness .

q For example:

Cathy had only one answer correct in the test. Its near synonymy would reply would sound odd.

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ANTONYMY
Two forms with opposite meanings are called

antonyms.

For example:

quick=slow, big=small, long=short, rich=poor, happy=sad,

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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.

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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.
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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.
7/30/12 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).

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HOMOPHONY
When two or more different written forms have the same pronunciation, they are described as Homophones.
v

For example:Master subtitle style Click to edit Bare Bear, Meet, Flour Flower, Pail Pale, Sew So.
v

Meat

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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)

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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.

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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; canjuice), a whole- part relation (car- wheels; house- roof) or a representative- symbol relationship (king- crown; The President- The White House).
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COLLOCATION
Frequently occurring together is known as

collocation. Words tend to occur with other words. 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. such as salt and pepper or husband and wife.
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For example: If you ask a thousand people what

Some collocations are joined pairs of words

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The end

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