by Z.

khiyati
Defining Semantics

Semantics is the field of study that examines the meaning of words, phrases, and sentences.

When conducting semantic analysis, the focus is on understanding the conventional

meaning of words, rather than interpreting them based on an individual speaker's intention

or context.

COMPONENTIAL ANALYSIS

Componential analysis, also referred to as feature analysis or componential analysis, is

a linguistic approach that involves breaking down the meaning of a word or phrase into its

distinct semantic features or individual components.

By this technique, we are best enabling to comprehend and understand how words are

related and used in language by identifying the constituent parts that contribute to their

overall meaning.

Semantics Features

Semantic features are the basic components and properties that a word should have in order

to hold a meaning. They are used to describe and classify words. These features are the

specific characteristics that distinguish one word or concept from another.

In Semantics Features we account for plus (+) or minus (-) a feature; If the feature exists,

we use (+) and if doesn’t exist, we use (-).

Examples
 Book Table Woman Girl Bachelor Wife

Animate

Human

Male

Female

Adult

Married

Note ; How can this approach ( Semantics Features ) be useful and help us understand

the nature of language?

➢ One potential benefit is its ability to account for the 'oddness' we experience when

we read English sentences such as the following:

• The cat was reading a newspaper.

• The hamburger ate the man.

➢ While this sentence “The cat was reading a newspaper is grammatically correct and

perfectly formed; it follows a subject-verb-object English sentence structure. It is

semantically odd because it is unlikely for a cat to be reading a newspaper, it does

not make sense based on our knowledge and experience of the world.
The oddness of the sentence above can be accounted for by considering the semantic

features of the words used in the sentence.

The cat (+ animate, - human, + animal), So if we look at the word “Cat” in the sentence,

we will find that it is the one who performs the action of reading. Consequently, the agent

should be (+ human) because we know that this action involves only human beings, reading

a newspaper and since the cat is an animal then it can not be semantically correct even

though it is structurally well-formed from its outlying structure. Therefore, the semantic

features of the entity (word)"cat" do not match the semantic features required for the action

of reading a newspaper. The sentence is structurally well-formed, but it is semantically odd

because it violates our expectations of what a cat can do based on its inherent features.

Semantics Roles

Words are not just containers of meanings, but they fulfill different roles within a situation

described by a sentence. Entities can play different roles in different situations and some of

the common roles that entities play in a sentence include;

➢ The Agent: The entity that performs the action in the sentence.

Eample; She borrowed a magazine from her friend; in this sentence “She” is the

agent because it is the performer of the action of borrowing.

Notice here that although agents are typically human, they can also be;

1. Non-human forces: The wind knocked down the tree.

The Agent
 2. Machines: The robot cleaned the room.

The Agent

3. Creatures; The dog chased the cat up the tree.

The Agent

➢ The theme ; the entity that is involved in or affected by the action.

Example ; She borrowed a magazine from her friend

The theme

Notice that The theme can also be human. Indeed, the same physical entity can

appear in two different semantic roles, The boy injured himself.

Agent theme

➢ The experiencer; If a noun phrase identifies an entity as the one who experiences

a feeling, perception, or state, it is fulfilling the role of experiencer.

Example ; The boy felt scared during the thunderstorm.

➢ In this sentence, "the boy" is the experiencer because he is the one

who is experiencing the feeling of fear.

➢ Instrument: The tool or means used to perform the action in the sentence.

Example: "The chef cut the vegetables with a knife." In this sentence, "the knife" is
 the instrument because it is used by the chef to perform the action of cutting the

vegetables.

➢ Location; is actually when an entity indicates the place where an event or an action

took place.

Example ; The book is on the table ,"the table" is the location

➢ Source and Goal ; The point from which an entity moves is typically the source,

while the point it moves towards is knowing as the goal .

Sense relations

In addition to serving as "containers" of meaning or fulfilling "roles" within a situation ,

words can also have "relationships" with one another. This means that words can be

associated or connected to each other in different ways.

➢ Synonymy;

Two or more words having almost the same meaning. They can often be used

interchangeably in sentences, but not always. When discussing synonymy, we

should highlight the fact that we cannot talk about a total, or absolute sameness in

terms of meaning.

Examples ; Big and large -- Happy and joyful -- Fast and quick -- Smart and intelligent

Bright and vivid -- Tired and exhausted .

➢ Antonyms ;
 Two forms with opposite meanings are called antonyms. For example ;

Male vs Female – Dead vs Alive – true vs False –Rich vs poor ….

Antonyms are usually divided into two main types, those which are 'gradable', and

'non-gradable .

➢ Gradable antonyms ; opposite along a scale .that is to say there is a

graduation between the forms. They can be used in comparative

constructions ( comparison) ; for example , we can say that X is

faster than Y or X is slower than Y . Also, the negative of one

member of the gradable pair does not necessarily imply the other.

For example, if you say that dog is not old, you do not have to mean

that dog is young ( Negative test ) .

Examples ; Hot and cold --Young and old --Light and dark

➢ Non-gradable antonyms; There is a direct opposite and completely

opposite . They are also called 'complementary pairs' and the

comparative construction is not used here , for example ; we can not

say that X is deader than the other or X is aliver . And the negative

of one member of a non-gradable antonym implies the other .

Ex ; Single vs married – Top vs bottom…..

➢ Hyponyms ; here we have the concept of inclusion because the meaning of one

word is included in another .

the word at the top is called Superordinate or Hypernym Fruits

Apple banana orange grape

Words in the bottom are called Subordinate or Co-hyponyms

➢ Prototypes refers to the closest aspect of resemblance between the word in the

top and the other in the bottom.

Clothing

Shirts Shoes

Notice that Shirts are the clearest exemplar in term of resemblance to Clothing than Shoes.

➢ Homophones two or more words with the same pronunciation but different

spelling and different meanings.

Examples;

- flower and flour

- To , too, two

- Ate and eight

- Right and write .

➢ Homonyms; Words that are spelled and pronounced the same but have different

meanings, such as "bank" (financial institution) and "bank" (riverbank).

➢ Homographs; Two words with the same spelling, but different pronunciation

and different meanings. For example,”

➢ Polysemy ; can be defined as one form ( written or spoken ) having multiple

meanings that are related by extension .Examples ; Foot : of person / of table / of

ped / of mountain . Head: the object on top of human body / person at the top of a

company.

➢ Metonymy ; refers to a type of relationship between words that is based on their

close association in everyday life. This association can be established in a few ways;

✓ Container-contents relation; where a container represents the contents it

contains. E.g.” He drank the whole bottle" (referring to the liquid inside the

bottle).

✓ Whole-part relation; where a part represents the whole it belongs to (e.g.

wheels for a car or roof for a house).

✓ Representative-symbol relationship; where a symbol represents the person

or thing it stands for.

- The White House - used to represent the U.S. President or the U.S.
government.
 - Hollywood - used to represent the American film industry.

- Crown- used to represent the king.

Sentence level Semantics

Paraphrase;

To put it simply, paraphrasing is a way of expressing the same meaning of a sentence or a

text using different words. It's possible for a single sentence to have multiple paraphrases.

There are two types of paraphrases:

lexical paraphrase; in lexical paraphrase, the meaning of a sentence remains the

same after replacing one word or phrase with another.

EX; - She is very happy.

-She is extremely joyful.

Structural paraphrase; is achieved through transformation of the sentence structure and

the meaning remains the same. In other words, structural paraphrase involves changing

the sentence structure while keeping the same meaning.

Ex; - The students are studying for their exams at the library.

- At the library, the students are preparing for their exams.

 Ambiguity

When a phrase or expression has more than one possible meaning, it leads to

ambiguity. Unlike polysemy which deals with words, ambiguity is related to

sentences. There are two main types of ambiguity;

Lexical ambiguity ; arises when a particular word can be interpreted in more than

one way.

EX : My sister saw bat. This example has two different meanings:

• My sister saw a bat (bat ; A flying mammal)

• My sister saw a bat (bat the wooden baseball bat)

Structural ambiguity: refers to the interpretation of a sentence being influenced by the

arrangement of its constituent parts. In other words, the way the elements of the sentence

are organized can lead to different possible interpretations.

1. EX: I saw the man with the telescope. This sentence could be interpreted as the

speaker seeing a man through a telescope, or as the speaker seeing a man who is

carrying a telescope. Does the PP “with the telescope “modify “the man” or “I”.

Vagueness

A sentence can be considered vague if it lacks a clear and specific meaning. This lack of

clarity can be caused by certain words having incompatible semantic properties.

Additionally, a sentence may be grammatically correct but still have a meaning that is

difficult to discern. Example taken from Chomsky : Colorless green ideas sleep furiously .

Tautology

is the unnecessary repetition of words or phrases in sentence or communication, which

doesn't add any new meaning and can create undue emphasis. It is closely related to

redundancy, where additional linguistic units are introduced that don't affect the meaning

of the sentence or situation.

EX:

-The reason why he's late is because he got caught in traffic. (The

phrase "reason why" is redundant because "reason" and "why" mean the

same thing.)

- She's an expert in her field of expertise. (The word "expertise" is

repeated unnecessarily.)

- I personally believe that... (The word "personally" is redundant

because "I believe" already expresses a personal opinion.)

Contradiction

Contradictory expressions involve two opposing propositions that cannot both be true at

the same time. For example, it is impossible for someone to be both dead and alive at the

same time.
Entailment

To put it simply, entailment is a connection between two sentences or propositions where

the truth of one statement implies the truth of the other, as both are linked to the meaning

of words.

For example,

- Sarah killed the spider. (entails) The spider is dead.

- Ali is from Marrakech. (entails) Ali is from Morocco.

Presupposition

refers to the situation where a speaker assumes that the listener has prior knowledge about

a certain piece of information. This assumption is based on shared background knowledge

between the speaker and listener. However, an individual outside the communication circle

may not understand the presupposed information.

Examples:

• "John stopped smoking" presupposes that John used to smoke.

• Nezha regretted eating the cake. Presupposes that Nezha ate the cake)

There are several types of presuppositions.

- Existential Presupposition: The speaker assumes that the entities being referred to

actually exist.

Ex: Ali’ car is handsome.

• Ali exists
• Ali has a car .
- Factive Presupposition: Certain verbs or constructions indicate that something is

a fact ( know , glad, be , realize …)

Ex: John regrets eating the whole pizza" presupposes that John did eat the whole

pizza.

- Lexical Presupposition: refers to the meaning that is implied or assumed by a

particular word or phrase used in a sentence. It is a type of presupposition that is

inherent in the meaning of certain words or phrases, regardless of the context in

which they are used.

Ex:

✓ "Mary regretted eating the entire pizza." The verb "regretted" presupposes

that Mary did indeed eat the entire pizza.

✓ "John's sister stopped smoking." The verb "stopped" presupposes that John's

sister was previously a smoker.

- Structural Presupposition : arises from the grammatical structure of a sentence.

It is based on the assumption that certain linguistic elements or structures are

necessary for the sentence to make sense, and the absence of these elements can

create an awkward or incomplete meaning .

For example, the sentence "John regrets not studying harder" presupposes that

John did not study hard enough, which is implied by the use of the negation "not"

in the sentence.

-When did he died?

• he died.
 Why did he leave last night ?

• he left.

- Non- factive Presupposition: Certain verbs and words indicate that something

is not true / is not a fact . (such as ‘dream’, ‘image’, ‘pretend’).

Ex:

o He dreamt that he was rich (>> he is not rich).

o He pretends to be ill (>> he is not ill).

- Counterfactual Presupposition: in this case, when something is presupposed,

it is not only false, but it is also the opposite of what is actually true or goes

against the facts. For example, certain types of conditional statements, known as

counterfactual conditionals, assume that the information in the "if" clause is not

true at the moment the statement is being made.

Ex:

o If I had studied harder, I would have passed the exam (>>I didn’t pass the

exam) .

o If I had a million dollars, I would buy a mansion (>>I don’t have a million

dollars).

Note : In presupposition ,the negation of the first utterance may not affect the second

sentence.

o Ali’ car is new. >> Ali has a car.

o Negation: Ali’ car is not new. >> Ali has a car.→ presupposition is not changed.

This test is known as Constancy-under negation test).

 Seven types of meaning according to Geoffrey Leech

Leech (1981) classified types of meaning in seven types:

1) Conceptual meaning: sometimes called as „denotative‟ or „cognitive‟ meaning. It

is widely assumed to be central/ crucial element in linguistic and communication. It is

also called as primary meaning. It is the meaning suggested by the word when it used

alone. Within conceptual meaning, Leech give two principles:

The principle of Contrastiveness: the conceptual meanings are often analyzed by

focusing on their contrasting features. This means that the meaning of a word can be

described in terms of its semantic features, which indicate the attributes that are present or

absent. can be studied typically in terms of contrastive features. If a feature is present, it is

specified as [ + ]; if absent, it is [ - ]. For example, in phonetics /b/ is described as +bilabial,

+ voice, + bilabial + stop and /p/ is described as +bilabial, -voice, + bilabial + stop. Notice

here that the feature +/- VOICE which differentiates /b/ from /p/. Similarly, the word

woman can be represented as + HUMAN, -MALE, + ADULT". On the contrary, the word

man can be described as + HUMAN, + MALE, + ADULT ; the contrastive features which

distinguishes woman from boy are +/-MALE.

The principle of Structure : larger linguistics units are built up out of smaller unites .

Therefore, by applying this principle we are best able to analyze a sentence syntactically

into its constituents’ units. The aspect of organization of language is often given a

visual display in a tree diagram:

 Sentence

Subject Predicate

Det Noun Verb Complement

Det Noun

This woman is a teacher

This sentence can also be represented using bracketing :

[ [(This) ( woman)] [( is) [( a) (teacher)]]]

2) Connotative Meaning : according to Leech , connotative meaning refers to the

additional value of an expression that extends beyond its basic conceptual content. It

suggests the attributes of the word in the real world and goes beyond the literal meaning

in a dictionary. For example, the word "snake" not only refers to a long, legless reptile,

but it may also connote danger or deceitfulness. Similarly, the word "home" not only

means a place where a person lives but may also connote warmth, safety, and comfort.
3) Stylistic (or Social) Meaning : Social meaning refers to the way in which language

provides clues about the society or social context in which it is being used. It is the

meaning conveyed by a piece of language that reflects the social context in which it is

used. In other words, social meaning is the additional meaning that language carries

beyond its literal or dictionary meaning, and it reflects the social and cultural norms,

values, and expectations of the society in which it is used. The following socio-stylistic

variations are listed by Leech (Leech 1981:14):

- Dialect (the language of a geographical region or social class) Time (the language of

eighteenth century, etc)

- Province (language of law, of science, of advertising, etc.)

- Status (Polite, colloquial, slang, etc., language)

- Modality (language of memoranda, lectures, jokes, etc.)

-Singularity (the style of Dickens, of Hemingway, etc.)

4) Collocative Meaning: Collocative meaning refers to the specific meaning that a

word takes on when it is used in combination with certain other words. Words have a

tendency to "collocate" or appear together with particular words or types of words,

and the meaning of a word in a particular context can be influenced by the words it

collocates with. In other words, collocative meaning is the meaning that a word

acquires based on its typical associations with other words in a given context.

Examples of collocative meaning include:

 - The verb "make" can collocate with a variety of nouns to convey different

meanings, such as "make breakfast," "make a decision," or "make a bed."

- The adjective "strong" can collocate with different nouns to convey different

meanings, such as "strong coffee," "strong evidence," or "strong wind."

- The word pretty collocates with girls, woman, village, gardens, flowers, etc. On

the other hand, the word handsome collocates with boys, men, etc. So we have

pretty woman and handsome man.

5) Affective Meaning : refers to the personal feelings and emotions that are conveyed

through the use of language. It is also known as emotive meaning and is often expressed

through the words used and their connotative or conceptual content.

6) Reflected meaning: is a type of meaning that occurs when a word has multiple

conceptual meanings, and one sense of the word influences our response to another

sense. Essentially, it refers to the secondary meaning that a word takes on based on the

context in which it is used.

7) Thematic Meaning: refers to the way language users arrange their messages to

convey their meaning, taking into account the order, focus, and emphasis of the words

or ideas being communicated.

 .Pragmatics

J.L. Austin and John Searle developed Speech Act Theory and argued that our language
does not only describe reality but that it can be used to perform acts

Defining Pragmatics:
Pragmatics is the study of meaning convey by element of language in its use. That is to say,

Pragmatics is the study of meaning within a specific context. Thus , the key difference

between Semantics and Pragmatics is the fact that Semantics does not depend on context

but Pragmatics depends on context .

Speech Act Theory

refer to the actions performed by speakers when they use language. J.L. Austin and John

Searle developed Speech Act Theory and argued that language does not only describe

reality but that it can be used to perform acts.

➢ Austin's speech act theory

Performatives VS Constatives

In "How to Do Things with Words," Austin makes a clear distinction between constative

and performative utterances. A constative utterance describes or reports a state of affairs

and can be evaluated as true or false based on its correspondence with the facts In other
words , constatives are statements that can be true or false . In contrast, performative

utterances do not describe or report anything and cannot be evaluated as true or false.

Instead, they are actions that are performed by the utterance itself. When we use

performatives, we are performing an action by uttering certain words. Essentially, saying a

performative is equivalent to performing an action. For example, when I say "I advise you

to seek permission from your parents," I am actually performing the act of advising you.

He suggested using the words "happy" and "unhappy" to indicate whether a

performative was successful or not. If a performative successfully achieves its intended

action, it is considered happy. However, if it fails to achieve the intended action, it is

considered unhappy.

levels of Speech Acts:

Austin distinguished three levels of Speech Acts:

1. Locutionary Act: This refers to the literal meaning of the words spoken. It is the act

of saying something and producing meaningful utterances which can be recognized

by the hearer.

2. Illocutionary Act: This refers to the intended meaning of the speaker behind the

words spoken, the act performed by saying something. For example, a speaker may

apologize, command, suggest, or promise through their speech.

3. Perlocutionary Act: This refers to the effect that the speaker's words have on the

listener, the act that is done to the listener by saying something. It is the actions taken
 by the hearer as a result of the speaker's utterance. This means that the hearer's

behavior, attitude, belief, or action is influenced by the effect of the speaker's words.

For instance, when a speaker asks a question, the perlocutionary act is the response

given by the hearer.

Felicity conditions: are a set of conditions that should be met for an act to be
performed and to be called a speech act. Austin proposed this concept as a well to
understand the success and failure of speech acts. They are used to determine whether a
speech act is Happy (Felicitous) or Unhappy (infelicitous).

➢ For Austin: felicity conditions should be accepted as a procedure for successfully

carrying out the speech act. He believed that these conditions should be followed

correctly and completely, as they are necessary for the speech act to achieve its

intended purpose. The person to whom we share such an utterance should have the

required thoughts, feelings and the required intentions.

➢ For Searle: the felicity conditions for an utterance are constitutive rules. This means,

there are rules that form or govern an act to be performed and called a speech act .

Searle’s classification of Speech Act

Searle has set up the following classification of illocutionary speech acts:

1) Declarations: These are speech acts that bring about a change in the world simply

by being uttered. However, for a declaration to be performed correctly, the speaker

must have a specific institutional role in a particular context; include declaring,

 marrying, firing, and sentencing. Example: A judge in a court of law saying "I hereby

sentence you to ten years in prison" is a declaration. The judge's utterance causes a

change in the external situation, namely the defendant's sentence. However, the

judge has the institutional role and authority to make such a declaration in that

particular context.

2) Representatives: In representative speech acts, the speaker conveys their personal

belief regarding the truthfulness of a proposition. Examples of such speech acts

include statements of facts, assertions, conclusions, and descriptions, in which the

speaker represents their understanding of the world as they perceive it to be.

3) Expressives: refer to speech acts where the speaker expresses their personal feelings

or emotional responses. These types of speech acts convey psychological states and

can be used to express emotions such as pleasure, pain, likes, dislikes, joy, or sorrow.

Examples of expressives include:

• "I am so happy that you passed the exam!"
• "I'm really sorry for what I said earlier."
• "I love this song!"
• "I hate the way he treats people."
4) Directives: In directives, the speaker wants the listener to do something. Directives
are commands, orders, requests, suggestions, and they can be positive or
negative:
• Request: "Could you please pass me the salt?"
• Suggestion: "Why don't we go see a movie tonight?"
5) Commissives : are types of speech acts in which the speaker commits to performing

a certain action in the future. Commissives are promises, threats, refusals, pledges,
 and they can be performed by the speaker alone, or by the speaker as a member of a

group.

Grice's conversational maxims

Grice's conversational maxims are a set of principles or guidelines that speakers and

listeners implicitly follow in order to have successful and effective conversations. Grice

identified four main conversational maxims:

I. Maxim of Quantity: Speakers should provide the right amount of information

necessary for the conversation and not provide too much or too little. It

includes two sub-maxims:

(a): Make your contribution as informative as is required.

(b):Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.

For example, if someone asks "What time is it?", a speaker should answer with

a specific time, not a long story about how they don't wear watches.

II. Maxim of Quality: Speakers should be truthful and provide accurate

information. Speakers should not say things that are false or lack evidence.

The supermaxims as follows: try to make your contribution as truthful as

possible. The maxims are:

(a): Do not say what you believe to be false.

(b): Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.
III. Maxim of relation/ Relevance: the speaker should aim to be relevant to the

ongoing conversation. Simply speaking the truth is not enough; the statement

should also be relevant to the discussion at hand. That is to say, speakers

should make contributions that are relevant to the topic of conversation. For

example, if people are discussing the weather, it would be irrelevant to

suddenly start talking about politics.

IV. Maxim of Manner: Speakers should communicate in a clear and concise

manner, avoiding ambiguity and obscurity. It has the following maxims:

✓ Avoid obscurity of expression,

✓ Avoid ambiguity,

✓ Be brief,

✓ Be orderly or systematic.