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SEMANTICS_

Semantics is the study of meaning in language, focusing on conceptual meaning (literal definitions) and associative meaning (emotional or contextual associations). It explores semantic features that define word meanings, semantic roles that describe relationships in sentences, and lexical relations that illustrate how words connect with one another. Key concepts include synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, and various other relationships that enhance understanding of language meaning.

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9 views

SEMANTICS_

Semantics is the study of meaning in language, focusing on conceptual meaning (literal definitions) and associative meaning (emotional or contextual associations). It explores semantic features that define word meanings, semantic roles that describe relationships in sentences, and lexical relations that illustrate how words connect with one another. Key concepts include synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, and various other relationships that enhance understanding of language meaning.

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louamara4
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SEMANTICS: Studying Meaning

Semantics is the branch of linguistics that studies the meaning of words, phrases, and sentences. It
examines how meaning is constructed, interpreted, and understood within language, independently
of context.

Conceptual vs. Associative Meaning

Semantics focuses on two main aspects of meaning:

• Conceptual meaning: This refers to the core, dictionary-like definition of a word. It's the
literal understanding, like "dog" meaning a four-legged canine animal.
• Associative meaning: This encompasses the feelings, images, or ideas that a word evokes
beyond its literal definition. For example, "dog" might also evoke feelings of loyalty,
companionship, or playfulness.

Building Blocks of Meaning: Semantic Features

Semantic features are the abstract properties that contribute to a word's meaning, often represented
in binary terms like [+/-]. For instance, the word "bachelor" can be analyzed as having the semantic
features [+male], [+adult], and [-married]. These features combine to create the overall concept of
an unmarried adult male.

Understanding Relationships: Semantic Roles

When we construct sentences, we describe events and situations with participants playing specific
roles. Semantic roles define these relationships:

• Agent: The doer of an action (e.g., "The boy kicked the ball").
• Theme: The entity involved or affected by the action (e.g., "The ball was kicked by the
boy").
• Experiencer: The entity that feels or perceives something (e.g., "She saw a beautiful
sunset").
• Instrument: The object used to carry out an action (e.g., "He cut the bread with a knife").
• Location: The place where an event occurs (e.g., "They met at the park").
• Source and goal: The starting point and/or ending point of an action or movement (e.g.,
"She walked from home to school").
Practice: Analyze the following sentences and identify the semantic features and roles of the
underlined words:
o The hungry wolf devoured the deer.
o Sarah felt a sense of joy when she received the good news.
5. Exploring Relationships Between Words: Lexical Relations

Words are not isolated entities; they exist in a network of relationships with other words. Here are
some key types of lexical relations:

• Synonymy: Words with similar or identical meanings (e.g., "happy" and "joyful").
• Antonymy: Words with opposite meanings (e.g., "hot" and "cold").
• Hyponymy: A hierarchical relationship where one word is a specific type of another (e.g.,
"robin" is a hyponym of "bird").
• Homophones: Words that sound the same but have different spellings and meanings (e.g.,
"to," "too," and "two").
• Homonyms: Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but different meanings (e.g.,
"bat" as an animal and a sports tool).
• Polysemy: A single word with multiple related meanings (e.g., "run" can mean to move
quickly on foot or to operate a machine).
• Metonymy: Using a word to refer to something closely associated with it (e.g., saying "the
crown" to refer to the king or queen).
• Collocation: Words that frequently appear together (e.g., "heavy rain," "bright future").

References

Cruse, D. A. (2000). Meaning in language: An introduction to semantics and pragmatics. Oxford:


Oxford University Press.

Leech, G. (1981). Semantics (2nd ed.). Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Lyons, J. (1977). Semantics (Vol. 1 & 2). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Palmer, F. R. (1976). Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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