Semantics: An Introduction Intension: The concepts/mental images

that the word/ phrase evokes.

What is semantics?
Semantics deals on how meaning works in
Semantics is the study of meaning, but
language, how the way in which words are
what do we mean by ‘meaning’? put together that creates meaning.

Meaning has been given different Semantics is also…

definitions in the past. The following are It is also about the relationships between
some assumptions about ‘meaning’ first. words, the relationships between
sentences, Ambiguity, Lexical Ambiguity,
Meaning = Connotation Structural Ambiguity.
Is meaning simply the set of associations
that a word evokes? Is the meaning of a How meaning works in language.
word defined by the images that its users The study of semantics looks at how
connect to it? meaning works in language, and because
of this it often uses native speaker
So 'winter' might mean 'snow', 'sledging' intuitions about the meaning of words and
and 'mulled wine'. phrases to base research on. We all
But what about someone living in the understand semantics already on a
Amazon? Their 'winter' is still wet and hot, subconscious level, it's how we
so its original meaning is lost. understand each other when we speak.

Because the associations of a word don't Semantics also looks at…

always apply, it was decided that this One of the things that Semantics looks at,
couldn't be the whole story. and is based on, is how the meaning of
speech is derived from the meanings of
Meaning = Denotation the individual words when all put together.
It has also been suggested that the
meaning of a word is simply the entity in The Principle of Compositionality
the World which that word refers to. This It says that the meaning of speech is the
makes perfect sense for proper nouns like sum of the meanings of the individual
'New York' and 'the Eiffel Tower', but there words plus the way in which they are
are lots of words like 'sing' and 'altruism' arranged into a structure.
that don't have a solid thing in the world
that they are connected to. The relationship between words
Semantics also looks at the ways in which
So, "meaning" cannot be entirely the meanings of words can be related to
denotation either. each other.

Extension and Intension Synonymy - Words are synonymous/

So "meaning", in Semantics, is defined as synonyms when they can be used to
being Extension: The thing in the world mean the same thing (at least in some
that the word/phrase refers to, plus contexts - words are rarely fully identical
in all contexts). Begin and start, big and wife', 'Chris is a man' and 'Chris is human'
large, youth and adolescent.
Asymmetrical entailment - Only one of
Antonymy - Words are antonyms of one the sentences must be true for the other
another when they have opposite to be true, but that sentence may be true
meanings (again, at least in some without the other sentence necessarily
contexts). Big and small, come and go, up having to be true. 'Rachel is John's wife'
and down entails 'John is married' (but John is
married does not entail Rachel being his
Polysemy. - A word is polysemous when wife), 'Rachel has two brothers' entails
it has two or more related meanings. In 'Rachel is not an only child' (but Rachel
this case the word takes one form but can not being an only child does not entail
be used to mean two different things. In Rachel having two brothers).
the case of polysemy, these two meanings
must be related in some way, and not be Contradiction - Sentences contradict
two completely unrelated meanings of each other when one sentence is true and
the word. Bright (shining) and bright the other cannot be true. 'Rachel is an
(intelligent). Mouse (animal) and mouse only child' and 'Rachel's brother is called
(computer hardware). Phil', 'Alex is alive' and 'Alex died last week'.

Homophony - Homophony is similar to Semantics is one of the richest and most

polysemy in that it refers to a single form fascinating parts of linguistics. Among the
of word with two meanings, however a kinds of questions semanticists ask are the
word is a homophone when the two following:
meanings are entirely unrelated. Bat What are meanings — definitions? ideas in
(flying mammal) and bat (sports our heads? sets of objects in the world?
equipment). Pen (writing instrument) and
pen (small cage). Can all meanings be precisely defined?

What explains relations between meanings,

The relationship between sentences like synonymy, antonymy (oppositeness),
Sentences can also be semantically and so on?
related to one- another in a few different
ways. How do the meanings of words combine to
create the meanings of sentences?
Paraphrase - Paraphrases have the same
truth conditions; if one is true, the other What is the difference between literal and
must also be true. 'The boys like the girls' non-literal meaning?
and 'the girls are liked by the boys', 'John
gave the book to Chris' and 'John gave How do meanings relate to the minds of
language users, and to the things words
Chris the book'.
refer to?

Mutual entailment - Each sentence must What is the connection between what a
be true for the other to be true. 'John is word means, and the contexts in which it is
married to Rachel' and 'Rachel is John's used?
 How do the meanings of words interact Why do we speak or write?
with syntactic rules and principles? Without a capacity to express meaning,
then, language loses one of its essential
Do all languages express the same
meanings?
aspects. We practically always speak or
write in order to express a meaning of one
How do meanings change? kind or another.

Semantics is a vast subject, and in this

Semantics: A Brief History
class we will only be able to introduce the
most important parts of it.
Semantics
-​ The study of meaning has ancient
‘Meaning’, however, is a very vague term. roots, but the term semantics was
coined in the late 19th century by
In ordinary English, the word ‘meaning’ is French linguist Michel Bréal.
-​ The general study of signs is called
used to refer to such different things as
semiotics or semiology, both
the idea or intention lying behind a piece derived from sēmeion “sign”.
of language as in (1), the thing referred to
by a piece of language (2), and the
•​ The term semantics is linked to
translations of words between languages ancient Greek linguistic traditions
(3). dating back to the 5th century BC.
•​ Semantics comes from the Greek
word semantikos, meaning ‘relating
(1)​ ‘I don’t quite understand what
to signs,’ derived from the noun
you’re getting at by saying “meat is
sēmeion (‘sign’).
murder”: do you mean that
•​ In Ancient Greece, sēmeion was
everyone should be a vegetarian?’
originally used as a medical term
(2)​ ‘I meant the second street on the
for symptoms indicating diseases.
left, not the first one.’
•​ The study of linguistic signs
(3) ‘Seiketsu means “clean” in Japanese.’
(words, phrases, sentences,
utterances) is closely related to
‘Meaning’, however, is a very vague term.
the broader study of signs.
In ordinary English, the word ‘meaning’ is
•​ Signs can be both
used to refer to such different things as artificial/conventional (e.g., road
the idea or intention lying behind a piece signs, clock faces, symbols in
computer programs) and natural
of language.
(e.g., disease symptoms, sun
position, animal tracks).
In ordinary English, the word ‘meaning’ is
used to refer to such different things as Key contributors to the development of
semiotics were:
the idea or intention lying behind a piece
of language. •​ Charles Sanders Peirce
 (1839–1914), an American compositional combinations of individual
philosopher. lexemes.

•​ Ferdinand de Saussure Levels of Meaning

(1857–1913), a Swiss linguist and The distinction between word meaning
student of Michel Bréal, often
and sentence meaning, then, defines a
regarded as the founder of
basic contrast between lexical and
modern linguistics.
phrasal semantics. Another important
Meaning in English contrast is the one between sentence
English uses the verb “to mean” to refer to meaning as just described and utterance
a relationship involving at least one of meaning.
three different types of thing: language,
the world (including people, objects, and Sentence Meaning
everything outside of ourselves) and our We can simply recognize that there are many
own minds or intentions. Here are five uses in which words seem to acquire a
typical examples of mean in English which strongly different meaning from the one they
exemplify some of these relationships:
normally have. Suppose that while cooking
Peter has just spilled a large quantity of
•​ When I said ‘Dublin has lots of spaghetti carbonara all over the kitchen floor.
attractions’ I meant Dublin, Ireland, Hearing the commotion, Brenda comes into
not Dublin, Virginia. the kitchen, sees what has happened, and
•​ In Sydney, ‘the bridge’ means the utters:
Harbour Bridge.
•​ ‘Stout’ means ‘short and fat’. “You’re a very tidy cook, I see.”
•​ By turning off the music I didn’t
It is clear that Brenda doesn’t literally mean
mean that you should go.
that Peter is a tidy cook, but that she is
•​ Trees mean water.
speaking ironically. What she actually means is
the opposite: Brenda is drawing attention to
Lexical and Phrasal Semantics the fact that Peter has precisely not been a
Based on the distinction between the tidy cook. In cases like this, we say that there
meanings of words and the mean- ings of is a difference between sentence meaning
sentences, we can recognize two main and utterance meaning. The sentence
divisions in the study of semantics: lexical meaning of our example is the literal,
semantics and phrasal semantics. compositional meaning as built up from the
meanings of the individual words of the
sentence. If we did not speak English, we
Lexical semantics is the study of word
could discover the sentence meaning of it by
meaning, whereas phrasal semantics is
finding out what its translation was in our own
the study of the principles which govern language.
the construction of the meaning of
phrases and of sentence meaning out of
 Utterance Meaning whereas pragmatics concentrates on the
The utterance meaning, by contrast, is the ways in which these basic meanings are used
meaning which the words have on a particular in practice, including such topics as the ways
occasion of use in the particular context in in which different expressions are assigned
which they occur. (Utterance meaning is referents in different contexts, and the
sometimes referred to in other books as differing (ironic, metaphorical, etc.) uses to
speaker meaning. But since the role of the which language is put. As we have already
hearer is just as important as that of the seen, a division between semantics and
speaker, the more neutral term utterance pragmatics is by no means universally
meaning is preferred here.) The utterance accepted in linguistics. Many ‘pragmatic’
meaning is the one which is picked up in the topics are of central importance to the study
conversation. In reply to Brenda, Peter might of meaning, and in this book we will not
well say: recognize any absolute distinction between
the two domains.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know how I could have been
so clumsy.”

But if Brenda’s comment was meant literally,

the reply would be very strange: people do not
usually have to apologize for being tidy. What
Brenda’s statement shows is that it is the
utterance meaning, not the sentence meaning
to which Peter is reacting: given the situation,
Brenda is clearly not congratulating him on his
tidiness as a cook, and it is the utterance
meaning which forms the basis for the
continuation of the conversation.

Semantics and Pragmatics

The distinction between sentence
meaning and utterance meaning is also
linked to the difference between
semantics and pragmatics. For those
linguists who accept such a division,
semantics is taken to study sentence
meaning, whereas pragmatics studies
utterance meaning and other principles of
language use.

The job of semantics is to study the basic,

literal meanings of words as considered
principally as parts of a language system,