Semantics

STUDY OF LINGUISTIC MEANING

Introduction To Semantics

 What is semantics? Semantics is the study of meaning. It is a wide subject within the general study of language. (how language users acquire a sense of meaning, as speakers and writers, listeners and readers) and of language change (how meanings alter over time .

 Symbol and referent Conceptions of meaning Words and lexemes Denotation, connotation, implication Pragmatics Ambiguity Metaphor, simile and symbol Semantic fields Synonym, antonym and hyponym

 The study of semantics includes the study of how meaning is constructed, interpreted, clarified, obscured, illustrated, simplified negotiated, contradicted and paraphrased. Collocation, fixed expression and idiom Semantic change and etymology Polysemy Homonymy, homophones and homographs Lexicology and lexicography Thesauruses, libraries and Web portals Epistemology

 This is usually a single word, but may be a phrase in which the meaning belongs to the whole rather than its parts, as in verb phrases tune in, turn on, drop out or noun phrase (a) cock up.Referential or denotative meaningReferential meaning is primary while connotative meaning is secondary.Theory of meaning, based on the first, is the theory of abstraction or referential theory,also called the theory of signification.This theory recognises the following three components of meaning:-(1) the sound form or the linguistic sign,(2) the concept underlying the form, and(3) the actual referent, that part of the extra linguistic world

Connotative meaning is the communicative value which an expression has by virtue of whatit refers to.EXP:1. kill, murder, assassinate,2. eat, partake, peck, wolf, devour,3. Hindi marnaa, svargavaasii honaa, eN bolnaa,4. khaanaa, liilnaa, bhakosnaa,5. Bengali svaamii, bhaataar.In the above sets of the words, we find that all the words of each set have some commonsemantic features, which give their basic or denotative meaning.

 It is colorless and neutral. kill means simply causing death, whereas in murder there are some additional or supplementary features which determine its meaning. In the same way partake, peck, wolf, devour have some additional features. These additional features add some extra meaning to the basic denotative meanings.

 These features are called connotation and the meanings based on them the connotative meaning or connotation component of meaning. We are connotations added to words? when a speaker feels that the denotation meaning would not be enough to produce some desired additional effects like irony, joke, humor, euphemism and respect etc. he adds connotations to the words.

 The connotation component of meaning related to the emotive or expressive notion of the speaker or to stylistic values. Introduced into the language by individuals. Become socialized and become the part of the language. Originating with figurative extensions they are gradually transferred and are stabilized in the language. We may take the Oriya word maharii used for female attendants in temples. Originally meaning the female member of Mahar Caste and the female servant of the god the word now means something like a keep .

 Stylistic differences also come under connotations. When we compare the word pitaa father paapaa we find that the former is stylistically neutral, whereas the latter is colloquial. A similar distinction can be made between friend and chum. The connotations include the following variations of language

 Slangs, professionalisms, jargonisms, vulgarisms, dialectal words, neologisms, formal, peotic, baby language etc. The connotative meaning is vary significant for a lexicographer. When he analyses the semantic structure of individual lexical units, especially the polysemous ones, he has to distinguish between the denotative and connotative meanings for fixing the arrangement of meanings.

SENTENCE INTERPRETATION TYPE OF MEANINGJohn kicked John hit the bucket Compositional Meaningthe bucket. with his leg. John died.(idiomaic Non-Compositional Meaning meaning)The sentence pabucu dama atıldı includes such an example in Turkish.We know itincludes the meaning ‘He has fallen out of favor’ but not the origin of thatmeaning.

Idiomatic meaning for a Turkish idiomSENTENCE INTERPRETATION TYPE OF MEANING His shoes were thrown out Compositional MeaningPabucu dama atıldı. onto his shop roof. He is forbidden to work in Original Meaning shoe business. He has fallen out of Non-Compositional Meaning favor.(idiomatic meaning) Collocational Meaning You shall know a word by the company it keeps.

1. Buxom lass attractive woman2. Blond hair fair (yellow)hair3. Cascading water wave-like dropping of water4. Glooomy weather depressing weather5. Vested interest secure possession6. Fancy dress unusual costumeWhat do all these phrases have in common?The obvious answer is that they are used in combination orarrangement pretty frequently. 15

There is a saying in Turkish:’ Leb demeden, leblebiyi anlamak’. Now ,let us take a test:whensomeone begins with the Turkish word zifiri…,can you predict the next word?Yes, it is karanlık qualifies for a true collocation. DIFFERENCES IN ENGLISH TURKISH COLLOCATIONS water water soup soup DRINK x cigarette x oath İnterpret İnterpret(a dream) DREAM (a dream) I had a dream about I saw you in my you. dream.

As the study of meaning of the linguistics expressions,semantics isconveniently divided into two: Sentential Semantics Lexical Semantics

Meaning Inclusion Entailment SENTENTIAL SEMANTICS Meaning Equation Ambiguity paraphraseS Inconsistency ContradictionE Meaning Inclusion HyphonymyMA Meaning polysemyN Relations Meaning Extension MetonymyT MetaphorIC Meaning Equation SynonymyS LEXICAL Ambiguity SEMANTICS Lexical Relations Inconsistency Antonymy Anomaly

 Paraphrasing Entailment Ambiguity and contradiction

 Paraphrasing at the sentence level is much more complicated.The commonest ones in structural change include: Active-passive transformation Paraphrased Entailed Inversion It-clefts Wh-clefts Non-referential’there’ Fronting Utterance Paraphrase Paraphrase and entailment

 Entyailment refers to the recognition of the shared,presupposed knowledge.All Utterances are based on certain entailments. ACTUAL UTTERANCE ENTAILED KNOWLEDGE How’s school going? I know you study at a school. Did you quit smoking? I know you were smoking I’m not going to speak of my My political opponent has political opponent’s blunders. blunders.

 Existence of ‘ambiguity’ in natural languages. They hated the shooting of the ‘They hated the hunters who did hunters. the shooting’ ‘They hated the fact that the hunters were shot.’ Lexical semantics Studies meaning of words Divided into two:Meaning Relations and Lexical Relations

 Meaning Relations is about the interaction of meanings within and across lexical items in the vocab. Meaning Inclusion Meaning Extension Meaning Equation Meaning Inclusion:Polysemy,Entailment and Hyphonmy.

 Polysemy and Homonymy Polysemy1. Directly related with metaphor2. Common in languages3. Multiple related meanings on the basis of analogy,similarity Head (n) a)’Part of human body’ b)’President of an institution’ c)’Go’(v) where are you heading?

 It involves two or more lexical items Having same shape either in the form of pronunciation or spelling Club(n) a)Society of persons b)Heavy stick,baton c)A kind of playing cardA:Do you believe in clubs for young people?B:Only when kindness fails,my friend!

 Have the same pronunciation but different spelling. Threw/through /θru:/ I/eye /aı/ Homographs Have the same spelling but different pronunciation.Compare: Wind in the sense of blowing./wınd/ Wind in the sense of bendind./waınd/

The meaning of one includes the meaning of the other word.The word that includes is called a ‘superordinate’ while the one that is included in themeaning of the superordinate is called a ‘hyponym’. SUPERORDINATE SPEAK Hyponyms Shout,tell,say,utter,pronounce,murmur,mutter,whisper,grumple, mumble SUPERORDINATE WRITE Hyponyms Inscribe,red,pink,orange,green,y ellow,blue,purple,white.

SUPERORDINATE COLORHyponyms Black,red,pink,orange,yellow,blue,purple,white. Metaphor It ıncludes two major subsections:metaphor and metonymy. The sole purpose of linguistic communaication (metaphor) Express the word in a creative way that based on perceptual,functional or physical resemblances.

 It is a semantic relationship that holds between two words in terms of part whole,content-container,symbol-represented.connections. Can you light up the stove? What is to be lit is not the stove,but the contents of the stove. Meaning Equation Synonymy Extremely useful tool for people not to sound too repetitive as well as to be understood when the listener is not familiar with the word. To consist of To comprise To be composed of

FREEDOM LIBERTY STATUSFreedom of speech Liberty of speech Synonymous*Civil freedoms Civil liberties Not synonymous*At freedom At liberty Not synonymousSynonymy through collocations ‘Car’CAR AUTOMOBILE STATUSCar mechanic *Automobile mechanic Not synonymousCar wash *Automobile wash Not synonymousCar show Automobile show Synonymous

 A word,phrase or sentence that has more than one meaning is said to be ‘ambiguous’. Where are the glasses? (‘seeing glasses’ vs. window glasses’) Inconsistency Antonymy A relationship of oppositeness Richxpoor

 What’s odd in the following?  My cat wishes to study linguistics for a change. COMPONENTIAL ANALYSISEXAMPLES HUMAN ADULTStudy (+) (+)Cat (-) (+) BURCU KESİKOĞLU 100908016 SİNAN DERİNOĞLU 100908033

Semantics

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