2. The field of linguistics is concerned
with the study of meaning in language.
Linguistic semantics has been defined as the
study of how languages organize and
express meanings. The term semantics
(from the Greek word for ‘sign’) was
coined by French linguist Michel Bréal
(1832-1915), who is commonly regarded as
a founder of modern semantics.
3. Linguistic semantics looks not only at
grammar and meaning but at language use and
language acquisition as a whole. "The study of
meaning can be undertaken in various ways.
Linguistic semantics is an attempt to explicate
the knowledge of any speaker of a language
which allows that speaker to communicate
facts, feelings, intentions and products of the
imagination to other speakers and to
understand what they communicate to him or
her.
4. Based on the distinction between the
meanings of words and the meanings of
sentences, we can recognize two main
divisions in the study of semantics: lexical
semantics and phrasal semantics.
Lexical semantics is the study of word
meaning, whereas phrasal semantics is the
study of the principles which govern the
construction of the meaning of phrases and of
sentence meaning out of compositional
combinations of individual lexemes.
5. Two terms that are related to semantics are
connotation and denotation.
Connotation refers to the meanings that we
associate with the word-beyond the literal
dictionary definition. The connotation of a
word includes all of the emotions and feelings
that go along with the use of the word.
Denotation includes the literal definition
of the word.
6. When we read literature we are looking
at language that is used to denote and
connote meaning. Semantics is the study
and analysis of how language is used
figuratively and literally to produce
meaning. Semantics seeks to describe how
words are used-not to prescribe how they
should be used.
7. Examples of Semantics:
1. A toy block could be called a block, a cube,
a toy.
2. A child could be called a child, kid, boy,
girl, son, daughter.
3. The word “run” has many meanings-
physically running, depart or go (I have to run,
spent (it has run its course), or even a snag in a
pair of hose (a run in my hose).
8. 1. Which of the following is not correct?
a. Semantics is the study of language meaning
b. Pragmatics is the study of language use
c. Linguistics is the study of all dialects
d. Linguistics is the study of language
6. Which of the following statements is not true?
a. Pragmatics studies the relationship between language and objects
b. Pragmatics studies the relationship between language and the user
c. Pragmatics studies the speaker’s meaning
d. Pragmatics studies how and what for the speaker uses the language
2. Which of the following does not belong to linguistics?
a. English pronunciation
b. phonology
c. morphology
d. pragmatics
7. Which of the following statements is not true?
a. A sentence is a group of words linked by grammar to convey a
complete meaning
b. A sentence must contain at least one finite verb
c. A sentence is a group of words out of context
d. An utterance is a group of words context dependent
3. Which of the following is correct about semantics?
a. Semantics is the study of the relation between language and user
b. Semantics is the study of how a speaker uses the language
c. Semantics is the study of the literal meaning of language
d. Semantics is an independent subject
8. Which of the following statements is not true about utterance?
a. The meaning of an utterance is the meanings of the constituent
words
b. An utterance is context bound / dependent
c. The meaning of an utterance depends on the situation in which it is
uttered
d. An utterance is a sentence said in a particular situation
4. Which of the following is not correct about pragmatics?
a. Pragmatics is the study of the speaker’s meaning
b. Pragmatics is the study of the linguistic meaning of language
c. Pragmatics is the study of how a speaker uses the language
d. Pragmatics is the study of the meaning of language in a particular
situation
9. Which of the following statements is not true?
a. It makes sense to talk of the time and place of a proposition.
b. It is meaningless to talk of the time and place of a sentence.
c. A proposition must be meaningful
d. It makes sense to talk of the truth of a sentence or an utterance.
5. Which of the following statements is not true?
a. The objective of semantics is the non-literal meaning of language
b. The objective of linguistics is the language
c. The means to convey the meaning in semantics is the sentence
d. The means to convey the meaning in pragmatics is the utterance
10. Which of the following statements is not true?
a. The pragmatic meaning is the meaning of the words in the
sentence
b. The meaning of an utterance varies with the situation in which it
is said
c. The semantic meaning is the meaning of the words in the sentence
d. The meaning of a sentence is the semantic meaning
