Lexical Semantics
What is semantics?
SEMANTICS is the technical term used to refer to the study of meaning.
The term semantics and meanings
The term semantics is a recent addition to the English
language
Timeline for “semantics”
Timeline for “semantics”
•17th Centaury: semantick philosophy
divination
•1894 Timeline for “semantics”
semantics in a paper read to the
American Philological Association entitled
'Reflected meanings: a point in semantics'
Timeline for “semantics”
•1897 semantique
coined from the Greek by M. Breal.
Michel Jules Alfred Bréal
In both cases the term was not used simply to refer to meaning, but to its development - with what we shall later call 'historical semantics'.
•1900 Timeline for “semantics”
semantics It treated semantics as the
'science of meaning,It was not primarily concerned with the historical change of
meaning
Yet the term
semantics did not catch on for some
time
•1923Timeline for “semantics”
semantics
Yet semantics does not occur in the main body of the book itself.
However, it appears in an appendix, which is itself a classic in the field,
entitled The problem of meaning in primitive
languages, written by the anthropologist, B.
Malinowski.
Semantics: other terms
H. G. Wells
signifies
semasiologysemologysemioticssememics
semics
The term meaning is much more familiar to
us all
The term semantics and meanings
The dictionary will suggest a number of
different meanings of meaning, or, more
correctly, of the verb mean,
Ogden and Richards were able to list no less than
sixteen different meanings that have been favoured by 'reputable scholars'.
Those clouds mean thunder
A red light means 'stop’
I mean to be there tomorrow.
intend
Sign: Natural
Sign: conventional
Signs indicate something that• is happening, •will happen, or•has to be done.
Such signs provide information or give
instructions, and it is easy to assume that language
consists of signs of a similar kind.
•The most relevant use of the terms for our purposes is found in such sentences as
What does 'calligraphy' mean?
‘Calligraphy' is beautiful handwriting.
• In stating meaning, we are obliged to produce a term that is more familiar than the one whose meaning is being questioned
ScientologyNanotechnology
Sobajo
Foreign language
Obscure term
Technical term
What is ‘Scientology’?
What is ‘nanotechnology’?
What is ‘friend’ in Umbararo language?
sobajo
We translate from obscure terms,
technical terms, or a foreign language into
words that can be easily understood.
ALICE IN WONDERLAND
Humpty Dumpty
“I don't know what you mean by 'glory,' " Alice said.
Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. "Of course you don't—till I tell you. I
meant 'there's a nice knock-down argument for you!' “
"But 'glory' doesn't mean 'a nice knock-down argument'," Alice objected.
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less."
"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."
• 'Then you should say what you mean', the March Hare went on. • 'I do', Alice hastily replied; 'at
least - at least I mean what I say -that's the same thing, you know'. • 'Not the same thing a bit', said
the Hatter.
If our words have a meaning, how can we fail to say what we mean?
or How can the words fail to
mean what they mean?
A BIG QUESTION
ANSWERwe wish to suggest that the words do not mean what they might most
obviously be thought to mean.
There is some other meaning besides
the 'literal' meaning of the words
How can we achieve this?
• Intonation patterns.
This is all what I need.
A wink
Sarcasm You’re very
clever!
Semantics is a part of linguistics, the scientific study of
language.