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.