semantics and semantic development

SEMANTICS AND SEMANTIC DEVELOPMENTPresented by: Mahnoor Fatima

Maryium Bibi Pakiza Mushtaq Irfan Hafeez

SEMANTICS: In linguistic terminology the word semantics is

used to designate the science of word-meaning. The term, however, has acquired a number of

senses in contemporary science. Also, a number of other terms have been proposed to cover the same area of study, namely the study of meaning.

A clearer definition of the meaning (or meanings) of a word is said to contribute to removing the "dogmatism" and "rigidity" of language and to make up for the lack of emotional balance among people which is ultimately due to language.

HISTORY OF SEMANTICS: It has often been pointed out, and for obvious

reasons, that semantics is the youngest branch of linguistics Yet, interest in what we call today "problems of semantics" was quite alive already in ancient times.

In ancient Greece, philosophers spent much time debating the problem of the way in which words acquired their meaning.

The words, in themselves, Socrates points out, give us no clue as to their "natural" meaning, except for the nature of their sounds.

CONTINUED: Towards the end of the century (1897), M.

Bréal published an important book Essay de sémantique.

In many ways it marks the birthday of semantics as a modern linguistic discipline. Bréal did not only provide the name for the new science, which became general in use, but also circumscribed more clearly its subject-matter.

In 1887, ten years ahead of M. Bréal, Lazar Saineanu published a remarkable book on Semantics

CONTINUED: Within this process of development of the

young linguistic discipline, the 1921-1931 decade has a particular significance. It is marked by the publication of three important books By Jost Trier (1931), G. Stern, (1931) and C. K. Ogden and J. A. Richards: The Meaning of Meaning (1923).

SAMENTIC DEVELOPMENT: The average child masters about fifty words

by the age of eighteen months. These might include words such as, milk, water, juice and apple (noun-like words).

Afterwards they acquire 12 to 16 words a day. By the age of six, they master about 13 to 14 thousand words.

The most frequent words include adjective-like expressions for displeasure and rejection such as 'no'. They also include social interaction words, such as "please" and "bye".

THREE STAGES OF LEARNING MEANING OF NEW WORDS: Whole object assumption:

A new word refers to a whole object. For example, when an eighteen-months old child sees a sheep and his mother points at it and says the word 'sheep', the child infers that the word 'sheep' describes the whole animal and not parts of it (such as color, shape, etc.).

Type assumption:A new word refers to a type of thing, not just to a particular thing. For example, when the child hears the word 'sheep' he infers that it is used for the animal type and not only for that particular sheep that he saw.

CONTINUED: Basic level assumption:

A new word refers to objects that are alike in basic ways (appearance, behavior, etc.).

In other words, when the child hears the word "sheep" he overgeneralizes it to other animals that look like sheep by the external appearance, such as white, wooly and four-legged animal.

SEMANTIC ERRORS: Overextension: When a child says or hears a word,

they might associate what they see or hear as more generalized concept than the real meaning of the word. For example, if they say "cat", they might overextend it to other animals with same features.

Underextension: It involves the use of lexical items in an overly restrictive fashion. For example: 'cat' may only refer to the family cat and no other cat, or 'dog' may refer to certain kinds of dogs that the child is exposed to.

Verb meaning: when a pre-school child hears the verb 'fill', he understands it as the action 'pour' rather than the result, which is 'make full'.

MEANINGS When a child adds a new word to their

vocabulary, they are not immediately aware of its full range of meanings.

More time is required to acquire this additional knowledge.

SEMANTIC FEATURES

SEMANTIC ANALYSISWhat's wrong with these sentences?

1. The football kicked the man.2. The burger ate the girl.3. The board marker was dancing.4. The book play.

CONTINUE……. The problem is with the meanings of the

words used. They are wrong SEMANTICALLY. The door kicked the man The ship died. Football and board marker lack the crucial

features or attributes that are required to kick and dance.

They cannot be the subject of these verbs semantically.

SEMANTIC FEATURES Semantic features represent the basic

conceptual components of meaning for any lexical item. An individual semantic feature constitutes one component of a word's intension, which is the inherent sense or concept evoked.

It is a notational method which can be used to express the existence or non-existence of pre-established semantic properties by using plus and minus signs.

+animate / -animate

CONTINUE……………… These features are distributed in the three

types:

1. Category features2. Function features3. Property features

FEATURES OR ATTRIBUTESFeatures

Table Horse Boy Man Girl Woman

Animate

_ + + + + +

Human _ _ + + + +

Female _ _ _ _ + +

Adult _ + _ + _ +

Non-living

+ _ _ _ _ _

SEMANTIC FEATURES Semantic feature analysis allows us to decompose

words into bundles of attributes. This is based on how an event or action is expressed linguistically.

Features that can be considered may be as general as

+animate / -animate +human / -human +male / -male

Or if the words are fairly similar, they may be made as specific as required.

KING and Duke may share the features of being: +male, +human, +adult, +royal

But they are dissimilar in King [+ruler] & Duke [-ruler]

SEMANTIC FEATURES It can be used to describe differences

between antonyms, hyponyms, and near synonyms.

SEMANTIC ROLE

DEFINITION A semantic role is the underlying relationship

that a participant has with the main verb in a clause. Words are not just a “containers” of meanings.

They fulfill different “roles” within the situation described by a sentence. For example: If the situation is a simple event such as

The boy kicked the ball The verb „kicked‟ describes an action. The noun phrases ‘The boy’ and ‘the ball’

describe the roles of entities such as people and things involved in the action.

ROLES Agent Patient or Theme Instrument Experiencer Source Goal Location

AGENT The entity that performs the action is

technically known as “agent”. For example: The boy kicked the ball. As in the sentence one role is taken by the

boy and the boy performs the action, so it is agent.

Although agents are typically human, they can also be non-human forces, machines or creatures.

For example: The wind blew the ball away. The car ran over the ball.

THEME The entity that is involved in or affected by

the action is technically known as “theme”. For example: The boy kicked the ball. o In

this sentence “ball” is the theme because it is affected by the action performed by the ‘agent’.

The theme can also be an entity that is simply being described. For example: The ball was red.

The theme can also be human. Indeed the physical entity can appear in two semantic roles. For example: The boy kicked himself.

INSTRUMENT If an agent uses another entity in performing

an action, that other entity fills the role of instrument.

For example: o She writes a letter. o He have the lunch.

In “writing with a pen” or “eating with a spoon” the phrases “a pen” and “a spoon” have the semantic role of instrument.

EXPERIENCER When a noun phrase designates an entity as

a person who has a feeling, a perception or a state, it fills the role of experiencer.

If we see, know or enjoy something, we do not perform any action. In this way we are in the role of experiencer.

For example: Did you hear that noise? The experiencer is “you” and theme is “that noise”.

LOCATION, SOURCE AND GOAL

LOCATION A number of semantic roles designates where

an entity is in the description of an event. And the entity fills the role of Location.

Location means the specification of the place where the action or event is situated.

Examples: The phone is in my hand. You are sitting on the chair.

SOURCE As there are many semantic roles so another

is Source. When a thing is moved from one place to

another from where it is moved or by which it is moved is called the source.

Examples: We learn psycholinguistics from Ma’am

Manal. Corruption is made by Nawaz Sharif.

GOAL The process starts from the location then it

moves by source and now where actually the thing wants to go is its goal.

Examples: We learned by Ma’am Manal to present

ourselves to her. You are ready to go to home. He threw the book at me.