PART THREE

SEMANTICS: BASIC IDEAS IN SEMANTICS (SENTENCE, UTTERANCE, AND PROPOSITION)

I. INTRODUCTION

Linguistics is a scientific study of language. Linguistics encompasses a number of subfields. An important

topical division is between the study of language structure (grammar) and the study of meaning (semantics and
pragmatics). Grammar encompasses morphology (the formation and composition of words), syntax (the rules
that determine how words combine into phrases andsentences) and phonology (the study of sound systems
and abstract sound units). Semantics is also a component of linguistics of the samekind as grammar. It
encompasses the meaning of words, sentences, and utterances; pragmatics studies the way in which context
contributes to meaning of the speaker. In this paper, we will discuss about basic ideas of semantics such as
sentence, utterance, and proposition. We are studying what is known as semantics: how words have individual
meaning, and can be used to refer to entities in the external world (reference).

II. BASIC IDEAS IN SEMANTICS

A. ABOUT SEMANTICS

Semantics is the study of the meaning in language.1 The word "semantics" itself denotes a range of ideas,
from the popular to the highly technical. It is often used inordinary language to denote a problem of understanding
that comes down to word selection orconnotation. This problem of understanding has been the subject of many
formal inquiries, over a long period of time, most notably in the field of formal semantics. In linguistics, it is the
study of interpretation of signs or symbols as used by agents or communities within particular circumstances and
contexts. Within this view, sounds, facial expressions, body language, have semantic (meaningful) content, and
each has several branches of study. In written language, such things as paragraph, structure and punctuation have
semantic content; in other forms of language, there is other semantic content.

The formal study of semantics intersects with many other fields of inquiry,including
lexicon, syntax, pragmatics, etymology and others, although semantics is a well- defined field in its own right,

1
Harimurti, Kridalaksana. Pesona Bahasa: Langkah Awal Memahami Linguistik. Jakarta: Gramedia. 2005.Hal. 114
often with synthetic properties. Inphilosophy of language, semantics and reference are related fields. Further
related fields include philology, communication,and semiotics. The formal study of semantics is therefore
complex.

Semantics is sometimes contrasted with syntax, the study of the symbols of a language (without
reference to their meaning), and pragmatics, the study of the relationships between the symbols of a language,
their meaning, and the users of the language.

In linguistics, semantics is the subfield dealing with the study of meaning, as inherent at the levels of
words, phrases, sentences, and larger units of discourse (referred to as texts). The basic area of study is the
meaning of signs, and the study of relations between different linguistic units:
homonymy, synonymy, antonymy, polysemy, paronyms, hypernymy, and hyponymy. A key concern is how
meaning attaches to larger chunks of text, possibly as a result of the composition from smaller units of meaning.
Traditionally, semantics has included the study of sense and denotative reference, truth conditions, argument
structure, thematic roles, discourse analysis,and the linkage of all of these to syntax.2

B. SENTENCE
A sentence is neither a physical event n or a physical object. It is, conceived abstractly, a string of words
put together by the grammatical rules of a language.3 A sentence can be thought of as the ideal string of words
behind various realizations inutterances and inscriptions or a string of words satisfying the grammatical rules of a
language for example "he always spoke in grammatical sentences". In linguistics, a sentence is a grammatical
unit of one or more words, bearing minimal syntactic relation to the words that precede or follow it, often preceded
and followed in speech by pauses, having one of a small number of characteristic intonation patterns, and typically
expressing an independent statement, question, request, command, etc.
Sentences are generally characterized in most languages by the presence of a finite verb,e.g. "The quick
brown fox jumps over the lazy dog". According to James R. Hurford, sentence definition is a grammatically
complete string of words expressing a complete thought. For example, “we are going to learn
aboutEnglish”. We are going to is not a sentences.

2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantics
3
James, Hurford. Semantics: A Coursebook. Cambridge: Cambride University Press, 1994. Pg. 16
 C. UTTERANCE
In this part, we will focus on both spoken language and written language. It is important to define one of
the basic ideas in semantics, the utterance. An utterance is any stretch of talk, by one person, before and after which
there issilence on the part of that person.4 An utterance is the use by particular speaker on aparticular occasion of a
piece of language, such a sequence of sentences, or a single phrase,or even a single word. Let us check some
examples out below :

(a) “The plane now arriving is Garuda Airlines”.

(b) “Horses”.
(c) “Hummmpfh”’
(d) “Pxdgytguaargh”.

It is clear that we call the first sentence as utterance because it is a kind of sentenceuses by a person on a
particular occasion. It is an utterance spoken by an airport officer. Admittedly utterance sometimes consists of
single word, such as in example (2). It is simply enough to imagine a situation in which someone say
“Horses”. But even in such cases it is reasonable to treat this utterance as a sentence, but as incomplete
sentence (some grammarians refer to them as minor sentence). Give them a context, so they can be completed.
Thus horses may be a replay to “What are those animals?” and thus seen as an incomplete
version of “They are Horses.”

In example (3) we also call it as utterancebecause from it we can understand that it describes
somebody‘s feeling of tiredness. But we cannot say that example no. (4) as an utterance because this string
of sounds is not from any language. Utterances are physical events. Events are ephemeral, which means lasting for
avery short time. So that, utterances die on the wind.

Besides, many people mistakenly think that complete sentences are the norm in bothspeech and writing.5
However, as Carter and Cornbleet (2003:3) correctly observe, “We do not set out to speak in
sentences – in fact, in informal speech we rarely do that – rather, we set out to achieve a purpose which

4
Ibid, Pg. 15
5
Charles F, Mayer. Introducing English Linguistics. Cambridge: CambrideUniversity Press. 2009. Pg. 4
may or may not require full, accurate sentences”. To illustrate this point, consider the short excerpt below
taken from an actual conversation :

Speaker A: “Lots of people are rolling skating, lots of people do rollerblade”.

Speaker B: “Just running around the city”.

Speaker A: “Mainly in Golden GatePark”.

Speaker A‘s first turn contains two grammatical sentences: constructions consisting of a
subject (lots of people in both sentences) and a finite verb (are and do, respectively). In contrast, Speaker B‘s
turn and Speaker A‘s second turn do not contain sentences: B‘s turn contains a construction centered
on the verbal element running; A‘s turn is the prepositional phrase. But while these turns do not contain
complete sentences, they are meaningful.

Implied in B‘s turn, for instance, is that who are roller skating “running aroundthe city” and
in A‘s turn that they are skating “mainly in Golden GatePark.” Therefore, in when discussing utterance
in semantics, a category that includes not just sentence but any construction that is meaningful in the context in
which it occurs. To differentiate utterance and sentence we usually use quotation mark (“…”) in written
form of utterance.

D. PROPOSITION
Proposition is that part of meaning of the utterance of a declarative sentence whichdescribe some state of
affairs. The state of affairs typically involves or things referred to byexpressions in the sentence. Beside declarative
sentence, proposition also clearly invo in the meaning of interrogatives and imperatives sentences. In uttering
declarative sentence a speaker typically asserts a proposition, for example, “Could you mind to
close the door, please?”, “Close the door now!”.

In these two sentences, the speaker asserted proposition. The relation among sentences, utterances and
proposition is not direct as sense andmeaning, but there is a similarity. Both referring and uttering are acts
performed byparticular occasion. A proposition is something abstract but meaningful. It consists of something
wediscussed and some explanations or facts about an argument. It can be expressed indifferent sentences and in
parts of sentences, perhaps with differences of focus but alwayswith the same basic meaning. Look at the example
below.

Sentence Proposition

Jack‘s girl friend, Jane, who is a nurse, likes oranges. (1) Jack has a girl friend.

(2) Her name is Jane.

(3) Jane is a nurse.

(4) Jane likes oranges.

From the example above, a sentence can has many meanings. There are some facts which we can get
from a sentence. In short, any sentences can be expressed in different utterances, produced by different people at
different times and in different places.

Proposition

Sentence Sentence Sentence

Utterance Utterance Utterance Utterance Utterance Utterance

III. CONCLUSION

We shall use the term ‘proposition’, ‘sentence’, and ‘utterance’ in such a way that anything
that can be said of propositions can also be said of utterances, but not necessarily vice versa, and anything that can
be said of sentences can also be said utterances, but notonly necessarily vice versa. We have already seen an
example of this when we said it wassensible to talk of a sentence being in a particular language, and also sensible to
talk of anutterance being in a particular language, although one cannot talk of a proposition being ina particular
language. According to some explanations above, we can simplify that sentence, utterance,and proposition can be
differentiated based on some characteristics below :6

6
Op.cit, Pg. 22
 Characteristics Utterances Sentences Propositions
Can be loud or quiet + _ _
Can be grammatical or not + + _
Can be true or false + + +
In a particular regional accent + _ _
In a particular language + + _

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Linguistics
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Meyer, Charles W.
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English Linguistics
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http://id.scribd.com/doc/73495552/3/II-BASIC-IDEAS-IN-SEMANTICS