Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
AN INTRODUCTION
SEMANTICS
The term semantics is a recent addition to English
Language (1948)
Taken from the word Greek noun sema which means
sign or signal, and verb semaino which means signal
or mean.
The study of meaning (Matthews/Aitchison)
The study of meaning in a language (Hurford &
Heasley)
The study of meaning communicated through
language (Saeed)
The focus is to analyze speakers semantic knowledge
Definition Theory (this theory would simply state that
to give the meaning of linguistic expression, we
should give definition of meaning of words
MEANING
The word mean can be applied to the
speakers/authors in sense of intend and to
words and sentences in a different sense, in a
sense of equivalent to
Thus, meaning can be categorized into
Speaker meaning
(What the speaker intends to convey
Sentence Meaning (or Word Meaning)
(What is a sentence/words means)
ILLUSTRATION OF SENTENCE/WORD
MEANING
.. that shows that there are three hundred and sixty-four days when
you might get un-birthday presents.
Certainly, said Alice.
And only one for birthday present, you know. Theres glory for you!
I dont know what you mean by glory, Alice said
Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. Of course you dont till I tell
you. I meant there is a nice knockdown argument for you.
But Glory doesnt mean a nice knockdown argument, Alice objected.
When I used a word, Humpty dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, It
means just what I choose it to meanneither more nor less.
The question is, said Alice, whether you can make words mean so
many different things.
The question is, said humpty dumpty, which is to be masterthats
all.