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Semantics Key Concepts
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1
Question
What is the linguistic study of semantics?
Page 1
Answer
The study of meanings.
2
Question
Who coined the term 'semantics' and when?
Page 1
Answer
The term was coined in the late 19th century by the French linguist Michel Bréal.
3
Question
What is the ancient Greek origin of the word 'semantics'?
Page 1
Answer
It derives from the adjective 'semantikos,' relating to signs based on the noun 'semeion' or sign.
4
Question
How is semantics connected to semiotics?
Page 1
Answer
Semantics is part of semiotics; it is the study of linguistic signs such as words, phrases, sentences, utterances, conventional signs like road signs, computer programs, clock faces, etc.
5
Question
What is semantics as part of grammar?
Page 1
Answer
Semantics is part of a speaker's (listener's) competence.
6
Question
What is the study of signs in general called?
Page 1
Answer
Semiotics.
7
Question
What are the three components of the Semiotic Triangle?
Page 1
Answer
Symbol (Language/Thought), Thought (processes in the mind/brain), Referent.
8
Question
What does the 'Symbol' represent in the Semiotic Triangle?
Page 1
Answer
Language/Thought that comes from human beings and is a product of processes in the mind/brain.
9
Question
What is denotation in language?
Page 1
Answer
Literal meaning.
10
Question
What is connotation in language?
Page 1
Answer
Other possible meanings.
11
Question
Give examples of figurative language.
Page 1
Answer
Metaphors, similes, personification.
12
Question
What are idioms known as in relation to synonyms and antonyms?
Page 1
Answer
They are colloquially known as synonyms and antonyms.
13
Question
What does 'meaning' refer to in semantics?
Page 1
Answer
The idea or intention lying behind a piece of language; the thing referred to by a piece of language, and the translations of words.
14
Question
Why is meaning essential to language?
Page 1
Answer
Between languages. It is what language is for. To have a language without meaning would be like having lungs without air. Central to the experience of using language.
15
Question
How do even everyday words contribute to meaning?
Page 1
Answer
Words such as 'The,' 'Not,' 'Of,' or even interjections such as 'Ouch!' contribute something specific to the meaning of utterances.
16
Question
What are referents in semantics?
Page 2
Answer
Referents are things, events or situations in the world or language is about.
17
Question
What are the only referents we know?
Page 2
Answer
The ones perceived by our senses or imagined in our minds.
18
Question
What are symbols in spoken and written language?
Page 2
Answer
In spoken language, symbols will be strings of speech sounds. In written language, they will be marked on the page. In sign language, they will be hand signs.
19
Question
What problem exists in distinguishing knowledge from world knowledge in meaning?
Page 2
Answer
E.g., what is the meaning of the word 'ostrich'? Is 'man' or 'ostrich' knowledge of the meaning independent of your experience of the world? Are you born with an innate knowledge of such words?
20
Question
How do we account for the relationship between words and concepts?
Page 2
Answer
How do we decode the meaning of words?
21
Question
What is a lexeme?
Page 2
Answer
The name of the abstract unit which unites all the morphological variants of a single word.
22
Question
What is the sense of a lexeme?
Page 2
Answer
The general underlying meaning of the word, while the concept's underlying is the object which it stands for on a specific occasion of use.
23
Question
Give an example of sense with 'queen.'
Page 2
Answer
The queen has fallen off the table (assuming that the table is a certain piece of English royal furniture).
24
Question
What is a referent?
Page 2
Answer
The particular thing, person, place, so on, which an expression stands for on a particular occasion of use, and it changes each time the word is applied to a different object or situation in the world.
25
Question
Give examples of varying referents for 'home.'
Page 2
Answer
Home can be food.
26
Question
How does a word's 'sense' remain stable?
Page 2
Answer
A word's 'sense' does not change every time the word takes on a new referent.
27
Question
Give an example of stable sense with 'queen.'
Page 2
Answer
A queen is a 'female reigning monarch.' It can also mean queen in chess, but it possesses one role.
28
Question
What is denotation?
Page 2
Answer
Dictionary meaning of a word.
29
Question
What is connotation?
Page 2
Answer
Meanings of a word with secondary, level of formality, as emotional force, level of formality.
30
Question
What are the levels of meaning?
Page 2
Answer
1. Sentential meaning as built up from the meanings of the individual words of the sentence (ex: 'hello' as its literal meaning (greeting)). 2. Compositional meaning as literal, up from the meanings of the individual words of the sentence.