Semantics

Semantics

1. Semantics is the study of meaning. This science studies conceptual meaning, not the associative one.

   • Conceptual meaning is the one found on the dictionary while associative meaning is the one affected by your personal experience.
     • Semantics looks to find out how meaning is produced and why it is more complex than just "this means what I say". I know what an apple is, what you means, and so on, how? and why? Semantics studies how do we understand language and create meaning.

2. "The apple ate the cat" sounds strange, but why? Semantic features can help us understand. +human - human, +animate - animate, are added to the characteristics of a word as semantic features. They help us understand that eat can't be - human - animate, that's why an apple can't eat. An apple is -human -animate.