SEMANTICS

SEMANTICS

1. DEFINITIONS THROUGH TIME

   • LYONS (1977): Semantics is the study of the meaning.
     • THERE WASN'T A SPECIFIC ELEMENT/ MEANING OF WHAT?
   • HURFORD & HEASLEY (1983): Semantics is the study of meaning in language
     • THEY CONSIDERED THE LANGUAGE AS JUST WORDS.
   • SAEED (1997): Semantics is the study of meaning communicated trough language.
     • HE ASKED: WHAT IS LANGUAGE DOING WHEN WE ARE EXPRESSING OR COMMUNICATING AN IDEA?
   • LOBNER (2002): Semantics is the part of linguistics that is concerned with meaning.
     • SEMANTICS WAS RECOGNIZED AS PART OF THE LINGUISTICS.
   • FRAWLEY (1992): Linguistic semantics is the study of literal, descontextualized, grammatical meaning.
     • THE LITERAL MEANING OF A WORD IS ITS ORIGINAL, BASIC MEANING.
       • EXAMPLE: HE SUFFERED FROM THE HEART (HE HAD A BAD HEART CONDITION)
     • DESCONTEXTUALIZED: REMOVED FROM THE USUAL CONTEXT.
       • EXAMPLE: LUCIA IS CHATTING WITH HER FRIEND JUNE, LUCIA IS IN VILLAVICENCIO AND JUNE IN BOGOTA. LUCIA WRITES HER: IT'S SO HOT--- IT'S DESCONTEXTUALIZED BECAUSE JUNE ISN'T IN THE SAME ENVIROMENT THAT LUCIA IS.
     • GRRAMATICAL: ACCORDING TO THE GRAMMAR WE HAVE OTHER MEANINGS.
       • EXAMPLE: THE EXPRESSION "THE WEATHER IS NICE" -- WE CAN AFFIRM: THE WEATHER IS NICE, BUT WE CAN ASK TOO: IS THE WEATHER NICE?. AND ALSO, WE CAN EXCLAIM: ¡THE WEATHER IS NICE!
   • KREIDLER (1998): Linguistics semantics is the study of how languages organize and express meaning.
     • WE HAVE TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE CONTEXT, BECAUSE DEPENDING ON THIS, THE INFORMATION OR THE IDEAS CAN BE ORGANIZED OR EXPRESSED IN DIFFERENT WAYS.

2. COMMUNICATION STEPS

   • 1. THINK/ ORGANICE
   • 2. CODIFY/PRODUCE
     • IN THIS STEP WE FIND THE LINGUISTICS
       • HERE, WE MATERIALIZE THE IDEA
         • PHONOLOGY
         • MORPHOLOGY
         • LEXICOLOGY
         • GRAMMAR
   • 3. RECEIVE
   • 4. DECODE
     • IN THESE STEPS WE FIND THE SEMANTICS

3. HISTORY

   • IVTH CENTURY: Semantics was part of the philosophy.
     • SEMANTICS DIDN'T HAVE A CLEAR ROLE
     • ARISTOTLE'S RUMINATIONS ON LANGUAGE AND PANINI'S GRAMMAR
   • DURING MOST OF XXTH CENTURY: Semantics was rejected by American circles.
     • BLOOMFIELD (STRUCTURALISM)
     • CHOMSKY (GENERATIVISM)
       • THE GRAMMAR AND SYNTAX WERE THE MOST IMPORTANT.
         • THEY CONSIDERED THE SEMANTICS WASN'T SOMETHING VISIBLE (INTANGIBLE)
   • BY THE END OF XXTH CENTURY: Semantics was recognized as part of the linguistics.
     • SCHOLARS STARTED TO REBEL AGAINST THE AMERICANS' POSTURES

4. WAYS OF APPROACHING SEMANTICS

   • FORMAL SEMANTICS
     • IT IS BASED ON STRUCTURE AND GRAMMAR.
     • THE MEANING HAS TO BE TOTTALY CLEAR (UNAMBIGUOUS)
     • FOLLOWS FREGE'S PRINCIPLE OF COMPOSITIONALITY
       • THE MEANING OF THE WHOLE IS A FUNCTION OF THE MEANING OF THE PARTS.
     • IT'S CONCERNED WITH HOW WORDS ARE RELATED TO OBJECTS IN THE WORLD AND HOW COMBINATIONS OF WORDS PRESERVE OR NOT THR TRUTH-CONDITIONS OF THEIR COMPONENTS.
   • COGNITIVE SEMANTICS
     • IT'S BASED ON BIOLOGICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL ISSUES.
     • IT GETS THE BODY LANGUAGE AS AN ELEMENT TO UNDERSTAND THE MEANING.

5. OBJECT OF STUDY

   • IT'S MUCH MORE SLIPPERY, MORE ALUSIVE (MEANING).
     • WE HAVE TO GO TO THE NATURE OF THE MEANING (MIND).
     • MEANING: IS THAT SOMETHING THAT WAS IN THE SPREAKER'S MIND AND LATER IS IN THE HEARER'S MIND.
       • THE MOST IMPORTANT TYPES OF MEANING
         • CONNOTATIVE (Subjective)
           • MEANING GIVEN BY THE GROUP IN WHICH WE SOCIALIZED-
         • DENOTATIVE (Objective)
           • MEANING GIVEN BY AN INSTITUTION (OXFORD OR CAMBRIDGE)
     • THE GOAL IS TO ANALIZE "THE MEANING THAT LINGUISTICS ELEMENTS EXPRESS.

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