semantics CAP 1

SEMANTICS IN LINGUISTICS

UNDERSTANDING LANGUAGE

BASIC CONCEPTS

BASIC IDEAS

Semantics is the study of meaning communicated through language

Levels of analysis

Phonology: the study of what sounds a language has and how these sounds combine into sentences

Syntax: The study of how words can be combined into sentences

Semantics: The study of the meaning of words and sentences

Semantic Knowledge

Speaker's knowledge of linguistic description, it allows to know:

1. Same situation

2. Contradict sentences

3. Ambiguous sentences

4. Similar sentences

Semiotics: Types of relationship that may hold between a sign and its object

ISSUES OF ANALYSING SEMANTICS

SOLVING SEMANTIC'S ISSUES

THE LINK OF SEMANTICS AND GRAMMAR

ICON: Similarity between a sign and what it represents

INDEX: The sign is closely associated with its signified

SYMBOL: A conventional link between the sign and its signified

CIRCULARITY: The problem of defining word and defining its meaning

THE EXACT WORD'S MEANING: Problems within the search of the meaning of words

CONTEXT: The issue of context that defines the meaning of a word

Semantic metalanguage: It describes the semantic units and rules of all languages, it works as a tool of description

A split in an expression's meaning

A big amount of knowledge in order to use a word

Conventional or Literal meaning

Investigate the role of contextual information in communication

Try to establish theories of how speakers amalgamate knowledge of context with linguistic knowledge

Linguistic knowledge forms distinct modules

Meaning is a product of all linguistic levels

Mental lexicon as a body of knowledge

Productivity

Create new words: infrequent occurrence

Create sentences: regular issue

Composition

The meaning of an expression is determined by:

The meaning of its component parts and the way in which they are combined

The meaning of linguistic expressions derives from two sources:

The language they are part of and the world they describe

Words derive their value from their position within the language system

Three terms used to describe different levels of language

Utterance: created by speaking a piece of language

Sentences: Abstract grammatical elements obtained from utterances

Propositions: A further step of abstraction for special purposes

Neutral and untrue speakers

Speakers who use an accurate way, but speakers who deliberate something in impossible terms in order to achieve special effects

Transmission of meaning through language

Pragmatics: investigation of the user of a language

Semantics: Analyse the expressions and their designata