Understanding Semantics: The Study of Meaning in Language

 
Semantics
Semantics is the branch of linguistics
that deals with the study of meaning,
changes in meaning, and the
principles that govern the relationship
between sentences or words and their
meanings.
It is the study of the relationships
between signs and symbols and what
they represent.
 
What is semantics?
Semantics is the study of meaning in
language. It is a wide subject within the
general study of language.
An understanding of semantics is
essential to the study of language
acquisition (how language users acquire a
sense of meaning, as speakers and
writers, listeners and readers).
It is also essential to the study of
language change (how meanings alter
over time).
 
It is important for understanding language
in social contexts, as these are likely to
affect meaning, and for understanding
varieties of English and effects of style.
It is thus one of the most fundamental
concepts in linguistics.
The study of semantics includes the study
of how meaning is constructed,
interpreted, clarified, obscured, illustrated,
simplified, negotiated, contradicted, and
paraphrased.
 
Some important areas of semantic theory or
related subjects include these:
 
 
Symbol and referent
 
 
Conceptions of meaning
 
 
Words and lexemes
 
 
Denotation, connotation, implication
 
 
Pragmatics
 
 
Ambiguity
 
 
Metaphor, simile and symbol
 
 
Semantic fields
 
Synonym, antonym and hyponym
Collocation, fixed expression and idiom
Semantic change and etymology
Polysemy
Homonymy, homophones and
homographs
Lexicology and lexicography
Thesauruses, libraries and Web portals
Epistemology
Colour
 
The noun semantics and the adjective
semantic are derived from the Greek
word
 semantikos
 (“significant”).
In 
linguistics
,
 
semantics is the
subfield that is devoted to the study of
meaning, as borne on the syntactic
levels of 
words, phrases, sentences
,
and sometimes larger units of
discourse, generically referred to as
texts
.
 
 
 
For thousands of years, philosophers
have pondered the meaning of
meaning, yet speakers of a language
can understand what is said to them
and can produce strings of words that
are meaningful to other speakers.
 
To understand language we need to
know the meaning of words and
the morphemes that compose
them. We also must know how the
meanings of words combine into
phrases and sentence meanings.
Finally, we must consider context
when determining meaning.
The study of the linguistic
meaning of morphemes, words,
phrases, and sentences is called
Semantics.
 
Subfields of semantics are lexical (of or
relating to the vocabulary, words, or
morphemes of a language) semantics,
which is concerned with the meanings
of words, and the meaning
relationships among words; and phrasal
or sentential semantics, which is
concerned with the meaning of
syntactic units larger than the word.
 
 
 
The study of how context affects
meaning is called 
Pragmatics
.
 
For example, the sentence "It's cold
in here" can be interpreted in certain
situations as "close the windows".
 
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously
 
The sentence 
"Colorless green ideas
sleep furiously"
 was presented by
Chomsky as a great example of a series
of words strung together randomly.  It
grammatical according to the lexical
classification, however, it is non-sense
on a semantic level. Or so goes the
claim.  But is the claim correct?
 
 
According to a well-established usage
of the word 
"green"
, a green idea is
one that is new and untried.  Again, a
colorless idea is one without vividness,
dull, and unexciting.  So it follows that
a colorless green idea is a new, untried
idea that is without vividness, dull, and
unexciting.
 
 
To sleep is, among other things, to be
in a state of dormancy or inactivity, or
in a state of unconsciousness.  To sleep
furiously may seem a puzzling turn of
phrase but one reflects that the mind in
sleep often indeed moves furiously with
ideas and images flickering in and out.
 
So, what is the poet telling us? (One
assumes that the quoted line is from
the work of a poet working in a
medium of studied precision and
ambiguity.  Or rather, as we shall see...)
Very simply the poet seems to be saying
that new ideas, not yet sharply defined,
circulate in the unconscious, rapidly
altering at a furious rate.
 
One is left then with a question.  Why is
this nice bit of poetic imagery cited by its
author as a quintessentially meaningless
sentence?  Here we have an exquisite bit
of irony.  The author evidently has a turn
for poetry, a turn which he turns his face
against.  And the hidden face, the denied
self, has taken its revenge.  The scientist
has called on his creative self to exhibit a
bit of nonsense.
 
The poet denied has replied with a
sentence, apparently meaningless, which
is no such thing when listened to with an
attentive ear.  And yet consider; this
sentence is a very intellectualized
production - it is indeed "colorless".  It
was, we suspect, a new idea, a variant of
a possibility, still new at the very moment
of production, one occurring by chance
in the froth of the unconscious.
 
 
 
 
In short, the cited sentence was a
colorless green idea that had slept
furiously.
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Semantics is the branch of linguistics focusing on meaning, exploring how words, sentences, and symbols convey and represent ideas. It is crucial for language acquisition, change, social contexts, and linguistic analysis. Important aspects include symbol and referent relationships, denotation, connotation, pragmatics, ambiguity, metaphor, and semantic fields.


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  1. An Introduction to Semantics

  2. Semantics Semantics is the branch of linguistics that deals with the study of meaning, changes in meaning, principles that govern the relationship between sentences or words and their meanings. It is the study of the relationships between signs and symbols and what they represent. and the

  3. What is semantics? Semantics is the study of meaning in language. It is a wide subject within the general study of language. An understanding essential to the acquisition (how language users acquire a sense of meaning, writers, listeners and readers). It is also essential to the study of language change (how meanings alter over time) of semantics of is study language as speakers and

  4. It is important for understanding language in social contexts, as these are likely to affect meaning, and for understanding varieties of English and effects of style. It is thus one of the most fundamental concepts in linguistics. The study of semantics includes the study of how meaning interpreted, clarified, obscured, illustrated, simplified, negotiated, contradicted, and paraphrased. is constructed,

  5. Some important areas of semantic theory or related subjects include these: Symbol and referent Conceptions of meaning Words and lexemes Denotation, connotation, implication Pragmatics Ambiguity Metaphor, simile and symbol Semantic fields

  6. Synonym, antonym and hyponym Collocation, fixed expression and idiom Semantic change and etymology Polysemy Homonymy, homographs Lexicology and lexicography Thesauruses, libraries and Web portals Epistemology Colour homophones and

  7. The noun semantics and the adjective semantic are derived from the Greek word semantikos ( significant ). In linguistics, semantics subfield that is devoted to the study of meaning, as borne on the syntactic levels of words, phrases, sentences, and sometimes discourse, generically referred to as texts. is the larger units of

  8. For thousands of years, philosophers have pondered the meaning, yet speakers of a language can understand what is said to them and can produce strings of words that are meaningful to other speakers. meaning of

  9. To understand language we need to know the meaning of words and the morphemes them. We also must know how the meanings of words combine into phrases and sentence meanings. Finally, we must consider context when determining meaning. The study of meaning of morphemes, words, that compose the linguistic

  10. Subfields of semantics are lexical (of or relating to the vocabulary, words, or morphemes of a language) semantics, which is concerned with the meanings of words, and relationships among words; and phrasal or sentential semantics, concerned with syntactic units larger than the word. the meaning which is of the meaning

  11. The study of how context affects meaning is called Pragmatics. For example, the sentence "It's cold in here" can be interpreted in certain situations as "close the windows".

  12. Colorless green ideas sleep furiously The sentence "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously" was Chomsky as a great example of a series of words strung together randomly. It grammatical according to the lexical classification, however, it is non-sense on a semantic level. Or so goes the claim. But is the claim correct? presented by

  13. According to a well-established usage of the word "green", a green idea is one that is new and untried. Again, a colorless idea is one without vividness, dull, and unexciting. So it follows that a colorless green idea is a new, untried idea that is without vividness, dull, and unexciting.

  14. To sleep is, among other things, to be in a state of dormancy or inactivity, or in a state of unconsciousness. To sleep furiously may seem a puzzling turn of phrase but one reflects that the mind in sleep often indeed moves furiously with ideas and images flickering in and out.

  15. So, what is the poet telling us? (One assumes that the quoted line is from the work of a poet working in a medium of studied ambiguity. Or rather, as we shall see...) Very simply the poet seems to be saying that new ideas, not yet sharply defined, circulate in the unconscious, rapidly altering at a furious rate. precision and

  16. One is left then with a question. Why is this nice bit of poetic imagery cited by its author as a quintessentially meaningless sentence? Here we have an exquisite bit of irony. The author evidently has a turn for poetry, a turn which he turns his face against. And the hidden face, the denied self, has taken its revenge. The scientist has called on his creative self to exhibit a bit of nonsense.

  17. The poet denied has replied with a sentence, apparently meaningless, which is no such thing when listened to with an attentive ear. And yet consider; this sentence is a very production - it is indeed "colorless". It was, we suspect, a new idea, a variant of a possibility, still new at the very moment of production, one occurring by chance in the froth of the unconscious. intellectualized

  18. In short, the cited sentence was a colorless green idea that had slept furiously.

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