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2.6 Goals of Semantics
According to Leech 1981:20-21, there are two questions which must be answered concerning with the goals of semantics theory; what should a semantics
theory do and how should it do it? A semantics theory should attribute to each expression in the language which the semantics properties and relations.
The answer to the second question is that a semantics theory should have at least two kinds of constraints:
a Semantics theory of natural language should be finite; people are capable of storing only a finite amount of information but they nevertheless learn the semantics of natural
languages. b Semantics theory of natural language should reflect the fact, except for idioms,
expression are compositional. It means that their meaning is determined by the meaning of its constituents and their grammatical relations.
2.7 Semantic Deviation
It is reasonable to translate semantic deviation mentally into nonsense or absurdity, so long as people realize that sense is used. Semantic deviation deals with what Leech
1968: 49 calls as TROPES: foregrounded irregularities of content’. He states that they are classified largely into three sections:
1 Semantic Oddity,
2 Transference of Meaning, and
3 Honest Deception.
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Leech 1969:48 asserts that there are two types of signals that may help us to know whether a statement is literal or figurative non-literal. The first signal is a textual one,
i.e. the language is identified in some unusual way and does not show literal sense. The second signal is a contextual one; that is the statement has a literal sense but the context
in which it is identified is inappropriate.
A. Semantic Oddity
It refers to semantic bizarreness of expression. Semantic oddity means semantic peculiarity of expression. There are five types of semantic oddity. Pleonasm, periphrasis,
and tautology have semantic redundancy, and oxymoron and paradox have semantic absurdity which contains irreconcilable elements of meaning or reference.
a. Pleonasm
In figurative expression, words are used in such a way that they differ somewhat from ordinary everyday speech and convey meanings in a more vivid and impressive
manner. Pleonasm makes a speech more effective; it beautifies and emphasizes the speech in rhetoric which is the art of speaking and writing effectively.
b. Tautology
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