2.2 Scope of Semantics
There is no very general agreement either about the nature of meaning or about the way in which it should be described. Semantics is the study of the
linguistics meaning. It is not concerned with what sentences and other linguistics object expressed. It is not concerned with the arrangements of syntactic parts, or with
their pronunciation. Semantic could cover more extensive areas, from structure and function of language as well as the interrelationship with other discipline.
There are two way major approaches to the way in which meaning in language is studied. The first is linguistics approach. The students of language or
linguists have been long interested in the way in which meaning in a language structured. There have been studies of meanings of words and the semantic structure
of sentences. Some of them also have distinguished between types of meanings in the language. The second is philosophical approach. Philosophers have investigated
the relation between linguistics expression, such as the words of language and person, things and events in the world to which these words refer.
Although there may be different approaches to semantics, these three basic terms seem to be widely mentioned in each of these approaches, i.e. meaning,
varieties of meaning, and sense and reference.
2.2.1 Meaning
Semantics is generally defined as the study of meaning and this is the definition that we will provisionally adopt. The principal of semantics is what is to
be understood by ‘meaning’. It has been customary for semanticists to emphasize the fact that the noun ‘meaning’ and the verb to ‘mean’ themselves have many
distinguishable meanings. Some idea of the range of their meanings may be obtained from a consideration of the following sentences :
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1 What is the meaning of ‘philosophy’ ? The word meaning as a noun in this sentence. According to the circumstances in
which this question is asked, the kind of word philosophy is and the context in which it is being employed. We should expect the answer to this question to differ, not only
in detail, but even in general type.
2 Dark clouds mean rain Certain of the meanings can be distinguished by the technique of substituting other
words in the same context and enquiring whether the resulting sentences are equivalent. The verb mean in sentence above can be substituted with sign without
changing the total meaning of the sentence. 3
He means well, but rather clumsy
4 My father rarely means what he says
The notion of intention seems to be relevant also to our understanding of both sentences above, though each use of verb mean here appears to be somewhat
different from the others and the substitution of intend for mean might be held to effect some change in the meaning of the sentences. If the sentence 3 implies that
he is well-intentioned, that he intends no harm but just a little bit nervous, the sentence 4 implies that the father has no intends to say something clearly.
From examples above we can see the variations meaning of meaning. C.K.Ogden and I.A.Richards in their book “The Meanings of Meaning” which is
quoted by Crystal 1987:100 introduces some meanings of meaning. They are constructed in some sentences :
5 Maya means to go now. Means: intends
6 A red light means stop. Means: indicates
7 You mean everything to me. Means: has important
8 His face is look of meaning. Meaning: special import
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9 What is the meaning of being your wife ? Meaning: point, purpose
2.2.2 The Varieties of Meaning
Language is used for various activities and purposes in social life. The function of language is not solely to provide information to hearers and readers.
Studying a language without the reference of meaning is like studying a road sign from the point of view of the physical properties how much the weight, what is the
color, how big the sign is, and so on, not studying the implicit meaning of the sign. Geoffrey Leech 1981 notes seven varieties of meaning. They are as
follow:
1. Conceptual meaning is logical, cognitive, or denotative content. For
example the word MAN has the following denotative, cognitive, or logical content as HUMAN, MALE, ADULT
2. Connotative meaning is what is communicated by virtue of what
language refers to. For example, the word BOY has the connotation ‘STRONG’ and LION the connotation ‘CRUEL’.
3. Social meaning, is what is communicated of the social circumstances of
language use. For example, HOME, RESIDENCE, ABODE, and DOMICILE can have the same conceptual meaning, but they convey the
different social circumstances of their use.
4. Affective meaning is what is communicated of the feelings and attitudes
of the speaker or writer. For example, if you are getting someone to go from your room, you might say “I’m terrible sorry to interrupt, but I
wonder if you would be so kind as to leave me alone in this room”.
5. Reflected meaning is what is communicated through association with
another sense of the same expression. For example, it has become increasingly difficult to use terms like gozaimas, gambattekudasai,
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konichiwa, and sushi without conjuring up their Japanese associations.
6. Collocative meaning is what is communicated through association with
words which tend to occur in the environment of another word. For example, BEAUTIFUL collocates WOMAN while HANDSOME
collocates MAN.
7. Thematic meaning is what is communicated by the way in which the
message is organized in terms of order, focus, and emphasis. For example,
a. The MNC Group donated insurance to Oktavianus Maniani as
the best player of the year.
b. Oktavianus Maniani was donated insurance by The MNC Group
as the best player of the year.
In this thesis, the writer used theory of meaning in general based on Siregar 1922 said. There are two kinds of meaning in semantics; they are Linguistic
meaning and Speaker meaning. Linguistic meaning is meaning of expression in some form of the language. The linguistics meaning is determined by the meaning of its
constituents and their grammatical relations. For example :
a. Be careful of a sharp bend in the road
b. Please don’t bend this paper
c. He try to bend every effort to be a champion
In those examples, the bend has more than one linguistics meaning based on the dictionary.
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Speaker meaning is what a speaker means in producing an utterance. It consists of literal meaning and non-literal meaning. When we speak clearly without
any interpretation from the hearer, it is called literal meaning. By using literal meaning, it is not difficult to understand what the speaker means by saying the
words. To make it clear, they constructed as follows:
a. We are English Literature Student
b. Would you help me, please ?
c. I am finishing my thesis now
d. How are you ?
All the sentences above are clear to understand. We do not need to think a lot to understand what the speaker meaning. Those sentences are very common to us.
Sometimes we mean something different from what our words mean. In other words, we sometimes speak non-literally. If we are speaking non-literally it is called non-
literal meaning. There are several ways of speaking non-literally. First is using idiom. Idiom is a group of words with set meaning that cannot be calculated by
adding up the separate meaning of the parts. The meaning of an idiomatic expression cannot be predicted either lexically or grammatically. Another way of speaking non-
literally is by using the figure of speech. They are described by a large set rhetorical terms, such as facetious , exaggerated, and figurative ways.
2.2.3 Sense and Reference
Words other than proper names both have a meaning and can be used to refer to things or objects. The reference of a word is the object designated, while the sense
of a word is the additional meaning. On the other hand Palmer 1976:30 defines reference and sense as follows:
“Reference deals with the relationship between the linguistics elements, words, sentence, etc. And the non-linguistics world of experience. Sense relates to
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the complex system of relationships that hold between linguistics elements themselves mostly the words; it is concerned only with intra-linguistics relaions.”
Reference is the relation between words and entities which is being talked about in the world of experience. For example, the word ‘sunglasses’ has a certain
meaning, an outer covering eye from the sunshine, typically made of plastic. In addition, the word ‘sunglasses’ also posseses a characteristic which is known as
“reference”, that is the ability of the word ‘sunglasses’ to refer to a certain kind of protective item for eye.
Sense relationships also form an important part of the study of a language. A word or lexeme does not merely ‘have’ meaning; it contributes to the meaning of the
larger until, a phrase, clause or sentence. For example, the sense of the word ‘library’ in these two following examples is different:
a. VJ. Daniel always checks his wardrobe. wardrobe means a
collection of dresses
b. The wardrobe is at the corner of the mall. wardrobe means a room
where dresses are organized and sold
The difference between sense and reference can be described from what Hurford 1980 states :
“Every expression that has meaning has sense, but not every expression has reference”
The explanation from statement above is by these examples; ‘I love rose ’ and ‘I love Rose’. From the examples above, both examples refer to a certain thing.
Although they have the same sentence, but actually the sense is different. The phrase ‘I love rose’ describes ‘rose is one kind of flower’ and ‘I love Rose’ describes ‘Rose
as a name of certain girl’.
The referent of an expression is often a thing or person in the world. Whereas the sense of an expression is not a thing at all. The sense of expression is an
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abstraction, but it is helpful to note that it is an abstraction that can be entertained in the mind of language user.
2.3 Goals of Semantic Theory
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