Infact, there are at least two major approaches to the way in which meaning in language is studied, the first is the linguistic approach. The student of
language or linguists have long been interested in the way in which meaning in a language is structured. There have been studies of the meanings of words and the
semantic structure of sentences. Some of them also have distinguished between different types of meaning in language. The second is philosophical approach.
Philosophers have investigated the relation between linguistic expression, such as the word of language, and person, things, and events in the world to which the
word refer. The answer of the scope of Semantics should relate to all meaningfull
utterance of language and relationship of meaning, which is contained by the utterance. In other words, the scope of Semantics is the characterization of
meaning and its relations. Although there may be different approaches to semantics, three basic terms seem to be widely mentioned in each of these
approach, i.e. meaning, sense, and reference.
2.2.1 Meaning
The term meaning is simply derived fom the word mean. The noun “meaning” has a number of definitions as suggested by semanticists. For example,
Leech 1981: 23 notes tree points of meaning, they are: 1. Meaning involves the speaker’s intention to convey a certain meaning,
which may or may not be evident from the message itself. 2. Consequently, interpretation by the hearer is likely to depend on the
context.
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3. Meaning in the sense, is something, which is performed rather than something that exists in a static way. It involves action the speaker
produces and effects on the hearer and interaction the meaning being negotiated between the speaker and hearer on the basis of their mutual
knowledge. There are some definitions of meaning from linguists, such as:
• Meaning is a word of ordinary, everyday vocubalary of English
Lyon, 1977:4. •
Meaning are ideas or concepts, which can be transferred from the mind of the speaker to the mind of the speaker to the mind of the hearer by
embodying them, as it was, in the forms of language or another Dongoran, 1991:1.
• Meaning is a complex phenomenon involving relationship between a
language and the mind of its speakers and the practical use to which it is put Nikelas, 1988:231.
Dictionary gives different definitions of the term meaning, such as: 1.
Meaning : What is meant or intended 2.
Meaning : What is meant, significance 3.
Meaning : What is understood by a word sentence, etc. From the definitions, it can be concluded that meaning is the relation
between words sound and represents to which they refer to. Even there are various terms of meaning, infacts, exemplify two
importantly different sort of meaning, linguistic meaning and speaker meaning. Linguistic meaning of an expression is implying the meanings of that expression
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in some forms of language. For example, the word run “I like to run” means, “Walk fast” and in “They run a mail order house” means, “to manage”.
Although we are supposed not to make words means what they do not mean, we sometimes mean words mean what they do not mean, we sometimes
mean somethimg different from what our word mean linguistically. On the other words, we speak nonliterally. Thus if we are speaking nonliterally, then we will
mean something different from what our words mean. If we are speaking literally, then we mean what our words mean.
2.3 The Goals of Semantics Theory
