pairs are complementaries because the denial of one implies the assertion of the other and the assertion of one implies the denial of the other.
Lyons 1977:2 says that “the meaning can be, distinguished by the
technique of substituting other words in the same context and inquiry whether the
resulting sentences are equivalent. Dongoran 1991:1 says that the meaning is
ideas or concept, which can be transferred from the mind of the speaker to the mind of the hearer by embodying them, as it was, in the forms of language or
another. Nikelas 1988:231 says that 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.
3.2. Definition of Literal Meaning
In studying semantics, there are two kinds of meaning, they are literal and non-literal meaning. Siregar 1992 says, “if we speak literally, than we mean
what our words mean”. Literal meaning is a meaning without any other meanings besides the
lexical meaning or the surface meaning of words or sentences. Therefore, there will be no differences between the linguistic meaning and speaker meaning.
Sometimes, a hearer is easy to understand what someone means. But in particular condition, there are possibilities that are the hearer might have difficulties to
understand the utterance although what the speaker means is what the word really means lexically because there is no limitation of the hearer’s ability. This
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particular reason is related to whether the speaker uses hisher sentences without any hidden meaning in hisher sentences. It is reasonable to call it literal meaning.
The literal meaning is according to the letter scriptures, adhering to fact, not figurative or metaphorical, being without exaggeration or embellishment and
based on the exact sense and characterized by a concern mainly with fact. The examples below illustrate the literal meaning:
a. She loves swimming.
b. He is eating a pasta.
c. My aunt is an English teacher in TBI.
All the sentences above are literal meaning and easy to understand as long as the writer intends them as what they really mean lexically.
There will be no important difference between linguistic meaning and the speaker meaning. If a speaker is always speaking literally it means what his
words mean. But it does not mean that everyone can understand the utterance what the speaker intends what the word really mean lexically. The listener would
enrich his vocabulary. In other words, literal meaning also means true meaning. For example,
someone is saying “She is a beautiful girl”. In the case of literal meaning, the speaker really means that the girl is beautiful. The speaker means exactly what his
words mean without having hidden meaning or particular intention when saying the words.
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3.3. Definition of Non-Literal Meaning
