Staff Site Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta
Int roduct ion t o Semant ics
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Semant ics and Meaning
Semant ics and Linguist ics
Semant ics in ot her disciplines
Sent ences, Ut t erances and Proposit ions
Semant ics and Meaning
Semant ics : t he st udy of meaning
“ meaning” ???
- Covers a variet y of aspect s of language
- No very general agreement eit her about
what meaning is or about t he way in
which it should be described
The t erm “ semant ics”
“ semant i que” – a French t erm derived f rom
Greek by M. Breal (1893)
“ Ref lect ed meanings: a point in semant ics”
A paper of American Philol ogical Associat ion
(1894)
In above cases, t he t erm not onl y ref ers t o
“ meaning” , but also t o it s devel opment
call ed “ hist orical semant ics”
“ Semant ics: st udies in t he science of
meaning”
A book by M. Breal (1900)
“ The meaning of meaning”
A book by C. K. Ogden and I. A. Richards (1923)
The t erm appeared in an appendix ent it led
“ The problem of meaning in primit ive
languages” by ant hropologist B. Malinowski
Meaning ???
I mean t o be t her e t omor r ow
The sense of ‘ int end’
Those cl ouds mean t hunder
A r ed l i ght means ‘ st op’
Signs indicat ing:
somet hing t hat is happening or will happen
somet hing has t o be done
What does ‘ cal l i gr aphy’ means?
‘ Cal l i gr aphy’ i s beaut i f ul handwr i t i ng.
The reply provides ot her words t hat t he
speaker t hinks t he hearer can underst and.
It provides def init ions, suggest ing words or
phrases which have t he ‘ same’ meaning.
To consider:
If words have a meaning, how can we f ail
t o say what we mean? How can t he words
f ail t o mean what t hey mean?
There is some ot her meaning besides t he
‘ lit eral’ meaning of t he words.
Consider linguist ic signs, e. g. int onat ion,
st ress, and non-l inguist ic signs, e. g. wink
Semant ics and Linguist ics
Language as a communicat ion syst em
Semant ics --- Grammar --- Phonet ics
Message ---- Set of Signs or Symbol
Ferdinand de Saussure:
Signif ied ---- Signif ier (Sign)
Linguist ics:
v
t he scient if ic st udy of language
If semant ics is part of linguist ics, it must
be no less scient if ic.
One essent ial requirement of a scient if ic
st udy is t hat st at ement s made wit hin it
must be verif iable by observat ion.
Phonet ics
describe t he operat ions of t he vocal
organs
precisely measure t he physical
charact erist ics of t he sounds emit t ed.
Semant ics???
Also, scient if ic st udy must be concerned
not wit h specif ic inst ances, but wit h
generalisat ions.
Phonet ics
not primarily concerned wit h t he
part icul ar sounds t hat are made at a
part icul ar t ime by a part icul ar person
list en t o a number of individual
ut t erances of a word, e. g. book, but it
will make a generalised st at ement on t he
basis of t his
Semant ics ???
not normall y concerned wit h t he
meaning t hat any individual wishes t o
place on his words
an individual’s meaning is not part of t he
general st udy of semant ics
Semant ics in ot her disciplines
•
•
•
•
Semant ics and Meaning
Semant ics and Linguist ics
Semant ics in ot her disciplines
Sent ences, Ut t erances and Proposit ions
Semant ics and Meaning
Semant ics : t he st udy of meaning
“ meaning” ???
- Covers a variet y of aspect s of language
- No very general agreement eit her about
what meaning is or about t he way in
which it should be described
The t erm “ semant ics”
“ semant i que” – a French t erm derived f rom
Greek by M. Breal (1893)
“ Ref lect ed meanings: a point in semant ics”
A paper of American Philol ogical Associat ion
(1894)
In above cases, t he t erm not onl y ref ers t o
“ meaning” , but also t o it s devel opment
call ed “ hist orical semant ics”
“ Semant ics: st udies in t he science of
meaning”
A book by M. Breal (1900)
“ The meaning of meaning”
A book by C. K. Ogden and I. A. Richards (1923)
The t erm appeared in an appendix ent it led
“ The problem of meaning in primit ive
languages” by ant hropologist B. Malinowski
Meaning ???
I mean t o be t her e t omor r ow
The sense of ‘ int end’
Those cl ouds mean t hunder
A r ed l i ght means ‘ st op’
Signs indicat ing:
somet hing t hat is happening or will happen
somet hing has t o be done
What does ‘ cal l i gr aphy’ means?
‘ Cal l i gr aphy’ i s beaut i f ul handwr i t i ng.
The reply provides ot her words t hat t he
speaker t hinks t he hearer can underst and.
It provides def init ions, suggest ing words or
phrases which have t he ‘ same’ meaning.
To consider:
If words have a meaning, how can we f ail
t o say what we mean? How can t he words
f ail t o mean what t hey mean?
There is some ot her meaning besides t he
‘ lit eral’ meaning of t he words.
Consider linguist ic signs, e. g. int onat ion,
st ress, and non-l inguist ic signs, e. g. wink
Semant ics and Linguist ics
Language as a communicat ion syst em
Semant ics --- Grammar --- Phonet ics
Message ---- Set of Signs or Symbol
Ferdinand de Saussure:
Signif ied ---- Signif ier (Sign)
Linguist ics:
v
t he scient if ic st udy of language
If semant ics is part of linguist ics, it must
be no less scient if ic.
One essent ial requirement of a scient if ic
st udy is t hat st at ement s made wit hin it
must be verif iable by observat ion.
Phonet ics
describe t he operat ions of t he vocal
organs
precisely measure t he physical
charact erist ics of t he sounds emit t ed.
Semant ics???
Also, scient if ic st udy must be concerned
not wit h specif ic inst ances, but wit h
generalisat ions.
Phonet ics
not primarily concerned wit h t he
part icul ar sounds t hat are made at a
part icul ar t ime by a part icul ar person
list en t o a number of individual
ut t erances of a word, e. g. book, but it
will make a generalised st at ement on t he
basis of t his
Semant ics ???
not normall y concerned wit h t he
meaning t hat any individual wishes t o
place on his words
an individual’s meaning is not part of t he
general st udy of semant ics
Semant ics in ot her disciplines