SEMANTICS

O Lexicology
O Study of the vocabulary of a language and the

development of lexicon.
O Differences between:
O Morpheme grammatical words O Lexeme meaning of the word O Sememe extended meaning O e.g.
Morpheme ball Grammatical words noun naming an object or thing Lexeme Meaning word the round object used in games Sememe Extended meaning (a) formal/social event/dance, (b) part of palm or foot joining the fingers.

O Collocation
O Some words are most commonly found paired with

other words, to create a semantic unit or lexeme. Thus false is often found together with passport, teeth or promise. These pairs are known as collocations. They are very helpful in establishing the meanings of the words in the pair. O e.g.
O They baked all the letters and served them for tea. O They baked all the cakes and served them for tea.

O Denotation
O Strict definition of a word, the class of things

denoted by a word O Referential/dictionary meaning of a lexical item.

O Connotation
O Extralinguistics association and overtones of

meanings of words
cat denotation connotation home denotation connotation Four-legged , furry , purry animal Stealthy, spiteful, calculating, quiet Shelter and place of refuge Protection, affection, love, peace, happiness

O Semantics
O The study of the linguistics meaning of morphemes,

words , phrases and sentences

O Pragmatics
O The study of how context affects meanings

O Linguists study the core meanings (sense) of

individual words . O Philosophers study the meaning of sentences by approaching this meaning via reference and truth condition
O Reference study of what objects linguistics

expressions O Truth condition conditions under which a statement can be judged true or false.

O Theories of Word Meaning

O Reference
O The meaning of a word or expressions is its

reference; its association with the object it refers

O Sense
O Speakers sense
O Speakers intention in producing some

linguistic expression O Related to non-literal meaning and implied or pragmatic meaning which is outside the domain of semantics.

O Linguistic-sense
O Literal meaning of a linguistic expression as part

of a language O Literal meaning and is independent speaker, hearer or situational concept.

O Types of linguistic-sense
O Polysemy O Words with many meanings. O Example: O Light - i. illuminating force
ii not heavy iii with not much luggage iv come down from flight and settle

O Synonymy O Words with same senses/ values O Not always a complete identity O Factors that tend to tis non-identicalness of meanings O Grammatical O Emotive O Stylistic (formality) O Dialectal (cultural) O Chronological (time based) O coverage./range O Stylistic factors

O Hyponymy
O Hyponymy is an inclusive relationship where some

lexemes are co-hyponyms of another that includes them. As cutlery includes knife, fork, spoon (but not teacup) these are co-hyponyms of the parent or superordinating term. This traditional term denotes a grouping similar to a semantic field. So cod, guppy, salmon and trout are hyponyms for fish, while fleet has the hyponyms battleship, aircraft carrier, cruiser, destroyer and frigate
O Antonymy
O Words that have opposite meanings O Antonymity gradable antonyms (big/small,

good/bad) O Complementarity binary antonyms ( male/female, alive/dead) O Converseness converse antonyms ( buy/sell, push/pull)