SEMANTICS

Written & Edited By :

1. Devi Sunita Mutia Asmara

(0304202131)
2. Syafiq Khairi
(0304202139)

October 2021
 04 Definition Of
Semantics

06
The
Theories in
Semantics

Contents 10 Function Of
Semantics

12 Types Of
Semantics
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A Letter
from
Editor Language
In-Chief
have many
We As the editor of this magazine want to say
thank you to our God Allah Swt. So, we can
finish this magazine on time.
meanings
This Magazine is about semantics. we hope with this
magazine the readers can get more knowledge about

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semantics. And we want to say Sorry if I have some mistakes
in this magazine, because it’s first time for us to make a
magazine

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 Semantics (from Greek sēmantiká, neuter plural of sēmantikós) is the study
of meaning in language. It focuses on the relation between signifiers, such as

The
words, phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotata.
We know that language is used to express meanings which can be understood
by others. But meanings exist in our minds and we can express what is in our
minds through the spoken and written forms of language (as well as through

Definition
gestures, action etc.). The sound patterns of language are studied at the level
of phonology and the organization of words and sentences is studied at the
level of morphology and syntax. These are in turn organized in such a way
that we can convey meaningful messages or receive and understand messages.

Of
Semantics is that level of linguistic analysis where meaning is analyzed. It is
the most abstract level of linguistic analysis, since we cannot see or observe
meaning as we can observe and record sounds. Meaning is related very
closely to the human capacity to think logically and to understand. So when

Semantics
we try to analyze meaning, we are trying to analyze our own capacity to think
and understand our own ability to create meaning. Semantics concerns itself
with „giving a systematic account of the nature of meaning‟ (Leech, 1981).

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 GOOD MAGAZINE

1. MODEL THEORETIC 2. FORMAL (OF TRUTH-

SEMANTICS CONDITIONAL) SEMANTICS

Originates from Montague's work (see Pioneered by the philosopher Donald Davidson,

above). A highly formalized theory of another formalized theory, which aims to

natural language semantics in which associate each natural language sentence with a

expressions are assigned denotations meta-language description of the conditions

(meanings) such as individuals, truth under which it is true, for example: `Snow is

values, or functions from one of these to white' is true if and only if snow is white. The

Theories
another. The truth of a sentence, and more challenge is to arrive at the truth conditions for

interestingly, its logical relation to other any sentences from fixed meanings assigned to

sentences, is then evaluated relative to a the individual words and fixed rules for how to

model. combine them. In practice, truth-conditional

In
semantics is similar to model-theoretic
semantics; conceptually, however, they differ in
that truth-conditional semantics seeks to
connect language with statements about the real

Semantics
world (in the form of meta-language statements),

3. LEXICAL & CONCEPTUAL rather than with abstract models.

SEMANTICS
This theory is an effort to explain properties of
argument structure. The assumption behind this
theory is that syntactic properties of phrases
reflect the meanings of the words that head them.
With this theory, linguists can better deal with the
fact that subtle differences in word meaning
correlate with other differences in the syntactic
structure that the word appears in. The way this is
gone about is by looking at the internal structure
of words. These small parts that make up the
internal structure of words are referred to as
semantic primitives.
4.LEXICAL SEMANTICS
A linguistic theory that investigates word meaning. This
theory understands that the meaning of a word is fully
reflected by its context. Here, the meaning of a word is
constituted by its contextual relations. Therefore, a
distinction between degrees of participation as well as
modes of participation are made. In order to accomplish
this distinction any part of a sentence that bears a
meaning and combines with the meanings of other
constituents is labeled as a semantic constituent.
Semantic constituents that cannot be broken down into
more elementary constituents is labeled a minimal
semantic constituent.

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5. COMPUTATIONAL 6.COMPUTER SCIENCE
SEMANTICS

Computational semantics is focused on the In computer science, the term semantics

processing of linguistic meaning. In order refers to the meaning of languages, as
to do this concrete algorithms and opposed to their form (syntax).

Simple is
architectures are described. Within this Additionally, the term semantic is applied
framework the algorithms and to certain types of data structures
architectures are also analysed in terms of specifically designed and used for
decidability, time/space complexity, data representing information content.
structures which they require and
communication protocols.

complicated
7. PROGRAMMING
LANGUAGES
The semantics of programming languages and other
languages is an important issue and area of study in
computer science. Like the syntax of a language, its
semantics can be defined exactly.

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The purpose of semantics is to propose exact
meanings of words and phrases, and remove Function of
Semantics
confusion, which might lead the readers to believe a
word has many possible meanings. It makes a
relationship between a word and the sentence
through their meanings. Besides, semantics enable
the readers to explore a sense of the meaning
because, if we remove or change the place of a single
word from the sentence, it will change the entire
meaning, or else the sentence will become anomalous.
Hence, the sense relation inside a sentence is very
important, as a single word does not carry any sense
or meaning.

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TYPES
OF
SEMANTIC
S
THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF
SEMANTICS:

Connotative
Semantic Denotative Semantic

When a word suggests a set of It suggests the literal, explicit, or

associations, or is an imaginative or
emotional suggestion connected with
the words, while readers can relate to
such associations. Simply, it
represents figurative meaning. Usually
poets use this type of meaning in their
poetry.
dictionary meanings of the words,
without using associated meanings. It
also uses symbols in writing that
suggest expressions of writers, such as
an exclamation mark, quotation mark,
apostrophe, colon, or quotation mark.

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 Example of Example of Daily
Literature Life

Example of Daily Life

Example 1 : Romeo and Juliet (By William EXAMPLE 2 : HAMLET (BY
Shakespeare) WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE) - A water pill could be a pill with water in it but it is

Juliet : understood to be a diuretic that causes a person

“O, be some the other name! to lose water from his body.
In the famous soliloquy of Prince
What’s in a name? That which we
Hamlet, “To be or not to be,” William
call a rose - “Crash” can mean an auto accident, a drop in the
Shakespeare has used a word that
By any other name would smell as Stock Market, to attend a party without being
we use quite differently these days.
sweet invited, ocean waves hitting the shore, or the
Hamlet says:
So Romeo would, were he not sound of cymbals being struck together.
“When we have shuffled off this
Romeo call’d...”
mortal coil …”
The above-mentioned quote is, in - Depending on context, a flowering plant could be

fact, conveying figurative referred to as a weed or a flower.

Here, “mortal coil” carries a
meaning. However, its
connotative meaning that suggests
surrounding text clarifies the - A human can be referred to as a male, female,
life, as Hamlet compares death to
meaning. Juliet is using child, adult, baby, bachelor, father or mother.
sleep. However, we are using coils
metaphoric language, arguing
in different connection today, which
with Romeo that his family name - To call someone a lady means more than simply
means a series of spirals tightly
is not important to her, because being female. Semantics tell us that, if she’s a
joined together.
she only wants Romeo. lady, she possesses elegance and grace.

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Some
Important
Assumptions
about
Semantics
 “
B.SPEECHES, SENTENCES
A. REFERENCE AND MEANING AND PROPOSITIONS

Reference is interpreted as the relationship These three terms are used to describe
of a noun or pronoun and the object named different level languages. The most concrete
by that noun or pronoun. Sense is also is speech: speech is made by speaking (or
known as a theme. This understanding is writing). A sentence is a grammatical unit
achieved if the speaker and the consisting of one or more clauses. A
interlocutor or between the writer and the proposition is a part of the meaning of a
reader have the same language used or clause or constant sentence.
mutually agreed upon. D. SEMANTICS AND
PRAGMATICS
C. LITERAL MEANING The tough distinction between semantics
AND NON-LITERAL and pragmatics. These terms denote related
TheMliteral
E A Nmeaning
I N G is the actual meaning and it and complementary fields of study, both
can also be said that the literal meaning is the concerning the transmission of meaning
meaning that has been stated in the dictionary. In through language.
each statement, we do not need to think about Semantics: the relationship of signs to
other meanings because the meaning of these objects to which the signs apply
sentences is very common to us. Pragmatics: the relationship of signs to
Example: I am hungry interpreters.
This example is very easy and clear to
understand. From this example, it is not
necessary to look for meaning because it is
commonly used in everyday conversation.
According to Saeed, non-literal meaning can also
be called figurative language because non-literal
meaning is also used in metaphor, irony,
metonymy, hyperbole and litotes.
For example, I could eat a horse
The word I has a literal meaning, but horse
certainly doesn't understand it in its true sense.
The sentence certainly cannot be interpreted, to
understand it, the context of the sentence is
needed. In the example, it does not imply that one
can eat a horse, but rather the example uses the 1 9
state of a very hungry person.