chapter:4

Semantic, pragmatics and discourse analysis

Semantics study the literal and logical meaning of words and sentences. It is conversation of
rather than contextual study. The contextual meaning of language is studied in pragmatics.
Semantics studies componential meaning of words.It is also studies sensor relations   such as:
synonym, antonym, hyponymy, homonymy,  polysemy, and so on.
 pragmatics is concerned with the connotation i.e.  Associative or contextual meaning. It focuses
on the Invisible meaning.
 Discourse analysis emphasizes the properties such as Cohesion and coherence. The sense of
this course is made regarding the formal as well as semantic features. The background
information in the people, for their mental Framework is also important in making the sense of a
piece of discourse.Dicourse requires both formal and meaning related properties in it.
4.1. Semantics
 Semantic is a level of language it basically deals with the more abstract aspect of language,i.e. 
Meaning. So, it is commonly defined as’ the study of meaning’. Semantics is the study of such
literal, usual and componential meaning of words and Utterances.
Semantic is the study of different sense relations in a language. The common types of sensors
relations are:  synonym and antonymy, hyponymy,homonymy, and polysemy. Semantics is that  It
studies the linguistic meanings of words and sentences, but not the contextual meaning or
speakers meaning.

4.1.1 Meaning: conceptual and associative meaning; denotative and connotative meaning:
Meaning is the essential aspect of language. It refers to the message for which we use language
meaning is made on the basis of context in which words and sentences are used.
Example: the world ‘maid” May refer to wife in the sentence “I am your sweet maid” when wife
says to her husband during lunch time. The basic meaning of the language forms that will
generally find in the dictionaries are known as conceptual meaning or denotative meaning, where
the specific meaning of language forms which derived from particular context is known as
associative meaning, or connotative meaning.
Maid: a female servant in a house or a hotel.(Denotative )
Maid: sweet obedient wife.(Connotative)
 Conceptual meaning is also called Linguistic meaning or referential meaning. It is primary
meaning. For eg: 'Dog' has a primary meaning that is 'an obedient animal'.
Conceptual meaning is usually known as Denotative meaning.
Associative meaning is also regarded as connotation or connotative meaning too.
Eg: 1) Conceptual meaning:
Rose: a type of beautiful flower.
Birds: a creature with wings and beak
2) Associative Meaning
Rose: Love or attraction
Bird: Love, peace,or speedy character.
 1. Semantics
Semantics is a major branch of linguistics devoted to the study of meaning in language. While
syntax studies how the sentences are formed in a language, it is semantics th looks for how
meaning is created in the words and sentences of that language. Semantics studies logical and
literal meanings of words and sentences. These are also called linguistic meaning or conceptual
meaning. Sense and basic components of meaning are central in the semantic studies.
Conceptual meaning is the primary meaning or sense of a word that is not dependent on the social
context at all. It is the denotative meaning of words.

The meaning based on the context is known as associative meaning. It is more or less related with
the basic meaning. It is the connotative meaning of words. Semantics deals with different types of
the sense relations, too. Some of the examples of sense relations are synonymy, antonymy,
hyponymy, homonymy, polysemy, metonymy, and collocation.

2. Synonymy

Synonymy is a sense relation between two or more words that have the same meaning. The
words or the lexical items that have this sense relation are called synonyms. If the sameness of
meaning is absolute or total, this is called absolute synonymy. The words are substituted for each
other in all the possible contexts.For two items to be synonyms, it does not mean that they should
be identical in all meanings and interchangeable in all contexts. This is to say, partial synonymy is
the sense relation between the words which have same meaning but cannot be substituted for
each other in all the sentences and utterances Antonymy refers to the oppositeness in meaning of
two different words or lexical

3. Antonymy
Antonymy, the sense relation of oppositeness is not always absolute. The oppositeness expressed
in 'big and small', for example, is relative rather than absolute. The relative oppositeness of this
kind is known as gradable antonymy, It shows a degree of semantic oppositeness between the
words.

Complementarity is a type of non-gradable antonymy in which the words or the lexical items have
'either/or contrast' (Crystal, 2008). This means that there's the existence of either of the two things
in a given situation, e.g. single and married. Converseness is another type of non-gradable
antonymy. In this sense relation, the two words are opposite in meaning, but they are quite
related, e.g. give and take.
Hyponymy
Hyponymy is the sense relation in which the meaning of one word is included in the meaning of
the other word. The two words, flower and rose have the sense relation, i.e. hyponymy. In this
example, 'flower' is a super-ordinate term that is also known as hypernym, and 'rose' that is a
specific type of flower is known as hyponym.

A hypernym (e.g. flower) may have many hyponyms (e.g. rose, lotus, marigold, etc.). The
hypernym and the hyponyms have hierarchical relationship. A group of hyponyms whose
meanings are included within the same hypernym are known as co-hyponyms.

Homonymy and polysemy

Homonymy refers to the relationship between the words that have the same form but different
unrelated meanings. Polysemy is the relationship between the two words having a same form but
multiple related meanings. In homonymy, the form is same. The words with same pronunciation
and spelling have multiple meanings which are totally unrelated, e.g. bank (side of river) and bank
(money bank). But, in polysemy the same form has the multiple meanings which are all basically
related, e.g. head (main part of body) and head (main person of the department).
Polysemy has multiple related meanings in the form of extension, but homonymy has no extension
of meaning. The meanings in homonymy are separate and independent. Homonyms have
separate entries in the dictionary, while polysemous words have only one entry in the dictionary.

Metonymy and collocation

The relationship between words where the use of one refers to the other is known as metonymy.
And, the words are called metonyms. For example, 'bottle' and wine' are metonyms.

Yule (2006) presents three types on sense relations between the metonyms: Container-content
relation, e.g. bottle/wine, plate/dish, can/beer, etc.

Whole-part relation, e.g. house/roof, car/wheels, etc.

< Representative-symbol relation, e.g. king/Palace, the president/The White House, bell/door, etc.

Collocation is a term that refers to a unique tendency of words appearing together in the
sentences or in the phrases. For example, the word 'mistake' appears after the verb 'make' as in
'make a mistake', but not with the verb 'do'.

Pragmatics
Pragmatics is the study of meaning in context. While semantics is the study of linguistic meaning
of words and expressions, pragmatics is the study of invisible and intended meaning of the
speaker.
Pragmatics is the study of how more gets communicated than is said. Pragmatics is the study of
invisible meaning. For example, the two students easily recognize the invisible meaning of the
expressions such as:

A: I'm not dying, you know.

B: No, I've also got to finish it. Context is essential to make meaning.

8.
Context
Context refers to the specific situation where language is used. The context can be either linguistic
or non-linguistic.

Linguistic context is also known as co-text because this is a context within a text. The

language items such as words and sentences make linguistic context for each other.

Context in its general sense refers to non-linguistic context. It is also known as physical context or
experiential context. This is made by the non-linguistic factors such as place, people, time, topic
and so on. The pragmatic meaning of language depends largely on this type of context.

The style and formality of language also varies according to the physical context. For example,
language used in the family at home with relatives about a drink is different from the language
used in the office with staff about a business topic. There are three major components of non-
linguistic context. They are:

participants, setting and topic. Participants refer to the people who are involved in

communication. Setting refers to the location where language is used. Topic is the

message or subject matter about which the communication takes place.

9.
Deixis
Deixis refers to a way of pointing to a specific thing, person, place or time through language. There
are different types of deixis such as person dexis, place deixis, time deixis, etc.

Person deixis is used to point to a specific thing or person of a context. The pronouns such as he,
she, it, you, they, we, I, etc. are the examples of person deixis.

The deictic expressions that point to a specific location, space or place are known as place deixis.
For example, here, there, this, that, near that, etc. are place deixis. Time deixis is also called
temporal deixis. It points to a specific time. For example,
now, then, today, yesterday, this morning, that day, last year, etc. are temporal deixis. When the
words or forms of language are used to point to the social status of the speakers and other
participants, then this types of pointing is called social deixis. For example, sir, my lord, your
honor, your majesty, Your Excellency, etc. are the social deictic terms.

When an element of a discourse points to a different part of the same discourse, it is known as
discourse deixis or text deixis. For example, the expressions such as in the above paragraph, in
the next chapter, this definition, the first example, etc. are the typical examples of the discourse
deixis.
10.Reference, inference and presupposition
 Reference is the meaning of words or phrases that the speaker intends to refer to.While speaking
or writing, the speakers or the writers use specific words to refer to specific things, actions,
persons or entities. The pronouns such as he, she, they, etc. and the noun phrases such as the
teacher, the lady, that red car, etc. are commonly used as tools for referring to specific things or
people. All the nouns, pronouns and noun phrases have the general function of referring to certain
things, persons or entities.

Words themselves do not refer to anything. People refer. Reference is an act by which a speaker
or a writer uses language to enable a listener or a reader to identify something.

Inference is a specific type of reference in which a speaker and a listener recognize the meaning
of words and expressions on the basis of their shared knowledge and experiences. So, it is a type
of pragmatic or invisible meaning.

When a speaker (or, a writer) uses an expression assuming that the receiver has already got
some kind of basic knowledge about that expression, this type of assumption is known as pre-
supposition. For example:

When did Rekha give up smoking?

This utterance has different pre-suppositions such as Rekha used to smoke, she does not smoke
now, and she stopped smoking at certain point of past time. Pre-supposition is not there in
language, but it is in the mind of the speakers or writers.

11. Speech Acts

Speech acts are language functions or communicative functions. In these acts, the speakers
perform certain functions through the use of language. Requesting, asking, commanding,
promising, declaring, advising, and many other acts are the examples of speech acts.

Broadly, speech acts are categorized into two types: direct and indirect speech acts. The speech
act performed by usual utterance or structure is known as direct speech act. For example, when
interrogative sentences are used for asking for some kind of information, these sentences are the
examples of direct speech acts.
When the speech acts are performed indirectly by unusual structures or utterances, these are
known'as indirect speech acts. For example, when interrogative sentences are used not for
questioning, but for requesting or commanding, these are indirect speech acts.

12.Politeness
Politeness is a style of language that helps people to respect others. In pragmatics, it refers to the
way of respecting other's face.

The term 'face' refers to one's public self-image or social identity.

 A polite expression does not impose and dominate others. This means that it respects other's
face.
. The politeness principle suggests that we need to maximize benefit, appreciation and sympathy
to others, and we need to minimize cost, imposition and dispraise to others. The polite forms of
language save the face of other people. So, these are also called

'face saving acts' (FSAs). On the other hand, if direct or impolite forms are used, the face of others
is not respected. Such impolite forms are also called 'face threatening acts' (FTAs).

13. Discourse Analysis

Discourse analysis is the study of language beyond the level of sentence. In discourse analysis,
the grammar of text, i.e. how sentences are organized to form a discourse, is studied. At the same
time, the contextual sense of the text is also central in discourse analysis.
Discourse unity or textual grammar is concerned with cohesion, and discourse
meaning or interpretation is concerned with coherence. Two important features of the discourse
are important while interpreting the meaning of discourse.: linguistic features and contextual
features. Interpretation of discourse is only possible:
If the listener or reader possesses proper knowledge about the language form and structure such
as vocabulary, grammar, structure, etc; If the listener or reader has proper knowledge on physical
as well as psychological context.

14. Cohesion and coherence

Cohesion is defined as the grammatical connection or tie between the words and
sentences within a piece of discourse. For a discourse to be unified and meaningful, it must have
the quality of connectedness which is called cohesion.

The words and other devices that maintain cohesion in discourse are known as cohesion devices
or cohesive ties. These devices help us make the sense of the discourse. The common cohesive
devices are: reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction and parallelism.While cohesion is a
grammatical relationship between the elements of a discourse, coherence is more abstract
semantic relationship between them. It is the way by
which discourse is organized and it becomes meaningful. Coherence is not seen as easily as
cohesion though devices. It's felt or realized instead. When the sentences are hanged together
and connected for meaning, then we feel coherence in the discourse.
People need background knowledge, world's common sense, the knowledge of language to
interpret the meaning and to see the coherence of discourse.

15. Conversational analysis Conversation analysis is an approach to discourse analysis. It

demonstrates that
conversation is systematically structured in a language. For example, in English conversation,
people take turn; they know when to speak and when to stop speaking, Speakers open
conversation or discourse in a given way, e.g. with greetings or with some clues.
Turn taking refers to the way speakers take turn during conversation. In most of the cultures
including English, only one person speaks a time; then they converse by taking turns
systematically. Adjacency pairs are those utterances that are produced by the speakers according
to their turns.
Different sequences such as opening, pre-closing and closing are also important components of
conversation. They differ according to the cultures and conventions of the speakers.

16. The co-operative principle

The co-operative principle is an influential pragmatic theory which was proposed first time by Grice
(1975). It prescribes how participants become co-operative to make communication or discourse
highly effective, meaningful and successful. Four basic maxims were proposed by Grice. When
people communicate, they expect that the other person would be co-operative by following these
maxims.

Maxim of quantity (be brief)

4 Maxim of quality (be true)

Maxim of relevance. relevant) Maxim of manner (be clear) 4

17. Implicatures, background knowledge

The utterance which does not have direct meaning, but implies indirectly the intended meaning is
known as conversational implicature. For example, 'I want your pen' is the implicature of the
utterance 'Wow, your pen is superb! Have you got it as a gift?"

We interpret the implicatures by using a lot more information than is presented in the words of the
utterances. The basic information use for such interpretation of actual meaning is our background
knowledge. Background knowledge is not seen in words, but it is in people's mind.

18. Schemas and Scripts

Schema refers to a kind of knowledge structure that we have in our mind or memory. Schemas are
a form of background knowledge. They are fixed ideas or pictures preserved in mind about the
things or entities from which we build up world knowledge. So, these are also known as mental
images or mental representations.

The term 'script' is similar to schema, but the script is dynamic. It is a moving picture of some
actions or events that we have in our mind or memory. The script of a classroom may refer to the
pictures or images in our mind where the teacher is teaching and the students are working.

Anaphora
the backward reference in a piece of discourse. The pronouns referring back to some entities,
persons of things are the examples of anaphora. something that is referred to by an anaphoric
expression. It is the

Antecendent
entity mentioned in the discourse that is referred to via anaphora. a sense relation between two
words which have opposite meanings, e.g. huge-tiny, keep on-give up, above-below, married
single, give-take, etc.

Antonymy
a forward reference in a piece of discourse. The pronouns that refer to the entities or units quite
forward to them are the examples of cataphora.

Coherence
a semantic relationship between the element of a discourse. It is a result of a well formed
stretches of discourse. If discourse is not coherent, we can't interpret it properly. To feel
coherence, the listener or reader need to have linguistic as well as extra-linguistic knowledge such
as schema, shared knowledge, etc.
Cohesion
a grammatical tie between the elements of a discourse. It can be maintained through conjunctions,
substitution, reference, parallelism, etc. These are cohesive devices.

Collocation
a tendency of language items to occur together, e.g. 'useful insights', but not 'good insight'.

Context situation where language is used; it's made up of participants, topic and place of
communication.

Co-text linguistic context, i.e. the context made by other linguistic elements
such as words, phrases and sentences within a piece of discourse.

Deixis
: pointing through language, e.g. time is pointed through the words 'now', 'then', etc; person is
pointed through 'T', you', 'they', etc, and so on.

Denotation
the primary literal meaning of a word, e.g. bird means 'a creature with wings'.

Discourse analysis :
a study of discourse, which is a suprasentential unit.

Discourse:
a well formed stretch of language beyond the sentence level; It is a unified and meaningful stretch
of language, for example, telephone conversation, lecture, poem, advertisement, essay, and so
on.
Hedges expressions used to make discourse true and relevant, e.g. as far as I know..., I'm not
sure but..., etc.

Homographs:
two words with same spelling, e.g. bank-bank

Homonyms:
two words having the same form with different unrelated meanings, e.g. bank (a financial
institution) and bank (edge of river). The relationship between these words is called homonymy.

Homophones: two words with same pronunciation, e.g.

meet-meat.

sense relation between the words which have hierarchial relationships of meaning.

Implicature hidden or implicit meaning of utterances.

Intended meaning
the speaker's meaning, or the intention of the speaker that is not visible in words but understood in
a given context.

Invisible meaning:
meaning which is not visible in words and utterances, but understood in a context. It is also called
intended meaning or speaker's meaning.

Politeness a way of respecting other's face or identity; a way of reducing imposition to others.
Polysemy sense relation between the words having same form and many
related meanings, e.g. head → head of family, head of phrase, etc.

Pragmatics: a study of meaning in context; it is a study of speaker's intended meaning.

Presupposition:
shared knowledge of the participants about a given topic or subject matter.

Reference
 a cohesive device that refers to another unit of the discourse. Schema mental representation of
the world knowledge.

Script
a dynamic schema, i.e. a moving image in mind about some event. 

Semantics:
a study of logical, literal and conventional meaning of words and sentences.

Speaker meaning:
speaker's intended meaning derived from the context; usually not seen in the words or sentences,
but hidden and implicit.