Adik Misna Al

06620190062

B2. Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris

MID ENGLISH SEMANTICS

Explain 10 points that you have understood about English Semantics, consider the material
from session 1 - 7!

Introduction of Semantics

Semantics is the study of sentence meaning and word meaning.

Pragmatics is the study of utterance meaning
Three Stages of Interpretation:
a) The Literal Meaning
Literal Meaning, The term Semantic comes from the Greek, 'Sema' (noun)
which means 'sign' or 'symbol'. The verb is 'Semiano' which means 'to mark' or 'to
symbolize'.
Pragmatics is also defined as aspects of language use or context outside the
language that contribute to the meaning of speech.
b) Explicature
Semantics and pragmatics, although both study the meaning of language, but
both have different areas of meaning analysis, although there is a shaded area
where both can play a role in revealing the meaning of language.
c) Implicature
Know that implicature is an indirect meaning or implied meaning caused by
what is said (explicature). Using implicature in communicating means stating
something indirectly.
Kridalaksana (1984:73) explains that implicature (pragmatic implications) is
"what is logically a conclusion from a speech, as well as what background is
known together by the speaker and listener in a certain context".

Studying Meaning
 a) Types of Meaning
Sender's meaning is the meaning the speaker writer intends to convey by
means of an utterance.
b) Denotate
The denotation of an expression is whatever it denotes. For many words, the
denotation is a big class of things.
c) Sense
Sense deals with relationships inside the language. A person who knows the
denotations of some words, as a start in the network of relationships, can develop
an understanding of the meanings (senses) in the rest of the system.
d) Reference
Reference is what the speakers or writers do when they use expressions to pick
out for their audience particular people, things, times, places, events, ideas.
e) Deictic
Deictic expressions are words, phrases and features of grammar that have to
be interpreted in relation to the situation in which they are uttered, such as me
‘the sender of this utterance’ or here ‘the place where the sender is’ . Deixis is
pervasive in languages, probably because, in indicating ‘when’, ‘where’, ‘who’,
‘what’, and so on, it is very useful to start with the coordinated of the situation
of utterance.

Studying Meaning

 Presuppositions and Entailment

1) Presuppositions, something the speaker assumes to be the case before making an
utterance. Example : Dian exists, Dian has a brother, Dian has only one brother,
Dian’s brother is rich... (Speaker’s subjective presuppositions; all can be wrong).
2) Entailment, something that logically follows from what is asserted in the
utterance.
Example : Dian’s brother bought something, bought three animals... (Entailments
follow from the sentence regardless of whether the speaker’s beliefs are right or
wrong).
Adjective Meaning

Cruse (2000) notes that adjective meanings are often one-dimensional. Think of pairs
like thin-thick, fast-slow, cool-warm, young-old, true-false. This session concentrates
on various kinds of meaning relationships between adjectives, mainly relationships of
similarity and oppositeness.
 Synonyms is equivalence of sense. For example : My mother’s/mum’s/mom’s.
 Paraphrasing between two sentences depends on entailment (entailment can be
defined as its truth relating to the truth of the other proposition.
 Antonym opposite of synonym, i.e. opposite, or opposite. Example : Rich><poor;
Polite><rude.

Reference, the relationship between part of the language and part of the world. For example :
Satjipto Rahardjo, Community Law and Development (Bandung: Alumni, 1976), p. 111.

Sense is internal relationship. A system of semantic relationship with other expressions with
other expressions in language. Examples : I nearly won the competition.