Name : Dimas Arfian Putra

NIM : 1730205079

Resume Semantics Second meeting

1. What is Semantics

Semantics is the study of the meaning of words and sentences. It uses the relations of linguistic

forms to non-linguistic concepts and mental representations to explain how sentences are understood

by native speakers.

Semantics can be broken down into the following three subcategories:

 Formal semantics is the study of grammatical meaning in natural language. In other words, it
intends to define the meaning of words and phrases based on its grammatical structure.
 Conceptual semantics is the study of words at their core. It focuses on establishing universal
definitions for words before they are taken into context.
 Lexical semantics is the study of word meaning. It establishes meaning to words based on their
relationships to other words in the sentence as well as their compositional structure.
At its core, we think of semantics as the “magic” that happens when people communicate and, most

importantly, when they understand each other. This magic is actually a well-balanced combination

of:

 understanding words and phrases;

 having general knowledge;
 and using real-world experience.

For example, to make sense out of a work of art, you need to combine the objective representation

with your knowledge of the world. When you consider words in context, you can understand the

meaning and the message.

2. What is the scope of Semantics

Semantics is a broad topic with many layers and not all people that study it study these layers in the

same way. "[S]emantics is the study of the meanings of words and sentences. ... As our original

definition of semantics suggests, it is a very broad field of inquiry, and we find scholars writing on

very different topics and using quite different methods, though sharing the general aim of describing

semantic knowledge. As a result, semantics is the most diverse field within linguistics. In
 addition, semanticists have to have at least a nodding acquaintance with other disciplines, like

philosophy and psychology, which also investigate the creation and transmission of meaning. Some

of the questions raised in these neighboring disciplines have important effects on the

way linguists do semantics

3. Why do you need to study Semantics

Semantics is studied for a number of different reasons but perhaps one of the main reasons could be:

“If we view Semantics as the study of meaning then it becomes central to the study of

communication which in turn is an important factor in how society is organised.”

The aim of semantics is to discover why meaning is more complex than simply the words formed in

a sentence. Semantics will ask questions such as:

 “Why is the structure of a sentence important to the meaning of the sentence?

 “What are the semantic relationships between words and sentences?”

For example, consider the following sentences:

(a) Regina is an only child.

(b) Regina’s sister is called Martha.

Without any knowledge about semantics intuitively we know that only one of these sentences can be

correct, despite the fact grammatically they both make perfect sense.Studying semantics will allow

us to explain why only one of these sentences can be true.