THE STUDY OF MEANING

1. Linda Amalia Erdini 16144700008

2. Robil Adecta Putra 16144700009
 THE SYSTEMATIC STUDY OF
MEANING
 Semantics is the systematic study of meaning and
linguistic semantics is the study of how languages
organize and express meanings.
 Three disciplines are concerned with the systematic
study of ‘meaning’ in itself :

Psychology Philosophy

Linguistics
 THE NATURE OF LANGUAGE
 All animals have some systems for communicating
with other members of their species, but only humans
have a language which allows them to produce and
understand messages without outside stimulus.
 Human language differs from these animal
communication systems in two crucial ways, they are:
1. Stimulus-free
2. Creative
LANGUAGE AND THE INDIVIDUAL

 Child learns the language of the society in which it grows

up and acquires the fundamentals of the language in the
first five or six years of life.
1. 9-18 months: one-word stage
2. 18-24 months : two-word stage
3. 24-30 months : early multiword stage
 When we learn to read and write, we do not remember
learning to understand what was spoken to us in the first
four or five years of life.
 DEMONSTRATING SEMANTIC
KNOWLEDGE

1. Anomaly
2. Paraphrase
3. Synonym
4. Antonym
5. Contradictory
6. Semantic feature
7. Ambiguity
8. Adjacency pair
9. Entailment
10. Presupposition
 1. ANOMALY

 Speakers know, in a general way, whether something

is or is not meaningful in their language.
 Examples:
1a Henry drew a picture.
1b Henry laughed.
1c The picture laughed.
1d Picture a Henry drew.
 2. PARAPHRASE

 Speakers of a language generally agree as to when

two sentences have essentially the same meaning
and when they do not.
 Examples:
2a Rebecca got home before Robert.
2b Robert arrived at home after Rebecca.
2c Robert got home before Rebecca.
2d Rebecca got home later than Robert.
 3. SYNONYM

 Speakers generally agree when two words have essentially

the same meaning―in a given context.
 Examples:
3a Where did you purchase these tools?
(use, buy, release, modify, take)
>>> Where did you buy these tools?
3b At the end of the street, we saw two enormous
statues.
(pink, smooth, nice, huge, original)
>>> At the end of the street, we saw two huge statues.
 4. ANTONYM

 Speakers generally agree when two words have

opposite meanings in a given context.
 Examples:
4a Betty cut a thick slice of cake.
(bright, new, soft, thin, wet)
>>> Betty cut a thin slice of cake.
4b The train departs at 12:30.
(arrives, leaves, waits, swerves)
>>> The train leaves at 12:30.
 5. CONTRADICTORY

 Speakers recognize when the meaning of one

sentence contradicts another sentence.
 Examples:
5a Edgar is married.
5b Edgar is a bachelor.
 6. SEMANTIC FEATURE

 Synonyms and antonyms have to have some common

element of meaning in order to be, respectively, the
same or different. Words can have some element of
meaning without being synonymous or antonymous.
 Examples:
6a street, lane, road, path, house, avenue
6b buy, take, use, steal, acquire, inherit
 7. AMBIGUITY

 Some sentences have double meanings; they can be

interpreted in two ways.
 Examples:
7a Mary doesn’t care for her cat.
(doesn’t like it; doesn’t take care of it)
7b Mary took the sick cat to a small animal hospital.
(small hospital for animals; hospital for small animals)
 8. ADJACENCY PAIR

 Speakers know how language is used when people

interact. If one person asks a question or makes a remark,
there are various possible answers to the question or
replies one might make to the remark.
 Examples:
8a When did you last see my brother?
Ten minutes ago. Last Tuesday. Very nice.
Around noon. I think it was on the first of June.
8b There’s a great new comedy at the Oldtown Playhouse.
So I’ve heard. What’s it called? When did it open?
So do I. Are you sure it’s a comedy?
 9. ENTAILMENT

 Speakers are aware that two statements may be

related in such a way that if one is true, the other
must also be true.
 Examples:
9a There are tulips in the garden.
9b There are flowers in the garden.
9c The ladder is too short to reach the roof.
9d The ladder isn’t long enough to reach the roof.
 10. PRESUPPOSITION

 Speakers know that the message conveyed in one

sentence may presuppose other pieces of knowledge.
 Examples:
10a Percy usually drives his car to work.
10b There is a person named Percy.
10c Percy works.
10d There is a car that belongs to Percy.
10e Percy knows how to drive a car.