Semantics

Semantics

Semantics: a branch of theoretical linguistics, that deals with the meanings of words and sentences.

The triangle of meaning:

1- The thing: refers to the element outside the mind and outsidie the language.

2- The word: symbol which refers to the thing.

3- The meaning: it is a concept or reference .it is the image, attributes or abstract entity.

The lines of relationship among the trio elements may take different directions:

1-thingпÑ" meaningпÑ" word==we see a thing then we remember its meaning and then its word.

2-meaningпÑ" wordпÑ" thing==you recall a meaning then its word and then the thing.

3-wordпÑ" meaningпÑ" thing==you hear a word then you remember its meaning and then its thing.

Semantics fields:

Semantics fields can be sub classified into:

1-the field of continuous concrets.it is a semantic field of words that refer to things.

2-the field of separate concretes: it is a semantic field of words that refer to separate concrete entities such as the semantic fields of plants and animals.

3-the field of abstracts: it is a field of words referring to abstract concepts such as, honesty, generosity...

• Semantic fields share several qualities:

1- Words of the same field belong to the same morphological or syntactic class.

2- Words of the same field are either related to concrete or abstract referents.

3- The number of common features a among the words of the same affects the number of member words.

Recall and association:

When you hear the word night, you probably recall anything related to it, such as sleep, silence.., those words differ from person to person and largely dependent on personal experiences. These associations are usually changeable unlike field relationships.

Inter-field relationships:

Words that belong to the same semantic field show one of these relationships:

1-synonymy: similarity of meaning of two words or more.

2-antonymy: may give many meanings such as:

1-gradable antonyms: which allows gradability such as: big-small/fast-slow

And is always relative .as for gradable antonymous pairs, one of them is marked and the other is unmarked.

2-ungradable antonyms: such as female/male ,alive/dead. These words are mutually exclusive

3-relational antonyms: such as sell/buy,teach/learn.if one of the pair takes place, the other logically take place too.

4-directional antonyms: these can be vertical: noth/east, they may be extensible up/down.

3-inclusion: a word may include another such as: animal/lion

4-exclusion: it ha several types:

1-affinity relationship: two words or more maybe related to field on equal footing

2- Rank relationship: some words are related in an ordered manner such as:

Academic ranks of university staff.

3-circular relationship: such as the days of the week, the seasons of the year.

5-totality: the relationship between words is a whole and part relation.

Book/cover.