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kumpulan materi semantics

Name   : Edi Sunarto

S.N      : 0953267

HUMAN LANGUAGE:

l  Phonology, which concerns sounds

l  Syntax, which concerns grammatical structures and

l  Semantics, which concerns meanings

DEFINITIONS of SEMANTICS:

l  Study of meaning, one of the major areas of linguistic study (Britannica Concice Incyclopedia)

l  the study of meaning of words, and the relation of signs to the objects to which the signs are applicable. (Philosophy Dictionary)

l  Semantics is a subfield of linguistics that is traditionally defined as the study of meaning of (parts of) words, phrases, sentences, and texts

l  semantics [Gr.,=significant] in general, the study of the relationship between words and meanings.

l  The empirical study of word meanings and sentence meanings in existing languages is a branch of linguistics;

l  the abstract study of meaning in relation to language or symbolic logic systems is a branch of philosophy. (Columbia Encyclopedia)

l  The word is derived from the Greek word (semantikos), "significant",

l  [1] from (semaino), "to signify, to indicate" and that from (sema), "sign, mark, token".

l  [2] In linguistics, it is the study of interpretation of signs or symbols as used by agents or communities within particular circumstances and contexts

l  3] Within this view, sounds, facial expressions, body language, proxemics have semantic (meaningful) content, and each has several branches of study. In written language, such things as paragraph structure and punctuation have semantic content; in other forms of language, there is other semantic content.(http://www.answers.com/topic/semantics )

Semantics deals with:

l  words meaning,

l  sentence meaning and

l  utterance meaning

1.       Word meaning

-          Language is used for communication. In communicating, speakers or writers communicate meaning to listeners or readers. The nature of the meaning of a word is its referent

-          The referent of a word can be an object, an event, a state, a process, or an action here in this world

-          Word meaning can also said lexical meaning (Lyons, 1985) : the meaning of lexemes depends upon the of sentences in which they occur.  

Examples :

l  hen is : [ + animate (live), + animal, + biped(2 footed animal), + female, + avian ]

l  cow is : [ + animate, + animal, + quadruped, + vertebrate, + mammal, + bovine ]

l  hot is : [ a state of having a high temperature ]

l  to sew is : [ an action of working with a needle and thread

l  drizzling is : [ the process of raining in small drops ]

l  a party is : [ an event of the gathering of persons, by invitation, for pleasure ]

THREE AREAS OF WORD MEANING:

l  Conceptual meaning

l  Semantic components and

l  Semantic field

l  (will be explained in the next session)

2.       SENTENCE MEANING

-          The conceptual meaning of sentence studied through the principle of referent and principle of structure ( Devitt and Sterenly, 1999)

-          The meaning of sentence is the product of both lexical and grammatical meaning (the meaning of the constituent of lexemes and of the grammatical constructions) (Lyons, 1985)

Examples 1:

1. This is a beautiful garden flower

2. This is a beautiful flower garden

l  In sentence (1) the focus is on flower, where as in sentence (2) the focus is on garden

l  it is clear that the conceptual  meaning of the sentence depends on the reference and the structures of the words

Examples 2 :

l  2a. Henry drew a picture.

l  2b. Henry laughed.

l  2c. The picture laughed.

l  2d. Picture a Henry drew.

l  (2. whether something is or is not meaningful in their language )

Examples 3:

Agree as to when two sentences have essentially the same meaning and when they do not:

3a. Rebbeca got home before Robert.

3b. Robert got home before Rebecca.

3c. Robert arrived at home after Rebecca.

3d. Rebecca got home than Robert

3.      UTTERENCE MEANING

In communication, the meaning of an utterance is not only determined by the conceptual meaning of the sentence but also by paralinguistic features such as stress, pitch, intonation, juncture, body movements, head movements, hand gestures, eye-contact, and the distance between the interlocutors

EXAMPLES :

l  “It’s one o’clock”, can be interpreted as “It’s really one o’clock” or “It’s time to have lunch” or “It’s time to stop the lecture”

l  So the meaning does not only depends the reference, conceptual sentence but also context, gestures,  intonations etc. (It will be discussed in the other session)

THE MEANING OF MEANING

Richard’s theory of the meaning of meaning

•      Meanings do not reside in words; but  they reside in people, because words mean different  things to different people in different situation

•      Words will mean one thing in a certain context and mean another thing in a different context. This is why it is so important to study the context to get a better understanding of the meaning.

Richard’s Semantics Triangle

Symbol/word (blanket)

Thought (warm, cozy, cotton)

             

A simple example:

•      Sherwin T. Wine states that the word "meaning" has a multitude of meanings. When people ask, "Does life have any meaning,?" they are not always asking the same question. Often discussions and arguments about the meaning of life are meaningless because the participants do not realize that they are trying to address different issues. The result is a waste of time.

There are four distinct questions that are subsumed under the query

"Does life have any meaning?:"

1.      "Do I live in a just world in which I will be rewarded for doing good and punished for doing evil? And, even if not, will my suffering serve a good purpose?"

2.      "Will I live forever? Or is my life temporary and ephemeral?"

3.      "Do I have an assignment from God or, from the universe? If so, what is it?"

4.      "Are my desires and my expectations compatible with my power? Or is life an inevitable story of continuous frustration and disappointment?"

The meaning of meaning theory has two perspectives:

1.      Scientific perspective:

•      Simple , easy to understand, can be tested in our everyday life,

•      Has practical application that this theory can clear cut misunderstanding in everyday life communication

•      Does not only present  problem , but alsogive solution  

2.      Humanistic perspective:

§  Understand people because of their differences of their past experiences and personal background

§  Show how important  people meaning is and not just the words they say

§  Warns us to think about how the other person is going to react before we speak

FULL WORDS, EMPTY WORDS, AND DOUBLE-FACED MEANING

Full Words

•      a word that has lexical meaning rather than grammatical meaning; a word or morpheme that functions grammatically as a contentive.

Full words are divided into three subclasses:

1. Nominals
2. Verbals
3. Auxiliaries

1. Nominals: are full words that occupy as  Subjects (S), Complements (C), or Adjectives (A)

Nominals can be divided into 4 subclasses:

1. The diterminatives:
2. The nouns:
3. The adjuncts:
4. The Interrogative nominals:

2.The Verbals:

Presented into two classes:

a. Non-derived forms: these consist of one free morpheme

b. Derived forms: these forms are composite of full words (transitives and intransitives)

Empty words

•      loud and confused and empty talk

•      a word or morpheme that has no lexical meaning and that functions as a grammatical link or marker, rather than as a contentive.

•      Meaningless, nonsense (a massage that seems to convey no meaning)

•      rethoric

DOUBLE-FACED MEANING

•      Having two faces designed for use; as, a double-faced hammer.

•       Deceitful; hypocritical; treacherous.

•      Adjective:

1. having two faces or aspects

2. having a finished nap on both sides: said of cloth

2. hypocritical; insincere; two-faced

Examples

1. Double-faced clocks still in use on the railroad network.
2. Double-faced wall, the side not visible in the photograph needs to be rebuilt.
3. Double-faced policy of the greek regime was one of the main obstacles to the progress of the talks.

HOMONYM

•      The word "homonym" comes from the conjunction of the Greek prefix homo- (ὁμο-), meaning "same", and suffix -ṓnymos (-ώνυμος), meaning "name". Thus, it refers to two or more distinct concepts sharing the "same name" or signifier

•      a homonym is one of a group of words that share the same spelling and the same pronunciation but have different meanings, usually as a result of the two words having different origins.

•      two words are homonyms if they are pronounced or spelled the same way

•      Homonyms are words that sound the same but have different meanings.(eHow)

•      A homonym is a word that sounds just like another word but is spelled differently and has a different meaning (Missikae)

•      Homonyms are words that have the same form but different meanings. 

There are two major types of homonyms,

•      based upon whether the meanings of the word are historically connected or

•      result from coincidence.

(http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/vajda/ling201/test3materials/semanticsHANDOUT.htm

Coincidental homonyms

•      are the result of such historical accidents as phonetic convergence of two originally different forms or the borrowing of a new word which happens to be identical to an old word. 

•      There is usually no natural link between the two meanings: the bill of a bird vs the bill one has to pay; or the bark of a dog vs the bark of a tree. 

Polysemous Homonym

•      Results when multiple meanings develop historically from the same word.  The process by which a word acquires new meanings is called polysemy [pAli∆si‡∆mi∆]. 

•      Unlike coincidental homonyms, polysemous homonyms usually preserve some perceptible semantic link marking the development of one meaning out of the other, as in the leg  of chair and the leg of person; or the face  of a person vs. the face of a clock.

Examples of homonyms

•      stalk (which as a noun can mean part of a plant, and, as a verb, to follow/harass a person),

•      bear (animal) and bear (carry),

•      left (opposite of right) and left (past tense of leave).

•      Homonyms can be seen as the subset of homophones that are spelled the same, which is logically the same as the subset of homographs that are pronounced the same. This means words that are spelled and pronounced the same (but have different meanings).

HERE ARE THREE SENSES OF HOMONYM.

•      A word that has the same pronunciation as another. Homonyms differ from each other in

–     meaning

–     origin, and

–     usually spelling.

            {Also known as:

•      homophone (sense 2)}

•      Loosely, a homograph

•      Either of two people with the same name

A Homonym, Which Is Both A Homophone And A Homograph

Fluke can mean:

•      A fish, and a flatworm.

•      The end parts of an anchor.

•      The fins on a whale's tail.

•      A stroke of luck.

Bank can mean:

•      a river bank, bank ‘the edge of a stream’

•      a savings bank, bank ‘a financial institution

•      a bank of switches, and

•      a bank shot in pool share only a common spelling and pronunciation, but not meaning

Homophone

•      Homophones have the same pronunciation but different spellings: meet/meat,  peace/piece, whether/weather, you, ewe, through/threw, to, two, too. cot/caught. flour/flower.  Homophones are usually are true homonyms in that they derive from completely unrelated sources

•      bow - to bend outward at the sides (e.g. a "bow-legged" cowboy)

•      bough - a branch on a tree. (e.g. "when the bough breaks...")

Homographs

•      Two words that have different pronunciations but the same spelling: for example,

•      bow, rhyming with go and referring to an instrument for shooting arrows, and

•      bow, rhyming with cow and indicating a bending of the body as a form of respectful greeting.

Bow can means:

•      bow - a long wooden stick with horse hair that is used to play certain string instruments such as the violin

•      bow - To bend forward at the waist in respect (e.g. "bow down")

•      bow - the front of the ship (e.g. "bow and stern")

•      bow - the weapon which shoots arrows (e.g. "bow and arrow")

•      bow - a kind of tied ribbon (e.g. bow on a present, a bowtie)

•      bow - to bend outward at the sides (e.g. a "bow-legged" cowboy)

List of Homonyms

•      hall, a large room.   

•      haul, to drag by force.

•      hay, dried grass.

•      hey! an exclamation.

•      hare, an animal. 

•      hair, of the head.

•      heal, to cure.

•      heel, hinder part of the foot.  hose, stockings.

•      hire, wages.

•      high’er, more high. 

•      hoe, a farming tool.           

•      ho! an exclamation.

•      hoop, a ring; a band.

•      whoop, to make a noise.

•      hied, made haste.

•      hide, to conceal.

•      hoard, to lay up.

•      horde, a tribe.

•      hoes, plural of hoe.

•      hose, stockings.

•      jam, a conserve of fruit.

•      jamb, the sidepiece of a door or fireplace.

•      knead, to work dough.

•      need, want.

POLYSEMY (multiple meaning)

•      A polyseme is a word or phrase with multiple, related meanings

•      Polysemy may involve conversion of one part of speech to another.  Many verbs in English, especially monosyllabic verbs, can be nouns:  bend, drink, kill.  Many verbs can be transitive or intransitive:  walk, fly, burn, return .  So polysemy can result in new grammatical as well as lexical meaning.

•      polysemy means that, "each text is seen to generate a potentially infinite range of meanings," making,

•      One group of polysemes are those in which a word meaning an activity, perhaps derived from a verb, acquires the meanings of those engaged in the activity, or perhaps the results of the activity, or the time or place in which the activity occurs or has occurred. Sometimes only one of those meanings is intended, depending on context, and sometimes multiple meanings are intended at the same time. Other types are derivations from one of the other meanings that leads to a verb or activity.

•      English has many words which are polysemous. For example the verb "to get" can mean "take" (I'll get the drinks), "become" (she got scared), "have" (I've got three dollars), "understand" (I get it) etc.

•      Mole

1. a small burrowing mammal

2. consequently, there are several different entities called moles (see the Mole disambiguation page). Although these refer to different things, their names derive from 1. :e.g. A Mole burrows for information hoping to go undetected.

•      Bank

1. a financial institution

2. the building where a financial institution offers services

3. a synonym for 'rely upon' (e.g. "I'm your friend, you can bank on me"). It is different, but related, as it derives from the theme of security initiated by 1

            However: a river bank is a homonym to 1 and 2, as they do not share etymologies. It is a completely different meaning. River bed, though, is polysemous with the beds on which people sleep.

•      Book

1. a bound collection of pages

2. a text reproduced and distributed (thus, someone who has read the same text on a computer has read the same book as someone who had the actual paper volume)

•      Milk

•      The verb milk (e.g. "he's milking it for all he can get") derives from the process of obtaining milk.

•      Wood

1. a piece of a tree

2. a geographical area with many trees

•      Crane

1. a bird

2. a type of construction equipment

•      It is difficult to distinguish between homonymy and polysemy (Lyons, 1985:146)

•      Homonyms are said to be different word (i.e. lexeme) with the same form

•      Polysemy is property of single lexemes; and this is what differeniates it

Polysemy and Homonymy Explanation:



Polysemy
where a word as a related number of meanings
i.e.:
mouth
1. pat of a river
2. entrance of a cave
3. part of the body



Homonymy

Where similarity of pronunciation or spelling is accidental
(etimology supports this idea)
i.e.:
bank
1. he ground beside a iver
2. a financial instituion



NOTE:

While in principle the difference between Homonymy and Polysemy is clear, in practice it can be very difficult to draw the distinction.


Lots of luck in your linguistic ventures,
Patricia.



Polysemy
Where a word has a related number of meanings

i.e.
love : (tennis term)
love¨: in life (that of man for woman, woman for man, for children, animals, and so on so forth)

--------------------------------------------------


I apologize asker for my horrible typos, I meant:
homonymy e.g.: \"bank\", the ground beside a river
polysemy: e.g.: \"mouth\", part of a river.

Greetings from Buenos Aires, Argentina,
Patricia.

The List of Polysemy:

No	WORD	MEANING 1	MEANING 2
1	aggregation	coming together	result of coming together;
			those who come together
2	Assembly	coming together	result of coming together;
			those who come together
3	Bank	keep secure	place where things are kept secure
4	Bed	something sleepers lie upon	what a stream lies on
5	Book	a bound collection of pages	text distributed as a book
6	Capitalist	person who owns a business	supporter of capitalism;
			person who owns a business
7	congregation	coming together	result of coming together;
			those who come together
8	Court	seek favor	assembly of those seeking favor;
			the president of the court (“judge”)
9	delegation	granting authority to another	those to whom authority has been granted
10	Head	part of the body above neck	person in charge of an organization
11	Hospital	activity or place for lodging guests	place for treating the ill
12	Hunt	seeking something,	those engaged in a search and taking
		especially game animals,
		to kill or capture
13	March	moving together on foot	those who move together on foot
14	Milk	activity of extracting milk	result of extraction
15	militia	military or defense activity	those engaged in or subject to being required to engage in defense activity
16	ministry	serving the needs of others	those engaged in serving the needs of others
17	mole	a small burrowing mammal	someone who burrows for information hoping to go undetected
18	movement	motion, change in position	result of motion or change; those who move or change
19	nurse	serving the needs of others	someone engaged in serving the needs of others
20	police	make orderly (lawful)	law enforcers
21	service	doing for others	those who serve (especially military)
22	Viking	raiding	those who raid (especially of Scandinavian origin)
23	wedding	joining a couple in matrimony	those engaged in joining a couple in matrimony; time or place of doing so
24	wood	a piece of a tree	a geographical area with many trees
25	Crawl	to move slowly on hands and knees	to move slowly in traffic;
			to be covered with moving things;
			to swim the crawl

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