Semantics is branch of theoretical linguistics that deals with the meaning of words and sentences. It is a sophisticated branch of knowledge that touches on many

philosophical, psychological, linguistics, and aspects.

Triangle of MeaningTriangle of Meaning

In semantics, there are three distinct element :

1 .The thing. It is the referred-to element, which exists outside the mind and outside language .

2 .The word. It is the symbol which refers to the thing .3 .The meaning. It is the concept or reference. It is the

image, attributes, or abstract entity .

Linguists, however, have shown some disagreement on the inter-relationship among the semantic trio. There are, for example, words that do not refer to things, such as honesty, piety, fear , and other similar words that symbolize abstracts. In this case, only two elements, not three, exist; word and meaning .Another issue is the type of relationship that exists among the trio; Is the word

related directly to thing or indirectly through meaning.

However, when the word has already been in existence, the lines of relationship among the trio element may take different direction:

1 .thing meaning word. You see a thing , then you remember its meaning, and you remember its word. 2. meaning word thing. You recall a meaning, then its word ,and then thing.

3. Word meaning thing. You hear a word, and then you remember its meaning and then its thing .

Semantic fieldsSemantic fields

1 .The field of continuous concretes. It is a semantic field of words that refer to concrete things , the classification of which

is disagreed on, such as colors .

2.The field of separate concretes . It is a semantic field of words that refer to separate concrete entities, such as the

semantic filed of plants or animals .

3 .The field of abstracts. It is a field of words referring to abstract concepts such as the semantic field of virtues, e.g. ,

honesty, courage , and loyalty .

Semantic field share several qualities. First, the words pertaining to the field belong to the same morphological or syntactic class. Second, the words of the same field are either related to concrete or abstract referents. Third, the number of common features among the words of the same field affects the number of member words, , i, e, the

size of the field.

Semantic featuresSemantic features

A word may be looked upon as consisting of positive and negative

features. The word hen , for instance:

is+ animate,+ bird, -human, +singular .

Inter-Field RelationshipsInter-Field Relationships

Synonymy means similarity in meaning of two words or more.

e. g. brave/courageous , rich/wealthy.

Antonymy means against meaning.

e. g. big/small , hot/ cold

Inclusion a word may include another: A B but B does not include A. For example, the first word in each following pairs includes the other one, but not the other

way round.

e. g. fruit/apple, animal/lion.

Exclusion two words or more may be related to a field on equal footing or manner.

e. g. sheep, cow ,horse/animal.

Totality the relation between words is a whole-part relation .

.

e, g, book/cover , car/ seat , head/face.

Relative MeaningRelative Meaning

There are many words in all language which are relative There are many words in all language which are relative in meaning. e. g. far/near . Small/large ,light/heavy. The in meaning. e. g. far/near . Small/large ,light/heavy. The denotation of each word differs from a person to denotation of each word differs from a person to another . What is far to You may be near to him . The another . What is far to You may be near to him . The meaning also differs from time to time which the same meaning also differs from time to time which the same personperson. .

From what you understand in this From what you understand in this lecture , answer this questionslecture , answer this questions..

11 . .Gave at least three semantic Gave at least three semantic features for each wordfeatures for each word . .

A. LionA. Lion_____________________: _____________________:

B. AppleB. Apple____________________: ____________________:

•There are several ways to define wordThere are several ways to define word::

•Descriptive definitionDescriptive definition . .

•Here, a brief or detailed description is given . Here, a brief or detailed description is given . For example: the whale is largest marine For example: the whale is largest marine

animal which may be thirty meters long and animal which may be thirty meters long and five meters in diameterfive meters in diameter

• Functional definition. The word is defined by Functional definition. The word is defined by its functionits function

•

Demonstrative definition. The word is Demonstrative definition. The word is defined by pointing to itdefined by pointing to it

Rank definition.A word defined by Rank definition.A word defined by showing its position in an ordered showing its position in an ordered

series e. g. Saturday comes between series e. g. Saturday comes between Friday and sundayFriday and sunday

Synoymous definition. The word defined by Synoymous definition. The word defined by its synonym e. g. rich means wealthyits synonym e. g. rich means wealthy

Antonymous definition. The word defined by Antonymous definition. The word defined by antonymy e. g. rich is the yhe opposite of antonymy e. g. rich is the yhe opposite of

poorpoor

2 .What is the type of the semantic relationship of each pairs: synonymy, antonymy, inclusion, exclusion, or totality?

Love/affection______:

Ask/answer______:

Active/lazy______:

old/young_____:

Saturday/Sunday_____:

Body/hand______:

Teacher/instructor_______: