Semantics: Linguistics and Meaning

The topic of seminar: The main trends of Cognitive Linguistics in works of foreign (American and European) scientists Problem task: What principles of cognitive linguistics did G. Lakoff pay much attention at ? Describe his idea. Describe the study of spatial relationships and types of movement in the conceptualization of language, the concept of imaginative schemes and types of schemes. Describe the study of body based consciousness and language of humans. The idea of the concept of embodiment…

word-groups or phrases. All these linguistic units may be said to have meaning of some kind: they are all significant and therefore must be investigated both as to form and meaning. The branch of lexicology that is devoted to the study of meaning is known as Semasiology. Semasiology from Greek word sēmasia (“signification”) + logos (“account”).The branch of lexicology which is so called semantics semiotics, semology, the philosophical and scientific study of meaning. It is difficult to formulate…

SEMANTICS–PRAGMATICS INTERACTION It seems unlikely that there will ever be consensus about the extent to which we can reliably distinguish semantic phenomena from pragmatic phenomena. But there is now broad agreement that a sentence's meaning can be given in full only when it is studied in its natural habitat: as part of an utterance by an agent who intends it to communicate a message. Here, we document some of the interactions that such study has uncovered. In every case, to achieve even a basic…

The study of Semantics allows us to identify the meaning of words and phrases in their literal sense, and helps us to make meaning out of arbitrary sounds and phrases. It has been contributed to by both linguists and philosophers. Linguists used lexical decomposition to understand the features that comprise words and the categories in which the words fit. Philosophers dealt more with the meanings of sentences and truth condition and reference (Parker and Riley 2010: 28).Semantics is still not a…

This essay will discuss semantic theories of natural language. Emphasising on the use of meaning in language, the process of human thought in language use and also how reality is an influence on language. The Oxford Dictionaries(n.d) provide definitions of the key words in enquiry as follows. (“meaning.”) “ What is meant by a word, text, concept, or action:” . (“thought.”)“An idea or opinion produced by thinking, or occurring suddenly in the mind:”. (“reality.”) “The state of things as they actually…

communication that can lead to good, clear transmission of ideas, meanings and subtle nuances the way people intend to. In former times, humans relied on symbols and drawings to make their messages known, their system of communication being quite rudimentary compared to what we have today, when the language has seen an accelerated development and has grown into such broad directions that people cannot even possibly know the entire array of meanings and significations. In the following, the paper will go through…

SEMANTICS & PRAGMATICS Analysis of Two Texts, 1500 WORD Linguistics is the science of a language. Linguists depend on the use of certain aspects in order to analyse, describe and explain a human language; these aspects include semantics and pragmatics. Semantics can be defined as the study of "meaning" of lexical words and expressions independently of context. Where pragmatics is the process of recognising the "invisible meaning" of lexical items and expressions; taking into account the speaker's/…

Реферат на тему: “Structural and semantic properties of phraseological units” Підготувала студентка IV курсу факультету філології та журналістики групи Ін-48 Кваша Наталія Володимирівна Науковий керівник: доц. Алефіренко Л. Б. Полтава – 2011 Plan Introduction 1. Problems with the definition of phraseological units. The groups of phraseological units according their meaning 2. Ways of forming of phraseological units 3. Semantic structure of phraseological units…

The causes of semantic changes In comparison with classifications of semantic change the problem of their causes appears neglected. Opinions on this point are scattered through a great number of linguistic works and have apparently never -been collected into anything complete. And yet a thorough understanding of the phenomena involved .in semantic change is impossible unless the whys and wherefores become known. This is of primary importance as it may lead eventually to a clearer, interpretation…

semantics [Gr.,=significant] in general, the study of the relationship between words and meanings. The empirical study of word meanings and sentence meanings in existing languages is a branch of linguistics; the abstract study of meaning in relation to language or symbolic logic systems is a branch of philosophy. Both are called semantics. The field of semantics has three basic concerns: the relations of words to the objects denoted by them, the relations of words to the interpreters of them, and…