(1) lexical semantics 1
TRANSCRIPT
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Lexical Semantics
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What is semantics?
SEMANTICS is the technical term used to refer to the study of meaning.
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The term semantics and meanings
The term semantics is a recent addition to the English
language
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Timeline for “semantics”
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Timeline for “semantics”
•17th Centaury: semantick philosophy
divination
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•1894 Timeline for “semantics”
semantics in a paper read to the
American Philological Association entitled
'Reflected meanings: a point in semantics'
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Timeline for “semantics”
•1897 semantique
coined from the Greek by M. Breal.
Michel Jules Alfred Bréal
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In both cases the term was not used simply to refer to meaning, but to its development - with what we shall later call 'historical semantics'.
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•1900 Timeline for “semantics”
semantics It treated semantics as the
'science of meaning,It was not primarily concerned with the historical change of
meaning
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Yet the term
semantics did not catch on for some
time
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•1923Timeline for “semantics”
semantics
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Yet semantics does not occur in the main body of the book itself.
However, it appears in an appendix, which is itself a classic in the field,
entitled The problem of meaning in primitive
languages, written by the anthropologist, B.
Malinowski.
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Semantics: other terms
H. G. Wells
signifies
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semasiologysemologysemioticssememics
semics
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The term meaning is much more familiar to
us all
The term semantics and meanings
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The dictionary will suggest a number of
different meanings of meaning, or, more
correctly, of the verb mean,
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Ogden and Richards were able to list no less than
sixteen different meanings that have been favoured by 'reputable scholars'.
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Those clouds mean thunder
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A red light means 'stop’
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I mean to be there tomorrow.
intend
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Sign: Natural
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Sign: conventional
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Signs indicate something that• is happening, •will happen, or•has to be done.
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Such signs provide information or give
instructions, and it is easy to assume that language
consists of signs of a similar kind.
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•The most relevant use of the terms for our purposes is found in such sentences as
What does 'calligraphy' mean?
‘Calligraphy' is beautiful handwriting.
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• In stating meaning, we are obliged to produce a term that is more familiar than the one whose meaning is being questioned
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ScientologyNanotechnology
Sobajo
Foreign language
Obscure term
Technical term
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What is ‘Scientology’?
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What is ‘nanotechnology’?
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What is ‘friend’ in Umbararo language?
sobajo
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We translate from obscure terms,
technical terms, or a foreign language into
words that can be easily understood.
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ALICE IN WONDERLAND
Humpty Dumpty
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“I don't know what you mean by 'glory,' " Alice said.
Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. "Of course you don't—till I tell you. I
meant 'there's a nice knock-down argument for you!' “
"But 'glory' doesn't mean 'a nice knock-down argument'," Alice objected.
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"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less."
"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."
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• 'Then you should say what you mean', the March Hare went on. • 'I do', Alice hastily replied; 'at
least - at least I mean what I say -that's the same thing, you know'. • 'Not the same thing a bit', said
the Hatter.
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If our words have a meaning, how can we fail to say what we mean?
or How can the words fail to
mean what they mean?
A BIG QUESTION
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ANSWERwe wish to suggest that the words do not mean what they might most
obviously be thought to mean.
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There is some other meaning besides
the 'literal' meaning of the words
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How can we achieve this?
• Intonation patterns.
This is all what I need.
A wink
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Sarcasm You’re very
clever!
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Semantics is a part of linguistics, the scientific study of
language.