Meaning

Semantics (the study of meaning)

Semantics: the study of meaning, or to be more specific, the study of the meaning of linguistic units, words and sentences in particular.

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The referential theory The theory of meaning which relates the

meaning of a word to the thing it refers to, or stands for, is known as the referential theory.

Concept—something abstract which has no existence in the material world and can only be sensed in our minds.

The semantic triangle The relation between a word and a thing is

not direct, but mediated by concept. concept

word thing refers to.

Sense relations Synonymy Antonymy Hyponymy Synonymy: the term for the sameness relations betw

een words or linguistic units. Buy-purchase World—universe Total synonymy is rare. Synonyms are all context de

pendent and differ in one way or another. Style: Connotations Dialectal

Antonymy The term for oppositeness relation Gradable antonymy The members of a pair differ in terms of degree and th

e denial of one is not necessarily the assertion of the other. hot, warm, cool, cold

Antonyms of this kind are graded against different norms. There is no absolute criterion by which we may say something is good or bad, long or short.

One member of the pair, usually the term for the higher degree, serves as the cover term.

The cover term is used more often(unmarked), the covered term is less often used(marked)

Antonymy Complementary antonymy The members of pairs are complementary to each oth

er. They divide up the whole of a semantic field completely. Not only the assertion of one means the denial of the other, but the denial of another means the assertion of the other.

They cannot be modified by “very” and do not have comparative or superlative degree.

The norm in this type is absolute. There is no cover term for the two members of a pair.

antonymy Converse antonymy Pairs which show the reversal of a relationship

between two entities. Relational opposites: it is typically seen in reci

procal social roles, kinship relations, temporal and spatial relations. One presupposes the other.

He is a husband

Hyponymy The inclusiveness relations between linguistic units the upper term: superordinate The lower terms: hyponyms The members of the same class: co-hyponyms living plant animal bird fish insect animal human animal tiger lion elephant

Sentence meaning The meaning of the sentence is not the sum of the wor

ds that are used in it. The dog chases the man. The man chases the dog. I’ve already seen that film. That film I’ve already seen. The son of pharaoh’s daughter is the daughter of pha

raoh’s son. The son of pharaoh’s daughter is the daughter of phar

aoh’s son. This shows that to understand the meaning of a senten

ce, we not only need the meaning of individual words, but also knowledge of the syntactic structure.

Logical semantics Philosophers are the first to study meaning. Traditional grammarians were more concerned with

word meanings, while philosophers are more concerned with sentence meaning.

Propositional logic ( 命题逻辑 propositional calculus/sentential calculus) ： the study of the truth conditions for propositions: how the truth of a composite proposition is determined by the truth value of its constituent propositions and the connections between them.

I saw something. I saw a desk.

proposition A proposition is what is expressed by a declarative

sentence when that sentence is uttered to make a statement.

An important property of the proposition is that it has a truth value, namely, it is either true or false.

The truth value of a composite proposition is said to be the function of, or is determined by, the truth values of its component propositions and the logical connectives used in it.

If a proposition is true, then its negation is false. P is true, then ~P is false.

Logical connectives ~ negation (one-place connective) & conjunction disjunction implication two-place connectives = equivalence

Truth tableP Q P & Q P V Q P Q P = Q

T T T T T T

T F F T F F

F T F T T F

F F F F T T

Conditionfor the truth value of the composite

When both p and q are true,

The formula p & q will be true. (necessary and sufficient)

Only when and as long as one of the constituents is true, the composite is true.

Unless the antecedent is true and the consequent is false, the composite proposition will be true.

If and only if both constituent propositions are of the same truth value, the composite is true.