Language Methods Semantics. Flashcards
Define semantics.
Study of meaning within language. Concerned with what words actually refer to in the real world.
Define a semantic field.
A group of words that fulfil the same kind of role and function in speech and writing.
Define a collocate.
Words that typically appear together.
e.g.
‘cosmetic’ and ‘surgery’
What can collocates progress into?
Fixed expressions.
Define a fixed expression.
A well-used group of words that become accepted as one long structure.
Define a synonym.
A word that has equivalent meaning to another word.
Define a euphemism.
A more socially acceptable word or phrase.
Define a dysphemism.
Using a blunt or direct word instead of a more polite or indirect alternative, close to taboo.
Define an antonym.
Words that have opposite meanings.
Define a hyponym.
The way of viewing the relationship between more general and specific words.
Laptop is a hyponym of Computer.
Define a metaphor.
A structure that presents one thing in terms of another.
Define denotation.
The literal meaning of a word.
Define connotation.
The implied, deeper meaning we associate with a word.
The feelings ideas and cultural meanings which are associated with the word or object.
Define semiotics.
Semiotics is the study of signs, it is both a theory and analysis of signs and signifying practices.
Define a sign.
A successful, understandable form of communication.
Define a signifier.
Any motion, gesture, image, sound, patter or event that conveys meaning and communicates.
Define signified.
The concept that a signifier refers to and the meaning it conveys.
Define an icon.
Signs where the signifier resembles the signified.
A successful understandable form of communication where the action, gesture or event etc conveys the intended meaning.
Define a symbol.
Signs where the relationship between signifier and signified is purely conventional and culturally specific.
Define indexes.
Signs where the signifier is caused by the signified.
Define a symtagm.
A single word or element of design that, when altered, can change the overall meaning.
Define a paradigm
A group of related ideas that are interchangeable in a sentence or design, yet they have the same collective meaning.
