Semantics 1

Question 1

What is meaning comprised of?

Answer 1

Linguistics meaning

Social meaning

Affective meaning

Question 2

What is Referential Meaning?

Linguistics Meaning

Answer 2

Referential meaning:

• Expression refers to an actual thing in the world
• E.g. The cow is lying on the ground (I’m talking about a specific cow in real life)

References are not stable:

• Depending on the context they can change their meaning
• E.g. The cow is lying on the ground (I might be talking about the teacher)
• E.g. My sister’s car (depends on who my sister is. Sister or car can be different)

Question 3

What are the different types of References?

Answer 3

Constant Refernt:

• A Referent that is always used the same
• E.g. The sun (there is only one sun)

Variable Referent:

• The same referent changes over time
• E.g. The Chancellor of Germany” (there is only one chancellor, but the person changes)

No Referent:

• Functions Words: The, under
• Abstract Concepts: Love, Hate, Idea
• Mythical Creatures: Hobbits

1 Expression -> multiple References

• The girl might be Sally, Jade, Julia…

Multiple Expressions -> 1 Reference

• The 44th President, Husband of Melina, Apprentic show Star -> Donald Trump

Question 4

What is Sense meaning?

Linguistics meaning

Answer 4

Depicts a concept of a word:

• E.g. Cow: 4 legs, milk, black/white

References are based off of senes

• Mental image decides what references are part and are not part of the sense
• E.g. A cat is not a dog

Question 5

What is Social Meaning?

Answer 5

Meaning about identity of a person

• Ethnicity, regional origin…
• (How we speak tells us who we are)

Question 6

What is Affective Meaning?

Answer 6

Conveys feeling and attitudes

• Expressed by stress, intontion or word choice
• E.g. The Smith-idiot made us stay longer (said angrily)

Question 7

What’s the difference between denotation and connotation?

Answer 7

Denotation:

• Linguistics Meaning
• Core meaning = Refering to the literal thing

Connotation:

• Social and Affective meaning
• Secondary Meaning = All the “hidden” meaning. The information we gather not from the literal words
• E.g. Someone talking on and on about cows -> he loves cows

Question 8

How do Semantics analyse sententces?

Answer 8

Words:

• Function Words: meaning through relating content words (The cat is under the table)
• Content Words: concrete objects or abstract concepts (also socail and affective meaning)

Order: (Words alone are not enough to derive meaning from sentence)

• The dog bit the man.
• The man bit the dog.