Semantics Flashcards
What are ‘Semantics’?
Refers to the meanings of words
What is meant by ‘Denotative meaning’?
The dictionary definition of a word
What are the aspects of ‘Associative Meaning’?
Associative Meanings Include:
- Connotative Meaning
- Reflected Meaning
- Social Meaning
- Collocative Meaning
- Affective Meaning
What is ‘Connotative Meaning’?
Emotional meanings associated with a word
What is ‘Reflected Meaning’?
Invokes additional meanings from other occurrences of the same or similar words in certain contexts, e.g. chronic means recurring, but has reflected meaning of bad
What is ‘Social Meaning’?
Associated beliefs about social groups and markers, e.g. craic has social meaning of northernness and Irishness
What is ‘Collocative Meaning’?
Meaning derived from words that frequently appear together, e.g handsome has collocations of men, since handsome women are uncommon
What is ‘Affective Meaning’?
Personal or emotional expression of the speaker/writer
What are ‘Synonyms’?
Words that share similar or identical meaning
What are ‘Antonyms’?
Words that have the opposite meanings
What is meant by a ‘Semantic Field’?
Words and phrases that connect to a specific topic, theme, or genre are used across a text to create a cohesive, connotative bubble
What are the aspects of ‘Figurative Language’?
Aspects of Figurative Language Include:
- Metaphor
- Metonymy
- Synecdoche
- Simile
- Personification
- Hyperbole
- Idiom
What are ‘Metaphors’?
Allows us to explore a concept in terms of another. They’re split into 2 parts: the target domain and the source domain. The former is the concept we’re describing and the latter is the concept we are drawing a similarity from
What is ‘Metonymy’?
A concept is referred to by an element associated with the concept, e.g. using suits to refer to businessmen
What is ‘Synecdoches’?
A part is used to describe the whole or the whole is used to describe a part, e.g. Downing Street to refer to the government
What are ‘Similes’?
Saying one thing is like or similar to another
What is ‘Personification’?
When something non-human is given human characteristics
What is ‘Hyperbole’?
When something is exaggerated
What is ‘Idiom’?
A phrase whose meaning isn’t immediately obvious or denoted by the words used
What are ‘Euphemisms’?
A mild or indirect way of talking about something embarrassing, unpleasant, or offensive
What are ‘Dysphemisms’?
A harsh, blunt, or offensive way of talking about something positive or neutral
What is a ‘Semantic Change’?
The meaning of words and the way we use them in everyday speech is changing all the time
What is an ‘Amelioration’?
A word’s meaning becomes more positive
What is a ‘Pejoration’?
A word’s meaning becomes more negative
What is ‘Broadening’?
A word encompasses a wider range of meaning
What is ‘Narrowing’?
A word encompasses a narrower range of meaning
What is a ‘Paronamasia’ (Pun)?
A playful use of language, where the grammatical function or semantics of a word are exploited to invoke new unexpected or witty meanings
What are the different types of puns?
The five types of Paronamsia (pun):
- Homophonic
- Homographic
- Homonymic
- Compounded
- Recursive
What is a ‘Homophonic Paronamasia’?
Uses word pairs that sound alike
What is a ‘Homographic Paronamasia’?
Exploits words which are spelled the same but have different meanings and sounds
What is a ‘Homonymic Paronamasia’?
The exploitation of words which are both homographs and homophones
What is a ‘Compounded Paronamasia’?
A statement that contains two or more puns. If one was removed, the rest of the statement wouldn’t make sense
What is a ‘Recursive Paronamasia’?
The second aspect of a pun relies on the understanding of an element in the first
What are ‘Weasel Words’?
Words or phrases that utilise ambiguity or vagueness in an attempt to manipulate the reader into taking a specific POV
