Semantics And Semiotics

Question 1

Semantics

Answer 1

is the study of meaning communicated through language
studies the meaning as communicated by a speaker and interpreted by a listener

Question 2

Meaning

Answer 2

linguistically encoded idea or message content that is to be transferred from the mind of the speaker/writer to the mind of the listener/reader.

Question 3

Types of meaning

Answer 3

Denotative: the relationship between words and the entities which they refer to. It is given by the literal use of lexical items.
Connotative: figurative, non-literal resulting from the context e.g.: head of state

Question 4

Types of connotative meaning

Answer 4

Expressive: type of connotative meaning describing speaker´s emotions or state of mood e.g. Good heavens! (uninformative)
Social: language used to establish and maintain social roles and social relations. The ritualized utterances: greetings, apologies… (uninformative)
Grammatical: grammatical words whose function is to organize syntactically other lexical words e.g.: and, to, for, a, the…
Pragmatic: what do I mean if I say something – a message to the interlocutor

Question 5

Three speech acts:

Answer 5

Locutionary
Illocutionary
Perlocutionary

Question 6

Semiotics

Answer 6

Science of signs

Question 7

3 basic types of sign

Answer 7

icons, indexes, symbols

Question 8

Indexes

Answer 8

Symptoms signifying some circumstance or state
Smoke indicates fire, fever accompanies illness

Question 9

Symbols

Answer 9

The relation between the signifiant and signifié is established by convention
Red – representing revolution, love, blood

Question 10

Icons

Answer 10

The form of iconic signs describes some properties of the entity
The sign form is thus similar to the signified object (photograph, picture, diagram