1

Notes on Semantics
Chapter One: What is Semantics?

1. Define semantics.
Semantics is a subfield of linguistics that studies meaning in language. Linguistics
explores all areas related to language. Language is used to express meanings that
can be understood by others. The meanings existing in our minds can be expressed
through the spoken and written forms of language (as well as gestures and actions
etc.). Meaning is related very closely to the human capacity to think logically and to
understand. In a sense trying to analyze meaning is trying to analyze our own
capacity to think and understand our own ability to create meaning.

2. Comment on the origin of the term semantics. Who used the term for the first time
in its modern sense?
The word semantics is derived from the Greek word semantikos (meaning
significant). The word came to be used in linguistic study following the coinage of
the French word semantique (from the Greek root) by M. Breal in 1893. The word
came to be commonly used in English since its use in its modern sense in 1984 in a
paper read to American Philological Association. Although Malinowski used the word
semantics in its non-historical sense in 1893 in his article “The Problem of Meaning
in Primitive Languages,” it was Breal who used the term in its modern sense (a
systematic study of what meaning is and how it operates) for the first time in his
book Semantics: Studies in the Science of Meaning (published in 1900).

3. What is understood by historical semantics?

Study of meaning in language (semantics) was confined to a historical study of the
changes in the meaning of words until about the end of the 18th century. This study
of word meaning in language in the historical perspective is called historical
semantics. Historical semantics continues to be a worthwhile intellectual pursuit.
However, semantics proper emerged as one of the primary branches of language
studies and a great deal of research was done in this field during the last few
decades. This new area of study in language is not confined to the study of meaning
in its historical perspective.

4. What is the aim / academic purpose of semantics?

2

The aim of semantics is to provide a clear understanding of how language operates

at the level of meaning. It is, in other words, a serious and systematic study of how
meaning is structured, expressed and understood in the use of a language. In short,
the aim of semantics is to enrich our understanding of how language functions at the
level of meaning.

5. What is the distinction between the linguistic meaning of an expression and the
(literal or non-literal) use of the expression by a speaker?
An important concern in the semantic study of language is the distinction between
the linguistic meaning of an expression and the use (literal or non-literal) of the
expression by a speaker. The linguistic meaning of an expression can vary across
dialects and across individual speakers. For example, In American English, the word
bonnet refers only to a type of hat, whereas in British English it can refer to the hood
of a car. This shows that we cannot isolate a single meaning valid for all forms of the
language. We will have to bear in mind that the use of an expression in a dialect can
glaringly vary from the known linguistic meaning of that expression or word. Further,
the meanings of words can vary across individual speakers within the same dialect.

6. What is idiolect? How is it different from dialect?

Dialect is the form of a language that is spoken in one area with grammar, words,
and pronunciation that may be different from other forms of the same language.
The language of a particular individual is referred to as that person’s idiolect. For
example, the word infer for some speakers means surmise, conclude etc. (e.g. I infer
from what you say that you are sick) whereas, for others, it means imply (e.g. He
inferred that he was fed up with us). The idiolectal meaning of a word / expression
can differ from one person to another even among people who speak the same
dialect.

7. How are the notions of prescription and description important in semantic study
with respect to the use of dictionaries?
While dealing with the varieties of meaning in semantic study, one stumbles on the
meanings official dictionaries of a language tell us. Dictionaries give us the valid
meanings. However, numerous words and uses of words in current spoken, informal
language do not appear in the traditional dictionaries as they stick to the official
form of the language following the prescriptive norms of language. The actual
language in use can be far from this official prescriptive version. The latest editions
of most of the dictionaries provide readers with the various meanings of the words
3

in current use and word combinations in vogue taking into account the requirements
of the users in the descriptive approach. This new trend has resulted in a great deal
of linguistic freedom.

8. What is pragmatics? What is its relationship with semantics?

Pragmatics is the study of the way in which language is used to express what
somebody means in particular situations, especially when the actual words used
may appear to mean something different. Pragmatics is a subfield of linguistics
which studies the ways in which context contributes to meaning. It further studies
how the transmission of meaning depends not only on the linguistic knowledge (e.g.
grammar, lexicon etc. ) of the speaker and listener, but also on the context of the
utterance, knowledge about the status of those involved, the inferred intent of the
speaker, and so on… Thus it explains how language users are able to overcome the
apparent ambiguity, since meaning relies on the manner, place, time, etc. of an
utterance. Pragmatics is the discipline closest to semantics.

9. What is understood by pragmatic competence?

The ability to understand another speaker’s intended meaning is called pragmatic
competence.

10. What are the different varieties of meaning in the perspective of semantics?
In the perspective of semantics, the meaning of an utterance or speech can be
tracked in two different levels. They are the linguistic meaning and the speaker
meaning. Linguistic meaning can further be analyzed into language meaning and
idiolect meaning. Language meaning can further be analyzed into dialectal meaning
(in the social and regional levels. Speaker meaning can further be analyzed into
literal and non-literal levels.

11. What are the features in popular use in the non-literal aspects of the speaker
meaning of an utterance? (Figures of speech)
The features in popular use in the non-literal aspects of the speaker meaning of an
utterance are irony, sarcasm, metaphor, simile, metonymy, synecdoche etc.

12. What is irony?

Irony is the use of words that say the opposite of what you really mean, often as a
joke and with a tone of voice that shows this.
“Examples: England is famous for its food,” she said with heavy irony.
4

13. Explain sarcasm.

Sarcasm is a way of using words that are the opposite of what you mean in order to
be unpleasant to somebody or to make fun of them.
Example: “That will be useful,” she snapped with heavy sarcasm. (She really thought
it would not be useful at all).

14. Explain metaphor.

Metaphor is a word or phrase used to describe somebody / something else, in a way
that is different from its normal use, in order to show that the two things have the
same qualities and to make the description more powerful,
Example: She has a heart of stone.

15. What is simile?

Simile is a word or phrase that compares something to something else, using the
words like or as.
Example: a face like a mask; white as snow

16. What is metonymy?

Metonymy is the act of referring to something by the name of something else that is
closely connected with it.
Example: using the White House for the U S President.

17. What is synecdoche?

Synecdoche is a word or phrase in which a part of something is used to represent a
whole or a whole is used to represent a part of something.
Example: Australia lost by two goals. (Australia is used to represent the Australian
team)

Chapter Two: Some basic Concepts in Semantics

18. Define sentence.

19. What is an utterance?
20. What is understood by proposition?
21. Point out the six important differences between a sentence and an utterance.
22. What are the three major differences between a sentence and a proposition?
5

23. Explain synthetic sentence.

24. What is contradiction?
25. Explain entailment?
26. What is unilateral entailment?
27. What is bilateral entailment?
28. Explain paraphrase.
29. Distinguish between sense and reference.
30. Distinguish between denotation and connotation.

Chapter Three: Semantics of Words (1)

31. What is understood by antonyms? What are the different types of antonyms?
32. Explain binary opposites.
33. Explain gradable opposites.
34. What is understood by converse terms?
35. What is understood by multiple incompatibles?
36. What is understood by synonyms?
37. What are the two tests of synonymy?
38. Explain the test of substitutability?
39. Explain the same antonym test of synonymy.
40. Write a brief note on the patterns of synonymy in English
41. Give a few examples of synonyms representing British and American varieties of
English.
42. Give a few examples of synonyms in English representing words of native origin and
those of Greek or Latin origin.
43. Give a few examples of synonyms in English representing emotional overtones and
evocative effects.
44. Give a few examples of synonyms in English representing two different registers
(register = the level and style usually appropriate to the situation).
45. Give a few examples of triple scale synonyms in English representing words of Anglo-
Saxon, French and Greek / Latin origin.

Chapter four: Semantics of Words (2)

46. Explain homonyms with examples.

Homonyms are words that have the same pronunciation and / or the same spelling but
different and unrelated meanings. E.g. tear / tear, well / well
6

47. What are the three kinds of homonyms?

Homonyms are three types.
1. Words which have different meanings and different pronunciation but the same
spelling. E.g. lead –the name of a metal, lead –to show the way; wind-air in motion,
wind – to move something in a twisting way.
2. Words which have different meanings and different spellings, but the same
pronunciation. E.g. feet / feat; hear /here; hair / hare; right / write.
3. Words which have different meanings but the same pronunciation and the same
spelling. E.g. bank (of a river) / bank (a financial institution); ear (organ for
hearing) /ear (of a plant); left (past tense of leave)/ left (opposite of right)

48. Explain polysemy with examples.

Polysemy is the phenomenon in all languages of having words which have a number of
cognitive meanings. Each of these words has a primary meaning and also one or more
secondary meanings. Examples:
1. hand: a) part of the human arm beyond the wrist b) performer / worker c) indicator
on the dial of a clock.
2. leg: a) part of the body used for walking b) leg-like support of a piece of furniture c)
part of a garment that covers the legs.

49. Point out the difference between polysemy and homonymy.

Homonyms are two or more words having the same written and / or spoken form. A
polysemic word, on the other hand, is a word having two or more related meanings. In a
dictionary, homonyms are listed as separate words but the different meanings of a
polysemic word are usually listed under the same entry.

Chapter five: Semantics of Words (2)

50. Explain the relationship between hyponyms and super-ordinate words with
examples.
51. What is understood by co-hyponyms?
52. Explain componential analysis pointing out the semantic components of a few
examples.
Componential analysis is a new approach to analyzing the meaning of lexical items
(words developed in the second half of the 20th century by semanticists like Katz and
Fodor. According to this approach, the meaning of a word can be described and
7

understood as a togetherness of certain components of meaning. Just as an atom can be

analyzed in terms of its constituent electrons, protons and neutrons, the meaning of a
word can also be analyzed in terms of certain semantic components. Examples:
Man = +human +male +adult
Woman= +human -male +adult
Child= +human -adult

Bull= +bovine +male +adult

Cow= +bovine -male +adult
Calf= +bovine -adult

53. Explain the concept of collocation with a few examples.

Collocation can be defined as the habitual co-occurrence of a word with certain other
words of the same language. The way languages operate, some words can co-occur with
certain words but not with certain other words. For example, the words handsome and
pretty can co-occur with some nouns but not with some other apparently similar nouns.
(It’s okay to say:a handsome man, a handsome woman, a handsome flower, a pretty
woman, a pretty child, and a pretty bird. However, it’s not okay to say: a handsome
landscape, a handsome view, a handsome village, a pretty man, and a pretty present)

Chapter six: The Semantics of Prefixes and Suffixes in English

54. What is affixation?

Affixation is the addition of a prefix or a suffix to a word for the purpose of making
another word (e.g. laugh - laughter; scholar – scholarship, rich – enrich etc.) or another
form of the same word (e.g. nice – nicer, boy – boys). In the case of affixation, the
change usually takes place at three levels simultaneously, i.e. at the level of
morphology, at the level of syntax, and also at the level of semantics.

55. Explain polysemic prefixes and suffixes with examples.

Polysemic words are words which have two or more different but related meanings (e.g.
tooth, ring etc.). Just as there are polysemic words, there are polysemic prefixes and
suffixes in English. They are prefixes and suffixes which have two or more distinct but
related meanings. Examples:
1. bi a. twice in one period (bi-annual, bi-monthly)
b. once in a period of two (biennial, bicentennial)
c. having two (bilingual, bilateral)
8

2. –ish a. resembling (childish, boyish)

b. near to / about (greenish, twentyish)

56. Explain homonymous prefixes and suffixes with examples.

Homonyms are words having the same spelling and / or the same pronunciation but two
or more different unrelated meaning. Likewise, homonymous prefixes and suffixes are
those prefixes and suffixes which have two or more unrelated meanings. Examples:
1. a- a. not / without (amoral, apolitical)
b. in the state of (asleep, awake)
2. –ly a. having the quality of (scholarly, stupidly, cleverly)
b. every (hourly, yearly, monthly)

Chapter Seven: Ambiguity

57. What is ambiguity? Write a note on ambiguity with reference to Sir William
Empson’s concept and the different types of ambiguity.
In modern English usage, the word ambiguity is used in various levels of implications.
The prominent among them are: the state of having more than one possible meaning
(e.g. write clear definitions in order to avoid ambiguity); a word or statement that can be
understood in more than one way (e.g. There were several inconsistencies and
ambiguities in her speech) ; the state of being difficult to understand or explain because
of involving many different aspects (e.g. You must understand the ambiguity of my
position). In the second half of the 20th century, Sir William Empson’s book entitled
Seven Types of Ambiguity exerted a great deal of influence in the literary and linguistic
circles. In it, Empson discusses ambiguity in relation to literary effects and describes it as
“any consequence of language which adds some nuance to the direct statement of
prose.” He distinguishes between seven different types of ambiguity, his classification
being based on the relationship between the two or more meanings of an ambiguous
utterance in a literary text. He discusses ambiguity in the context of its effect in literary
texts. In linguistics (semantics), however, ambiguity is usually discussed not in relation
to its aesthetic effects but in relation to the linguistic devices operating as causative
factors. Accordingly, ambiguity is discussed in levels like speech act ambiguity,
phonological ambiguity, lexical ambiguity, and grammatical ambiguity.

58. Explain speech act ambiguity.

In many cases, a sentence can be interpreted in more than one way from the point of
view of the act performed (speech act) in uttering that sentence. If someone, for
9

example, says, “I am very hungry today,” is he only making a statement? Or, is he asking
his wife to give him an early lunch? Or, is he suggesting that his wife should cook him a
heavy meal instead of giving him only sandwiches for lunch? Or, is he insinuating that
the breakfast served to him in the morning was not substantial at all? In other words, is
he making a statement, or a request or a suggestion or an insinuation? The type of
ambiguity arising from the illocutionary act performed in saying something is described
speech act ambiguity. (Examples:1. I do take this woman to be my lawfully wedded wife.
2. I name this baby Charles.)

59. Explain phonological ambiguity.

Phonological ambiguity is the one involved in connected utterances owing to
phonological overlapping in word boundaries. Examples: a name (an aim); ice cream (I
scream); nitrate (night rate); How strained? (house-trained); that stuff (That’s tough);
white shoes (why choose) etc. What disambiguates the ambiguity in such spoken
expressions even out of context is the careful and intentional juncture occurrence.

60. Explain lexical ambiguity.

In many cases ambiguity is caused by the use of words which are fully homonymous
(words which are identical in spelling and /or pronunciation but different in meaning) i.
e. one lexical item being taken or understood as another. Examples: 1. Life depends on
the liver. 2. I like that table. 3. John is drawing a cart. 4. He lives near the bank. 5. Ask for
me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man.

61. Explain grammatical ambiguity.

Ambiguities arising out of grammatical devices are known as grammatical ambiguities.
They are of two kinds: those explainable in terms of bracketing and those explainable in
terms of transformations. Examples for ambiguities explainable in terms of bracketing
are:
1. John or Paul and Philip. (John or Paul) and Philip; John or (Paul and Philip)
2. I killed the woman with a pistol. I killed (the woman) (with a pistol). I killed (the
woman with a pistol).
3. Last night I danced with the stout major’s wife. Last night I danced with the stout
(major’s wife). Last night I danced with (the stout major’s) wife.
In many cases, the ambiguity of a sentence can best be explained in terms of
transformation of the grammatical roles of words involved. They are known as
constructional homonymy in linguistics. In such cases two or more conceptual structures
can acquire identical surface structure. Examples:
10

1. Flying planes can be dangerous. (It can be dangerous to fly planes. Planes which are
flying can be dangerous.)
2. Biting dogs can kill you. (If you bite dogs, it can kill you. Dogs which bite can kill you.)
3. The lamb is too hot to eat. (The lamb is so hot that it cannot eat anything. The lamb
is so hot that we cannot eat it.)

62.