بســــــم الله الرحمن الرحيم وكل عام وأنتم بخير

Chapter one Introduction

1,1 Semantics and meaning Semantics is the study of meaning. History of semantics: 1- 1st occurrence in the 17thC. semantick philosophy= divination 2- In 1894 semantics appeared in America and in 1893 semantique in France. In both cases the term was used to refer not to meaning but to its development. 3. In 1900, it appeared as studies in the science of meaning.

What is the meaning of meaning? No less than sixteen meanings: 1- ‘intend’ e.g. ‘I mean to be there tomorrow’. or ‘sign’, e.g. ‘That cloud means thunder’ (natural) ‘A red light means ‘Stop’’. (conventional) 2- The most relevant use of the term in questions as ‘What does ‘calligraphy’ mean?’ Calligraphy means ‘beautiful handwriting’. 3- ‘It wasn’t what he said, but what he meant’. * There is some other meaning besides the literal meaning of the words. This can be achieved by intonation or non- linguistic signs.

1.2 Semantics and linguistics Q. What is linguistics? Semantics is a component or level of liguistics. Semantics is at one end and phonetics at the other, with grammar somewhere in the middle. Communication systems are numerous. Q. Why is language a different system? 1- It does not always have a message. 2- Both the signs and the message are complex. 3- It is difficult to specify the message precisely. Difficulties with semantics 1- scientific study of meaning. 2- Meanings are not stable.

Difference between: Langue & parole Competence & performance Meaning & use Semantics & pragmatics 1.3 Historical Semantics Def: the study of the change of meaning in time. 9 types of classification of change (p. 9) Reasons for the changes: 1- Some are no more than fortuitous 2- Others arise from new needs 3- A cause of fast change is taboo

Comparative Philology Aims: 1- reconstruct the history of languages to relate languages coming from a common source. 2- establish sound law Difficulty Etymology: the discovery of earlier meanings of words or true meanings. 1- words are often not what they seem 2- there can be no true or original meaning Diachronic and Synchronic

Diachronic is concerned with language through time. Synchronic is concerned with language as it is, or as it was at a particular time. 1.4 Semantics in other disciplines Semantics has gained from three disciplines: philosophy, anthropology and psychology. 1- Philosophers suggested that many philosophical problems can be solved by the study of ordinary language. 2- Anthropologists are concerned with language as an essential part of the cultural and behavioural patterns of the people they study.

3- The relation between psychology and linguistics is so important that is has given rise to a subject called ‘psycholinguistics’ = how we process language both in its production and reception. e.g. there are problems in understanding sentences in which there is ‘self embedding’. Compare: The boy the man the woman loved saw ran away. The question the girl the dog bit answered was complex. Why one should be more difficult while the grammatical markers are the same. * Even when the grammar seems explicit we rely more on the meaning to help us with the interpretation