An Introduction to Semantics

Semantics: is the technical term used to refer to the study of meaning, and, since meaning is a part of language, semantics is a part of linguistics.

Semantics Semantics is the branch of linguistics that deals with the study of meaning, changes in meaning, and the principles that govern the relationship between sentences or words and their meanings. It is the study of the relationships between signs and symbols and what they represent.

What is semantics? Semantics is the study of meaning in language. It is a wide subject within the general study of language. An understanding of semantics is essential to the study of language acquisition (how language users acquire a sense of meaning, as speakers and writers, listeners and readers). It is also essential to the study of language change (how meanings alter over time).

It is important for understanding language in social contexts, as these are likely to affect meaning, and for understanding varieties of English and effects of style. It is thus one of the most fundamental concepts in linguistics. The study of semantics includes the study of how meaning is constructed, interpreted, clarified, obscured, illustrated, simplified, negotiated, contradicted, and paraphrased.

The noun semantics and the adjective semantic are derived from the Greek word semantikos (“significant”). In linguistics, semantics is the subfield that is devoted to the study of meaning, as borne on the syntactic levels of words, phrases, sentences, and sometimes larger units of discourse, generically referred to as texts.

For thousands of years, philosophers have pondered the meaning of meaning, yet speakers of a language can understand what is said to them and can produce strings of words that are meaningful to other speakers.

To understand language we need to know the meaning of words and the morphemes that compose them. We also must know how the meanings of words combine into phrases and sentence meanings. Finally, we must consider context when determining meaning. The study of the linguistic meaning of morphemes, words, phrases, and sentences is called Semantics.

The study of how context affects meaning is called Pragmatics. For example, the sentence "It's cold in here" can be interpreted in certain situations as "close the windows".