1. Semantics ENGL 407
REEM AL-MOISHEER

2. Rules to follow Commitment Cell phone Behavior Talking (English)
Attendance/online
Acceptable excuses
Evaluation system

3. What is semantics? It is the study of meaning
Meaning is a part of language
Linguistics is the study of language
Semantics is a part of linguistics

4. Pick out all the instances of “mean”
Check the dictionary, what does “liquid” mean?
A: Come with me quickly
B: What do you mean?

5. What is the meaning of … I’ll be back later
I will return after sometime
What the speaker mean?
What words (or sentences) mean?

6. Speaker meaning
It is what the speaker mean (i.e. intended to convey) when he uses a piece of language

7. Sentence (or word) meaning
It is what a sentence or word means, i.e. what it counts as the equivalent of in the language concerned.

8. A:“Nice day”
B:“Yes, a bit warmer than yesterday, isn’t it”
A:“That’s right. One day fine, the next cooler”
B:“I expect it might get cooler again tomorrow”
A:“May be. You never know, do you?”
B:“ Have you been away on holiday?”
A:“ Yes, we went to Spain.”
B:“Did you? We’re going to France next month”
A: “Oh, are you? That’ll be nice for the family. Do they speak French?”
“Sheila’s quite good at it, and we’re hoping Martin will improve”

9. A: “I expect he will. I do hope you have a good time” B: “Thank you
A: “I expect he will. I do hope you have a good time” B: “Thank you. By the way, has the 42 bus gone by yet? It seems to be late” A: “ No, I’ve been here since 8:00 o’clock and I haven’t seen it” B: “ Good. I don’t want to be late for work. What time is it now?” A: “ Twenty-five past eight”

10. Comments Meanings (every thing said is meaningful)
Not equal in meaningfulness
To give information
To keep the social wheels turning smoothly
Starting with weather is to be friendly
Social: courtesy + amicable

11. Speaker meaning It can include: Courtesy and hostility
Praise and insult
Endearment and taunt

12. Example (A=Husband – B=Wife)
A: “ When I go away next way, I’m taking the car” B: “Oh are you? I need the car here to take kids to school.” A: “ I’m sorry I have to take it. You’ll have to send them on the bus” B: “That’ll be nice for the family. Up at the crack of dawn, (ironically) and not home till mid-evening! Sometimes, you are very inconsiderate” A: “Nice day”

13. Important
The same sentences are used by different users/speakers on different occasions to mean different things (speaker meaning).
The gap between speaker meaning and sentence meaning is such that it is even possible for a speaker to convey a quite intelligible intention by using a sentence whose literal meaning is contradictory or non-sensical.

14. Competent speaker Primary source of information about meaning
ESL professor good at describing and theorizing about meaning in general but with no advantage over any normal speaker
Dialects : variation in meaning

15. Theory
It is a precisely specified, coherent, and economical framework of interdependent statements and definitions, constructed so that as large a number as possible of particular basic facts can either be seen to follow from it or be describable in terms of it.

16. Semantic theory
It deals with sematic facts, facts about meaning, such as:
Alive means the opposite of dead
Generalization
Proper nouns
Preposition
Conjunctions
Articles

17. How general? They deal with whole classes of words in general
Not only in English but in all languages (i.e. applicable in all languages)
Differences + similarities among languages
Semantics concentrates on similarities rather than differences

18. Semantic theory
It is a part of a larger enterprise , linguistic theory, which includes the study of syntax (grammar) and phonetics (pronunciation) besides the study of meaning.
Technical terminology
No theory is complete

19. Development of semantics
Aristotle
The ancient vs the modern
The basic ways in which language is used to convey meaning have not changed at all.

20. Any Question?
Thank you