Course Outline

1. Definition of meaning – (Group 1)

2. Scope of meaning - (Group 1)
3. Types of meaning - (Group 2)
4. Theories of meaning - (Group 3)
5. Approaches to the study of meaning
6. Word meaning (lexical relations: polysemy, synonymy, antonymy, etc.) - (Group 4)
7. Sentence meaning (presupposition, anomaly, paraphrase, ambiguity) - (Group 5)
8. Word formation processes - (Group 6)
9. Basic Aspects of Linguistic Fallacies - (Group 7)
 Fallacies of Misinterpretation - (Group 8)
 Fallacies of the Misuse or Misunderstanding of Language - (Group 9)
 Aspects of Material Fallacies Relevant to Semantics - (Group 10)
10. The Application of Semantics to Literary Communication

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What is Semantics?
The branch of linguistics that is concerned with the study of meaning in language is
Semantics. It deals with the meaning of words, phrases and sentences out of context. Beyond
that, this aspect of linguistics describes and accounts for linguistic competence and correctly
elucidates the relationship between language and culture (Goddard 2013, p.1). This means
that the scope of semantics is not limited to the analysis of meaning in language but
emphasizes the knowledge that people must have in order to speak and understand language.
It also reveals how language reflects the culture of its users. Lobner (2013) describes
linguistic semantics as exclusively concerned with the meanings of linguistic expressions
such as words, phrases, grammatical forms and sentences, but not with the meanings of
actions or phenomena (p.1). In a bid to define its scope, he avers that semantics describes the
cognitive equipment of our linguistic knowledge that enables us to interpret regular linguistic
expressions out of context, simply linguistic forms (p.14)
Distinguishing between Semantics and Pragmatics, Goddard (2013, p.17) asserts that,
Semantics is the study of meanings that are encoded in the structure of language; while
Pragmatics studies meanings that can be derived or deduced from how language is used on a
particular occasion, in a particular context. In plain terms, semantics deals with meanings
which are coded into linguistic forms, while Pragmatics deals with inferences people make
from how linguistic meanings are used in particular situations. In support of this view,
Lobner (2013, p. 6) argues that, ‘it is important to separate what is actually being said from
what is only inferred.’ Furthermore, he avers that, ‘the investigation of such inferences, their
role in communication and how they are related to the utterance of meaning of what is
actually said, is an important part of Pragmatics.’

Highlighting the importance of meaning in the study of communication, Leech (1974) asserts
that, ‘Semantics, the study of meaning, is central to the study of communication, and as
communication becomes more and more a crucial factor in social organisation, the need to
understand it becomes more and more pressing. Semantics is also at the centre of the study of
the human mind-thought processes; cognition and conceptualizations. All these are intricately
bound up with the way in which we classify and convey our experience of the world through
language. Katz (1972, p11) submits that, “the meaning of an expression will be meaningful
just in case it refers to something”. He explains further that expressions will have the same
meaning only if such expressions are referring to the same thing. Katz’s definition can be said
to be a clear and straightforward definition. The definition implies that our expressions or

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utterances shall be meaningful only when they are referring to a particular thing. Palmer
(2001, p1) posits that semantics is the technical term used to refer to the study of meaning
and since meaning is a part of language, semantics is part of linguistics. Saeed (2009, p3)
asserts that semantics is the study of meaning communicated through language. This suggests
that language elicits meaning; thus meaning-laden. Babatunde (1995, p1) refers to semantics
as “the study of meaning that seeks to convey and classify human experience through
language”. We can draw from this definition propounded by Babatunde that, expressions are
used to refer and efforts are made to enable the hearer to perceive the reference and the
overall mode of referring. “Getting the overall meaning is certainly the concern of semantics”
(Babatunde 1995, p2).
In light of the above definitions, it can be deduced that language is a meaning-making
resource, a feature of language which is the concern of Semantics. Thus, it is the level of
linguistic analysis at which meaning can be analysed (Pushpinder & Jindal, 2010, p.156).

The Scope of Semantics

It has been established that meaning is central to language, thus, by implication, to other
levels of linguistic description: phonetics, phonology, syntax, morphology and others.
Impliedly, language reflects meaning at the different levels of linguistic analysis and
language users make meaning out of their linguistic knowledge on how to pronounce words,
construct sentences for communicative purposes.

Meaning can be studied from three perspectives: speaker’s meaning, hearer’s meaning
and sign’s meaning. The speaker’s meaning is the message the speaker intends to convey.
The hearer’s meaning relates to the meaning the hearer infers from the message conveyed by
the speaker. Signs meaning refers to the properties of signals selected to best convey
speakers’ intended message and to transmit some messages more accurately than
others. Meanings of signs are owned exclusively by speech community. Signs may be iconic
or arbitrary. Iconic signs are signs whose forms betray their meanings. These include
onomatopoeic (eg. hiss) and grammatical icons (eg. the old man held a strange view); where
“old” qualifies man rather than “view”. Also, signs that accompany language are of two
types: para linguistic and non-linguistic. Paralinguistic signs depend extremely on the
language they accompany. They cannot be produced except during speech in a language
environment. Examples of paralinguistic signs are tempo, pitch, voice, quality, emphatic

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gestures, etc. non-linguistic signs, on the other hand can be produced without accompanying
language. These signs include smiles and frown.

Meaning of meaning is said to be intractable (inflexible) in nature. This is because it is not as

concrete as syntax and phonology. For a long time, attempts to define it by scholars have
been greeted with scepticism and great disagreement. This is primarily because meaning is
social. People have explained it from the viewpoints or different orientations. For example:
philosophers seek to know how anything means something and what sort of relation must
hold between x ad y. psychologists relate language to mental state and processes, while
neurologists (doctors) seek to know how the implementation of these states and processes is
done at the neuronal level. Semioticians concern themselves with language as a sign system,
its features, linguistic signification and iconicity. Linguists study native speakers’ intuitions
in relation to meaning across languages. The goals and intention of each of these orientations
determine how they define meaning.

There are two dimensions of scope of meaning: descriptive and non-descriptive. Descriptive
meaning ‘has also been called ideational meaning by Halliday. It has also been called
referential, logical and propositional meaning. The descriptive aspect of meaning determines
the truthfulness or falsity of the proposition expressed. Objects could be described by
pointing at them. For example: look at those houses. Non-descriptive aspect of meaning is
expressive in nature. It is subjective and non-conceptual. It has restricted validity and does
not express any proposition. Eg. ouch! Oh! Ah! etc. Meaning of words can change over time.
These changes occur as a consequence of varying human interactions in all aspects of life:
social, political or economic, technologies, traditional, cultural, professional, etc. For
examples, disease and indisposition now universal English for illness were originally
euphemism meaning, lack of ease and lack of ability to do things respectively.

Types of Meaning
Linguists have tried to discuss the several types of meaning under three broad classes. They
are thematic, conceptual and associative meanings. Associative meaning can further be
divided into connotative, collocative, affective, reflected and stylistic meanings.
1. Conceptual Meaning
Conceptual meaning is synonymous with primary, central, logical, cognitive or denotative
meaning of a word. It is the first ordinary meaning listed in dictionaries, which is not affected

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by the context, or emotional overtones associated with the act of communication. There is an
assumed shared conceptual meaning of every word of a language. There is a universal
implication of the conceptual meaning. It is possible to express the conceptual meaning of a
word using contrastive semantic features. Such features indicate the attributes present and
those that are absent. If a feature is present, it is specified as
(+); if absent, it is (-). These contrastive features specifying the attributes of the words
provide the necessary criteria for the correct use of words. For example, the phonetic
symbol /d/ has contrastive features as: + alveolar + voiced, + stop, -nasal: these features are
also called binary features. In a similar way, we can also treat conceptual meaning in terms of
contrastive features. As an example, the word ‘girl’ has features as:
+ human, - male, -adult.
We can also specify the word pen as having
features: -human, + concrete.
The feature specifications for the words man and woman are as follows.
Man
+ HUMAN
+ MALE
+ ADULT
Woman
+ HUMAN
- MALE
+ ADULT
The conceptual meaning of a word constitutes a major part of the shared system of a language
for all speakers. It is a criteria element of human communication since it is a major factor in
language. The use of this process has been described as componential analysis. It is a major
process in structural semantics.

2. Associative Meaning
The meaning of a word is affected by the context, background, time and the cultural realities
of the users of language. This type of meaning is not static. It is variable and open ended.
Certain words, structures and styles are usually employed to arouse some emotional reactions
in the hearer. Certain attitudes and forms of behaviour are elicited by the associative meaning
of the words used in communication. These different reactions are derived from the
associations which the words cerate in the minds of language users. As a result of the great

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variation in associative meaning, it is not always easy to express that form of meaning in
terms of contrastive semantic features. Indeed, associative meaning reflects individual
differences. There are individualised intentions and interpretations. There is therefore, the
need for all participants in communication to share common reference points, symbols and
background for there to be any meaningful interaction.
Most of the problems of communication arise when associative meaning is assumed to be
shared by all concerned. There must be a way of ensuring actual sharing of background. For
second language learners, this problem is profound. This explains the enormous difficulty
second language learners encounter with decoding the meaning of idioms and figurative
expressions. They also find it difficult to apply appropriate idioms to diverse situations.
Associative meaning can be any of the following.
 Connotative Meaning
 Collocative Meaning
 Reflected Meaning
 Stylistic or Social Meaning

a. Connotative Meaning
Connotative meaning is concerned with the communicative value an expression has by virtue
of what it refers to over its purely conceptual content. In other words, it contains elements of
the conceptual meaning of a word and the individual’s personal interpretation of what is
communicated. That interpretation is based on the personal experience of the hearer. This
means that connotative meaning varies with the experience of people in communication. It
may also vary from society to society.
Connotative meaning is indeterminate; that is, it cannot be determined in similar way with
conceptual meaning which is codified in terms of limited set of symbols (like contrastive
features). Connotative meaning is on a par with our knowledge of the universe which is also
open-ended. There are additional semantic features that are associated with connotative
meaning. Thus, a great deal of the meaning of idioms and figurative expressions derive from
connotation. There are symbols in literature, which have different connotations in different
cultures. For instance, among the Hausa in Nigeria, the cricket is associated with the tricks,
whereas among the Igbo and the Yoruba, it is the tortoise that has that attribute. In the
Western world, it is the fox is considered very cunning. Also, when we consider the
componential analysis of man, it is (+ human +male +adult), but in sentences like:

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 i. The man is a lion. (The definition is in addition to some other sematic properties; it
may be + vicious or +aggressive)
ii. John is nothing more than a woman. (John is described with some putative, non-
criteria semantic properties which may include: gullible, cowardly, emotional, etc.)
b. Collocative meaning
Collocative meaning is the words, which are considered to have individual lexical items or
share common ground in meaning but may be distinguished in their occurrence. Collocation
is the natural association and sequence of words in longer structures. Collocative meaning is
therefore the meaning of a lexical item deriving from other lexical items with which it is
associated in a longer structure. The collocative meaning of lexical items in a language is
based on related semantic fields. For instance, job, employment, engagement, and work are
all related. There are also associations that are perceived to be more natural. Consider the
following examples:
Pretty and handsome mean good looking, but they can be distinguished in their occurrence
with the nouns that follow, as listed below:
Pretty girl, woman, flower, garden, etc.
Handsome boy, man, car, vessel, etc.
Words, like green also collocate with grass, snake and dark with night. The term collocate is
a linguistic term that stands for the collocative words. More examples: salary, wages and
stipend share common meaning of financial record determined by context of use: father’s
salary, pastor’s stipend, worker’s wages. August visitor, auspicious occasion, sympathise
with, nutritious food, etc. Some of the structures are restricted to certain circumstances as in
Stroll vs wander.
c. Affective Meaning
Affective meaning is related to the feelings and attitudes of the speaker towards the subject or
the audience. This meaning is achieved by the choice of words. Certain words suggest
positive feelings – love, attraction, happiness, exciting etc. Some others stir up negative
reactions – disgusting, nauseating, disappointing, etc. Interjections like ah!, oh!, uh!, mmn!,
often suggest the emotional state of the mind. Other words like darling, daddy, mummy, and
so on, give an impression of endearment. Also, if for example, you have the intention to get
people to be quiet, you might say: I’m terribly sorry to interrupt, but I wonder if you would
be so kind as to lower your voices a little. Politeness is included here, and a factor such as a
voice timbre is also necessary to affect.
d. Reflected Meaning

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Reflected meaning relates to expressions with multiple meanings. Words with several
meanings (polysemous words), have reflected meaning. There is, however, a dominant
meaning among these several meanings. As a particular sense of a word begins to assume
prominence, all other senses begin to be de-emphasised and with time, these other senses
disappear. Meat used to refer to all forms of food and flesh for nourishment. The later
meaning seems to have caught on.
e. Stylistic (or Social) Meaning
When a particular pattern of speech, language variety or speech form is associated with a
specific social context, stylistic or social meaning is achieved. It is common knowledge that a
speaker’s choice of words and structures reveals his or her social, regional, geographical or
even economic background. The choices can also reveal the level of familiarity between the
speaker and the hearer. Emphasis is usually on the different stylistic variations open to
language
users. Based on the level of familiarity, users have the following possibilities in making
requests.
(1) I wonder if I could see you later today (indirect question) used for extreme politeness
(2) May I see you later today (very formal)
(3) Can I see you later today (causal and less formal)

3. Thematic Meaning
Thematic meaning derives from the organisation of the message presented in a language. It is
the arrangement of the components of communication that determine the point of emphasis.
This arrangement may take the form of passivisation, topicalisation or focus. In the sentences
that follow, different items have been made more prominent by merely re-ordering them.
1. John drove the car – normal SVO order
2. It was John who drove the car– topicalised
3. The car was bought by John – passivised.
4. The car is what John drove – focused
In sentence (1), the sentence is in the normal subject verb object order without any special
meaning. Sentences (2) and (4) tend to lay emphasis on John, the doer of the action being
referred to. In sentence (3), emphasis is on the car, which was bought. Indeed, focused and
topicalised elements in a structure are given prominence within an information structure. A
component of the bit of information can also be made more prominent by stressing it.
Consider

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the following:
5. She BOUGHT my newspaper (She did not STEAL it)
6. She bought my NEWSPAPER (not my textbook)
7.SHE bought my newspaper (not any other person)

Theories of Meaning

Among the various theories of semantics are referential theory, mentalist theory, conceptual
theory, use theory and componential theory. A number of these theories have been
formulated in an attempt to provide solution to the problem of meaning of meaning. The
goals of these theories are to address the questions of the properties, relationships, methods,
processes, functions and relevance of each of the theories. Some of these theories will be
treated with a view to pointing out their strengths and weaknesses.

1. The Theory of Naming

Traditional grammar was based on the assumption that the word was the basic unit of syntax
and semantics. This theory, explained in Plato’s dialogue Cratylus maintains that language is
a communication system which works with two elements; the signifier, and the signified.
Plato affirms that the signifier is a word in the language and the signified is the object in the
world that it stands for or refers to. In other words, the word was a sign composed of two
parts, or components: the form (signifier) and its meaning (signified). Thus, according to this
theory words and things are directly related.
There are some difficulties with this view, however. Firstly, it seems to apply to some nouns
only. You may locate the signified (object) which the signifier (word) ‘chair' refers to.
However, there are some nouns which do not refer to objects in this world: examples are
Dragon, Unicorn and Raxsh (Rostam’s special horse in the Iranian epic written by Ferdousi).
Secondly, there are other nouns that do not refer to physical objects at all. For instance, what
are the objects which love and hatred refer to? Thirdly, with a noun we can draw a picture of
the object that is denoted (referred to). But this is impossible with verbs. How should we
show read, hesitate, and annoy? The same problem remains regarding adjectives and adverbs,
as well.

2. The referential theory of meaning:

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This theory was proposed by C. K. Ogden and I.A, Richards. According to them, the meaning
of an expression is the actual entity or object in the real world. This actual object is referred
to as the referent. This view denies a direct link between expressions and their referents. The
connection between a linguistic unit and its referent is only possible through thought. Ogden
and Richards (1923, p.11) illustrated this theory using what they call a semiotic triangle.

Reference (Thought)

Referent Symbol

The triangle above distinguishes three different components of meaning and it emphasizes
that there is a link between a linguistic unit (symbol) and the entity (referent) to which the
symbol refers. The symbol is the spoken or written word; the reference is the information
that the spoken or written shape of the word conveys to the reader/ hearer; and the referent is
the thing or the object we talk about. The broken line means that there is no direct
relationship between word and the object that it refers to. The theory contrasts with the view
of Greek Naturalists who claimed that the names given to actual objects or entities are in
some ways linked to the essential characteristics of the objects or entities to which the names
refer. Thus, this theory believes that it is the human mind that links an object with the word
used to represent that object. Again, this view works only with concrete words, but not with
abstract ones. Polysemous words, that is, words with more than one meaning, may pose
additional problem to the referential theory of meaning, because they have more than one
referent. See the example below:

Head

part of body leader of a group title part of furniture side of a coin part of a
match

The referential theory may not have a way to explain the meaning of words in the categories
of adjectives, adverbs, prepositions and conjunctions, such as beautiful, intelligent, good,
among others. It is equally difficult to establish the physical images of expressions such as
‘good morning’, ‘welcome’, etc.

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Also, items that belong to groups may not have physical objects that are identical. For
example, Cutlery – fork, spoon, knife. Every sub-group has specific feature. Individual
members of the smallest sub-groups also have their identities. For instance, in the animal
kingdom, we have wild and domestic animals. There are also mammals, birds and reptiles.
These diverse groups of animals have specific features and identities. Therefore, we cannot
talk about absolute identification for referents.

3. Ideational or Mentalist Theory of Meaning

This theory, developed by the British empiricist philosopher, John Locke, is an improvement
on the referential theory of meaning. Scholars like Glucksberg and Danks (1975, p.50) are
strongly behind this theory. It denies the assumption that the meaning of a word is the
physical image that the word represents. The basis for criticism of the referential theory is
that not all words or expressions have physical objects that they refer to. The proponents of
the mentalist theory are of view that the meaning of a word or an expression is the
mental image or idea of the word or expression that is formed in the mind of a speaker
or hearer as soon as the word or expression is uttered. This means that meaning originates
in the mind in the form of ideas.

There is no attempt to define words and expressions using physical associations. Rather, the
range of possible meanings ascribed to a given word is that set of available feelings, images,
ideas, concepts, thoughts and inferences that can be produced as soon as a word is heard. The
ideational theory is perceived to be abstract or imprecise because of dependence on mental
images for decoding the meaning of words. Ideas may be too vague to comprehend. There are
also many words (especially the abstract ones) that do not have specific physical realities, let
alone mental manifestations. It is unthinkable that the mind can create an image of what the
senses cannot perceive. The theory may not be able to account for synonymous expressions.
It
may also be difficult to use the theory to explain the mental image conjured by sentences.
Indeed, sentences derive their meaning more from the word order.

4. The use or Contextual theory of meaning

From the theories discussed so far, it is obvious that we cannot regard meanings as entities,
whether they are physical objects or mental images. So, in order to overcome the problems

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posed by the referential and mentalist theories above, a German scholar, known as
L.Witgnestein (1953), proposed the Use Theory of meaning as an alternative. According to
him, it is silly or a serious mistake to regard meanings as entities; rather, the meaning of any
linguistic expression (be it word or phrase or a sentence) is determined by the context in
which it is used. In other words, the meaning of an expression can be characterized in terms
of its use in the language. Therefore, the meaning of an expression is the effects that it creates
in a particular context in which the expression is used.

5. Componential Analysis

Componential Analysis (C.A) is a process by which the meaning of a word is expressed in

terms of the combination of all its sense components. We can express the meaning of “man”
for instance by combining the following atomic sense components:

Man = +Human + male + adult.

Componential analysis grew out of the technique devised by American anthropologists for
accounting for kinship terms and for comparing vocabularies from different cultures in the
early 1950s. The earliest proponents of C. A are L. Hjelmsler, R. Jacobson and F.G.
Lounsbury.

The whole of C.A is that the meaning of a lexical item can be determined by reducing it to its
ultimate contrastive elements, so that the lexical item in question can be distinguished from
other lexical items in the same language sense components. Semantic features are often
treated in terms of binary contrast: i.e plus (+) or minus (-) values such that the presence of a
particular semantic marker often suggests the absence of another. For example: the
differences between man/woman, boy/girl, ram/ewe, roster/sow, drake/duck, bull/cow,
stallion/mare, boar/sow, can be expressed in terms of [+ male] [vs -male]. We can also state
the difference between man/ boy, woman/girl, cat/kitten, duck/duckling, cow/calf,
stallion/foal, hen/chicken, ram/lamb, in terms of [+adult] versus [-adult]. The three types of
C.A are:

a. Common components: They are features of meaning shared by all the words that
belong to a class e.g. man, bull, drake, and boy are [MALE]. Meaning of related
words are brought together through common components.
b. Contrastive components: Also known as specifying or diagnostic components are
features of meaning peculiar to a given word. Through them, we can distinguish the

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 word in question from other words. For example, the contrastive components between
“man” and “boy” is (ADULT).
c. Supplementary components: They are also known as incidental components. They
are additional features of meaning which may not be necessary in contrasting a
particular set of meanings. Limitations of C.A. are:
i. The theory erroneously assumes the semantic features of all lexical items can
be elegantly expressed using the binary approach. How do we apply it to
grammatical words such as: in, over, up, and, or, with, my, etc.
ii. It can only be used at the word level.
iii. The justifications for the choice of certain semantic features for defining
certain items against others are not clear.

APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF SEMANTICS

Traditional Semantics
Traditional semantics is associated with the works of such great philosophers as Socrates,
Plato and Aristotle as well as many others who came after them. Their focus was on the
nature of human language itself. Based on their views of the nature of human language, these
early philosophers were into two – the naturalists and the nurturists. To the naturalists,
language was God-given such that there was hardly anything anybody could do to understand
language. Man was not expected to make alterations, but should concern himself with merely
observing and describing the rules of language. The Greek language was perceived to be the
chosen language upon which all other languages should be based. Later, Latin became the
focus of philosophical
analysis.
The nurturists on the other hand viewed language as a social property common to a speech
community. Language was therefore perceived to be man’s creation for the convenience of
communication. Thus, in spite of difference in languages, the uniting point is that they are all
for communication.
Traditional semantics was also concerned with the relationship between form and meaning.
Following Carnap (1927), Firth (1957) and Ayer (1936), the meaning of a word is actually
what it refers to. Ogden and Richards (1933) have also shared this view. There have also been
later scholars – Grice (1957) and Katz (1972) who believed that the image of a word takes
shape in the speaker’s or hearer’s mind. Another major view of traditional semantics is that
the meaning of a word can be decoded from its shape or sound. Words in this category are

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onomatopoeic. The major ideas in traditional semantics are reference, concepts, truth
conditions, and so on.
Behavioural Semantics
This approach has been influenced by the works of Watson Bloomfield and Skinner. Idealism
or mentalism in traditional semantics looks at meaning as something established in the
hearer’s or speaker’s mind. There is usually a non-physical process of thought, concept or
feeling generating a mental experience. On the other hand, behaviourism relies on
observables and records of utterances. These observables and records are linked to their
relationships with the immediate situations that produce them.
To the behaviourist, there is no belief in such mentalistic constructs as mind, concept and
ideas. As a result, there is no room for introspection as a means of obtaining valid
information since thoughts and feelings are usually personal. As a result of the highly
psychological dimension of this theory, human and animal behaviour is identical.
Experiences coming through the senses are the major sources of knowledge. There is
determinism in the affairs of the world. There are universal laws governing every situation.
As a result of this reliance on determinism, there is no predictability in evaluating human
behaviour. The external environment is perceived to be the major stimulus to all human
utterances. The stimulus-response scenario is synonymous with the cause-and-effect
connection in most natural situations. Those who favour the behavioural approach to
semantics have argued that by reducing meaning to observable entities, language, as an
aspect of human favour can lend itself to examination. They also argue that meaning is
influenced by reinforcement. The theory stresses nurture rather than nature. Thus, the
physical environment is perceived to contribute to meaning rather than the internal thought
processes. Though behaviourism tends to lend meaning to experimental explanation, it has
been criticised for its rejection of introspection, concepts and ideas. It is not everything in
language that can be observed physically. The over-reliance on reinforcement tends to
present animal and human behaviour as identical.
Structural Semantics
The father of structuralism is Ferdinand de Saussure. Structuralism as a linguistic theory
considers the structures and systems in language. Emphasis is on the process of segmenting
and classifying the features of utterances. Under structuralism, emphasis is on the analysis of
sense relations that connect words and meaning. Sense is an expression of the system of
semantic relationships a given word keeps with other expressions in a given language. This
relationship is usually paradigmatic in terms of similarity and dissimilarity. The relationship

14
of similarity occurs as synonymy, while the relationship of dissimilarity is referred to as
antonymy. Structural processes are useful in lexical relations in the study of words.
Generative Semantics
Noam Chomsky is the father of generative grammar. According to the theory of
transformational generative grammar, knowledge of language is generated in the mind. A
language user has a finite set of rules from which he can generate an infinite number of
sentences. This power of generations is facilitated by the power of transformational rules,
which convert deep structure sentence types into other various forms via transformations. At
the beginning of Chomsky’s generative grammar, there was the assertion that syntax was
autonomous and independent of semantics. It was only later in Aspects of the theory of
Syntax (1965) that Chomsky pointed out that the semantic component specifies the rules
necessary for the interpretation of deep structures. This observation enhanced the semantic
representation of sentences. Deep structures specify the original meaning of sentences before
the application of transformations.
There was the immediate problem of explaining the meaning of multiple paraphrases from a
single deep structure. Thus, generative semantics would be concerned with sentence
meaning and interpretation. This will require the interpretation of functional roles in
sentences. This interpretation has been explained by the Case theory as propounded by
Charles Fillmore, and further elaborated in Chomsky’s case theory and thematic theory. The
semantic component has been presented as being partially dependent on syntax and at the
same time distinct. This produces a composite relationship between grammar and meaning.
The deep structure is deemed to determine how sentence parts combine to make meaning for
the whole. The syntactic component is the generative source of grammar. Thus, the output of
syntax forms the input to the semantic component. The semantic component is perceived to
operate on the structural description of sentences to provide a representation of the meaning
of sentences. Grammar as used here is the totality of the mechanism and rules of language
organisation including meaning.

SEMANTICS AND THE STUDY OF THE WORD: SENSE RELATIONS

In our study of semantic theories, we noted that viable theories of meaning should be able to
explain the nature of the meaning of words as well as that of sentences. We have also learnt
that the meaning of a word may not always be realised from its referential or denotational
characteristics. Indeed, there are many words whose basic characteristics may not be easily

15
analysed. Such words are best studied by focusing on the kind of relationship they create with
other words. These relationships are based on the sense of the words; that is, the kind of
relationship that a word creates with other words, which is regarded as sense relations or
lexical relations. Hence, we shall study sense relations along the following lines: Synonymy,
Antonymy, Hyponymy, Polysemy, and Homophony.
1. Synonymy
When reference is made to lexical relation or close relatedness in the meaning of words, we
deal with synonymy. We can therefore, describe pairs of words that have very close
similarities in meaning as synonyms. For example, we can have the following pairs of words
as synonyms.
Friend/ally; boss/master; amiable/friendly.
It has often been observed that words may not always have exact substitutes in all contexts.
This observation means that we may have absolute, complete and total synonyms when there
are exact substitutes as in:
Everybody/Everyone, Bandit/Brigand
There are also broad or near synonyms as in:
rich / sumptuous, mature / ripe
2. Antonymy
The relationship of oppositeness is referred to as antonymy. Antonymy occurs in two forms –
gradable and non-gradable antonyms. Gradable antonyms show degree of relationship
especially in adjectives and adverbs. Examples are smart/stupid, often/rarely, fat/thin,
most/least, up/down, tall/short, rich/poor. This category of antonyms can also be compared
with suffixes –er, and –est as well as with the words, more and most – as in: - Tall/ Taller/
Tallest; intelligent/ more intelligent/ most intelligent; dangerously/ more dangerously/ most
dangerously.
On the other hand, non-gradable antonyms do not occur as comparative constructions. Words
in this category are expressed as complementary pairs – such that their exact opposites are the
only options. For example, someone can be male or female, father or mother, dead or alive,
married or single. Other examples of non-gradable antonyms are – close or open, found or
lost. There are also relational opposites, which convey the meaning of reciprocal, bilateral or
social relationships. Such meanings are interdependent such that membership of one of the
pairs suggests the other. The following are common examples. Teacher – student; Parent –
child; Brother – sister; Buy – sell; Servant – master; Wife – husband; Employer – employee.
Hyponymy

16
When the meaning of one form is included in the meaning of another, we have hyponymy. In
this case, there is a relationship between the meaning of a general and a specific lexical item
known as relationship of inclusion. According to Palmer 1996, the specific or smaller lexical
item plays the role of co-Hyponymy to the superordinate lexical items. For instance,
Superordinate Co-hyponymy
Animals dogs, elephants, goat, sheep and so on
Professions law, medicine, teaching, banking, and so on
Cutlery Knife, spoon, fork
Electronics Television, radio, fan, oven
Fruits Orange, mango, apple, cherry, etc

Homonymy
Homonymy explains a situation of identical spelling or pronunciation but with different
unrelated meanings. Such words usually create problems of ambiguity. Consider the
following examples. Bank (of a river), Bank (financial institution); Fly (an insect), Fly (to
move in the air); Lead (verb to guide), Lead (an element used in making pencil)
When homonymy is partial, we have heteronymy. It is possible to have a situation of
homonymy at one medium of language – such as in writing – but pronounced differently as in
Lead - /li:d/ and Lead - /led/. This situation is referred to as homography. With this
distinction, it has become more common to reserve the term “homophony” – when reference
is made to identical pronunciation as in: Key and quay /ki:/; Been and bean /bi:n/; Court and
caught /kↄ :t/. It should be noted that homonyms are listed as different lexical items in the
dictionary.
Polysemy
According to Joseph (2015, p.57), polysemy derives its meaning from these two Greek terms:
‘poly’ meaning ‘many’ and ‘semeion’ meaning ‘sign’. A situation of polysemy arises when
one form of a word has multiple meanings, which are related by extension. Words that are
polysemous have single entries in the dictionary. However, there are numbers that suggest the
list of possible meanings – as shown below.
Foot - of a person
– of a bed
– of a mountain
Paper - a set of examination questions
- a piece of academic research writing

17
 - a material for writing
- a legal document

ASPECTS OF SENTENTIAL MEANING

INTRODUCTION
Sense or lexical relations are concerned with the meaning of individual words. From our
knowledge of semantic theories, we will observe that the function of theories of meaning
includes the explication of sentences. However, a great deal of the problems of
communication derives from the confusion at the level of sentences. It is, therefore, important
that we explore the sources of these problems. We do not communicate with isolated words.
Indeed, knowledge of language and the art of communication depend on our ability to
combine words in a systematic way. When words are combined, we achieve sentential
meaning. The study of semantics is also expected to explore meaning at this level. Hence, we
examine the different issues related to the meaning of the sentence; explain major concepts in
the meaning of English sentences and demonstrate the ability to apply these concepts in real
language situation.
Paraphrase
Paraphrase is to the sentence what synonymy is to words. This means that the paraphrase
explains a situation in which two or more sentences have one meaning. Indeed, a sentence
can have many paraphrases. There are two types of paraphrases: lexical and structural
paraphrases. In lexical paraphrases, we have two or more sentences giving the same
interpretation as a result of the replacement of one word or phrase by another. The following
are examples.
(i) The chef hired a bachelor.
(ii) The chef hired an unmarried man.
In the two sentences above, the change in their structure is as a result of the substitution of a
bachelor for an unmarried man. Both a bachelor and unmarried man are phrases. Consider
further the following sentences.
(i) The man was agitated
(ii) The man was anxious
We have achieved the paraphrase by the substitution of the word “agitated” for another,
“anxious.” Structural paraphrase is achieved when we alter the arrangements of the sentences
through transformations. The following are examples:

18
(i) They bought a new apartment (Basic –subject + Verb+ object)
(ii) It was a new apartment that they bought (Cleft)
(iii) What they bought was a new apartment (Pseudo cleft)
(iv) A new apartment was what they bought (topicalised)
Ambiguity
When an expression can be given more than one interpretation, ambiguity arises. Therefore,
while polysemy relates to words, ambiguity is concerned with sentences. We have two types
of ambiguity – lexical and structural.
Lexical ambiguity occurs when the presence of just a specific word leads to multiple
interpretations. Consider the following examples.
(i) The team has many goals.
(ii) She prepared tables.
It should be noted that “goals” and “tables” can be interpreted in different ways based on the
contexts. Another example is:
Structural ambiguity is achieved by the organisation of the elements of the sentence. It is
possible to interpret these elements in different ways. Consider these examples.
(i) They promoted all English teachers.
(ii) Boiling water can be dangerous.
(iii) Save soap and waste paper.
The ambiguity in the first sentence derives from the possibility of reading the sentence as:
(i) All English teachers were granted career advancement.
(ii) All English teachers were endorsed /sponsored recommended.
The ambiguity in the second sentence derives from the possibility of reading the sentence as:
(i) Water that is boiling (i.e. hot) can be dangerous
(ii) The act of boiling water can be dangerous
The first interpretation makes boiling water as the subject noun phrase whereas in the second
interpretations, boiling water is the complement.
The possible interpretations for the third sentence are:
a) Except soap and waste paper
b) Conserve soap and discard paper
Vagueness
A sentence is vague when it has no definite meaning. This lack of meaning may derive from
the incompatibility of the semantic properties of some of the words. Sometimes, a vague

19
expression may be grammatically well formed, yet its meaning may be farfetched. Consider
the following classical example taken from Chomsky (1965).
(i) Colourless green ideas sleep furiously together.
It should be noted that many of what we describe as literary language would have been vague
except that we understand the background as literary. Consider further the following
example.
(ii) The stones consoled her.
This expression is clearly a personification since stones which are inanimate have been
endued with the characteristics of consoling.
Tautology
A situation of tautology arises when we have unnecessary repetition of elements in
communication. There is undue emphasis without necessarily making meaning any clearer.
Tautology is closely associated with redundancy, which is the introduction of linguistic units,
which do not affect the status, or meaning of the larger construction. The following are
examples of tautology.
(i) This bachelor has not been married.
(ii) The congregation are members of a church.
Other instances of tautology are: circumnavigate around; unlawful theft, can be able
Presupposition
In presupposition, there is usually a piece of information, which the speaker assumes the
hearer already knows. This assumption is based on some shared background knowledge
between the speaker and the hearers. An outsider in the circle of communication may be at a
loss. Let us illustrate this situation with the following sentences.
(i) John: Are you able to bring Harry along?
(ii) Peter: That will be splendid. On our way, we shall pick up the drinks.
The presupposition in this conversation is that both John and Peter know who Harry is. They
both have an idea of the drinks, and the source from where to bring them.
Entailment
In entailment, there is usually a pair of sentences and the truth of one derives from the truth
of the other. Consider the following sentences.
(i) Tracy is a spinster.
(ii) Tracy is a female.
Sentence (i) derives from the meaning of sentence (ii). This means that if sentence (i) entails
sentence (ii) then, sentence (ii) is necessarily the implication of sentence (i).

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Anomaly
Anomaly results from the combination of two semantic features that are not compatible in
describing a phenomenon. Words attract specific selectional restrictions. For instance, trees
are vertical while rulers, ropes and snakes are horizontal. For vertical items, we describe them
in terms of tall, while for the horizontal ones we talk of long. Thus, we can have tall trees, tall
buildings, tall people, but long ropes, long snakes, long rulers, and so on. It will therefore be
anomalous to have:
a long man
a tall snake
Contradiction
Contradictory expressions present two opposing propositions at the same time. Thus, a person
cannot be dead and alive at the same time. Other examples of anomaly are:
(i) That circular house is rectangular.
(ii) The drains are flooded because there are no rains.
Analyticity
We talk about analyticity when we have sentences in the grammatical forms and lexical
meanings of their proposition, which make them necessarily true. Consider the following
examples.
(i) Churches are usually attended by Christians.
(ii) Unmarried ladies are spinsters.

Study Questions

1. Discuss the significance of meaning to human communication.

2. Define componential analysis and discuss the associated problems.
3. Why is conceptual meaning more important in semantics analysis?
4. With relevant examples, explain types of associative meaning.
5. Discuss the various types of synonyms.
6. Differentiate between gradable and non-gradable antonyms.
7. Using appropriate examples, write notes on the following:
a. Polysemy b) homonymy c) hyponymy
8. Describe lexical and structural paraphrases.
9. Distinguish between ambiguity and vagueness.
10. Discuss the nature of presupposition and entailment.

21
A cleft sentence is a complex sentence (one having a main clause and a dependent clause)
that has a meaning that could be expressed by a simple sentence. Clefts typically put a
particular constituent into focus. In spoken language, this focusing is often accompanied by a
special intonation.

A cleft sentence is a sentence in which some part is moved from its normal position into
a different place to give it more emphasis. For example, instead of saying: Joe ate the cake.

Pseudo-cleft sentences (also called wh -clefts) are similar in function to cleft sentences, but
they are formed with the pronoun what (= the thing(s) that/which). The emphasis in a pseudo-
cleft sentence is on the phrase after the what -clause + be: What you need is a good sleep.

topicalization - (linguistics) emphasis placed on the topic or focus of a sentence by preposing

it to the beginning of the sentence; placing the topic at the beginning of the sentence is typical
for English; "`Those girls, they giggle when they see me' and `Cigarettes, you couldn't
pay me to smoke them' are examples of ...

WORD FORMATION PROCESSES

Introduction

One of the distinctive properties of human language is creativity, which means, language
user’s ability to produce and understand new forms in the language used. Even though
creativity is most apparent when it comes to sentence formation, it is also manifest in our
lexical knowledge, where new words are added to our linguistic repertoire. Word formation
denotes the processes of creation of new lexical units. In the course of this study, we will
examine some word formation processes inherent in language.

1. Clipping

Clipping is the word formation process which consists in the reduction of a word to one of its
parts. Clippings are also known as "shortenings." Clipping mainly consists of the following
types:

1. Back clipping

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2. Fore-clipping
3. Middle clipping
4. Complex clipping

Back clipping

Back clipping or apocopation is the most common type, in which the beginning is retained.
The unclipped original may be either a simple or a composite. Examples are: ad
(advertisement), cable (cablegram), doc (doctor), exam (examination), gas (gasoline), math
(mathematics), memo (memorandum), gym (gymnastics, gymnasium) mutt (muttonhead), pub
(public house), pop (popular concert), trad (traditional jazz), fax (facsimile). Another back
clipping is the word rifle which is a fairly modern clipping of an earlier compound word, rifle
gun, meaning a gun with a rifled barrel. (Rifled means having a spiral groove causing the
bullet to spin, and thus making it more accurate.)

Fore-clipping

Fore-clipping or aphaeresis retains the final part. Examples are: phone (telephone), varsity
(university), chute (parachute), coon (racoon), gator (alligator), pike (turnpike). Another fore
clipping is burger, formed by clipping off the beginning of the word hamburger. (This
clipping could only come about once hamburg+er was reanalyzed as ham+burger.)

Middle clipping

In middle clipping or syncope, the middle of the word is retained. Examples are: flu
(influenza), tec (detective), polly (apollinaris), jams (pyjamas), shrink (head-shrinker).

Complex clipping

Clipped forms are also used in compounds. One part of the original compound most often
remains intact. Examples are: cablegram (cable telegram), op art (optical art), org-man
(organization man), linocut (linoleum cut). Sometimes both halves of a compound are clipped
as in navicert (navigation certificate). In these cases, it is difficult to know whether the
resultant formation should be treated as a clipping or as a blend, for the border between the
two types is not always clear. According to Bauer (1993), the easiest way to draw the
distinction is to say that those forms which retain compound stress are clipped compounds,
whereas those that take simple word stress are not. By this criterion bodbiz, Chicom,
Comsymp, Intelsat, midcult, pro-am, sci-fi, and sitcom are all compounds made of clippings.
According to Marchand (1969), clippings are not coined as words belonging to the standard
vocabulary of a language. They originate as terms of a special group like schools, army,

23
police, the medical profession, etc., in the intimacy of a milieu where a hint is sufficient to
indicate the whole. For example, in school slang originated exam, math, lab, and
spec(ulation), tick (et = credit) originated in stock-exchange slang, whereas vet(eran),
cap(tain), are army slang. While clipping terms of some influential groups can pass into
common usage, becoming part of Standard English, clippings of a socially unimportant class
or group will remain group slang.

2. Acronyms
Acronyms are formed by taking the initial letters of a phrase and making a word out of it.
Acronyms provide a way of turning a phrase into a word. The classical acronym is also
pronounced as a word. Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations, such as NATO, laser, and
IBM, that are formed using the initial letters of words or word parts in a phrase or name.
Acronyms and initialisms are usually pronounced in a way that is distinct from that of the full
forms for which they stand: as the names of the individual letters (as in IBM), as a word (as in
NATO), or as a combination (as in IUPAC). Another term, alphabetism, is sometimes used to
describe abbreviations pronounced as the names of letters.

Examples:

• pronounced as a word, containing only initial letters:

• FNMA: (Fannie Mae) Federal National Mortgage Association

• laser: light amplification by the stimulated emission of radiation

• NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

• UNICEF

• MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving)

• NOW (National Organization of Women)

• scuba: self-contained underwater breathing apparatus

• pronounced as a word, containing non-initial letters:

• Amphetamine: Alpha-methyl-phenethylamine

• Gestapo: Geheime Staatspolizei ("secret state police")

• Interpol: International Criminal Police Organization

• radar: radio detection and ranging

24
• pronounced only as the names of letters

• BBC: British Broadcasting Corporation

• DNA: deoxyribonucleic acid

• US or U.S., USA or U.S.A. (United States)

• UN or U.N. (United Nations)

• IMF (International Monetary Fund)

• LED: light-emitting diode

• OB-GYN: obstetrics and gyn(a)ecology or obstetrician and gyn(a)ecologist

• shortcut incorporated into name

• 3M: (three em) originally Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company

• E³: (e three) Electronic Entertainment Exposition

• W3C: (double-u three cee) World Wide Web Consortium

• recursive acronyms, in which the abbreviation itself is the expansion of one initial
(particularly enjoyed by the open-source community)

• GNU: GNU's Not Unix!

• HURD: HIRD of Unix-Replacing Daemons, where "HIRD" stands for "HURD of

Interfaces Representing Depth"

• VISA: VISA International Service Association

• XNA: XNA's Not Acronymed - Microsoft's new game development framework

• pseudo-acronyms are used because, when pronounced as intended, they resemble the
sounds of other words:

• ICQ: "I seek you"

• IOU: "I owe you"

• OU812: "Oh, you ate one, too?", a Van Halen album

• CQR: "secure", a brand of boat anchor

• multi-layered acronyms:

25
 • GTK+: GIMP Tool Kit, i.e. GNU Image Manipulation Program Tool Kit, i.e. GNU's
Not Unix Image Manipulation Program Tool Kit

• GAIM: GTK+ AOL Instant Messenger, i.e. GIMP Tool Kit America OnLine Instant
Messenger, i.e. GNU Image Manipulation Program Tool Kit America OnLine Instant
Messenger, i.e. GNU's Not Unix Image Manipulation Program Tool Kit America
OnLine Instant Messenger

• VHDL: VHSIC Hardware Description Language, i.e. Very High Speed Integrated
Circuits Hardware Description Language

The last example incorporates a meaning into the word that fits the nature of the organization.
Sometimes this type is called a Reverse Acronym or a Backronym. These can be thought of
as a special case of acronyms. Memos, email, and text messaging (text-speak) are modes of
communication that give rise to both clippings and acronyms, since these word formation
methods are designed to abbreviate. Some acronyms:

NB - Nota bene, literally 'note well'. Used by scholars making notes on texts. (A large
number of other scholarly acronyms from Latin are used, probably most invented in the
medieval period or Renaissance, not originally in Latin)
BRB - be right back (from 1980s, 90s)
FYI - for your information (from mid-20th century)
LOL - laughing out loud (early 21st century) - now pronounced either /lol/ or /el o el/; has
spawned compounds like Lolcats).
ROFL - rolling on the floor laughing
ROFLMAO - rolling on the floor laughing my ass off

3. Blending
Blending is one of the most treasured word formation processes in English. A blend is a word
formed from parts of two words. These parts are sometimes, but not always, morphemes.
The resulting words are called blends. A blend is different from a portmanteau word in that a
portmanteau refers strictly to a blending of two function words, similar to a contraction.
Usually in word formation we combine roots or affixes along their edges: one morpheme
comes to an end before the next one starts. For example, we form derivation out of the
sequence of morphemes de+riv+at(e)+ion. One morpheme follows the next and each one has
identifiable boundaries. The morphemes do not overlap.

Formation of blending

26
Most blends are formed by one of the following methods:

1. The beginning of one word is added to the end of the other. For example, brunch is a
blend of breakfast and lunch, smog (smoke and fog), spork (spoon and fork), motel (motor
hotel), splog (spam and blog) . This is the most common method of blending.

2. The beginnings of two words are combined. For example, cyborg is a blend of
cybernetic and organism.

3. One complete word is combined with part of another word. For example, guesstimate is
a blend of guess and estimate, glitterati (blending glitter and literati) 'Hollywood social set',
mockumentary (mock and documentary) 'spoof documentary', electrocute (electric and
execute), stagflation (stagnation and inflation), carjacking (car and hijacking), mocktail
(mock and cocktail), cheeseburger (cheese and hamburger), Britpoperati (Britpop and
literati).

4. Two words are blended around a common sequence of sounds. For example, the word
Californication, from a song by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, is a blend of California and
fornication.

5. Multiple sounds from two component words are blended, while mostly preserving the
sounds' order. Poet Lewis Carroll was well known for these kinds of blends. An example of
this is the word slithy, a blend of lithe and slimy. This method is difficult to achieve and is
considered a sign of Carroll's verbal wit.

When two words are combined in their entirety, the result is considered a compound word
rather than a blend. For example, bagpipe is a compound, not a blend.

4. Back-formation

Back-formation refers to the process of creating a new lexeme (less precisely, a new "word")
by removing actual or supposed affixes. The resulting neologism is called a back-formation.
Back-formations are shortened words created from longer words; thus, back-formations may
be viewed as a sub-type of clipping. For example, the noun resurrection was borrowed from
Latin, and the verb resurrect was then backformed hundreds of years later from it by
removing the -ion suffix. This segmentation of resurrection into resurrect + ion was possible
because English had many examples of Latinate words that had verb and verb+-ion pairs —
in these pairs the -ion suffix is added to verb forms in order to create nouns (such as,
insert/insertion, project/projection, etc.).

27
Back formation may be similar to the reanalysis of folk etymologies when it rests on an
erroneous understanding of the morphology of the longer word. For example, the singular
noun asset is a back-formation from the plural assets. However, assets is originally not a
plural; it is a loan-word from Anglo-Norman asetz (modern French assez). The -s was
reanalyzed as a plural suffix.

Back-formation in the English language

Many words came into English by this route: Pease was once a mass noun but was
reinterpreted as a plural, leading to the back-formation pea. The noun statistic was likewise a
back-formation from the field of study statistics. In Britain the verb burgle came into use in
the 19th century as a back-formation from burglar (which can be compared to the North
America verb burglarize formed by suffixation).

Even though many English words are formed this way, new coinages may sound strange, and
are often used for humorous effect. For example, gruntled or pervious (from disgruntled and
impervious) would be considered mistakes today, and used only in humorous contexts. The
comedian George Goebel regularly used original back-formations in his humorous
monologues. Bill Bryson mused that the English language would be richer if we could call a
tidy-haired person shevelled - as an opposite to dishevelled.

Frequently back-formations begin in colloquial use and only gradually become accepted. For
example, enthuse (from enthusiasm) is gaining popularity, though it is still considered
substandard by some today.

The immense celebrations in Britain at the news of the relief of the Siege of Mafeking briefly
created the verb to maffick, meaning to celebrate both extravagantly and publicly. "Maffick"
was a back-formation from Mafeking, a place-name that was treated humorously as a gerund
or participle.

5. Derivation

Derivation is used to form new words, as with happi-ness and un-happy from happy, or
determination from determine. A contrast is intended with the process of inflection, which
uses another kind of affix in order to form variants of the same word, as with
determine/determine-s/determin-ing/determin-ed.

A derivational suffix usually applies to words of one syntactic category and changes them
into words of another syntactic category. For example, the English derivational suffix -ly
changes adjectives into adverbs (slow → slowly).

28
Some examples of English derivational suffixes:

• adjective-to-noun: -ness (slow → slowness)

• adjective-to-verb: -ize (modern → modernize)

• noun-to-adjective: -al (recreation → recreational)

• noun-to-verb: -fy (glory → glorify)

• verb-to-adjective: -able (drink → drinkable)

• verb-to-noun: -ance (deliver → deliverance)

Although derivational affixes do not necessarily modify the syntactic category, they modify
the meaning of the base. In many cases, derivational affixes change both the syntactic
category and the meaning: modern → modernize ("to make modern"). The modification of
meaning is sometimes predictable: Adjective + ness → the state of being (Adjective);
(stupid→ stupidness).

A prefix (write → re-write; lord → over-lord) will rarely change syntactic category in
English. The derivational prefix un- applies to adjectives (healthy → unhealthy), some verbs
(do → undo), but rarely nouns. A few exceptions are the prefixes en- and be-. En- (em-
before labials) is usually used as a transitive marker on verbs, but can also be applied to
adjectives and nouns to form transitive verb: circle (verb) → encircle (verb); but rich (adj) →
enrich (verb), large (adj) → enlarge (verb), rapture (noun) → enrapture (verb), slave (noun)
→ enslave (verb). The prefix be-, though not as productive as it once was in English, can
function in a similar way to en- to mark transitivity, but can also be attached to nouns, often
in a causative or privative sense: siege (noun) → besiege (verb), jewel (noun) → bejewel
(verb), head (noun) → behead (verb).

Note that derivational affixes are bound morphemes. In that, derivation differs from
compounding, by which free morphemes are combined (lawsuit). It also differs from
inflection in that inflection does not change a word's syntactic category and creates not new
lexemes but new word forms (table → tables; open → opened).

Derivation may occur without any change of form, for example telephone (noun) and to
telephone. This is known as conversion. Some linguists consider that when a word's syntactic
category is changed without any change of form, a null morpheme is being affixed.

6. Borrowing

29
Borrowing is just taking a word from another language. The borrowed words are called loan
words. A loanword (or loan word) is a word directly taken into one language from another
with little or no translation. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept
whereby it is the meaning or idiom that is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The
word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort. Loanwords can also be called
"borrowings".

Loanwords in English

English has many loanwords. In 1973, a computerized survey of about 80,000 words in the
old Shorter Oxford Dictionary (3rd edition) was published in Ordered Profusion by Thomas.
Their estimates for the origin of English words were as follows:

• French, including Old French and early Anglo-French: 28.3%

• Latin, including modern scientific and technical Latin: 28.24%

• Germanic languages, including Old and Middle English: 25%

• Greek: 5.32%

• No etymology given or unknown: 4.03%

• Derived from proper names: 3.28%

• All other languages contributed less than 1%

However, if the frequency of use of words is considered, words from Old and Middle English
occupy the vast majority.

Examples:
Biology, boxer, ozone from German
Jacket, yoghurt, kiosh from Turkish
Pistol, robot from Czech
7. Compounding

Compounding forms a word out of two or more root morphemes. The words are called
compounds or compound words. In Linguistics, compounds can be either native or
borrowed. Native English roots are typically free morphemes, so that means native
compounds are made out of independent words that can occur by themselves. Examples:

mailman (composed of free root mail and free root man)

mail carrier

30
dog house
fireplace
fireplug (a regional word for 'fire hydrant')
fire hydrant
dry run
cupcake
cup holder
email
e-ticket
pick-up truck
talking-to

Some compounds have a preposition as one of the component words as in the last 2
examples. In Greek and Latin, in contrast to English, roots do not typically stand alone. So,
compounds are composed of bound roots. Compounds formed in English from borrowed
Latin and Greek morphemes preserve this characteristic. Examples include photograph,
iatrogenic, and many thousands of other classical words.

Another thing to note about compounds is that they can combine words of different parts of
speech. The list above shows mostly noun-noun compounds, which is probably the most
common part of speech combination, but there are others, such as adjective-noun (dry run,
blackbird, hard drive), verb-noun (pick-pocket, cut-purse, lick-spittle) and even verb-particle
(where 'particle' means a word basically designating spatial expression that functions to
complete a literal or metaphorical path), as in run-through, hold-over. Sometimes these
compounds are different in the part of speech of the whole compound vs. the part of speech
of its components. Note that the last two are actually nouns, despite their components.

Some compounds have more than two component words. These are formed by successively
combining words into compounds, e.g. pick-up truck, formed from pick-up and truck, where
the first component, pick-up is itself a compound formed from pick and up. Other examples
are ice-cream cone, no-fault insurance and even more complex compounds like top-rack
dishwasher safe. There are a number of subtypes of compounds that do not have to do with
part of speech, but rather the sound characteristics of the words. These subtypes are not
mutually exclusive.

31
Rhyming compounds (subtype of compounds)
These words are compounded from two rhyming words. Examples: lovey-dovey, chiller-
killer

Another word type that looks a bit like rhyming compounds comprises words that are formed
of two elements that almost match, but differ in their vowels. Again, the second element is
typically a nonsense form:

pitter-patter
zigzag
tick-tock
riffraff
flipflop

8. Coinage

Coinage is the invention of totally new words. The typical process of coinage usually
involves the extension of a product name from a specific reference to a more general one. For
example, think of Kleenex, Xerox, and Kodak. These started as names of specific products,
but now they are used as the generic names for different brands of these types of products.

9. Affixation (Subtype of Derivation)

The most common type of derivation is the addition of one or more affixes to a root, as in the
word derivation itself. This process is called affixation, a term which covers both prefixation
and suffixation.

BASIC ASPECTS OF LINGUISTIC FALLACIES

Introduction
What is Semantics?
The branch of linguistics that is concerned with the study of meaning in language is
Semantics. It deals with the meaning of words, phrases and sentences out of context. Beyond
that, this aspect of linguistics describes and accounts for linguistic competence and correctly
elucidates the relationship between language and culture (Goddard 2013, p.1). This means
that the scope of semantics is not limited to the analysis of meaning in language but
emphasizes the knowledge that people must have in order to speak and understand language.
It also reveals how language reflects the culture of its users. Lobner (2013) describes

32
linguistic semantics as exclusively concerned with the meanings of linguistic expressions
such as words, phrases, grammatical forms and sentences, but not with the meanings of
actions or phenomena (p.1). In a bid to define its scope, he avers that semantics describes the
cognitive equipment of our linguistic knowledge that enables us to interpret regular linguistic
expressions out of context, simply linguistic forms (p.14)

A major thrust of semantics is to ensure that the meaning of linguistic units is maximally
accessible. One way to achieve this is to ensure that we have logical arguments in our
presentations. Logic deals with the process of evaluating the truth and falsity of
arguments. What is logical is deemed to have the right reasoning. There are, however, times
when the strength of an argument is weakened by fallacies.
A fallacy, from its original Latin origin, fallor is any error of reasoning, which can lead to
deception. Quite a number of fallacies are derived from language use. A premise is a
proposition on which an argument is based or from which a conclusion is drawn. e offers in
support of a conclusion.
The Nature and Forms of Fallacies Relevant to Semantics
Fallacies can be formal, material or linguistic/verbal.
Formal fallacies occur when conclusions assert what has not been included in the premises.
Therefore, the structural validity of the expression is weakened. It also means that the
deductive argument presented cannot hold. Example:
Premise: All black bears are omnivores.
Premise: All raccoons are omnivores.
Conclusion: All raccoons are black bears.
Comment:
Although both bears and raccoons are omnivores, one is not a variant of the other; thus, this
fact makes the conclusion illogical and the argument invalid. In other words, the premises
don’t support the conclusion.
Material fallacies derive from irrelevance. They are also known as fallacies of presumption
because the premises ‘presume’ too much – they either covertly assume the conclusion or
avoid the issue in view. Such fallacies cannot prove the material truth of the arguments or
propositions. The appeal of material fallacies depends on some mistakes related to the truth
of the premises or the possibility of such truth being known. Therefore, material fallacies
often fail to prove the material truth of their arguments. Thus, the conclusions drawn
are usually not true. Example: stealing is a crime. Stealing is a part of baseball. Therefore,

33
baseball is a criminal activity. 2. Every leaf I have seen is green. Therefore, all leaves are
green.
Linguistic or verbal fallacies derive mainly from ambiguity as a result of the change or shift
created by the formulation of the meaning of words and phrases used in the proposition.
Example: All fair entities are honourable. This woman is fair. Therefore, this woman is
honourable. The second ‘fair’ referring to complexion. There are two main forms of the
verbal or linguistics fallacy, which are of interest to semantics. We shall examine them
briefly.
One way to go about evaluating an argument for fallacies is to return to the concept of the
three fundamental appeals: Ethos, Logos and Pathos.
1. Ethos is an argument that appeals to ethics, authority and or credibility
2. Logos is an argument that appeals to logic and
3. Pathos is an argument that appeals to emotion.

Fallacies of Misinterpretation
Under these general fallacies are:
 Amphiboly
 Accent
 Figure of speech
 Hypostalisation.

Amphiboly
In amphiboly, there is ambiguity arising from a loose or inappropriate grouping of words in a
structure. There is usually the potential for multiple interpretations. Consider the following.
(i) Nigerian educated men are weak.
The confusion derives from the interpretations below:
a) Men educated in Nigeria
b) Nigerian men who are educated
c) They are physically weak
d) They are morally weak.
(ii) The Governor said, ‘Save soap and waste paper.’
Possible interpretations:
c) Except soap and waste paper
d) Conserve soap and discard paper

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Accent
The fallacy of accent arises as a result of misplaced emphasis. There is usually the
misinterpretation of the original meaning of the sentence as a result of the wrong emphasis or
the challenge of quoting one out of context. Emphasis can be achieved in the print media by
the use of font types and sizes, both of which can mislead the reader. For instance, during the
screening for ministerial appointment in Nigeria, some newspapers carried a screaming
headline such as:
(i) “Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Missing” (whereas what they meant was that her name was not on
the list of nominees presented to the senate)
(ii) Another example was noted in another newspaper-“UNILAG Vice-Chancellor in Police
Net” (a fake Vice-Chancellor apprehended)
Most readers would be carried away by the capital letters, whereas the real message is in the
small letters.
Figures of Speech (Figure Dictions)
In a specialised way, figures of speech derive from the confusion over words, which are
perceived to be similar in sound or structure – as in
 Accent
 Council
 Eligible
 Illicit
 assent
 counsel
 illegible
 elicit
Greater import of the figure of speech occurs in the literal interpretation of metaphorical
expressions, including the following.
(i) John kicked the bucket
(ii) He swallowed his pride
Hypostalisation
Wherever abstract concepts are presented as if they have the capacity to produce empirical
evidence, we have hypostalization. Consider the following examples:
(i) Experience taught him great lessons.
(ii) Life is the best teacher.
EXERCISE

35
List the different forms of the fallacy of misinterpretation.

Fallacies of the Misuse or Misunderstanding of Language

The following four fallacies shall be explored under this category.
 Equivocation
 Composition
 Division and
 Bifurcation
Equivocation – double talk or equal voice (aeques vox in Latin) described the possibility of
using the same term for different senses in the same discourse. Consider the following
example.
Rich men enjoy rich meals
The use of the word “rich” in the two instances will definitely cause confusion if “rich”
means related to involving enormous wealth. The illustration will be clearer with this
example taken from Ogbulogo (2005).
(i) People should obey every good law
(ii) The law of identity of reference is a good one
(iii) Therefore, people should obey the law of identity of reference.
The fallacy of the conclusion derives from the variation in the meaning of law in the two
preceding sentences.
The fallacy of composition derives from the assumption that what applies to a part of an
element applies to the totality of that element. If we assume that since players in a team are
skilful, the entire team would be harmonious and visionary. It will be fallacious to argue that
since those who provide instructions at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of
education are all teachers, they should all be equally remunerated. This fallacy arises
principally from neglect of the collective and distributive uses of such general terms as all
and every.
Collective terms relate to the whole while distributive terms make reference to each and
separate members.
The fallacy of division arises when it is believed that the elements of a whole should be
shared by all its constituent part. In other words, when someone argues that something that is
true for the whole is also true for the parts of the whole. It will be fallacious to assume that
since Judith comes from a family of beautiful ladies, she should also be beautiful. It is easy to
observe that the fallacy of division is the converse of composition.

36
The fallacy of bifurcation (false dilemma) manifests when the full range of possible options
to a question is erroneously reduced to just two alternatives. This reality is evident in the
choice of many words occurring in pairs, suggesting just opposites. Consider the following.
(i) If she is not wise, then she must be foolish.
(ii) The members will be either rich or poor.
EXERCISE
Highlight some fallacies of misunderstanding of language.

CONCLUSION
We have explored basic fallacies associated with meaning in language use. We noted that
fallacies occur as errors in reasoning, which can lead to deception. Indeed, fallacies weaken
the force of an argument. Therefore, our study of semantics is found more profitable if we
devise ways of maximising access to the intended meaning.
SUMMARY
So far, we have studied the nature of fallacies related to semantics. We have also examined
fallacies associated with the misunderstanding and misinterpretation. Dwelling centrally on
semantics, we have discussed formal, material and linguistic fallacies. In all this, we noted
that it is the irrelevance of the material in a structure that creates fallacies. However,
linguistic or verbal fallacies derive from ambiguity or shift of emphasis. Fallacies of
misinterpretation find expression as amphiboly, accent, figures of speech and hypostatisation.
Fallacies of misunderstanding of language occur as equivocation, composition, division and
trifurcation.
ASSIGNMENT
a) Describe the nature of fallacies in language.
b) Explain any four fallacies of misinterpretation of language
c) Discuss any four fallacies of misunderstanding of language.

ASPECTS OF MATERIAL FALLACIES RELEVANT TO SEMANTICS

Introduction
CONTENT
A premise is the basic idea on which other ideas and conclusions are based. If the premise of
an argument is false, the conclusion cannot be valid. Material fallacies are classified based on
their structures. Presented below are the common examples.

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Fallacies of Accident
Fallacies in this category are of two forms – fallacy of accident and fallacy of converse
accident. Fallacy of accident occurs when a general rule is applied to a specific case – where
such a rule would not be applicable. This form of fallacy is common in political and legal
arguments. For instance, while most constitutions will provide for the protection of personal
freedom, there may be the tendency to argue that even offenders and criminals should not
have their freedom curtailed by terms of imprisonment.
The fallacy of converse accident is also referred to as the fallacy of hasty generalisation.
It occurs when we take specific incidents to be the basis of universal conclusions. Thus, the
evidence of that specific event is always restricted, thus making whatever generalisation
hasty and invalid. Consider the following generalisation.
(i) All great footballers are charming.
(ii) Single women cannot be good leaders.
(iii) All men are cheats
Question Begging Fallacies
We shall consider under this heading, Fallacies of begging the question and fallacies of
question begging epithets. The fallacy of begging the question arises when what is intended
to be proved as the conclusion is assumed the premise. The fallacy may also occur if one of
the truth of the premises cannot be established without the conclusion being found to be true.
There may also be a situation where an issue perceived to be true under particular
circumstances inferred from a universal premise.
Usually that universal premise is also inferred from a specific case. Thus, a universal
proposition is assumed to derive from a case that is only true in certain circumstances.
Consider the following examples.
(i) That utterance comes from men ruled by their wives, because only a man ruled by his wife
can say such things.
(ii) You know he is the wealthiest man in the village because he is the strongest.
Question begging epithets are expressed as adjectives, which carry with them, value
judgements. In each of these judgements, there are conclusions that are yet to be proved.
Most forms of propaganda exhibit instances of question begging epithets. Consider further,
these examples:
These shameless politicians will always line their pockets with ill-gotten wealth from the
public fund.
The Complex Question

38
There is a complex question when we assume a yes or no as the answer to a question that has
far greater implications. In many instances of questions, there is the assumption that the basic
fact has been established in a yes – no scenario. This situation is apparent in the following
questions.
(i) Why are Blacks interested in self-perpetuation in office? (Has it been proved?)
(ii) Why do academics turn out to be poor leaders? (Is it always the case?)
It is a common knowledge that questions elicit answers. The real meaning of a question
derives from the assumptions it makes. When people are unwary of the full implications of
questions, they fall into the trap of creative and crafty users of language, like lawyers.
False Causal Relationship
There is a false causal relationship when what is assumed the cause of an action is actually
not. It may also be a situation when what follows an event is assumed to be caused by that
event. In medical circles, this fallacy may link a symptom to an ailment when in fact
something else may be happening. Consider this situation:
They became successful after they left the scene of war. Therefore, their success is linked to
their new location.
Attacking the Straw Man
This fallacy also referred to as the smear technique is the practice of attacking the personality
or circumstances of the opponent in an argument rather than focusing on the issues. This
attack may manifest in the use of offensive language, insults and abuse, rather than proving
or disproving the logic of the argument.
There are three variants of this fallacy – the genetic, relational and the well poisoning
fallacies. The object of attack in the genetic fallacy is the source or the origin of an argument.
There is usually the assumption that good ideas can only come from the good mind-often
associated with members of a special group. Often, politicians and administrators who are
interested in discrediting opposition deploy this fallacy.
At the relational level, there is the assumption that one’s ideas, opinions or arguments are
related to one’s circumstances. People who have some substance in society are usually
perceived to have brighter ideas. For fallacies that poison the well, there is a deliberate
attempt to discredit the source of a supporting piece of evidence. This makes the evidence
unaccepted.
The following are examples of fallacies that attack the straw man.
(i) Who would believe the self-imposed leader who is a drunkard and a brute?

39
(ii) It will be inconceivable for people to follow the opinions of Mr. Banda, where parents
could hardly train beyond the primary school.
(iii) I am sure you are not expecting us to follow the logic of this argument since we know
that the data have been compromised all through.
The Bandwagon
The fallacy of the bandwagon, also described as the snob appeal or the appeal to the people
involves the play on the emotions of the people instead of addressing the issues at stake.
Emphasis is on appealing to the fears, prejudices, passions and problems of the people even
to the detriment of the logic. Politicians, propagandists, lawyers and marketers use this appeal
to sway public opinions. Consider the following.
(i) “Come out of poverty in a grand style; subscribe to be a distributor of our products.”
(ii) “Enjoy the secrets of longevity with our New Life products.”
(iii) “Join the team of high fliers in your examinations, enrol in our tutorial centre.”
Fallacy of Appeals
Apart from the fallacy of the bandwagon, there are a number of fallacies that appeal to pity,
authority and ignorance. The fallacy of appeal to pity is intended to arouse emotions of pity
and sympathy. The aim is to achieve favourable conclusions or desired actions, even when
the facts of the arguments may have been left out. Particular appeal is common in situation
that will require dire consequences. Thus, defence counsels resort to it to whip up sentiments.
Consider this example.
The accused is the only surviving son of a widow. He has suffered a great deal of deprivation
as a youth. If he is convicted and imprisoned, his poor mother will not survive the shock. The
fallacy of the appeal to authority draws its strength by referring to a respected authority or a
group of people whose opinions count. Often, such a reference is not relevant, unlike what we
have in academic circles, when experts build their arguments on the strength of existing
authorities.
Consider these arguments.
(i) Even Bill Gates would envy this computer.
(ii) Shakespeare would even have endorsed his pen
Note that both Bill Gates and Shakespeare have become names noted in computing and
writing respectively. There is the fallacy of the appeal to ignorance when we assume that
every proposition without immediate supporting evidence must be false. It may also occur
when a proposition is assumed true if there is no evidence to disprove it. Therefore, the only
point of proof is one’s ignorance. Consider this example:

40
If you do not believe in witches, you must bring evidence that they do not exist. There is also
the fallacy of the appeal to force. It is also referred to as the fallacy of swinging the big stick,
which occurs when one uses intimidation or threats to force the acceptance of a conclusion.
This technique manifests when rational arguments have failed- for example:
If you don’t sign to break the strike, you must vacate your accommodation.
The Fallacy of Irrelevant Conclusion
In this fallacy, there is usually the evasion of the real issues. The conclusion to be proved or
disproved is ignored and an entirely new conclusion is introduced. Consider the following
illustration.
Mr. A: How can you prove the case of sexual harassment against the accused?
Mr. B: How can he be ignorant while he had in the past been charged with aiding and
abetting examination misconduct?
Note the two issues being raised.
The Fallacy of the Argumentative Leap
The fallacy of the argumentative leap occurs when the conclusion drawn from the premises of
an argument is not relevant to that conclusion. Indeed, the argument fails to establish the
conclusion.
That lady is morally sound, that is why her neighbours suspect her.
CONCLUSION
It has been observed that the strength of an argument is weakened not only by the nature of
the structure of the language. The weakness in an argument can also be introduced by
extraneous elements brought in. These elements are referred to as material fallacies.
EXERCISE
i. List any five material fallacies.
ii. Give two examples for each of fallacy of accident and fallacy of converse accident.
SUMMARY
You have learnt how the introduction of irrelevant material can weaken the logic of an
argument. You have considered the fallacies of accident, converse accident, begging the
question, the complex question, false causal relationship, attacking the straw man, the
bandwagon and appeals. You have also noted examples of each of them.
ASSIGNMENT
i. Discuss fallacies associated with the bandwagon and attacking the straw man.
ii. Explain how fallacies of appeals weaken the logic of arguments.

41
ELEMENTS OF LOGIC IN SEMANTICS
INTRODUCTION
There is always a sense of logic in any language system. This places logic as a component of
the meaning processes of natural language. This connection makes logic a point of interest in
semantics. It should be noted, however that the emphasis of logic in semantics is on the
relations involved in complex sentences, rather than with the abstract mathematical
formulations. We shall explore the structure of the sentence and how this structure
contributes to meaning. Propositional logic is that aspect of logic studied in semantics. It
is also referred to as propositional calculus or sentential calculus. The whole essence of
logic is to examine the validity or correctness of arguments.

We take an argument to be valid if both the premises and the conclusion are true. This means
that the conclusion of a valid argument must drive from its premises. There are usually
logical words or connectives establishing the link between premises and their conclusions.
Examples of connectives are – not, and, or, if ... then, and so on. We can also establish this
link with qualifiers such as all, some, many, etc. It is possible for different words to occupy
similar positions in presenting valid arguments. Expressions in arguments, which are not
logical words, are described in symbols. The common symbols for sentences are p, q and n
logical connectives are represented as follow:
~
V
≡
Simple Propositions
A proposition is simple if it has just one predicator. A proposition is that unit that makes
up the subject matter of a statement, beliefs, feelings, attitudes, and so on of the hearer.
A predicator is the verbal element in a proposition and it is represented in capital
letters. The argument, which is usually the subject, is represented in small letters. The usual
practice is to place the subject before the predicator and other arguments following.
Arguments are subjects and objects, which are also described as referring expressions. It is
the usual practice to omit whatever is not a predicator or a referring expression when writing
in logical form. Thus, we can have the following example:
(i) Ben cried _________ b CRY
(ii) James advised Henrietta – j ADVISE h

42
It should be noted that only names and predicators are presented, leaving out tense markers,
determiners and certain prepositions consider further the following example.
(iii) Ada was waiting for Tom _________ a look -for- t
Combing Simple Propositions
To combine simple propositions into more complex ones, we use logical connectives. As the
simple propositions are joined, the complex propositions so formed are affected in some form
– which can be conjunction or disjunction.
Conjunction
In English grammar, we establish conjunction with the word – and – represented by the
symbol. In logic, we can combine any number of individual well-formed structures as
illustrated below.
(i) Peter left the city p LEAVE c
(ii) James painted pictures J paints P
Sentences (i) and (ii) can be conjoined to form (iii)
(iii) Peter left the city and James painted pictures p LEAVE c - j
PAINT p
Disjunction
In disjunction, we present alternatives in propositions, using the word “or” which is
represented with V (from the Latin word Vel – or). Just as we have shown in conjunction, we
can derive complex structures by combining a number of simple propositions with the
symbol V. Consider further the following examples.
(i) Thomas paid
(ii) Ben defaulted
From (i) and (ii), we have
Thomas paid or Ben defaulted PAY V b default.
There is always the rule of the commutativity of conjunction and disjunction. This rule
implied that the conjunction of two propositions is assured even in the opposite order. This
reality is reflected in the following presentations.
q - premise
p q conclusion
pVq premise
qVp conclusion
There are differences between conjunction and disjunction. For example, from the
proposition:

43
(i) Ben or Thomas came; cannot yield the conclusions:
(ii) Ben came
(iii) Thomas came.
There is apparent ambiguity involved. A straight forward way to resolve this ambiguity is to
use the expression – either ... or
(iv) Either Ben or Thomas came
Implication
It is possible to build compound propositions that are hypothetical, conditional or
implicational with the phrase if... then. The first simple proposition coming between if ... and
then is the antecedent (that is, the protasis, the implicant or the hypothesis) of the conditional
while the second component after the word “then” is the consequent (the apodasis, the
implicate or the thesis). It is logical to argue that if the antecedent in a conditional proposition
is true, then the consequent is also true. Indeed, the truth of the antecedent implies the truth of
the consequent.
The relationship of if ... then is represented using a horseshoe ( ) or an arrow ( ) consider the
following illustrations:
(i) If children eat, then they will grow
c EAT c will grow
Equivalence or Biconditional Proposition (if and only if)
The biconditional or equivalent proposition is expressed with a double arrow ( ) or the three
bar (≡). The expression “if and only if,” also represented as (if) are placed between the
antecedent and the consequent. However, neither the antecedent nor the consequent is
asserted. The basic assumption is that if the antecedent is true, the consequent is also true.
The converse is also true. Thus, if the antecedent is asserted, the consequent is also asserted.
Witness these examples.
(i) Jake will eat if and only if Alice will
This is represented as:
(ii) Jake will eat ≡ Mary will
This means that either they will both eat or neither will.
Negation or Denial (Not) (~)
Operations of negation or denial do not produce combinations in propositions. Negations
expand single proposition to produce new ones. Thus, when a proposition that is true is
denied, a false proposition emerges. Let us examine the following examples.
(i) Dan is rich (positive)

44
(ii) Dan is not rich (negative)
This is expressed, as ~ Dan is rich.
The most common way of expressing negation in English is to introduce the word not to the
sentence, as shown above. The negation of a disjunction is expressed using neither... nor.
Witness further (iii) and (iv).
(iii) Either the boys or the girls will win the game. Negation:
(iv) Neither the boys nor the girls will win the game
CONCLUSION
Symbols used in logic represent linguistic entities. That means that logical issues can be
studied within semantics. It is always the case that what is not logical can always be
misunderstood. We have featured aspect of logic that can be studied within a course of study
in semantics.
This branch of logic is propositional logic.
EXERCISE
i. State the condition under which an argument is valid.

ii. List five connectives used in propositional logic.

SUMMARY
You have learnt the link between logic and semantics, bearing in mind that logic examines
the validity or correctness of arguments. To formalize the essence of logic, special symbols
are used to represent simple and complex propositions. Simple propositions occur as simple
statements while complex propositions are achieved with conjunction, disjunction,
implication and negation.
ASSIGNMENT
(i) Explain the nature of logic in semantics.
(ii) Describe simple propositions and provide good examples.
(iii) Discuss complex propositions.

SEMANTICS AND THE PRACTICE OF LITERARY COMMUNICATION

THE APPLICATION OF SEMANTICS TO LITERARY COMMUNICATION

45
INTRODUCTION
The primary function of language is communication. Whatever is communicated is expected
to be meaningful. Literary communication should be of interest to the study of semantics.
Therefore, we shall examine how literary communication manifests in semantics. In a typical
department of languages – there are courses in literature and linguistics, which enrich the
knowledge base of the students. It has also been observed that a number of theories in
language find expression in literature. It is, therefore, expected that semantics will also be
reflected in literary communication.
Literary communication occurs in the different genres of literature – poetry, prose and drama.
The uniqueness of this brand of communication is in the creative use of language to achieve
specific purposes. Language is used in a variety of ways, some of which may be different
from the normal everyday form.
CONTENT
The Nature of Literary Language
Literature as an art form derives from the creative use of language. This creativity may be
based in the semantic extension of words and structures beyond the typical cognitive
interpretation. There is usually the transfer of sense, to produce what has been characterised
as the metaphoric. It will be possible to admit as literary language some structures that are not
necessarily semantically well formed. In this connection, and following in the lead provided
by Platt (1977), figures of speech depart from the linguistic norms of everyday language,
syntactically or semantically.
It is not always that the deviation will occur in the form of rule breaking. This deviation may
be in the form of over-regularity of structures to produce repetition. It may also be in the form
of re-ordering certain structures to achieve pre-determined goals. The goals of figurative
language may include the stirring of the emotions of the audience in a specific direction. It
has been observed that figures of speech are derived from structural construction, sound
effects, similarity, contrast, association, indirectness and analogy.
Aspects of Figures of Structural Arrangements
English like any other language has rules that govern the combination of units to form larger
structures, such as the sentence. The normal point of analysis of the syntax of any language is
the simple sentence. This sentence carries one positive proposition, and which is composed of
a subject, noun phrase and a finite verb. The finite verb may attract other elements that can
make up the complete predicate.

46
It is possible to manipulate the basic rules that generate the simple sentence to achieve a wide
variety of sentences. These new sentence varieties may be rhetorical questions, exclamations,
inversion, the climax and the anticlimax.
Rhetorical Questions
These are questions asked to strengthen the speaker’s or writer’s belief in what is being
presented. They also help to elicit the participation of the audience in reaffirming the
speaker’s or writer’s standpoint.
For example: Do we give thieves public funds to keep?

Exclamation
In an ordinary sense, an exclamation is a sudden outburst of emotion which may show pity,
love, anger or passion. It is often engaged in literary communication to elicit the involvement
of the audience. For example: O! What a waste of human lives as the slave masters invaded
the hinterland!
Inversion
There is a change in the natural order of words with the aim of achieving emphasis. The
meaning achieved this way is thematic. It is possible to place the complement of the sentence
in the place of the subject as we have below.
Sweet are the lessons of discipline.
Climax
We achieve climax by placing information in the order of importance, starting with the least
to the most profound. That way, suspense is created. Consider the following.
He graduated by stealing pencils, pens, books, laptops and ultimately vaults of the company.
Anticlimax
This is the opposite of climax. It involves the placement of items in the reverse order of
magnitude – with the most profound to the least consequential – for example:
He earned a doctorate, having made a distinction at the master’s degree and a first class
honours as an undergraduate.
Meaning from Sound Effects
We had noted in the previous studies of this course that meaning could be studied at the level
of words or the sentence. It is also easy to note that the basic level of linguistic organisation is
the sound system. This system comprises vowels and consonants, which in English are forty-
four (twenty vowels and twenty-four consonants). The arrangement of sounds to create
syllables and words follows the rule of phonotactics.

47
Incidentally, the language user may make a definite selection of these sounds to achieve
specific realisation like alliteration; assonance, onomatopoeia, pun and rhyme.
Alliteration is achieved when the same consonant sound is repeated in a sequence – the crusty
crowns cap their heads.
Assonance – is that figure of speech achieved by repeating the same vowel sounds in a
sequence
- Greedy leaders steal from their helpless constituents
In onomatopoeia, we use words to suggest meaning – for example:
Ibadan,
Running splash of rust and gold
“Ibadan” – JP. Clark
Pun or paronomasia is a conscious play on the meaning of words that have identical spellings
or sounds, but with different meanings.
Ambiguity is often achieved through the use of pun. Consider the following:
(i) His grave misdeeds pushed him to his early grave
In rhyme, similar vowel sounds are meant to occur in the final syllables of poetic lines and
they help to achieve a special sense of musical quality. Consider this example from Lenrie
Peters’ “The Fire had Gone out”
• the fire has gone out
• the last flicker gone
• nothing but aching gout
Figures of Similarity
There is always the possibility of comparing the attributes of things, persons or situations
present with those of others that are not present. The major objective is to stir the imagination
of the audience. The two dominant ways of drawing out this similarity is through simile and
metaphor.
In simile, the comparison between two entities or events, which may not be related, is
established with the words as or like. Consider this example from J.P. Clark’s “Abiku”
- We know the knife scars//Serrating down your back and
front//like the beak of the sword fish
The metaphor expresses the comparison between entities and events, without establishing the
link with the words – as or like. Rather, the speaker or writer calls one entity the name of
another – to imply their similarity. Consider further, this example from Soyinka’s Abiku-
I am the squirrel teeth.

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Another figure of similarity is the allegory, which is an extended comparison in which one
subject is described in detail and the other assumed to be understood. Many great works of
literature, including Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels and Milton’s “Paradise Lost” could be
described as allegories.
Meaning from other Figures of Speech
There are quite a number of other forms of literary language. However, we shall discuss
oxymoron, paradox, allusion, euphemism, irony and personification. The oxymoron is a
figure of contrast in which two contradictory words are juxtaposed for the sake of emphasis.
Ordinarily, and in line with the principles of sentential semantics, such expressions would be
anomalous. The following is an example of oxymoron.
“...there was painful laughter”
David Diop – “The Vultures”
In the paradox, which is also an example of contrast, a statement that sounds absurd or even
false at the first thought is noted to be true on a closer examination. Consider this famous
quote from Shakespeare’s
Julius Caesar:
“Cowards die many times before their death”
An allusion is a figure of association in which an expression is associated with a well-
established point of reference – a person, place or an event. Consider this example taken from
the Holy Bible.
A Daniel has come to judgement
Euphemism is a figure of indirectness in which soft and agreeable terms and expressions are
employed to present unpleasant situations – for example:
He has a basket mouth (that is, he cannot keep a secret)
Another figure of indirectness is the irony. It expresses the opposite of its literal meaning –
for the purpose of humour or sarcasm. Consider this example:
(i) Those politicians that embezzle public fund are indeed great patriots.
Personification as a figure of analogy occurs when we attribute qualities of life to inanimate
objects and abstract ideas. This is evident in David Diop’s “The Vultures”
“...when civilisation kicked us in the face”
CONCLUSION
The language of literary communication derives from the associative meaning of the
structures involved. These expressions draw from the imagination of the speakers/writers and
the audience. To appreciate the full range of meanings in language, elements of literary

49
communication must be examined. We have discussed a selection of elements of this branch
of communication.
EXERCISE
i. List the three ways in which literary communication occurs.
ii. List three sources of literary language.
SUMMARY
We have examined the nature of literary communication. We have identified poetry, prose
and drama as the three ways in which literature communicates. We have also explored the
different strategies through which literary language is made manifest. These include
structural arrangement, sound effects, similarity, contrast and analogy. We have also
illustrated examples from each of these.
ASSIGNMENT
(i) Discuss the nature of literary communication.
(ii) Explain how structural construction can be deployed in the semantics of literary
communication.
(iii) Identify any three figures of speech and explain how they enhance meaning in literary
communication.
THE APPLICATION OF SEMANTICS TO EVERYDAY COMMUNICATION
INTRODUCTION
Semantics has remained a complicated aspect of language study for the Nigerian learner
because of a number of factors. One of these factors is the non-availability of learning
resources produced by our local writers. Another reason is the perception that the subject
does not find application in everyday life. This situation is made more complicated by the
absence of a visible component of the test of semantics in public examinations. What is
usually tested is lexis. There is still the problem of semantics being appropriated by different
disciplines like logic, law and philosophy, with the result that semantic postulations are
usually abstract. Therefore, we shall explore how knowledge of semantics enhances everyday
communication. It is necessary that users of English, for instance, get familiar with the
semantic properties of lexical items, along with the specific expressions used in different
fields. Users of language would also need to be familiar with what is appropriate in different
contexts. There is the added need for skills in identifying what may not be point of semantics.
These demands provide the motivation for this study.
CONTENT
Semantics and Lexis

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Lexis refers to the full range of all meaningful words of a language. The essence of this range
is to present the language user choices when communicating. The choices to be made are
expected to satisfy such criteria as collocation, selectional, restrictions and subcategorisation
and so on. We shall explore how collocation manifests in the semantics of English.
Collocation expresses the natural co-occurrence of individual lexical items to form longer
structures. There is usually reference to the sense associations, which build the expected
relationship. It is expected that good users of English will identify collocates in normal
communication. It will be absurd to have a tall stick, as against a long stick; powerful
computers as against strong computers; strong tea as against powerful tea.
With training and regular practice, users of English become familiar with the following
collocate:
Nutritious
Nutritive
Auspicious
August
Conceited
Bloated
Enigmatic
Endangered
Epic
Eligible
Illegible
Luxuriant
Luxurious
Comprehensive
food
occasion
visitor, guest, gathering
personality
ego, opinion
personality
species, population
battle, occurrence
bachelor

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writing
vegetation, grass
life styles, apartments
information (detailed)
Comprehensible statements (easy to understand)
Accent
Ascent
Assent
Adapt
Adopt
of a speaker
of a climber
as approval
to a situation
a strategy
Amicable
Amiable
Broach
Brooch
Genteel
Gentle
settlement (of a case)
character (likeable)
an issue
to be worn
in deception
in character
Dealing with Synonymy and Antonymy
Another perspective in the study of the lexis of English is to focus on the similarity and
contrast holding between words. It is a mark of excellence in language to identify with ease
chains of words that are similar in meaning and those that are opposites. The ability to
command a wide range of lexical items in this regard has been associated with great orators
and writers. It will be recalled that, words that have the same meaning are synonyms while

52
those that have opposite meanings are antonyms. You will note the presentation of the
following synonyms.

Abdicate – abandon, cede, desert

Cancel – abrogate, annul, abolish
Exacerbate – aggravate, exasperate, irritate, inflame, heighten
Derisory – Absurd, anomalous, illogical
Assail – abuse, assault, attack, berate, bombard, impugn
Dependable – accurate, actual, authentic, authoritative, bona fide, original
Aggressive – pugnacious, quarrelsome, belligerent, antagonistic, bellicose, militant,
Chauvinist – fanatic, zealot, bigot, dogmatist, sectarian
Apogee – zenith, peak, apex, climax, pinnacle
Affable - – courteous, courtly, civil, debonair, polite, refined, urbane, respectful
Casual - – cursory, desultory, fleeting, perfunctory, superficial
Doleful - dejected, depressed, disconsolate, dispirited, downcast, gloomy, hopeless,
melancholy
Agreeable – attractive, beautiful, good-looking, charming, handsome
Denigrate – disparage, ridicule, scorn, slander, deprecate, deride, malign, defame, degrade.
Duplicity – artifice, deceit, dishonesty, falsehood, hypocrisy
The major semantic challenge of synonyms is that no two words will have exactly the same
meaning. Users are expected to identify the very fine lines of distinction in the meaning of
words for appropriate use. This reality is because some alternatives carry slightly different
connotations. The connotation, which may be context-determined, may affect the style of a
piece of communication. Consider the different rendition of the popular nursery rhyme:
Twinkle, twinkle little star,
How I wonder what you are.
Scintillate, scintillate, diminutive asteroid
How I speculate as to your identity.
Jacobs and Rosenbaum (1985)
Dealing with Technical Vocabulary
It has been argued that English has about 615,000 non-technical words and a total of about
two million words including slang and technical expressions. It has also been argued that
most Americans use between 800 and 1,000 words in everyday communication. Yet, there is
the need for a higher degree of comprehension expected of the present-day expert who has to

53
deal with a wide range of vocabulary items in such areas as education, linguistics, computer
science, ICT, banking and finance, transportation, governance, agriculture. This will demand
an improved reading skill with enhanced comprehension.
CONCLUSION
Knowledge of semantics will improve our understanding of the world around us. It will also
enhance our appropriate use of language. We have pointed out essential areas in which
semantics can be applied to everyday communication.
EXERCISE
Identity the specific areas in which knowledge of semantics can enhance everyday
communication
SUMMARY
You have learnt how semantics applied to lexis, synonyms, antonyms, collocation and
registers.
ASSIGNMENT
Discuss the concept of collocation and explain how knowledge of semantics manifests in the
appropriateness of language use.

SEMANTICS PROBLEM IN NIGERIAN ENGLISH

INTRODUCTION
The reality of English as a global language is the introduction of regional, national and
cultural varieties. Each of these varieties has implications for international intelligibility. It
has been pointed out that lexis and semantics have the greater potential for Nigerian English
to contribute to the global corpus of English. This optimism has implications for the theory of
meaning in the language. Therefore, we shall explore aspects of these implications. It was
observed in our previous studies that semantics deals with the meaning of words and
sentences. This meaning is central to the practice of communication. Apart from the problems
of ambiguity, there could be the problems of misinterpretation, wrong choice, over extension
and absolute loss of meaning. We shall explore these problem areas in the course of this
study.
The Concept of Nigerian English
The Standard British English is the ideal variety used in official business, the mass media and
for instruction in English public schools. This variety has also been very widely studied and
analysed. It has been found to share a great deal of similarities with institutionalized regional

54
and national varieties of English. This variety has been made popular by the British
Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
In Nigeria, the prestige variety is the Educated Variety of Nigerian English. This variety
relates to the Standard British English in many respects. It is the variety recommended by
experts for use in the Nigerian school systems. It is also the variety used in media houses, the
judiciary, the civil service, the organised private sector and at the top levels of the military.
There is usually mutual intelligibility between speakers of this variety and speakers of other
world-standard varieties.
There are, however, other varieties of Nigerian English, which are used by speakers with
lower levels of educational attainment and limited exposure to the language. These lower
varieties have problems at the different levels of linguistic organization – phonology, lexis,
syntax and semantics. It should be noted that experts in Nigerian English have recognised
three main segments of users of the language based on the sophistication of their
performance. In the first group are users of the Educated Nigerian English, who as we have
observed, use the language in much the same way as the educated English speaker. The
second group consists of those whose use of English in quite high, but not as high as that of
those in the first group. The third group comprises all others whose use of English is full of
mistakes of pronunciation, choice of words and grammar. It has also been observed that users
of English at this third level have a number of semantic problems. Next, we shall examine the
most common semantic problems.
Problems of Semantic Extension
It has been noted by Kujore (1985) that the extension of the meaning of English words in a
second language situation occurs because of the partial similarity in form of meaning
between pairs of words. We have also noted that no two words can be perfect synonyms.
Presented below are samples of words and structures whose meanings have been extended.
An academician
Deliver a baby
Dowry
Escort
Horn (to sound the horn of a car)
Hot (drinks)
Junior (brother)
Senior (brother)
Poverty (of signals)

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for an academic
for to give birth to a baby
for bride price
for accompany
for to hoot
for hard (drinks)
for younger brother
for elder
for poorness (of signals)
Severally (suggesting repeated times) for (on several occasions)
Step (down)
To be in (stock)
for stand (down) for
election
for to be in (store)
If the aim of semantics is to ensure that communication is maximised, it will be easy to note
that any undue extension of meaning will create problem of mutual intelligibility. The
cultural reality of rural Nigeria may not distinguish different shades of colour and multiple
layers of kinship relationships common to the Western world. It is almost impossible for such
people to distinguish such hues of colours as violet, pink, purple and red. They may probably
describe all such shades as red. Colour like ash, silver, milk, and white may just be described
as white. It is the same sense of overextension that makes every relation; both close and
distant to be described as brother or sister. There was the case of a woman married to a
Yoruba man who felt very embarrassed as other women referred to her as “our wife.” This
story formed the theme of a collection of short stories written by Professor Karen King–
Aribisala – “Our wife and other stories.”
Problems of Wrong Choice of Lexis
Related to the problem of over extension is the challenge of inadequate mastery of the
vocabulary of English. This inadequate mastery often leads to the wrong choice of lexical
items. Consider the following pairs of words, which have different meanings.
Compliment/complement
Nutritious/nutritive
Masterful/masterly
Conclusively/in conclusion

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Patent/patience
Illusion/allusion
Capital/capitol
Elicit/illicit
Eligible/illegible
Respectively/respectfully
Comprehensive/comprehensible
Advisory/adversary
Altitude/attitude
Aptitude/amplitude
Each other/one another/themselves
Success in communication is related to the extent to which users of English are able to
appreciate the meaning of different words.
Problems of Lexical Reduplication
In an extensive study carried out by Okoro (2000), reduplication was identified as an aspect
of the markers of Nigerian English. He pointed out phonological, grammatical and semantic
reduplication in line with the works of Gleitman (1969), and Crystal (1987). For our purpose,
we shall dwell on lexical and semantic reduplication.
Lexical reduplication occurs as the compounding of elements or those that are identical with
them. The following are examples in Nigerian English.
(i) The early buyers have selected all the big big parcels
(ii) Everywhere in his compound are new new cars
(iii) The priest spoke to those fine fine ladies with long long hair.
(iv) The manager wants to see you now now.
It should be noted that each of the examples presented is ungrammatical. The main reason for
the reduplication is to lay emphasis on the sizes (of the parcels), newness (of the cars), the
beauty (of the ladies), the length of their hair, and the urgency (of the message).
Problems of Semantic Reduplication
In semantic reduplication, there is the redundant repetition of the same idea, but in different
words. This phenomenon is also described as tautology which appears at the sentential level.
Semantic reduplication is very common in Nigerian English and has been found to be a major
challenge of this variety. Let us examine common examples.
(i) There is a general consensus of opinion among researchers
(ii) I knew he was sad because he frowned his face

57
(iii) The poor man was strangled to death
(iv) You should have gesticulated with your hands
(v) The expert went through the patient’s past history
(vi) This will go into the annals of our history
(vii) The twins are exactly identical
(viii) Members of senate were completely unanimous in supporting the motion.
(ix) The actual fact is that he has not worked hard
(x) The bomb exploded violently.
What has created the problem in each case is the unnecessary repetition of the items that
carry the same meaning.
A consensus implies a general agreement; it is only the face that is frowned; to strangle
someone is to kill by suffocation. We are also aware gestures are made with hands and that
history is about the past, just as annals relate to history. To be identical is to be exactly alike
just as unanimity expresses complete agreement. Facts are things that are actual or real and
explosions are violent.
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). We also observed that the lower levels of Nigerian
English have problems of semantic extension, wrong choice of lexis as well as lexical and
semantic reduplication. We noted examples of these characteristics. Consider further the
following instances of semantic reduplication pulled out from the research by Okoro (2006)
 Fellow colleagues
 Final conclusion
 Extend outwards
 Pool together
 Outstanding balance
 Ordinary laymen
 Future plans
 Revert back
 Final ultimatum
 Close scrutiny
 Chief protagonist
 Opening gambit
 A natural flair
 Total annihilation

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CONCLUSION
As English has become a global language, there is need to explore the characteristics of its
different varieties. A critical domain of inquiry, which will enhance international
intelligibility, is the semantic component. This inquiry will highlight the different areas of
problems.
EXERCISE
i. Identify the prestige variety of Nigerian English.
ii. List three semantic characteristics of the lower levels of Nigerian English.
SUMMARY
We have examined some of the semantic problems of Nigerian English. We observed that the
educated variety of Nigerian English, which is the prestige variety, shares a lot of similarities
with the standard British English. The standard British English has been made popular by the
British Broadcasting Corporation – BBC.
ASSIGNMENT
i. Discuss how semantic extension manifests in Nigerian English.
ii. Explore in some detail lexical and semantic reduplication in Nigerian English.

1. The semantic concept that describes a situation where there is ambiguity arising from
a loose or inappropriate grouping of words in a structure is _______.
2. The ______ arises as a result of misplaced emphasis.
3. The fallacy of bifurcation is otherwise known as______.
4. The fallacy of division is the converse of ______.
5. The ______ may occur if one of the truth of the premises cannot be established
without the conclusion being found to be true.
6. Propositional logic is that aspect of logic studied in semantics also referred to as
propositional calculus or _______.
7. ______ deals with the process of evaluating the validity or correctness of arguments.
8. Expressions in arguments, which are not logical words, are described in _____.
9. A ______ is that unit that makes up the subject matter of a statement, beliefs, feelings,
attitudes, and so on of the hearer.
10. A ______ is the verbal element that is represented in capital letters.
11. Questions asked to strengthen the speaker’s or writer’s belief in what is being
presented is referred to as ______.
12. “Cowards die many times before their death” is an example of ______.

59
 13. Those politicians that embezzle public funds are indeed great patriots is an example of
______.
14. _______ expresses the natural co-occurrence of individual lexical items to form
longer structures.
15. The priest spoke to those fine fine ladies with long long hair is an example of ____.

ASWERS
1. amphiboly
2. fallacy of accent
3. false dilemma
4. Fallacy of composition
5. The fallacy of begging the question
6. sentential calculus
7. Logic
8. symbols
9. proposition
10. predicator
11. Rhetorical Questions
12. paradox
13. Irony
14. Collocation
15. Lexical reduplication

SECTION B
1. Explain in details lexical and semantic reduplication in Nigerian English.
b. Discuss any two (2) of the following:
i. Bandwagon
ii. False Causal Relationship
iii. Fallacy of Appeals
iv. complex propositions

2. With illustrative examples, briefly discuss the following:

i. Amphiboly
ii. Hypostalisation
iii. Equivocation

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 iv. Bifurcation
v. Attacking the strawman

Fallacy of accident – a situation where a general rule is applied to a specific case where such
a rule is not applicable.

It may be committed due to carelessness or because one has the assumption that
generalisations will apply to all similar situations, even though there are clear exceptions.
Human beings have the ability to hear sounds. Therefore, all people are capable of hearing
sounds
Taking a life is a crime and morally wrong; therefore, termite control is a crime and morally
wrong.
Everyone knows no one should kill another person. Hence, no one should ever go to war.

2. Begging the question: a fallacy in which a claim is made and accepted to be true, but one
must accept the premise to be true for the claim to be true. in other words, you assume
without proof the stand/position or a significant part of the stand that is in question. Also
called arguing in circle.
In any argument, you begin with a premise and then give evidence to prove that argument
and draw conclusions.
It occurs when a person assumes the truth of their argument but fails to prove it. When you
base your argument on assumption rather than evidence.
For instance, a person starts off by stating that a certain thing is true, then do not give any real
evidence for that, instead they restate the same general information. So, no evidence is really
given.

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