ENG4015

SEMANTICS AND
PRAGMATICS
WHAT IS SEMANTICS?
Yule 2013
- Semantics is the study of meanings of words, phrases and sentences.
Collins Dictionary,2019
- The branch of linguistics that deals with the study of meaning, changes in meaning, and
the principles that govern the relationship between sentences or words and their
meanings
Hurford, Heasly, Smith 2007
- SEMANTICS is the study of MEANING in LANGUAGE.
Douglas Harper, in his online etymology dictionary called “Etymonline”
- defines semantics as "the study of meaning in language; the science of the relationship
between linguistic symbols and their meanings.”
Allen Walker Read's An Account of the Word 'Semantics' (1948)
- traces the history of the term. The modern term "semantics" was introduced by French
linguist Michel Bréal in 1883 to describe the study of meaning in language. It was later
adopted into English by scholars like Charles Lanman in 1894. The paper examines how
the term competed with alternatives like "semasiology" and "semiotics" before
becoming widely used.

TYPES OF MEANING
CONCEPTUAL MEANING

Conceptual meaning covers those basic essential components of meaning which are conveyed by the
literal use of a word.

Richard Nordquist, 2019

- In semantics, conceptual meaning is the literal or core sense of a word. There is nothing read
into the term, no subtext; it's just the straightforward, literal, dictionary definition of the word.
The term is also called denotation or cognitive meaning.

For Example: Some of the basic components of a word like needle in English might include “thin sharp
steel instrument”.

According to Leech, there are two principles of conceptual meaning are:

1. Contrastiveness (Paradigmatic Axis) – Meanings are defined by differences from other

meanings. For example, woman = +HUMAN, -MALE, +ADULT, while boy = +HUMAN, +MALE, -
ADULT. The contrast between features helps distinguish words.
 2. Structure (Syntagmatic Axis) – Meaning is built hierarchically, like sentence structure. For
example, in "The black cat chased the mouse," the sentence is broken into subject, verb, and
object, and words like cat have structured meanings (+ANIMAL, +MAMMAL, +FELINE). If it was a
dog, first two would go same but last one would be CANINE.

Both principles work together: contrast helps differentiate meanings, while structure organizes
them into meaningful expressions.

ASSOCIATIVE MEANING
- Associative meaning refers to the particular qualities or characteristics beyond the denotative
meaning that people commonly think of (correctly or incorrectly).

For example: like needle which lead you to think of ‘painful’ whenever you encounter the said word.
This ‘association’ is not treated as a conceptual meaning of needle.

Associative meaning is in contrast with conceptual meaning. According to Leech, it is a “summary term”
that encompasses Connotative, Social, Affective, Reflective and Collocative meaning.

1. Connotative Meaning: Connotative meaning, or connotation, refers to the additional, often

emotional or cultural associations that a word carries beyond its explicit or denotative meaning.
These associations can vary among individuals or communities and can be positive, negative, or
neutral. Thus, the connotative meaning of the stated word can be any of the referent’s
characteristics.

Example: The word “snake” has various connotations (danger, deception, healing) for different
people based on their cultural contexts.

2. Social Meaning: The aspect of meaning pertains to the social relationships, roles, and power
structures conveyed through language. It encompasses the way language reflects societal
norms, attitudes, and hierarchies.

Example: Consider the use of language in addressing someone of higher social status, like a boss or a
professor (Mr. Johnson, Sir Samuel).

Another example is using the word “Pavement”: it tells us that the speaker is British or a person
who speaks the British English, while using the word “sidewalk” to express the same meaning tells
us that the speaker is American or a person that speaks the American variety. .

Stylistic variation represents the social variation. This is because styles show the geographical region
social class of the speaker.

3. Affective Meaning: It is related to the emotional or attitudinal associations of words and

expressions. It encompasses the feelings, sentiments, or emotional nuances that words can
convey.

Example: The word “fire” can carry various affective meanings based on context. (warmth/ danger/
destruction etc)
 4. Reflected Meaning: It is the aspect of meaning that arises when a word or expression is used in
a particular context, and it reflects the speaker’s subjective attitudes, emotions, or beliefs. The
meaning is suggested or implied by the context in which a word is used.

Example: Denotative (Conceptual) Meaning: “bright” refers to something that is well-illuminated.

For example, “The sun is bright today.”

Reflected Meaning – Context 1: “She is a bright student” suggests someone is intelligent or clever.

Reflected Meaning – Context 2: “His future looks bright”, may reflect the speaker’s positive outlook
or optimism about that person’s potential for success.

5. Collocative Meaning: It is a type of meaning associated with the tendency of certain words to
occur together or collocate with other words in a language. It can provide additional information
and shades of meaning beyond the individual meanings of the words themselves.

Example: Pretty and handsome share common ground of meaning good-looking. But they can be
distinguished by the words they co-occur with. Pretty – girl, woman, colour etc. Handsome
collocates with guy, man, typewriter etc.

THEMATIC MEANING
Apart from the ones mentioned above, Leech also mentioned a seventh type of meaning in his book
Semantics-The Study of Meaning (2nd ed. 1981)

- Thematic meaning, in Leech’s framework, concerns how words and elements in a sentence are
arranged to indicate the central theme or topic of the sentence.

Example: Mr. Smith gave the first prize / The first prize was given by Mr. Smith.

In the first sentence “who gave away the prize “was more important, but in the second sentence
“what Mr. Smith gave was more important”. Thus, the change of focus has changed the meaning.
 SEMANTIC ROLE
A semantic role is the underlying relationship that a participant has with the main verb in a clause.
(Payne, T. 1997)

• Words are not just a “containers” of meanings. They fulfill different “roles” within the situation
described by a sentence.

Larson, Mildred L. 1984.Meaning-based translation: A guide to cross-language equivalence

A proposition is a meaningful idea formed by combining related concepts. These these concepts are
connected through case roles or semantic roles, which explain how each part (like a person or object)
relates to the main action or event.

Understanding propositions helps us see how different elements in a sentence work together to create
meaning.

1. AGENT

Agent is the semantic role of a person or thing who is the doer of an event. An agent is usually the
grammatical subject of the verb in an active clause. A prototypical agent is conscious, acts with volition
(on purpose), and performs an action that has a physical, visible effect. The agent occurs when the
event is an action.

Although agents are typically human, they can also be non-human forces, machines or creatures.

Examples:

• The boy ran down the street.

• He was chased by the dog.

2. THEME

The entity that is involved in or affected by the action is technically known as the theme. Also knows as
the affected, meaning the person or object who undergoes the event.

According to Larson, an event can be of 3 types – action or experience or process. When there is no
skewing between grammar and semantics, the affected is encoded as the object of the verb, when the
event is an action. If the event is an experience or process, it is encoded as the subject of the
grammatical sentence in English.

Examples:

He stole my purse.

My purse was green.

The theme can also be a human. The same physical entity can appear in two semantic roles. For
example,

She hurt herself. Herself is the theme here.

3. INSTRUMENT

If an agent uses another entity to perform the action, that other entity fills the role of instrument. It is
usually an inanimate object.

Examples:

Mary wrote with a pencil.

John cut a string with a knife.

In English grammar, with is a common grammatical marker for instrument.

Larson also talks about “Accompaniment”, which is the semantic role of a thing that participates in close
association with an agent, causer, or affected in an event.

For example, She pointed at the photo with her finger.

4. EXPERIENCER

When a noun phrase designates an entity as a person ho has a feeling or perception or a state, fills the
role of Experiencer. Experiencer is the semantic role of an entity (or referent) which

• receives

• accepts

• experiences

Discussion:

Normally an experiencer is an entity that receives a sensory impression, or in some other way is the
locus of some event or activity that involves neither volition nor a change of state. If we see, know or
enjoy something, we are not performing an action, so we are experiencers then.

Lucretia saw the bicycle.

It was Bill who smelled the bacon first.

The explosion was heard by everyone.

 5. LOCATION

According to Larson, location is the entity that identifies the spatial placement of an event.

Example:

John ran away from home.

Mary walked through the park.

6. TIME

According to Larson, location is the entity that identifies the temporal placement of an event.

7. SOURCE AND GOAL

Where an entity moves from is the sourse and where it moves to is the goal.

Ogden and Richards’ account of the referential function is introduced in the opening pages of

their book with the ‘Triangle of Reference’, a diagram, shown in Figure 1 below, that has gone on to

achieve iconic status in twentieth-century semiotics. Each of the points in the triangle represents an

entity assumed to be involved in an act of reference; the sides in turn illustrate the relations between

these entities. A ‘symbol’, a word or any other type of sign, evokes a ‘thought or reference’, an idea

in the mind of the hearer or perceiver of the sign, which is then directed to a ‘referent’, some entity

or object in the world