+01 424 645 5957

+39 347 378 8169

+01 424 645 5957

+39 347 378 8169

Semantics

Linguistics

© <a href='http://www.flickr.com/popoever/' target='_blank'>POPEVER</a>Semantics is the study of meaning. This can include the meaning of individual words‏‎ and also the way in which their meaning may have changed over time.

Meaning in languages is mainly studied by linguists. In fact, semantics is one of the main branches of contemporary linguistics. But there are also strong connections to philosophy. In the last century much work in semantics was done by philosophers, and some important work is still done by philosophers.

An understanding of semantics is essential to the study of language acquisition‏‎, that is, the study of how language users – be they speakers, writers, listeners or readers – acquire a sense of meaning. It also helps us focus on how language develops and changes with time.

Semantics is one of the most fundamental concepts in linguistics. It is important for understanding:

The study of semantics includes the study of how meaning is constructed, interpreted, clarified, obscured, illustrated, simplified negotiated, contradicted and paraphrased.

Relationships

Semantics is also about relationships. Look at these sentences:

Mo ate a fish.

A fish ate Mo.

The two sentences have identical words but the meaning has changed because of the order in which the words were used. So the grouping of words can change the meaning of a sentence, not just the words used in the sentence.

Words in Semantics

But semantics is also about words themselves and even breaking them down into their elements. We have the following words in English:

biggish

oldish

So what is the meaning of the -ish affix? We also can ask what is the meaning of the -ly affix here:

hardly

easily

Semantic Fields

When a group of words relate to the same topic or subject, we have a semantic field.

green, blue, yellow, orange…

boring, dull, tiresome, banal…

house, cabin, hovel, mansion…

For more on this see the main article, Semantic Fields.

Related Articles

ICAL TEFL Resources

The ICAL TEFL site has thousands of pages of free TEFL resources for teachers and students. These include: The TEFL ICAL Grammar Guide. Country Guides for teaching around the world. How to find TEFL jobs. How to teach English. TEFL Lesson Plans....

read more

6 Tips to Make your ESL Classes More Effective

Teaching is undeniably a challenging job, in fact many consider it one of the most difficult careers you could choose. Nevertheless, being a teacher is an enriching experience. Through quality education and effective teaching methodologies,...

read more

0 Comments