DESI NORI SAHPUTRI
A. Demograph
Title :
Theories of Semantics: Merits and Limitations
Searcher 1: Saleh Mustafa Ramadan
From :
Al-Zaytoonah Private University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan.
Searcher 2: Taleb I. Ababneh
From : Irbid
National University- Jordan, Irbid, Jordan.
Pages : 9
B. Content
This
article explain about some theories.
These theories are: referential theory of meaning, the non–
referential theory of meaning and generative grammarian theory of meaning.
C. Result/Finding
Meaning
is so intangible that one group of linguists, the structuralists, preferred not
to deal with it or rely on it at all. To illustrate what we mean by the
intangible quality of “meaning”, think of such words as “beauty”, “goodness”,
“love”; it would be hard to find two people who agree absolutely on what each
of these words implies.
Meaning as the Relationship between Words and Objects
Greek philosophers say that there is a relationship between
words and objects. In other words, the best way of indicating the meaning of a
word is to refer to the object represented by that word.
Meaning as a Triangular Relationship
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.
Bloomfield’s View of Meaning
Bloomfield (1933) stated that the context of situation was
an essential part of meaning. He defined the meaning of a linguistic form as
the situation in which the speaker utters it and the response which it calls
forth in the hearer.
The Non–Referential Theory of Meaning
The non–referential approach as suggested by its name
doesn’t take into consideration the context of situations or the reference in
determining what meaning is. There is a relationship between language and the
outside world because language doesn’t exist in vacuum. Therefore, this may
indicate a weakness in this theory.
The Generative Grammarian Theory
This approach was based on the assumption that syntactic
rules operate independently of meaning. Chomsky and others believe that
changing the active into passive structures does not change the meaning of the
sentence.
D. Strengthness
and Weakness
Strength
: The author give many theories of
meaning ,it is clear for us to differentiate
of meaning.
Weakness :
The author just give theory but with little example
E. Conclusion
The researcher has discussed the main of meaning ,their view
about meaning is nearly the same as of the Greekphilosophers. The only new
thing they added is that it is the human mind that links an object.
NABILA FIRDA ASY’ARI
A. Demograph
Title :
Semantics and Theories of Semantics
Author : Abbas
Bukhari
Pages : 15
B. Content
This article shared how is language organized in order to be
meaningful, and how a
speaker of English ever learns to use the word correctly.
C. Result/
Findings
Semantics is that level of linguistic analysis
where meaning is analyzed. It is the most abstract level of
linguistic analysis, since we
cannot see or observe meaning as we can observe and record
sounds. Meaning is related
very closely to the human capacity to think logically and to
understand. So when we try
to analyze meaning, we are trying to analyse our own
capacity to think and understand,
our own ability to create meaning.
Taking up some of the above definitions of meaning, we can
discuss the different aspects
of meaning o a word as follows :
1.The logical or denotative meaning. This is the literal
meaning of a word indicating the idea or concept to which it refers. concept is
a minimal unit ofmeaning which could be called a ‘sememe’ in the same way as
the unit ofsound is called a ‘phoneme’ and is like the ‘morpheme h Is structure
andorganisation. Just as the phoneme /b/ may be defined as a bilatial + voiced
+plosive, the word ‘man’ may be defined as a concept consisting of a structure
of meaning ‘human + male + adult’ expressed through the basic morphological
unit ‘m + æ + n’. All the three qualities are logical attributes of which the
concept ‘man’ is made.
2. The connotative meaning. This is the additional meaning
that a concept carries. That is, apart from its logical or essential
attributes, there is a furthermeaning attached to a word, which comes from its
reference to other things in the real world.
3. The social meaning: This is the meaning that a word or a
phrase conveys about the circumstances of its use. That is, the meaning of a
word is understood according to the different style and situation in which the
word is used, e.g. though the words ‘domicile’, ‘residence’, ‘abode’, ‘home’
all refer to the same thing (i.e. their denotative meaning is the same), each
word belongs to a particular situation of use—’domicile’ is used in an official
context, ‘residence’ in a formal context, ‘abode’ is a poetic use and ‘home’ is
an ordinary use. Where one is used, the other is not seen as appropriate
4.The thematic meaning: This is the meaning which is communicated
by the way in which a speaker or writer organises the message in terms of
ordering, focus and emphasis. It is often felt, for example, that an active
sentence has a different meaning from its passive equivalent although its
conceptual meaning seems to be the same. In the sentences:
Mrs. Smith donated the first prize
The first prize was donated by Mrs. Smith
D. Strengthness
and Weakness
Strength : This article gives explanation based on daily
activity and the author explanation of
meaning follow related semantic between phonology,i think it is easy to
understand.
Weakness : This article make the readers to confused because
the Author write his paper with carelessness
E. Conclusion
Part of the difficulty in relating language to the external
world may arise from the fact that the way in which we see the world is to some
degree depends in the language we use. Since we categorize the objects of our
experience with the aid of language, it may be the case that learning about the
world and learning about language are activities that cannot be separated and
that therefore our world is partly determined by our language.
ANNISA SEPTIANI
A. Demograph
Title :
Modern Linguistics Semantics
Author : Kate
Kearns,Senior Lecturer, Department of Linguistics.
From :
University of Canterbury New Zealand.
Upload : Pooja
Saikia
B. Content
This article mainly concentrate on literal meaning in the
content of words and expressions which is fairly constant from one occasion of
use to another. The study of linguistic meaning is generally divided in
practice into two main fields,semantics and pragmatics. Semantics deals with
the literal meaning of words and the meaning of the way they are combined,
which taken together form the core of meaning, or the starting point from which
the whole meaning of a particular utterance is constructed. Pragmatics This
division can be roughly illustrated deals with all the ways in which literal
meaning must be refined, enriched or extended to arrive at an understanding of
what a speaker meant in uttering a particular expression.
C.
Result/Findings
This article present the kinds of meaning:
1. Denotation and
sense
The general point is that linguistic expressions are linked
in virtue of their meaning to parts of the world around us, which is the basis
of our use of language to convey information about reality. The denotation of
an expression is the part of reality the expression is linked to.
The second way of giving the meaning of a word, commonly
used in dictionaries, is to paraphrase it,
The most widely discussed form of the sense/denotation
distinction is the means‘the blue train’ is to say that the French expression
and the English expression have the same sense.sense/reference distinction. An
expression which denotes just one individual is said to refer to that
individual. Titles and proper names are common referring expressions
2. Lexical and
Structural Meaning
lexical meaning, which is the meaning of the individual
words.
Structural meaning mainly comprises the meaning derived from
the syntactic structure of an expression, for example: , which is the meaning
of the way the words are combined.
3. Categorematic
expressions, which include the vast majority of words, are the descriptive
words such as nouns, adjectives and verbs.
D. Strengthness
and Weakness
Strength : You can know more about modern linguistic
especially semantics by read this. And the example is enough to make us
understands. And there are some tips that have given by authors.
Weakness : this article too long and very tedious to read.
E. Conclusion
From this article we know Current research suggests that the
generalization expressed in any version of thematic roles theory is basically
correct – arguments of verbs do fall into broad semantic classes, although the
relevant classes are not always those identified by the traditional thematic
relations introduced here.
Ratna Sari
A. Demograph
Title :
Theories of Semantics: Merits and Limitations
Searcher 1: Saleh Mustafa Ramadan
From :
Al-Zaytoonah Private University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan.
Searcher 2: Taleb I. Ababneh
From : Irbid
National University- Jordan, Irbid, Jordan.
Pages : 9
B. Content
This paper discussed semantic field, semantic relation and
semantic components. It characterised the semantic field of ‘motor vehicles’ in
terms of semantic component and discussed the advantages and disadvantages in
the use of field relations and components to describe the meaning of words.
C.
Result/Findings
He solve of these question of the paper. The Question is:
a. What do you
understand by semantic field, semantic relation and semantic component?
b. Characterize
the semantic field of ‘motor vehicles’ in terms of semantic component.
c. What
advantages and disadvantages can you see in the use of field relations and
components to describe the meaning of words?
Question 1: What do you understand by semantic field,
semantic relation and semantic
component?
Semantic Field
Semantic field is a set of words or lexemes related in
meaning; also called lexical field, field, or field of meaning. Most often,
fields are defined by subject matter, such as body parts, landforms, diseases,
colours, foods, or kinship relations.
The semantic field of 'water' could be divided into a number
of subfields; in addition, there would appear to be a great deal of overlap
between terms such as cove/harbour/bay.
There are lexical groups or components that made up semantic
field :
1. Meronymy
A meronym is a word that denotes a constituent part or a
member of something. For
example, apple is a meronym of apple tree; Finger is a
meronym of hand.
2. Sememe
A sememe is the name for the smallest unit of meaning
recognized in semantics,
a single sememe (for example [go] or [move]) can be
conceived as the abstract representation of such as verbs as skate, roll, jump,
slide, skip or turn.
Semantic Relations
Semantic relations or meaning relations are words that are
semantically related to other words.
There are lexical groups or components that made up semantic
relation :
1. Synonym
2. Antonyms
3. Polysemy
4. Antagonymy
5. Homonymy
6.
Hyponymy/hypernymy
D. Stregth and
Weakness
Strengthness: This paper is full of explanation and so many
examples. The author had completed answer of that three question. You can get
new understanding of semantics in here.
Weakness: So many difficult vocabularies so you must open
your dictionary. But it will help you to improve your English.
E. Conclusion
Semantic field can give us advantages and disadvantages,the
advantages such as 1) Field relations and componential analysis can account for
selectional restrictions imposed upon the occurrence of lexemes more
explicitly 2)Field relations and
components provide a wide spectrum of meaning of a lexeme thereby providing the
linguistic contextual opportunity for hedging in communication. Disadvantages
like Finding a specific meaning of a lexeme becomes difficult except on
pragmatic ground where context of usage could help to deduce the meaning of a
lexeme. For example, the lexeme ‘van’, how can we know what the speaker refers
to; a pickup van, a caravan, wagon, army wing, or camper? Therefore meaning of
a lexical item is inconsistent and might be misleading.
