COLLECTION OF THE COMMENTS

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SEMANTICS

SEMANTICS

Semantics, theorical concepts and contributions are seen from two perspectives: from the linguistics” perspective ( interested in the core meaning of linguistic expressions ) ( sense ), and from the Philosopher’s perspective ( interested in the reference of linguistic expressions and truth of sentences

The Field of Semantics

Sense can be looked at from two  perspective. There are various type of linguistic sense that are possible among words. Some of them are: Polysemy, Synonymy, Hyponymy, Antonymy, Semantic overlap, Idiomaticity.

Philosopphers study the meaning of sentences by approaching this meaning via reference and truth conditions.

Among the many concepts in the realm of reference, the following are important : Referent, Extension, Prototype, Stereotype, Co-refernce, Anaphora, Deixis.

Truth Conditions .There are basic types of truth contained in sentences. They are: Analytic Sentences, Contradictory Sentences, Synthetic Sentences, Entailment, Presupposition

Reference : Logo Mahesan Baskaran , A Linguistic Primer for Malaysians

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lexicology

Lexicology

The term “lexis “ refers to the vocabulary (words with the meaning content) of a language, each itself being referred to as a lexeme or lexical item .the entire range of lexical items in a language is known as its lexicon . thus ,lexicology refers to the study of the vocabulary of a language and the development of its lexicon .

 

Table 1. Difference of morpheme ,lexeme and sememe in English

	Morpheme	Lexeme	Sememe
Ball	(grammatical word ) Noun-naming an object or thing	(meaning word) The round object used used in games	(extended meaning word )(i)formal / socil event ;/dance (ii)part of palm or foot joining the fingers /toes
Eye	a.noun – namimg an     object /thing b.verb –a doing word describing an action	Organs with which we see To look at closely , carefully	a.Quiet center of a strom b. The hole in a sewing needle cte.
Hand	a.noun – namimg an object /thing b.verb –a doing word describing an action	The moveble part of the body at the end of the arm to give from one’s ows hand	a.The moving pointer on a clook etc b.To admit suceess

Lexical Decomposition

The first of these is lexical  decomposition.  lexical decomposition is a means of characterizing the detaillexical features of a word ,for example taking the words kitten, puppy and fawn we can see some commonality in them . individually we can assigh each of them.

Collocation

Another feature the is important in the field of word meaning is collocation . collocation refers to the co occurrence possibility or compatibility of a word with other words . this feature is spoken of in  syntagmatic terms . sentence ordering terms as well as formal tems (meaning compatibility ). For example “black” collocates well  with “black “box”black” coffee,” black “ board and “black “bird

where meaning compatibility is concerned ( lexical collocation ) a sentence such as “ they baked all the letters and served them  for  tea  “is not semantically sound as we know that “baked “ does not go well with “ letters “ . thus although the sentence is absolutely  grammatical , it does  not  collocate correctly for meaning . in the sentence , “ they baked all the cakes and served them for tea “ “ cakes and “ baked “ do collocate well ( they are semantically agreeable )

Denotation and Conntation

Denotation refers to the strict definition of a word , the class of things denoted by a word. for  example the lexeme “mother has its dictionary definition as female parent . Thus for “ mother “ the connotative meaning would entail “ compassion, love, comfort, solace, strength “ and other maternally eminent qualities.

Table2.  Denotation and Connotation in English

Cat	Denotation	Four – legged, furry , purry animal
	Connotation	Stealthy , spiteful , calculating , guiet
Feelings	Denotation	What someone senses/ emotions
	Connotation	Happy , sad , frightenet , glad ( the whole range from positive to negative  feelings)
Success	Denotation	Ability to pas or get through some difficulty
	Connotation	Positive feelings , happiness sense of achievement
Home	Denotation	Shlter and place of refuge
	Connotation	Protectiono , affection , love ,peace , happiness

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