Semantics (Chapter 1)

I am the systematic study of meaning in language. What am I?

Semantics.

I am the core meaning of a word, usually found in a dictionary. What type of meaning am I?

Conceptual / denotative meaning.

I refer to the additional associations a word carries beyond its literal meaning. I may vary across cultures and personal experiences. What am I?

Connotative meaning.

I convey information about social relationships, social context, or the level of formality in language. What am I?

Social meaning.

I communicate a speaker’s personal feelings or attitude towards the listener. What am I?

Affective meaning.

I arise when one sense of a word influences our response to another sense of the same word. What am I?

Reflected meaning.

I am associated with the words that a particular word typically occurs with. What am I?

Collocative meaning.

I concern how a message is organized through word order and focus. What am I?

Thematic meaning.

I am the meaning shared by different forms of the same word, such as walk, walks, and walked. What am I?

Lexical meaning.

I express distinctions such as tense and number through grammatical forms. What am I?

Grammatical meaning.

“Connotative meaning is always negative.”

False. Connotations can be positive, negative, or neutral. For example, home may suggest warmth and belonging.

“Affective meaning and social meaning refer to exactly the same thing.”

False. Affective meaning concerns personal feelings and attitudes; social meaning concerns social context, relationships, and style.

“Reflected meaning comes from words frequently occurring together.”

False. The statement defines collocative meaning. Reflected meaning involves an association with another sense of the same expression.

“An utterance must always be a complete sentence.”

False. An utterance can be a word, a phrase, a sentence, or a sequence of sentences. “Ouch!” spoken on a particular occasion is an utterance.

“A sentence is an abstract linguistic structure, while an utterance is an actual use of language on a particular occasion.”

True. A sentence is an abstract structure; an utterance is a particular instance of someone using language.

“The speaker’s meaning is always identical to the hearer’s meaning.”

False. The hearer may interpret the message differently because of background knowledge, context, or misunderstanding

“A proposition is the exact wording used to express an idea.”

False. A proposition is the content describing a state of affairs, rather than the exact words used to express it.

“Different sentences can express the same proposition.

True. “John gave Mary a book” and “Mary was given a book by John” can express the same proposition.

A dictionary defines home as a place where someone lives. For one person, home also suggests love and security.
Which two types of meaning are illustrated? How do their definitions differ?

Conceptual and connotative meaning. The first is the core definition; the second involves additional personal or cultural associations.

A student addresses a lecturer as “Professor Brown” but addresses a close friend as “mate.”
Which type of meaning is most clearly illustrated by this choice of address?

Social meaning. The forms of address reflect different relationships and levels of formality.

Someone says, “I am so grateful for your help!” with a warm, sincere tone.
Which type of meaning communicates the speaker’s feelings?

Affective meaning. It expresses gratitude and a positive attitude towards the listener.

English speakers commonly say “heavy rain” rather than “strong rain.”
Which type of meaning concerns this pattern of word combination?

Collocative meaning. It concerns habitual patterns of co-occurrence between words.

Compare these sentences:
Mary donated the book.
The book was donated by Mary.
Which type of meaning concerns the difference in how the information is organized? Do the sentences describe the same event?

Thematic meaning. The sentences organize the information differently but can describe the same event.

Compare book and books.
What lexical meaning do they share? What grammatical meaning distinguishes them?

Both share the lexical meaning of book. Grammatically, one is singular and the other is plural.

nna says, “It’s cold in here,” intending Ben to close the window. Ben thinks she is simply commenting on the temperature.
Identify the sentence meaning, the speaker’s meaning, and the hearer’s meaning.

Sentence meaning: the room is cold. Speaker’s meaning: a request to close the window. Hearer’s meaning: a comment about the temperature.

A teacher says “The lesson is over” at 10 a.m. and repeats it at 11 a.m.
How many distinct sentences and how many utterances are involved? Explain using the definitions.

One distinct sentence; two utterances. The wording is identical, but it is used on two separate occasions.

Word meaning concerns individual words. Sentence meaning comes from the meanings of the words and how they are combined. Changing their arrangement can change who does what to whom.

A proposition is content describing a state of affairs; a sentence is a linguistic structure; an utterance is its actual use, or the use of another stretch of language, on a particular occasion.

If one sentence can be true while the other is false under the same circumstances, they express different propositions. John may love Mary without Mary loving John.