علم الدلالة: دراسة المعنى

Semantics: The Study of Meaning

• Semantics is the study of word and sentence meaning.
• It focuses on objective and general meaning, avoiding subjective or local interpretations.

Types of Meaning

• Conceptual Meaning: This refers to the core components of a word's meaning, including its literal use and denotation. It uses our senses to define things.
• Associative Meaning: This includes the metaphorical and contextual meaning associated with a word. This can often involve sensory and familiarity with an item. For example, a needle might be associated with pain or blood based on past experiences, not just the literal object.

Semantics vs. Syntax

• Both syntax and semantics are important for understanding language.
• Syntax is focused on sentence structure, while semantics is focused on the meaning conveyed within that structure.
• An example shows that syntax can be correct, and words in the right order, but the meaning can still be semantically incorrect, like "The hamburger ate the boy."
• Semantics helps to determine the source of the problem when syntax is correct but the meaning is incorrect, as in the example given.

Semantic Features

• Semantics is a crucial tool for determining whether a structure conveys the intended meaning correctly.
• It involves features like identifying shared characteristics between objects or creatures, like how a man and woman share being animate and human adults, yet cannot transform into each other.