Semantics (disambiguation): Difference between revisions

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{{Linguistics}}
In English, as a figure of speech, people may say, "That's just semantics", which is usually a shorthand way of saying “That's not so important.  Now we're just arguing about the meaning of words.”
'''Theoretical linguistics''' is that branch of [[linguistics]] that is most concerned with developing models of linguistic knowledge. Part of this endeavor involves the search for and explanation of [[linguistic universal]]s, that is, properties all languages have in common. The fields that are generally considered the core of theoretical linguistics are [[syntax]], [[phonology]], [[morphology (linguistics)|morphology]], and [[semantics]]. Phonology is often informed by [[phonetics]], which like [[psycholinguistics]] and [[sociolinguistics]] is often excluded from the purview of theoretical linguistics.


==Phonology==
{{rpl|Semantics (linguistics)}}
Phonology is the branch of theoretical linguistics concerned with the production and comprehension of speech sounds in language.
{{rpl|Semantic primes}}
 
{{rpl|Semantic Web}}
==Morphology==
{{rpl|Lexical  semantics}}
[[Morphology (linguistics)|Morphology]] is the study of word structure. For example in the sentences ''The dog runs'' and ''The dogs run'', the [[wordform]]s ''runs'' and ''dogs'' have an affix ''-s'' added, distinguishing them from the bare forms ''dog'' and ''run''. Adding this suffix to a [[noun|nominal]] stem gives plural forms, adding it to [[verb]]al stems restricts the [[subject]] to third person singular. Some morphological theories operate with two distinct suffixes ''-s'', called [[allomorph]]s of the [[morpheme]]s Plural and Third person singular, respectively. Languages differ wrt. to their morphological structure. Along one axis, we may distinguish [[analytic language]]s, with few or no suffixes or other morphological processes from [[synthetic language]]s with many suffixes. Along another axis, we may distinguish [[agglutinative language]]s, where suffixes express one grammatical property each, and are added neatly one after another, from [[fusional language]]s, with non-concatenative morphological processes ([[infixation]], [[Umlaut]], [[Ablaut]], etc.) and/or with less clear-cut suffix boundaries.
{{rpl|Musical semantics}}
 
==Syntax==
[[Syntax]] is the study of language structure and word order. It is concerned with the relationship between units at the level of morphology. Syntax seeks to delineate exactly those sentences which make up a given language, by using formal means. Syntax seeks to describe formally exactly how structural relations between elements (lexical items/words and operators) in a sentence contribute to its interpretation. Syntax uses principles of formal logic and Set Theory to formalise and represent accurately the hierarchical relationship between elements in a sentence. Thus, in active declaritive sentences in English the subject is followed by the main verb which in turn is followed by the object (SVO). This order of elements is crucial to its correct interpretation and it is exactly this which syntacticians try to capture. They argue that there must be such a formal computational component contained within the language faculty of normal speakers of a language and seek to describe it. Abstract syntax trees are the primary means of describing hierarchies in sentences.
 
==Semantics==
Semantics is the study of meaning in words and sentences.
 
[[Category:Linguistics]]
[[Category:Linguistics Workgroup]]

Latest revision as of 13:35, 18 February 2024

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same or a similar title.

In English, as a figure of speech, people may say, "That's just semantics", which is usually a shorthand way of saying “That's not so important. Now we're just arguing about the meaning of words.”

  • Developing Article Semantics (linguistics): The subfield of the study of language which focuses on meaning. [e]
  • Developing Article Semantic primes: Words universal to all Earth's natural languages, their meaning ordinarily learned during development solely through the way contemporaries use them, serving as a basic set of words by which lexicographers could, in principle, define without circularity all the other words in a given language's lexicon. [e]
  • Stub Semantic Web: Tim Berners-Lee's concept of a "web of knowledge", whereby web-based document contents would be annotated and classified so that computers can parse the classifications and provide search results based on the semantic information (what the content means), rather than simply on matching of text strings. [e]
  • Stub Lexical semantics: Subfield of linguistic semantics, which studies how and what the words of a language denote. [e]
  • Developing Article Musical semantics: The study of how music conveys meaning. [e]
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