Key Concepts in Semantics and Language Variation

Semantic Relationships and Word Meaning

Denotation: Objective Word Meaning

The objective meaning of a word, its basic or literal sense, referring directly to the things it names.

Connotation: Subjective Word Meaning

The additional, subjective meaning a word acquires based on context, associations, or emotional overtones.

Semantic Fields in Linguistics

A set of words that share a common sense or theme, where each word's meaning is often defined in opposition to or in relation to others within the field.

Components of Word Meaning

• Sema: A distinctive semantic feature that contributes to a word's meaning.
• Sememe: A set or bundle of semas that constitute the meaning of a word.
• Arquisema: The common sema shared by all words within a specific semantic field.

Hierarchical Semantic Relationships

These terms describe words that include or are included by others based on their specificity.

Hyponymy: Specific Word Meanings

A term whose meaning is included within another, more general term (e.g., rose is a hyponym of flower).

Hypernymy: General Word Meanings

A term with a wider significance that includes other, more specific terms (e.g., flower is a hypernym of rose).

Cohyponyms: Related Specific Terms

Terms that share the same hypernym, indicating a similar level of specificity within a semantic field (e.g., rose and tulip are cohyponyms).

Synonymy: Words with Similar Meanings

The relationship of identity or strong similarity of meaning between two or more words. Synonyms can be:

• Perfect or Absolute: Words that have exactly the same meaning and can be interchanged in all contexts (e.g., sofa / couch).
• Imperfect or Partial: Words that can only be interchanged in certain contexts, as their meanings are similar but not identical (e.g., big / large).

Polysemy: Multiple Meanings of a Word

The property of a single word having multiple related meanings. This phenomenon often reduces the need for a greater number of distinct words.

Causes of Polysemy

• Specialization: A word's meaning becomes more specific when applied within a particular field or context.
• Figurative Language: A word acquires one or more figurative senses, sometimes leading to the loss of its original meaning.
• Foreign Influence: New meanings are added to existing words in a language due to borrowing or influence from other languages.

Homonymy: Words with Same Form, Different Meaning

The quality of two or more words that share the same form (spelling or pronunciation) but have distinct, unrelated meanings.

Types of Homonyms

• Homophones: Words that share the same pronunciation but have different spellings and meanings (e.g., to, too, two).
• Homographs: Words that share the same spelling but have different meanings. They may or may not be pronounced the same (e.g., read (present) / read (past)). If they are also pronounced the same, they are considered perfect homonyms (e.g., bat (animal) / bat (sporting equipment)).

Causes of Homonymy

• Phonetic Convergence: Two or more words with different origins and forms evolve phonetically to become identical in pronunciation or spelling.
• Semantic Divergence: The meanings of a single word diverge so significantly over time that they become unrelated, effectively creating homonyms.
• Foreign Influence: Loanwords from other languages coincide in form with existing words in the recipient language.

Antonymy: Words with Opposite Meanings

The relationship between words characterized by the opposition of their meanings, a phenomenon contrary to synonymy. Antonyms can be:

• Complementary Antonyms: The assertion of one term implies the negation of the other, and vice versa (e.g., alive / dead).
• Gradable Antonyms: The denial of one term does not necessarily imply the assertion of the other, as they represent points on a scale and are regularly gradable (e.g., hot / cold; big / small).
• Relational Antonyms (Converses): Terms that describe a relationship from opposing viewpoints and are mutually implicative (e.g., buy / sell; teacher / student).

Lexical Ambiguity in Language

The characteristic of a word or phrase having multiple possible meanings, leading to statements that can be interpreted in two or more ways.

Languages and Dialects: Core Concepts

Understanding Dialects and Their Role

The term"dialec" should be understood as devoid of the pejorative connotation it often carries in colloquial language. It refers to the specific form a language takes within a certain geographical area or social group.

Defining Characteristics of a Language

All languages were originally dialects of a previous one. A fully developed language can be characterized by the following features:

• Clearly differentiates itself from other linguistic systems.
• Possesses a high degree of internal stability.
• Has an important literary tradition.
• Has developed a standard form.
• Possesses sufficiently precise geographical boundaries.
• Resists pressure from other linguistic systems of the same source, or even exerts influence over them.