What is semantics?

Semantics is the study of the meaning of language.  Lexical semantics looks at individual word meaning, defining words by connecting it to actual concept, objects, and other words and by considering personal experiences and understanding of words, role of syntax in word meaning, and the influence of physical and cultural contexts of words.  Compositional semantics looks at how individual words and syntax make sentences with meaning.  In everyday use, meaning goes beyond just learning the dictionary meaning.  A strong understanding of words helps us know where to use words in a sentence, how and where to use in a social setting, what all the possible meanings are for a word, and what other words might be used in their place.

When considering how we understand words, there are many different ways to approach word meaning, two of which include: 

• Componential Analysis: Words defined by the components that make up each word:

         i.e. Dog [+mammal] [+ domesticated]  
                     [+carnivore]

• Lexical Fields: Word meaning by how it is grouped into a web of related words and meaning.

         i.e. Household Pets: dog, hamster, parakeet,
              cat, goldfish

In defining words, we can also consider semantic relationships, such as:

• Hyponyms- a hierarchical semantic relationship, where a general term has numerous subordinate terms (hyponyms) that fall under it

         i.e. Dog --> Pekingese, mutt, terrier, 
                          Dalmatian

• Meronyms- a whole to part hierarchical relationship

         i.e. Dog --> paws, snout, tail, ears

• Synonyms- words that have the same meaning

         i.e. Violet/purple, cemetery/graveyard, etc.

• Antonyms- words that have opposite meanings

         i.e Fat/thin, loud/soft, etc.

• Homonym- words that share the same spelling or pronunciation, but have different meanings

         i.e. Four/For (homophones- same
         pronunciation), Sink as in kitchen sink/sink
         as in fall down into something
         (homographs- same spelling &
         pronunciation)

Semantic change occurs when words change in their meaning through use over time and in different contexts.

• Generalization refers to when the meaning of a word becomes more general, to include more meaning/conceptual area that the original meaning of the word. 

• Specialization is when the word meaning “narrows”, getting more “specialized” and specific. 

• Metaphorical extension is when a word is connected metaphorically to another situation/context and the word meaning changes through the extended use of the word in conceptually similar contexts. 

• A euphemism is when people use a certain word in place of a more literal, blunt word, in an attempt to make something sound more pleasing (i.e. passed away, instead of died).

• A dysphemism is almost the opposite of euphemism and refers to when a word meaning is changed when used in certain contexts in order to make the word sound worse. 

• Pejoration goes beyond dysphemism, where a word meaning takes on negative connotations more permanently, due to constant dysphemism or contextual factors (social, cultural, historical, etc.). 

• Amelioration of a word endows the word with more “positive or socially accepted” meaning and use from a previously negative or neutral meaning.

At the sentence meaning level, one might look simply at the composition of sentences to understand meaning, though the underlying context of sentence provides lots of meaning as well.  Compositionality looks at how sentences mean by looking at the parts of the sentence and how they are put together to make meaning.  However, when using sentences for functional and everyday purposes, we find meaning in context, not just in the abstract parts.  For example, one phrase can have many different meanings, depending on the context it is used in.  “You’re on fire” can mean a literal fire if someone’s clothes catch fire, or can mean that someone is doing really well on successive tasks.  Idioms are exemplars for the importance of context for meaning.  Idioms are sayings where the meaning of the statement does not come directly from the meaning of the words used, but instead meaning comes from metaphor to an original situation or setting or from use in literature or shared cultural experiences.  For example, “Being saved by the bell” is an idiom who roots lie in boxing, where the bell was rung just in time for a fighter to make it, and now the metaphor applies to anyone who is saved just in time.

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in the classroom

Tips for Applying Semantics:

• ELLs are learning both the social and academic language of English.  Social language, or

         playground and 
         everyday speech, can take only 1-2 years to
         develop.  Academic language can take 7
         years or more for ELLs to develop, as it
         includes more rarely used, complex
         vocabulary that may have more abstract
         meaning and requires significantly more
         background knowledge to understand.  Keep
         this in mind when considering language
         development and appropriate expectations
         and activities for ELLs.

• Idioms: Due to the importance of metaphors and cultural contexts of understanding for idioms, idioms are especially challenging expressions for ELLs, who may lack the necessary background knowledge.  It is particularly helpful to explicitly pre-teach idioms when previewing texts, and further explain idioms that may arise in classroom discussion or educational media.  Amelia Bedelia books provide a great text to explore and practice the use of idioms in language, for the primary grades.

• Use the concept of lexical fields to help ELLs build vocabulary, by grouping words and teaching relationships between words- helps to build cognitive structures that can result in significant vocabulary development and building students’ word banks.

• Children as ‘Language Detectives’: Encourage ELLs to constantly explore words, looking at origins of words, connections and similarities of words between languages (i.e. Spanish cognates), and breaking down words to understand their meanings.

• Cognates are words that are spelled similarly between two languages, and have similar meanings.  It can be a useful tool, especially when teaching ELLs academic vocabulary, for cognates that exist in their native language.  However, be wary of false cognates, words that are similar but have significantly different meanings (i.e. embarrassed (English) & embarazada (pregnant- in Spanish)). Here is a list of Spanish and English cognates from Colorin Colorado website:

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• Using a variety of vocabulary building activities is key for ELLs to attain new vocabulary, as well as gain a strong understanding of word meaning and related words.  Make abstract words more concrete by referring to everyday experiences.  Incorporate movement and kinesthetic activities when appropriate for word meaning (i.e. hand gestures to describe movement of water, or pointing to body parts when learning parts of an animal).  Involve students in examination of word meaning, through discussion, drawing, finding it in texts, connecting the word to other words they know, cognates, or the word in their native language.

• Wordle is an online tool that creates word clouds from the text that you input.  It can be a great way to explore word meanings and semantic relationships.