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Could somebody explain 'Semantics' to me in simple terms?

I don't know why I have so much trouble understanding what semantics are but I really cannot get my head around it. Could someone please explain it in simple terms because the stuff I am reading online is just confusing me! Thanks in advance

Reply 1

username330427

13

Semantics is just the study of meaning - how one can define meaning and so on. It can get very complex if you're looking at uni-level Linguistics, but I'd imagine at a lower level it can be condensed into that.

Reply 2

thisisyesterday

OP

14

MarinaM

Semantics is just the study of meaning - how one can define meaning and so on. It can get very complex if you're looking at uni-level Linguistics, but I'd imagine at a lower level it can be condensed into that.

Thanks for the reply. You see, I did get something similar from a dictionary definition but I can't get my head around it at all. Could you give me an example of how you would use it in a sentence?

Reply 3

Louise_x

12

Semantics is just whatever is conjured up by the use of a word, essentially. A little like word association, but more advanced.

For example, the semantics of the word summer would be sun, beaches and warm days, perhaps. It's the connotations of a certain word, in English terms.

Reply 4

username330427

13

thisisyesterday

Thanks for the reply. You see, I did get something similar from a dictionary definition but I can't get my head around it at all. Could you give me an example of how you would use it in a sentence?

I presume you mean the word "semantics"? I am not sure I really could. :colondollar:

I could give an example of it in general though. For example, connotation (or the ideas linked to a word) and denotation (or external reference points for a word to refer to) are both examples of semantic ideas. You also get semantic fields within texts, where a lot of words which have similar meanings are used throughout the text to generate certain ideas in the reader's mind.

Reply 5

thisisyesterday

OP

14

I am soooo confuseddddd!!

Reply 6

thisisyesterday

OP

14

MarinaM

I presume you mean the word "semantics"? I am not sure I really could. :colondollar:

I could give an example of it in general though. For example, connotation (or the ideas linked to a word) and denotation (or external reference points for a word to refer to) are both examples of semantic ideas. You also get semantic fields within texts, where a lot of words which have similar meanings are used throughout the text to generate certain ideas in the reader's mind.

Is it like. If you say 'I love you' to somebody it could have a number of different meanings. So you have a particular choice of words but they are actually undefinable and could have various meanings. So if two people disagree on the meaning behind it or have different interpretations of it, they're arguing over the semantics.

Or am I completely wrong?

Reply 7

AccioJellyBean

14

Word association is based around semantics. The things that trigger in your head upon hearing something.

Reply 8

orca92

13

thisisyesterday

Is it like. If you say 'I love you' to somebody it could have a number of different meanings. So you have a particular choice of words but they are actually undefinable and could have various meanings. So if two people disagree on the meaning behind it or have different interpretations of it, they're arguing over the semantics.

Or am I completely wrong?

Thats what i thought it was; but then im hardly qualified to decide whether this is the right definition or not.

Reply 9

oodalallyoodalally

2

orca92

Thats what i thought it was; but then im hardly qualified to decide whether this is the right definition or not.

I think that's about right. Some examples of its use would be; 'the best method for memorization is semantic understanding' (understanding the meaning of a word makes it easier to remember) or there is a term 'semantic field' which means a group of words that mean similar kinds of things ie if you saw the words 'leaf', 'branch', 'root' etc you would say there was a semantic field around trees.
Hope that helps. :smile:

Reply 10

username330427

13

thisisyesterday

Is it like. If you say 'I love you' to somebody it could have a number of different meanings. So you have a particular choice of words but they are actually undefinable and could have various meanings. So if two people disagree on the meaning behind it or have different interpretations of it, they're arguing over the semantics.

Or am I completely wrong?

I suppose so. If people have different methods of defining love, they are using different semantic approaches to try and define it.

It's a fairly tricky concept to explain, but that's more or less how I understand it. :smile:

Reply 11

Shin1976

3

It's a matter of semantics. Words mean different things at different times or through different perspectives. For example

Could somebody explain 'Semantics' to me in simple terms?

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