30 Examples of Semantics

Semantics

The semantics is a field of linguistics that studies the meanings of words, the changes of meanings and the relations and combinations of the meanings of the different units of the linguistics.

In linguistics, words are linguistic signs, that is, minimal units of verbal communication that have two parts: the signifier (the sound or acoustic image) and the signified (the psychic image or the content). Semantics deals with studying the second part of this sign.

The main concepts and studies carried out in semantics will be explained below.

Sema and Semema

The sema is the minimum unit that semantics studies because it is the minimum unit of meaning. Words have common semes, that is, minimum units of meaning that they share with other words. For instance: The words "bag" and "backpack" share the sema "used to store things."

But words have differential semes, that is, minimum units of meaning that differentiate one word from others. For instance: The word “bag” has the sema “small handbag” and the word “backpack” has the sema “bag with a strap that is carried on the back”.

All semas of a word constitute a sememe, which defines the total meaning of a word. For instance: The term for the word backpack is "an object that is used to store things, which has a strap and is carried on the back."

Changes in the meaning of words

The change of meaning of words is studied taking into account:

Word relationships according to meaning

Words can be studied taking into account different relationships:

Semantic roles

The phrases, that is, the words or groups of words that fulfill a certain function in the sentence, can acquire different semantic roles depending on the relationship they have with the verb of a sentence.

There are many semantic roles, some of them are:

Examples of semantics

1. The common sema of "mixer" and "container" is "items used for cooking."
2. The differential sema of "mixer" is "instrument used to beat".
3. The mixer semema is "an element made of metal, wood or plastic that is used for cooking and that is specifically used for mixing."
4. The word "machete" is used with different meanings depending on the place. In most Latin American countries it refers to a tool that is used in crops to cut plants, but in Argentina and Colombia it is used to refer to a writing that is used to cheat in a exam.
5. The word "formidable" changed its meaning over time. Before it was used to refer to something being horrible and now it is used to refer to something is magnificent.
6. He is very cold. (denotation: the temperature is very low).
7. He is a cold man. (connotation: indifferent person or calculator).
8. The word "thermometer" is monosemic, because it is only used to mean "instrument used to measure temperature."
9. The word "capital" is polysemic, because it is used to refer to the main city of a country, a province or a state, to refer to the accumulated money, among others stuff.
10. The words "fun" and "entertaining" are synonymous, because they are used with the same meaning.
11. The words "happy" and "sad" are antonyms, because their meanings are opposite.
12. "Cook" and "sew" are homonymous words, because they are pronounced the same, but have different meanings.
13. "Cat" and "dog" are hyponyms of "pet."
14. "Feline" is the hyperonym of "cat", "tiger", "panther", "lion", etc.
15. Fruit semantic field: banana, apple, orange, tangerine.
16. Sun word family: sunny, solar, parasol, solero, insolación.
17. Pedro wrote a book. (Semantic roles: Pedro [agent] and book [patient]).
18. Cesar wrote a letter to his brother. (Semantic roles: César [agent], letter [patient] and his brother [beneficiary]).
19. The dog runs in the park. (Semantic roles: dog [agent] and park [location]).
20. Sergio changed a tire with a wrench. (Semantic roles: Sergio [agent] and key [instrument]).
21. Tomorrow Juan will fix the vase. (Semantic roles: Juan [agent], vase [patient] and tomorrow [time]).
22. The common sema of “basketball”, “soccer” and “volleyball” is “sports that are practiced as a team”.
23. The differential sema of basketball is "a sport in which the ball is chopped and the purpose of which is to dunk the ball in the opposite team's basket."
24. The “basketball” term is “a sport that is practiced as a team, in which the ball is chopped and the purpose of which is to dunk the ball in the opposite team's basket”.
25. The word "atom" is monosemic, because it is only used to refer to a particle that contains a nucleus surrounded by electrons and that cannot be divided.
26. The word "coffee" is polysemic, because it refers to the drink and also refers to a type of restaurant where coffee is served.
27. The words "house" and "home" are synonymous words, because they are used with the same meaning.
28. "Turn on" and "turn off" are antonyms, because their meanings are opposite.
29. "Llama" and "llama" are homonymous words, because they are spelled the same, but they have different meanings. One refers to the gaseous mass produced by certain bodies when they burn and another refers to an animal.
30. Semantic field of reptiles: crocodile, iguana, lizard, alligator, etc.

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