The Definition of Semantics and Meaning.
Semantics is the study of a word meaning. According to Palmer (1981:1), semantics is the technical term used to refer to the study of meaning. In semantics, meaning was defined as a referent or something that is referred to by a word. A meaning brings information to user about something in order to understand the use of word or sentences in particular context.
The Definition of Word Meaning and Terminology and Context. In daily conversation, the meaning of a word is used in various context. Context can differentiate the meaning two similar words. At first, a word just has lexical meaning or denotative meaning but, the meaning of a word will be clear if a word is put in a context of a sentence or a context of a situation. For example, the sentence “she runs to meet us” and “the business run well”. The meaning of the word “run” in both sentences is different. In the first sentence, the word “run” means to move using your leg, while in the second sentence the word “run” means to organize a business.
Types of Meaning. The meaning of a word depends on the way we use it in a sentence. Leech (1974:11-27) divides types of meaning into conceptual meaning, connotative meaning, stylistic meaning, affective meaning, reflected meaning, collocative meaning, thematic meaning. The reseacher only discuss two of those types that are relevant to this study. They are Conceptual and Grammatical Meaning.
Conceptual Meaning.
Conceptual meaning, also called as dictionary meaning, is a type of meaning which shows the literal meaning. It is also called as denotative meaning because it shows the relation between the concept and the real context. According to Leech (1974:11), conceptual meaning is widely assumed to be the central factor in linguistic communication, lexical meaning is the element meaning of languange as the symbol of thing, even, etc. Moreover, Chaer (1994:292) states that denotative meaning is regarded as a central or core meaning of lexical item. Therefore, denotative meaning is similar with lexical meaning. For example, the word “thin” has a denotative meaning which means having a smaller size of body and not covered with much flesh.
Grammatical Meaning.
Grammatical meaning is also called functional meaning or internal meaning. The meaning exists because of the grammatical process such as derivational process, reduplication, etc. According to Lobner (1997:12-13), grammatical meaning is the word forms that contribute to compositional meaning. It is the function of a word in a sentence and is related to the construction of a sentence according to the context of situation. For example, in the imperative sentence “That’s cool!, the word “cool” means showing approval of something or agreeing to a suggestion. Meanwhile, in the imperative sentence “A cool morning ”, the word “cool” refers to a weather condition, that is not hot or warm.Those two types of meaning are different in the thing refered by the word. The former refers to the real thing, while the later refers to the context refers to.
Semantic Change. Changes in meaning are as common as change in form. Semantic change deals with the change in meaning or the change in the concepts associated with a word. Sometimes a word has a new definition different from the former definition known in the past as Langacker (1970) stated that every language is the product of change and continues to change as long as it is spoken. Change in referents is usually known as a semantic change or meaning change. Henings, (1995:50) define change as shift that occurs when the sense of a word expands and contracts, with the final focus of meaning different from the original.
According to Fromkin and Rodman (1983:296), there are three ways in which a lexical item may change semantically; its meaning may become broader, its meaning may become narrower, and its meaning may shifted.
It can be concluded that the meaning of a word may be changed or shifted as it gets new sense.
Palmer (1981:8-9) argues five types of meaning change as follows:
a) Generalization.
It happens when the meaning of a word is broaden to include new concepts. The range of its meaning increases, so that the word can be used in various contexts with a broader meaning than its neutral one. Generalization often refers to all items in a class, rather than one specific item. For example, the original meaning of the word “take” means to carry or to move something from one place to another (Oxford Advanced Learner), while, the word “take” in film making term means the act of photographing a scene or a part of a scene without interruption.
b) Specialization.
This is the opposite of generalization. It occurs when a the meaning of word is narrowed into the same class. The range of its meaning is decreased, so that a word can be used only in fewer contexts than before the change the meaning of its word is reshaped under the pressure of another word that had frequently co-occurred with it. For example, in the sentence “Legion is a good film that will be released on Juny 2010”, the word “film” refers to a series of moving pictures recorded with sound that tells a story. However, in the sentence “Be carreful with this film”, it will be used to capture an image”, the word “film” in film making terms refers to a thin sheet or a strip of developed photographic negatives or transparencies.
d) Amelioration.
It is a process by which the meaning of word improves or becomes elevated, coming to represent something more favorable than it originally referres to. For example, in the sentence “The police shoot three of robbers in front of bank”, the word “shoot” means to shoot something with a gun. It has terrifying sense of hurting or killing someone. However, in the sentence “The cameraman starts to shoot the objec of film on medium long shot”, the word “shoot” in film making terms means making a film or photographing something. In this sentences, the word “shoot” does not has a terrible sense as it is in the former sentence.

By: Hudayberdiyeva Gulshat- 5th year student of English language and literature faculty of Turkmen State University



07.04.2023ỳ