THE semanticsis the study of meaning at the most diverse levels of discourse, studying how the structure of sounds, syllables, words and utterances impacts their meaning and understanding. It is through semantics that concepts such as synonyms, antonyms or paronyms, connotation and denotation, ambiguity and polysemy, among others, are developed. Let's find out more about these concepts!
What is semantics?
The semantics is a area of linguistics dedicated to the study ofmeaning at different levels, including content and context. Thus, the relationship between the meaning and the signifier is studied, which has to do with the form of words, whether this form is their spelling or their sound.
Have you ever noticed how the same word can have different meanings depending on the context? Or how the structure of a statement can lead to understanding in different ways? It is topics like these that semantics analyzes.
Read too:What is a semantic field?
Synonymy and antonymy
THE synonymy refers to different words with similar meaning
, that is, words that are synonyms. Synonymous words often have a very similar meaning, but not necessarily the same. Thus, synonymous words can be substituted for one another depending on the context.synonymous words | |
beautiful |
beautiful |
different |
distinct |
funny |
funny |
young |
new |
THE antonímia deals with words whose meanings establish an oppositional relationship or of contradiction among themselves, that is, words that are antonyms.
antonyms | |
beautiful |
ugly |
different |
equal |
funny |
boring |
young |
old |
Context is very important to understand which words can be synonyms and antonyms, since many words have more than one meaning for each situation. See the different possibilities for the word “expensive”:
Vocabulary |
Synonym |
Antonym |
expensive |
costly |
cheap |
Dear |
despised |
|
difficult |
easy |
Paronymy and Homonymy
Paronymy is the phenomenon that occurs in words with different meanings, but similar signifiers (structure), that is, they are words written and/or spoken almost in the same way, but that have very different meanings. Here are some paronyms:
Paronyms | |
çulength |
çOlength |
sOair |
suair |
murO |
murrO |
Pact |
gact |
seatlink |
seamlink |
digtherehey |
diglhhey |
absorto see |
absothereto see |
homonymy is the phenomenon that occurs in words that have equal signifiers anddifferent meanings, that is, homonymous words are those with the same form but different meaning.
Perfect homonyms are those with exactly the same spelling and sound and different meanings. See a perfect namesake:
|
Word namesake |
Possible Meanings |
Example |
they are |
verb conjugation to be |
They they are rebels. |
Holy |
June is the month of They are João. |
|
healthy |
I am they are and saved! |
When these words have the same pronunciation, but not the same spelling, they are called words homophones. When they have the same spelling, but not the same pronunciation, are called words homographs. See the examples:
|
Words homographs |
Meanings |
Example |
I like |
verb conjugation like |
Me I like of peanuts. |
flavor |
This candy has I like of peanuts. |
|
|
Words homophones |
Meanings |
Example |
accent |
diacritical mark |
This word has accent? |
seat |
place to sit |
There is some seat this way? |
See too: What is the difference between lexical field and semantic field?
Hyponymy and Hyperonymy
Some words have more or less comprehensive semantic (that is, meaning) relationship in a context. THE hyponymia is related to words with a stricter meaning. (the morpheme “hipo” means “little”), while the hyperonymy relates to words with a broader meaning (the morpheme “hyper” means “a lot”). See the example of the statement:
I'm in love with dances. I've already learned several: samba, tango, ballet, forró, I've learned everything!
The word "dances" works as hyperonym because it encompasses several terms in its category.
The other italicized vocabularies, such as "samba", "tango", "ballet", "forró", work as hyponyms as they are more specific terms within the “dance” category.
polysemy
THE polysemy It refers to property of the same signifier having more than one meaning, that is, when the same word can have different meanings depending on the context. Look:
Word |
possible meanings |
Example |
technician |
quality of what is specific to an area |
This term is very technician. |
specialist |
O technician should arrive soon for repair. |
|
trainer |
He is the technician team's. |
|
cool |
in the law |
This action is cool and must be fulfilled. |
cool, fun |
What a party cool! |
Connotation and denotation
THE denotation is characterized by the use of words and expressions in their sense literal, that is, one who refers in an exactly like reality.
THE connotation is characterized by the use of words and expressions in their sense figured, that is, one that expresses itself through metaphors, ironies, among other figures that do not express the literal meaning of the vocabulary used.
See the difference of a speech in its connotative and denotative sense:
This house is on fire!
If used in the denoting sense, the statement indicates that a house is, in fact, being taken over by fire.
If used in the connotative sense, on the other hand, the statement indicates that a house is very agitated, with intense events. To learn more about these forms of linguistic expression, read the text: Denotation and connotation.
Ambiguity
when there is ambiguity in a statement, that is, when a statement is ambiguous, it means that it can be interpreted in more than one way. This usually happens due to utterance structure, which can be a style effect (to generate humor or poetic license) or, even, a problem in the utterance, which generates noise in communication. Let's look at an example:
I gave up on going out with you because I saw you were tired.
Who was tired? Who gave up on leaving or who was going to be asked to leave? This is a doubt generated by the ambiguity in the statement.
solved exercises
Question 1 - Check the alternative that has a hyperonym and a hyponym.
A) seat / armchair
B) travel / travel
C) house / home
D) up / down
E) life / beam
Resolution
Alternative A. The word “seat” is a hyperonym, while “armchair” is a hyponym, that is, it refers to a specific type of seat.
Question 2 - (EEAR) Check the noun pair where changing the gender from masculine to feminine does not change the meaning of the word.
A) the cure, the moral
B) the gram, the capital
C) the child, the head
D) the character, the model
Resolution
Alternative D. The words “character” and “model” do not have their meaning altered by the change in the article, and can be used in both male and female terms.
By Guilherme Viana
Portuguese teacher
