1.1 Defining semantics and pragmatics

Defining Semantics and Pragmatics

Semantics and pragmatics are two branches of linguistics that tackle the same big question from different angles: how does language carry meaning? Semantics handles the literal side, focusing on what words and sentences mean on their own. Pragmatics picks up where semantics leaves off, looking at how context, intention, and social situation shape what a speaker actually communicates. Together, they explain why the sentence "It's cold in here" can be both a statement about temperature and a request to shut the window.

Defining Semantics and Pragmatics

Definition of Semantics

Semantics is the study of meaning that's built into language itself, independent of who's speaking or when. Think of it as the meaning you'd find if you could only look at the words and grammar, with zero knowledge of the situation.

• Focuses on the literal, context-independent meaning of words, phrases, and sentences (also called denotation)
• Concerned with truth conditions: the circumstances under which a sentence would be true or false. For example, "Snow is white" is true if and only if snow is, in fact, white.
• Deals with compositional meaning, which is how the meanings of individual words combine through grammatical rules to produce the meaning of a whole sentence. The sentence "The dog chased the cat" means something different from "The cat chased the dog" because of word order, even though the same words appear.
• Examines the relationship between linguistic expressions and their referents (the things in the world they point to). The word "moon" refers to Earth's natural satellite.
• Considers sense relations between words:
  • Synonymy: words with similar meanings (happy / glad)
  • Antonymy: words with opposite meanings (hot / cold)
  • Hyponymy: one word's meaning is included in another's (rose is a hyponym of flower)

Definition of Pragmatics

Pragmatics is the study of how meaning goes beyond the literal. It asks: given the context, what does the speaker actually mean?

• Focuses on how context shapes interpretation. Context here includes the speaker's intention, the relationship between speaker and listener, and the social or cultural setting.
• Studies implied meaning: what a speaker suggests or hints at without saying it directly. This goes beyond denotation into connotation and inference.
• Deals with the appropriate use of language in different situations. What counts as polite, rude, or normal depends on social norms, cultural conventions, and the specific conversation.
• Examines speech acts: the things speakers do with language, like requesting, promising, apologizing, or warning. Saying "I'll be there at 5" isn't just a statement; it's a commitment.
• Considers two important concepts:
  • Implicature: meaning that's implied but not directly stated. If someone asks "Are you coming to the party?" and you reply "I have an exam tomorrow," you've implicated that you're not coming, without ever saying "no."
  • Presupposition: background knowledge that's assumed to be shared. "Have you stopped calling her?" presupposes that you were calling her.

Semantics vs. Pragmatics

These two fields aren't rivals. Semantics provides the baseline meaning, and pragmatics explains how speakers and listeners negotiate meaning on top of that baseline during actual communication.

Examples of Semantic and Pragmatic Meaning

These examples show how the same sentence can carry different meanings depending on whether you read it literally (semantics) or in context (pragmatics).

• "It's cold in here."
  • Semantic: The temperature in the room is low.
  • Pragmatic: The speaker is implying someone should close the window or turn up the heat.
• "I love your new haircut."
  • Semantic: The speaker holds a positive opinion about the listener's haircut.
  • Pragmatic (if sarcastic): The speaker actually dislikes the haircut. Tone of voice and context signal that the literal meaning is flipped.
• "Can you pass the salt?"
  • Semantic: A question about the listener's physical ability to pass the salt.
  • Pragmatic: A polite request for the listener to pass the salt. Almost nobody interprets this as a genuine question about ability.
• "The cat is on the mat."
  • Semantic: The cat is located on the mat.
  • Pragmatic (depending on context): Could imply the cat shouldn't be there, or express surprise at where the cat ended up.

The "Can you pass the salt?" example is one of the most classic in pragmatics because it shows the gap between literal meaning and communicative intent so clearly. Semantically, it's a yes-or-no question. Pragmatically, everyone at the dinner table knows it's a request.