Semantic Effect on Understanding of Utterances

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【Abstract】In this article， the semantic effect on understanding of utterance in English will be illustrated with some examples， from a theoretical and paradigmatic perspective.

【Key words】semantic， utterance， homonymy

Introduction

The original meaning of an utterance is the key to the interpretation and understanding of language. Semantics deals with the linguistic meaning of a language， particularly， it deals with the meaning of utterance grammatically， i.e. what an utterance literally means. The phenomenon that the actual meaning of an utterance differs from its audio meaning can be observed widely in English. In those cases hearers need to make an inference. In this article， the issue of how semantics has been implied in different situations in order to communicate will be discussed.

Semantics is defined as “the study of meanings of words and phrases within a language.” （Hornby， 2004， p.1578） It also interprets the original literal meaning of an utterance， whereas the audio meaning differs. Relationships between words within a language are known as sense relations， this is normal in any languages. In English， monosemy， polysemy， homonymy， synonymy， antonymy， hyponymy， are the relations play important roles in the language. Thus， it is necessary to know how semantics helps in understanding a language.

Analysis： taking homonyms as an example

A homonym is known as a group of words that share the same spelling and the same pronunciation but indicate different meanings. “Lexemes differ in their grammatical rganiza and are accordingly assigned to different grammatical categories such as verbs， nouns， adjectives， etc.” （L?bner， 2002， p. 40）

The persuasive evidence of homonymy can be found in the word “bank”. In one form， the word “bank” literally means the edge of a river. On the other hand， in another form， it can also refer to an rganization in which people can save money. Thus， the sentence “Wait me in front of the bank！” should be interpreted accordingly. On the basis of different contexts， the speaker may mean “wait me near the river” or， may mean “wait me in front of the bank in the high street”. However， failing to judge the two different “banks” may cause misunderstanding of the waiting place which the speaker implies to. In this case， the context of the utterance is considered significant.

If the word “light” is taken as an example， it can be interpreted differently as a noun， a verb， an adjective， or an adverb. For instance， “The light is so bright that I can read this book”. In this sentence “light” should be interpreted as a noun. It is a physical term which means the energy of rays from the sun or a lamp. The grammatical nature of the word before “light”， which is “the”， as a definite article， helps to interpret “light” as a noun. In the sentence “Its getting dark， could you please light the candle？” the word “light” plays a role as a verb， for it is closely followed by the noun phrase “the candle”. In the sentence “It gets light at about seven oclock in the morning.” The word “light” should be interpreted as an adjective， which means having the natural light of day. For instance， “I put a lighted match to the letter and watched it burning.” In this case “lighted” should be interpreted as an adjective that is used to present the status of the match.

Homonyms are widely used as puns for the richness of language or for some specific purposes. To illustrate this， the meanings of a homonym appear in a text will be analysed， and the meaning of the utterance will be discussed. “Every dog has its day； only a dog with a broken tail has a weak-end.” （Jokes And Funny Stories About Animals） In the above sentence， by shifting “weak-end” and “weekend”， a word game is played. The phrase “weak-end” has the same pronunciation as the word “weekend”. So in this case， interpreting the sentence solely according to either the sound or the written words makes sense to most of the information receivers. The switching of “weak-end” and “weekend” may be confusing in understanding the accurate meaning of the speaker. However， without referencing the written text， whichever concept favoured by the information receivers is conceivable and meaningful. Additionally， by using this literal technique of homonymy， the sense of humour is well conveyed.

Therefore， in different situations， information receivers are required to have the ability to judge the different meanings of words which are pronounced the same （and even are written the same） but different in meanings. “In general， the same expression in different grammatical categories constitutes as many different lexemes.” （L?bner， 2002， p. 40）

Above all， semantics functions significantly in understanding of the meanings of an utterance.

Conclusion：

Semantics deals with linguistic literally in a specific way.

“The process of semantic interpretation is specifically linguistic. It consists in applying the tact theory that speaker-hearers are said to process， and that formal semantics tries to make explicit， to the sentence undergoing interpretation.” （Horn and Ward， 2004， p. 450） Semantics answers questions of what sentences mean literally. The semantic relationships between words in a language are considerably significant in order to understand an utterance accurately， and they help the information receivers to understand both the literal and the audio meaning（s） of an utterance.

References：

[1]Hornby，A.S.（2004）.Oxford advanced learners dictionary of current English（6th ed.）.Oxford： Oxford University Press.

[2]Horn，Laurence R.and Ward，Gregory（Eds.）.（2004）.The handbook of pragmatics.Oxford： Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

[3]Jokes And Funny Stories About Animals，（n.d.）.from http：//thejokes.co.uk/jokes-about-animals.php.

[4]L?bner，S.（2002）.Understanding semantics.London： Hodder Education.