Create a new account

It's simple, and free.

Semantics

undly influence images of the environment and mold the ways we respond to perceived threats to the earth" (145). Is this merely a modification of one's perception or an actual change in the manner in which one thinks. The individual who is influenced by the metaphor extends the area of defensive response to threats, much as the parent defends the child, the home in which they live, the nation, and so on. No matter whether there is an actual change in thinking here or not, the manner in which the individual perceives the world is inevitably formed and influenced by numerous instances of language. The users of language can bring about such changes either inadvertently or deliberately. Thus, for example, one might promote the metaphor of earth as a spaceship in order to impress upon people the finite nature our resources while, simultaneously, implying that humanity is, or can be, in control of this metaphorical machine (Muir 145). This type of meaning shapes our world.

Though semantics deals with the meaning of "meaning," any agreement on the subject is, Crystal says, as far away as it was in Plato's time. It is widely agreed that "meaning" is not an entity separate from language, just as "height" or "depth" do not enjoy independent existence. A concept such as "height" has meaning, therefore, only as it is used in a particular instance. In modern semantics "meaning is studied by making detailed analyses of the way words and sentences are used in specific contexts" (Crystal 102). Semantics is not, then, primarily concerned with the manner in which language refers to the world. Instead, it concentrates on "the way people relate words to each other within the framework of the language -- on their 'sense' rather than their reference" (102).

Reference, in the sense of creating definitions of the dictionary kind, proceeds by examining instances of the use of a word (or phrase or portion of a word) and determining what the co...

< Prev Page 2 of 18 Next >

More on Semantics...

Loading...
APA     MLA     Chicago
Semantics. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 02:12, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1708357.html