Studying Meaning

Semantics and Pragmatics Semantics - is the study of the “toolkit” for meanings: knowledge encoded in the vocabulary of the language and in its patterns for building more elaborate meanings up to the level of sentence meanings. Pragmatics – is concerned with the use of these tools in meaningful communication. - It is about the interaction of semantic knowledge with our knowledge of the world, taking into account the contexts of use Example: Hold out your arms. That’s it.

Denote and Expressions Denote – labels the connections between meaningful items of language and aspects of the world – real or imagined – that language users talk and write about. Expression – is any meaningful language unit or sequence of meaningful units from a sentence down: a clause, a phrase, a word, or meaningful part of a word.

Semantic information and pragmatic considerations in the interpretation of Example (1.1) SemanticsPragmatics arm – “upper limb” or “horizontal side bar on some types of chair” Mr. O’s earlier question was about wand wielding, so arm is most likely the “upper limb” your arm – “left upper limb” or “right upper limb” hold out – “extend”, or “refuse to capitulate” Preferred hand is probably the one for wands and Harry is right-handed. Mr. O. has a tape measure out and measuring Harry’s arm will require access to his arm, so Mr. O. wants him to extend his right upper limb. That denotes something obvious in the situation.If Harry has just complied and moved his arm outwards, that would be a noitceable event, so the word probably denotes that act. Is- “equates to” (there are other meanings of is, but they are not relevant here). It usually denotes something previously mentioned. It would fit the context if Mr. O. now means that Harry’s act with his right arm is what was wanted, so the word it probably