Semantics - A Cognitive Account of Linguistic Meaning - Zeki Hamawand
3. Sentential semantics
Semantics - A Cognitive Account of Linguistic Meaning - Zeki Hamawand
Zeki Hamawand [+]
University of Kirkuk and University of Sulaimani
Description
Chapter 3 examines sentential semantics, the branch of semantics which deals with the meanings of phrases and sentences. The aim is to show how the lexicon is organized, how the sentences of a language are interrelated and how their meanings are consequently interpreted. The chapter addresses two concerns. One concern relates to terminology. It introduces the terms used in the study of sentential semantics and defines them in a way that is both simple and clear. The other concern pertains to relation. It introduces the meaning relations which exist between sentences. The chapter is organized as follows. Section 3.1 lays emphasis on the issue of what the term sentence is and what sentence meaning is. Section 3.2 centres on the types of relations which exist between sentences. Section 3.3 concentrates on utterances which require pragmatic inferences. Section 3.4 is concerned with the semantic roles which participants in a sentence fulfil. In all the sections, I pursue three steps. First, I introduce the term. Second, I explain its meaning. Third, I devise an exercise to test its application. Section 3.5 summarizes the main points of the chapter.