Semantics

and
Pragmatics
 Group 9

Veronika Anggie
Wilda Nabila
Siahaan
Dzalika Batubara
2213121007
2213121030
Winda Talenta Whike Hariyanti
Diamita Hutapea Taufik
2213121031 2213321034
 Definitions of Semantics
According to Dinneen (1967) semantics is a criterion that
requires to associate an item of from with some unit or
combination of units on the content plane of language.

Lyons (1995) add another aspect for the general definition of

semantics which is the study of meaning, this aspect is the
grammatical structure, such in : - It was raining yesterday.
- Was it raining yesterday?

Semantics is related to the stable and context free aspects of

language in contrast to pragmatics. Also it illustrate the relation
between the linguistic froms to states of the worlds (Johnson
and Johnson, 1999).
 Introduction to Semantics
Semantics is the sub-field of linguistics dealing with the
conventional (or literal) meaning of the words and sentences and
the relations between those meanings and between linguistics
expression and their denotation.

Semantics concerns it self with 'giving a systamatic account of

the nature of meaning'.

Semantics is concerened with word and sentence meaning

Crystal (1997) said that pragmatics is the
Definitions of
study of language from the point of view
of users, especially of the choices they
Pragmatics
make, the constraints they encounter in
Huang (2007), following Levinson (1983,
using language in social interaction and the
2000), adopts the following definition
effects their use of language has on other
of pragmatics, which is, the systematic
participants in the act of communication.
study of meaning by virtue of, or
dependent on, the use of language. The
Mey (2001) analyzes pragmatic as a central topics of inquiry of pragmatics
studies the use of language in human include implicature, presupposition, speech
communication as determined by the acts, and deixis.
conditions of society.
 Introduction to It focuses on the context of utterance,
'where, how and when' the speech is
Pragmatics uttered. These 'where, how and when' are
the factors which add more meaning to a
It is the subfield of Linguistics which studies speech .
additional meanings of word, phrase and full
sentences, but in a rather different way
than semantics, it concentrates more on the The goal of Pragmatics is to explain how
contextual or situational meaning or where the gap between sentence meaning and
the speakers intend to mean more or rather speaker's meaning is bridged.
opposite or different from what they actual
say.
Pragmatics attempts to analyze how it
happens that often more is communicated
than said.
 Similarities between
Semantics and Pragmatics
Pragmatics and semantics differ in The only apparent similarity is that
that they are two subfields of both have a focus on meaning, but
linguistics and also two levels of in different ways.
language analysis. They both deal Semantics is concerned with the meaning of
with the meaning of language and a sentence or phrase, whether it is logical,
connect language to the rest of the grammatical, or lexical. Meanwhile,
world. Each of them deals with Pragmatics is concerned with the practical,
meaning in a different way, but in contextual, and behavioral use of language.
many cases, the two fields become However, no matter how similar they are,
confused and merged. there is always tension between these two
fields of linguistics. Typically, pragmatics
argue that semantics do not provide
complete or inner meaning of an utterance.
 Continued...
However both the domains are interally related to one another. In
many cases, Semantics comes in contact with Pragmatics to get the
deeper meaning, as an instance: "He bought spaghetti as his dinner".
In this sentence, if we just go semantically, we can't determine who 'he'
is, who has been bought the spaghetti, but pragmatically we'll come to
understand that this 'he' is so,e person (wheather a child, adult or a
senior citizen) who has been mentioned before this sentece by his actual
name and now he is being refered using a deictic word (pronoun).

These dietic types of word can't be understood just with the

help of Semantics, we have to get help from Pragmatics to
find the correct meaning.
 Differences between
Semantics & Pragmatics
Theory of sıgns by Charles W.
Semanticists have a limited scope
Morris shows us clearly the
because they only deal with text and
differences between these
analyze the meaning of words as they
branches by showing how can we
combine to form meaningful sentences.
deal with sign meanıng from a
semantic dımension and the
pragmatıc dımension. Pragmatists' work extends beyond the
text itself, taking into account the
The semantic dimension refers to the
facts surrounding the utterance as a
relationships between words.
contextual factor, social knowledge of
Meanwhile, give pragmatic
the context, the speaker's intended
consideration to the relationship
meaning, and the hearer's inference.
between words, interlocutors, and
context.
 Continued... Locutionary meanıng refers to uttering
a sentence that has been formed to
Grice's theory of Implicature shed more carry some degree of specific meanıng.
light on separating Semantics and Ilocutionary meanıng refers to the task
Pragmatics. In this theory, Grice those utterances perform as
focused on the speaker's intention with demandıng, askıng and requestiıng.
a particular utterance because the
speaker may wish to convey a different Locutionary act is what sentence says
meanıng than what the sentence itself and is equal to meanıng in traditional
means sense, while illocutionary act is what a
sentence does when uttered by a
In addıtion to this J.L Austen also speaker.
contriıbutes to the difference between
these fields with his theory of Sense Finally, Leech (1980) stated that
and Force, ( sense= locutionary meanıng, semantics can be placed in grammar
force= Illocutionary meanıng). domain with a linguistic system in the
rhetoric domain where codes are
implemented.
 The Importances of Semantics and
Pragmatics in Teaching-learning Process

-The Importances of Semantics in teaching-learning Process-

Teachers must teach Semantics to students in order to increase their

understanding and awareness of word meaning, sentence relationships,
discourse, and context. It also allows students to create and improve Semantics
maps, which are word webs that visually display the meaning-based connections
between a word or phrase and a set of related words or concepts. These are some
suggestions of stages that teachers can use to teach in the classroom according
to Alsayed (2019, p.145)

 A. Stage One B. Stage Two

Students were introduced to
After explaining the foundations
fundamental concepts in Semantics
and fundamentals of Semantics,
at the start of the study. It is
the teacher discussed the
primarily concerned with sentences,
significance of dictionaries and
utterances, propositions, reference,
word meaning. The dictionary is
and sense. Students were required to
an essential component of any
write two responses before and after
language’s description. After
each class, in addition to reading the
explaining how to use a
assigned texts. Students were also
dictionary effectively, the teacher
taught about the Theory of
has the authority to ask the
Semantics, and they discussed what
students to discuss what they
the terms speaker and sentence
have learned so far in class.
mean in order to facilitate

intelligible communication.
 C. Stage Three B. Stage Two
Developed some quizzes using applications such as Google Classroom. This is used to
assess how effective the teacher was. The quiz was divided into two parts:
1). Reading Responses.
2). Vocabulary Journal.

-The Importances of Pragmatics in Teaching-learning Process-

According to Yined Tello Rueda (2006), pragmatic studies should take into account
providing students with linguistic tools and assisting them in learning and
understanding the action in an appropriate manner. According to Brock (2005,
p.20), when teaching pragmatic competence in the classroom, teachers should use
the simple acronym S.U.R.E. to guide them as they help their students See, Use,
Review, and Experience pragmatics.
S = See
Teachers can assist their students in seeing language in context,
raising awareness of the role of pragmatics, and explaining how
pragmatics function in specific communicative events.

U = Use
Teachers can create activities that students can use in contexts
(both simulated and real) and choose how to interact based on
their understanding of the situation suggested by the activity

R = Review
Teachers should review, reinforce, and recycle
previously taught areas of pragmatic competence.

E = Experience
Teachers can arrange for their students to
witness and experience the role of
pragmatics in communication.
 Continued...
Teachers should help students better understand the
frames of interaction and politeness rules in the target
culture. It is also the responsibility of teachers to provide
learners with the necessary tools for making appropriate
semantics and pragmatics decisions in the target language.
“The key to understanding language in context is to
start not with language, but with context,” writes Hymes
(1972, cited in Kramsch 1993:34).
 Conclusion
As is obvious, semantics and pragmatics are both
sub-branches of the science of linguistics. Despite
coming from the same realm of knowledge, they
are highly different from one another, save for
one key difference: both branches primarily deal
with meaning.
Finally, talk about the subtleties and the
distinctions between semantics and pragmantics.
We learnt a lot about both, but if somebody asks
my view, I'd advise that they should look at both
of these subjects as separate complementary
disciplines.