Intro to Semantics and Pragmatics

Key terms: semantics, pragmatics, denotations, connotations, lexical collocations, idioms, cognates, false cognates.

Video notes: First, I discuss the concepts of lexical connotations and idioms in this lecture. I wanted to add a little clarify on how these two items are different:

Lexical collocations are words that typically appear together. Basically, we tend to string these words together in the same order, kinda like an imaginary script we all follow. For example: "I went for a walk." I could also say, "I did a walk / I walked / I had a walk," however, we typically use the pattern (script) "went for a walk".

Idioms on the other hand, are somewhat similar to lexical collocations in that we typically string these words together, but there is a little more to idioms. Idioms mean things that can't usually be explained with the literal meaning of the words in in the phrase. For example, "beat around the bush." This idiom means to "avoid saying what you mean, usually because it is uncomfortable." With idioms, like "beat around the bush," you cannot get to its meaning by solely looking at the words in the phrase, by looking at the semantic meaning of each word. It is a unit of speech that collectively means something, but the individual words it the phrase don't help make sense of what the phrase means.

Secondly, I discuss the concepts of connotations and denotations. We need to be careful with these two terms to not confuse connotations/denotations with words that have multiple definitions. A denotation is the definition of the word, and a connotation is an alternative "feeling" that you get from the word.

An good example is:
"drop out"
Denotation - stop participating or being involved in something.
Connotation - a quitter, loser, failure

An incorrect example is:
"drop out"
Denotation - stop participating or being involved in something.
Connotation - lose or drop a call.

The later simply illustrates that there is more than one definition for the word "drop out", that we use the term to mean more than one thing. The first illustrates that while the word "drop out" has a literal definition, we often map that term to other "feelings" or ideas about what being a drop out actually means BEYOND the literal definition.

[rolandomota]

Great Lecture. Greetings from Ecuador (South America)

[lindseycherry]

Well done overview of some shifty terms. However, as an English professor, I am compelled to offer a correction. “Bouquet” is a noun, not an adjective. An easy way of checking a part of speech is to replace the term you’re uncertain about with a synonymous word whose part of speech you know for sure. For instance, I know “jar” is a noun, so if I replace the uncertain term - bouquet - with “jar” and the phrase or sentence makes sense, I know it’s a noun. Now, try the same process with the part of speech you’re confusing the term with. For instance, I know “red” is an adjective. If I swap “bouquet” with “red, ” the phrase becomes senseless. You can’t have “a red of flowers.” But you CAN have a JAR of flowers, a house of flowers, a taco of flowers, etc.

[josetrujillo]

You are a great teacher. Thank You. It’s very nice to listen to your lectures

[vimukthivaz]

Excellent explanation. Very much comprehensible.Crystal Clear.

[ivancrespo]

Excellent lecture! It will help me with my Intro to Ling exam today! Thanks

[sreynarieng]

For me your explanation is easy to understand ❤️

[رباب]

I am searching for a topic Semantic and pragmatic as two approaches in linguistics Can you help me get sources؟

[alexanderwatt]

Long live your hands. It is a great explanation.

[iyutyulia]

it's really helpful.. thank you so much, you helped me to understand it

[motivationfuel]

When I heard that "pussy" example I knew this was the right video. This was helpful.

[fatmaprz]

Good video, thanks... you look like Meredith Gray from Gray's anatomy hah

[l.t.m.a.nieuwenhuijzenvand]

My lecturer told us that flammable and inflammable are true synonyms, but I believe Holy Ghost and Holy Spirit are true synonyms as well. So they can almost never mean the same thing.

[donstevensii]

Thank you so much! Very nicely done and this is such a tricky subject. Question what about the words great, wonderful, outstanding, fantastic, etc. can those be considered identical

[vaisakh.]

It's really good 🙌 i understood it very much. Are this notes on Instagram?

[naeemabbas]

Plz give me a lecture on articulator and their use

[reynalyntuantorres]

Hello, in Semantics what are the word meaning, sentence meaning and utterance meaning?

[titusogden]

Idioms are pragmatic, not semantic? right??