Draft:Original research/Semantics

Semantics is a branch of linguistics and logic concerned with meaning. Semantics is an area of study within the school of linguistics, a part of the Social Sciences.

This learning resource starts out at a secondary level and proceeds into a university undergraduate level.

Considering the immensity of knowledge that has been accumulated and written down in semantics, this resource is just getting off the ground.

In linguistics, semantics is the study of the interpretation of signs or symbols used in agents or communities within particular circumstances and contexts. Within this view, sounds, facial expressions, body language, and proxemics have semantic (meaningful) content, and each comprises several branches of study. In written language, things like paragraph structure and punctuation bear semantic content; other forms of language bear other semantic content.

Notations
Notation: let the symbol Def. indicate that a definition is following.

Def. "[a] system of characters, symbols, or abbreviated expressions used in an art or science or in mathematics or logic to express technical facts or quantities" is called notation.

Notation: let the symbols between [ and ] be replacement for that portion of a quoted text.

Notation: let the symbol ... indicate unneeded portion of a quoted text.

Sometimes these are combined as [...] to indicate that text has been replaced by ....

Universals
Def. a "characteristic or property that particular things have in common" is called a universal.

"When we examine common words, we find that, broadly speaking, proper names stand for particulars, while other substantives, adjectives, prepositions, and verbs stand for universals."

Such words as "entity", "object", "thing", and perhaps "body", words "connoting universal properties, ... constitute the very highest genus or "summum genus"" of a classification of universals. To propose a definition for say a plant whose flowers open at dawn on a warm day to be pollinated during the day time using the word "thing", "entity", "object", or "body" seems too general and is.

To help with definitions, their meanings and intents, there is the learning resource theory of definition.

Def. "[t]he state of being, existing, or occurring; beinghood", from Wiktionary existence, is called existence.

Def. empirical reality; the substance of the physical universe, from the Dictionary of Philosophy; 1968, is called existence.

Def.
 * 1.a: an "independent, separate, or self-contained existence",
 * 1.b: "the existence of a thing as contrasted with its attributes", or
 * 2. "something that has separate and distinct existence and objective or conceptual reality",

is called an entity.

Def. "[a]n existent something that has the properties of being real, and having a real existence", from Wiktionary entity, is called an entity.

Def.
 * 1.a: "a separate and distinct individual quality, fact, idea, or [usually] entity",
 * 1.b: "the concrete entity as distinguished from its appearances",
 * 1.c: "a spatial entity", or
 * 1.d: "an inanimate object distinguished from a living being"

is called a thing.

Def. a thing that represents or stands for something else is called a symbol.

“[D]efinitions are always of symbols, for only symbols have meanings for definitions to explain.” A term can be one or more of a set of symbols such as words, phrases, letter designations, or any already used symbol or new symbol.

In the theory of definition, “the symbol being defined is called the definiendum, and the symbol or set of symbols used to explain the meaning of the definiendum is called the definiens.” “The definiens is not the meaning of the definiendum, but another symbol or group of symbols which, according to the definition, has the same meaning as the definiendum.”

"In a village of the riverine plains of central Laos, a man calls out through thin bamboo walling to a next-door neighbor named Noi: Noi bòò mii sùak vaa Noi (“Noi, do you have any rope Noi?”). She calls back: Haa? (“Huh?”). The man repeats the question: Bòò mii sùak vaa (“Do you have any rope?”)."

"In a hillside hamlet in central Eastern Ghana, two speakers of the minority language Siwu are preparing gunpowder, which will be sold for use at a funeral in another village. One man asks: Ilɛ̀ isɛ̀-ɛ? (“Where is the funeral?”). The other: Hã? (“Huh?”). The first: Ilɛ̀ isɛ̀-ɛ? (“Where is the funeral?”)."

"In the coastal lowlands of northwestern Ecuador, two Cha’palaa speakers exchange information. Motorkaa detisaa (“They say he bought a motor.”). Aa? (“Huh?”). Motorkaa detisaa (“They say he bought a motor.”)."

The "process of requesting clarification from someone else) is found in daily conversation in every household, village, town, and city of the world, regardless of the culture and lifestyle of the people or the language they speak."

"Not only does each of the languages have a way of doing this type of repair initiation, but the word used for doing it sounds almost the same in all corners of the world. It sounds very much like the English word Huh?"

There is "the possibility that Huh? was a universal word in the context of a large cross-language project on repair in conversation—the process of identifying and correcting a misunderstanding."

"To really know for sure whether Huh? was universal, we would have to check every single one of the 6,000 or so languages spoken in the world today. This task is of course required for any of the proposed universals of language that you’ll come across in linguistic research."

A "small set of around 60 word meanings are universal. Every language has a clear way to express simple concepts including good, all, people, and you."

Every "language has adjectives, a class of words that are distinct from nouns and verbs."

Recursion"—taking the output of a process and using it as input for the same process again—is found in the grammatical structure of all languages."

We "are able to state that something is highly likely to be universal, as long as no counterexamples have so far been found. This practice is accepted because linguistics is an inductive science."

"All humans are capable of producing the same wide range of vowel sounds."

If "we are going to claim that something is universal, we had better test languages in a sample that includes as many language families as possible."

"In our study, we had data from 31 languages in total, and these derived from 16 distinct language families. This sample represents only a fraction of the world’s languages, but in practice, a sample of this size and kind is sufficient to falsify many possible claimed universals. If Huh? were not universal in the sense we claim, chances are high that at least one of the 31 languages would lack it."

"Huh? is the product of convergent evolution. This term refers to the independent evolution of similar structures in unrelated species."

"Huh? has a similar form across languages because the same set of conditions leads in all languages to something like the Huh? word being produced. In the flow of conversation, people need to be sure that others know when they have failed to understand. Time runs by quickly in conversation, and there is only a short window in which to signal a comprehension problem. In that situation, one needs a syllable that is fast and easy to pronounce. Huh? does the job. The particular vowels that Huh? is restricted to in all languages happen to be the vowels that are most easily pronounced when a person’s tongue is in a relaxed position."

"Think about the conditions a person is under in conversation. First, not only are people capable of responding to what others say within the time it takes a sprinter to react to the starter’s gun, but there is a social expectation that they will do so. Second, there is a social preference not to hold up the conversation by requiring others to go back and revise. It is better to avoid initiating repair. Third, there is a further preference—which competes with the preceding one—for ensuring that problems in common understanding do not pass by unresolved."

"Huh? does not stand for universal confusion. It stands for universal cooperation. It shows that there is a global need, and willingness, to pause a conversation and sort out a communication problem as it occurs."

"This little word, like the turn-taking system in which it operates, suggests a moral architecture to communication. The word makes sense only when one can assume that the other person will cooperate by backing up and repeating what they said, thus helping the listener stay on track. This cooperation is possible because conversation involves joint commitment, and the interpersonal accountability that goes with it. And it explains why no other species goes Huh? or does anything like it, even when their communication systems are complex."

"Huh? is possible only when an ultraflexible system such as language, with ultracooperative users, demands and supplies a solid and readily available backup mechanism for ensuring intersubjectivity at every step."

Semantic model
An example of a semantic model can be found on the following page: semantic model.

Cognitivism
Cognitive semantics is part of the cognitive linguistics movement. Semantics is the study of meaning. Cognitive semantics holds that language is part of a more general human cognitive ability, can therefore only describe the world as it is organised within people's conceptual spaces. It is implicit that there is some difference between this conceptual world and the real world. The main tenets of cognitive semantics are:
 * 1) that grammar is a way of expressing the speaker's concept of the world;
 * 2) that knowledge of language is acquired and contextual;
 * 3) that the ability to use language draws upon general cognitive resources and not a special language module.

Discourses
Def. "basic systems of fundamental social cognitions and organizing the attitudes and other social representations shared by members of groups" are called ideologies.

"[I]deologies have at the same time been defined in sociological or socio-economic terms, and usually related to groups, group positions and interests or group conflicts such as class, gender or 'race' struggles, and hence to social power and dominance as well as their obfuscation and legitimation."

"'[D]ominant ideologies', in the exclusive sense of ideologies of a 'dominant' group, or ideologies imposed by a dominant group, are special cases of ideology, and not characteristic of all ideologies". "[W]e assume that not only dominant groups, but also dominated groups have ideologies that control their self-identification, goals and actions."

"[T]he level of meaning and reference plays a central role" in discourse. "Cognitive representations of attitudes and models may directly map onto semantic representations". "[I]t is largely through meaning that ... syntax, phonology or graphical structures, are affected by ideology".

"Discourse semantics [deals with] conceptual meanings or intensions ... [and] referents or extensions, as is the case for formal and philosophical semantics".

Theoretical semantics
Def.
 * 1. "the study of meanings:"
 * 1.a: "the historical and psychological study and the classification of changes in the signification of words or forms viewed as factors in linguistic development",
 * 1.b: "a branch of semiotic dealing with the relations between signs and what they refer to and including theories of denotation, extension, naming, and truth"
 * 2.a: "the meaning or relationship of meanings of a sign or set of signs; [especially]: connotative meaning"
 * 2.b: "the exploitation of connotation and ambiguity (as in propaganda)"

is called semantics.

Def. "the branch of linguistics devoted to the investigation of linguistic meaning, the interpretation of expression in a language system." is called semantics.

Starting with universals and ontology, where the word "semantics" is in category 543. MEANING, a definition of semantics using concepts from categories lower in number than 543 may be as follows:

Def. the knowledge of the nature of ideas transferred among entities is called semantics.

Every word after Def. and before "is called" has its most popular category of usage less than 543.

Semantics in the brain
Per the learning resource, semantics in the brain: "The study of semantics in the brain is a branch of psycholinguistics that incorporates the understanding of semantics and the neurological structures that are involved.".

Theory-based semantics
From the learning resource on theory-based semantics: "Theory-based semantics is a phrase used by Richard L. Ballard to describe knowledge representations that are based on the premise that the binding element of human thought is "theory," and that theory constrains the meaning of concepts, ideas and thought patterns according to their associative relationships.".

Meanings
Def. "the thing one intends to convey [especially] by language" is called meaning.

Def. "[t]he symbolic value of something", per Wiktionary meaning, is called meaning.

Def. "[t]he significance of a thing", per Wiktionary meaning, is called meaning.

Def. "[t]he objects or concept that a word or phrase denotes, or that which a sentence says", per Wiktionary meaning, is called meaning.

Semantics "provides the rules for interpreting the syntax which do not provide the meaning directly but constrains the possible interpretations of what is declared."

On the basis of dictionary definitions, what is the difference between a 'body', an 'entity', an 'object', a 'thing', and a 'phenomenon'?

The categories for synonymy and most common usage place 'body' in "3. SUBSTANTIALITY", 'entity' in the same, 'object' in "651. INTENTION" , 'thing' in "3. SUBSTANTIALITY" , and 'phenomenon' in "918. WONDER". A slightly less common use of 'phenomenon' is in category "150. EVENTUALITY". For the word 'object' a slightly less common or popular meaning is in category "543. MEANING". The closest category of meaning or synonymy for 'object' to category 1. is category "375. MATERIALITY".

Of each of these words, 'entity' uses the word 'existence', category "1. EXISTENCE" in each definition. 'Entity' may be thought of as the most general of these terms because its meanings are the closest to category 1. The farthest from category 1. on the basis of conceptual meaning and synonymy is the word 'object' in category 375. A tentative order is 'entity' > 'phenomenon' > 'object' by generalness, or by preciseness (perhaps more description is needed beyond only existence) 'object' > 'phenomenon' > 'entity'.

'Thing' (category 3.) has the word 'entity' in three of four meanings and 'object' in the fourth. The second most popular meaning of 'thing' is in category 375.

'Body' (category 3.) has 'mass' and is closer to 'substantiality' in common usage than 'thing', and neither word has a synonym closer in meaning to 'existence'. The second most common meaning of 'body' is category "203. BREADTH, THICKNESS".

This suggests a hierarchy such as 'entity' > 'body' > 'thing' > 'phenomenon' > 'object' by generalness, where 'existence' is the most general word; or, 'object' > 'phenomenon' > 'thing' > 'body' > 'entity' by preciseness.

The choice of general order is 'entity' > 'source' > 'object' > 'phenomena'.

Theory of meaning
"The central question a linguistic theory of meaning must address is that of how finitely many lexical meanings can be systematically combined to yield indefinitely many sentential meanings."

"What words mean is a matter of the systematic effects they have on the semantic (and pragmatic) properties of (utterances of) sentences containing them, properties like entailments, presuppositions, incompatibility, and perhaps some kind of implicatures."

"The ultimate test of any proposed word meaning must be its contribution to the meaning of sentences containing it and the meaning-relations among such sentences."

Latencies
Def. underlying or implied meaning is called latency.

“Latent content is more subtle and intuitive by determining the underlying or implied meaning.” "Latent content is less reliable because it is open to interpretation".

Meaninglessness
Def.


 * 1: having the state, condition, quality or degree, of "no meaning",
 * 2: having the state, condition, quality or degree, of "no assigned function in a language system"

is called meaninglessness.

Inconsistent metrics are meaningless. "The problem with inconsistent metrics is that it leads to comparisons that are useless. Teams cannot be compared with one another, and changes cannot be selected for implementation because the impact of those changes will be unknown."

"One organization would compare product teams with what seemed like a single, common metric. Upon closer examination, it was determined that teams were measuring differently. The metric became meaningless for cross-team comparisons. Worse, the goal of trying to establish best practices from the better performing teams became impossible because it was unclear which teams were actually performing better."

"Before choosing metrics that determine what decisions and changes should be made, ensure that consistency is enforced. Software tooling is one way to enforce this if everyone uses the same tools, but tooling is only one part of the puzzle."

"When we fail to find meaning, it creates a void within, which is felt as anxiety, depression, despair, confusion and the deeper experience of anomie (meaningless-ness) (Esping, 2010)."

"[S]ometimes people experience meaninglessness counter this with work, relationships, and building a sense of self".

"Paradoxically, Frankl believed that this very sense of anomie - that one's life is meaningless, is evidence of how fundamental our need to find meaning is. The awareness of anomie becomes a felt need, which motivates the desire to find and create meaning in life (Frankl, 1959)."

Hypotheses

 * 1) Semantics may have multiple meanings based on the symbols, grammar, and context.
 * 2) Each meaning of semantics should be isomorphic with any other.