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0THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SEMANTICS IN LANGUAGE LEARNING
Bazarbaeva Gulparshin Allambergenovna
Assistant-teacher of KARSU (Karakalpak State University named after Berdakh) Faculty of Foreign Languages English Linguistics Department
Annotation: This article discusses about the importance of semantics in language learning. In addition to this, in the article characteristic features of semantics and its role in development of language were analyzed.
Key words: sentence relationships, complex syntax acquisition, a long-standing topic, Amelioration, Pejoration, Semantic Narrowing, denotative meaning, pragmatic.
Teaching semantics helps students develop their vocabulary by introducing them to new words and phrases and helping them understand their meanings. This is important for reading comprehension and writing skills, as it enables students to use a wider range of words and express themselves more accurately and effectively. Understanding semantics helps individuals think critically about the language they encounter. They can analyse the words and phrases being used and consider how they are being used to convey meaning. Understanding the importance of semantics is crucial to grasping the true essence of communication. Semantics, in simple terms, refers to the meaning behind words and phrases. It's like the secret code that allows us to decipher the intended message accurately. So, what makes semantics so important? Well, let's delve into a few key reasons why semantics holds such significance in language comprehension[1].
Semantics plays a crucial role in language understanding. It involves the study of word meaning, sentence relationships, and discourse and context. Understanding semantics helps in creating and improving word maps that visually display the connections between words or concepts. It also aids in teaching key terms in semantics and analyzing writing approaches to improve vocabulary and language proficiency. Incorporating structured semantic information in language representation
models enhances natural language understanding and improves performance in reading comprehension and language inference tasks. Grounding complex syntax acquisition in semantics facilitates the learning of complex language structures. In speech understanding systems, semantics is used to build a representation structure for the meaning of an utterance, resolve pronunciation variabilities, guide the word recognition process, and judge the plausibility of syntactic structures.Semantics is one of the six evidence-based components of structured literacy[2].
As Semantics is a long-standing topic of discussion, there has been a constant change of the meanings and interpretations words hold over time. There are various circumstances for how a lexical item can change in meaning
Amelioration: The upgrading or elevation of a word's meaning, as when a word with a negative sense develops a positive one. Contrast with pejoration. Example: 'nice' was seen as foolish in the 1300s. But in modern society is seen as a positive adjective[3].
Pejoration: The downgrading or depreciation of a word's meaning, as when a word with a positive sense develops a negative one. Example: 'Silly' was seen as 'happy' in the 1200s. However, in the 1500's the meaning shifted to refer to a person who is 'empty-headed' or lacking in common sense.[4]
Broadening: Where a lexical item expands in meaning. Example: 'bird' used to be referenced to a baby bird but today it is a reference to a whole animal species.[5]
Semantic Narrowing: When a word becomes less general than its earlier meaning. Example: 'deer' used to be a reference to animals but now means specifically one species.[6]
Semantic Bleaching: Is the reduction in the meaning of a word as a result of semantic change. Example: 'thing' used to refer to an assembly/council. Today 'thing' is a vague reference to anything.
Semantics deals with the literal or denotative meaning of words and sentences. It focuses on the relationship between signs, symbols, and their referents. On the other hand, pragmatics deals with the implied or contextual meaning of language. It looks at how meaning is influenced by factors like tone, context, and non-verbal cues.
Semantics can be divided into formal semantics and lexical semantics. Formal semantics focuses on the mathematical and logical aspects of meaning, while lexical semantics examines the meaning of individual words and the relationships between them. Semantics can be divided into formal semantics and lexical semantics. Formal semantics focuses on the mathematical and logical aspects of meaning, while lexical semantics examines the meaning of individual words and the relationships between them. The main difference lies in their focus. Semantics deals with the literal meaning, while pragmatics focuses on the implied meaning and how it is influenced by context. Semantics is concerned with what is said, while pragmatics is concerned with how it is said and interpreted.
To sum up it should be noted that the grammatical description of a language is conveniently divided into two complementary sections: morphology and syntax. Morphology accounts for the internal structure of words, and syntax describes how words are combined to form phrases, clauses and sentences.Another component, semantics, is the study of meaning in language. It can be defined as "the relationship between signs and the outside world, for example, red's denoting 'stop.'"The goal of semantic study is to explain how sequences of language are matched with their proper meanings and placed in certain environments by speakers of the language. "Semantics seeks to account for the relationships of words and sentences with things and events in the outside world," according to Winfred Philipp Lehmann. The importance of meaning is revealed in the following well-known example from Noam Chomsky: "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously." Though grammatically correct, this sentence is largely meaningless in ordinary usage.Semantics aims to determine meanings and explain relationships between patterns of language and what is referred to.
Referennces:
1. https://topteachingtasks.com/teaching-semantics-to-increase-vocabulary/#:~:text=Teaching%20semantics%20helps%20students%20develop,them selves%20more%20accurately%20and%20effectively.
2. https://typeset.io/questions/what-is-the-role-of-semantics-in-language-understanding-51 sspz565x
3. About.com: Grammar & Composition (2013) Pejoration. (online)
4. About.com: Grammar & Composition (2013) Broadening. (online)
5. About.com: Grammar & Composition (2013) Semantic Narrowing. (online)]
6. About.com: Grammar & Composition (2013) Semantic Bleaching (online)
