CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background
Semantics is the study of the meaning of linguistic expressions. The language
can be a natural language, such as English or Navajo, or an artificial language,
like a computer programming language. Meaning in natural languages is
mainly studied by linguists. In fact, semantics is one of the main branches of
contemporary linguistics. Theoretical computer scientists and logicians think
about artificial languages. In some areas of computer science, these divisions
are crossed. In machine translation, for instance, computer scientists may want
to relate natural language texts to abstract representations of their meanings; to
do this, they have to design artificial languages for representing meanings.

B. Problem Statements
1. What is semantic?
2. What is word meaning in semantic?
3. What is sentence meaning in semantic?

C. Objectives
1. The students know about semantic.
2. The students know about word meaning in semantic.
3. The students know about sentence meaning in semantic.

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 CHAPTER II
DISCUSSION

A. Introduction to Semantics
Semantics is the study of meaning in language. It is a fact that meaning is a
part of language, but this definition has not been clearly delineated and given
fair treatment in study of language until very recently. In traditional linguistic,
language is viewed as the vocabulary which is contained in literary works. In
the study of language, language definition are sometimes based on meaning
and sometimes on function. Statement that a noun is a name of person or a
thing, or a sentence is an expression of complete thought, are definition which
are based on meaning. On the contrary, statement that an adjective is a word
that modifies a noun, or an adverb is a word that modifies other words except
nouns are definition which are based on function.
Anyone who speaks a language has a truly amazing capacity to reason about
the meanings of texts. Take, for instance, the sentence:
(S) I can't untie that knot with one hand.
Even though you have probably never seen this sentence, you can easily see
things like the following:
1. The sentence is about the abilities of whoever spoke or wrote it. (Call this
person the speaker.)
2. It's also about a knot, maybe one that the speaker is pointing at.
3. The sentence denies that the speaker has a certain ability. (This is the
contribution of the word ‘can't'.)
4. Untying is a way of making something not tied.
5. The sentence doesn't mean that the knot has one hand; it has to do with how
many hands are used to do the untying.

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B. Word Meaning
Almost all of the words of a language have a conceptual meaning. There are
words that have more than one conceptual meaning. That are also words that
have state meaning, psychological meaning, action meaning and many other.
This section presents the different meanings that words have. It will explain
conceptual meaning which is considered to be most important meaning of
word.
1. The Conceptual Meaning
The conceptual meaning of a word is universal. It is the same everywhere
in the world, which becomes the basis for universal communication. That
the conceptual meaning of woodpecker is animate, animal, avian, bird,
clinging to the bark of a tree, pecking the tree to find insects, and to build
nest, is the same all over the world.

a. The referent can be an entity, like: a thing, a person, or an animal

Word Referent
Motorcycle inanimate, vehicle, on land,two wheels, and an
engine to cause motion.
Mr. Sukirman animate, human, male, adult, potent, unique.
Puppy animate, animal, quadruped, mammal, vertebrate,
the wolf-family, dog, young.

b. The referent can be state.

Word Referent
Sad a state of being unhappy.
Diligent a state of being hard working.
Hot a state of having high degree of temperature.

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 c. The referent can be a psychological experience.
Word Referent
Know have in the mind as the result of experience
or being informed or because one has learnt.
Regret feel sorry for the loss of
Notice to be aware of or observe

d. The referent can be an action.

Word Referent
Kill an action that causes the death of an animate
being.
Bury an action of placing a dead body in the
ground, in a grave, or in the sea.
Paint an action of coating with paint.

C. Sentence Meaning
According to Devitt and Stereny (1999), human beings apply the principle of
referent and structure to understand the conceptual meaning of a sentence. In
the sentence The knife is sharp, two words have conceptual meaning: knife
and sharp. The conceptual meaning of knife is inanimate, a tool, made of
metal, having a back, having a blade, to cut things. The conceptual meaning of
sharp is with a fine cutting edge, state, relative. Semantically, knife is called
an argument and sharp is a predicate. The is to signal a noun and is is a word
to tell the tense.

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 CHAPTER III
CLOSING

A. Conclusion
Semantics is the study of meaning in language. It is a fact that meaning is a
part of language, but this definition has not been clearly delineated and given
fair treatment in study of language until very recently.

Almost all of the words of a language have a conceptual meaning. There are
words that have more than one conceptual meaning. That are also words that
have state meaning, psychological meaning, action meaning and many other.

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 REFERENCES

Adisutrisno, D. Wagiman. 2008. SEMANTICS. Yogyakarta: ANDI Yogyakarta.

Kasawanti Purwo, Bambang. 1990. Pengajaran Bahasa. Yogyakarta : Kanisius

Yudi Cahyono, Bambang. 1995. Kristal-Kristal Bahasa. Surabaya : Airlangga

Univeristy Press