Chapter 6

What is semantics the study of?

• The study of word structure.

• The study of sentence structure.

• The study of meaning in language.

• The study of sound patterns.

What is referential meaning?

• The emotional associations of a word.

• The social context of a word.

• The real-world object or concept that a word or phrase refers to.

• The grammatical function of a word.

What is a referent?

• The meaning of a word.

• The actual entity or concept in the real world that an expression refers to.

• A grammatical category.

• A feeling.

Can words with no real-world referents (like "unicorn") still have meaning?

• No, they are meaningless.

• Yes, they can have meaning related to concepts, imagination, or fiction.

• Only concrete nouns have meaning.

• Only words with physical referents have meaning.

What are the three major aspects of meaning discussed?

• referential, denotation, and connotation

• referential, affective, and social

• denotation, connotation, and social

• affective, social, and lexical

What is affective meaning?

• The literal meaning of a word.

• The meaning related to feelings, attitudes, or opinions.

• The social context of language use.

• The dictionary definition.

What is social meaning?

• The meaning related to emotions.

• The information about the social identity or context of the speaker or utterance.

• The dictionary definition.

• The referential meaning.

What are the two major classes into which the three types of meaning can be divided?

• lexical items and denotation

• denotation and connotation

• connotation and referential meaning

• lexical items and connotation

What is a synonym?

• A word with the opposite meaning.

• A word with the same or nearly the same meaning.

• A word with multiple meanings.

• A word with no meaning.

Are perfect synonyms common?

• Yes, they are very common.

• No, they are rare; words usually differ in at least some aspect of meaning or usage.

• All synonyms are perfect synonyms.

• Synonyms have no relationship.