Semantics

Semantics is the study of meaning in language and other sign systems. It investigates how words, phrases, and sentences relate to the objects, properties, ideas, and states of affairs they refer to, and how truth conditions arise from linguistic expressions. Semantics is distinguished from syntax, which studies the structure of sentences, and from pragmatics, which concerns how context influences interpretation.

In linguistics, major subfields include lexical semantics, which examines the meanings of individual words and their relationships such as synonyms, antonyms, and polysemy; and formal or compositional semantics, which explains how the meanings of larger expressions are built from their parts according to rules of composition. The formal approach often employs logic and model-theoretic tools to assign truth conditions to sentences, including frameworks like possible-worlds semantics and type theory. The philosophy of language adds topics such as Fregean sense and reference, indexicals, and questions about meaning beyond literal content.

Semantics also engages with cognitive and computational directions. Dynamic or contextual semantics studies how meaning is shaped by discourse and situational context, while computational semantics focuses on representing meaning for natural language processing, knowledge bases, and information retrieval. Semantic change, the evolution of word meanings over time, remains an important area in historical linguistics and lexicography, reflecting how language both shapes and reflects cultural and conceptual shifts.