semantikkaa

Semantiikka (often encountered in its partitive form semantiikkaa in Finnish) is the field that studies meaning in language. It encompasses how words, phrases and sentences convey information, and how linguistic expressions connect to concepts, objects, and truth conditions. The term semantiikkaa specifically refers to semantics as an object of study or discussion in sentences where semantics is the thing being examined.

In linguistics, semantiikka analyses meaning at multiple levels, including lexical semantics (word meaning), compositional semantics (how meanings combine), and semantic relations such as synonymy, antonymy, polysemy and hyponymy. It is distinguished from pragmatics, which studies meaning in context, including speaker intent and situational factors. Semantiikka also explores sense and reference, intensionality, and the ways in which meaning interacts with world knowledge and inference.

In philosophy and logic, semantics concerns theories of meaning, truth conditions, and interpretation. It includes formal approaches such as model theory and denotational or operational semantics found in computer science. In these domains, semantiikka provides tools for understanding how formal languages and natural languages express and preserve meaning, and how programs or texts can be interpreted semantically.

Historically, semantic ideas trace to classical philosophy and logic, with later developments by Frege, Tarski, and Montague shaping modern formal semantics. In Finnish academia, semantiikkaa is taught within linguistics, philosophy of language, and computer science, and is central to discussions of language meaning, linguistic analysis, and semantic technologies.