språkbetydelse

Språkbetydelse is a term used to describe the meaning conveyed by language. In Nordic linguistic usage, it denotes the study of how linguistic signs—words, phrases, and sentences—convey information and social meaning. The field encompasses semantics, which analyzes the conventional content of words and constructions (denotation, sense, reference), and pragmatics, which investigates how context, implicature, and speaker intent shape meaning. Semiotics also plays a role, treating language as a system of signs that carries meaning beyond literal content.

Meaning in språkbetydelse arises at several levels. Lexical semantics studies word meaning and polysemy; compositional semantics explains how the meanings of parts combine to give sentence meaning; and truth-conditional semantics links meaning to possible states of the world. Pragmatic factors such as context, presupposition, and discourse structure can alter interpretation without changing the sentence’s literal content. For example, “Can you pass the salt?” is a question about ability that is commonly interpreted as a request, depending on context.

Language meaning is also shaped by social and cultural factors, including dialect, register, and ideology. Changes in usage, metaphor, and connotation illustrate how språkbetydelse evolves over time. In translation and language technology, accounting for both lexical meaning and pragmatic force is essential to preserve intended meaning across languages and modalities.