Semantics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Semantics - Essay Example For instance, the sentence Annie looked at people wearing glasses can mean that Annie was looking at people who were wearing glasses themselves, or it can mean that Annie was wearing glasses while looking at people. These two different meanings have a very large impact on the effectiveness of the sentence. Related to ambiguity is the relationship between sentence meaning and utterance meaning. Put simply, sentence meaning is independent of context, and utterance meaning is dependent upon context (Lyons 38). However, the relationship between the two is hardly simple, and many cases of ambiguity are a result of the differences between the two: â€Å"Perceived discrepancies between sentence meaning and utterance meaning give rise to the frequently asked question What did s/he mean when s/he said that? (Allan 43). It would not be appropriate to attempt to determine whether one was more important than the other because they are used for two different situations. One might as well ask whe ther having a context or not having a context was more important to the study of semantics. As stated, sentence meaning is independent of context, though there is more to the definition that needs to be considered. For instance, the sequence of words obviously has to be possible in a given language, and it has to be complete in a given sense. There would be no point in attempting to examine the meaning of a sentence such as Chomsky’s example. The meaning of the sentence England is an island is easy to discern. England, as a country, is a familiar entity, and the concept of an island being a land-mass completely surrounded by water is also well-known. Looking at any map, the fact that England is a land-mass that is completely surrounded by water is not a difficult thought to grasp. Utterance meaning is used by a speaking on a particular occasion and is dependent upon the context of the situation. John Lyons once stated that â€Å"utterances are unique