7 Types of Meaning

 Semantics:

Semantics is the branch of linguistics which means the study of meanings. It does not only deals with the meaning of the words but also the meaning of phrases and sentences.

Semantics also deals with the meaning of signs or symbols, sounds, facial expressions, body language, etc.

As semantics deals with the meaning, so we have different types of meaning.

Types of Meaning:

Geoffrey Leech  is a specialist in English linguistics. His main interests were English Grammar, Stylistics, Pragmatics, and Semantics. Geoffrey Leech in his book "Semantics-A Study of Meaning" in 1947 breaks down the meaning in different types. G.L made research on meaning and the result of this research confirmed that there are seven types of meaning.

• Conceptual Meaning

Conceptual meaning is the essential or core meaning of the word. It deals with the dictionary or real meaning of any word. Conceptual meaning is logical, real, cognitive, literal, or dictionary meaning and it does not vary from situation to situation.

Forexample;

Boy: Human + male + adult

Needle: Thin, sharp, or an instrument

The purpose of conceptual meaning is to provide an appropriate and logical semantic representation to a sentence or statement.

• Connotative Meaning

Connotative meaning is the implied, or contextual meaning that varies according to situation, age, and culture. It is also called associative, expressive, stylistic, or open ended meaning.

Forexample;

As conceptual meaning of the needle is thin, sharp or an instrument but there can be many connotations of this word. Different people might have different associations with this word. They might associate it with pain, illness, blood, drug, thread, knitting, or hard to find. These associations may differ from person to person.

• Social Meaning

This meaning is related to society or organization. We can only identify social meaning of a word if we know stylistic variations of the language.

Forexample;

If someone is using "abay yaar" in the conversation so we can easily interpret that he/she is from Karachi. Similarly,

"Come on yaar, be a sport. Don't be a Lallu."

The above line tells us about the speaker that he/she is talking to close friend who is from India. The style shows the geographical region or social class of the speaker.

• Effective or Emotive Meaning

It refers to the emotions or the effect of words on the readers or listeners.

Forexample;

"I hate you, you idiot."

Here, speaker seems to have very negative attitude towards his listener. This is effective meaning. 

Words like "darling", "sweetheart", "honey" also express feelings.

• Reflected Meaning

Reflected meaning arises when a word has more than one conceptual or real meaning.

Forexample;

The word "dear" has two meanings.

i)    Used for affection 

       "My dear friend"

ii)    Britishers use this word in order to say "expensive"

        "Five pounds _ that's a bit dear."

• Collocative Meaning

Collocative meaning arises when a word acquires meaning in the company of certain words. Words collocate, appear, or occur with certain words only.

Forexample;

"Wander" and "stroll" have same meaning but they use in different context and collocation. 

• Thematic Meaning  

Thematic meaning depends on the arrangements of the words. It concerns itself with how the order of words spoken effects the meaning that is entailed. It is the matter of grammatical constructions.  

Forexample;

If two sentences have same conceptual meaning then their thematic meaning or theme will be somehow different.

Active:  Ali broke the window.

Passive:  The window was broken by Ali.

In 1st sentence theme is "Ali" but in the second sentence the focus is window rather than Ali, so here theme is "the window".