Editing Semantics (section)

{{Short description|Study of meaning in language}}
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[[File:Word, object, and thought.svg|thumb|alt=Diagram of the relation between word, object, and thought|A central topic in semantics concerns the relation between language, world, and mental concepts.]]

'''Semantics''' is the study of linguistic [[Meaning (philosophy)|meaning]]. It examines what meaning is, how words get their meaning, and how the meaning of a complex expression depends on its parts. Part of this process involves the distinction between [[sense and reference]]. Sense is given by the ideas and concepts associated with an expression while reference is the object to which an expression points. Semantics contrasts with [[syntax]], which studies the rules that dictate how to create [[grammatically]] correct sentences, and [[pragmatics]], which investigates how people use language in communication.

[[Lexical semantics]] is the branch of semantics that studies [[word meaning]]. It examines whether words have one or several meanings and in what [[lexical relations]] they stand to one another. Phrasal semantics studies the meaning of sentences by exploring the phenomenon of [[compositionality]] or how new meanings can be created by arranging words. [[Formal semantics (natural language)|Formal semantics]] relies on [[logic]] and [[mathematics]] to provide precise frameworks of the relation between language and meaning. [[Cognitive semantics]] examines meaning from a psychological perspective and assumes a close relation between language ability and the conceptual structures used to understand the world. Other branches of semantics include [[conceptual semantics]], [[computational semantics]], and cultural semantics.

Theories of meaning are general explanations of the nature of meaning and how expressions are endowed with it. According to [[direct reference theory|referential theories]], the meaning of an expression is the part of reality to which it points. Ideational theories identify meaning with [[mental states]] like the ideas that an expression evokes in the minds of language users. According to causal theories, meaning is determined by causes and effects, which [[behaviorist]] semantics analyzes in terms of stimulus and response. Further theories of meaning include [[truth-conditional semantics]], [[verificationist]] theories, the [[Philosophical Investigations#Meaning as use|use theory]], and [[Inferential role semantics|inferentialist semantics]].

The study of semantic phenomena began during antiquity but was not recognized as an independent field of inquiry until the 19th century. Semantics is relevant to the fields of formal logic, [[computer science]], and [[psychology]].