1. Word Meaning
* Polysemy: A word having multiple meanings.
* "Bank" can refer to a financial institution or the edge of a river.
* "Bat" can refer to a flying mammal or a piece of sports equipment.
* Synonyms: Words with similar meanings.
* "Happy" and "Joyful"
* "Big" and "Large"
* Antonyms: Words with opposite meanings.
* "Hot" and "Cold"
* "Up" and "Down"
2. Sentence Meaning
* Ambiguity: When a sentence can have multiple interpretations.
* "Visiting relatives can be boring." (Who is doing the visiting?)
* "I saw the man with the telescope." (Is the man using the telescope, or is he just holding it?)
* Entailment: When one sentence logically implies another.
* "John is a bachelor." Entails "John is unmarried."
* "The cat is on the mat." Entails "The cat is on something."
* Presupposition: An assumption that must be true for a sentence to make sense.
* "Have you stopped beating your wife?" Presupposes that you have beaten your wife at some point.
* "The king of France is bald." Presupposes that there is a king of France.
3. Contextual Meaning
* Pragmatics: The study of how context influences meaning.
* "Can you pass the salt?" This is not a question about ability, but a request to pass the salt.
* "It's cold in here." This statement could be a complaint or a request to turn up the heat.
* Idioms: Expressions with figurative meanings that differ from the literal meanings of the words.
* "Kick the bucket" means to die.
* "Spill the beans" means to reveal a secret.
4. Conceptual Meaning
* Lexical Semantics: The study of word meanings and how they relate to each other.
* "Dog" refers to a specific type of animal.
* "Animal" is a broader category that includes dogs.
* Conceptual Metaphor: Using one concept to understand another.
* "Time is money"
* "Arguments are war"
These examples show how semantics is involved in understanding the meaning of words, sentences, and even entire texts. It is an essential part of how we communicate and make sense of the world around us.