Semantics and semantic theory

In its broadest sense, semantics is the study of meaning and linguistic semantics is the study of meaning as expressed by the words, phrases and sentences of human languages. It is, however, more usual within linguistics to interpret the term more narrowly, as concerning the study of those aspects of meaning encoded in linguistic expressions that are independent of their use on particular occasions by particular individuals within a particular speech community. In other words, semantics is the study of meaning abstracted away from those aspects that are derived from the intentions of speakers, their psychological states and the socio-cultural aspects of the context in which their utterances are made. A further narrowing of the term is also commonly made in separating the study of semantics from that of pragmatics. Unfortunately, the nature of the object of inquiry of the discipline (what constitutes semantic meaning, as opposed to pragmatic meaning) and the domain of the inquiry (what aspects of meaning should be addressed by the discipline) remain difficult and controversial questions. There are, however, three central aspects of the meaning of linguistic expressions that are currently accepted by most semanticists as forming the core concern of linguistic semantics. These central concerns of semantic theory, adapted from Kempson (1977:4), are stated in (1) and may be adopted as criteria for ascertaining the adequacy of semantic theories which apply in addition to the general conditions on scientific theories of falsifiability and rigour.