Semantics is a branch of linguistics that studies the meaning of words, phrases, and sentences in languages. This field is primarily concerned with how we comprehend and interpret language. Semantics looks at how meanings are structured and conveyed through words, phrases, and sentences, and how these elements combine to make up larger pieces of language, such as paragraphs or articles. Semantics also delves into how context can influence the meaning of language, and how words can have different meanings in different situations. It includes various sub-branches such as lexical, phrasal, and formal semantics, and employs different theories and models to understand the complexity of language. The study of semantics is not only crucial for linguistics but also has significant implications for disciplines like psychology and ordinateur[1] science.
Sémantique is the study of linguistic 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 relies on logic et 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 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 use theoryet 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 scienceet psychologie.
FR 
NL 
EN 
PT