Myth 8 Myth 8 Semantics, the study of meaning in natural languages, demonstrates how standard English stands apart from other inadequate English varieties in expressing logic and abstract thought. Semantics is sometimes thought to be the study of meaning and related ideas. An adequate description of this component of language must differentiate denotation and connotation . Denotation refers to agreed meanings of words and sentences, such as dictionary definitions, may be both experienced or from vicarious experience.
Connotation refers to personal idiosyncratic meaning locked in our minds through experience.
The study of pragmatics is intrinsic in studying semantics. Other information that is not in the words but on other known information makes the scientific description of semantics difficult and impossible. Especially in the advances artificial languages and technology could make. FACT 3 Speaker and linguistic meaning can be different. Speaker meaning involves literal and non-literal information .