Defining meaning has been the subject of studies and discussions since ancient times. But this interest in the problems of meaning has intensified especially with the passing of centuries. The different points of view with which the meaning is focused have led to the structuring of a science, Semantics, which interests both philosophy and logic, anthropology as well as psychology and linguistics. Lately, a study area called Linguistic Semantics has been developed which, consequently, is a branch of Linguistic science that deals with the study of meanings.
Its etymological origin comes from the Greek semantikos, "what has meaning", study of the meaning of linguistic signs, that is, the study of words, expressions and sentences.
The meaning of the words:
The word is the raw material of communication, this is called a linguistic sign, this is a psychic entity of two planes: the plane of the signifier and the plane of meaning.
The signifier: is a physical form spoken or written. How can we describe it? It is an idea, therefore it is of immaterial substance. To be able to use that communication idea we need to materialize it in some physical substance, like a sound or as a written sign. The auditory signifier is produced by pronouncing words, / Table /. We make the visual signifier by writing the words; in Spanish, the visual signifier represents the sound of a spoken word (Mesa).
The meaning: it is the concept or the idea. When a person attentively observes an object or being (real or imaginary), tries to form an idea or concept of it. This has two aspects:
Denotation: essential elements of that being or object. In the word table, enumeration of its essential elements, a flat surface, on a support.
Connotation: is the utility of being or object. From the word table he understands all the utility that he can render; writing table, dining table; table for decoration, among others.
Each word has a meaning, that is, it contains a reference to notions, objects or ideas of reality. This reality is not external to us, but we build it according to the relationships we have with it, and these relationships allow human beings to attribute meaning to them
Now, the meaning or mental image is composed of a series of conceptual features that all speakers of a language associate in a general way with a signifier. However, it should be borne in mind that words do not work in isolation from the situation and that, in their use, speakers of a language may encounter the existence of various phenomena proper to meaning.
References:
