Semantics is the study of how words convey meaning. Formalist theory views meaning as content within language, while cognitive theory views meaning as content within the context of language. Theories attempt to explain how humans understand expressions not directly related to memory, known as the projection problem. Both theories may take a truth-based approach to semantics.
In linguistics, semantics is the study of how words convey meaning. A semantic theory attempts to explain the relationship between a word, or signifier, and the object, idea, etc. of the real world it describes, which is called signified or denoted. There are two main categories of semantic theory: formalist theory, which views meaning as content within language, and cognitive theory, which views meaning as content within the context of language.
Theories of semantics attempt to solve the difficulty that humans are able to create and understand a virtually unlimited number of sentences, even ones they have never heard before. While most types of knowledge rely on memory, the mind is capable of understanding expressions that do not appear to be directly related to memory. For example, the mind is able to visualize the semantic content of the sentence “The giraffe is brushing its teeth” without having ever seen a giraffe brushing its teeth. This is known as the projection problem.
The formalist theory of semantics, especially popular in the 1960s, defines semantics as linguistic description minus grammar; that is, a description of what language can communicate that does not deal directly with how sentences are formed. The primary semantic data, in this view, are content words – words that communicate something about the world outside language – as opposed to function words, which convey grammatical information. Formalist semantic theory, of course, recognizes that the relationship between the signifier and the signified is arbitrary except in the case of onomatopoeia. On the other hand, this theory sees meaning as objectively contained within a coherent and cohesive linguistic system.
In contrast, cognitive semantics theory postulates that grammar is actually a subset of semantics, rather than a separate study. According to this theory, the meaning of language is inseparably linked to the listener’s memory and experiences. Even unique utterances are actually interpreted in the context of other memories, even if the precise meaning of the utterance is new. For example, a person’s ability to visualize “The giraffe brushes its teeth” depends on whether the person has semantic categories based on past experience with each of its components: giraffe, brushing, and teeth. If the person doesn’t have those categories, or if they don’t exactly match another person’s categories, the semantic content of the sentence is changed.
Both of these theories may take a truth-based approach to semantics; that is, it can evaluate the semantic content of a statement based on whether it is true or false. In formalist approaches, semantic content is judged to be “true” if it does not contradict other semantically true statements and thus fits into a body of factual knowledge. In cognitive approaches, a statement can only be considered true if it can be observed as such in its context.
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