Semantics Unboxed: Rare and Powerful Terms That Shape Meaning
From truth conditions to fuzzy boundaries, this is where language meets logic.
This list dives into the deeper layers of English semantics, focusing on obscure or specialized concepts that illuminate how we understand meaning in language. These are not your intro-to-semantics terms—they’re the tools of advanced analysis and linguistic elegance.
1. Entailment
A relationship where the truth of one proposition guarantees the truth of another.
Example: John killed the spider entails The spider is dead.
2. Presupposition
Background information assumed to be true for a sentence to make sense.
Example: Have you stopped smoking? presupposes You used to smoke.
3. Implicature
What is suggested but not explicitly stated, often governed by Grice’s maxims.
Example: “Some students passed.” → Implicature: Not all did.
4. Polysemy
A single word with multiple related meanings.
Example: Head (of a person, of a department, of a table).
5. Homonymy
Two words that share form but have unrelated meanings.
Example: Bat (flying mammal) vs. bat (sports equipment).
6. Hyponymy
A hierarchical relationship where one term is more specific than another.
Example: Tulip is a hyponym of flower.
7. Prototype Theory
A concept is represented not by strict definitions but by typical examples.
Example: A robin is a more prototypical bird than a penguin.
8. Frame Semantics
Words evoke structured mental representations ("frames") of events or situations.
Example: Buy evokes a commercial transaction frame involving buyer, seller, and goods.
9. Compositionality (Frege’s Principle)
The meaning of a sentence is built from the meanings of its parts and how they’re combined.
Example: Red apple = meaning of red + meaning of apple + how they combine.
10. Deixis
Words whose meaning depends on context (time, place, speaker).
Examples: here, now, you, that
11. Sense vs. Reference
Sense = internal meaning; reference = the actual object or concept referred to.
Example: The morning star and the evening star refer to Venus but have different senses.
12. Scalar Implicature
Inference based on a scale of strength or quantity.
Example: Few/some students came → Implicature: Not all came.
13. Lexical Ambiguity
When a word has two or more distinct meanings.
Example: Bank (riverbank vs financial institution)
14. Semantic Underspecification
A sentence allows multiple interpretations because it lacks full semantic detail.
Example: Visiting relatives can be annoying.
15. Vagueness
When a term lacks clear-cut boundaries.
Example: Tall, heap, or old
16. Fuzzy Concepts
Categories that don’t follow binary membership but allow degrees.
Example: Is a tomato a vegetable? → fuzzy category
17. Non-Compositional Meaning
Phrases whose meaning is not predictable from their parts.
Example: Kick the bucket = to die
18. Event Structure
Semantic structure that differentiates states, activities, achievements, and accomplishments.
Example: Run = activity; build a house = accomplishment.
19. Truth-Conditional Semantics
Meaning is analyzed based on the conditions under which a sentence is true.
Example: “Snow is white” is true if and only if snow is white.
20. Type Theory
A formal framework for modeling meaning, especially in semantics and logic.
Example: Nouns = type e (entities), Sentences = type t (truth values), etc.
The Semantics Power Pack
These terms take you from word meaning to world meaning—from mental lexicons to logic models. Whether you're teaching, learning, or researching, they add depth to how you think about meaning.
