A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics David Crystal

430 semantic selection
semantic selection
see selectional feature
semantic triangle A particular model of meaning which claimed that meaning
is essentially a threefold relationship between linguistic forms, concepts and
referents. It was proposed by C. K. Ogden (1889–1957) and I. A. Richards
(1893–1979) in the 1920s, in their book The Meaning of Meaning.
semantic value A term used in semantic theory, especially in formal semantics,
for any of various items associated by rule with a linguistic expression.
Examples include the expression’s extension or intension.
semasiology (n.)
see semiotics
seme (n.) A term used by some European linguists (e.g. Eugen Coseriu (1921–
2002)), to refer to minimal distinctive semantic features operating within a
specific semantic field, e.g. the various defining properties of cups v. glasses,
such as ‘having a handle’, ‘made of glass’. In this approach, semes contrast with
classemes, which are features of a much more general kind, e.g. ‘male’, ‘animate’.
semeiology, semeiotics (n.)
see semiotics
semelfactive (adj./n.) A term used in the grammatical analysis of aspect, to
refer to an event which takes place once only, as commonly happens with such
verbs as sneeze, knock, etc. (‘semelfactive verbs’, or ‘semelfactives’). It is regularly
contrasted with iterative.
sememe (n.) A term used in some semantic theories to refer to a minimal unit
of meaning. For some, a sememe is equivalent to the meaning of a morpheme;
for others it is a feature of meaning, equivalent to the notion of ‘semantic
component’ or ‘semantic feature’ in some theories. The term sememics is used
as part of the description of strata in stratificational grammar; the sememic
stratum, which handles the systems of semantic relationship between lexical
items, is here distinguished from the hypersememic stratum, at which is analysed
the relationship between language and the external world. Semotactics, in this
approach, involves the study of the sequential arrangement of sememes.
semi-auxiliary (adj./n.) see auxiliary (1)
semi-consonant (n.)
see consonant
semilattice (n.)
see lattice
semilingual (adj./n.) A term sometimes used in sociolinguistics and language
teaching, referring to people who have acquired two or more languages, but
who lack a native level of proficiency in any of them. The situation is likely to
arise with people who have moved between countries a great deal in their early
years. Semilingualism has been little studied, and is controversial, as it suggests
that there are people who do not have a true mother-tongue; however, many
people do claim to be semilingual. The term is also used to describe people who