What is the Difference Between Semantics and Pragmatics?

Semantics and pragmatics are two subfields of linguistics that study the meaning of language. While they both focus on how speakers use words to communicate meaning, they approach the question of meaning from different perspectives.

Semantics is the study of the meaning of words, phrases, and sentences. It focuses on the relationship between words and the concepts they represent, and it seeks to understand how speakers use language to convey meaning. Semantics deals with the study of reference, truth conditions, and entailment. It looks at the literal meanings of words and is limited to the relationship between words.

Pragmatics, on the other hand, is the study of meaning in context. It focuses on how speakers use context and background knowledge to interpret the meaning of words and phrases. Pragmatics deals with the study of implicature, presupposition, deixis, and speech acts. It considers the context of utterances and aims to understand the inferred meaning. Pragmatics is concerned with the relationships between words, interlocutors (people engaged in the conversation), and contexts.

In summary, the key differences between semantics and pragmatics are:

• Semantics studies the meaning of words and sentences, while pragmatics studies the same words and meanings within context.
• Semantics looks at the literal meanings of words, while pragmatics looks at the intended meaning of words.
• Semantics is limited to the relationship between words, while pragmatics covers the relationships between words, interlocutors, and contexts.

Comparative Table: Semantics vs Pragmatics

Here is a table highlighting the key differences between semantics and pragmatics:

Semantics is concerned with the inherent meaning of words and sentences as linguistic expressions, in and of themselves, while pragmatics is concerned with those aspects of meaning that depend on or derive from the way in which the language is used in context. In other words, semantics focuses on the meaning of words without considering the context, whereas pragmatics analyzes the meaning in relation to the context.