A semantic feature is a component of the concept associated with a lexical item ('female' + 'performer' = 'actress'). More generally, it can also be a component of the concept associated with any grammatical unit, whether composed or not ('female' + 'performer' = 'the female performer' or 'the actress').
An individual semantic feature constitutes one component of a word's
intention, which is the inherent sense or concept evoked.
Linguistic meaning of a word is proposed to arise from contrasts and significant differences with other words.
Semantic features enable linguistics to explain how words that share certain features may be members of the same
semantic domain A semantic domain is a specific place that shares a set of meanings, or a language that holds its meaning, within the given context of the place. Harriet Ottenheimer (2006), a writer in Linguistic Anthropology, defines a semantic domain as a “spec ...
.
Correspondingly, the contrast in meanings of words is explained by diverging semantic features.
For example, ''father'' and ''son'' share the common components of "human", "kinship", "male" and are thus part of a semantic domain of male family relations.
They differ in terms of "generation" and "adulthood", which is what gives each its individual meaning.
Theoretical context
The analysis of semantic features is utilized in the field of linguistic semantics, more specifically the subfields of
lexical semantics, and
lexicology.
One aim of these subfields is to explain the meaning of a word in terms of their relationships with other words.
In order to accomplish this aim, one approach is to analyze the internal semantic structure of a word as composed of a number of distinct and minimal components of meaning.
This approach is called
componential analysis, also known as semantic decomposition.
Semantic decomposition allows any given lexical item to be defined based on minimal elements of meaning, which are called semantic features.
The term ''semantic feature'' is usually used interchangeably with the term ''semantic component''.
Additionally, semantic features/semantic components are also often referred to as
semantic properties
Semantic properties or meaning properties are those aspects of a linguistic unit, such as a morpheme, word, or sentence, that contribute to the meaning of that unit. Basic semantic properties include being ''meaningful'' or ''meaningless'' – f ...
.
The theory of componential analysis and semantic features is not the only approach to analyzing the semantic structure of words.
An alternative direction of research that contrasts with componential analysis is
prototype semantics.
Notation
The semantic features of a word can be notated using a binary feature notation common to the framework of
componential analysis.
A
semantic property
Semantic properties or meaning properties are those aspects of a linguistic unit, such as a morpheme, word, or sentence, that contribute to the meaning of that unit. Basic semantic properties include being ''meaningful'' or ''meaningless'' – fo ...
is specified in square brackets and a plus or minus sign indicates the existence or non-existence of that property.
* ''cat'' is
**
animate
Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...
**
domesticated
**
feline* ''puma'' is
**
animate
Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...
**
minus;domesticated
**
feline* ''dog'' is
**
animate
Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...
**
domesticated
**
minus;feline* ''wolf'' is
**
animate
Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...
**
minus;domesticated**
minus;feline
Intersecting
semantic classes share the same features.
Some features need not be specifically mentioned as their presence or absence is obvious from another feature.
This is a
redundancy rule.
References
Bibliography
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Semantics
Semantic relations
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ta:சொற்பொருள் அம்சம்