CHAPTER II
THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK
2.1 Semantics Theory
Semantics is the study of meaning in language which does not only concern
with the meaning, but also other relationship of meaning including language and
cultures. Palmer (1981:1) stated that semantics is the technical term used to refer to the study of meaning, and since meaning is a part of language. In addition, he stated
that ‘meaning’ covers a variety of aspects of language and there is no general
agreement about the nature of meaning, or about the way in which it should be
described.
Semantics has long been an object of study within the philosophy. It is said
that the term semantics itself was introduced into English at the end of the 19th
century. Before the introduction of the term in 1984, the word semantick was once used in the phrase semantick philosophy to mean ‘divination’ of which meaning, of
course has nothing to do with ‘meaning’. The use of this term in English, perhaps can
be traced back to the use of the French term semantique which was coined from the Greek in the previous year. In fact, the term semantics (or semantique in French) was not simply to refer to meaning but its development. Such as a concept of semantics
has been even in use until the 20th century as can be evident from ‘The Advanced
Semantics is the study of the linguistic meaning of morphemes, words,
phrases and sentences. The basic areas of study are the meaning of signs and the
study of relation between different linguistics units. Traditionally, semantics has
included the study of connotative sense and denotative reference, truth conditions,
argument structure, thematic roles, discourse analysis and the linkage of all of these
to syntax.
There are some definitions of semantics proposed by the linguists as follows:
1. Lyons (1977:1) says, “Semantic is generally defined as the study of
meaning”.
2. Palmer (1976:1) says, “Semantics is the technical term used to refer to
the study of meaning”.
3. Hornby (1974:775) says, “Semantics is branch of linguistics
concerned with studying the meaning of words and sentences”.
4. Katz (1972:1) says, “Semantics is the study of linguistic meaning. It is
concerned with what sentences and other linguistic objects express,
not with the arrangement of their syntactic parts or with their
pronunciation”. It means that generally the basic principle of
semantics is about the meaning.
2.2 Scope of Semantics
Semantics is the study of linguistics meaning. It is not very general agreement
either about the nature of meaning or about the way in which meaning in language is
studied, each of which if often very influential in determining which facts of
The first is the linguistic approach. The students of language or linguists have
long been interested in the way in which meaning in a language is structured. There
have been studies of the meaning of words and the semantic structure of the
sentences. Some of them also have distinguished between different types of meaning
in the language.
The second is philosophical approach. Philosophers have investigated the
relation between linguistic expressions, such as the words of language, persons
things, and events in the world to which these words refer. Although there may be
different approaches to semantics, three basic terms seem to be widely mentioned in
each of these approaches, i.e. meaning, sense, and reference.
2.3 Goals of Semantics
According to Leech (1981:20-21), there are two questions which must be
answered concerning with the goals of semantics theory; what should a semantics
theory do and how should it do it?
A semantics theory should attribute to each expression in the language which
the semantics properties and relations.
The answer to the second question is that a semantics theory should have at
least two kinds of constraints:
a) Semantics theory of natural language should be finite; people are
capable of storing only a finite amount of information but they
b) Semantics theory of natural language should reflect the fact, except
for idioms, expression are compositional. It means that their meaning
is determined by the meaning of its constituents and their
grammatical relations.
2.4 Sense and Reference
Palmer (1976:30) has defined the reference and the sense as follows:
“Reference deals with the relationship between the linguistic elements, words,
sentences, etc., and the non linguistic world of experience. Sense relates to the complex system of relationships that hold between the linguistic elements themselves (mostly the words); it is concerned only with intralinguistic relations.”
The sense of a word is the additional meaning attached to the word. When
people speak of the meaning of a word, they are usually speaking about one of its
senses, usually what they believe is the primary or central sense. It is not always
obvious, however how many different senses should be discriminated for a word.
There are many kinds of sense relations, e.g. those exemplified by narrow/wide, male/female, buy/sell.
Phrases, like words, normally both have sense and can be used to refer. Thus
the phrase The man who is my uncle refers to a certain individual and has a certain sense which is different from that of The man who married my aunty, although both expressions usually have the same reference. Phrases may, however, have sense, but
no reference. Another example is The present King of Indonesia is bald. We have no trouble comprehending the meaning of this sentence, eventhough Indonesia now has
2.5 Meaning
There are some opinions about meaning. For instances:
1. Bloomfield (1933:139) says, “Meaning of a linguistics form as a situation in
which the speakers utter it and response which it calls forth in the hearer.”
2. Lyons (1977:2) says, “ The meaning can be distinguished by the technique of
substituting other words in the same context and enquiry whether the
resulting sentences are equivalent.”
3. Crystal (1980:222) states, “This basic notion is used in linguistics both as
datum and as a criterion of analysis: linguists study meaning and also use
meaning as a criterion for studying other aspects of language (especially
through such notions as contrastivity and distinctiveness).”
By the definitions above, so semantics meaning depends on the grammatical
structure of the sentence. The meaning that the speakers say have to express their
ideas, minds and feelings.
2.6 Types of Meaning
There are two kinds of meaning, they are linguistic meaning and speaker
meaning (Siregar:1992).
2.6.1 Linguistic Meaning
Linguistic meaning is simply the meaning of an expression in some form of
language. In linguistics, meaning is expressed by the writer or speaker and what is
conveyed to the reader or listener provided that they talk about the same thing. The
knowledge of the reader or listener will determine how much or whether he or she
For examples:
1. I like to run.
2. The engines run well.
3. They run a mail – order house.
In standard British English, the word run means something different in each of the sentences. In other words, the word of run has more than one the linguistics meaning based on the context of the sentence or dictionary.
2.6.2 Speaker Meaning
Speaker meaning is what speaker means in producing an utterance. Although
words can’t be used to mean something what they do not mean, there is a tendency of
a speaker to use a word to mean something different from what words mean literally.
In saying, you are clever the speaker may mean ‘you are bright’ (intelligent).
Because the word clever means ‘bright mentally’, ‘have intelligence’ in English or he
may mean the opposite of what the word means. i.e. ‘you are stupid’.
The speaker meaning is classified in two parts, they are literal meaning and
non literal meaning.
2.6.2.1 Literal Meaning
Siregar (1992) says, “If we are speaking literally, then we mean what our
words mean”. Literal is actual words, or the real means not use figurative or symbolic. When the speaker speaks literal, he or she doesn’t have hidden meaning in
The following examples illustrate the literal meaning:
1. I am standing now.
2. My little brother goes to school everyday.
3. They are playing football in the yard.
All the sentences above are easily understood as long as the speakers mean
what they say lexically. In literal meaning there is no misunderstanding or
misinterpretation between the speaker and the listener.
2.6.2.2 Non Literal Meaning
Siregar (1992:10) says, “We sometimes mean something different from what our mean, in other words, we sometimes speak non-literally”. People sometimes speak non literal. When the speaker speaks non literally, therefore, means something
different from what the words mean. It is the opposite of literal meaning. In
additional the words or sentence which is spoken by the speaker have hidden
meaning beside the lexical meaning.
Everyday people may find many non literal meaning such as in novel, lyrics
of song, the Holy Bible, etc. Non literal meaning is very needed to make our
sentences or language more beautiful. The following example illustrate the non
There are so many terms of non literal meaning, such as figure of speech,
figurative expression and figurative language. Seed (1997:16) says, “Non literal
language is traditionally called figurative language which is described including by irony (facetious way of speaking), hyperbole (exaggerated way of speaking), metaphor, simile, personification and litotes. And the term ‘figurative language’ will be used in this thesis.
2.7 Figurative Language
Figurative language is language that uses words or expressions with a
meaning that is different from the literal interpretation. When a writer or speaker
uses literal language, he or she is simply stating the facts as they are. The writer or
speaker uses particular symbols to express the ideas.
Beckson & Ganz (1975:80) says, “Figurative language is language which
makes use of certain devices called figure of speech.” Most of which are techniques for comparing dissimilar objects, to achieve effects beyond the range of literal
language. Figurative language uses figures of speech, a way of saying something
other than the literal meaning of the words.
There are two purposes of using figurative language namely pragmatic
purpose and referential purpose. The referential purpose of using figurative language
is to describe mental process or state, a concept, a person, an object, a quality or an
action more comprehensively and concisely. And the pragmatic purpose of using
figurative language is to appeal the sense or interest, to clarify, to please, to delight
2.8 Kinds of Figurative Language
There are many kinds of figurative language. In this case, hyperbole,
metaphor, simile, litotes, personification and irony will be discussed. They are:
2.8.1 Hyperbole
Hyperbole is a large exaggeration. Exaggerated way is an expression to make
something bigger or greater than it really is. Kennedy (1978:496) says, “Most of us
from time to time emphasize a point with a statement containing exaggeration.” Etymologically, the word ‘hyperbole’ derived from the Greek word. It is from
two words; ‘hyper’ means ‘over’ and ‘ballein’ means ‘to throw’. It means hyperbole
is an extravagant exaggeration that represents something as much greater or less,
better or worse or more intense that it really is depicts the impossible as actual.
Examples:
1. He give me wings to fly.
2. He is breaking my heart again.
In the first expression consists of the exaggeration, because as human we
can’t fly. It means he gives me happiness. And in the second expression, it is
hyperbole. It means he hurts me again.
2.8.2 Metaphor
Metaphor is a mapping between two domains. It used for an expression which
to compare two unlike objects without using ‘like’ or ‘as’. Etymologically, the word
‘metaphor’ derived from Greek word, metaphor meaning ‘transfer’ or ‘carry over’. It
Barnhart (1995:118) says, “A metaphor is figure of speech in which a word
or phrase is taken out of its usual setting and placed with another word to suggest a likeness.”
Examples:
1. My mother is a strong tower.
2. She is the lightening.
In the first expression above, my mother is like a strong tower. It means my
mother is a strong woman. And in the second expression, her face is bright. It means
she is beautiful.
2.8.3 Simile
Simile is a comparison between two objects using like or as. The word simile and similar derived from the same Latin word, ‘simile’ means ‘like’.
Kennedy (1978:487) says, “A simile is a comparison of two unlike things, typically indicated by some connective, ‘like’ or ‘as’.” A simile is figurative of speech in which two quite different things are compared because they appear to be
similar in at least one characteristic.
Example:
1. His eyes was like the star.
In the expression above consists of simile. Eyes and star is comparing as a
2.8.4 Litotes
Litotes means saying less than is actually the case. Tarigan (1985:58) says,
“Litotes adalah sejenis gaya bahasa yang mengandung pernyataan yang
dikecil-kecilkan, dikurangi dari kenyataan yang sebenarnya, misalnya untuk merendahkan
diri.” In other words, a figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an
affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite.
Examples:
1. She is not as young as she was.
2. He is no oil painting.
In the first expression above consists of litotes. The speaker wants to
emphasize that she is old. And in the second expression, literally it means he is ugly.
2.8.5 Personification
Personification means giving an inhuman thing human qualities.
Personification derived from Latin word, persona meaning person, actor or mask used in the theater and fic means to make.
Keraf (1980:244) says, “Personifikasi adalah gaya bahasa yang melekatkan
sifat-sifat insani kepada barang yang tidak bernyawa dan ide yang abstrak. Juga
disebut penginsanan.” In other words, the object are likely considered as human
characteristics are attached to the objects themselves.
Example:
1. My pen is dancing on paper now.
2.8.6 Irony
Irony is facetious, sarcastical way of speaking. Irony means meaning the
opposite of what is said. Etymologically, the word irony derived from the Greek word eironeia meaning deception or trick.
Keraf (1991:143) says, “Ironi atau sindiran adalah suatu acuan yang ingin
mengatakan sesuatu dengan makna atau maksud berlainan dari apa yang terkandung dalam ungkapan kata-kata.”
Example:
1. Her kitchen is very clean.
In the expression above consists of irony. The speaker wants to emphasize
that she has the dirty kitchen.
2.9 Novel
Literature can be divided into fiction and non-fiction. Novel included the
form of fiction work. Novel is focuses on narrative or telling stories and has the form
of narrative. The fictional narrative, the novel's distinct ‘literary’ prose, specific
media requirements, a characteristic subject matter that creates intimacy and length
can be seen as features that developed with the Western and modern market of
fiction. The separation of the field of literary fiction from the field of historical
narrative fueled the evolution of these features in the last 400 years.
Novels are supposed to show qualities of literature and art, while historical
accounts are written with the intention to fuel a public debate over responsibilities. A
2.10 Previous Study
There are some writers have analyzed figurative language in poetry, lyrics
and the Holy Bible and they are:
Ramadhan (2004) in her thesis ‘The Analysis of Non-Literal Meaning in
Jascha Richter’s Lyrics in Michael Learns To Rock’s Songs’ she concluded that in
the lyrics there are 14 cases of metaphor, 7 cases of simile, 6 cases of personification,
6 cases of euphemism, 1 case of facetious way (irony) and 17 cases of exaggerated
way (hyperbole).
Perangin-angin (2008) in his thesis ‘An Analysis of Figurative Expressions in
The Holy Bible: Hebrew’ he concluded that in The Holy Bible there are 49 cases of
the using of figurative expressions. There are 20 cases for metaphor, 9 cases for
hyperbole, 5 cases of simile, 3 for synecdoche, 7 cases for irony, and 5 cases of
personification. These findings show us that metaphor becomes the most dominant
kinds of figurative expression that is used in Hebrew.
I am very interested in the findings of two thesis results above, because it
relates with title of my thesis. The equation is equally as discuss non-literal meaning.
While the difference is in the data source. Ramadan analyzes data in song lyrics and
Perangin-angin analyzes data in the Holy Bible. So, in this case I choose a novel
“The Pearl” by John Steinbeck to analyze it.
