Semantics is about the relation of words to thoughts, but it also about the relation of words to other human concerns. Semantics is about the relation of words to reality—the way that speakers commit themselves to a shared understanding of the truth, and the way their thoughts are anchored to things and situations in the world. It is about the relation of words to a community—how anew word, which arises in an act of creation by a single speaker, comest o evoke the same idea in the rest of a population, so people can understand one another when they use it. It is about the relation of words to emotions: the way in which words don’t just point to things but are saturated with feelings, which can endow the words with a sense of magic, taboo, and sin. And it is about words and social relations-how people use language not just to transfer ideas from head to head but to negotiate the kind of relationship they wish to have with their conversational partner.
–Semantics | Video by CrashCourse
