2. Semantic analysis
The Wilkepedia website gives the following definition:
Semantic analysis is a process of relating syntactic
structures, from the level of phrases, clauses, sentences and paragraphs to the
level of the writing as a whole, to their language independent meanings,
removing features specific to particular linguistic and cultural contexts, to
the extend that such a project is possible»
Semantics is a branch of linguistics that deals with the study
of meaning in a language. It is linked to syntax. The main difference is that
syntax describes the rules by which words can be combined into sentences, while
semantics describes what they mean. Accordingly, Jerrold Katz and Jerry Fodor
(1963: 170) quote:
Linguistic description minus grammar equals semantic.
Syntax provides data to the semantic component which then interprets (gives
meaning to) the sentence.
A theory of language must explain only general principles of
phonology, morphology and syntax, but also meaning as Jerrold Katz and Jerry
Fodor (1963: 39) assert:
«At the heart of an adequate theory of language must
be an adequate theory of semantic structure.»
It means that semantics is really an important field as far as
linguistics is concerned. It allows readers understand the author's literary
creativeness. In this section, we are going to consider first referential
problem and then analysis of the misused lexical items found in The Slave
Girl.
Actually, some sentences of Buchi Emecheta's The
Slave Girl do not respect semantic rules. This is explained by the problem
of reference. In fact, in this novel, the author sometimes misses references of
lexical items. The following example is the issue in case:
After that, it seemed to Ojebeta's young mind that the
whole word was dying, one by one (Buchi Emecheta, 1977: 27)
In this sentence, it is interesting to note that this passage
raises the problem of reference. This is handled by the phrase «one by
one». Semantically, this phrase is irrelevant since there is only one
world. Additionally, this sentence is contradictory because «one by
one» is not in concordance with the «whole world».
The problem of reference is also raised throughout this
quotation: «But sleeping in the same room as her was hair
raising.» Actually, this sentence is inaccurate. What makes it
incorrect is the phrase «as her». But that leads us to imagine that
the narrator certainly wants to say «sleeping in the same room with
her...» or «sleeping in the same room as she does».
The problem of reference is also undertaken by the confusion
of the narrator's point of view and the character's one. In that case, it seems
difficult to handle the passage as illustrated in the example below:
For days she had cried silently, since the joy of letting
others know your sorrows was denied slaves like her. (Buchi Emecheta,
1977: 86)
Actually, it is interesting to assert that the construction of
this sentence is semantically inaccurate. It is expressed in reported speech,
that is to say it is the narrator who is reporting facts. In this sentence, the
author mixes the narrator's report with the characters' thoughts. What makes it
incorrect is the use of possessive adjective «your». Instead of
saying «your», the narrator would normally say «her»
because the second and first pronouns «your and my» refer to direct
speech.
As a matter of fact, another example of reference problem is
drawn from this passage: «She has missed Mother so, haven't you?
Chunking her under the chin» (Buchi Emecheta, 1977: 42). This case in
point is inaccurate. What makes it incorrect is use of the tag question
«haven't you?». Semantically speaking, the tag question must refer to
the person whom the addresser is speaking to. Since the doer in this sentence
is «she», the construction of this tag question must also finish with
«she» so that it be in concordance with its referent. In that case,
the construction of this tag question must be «hasn't she».
Apart from sentences being semantically inappropriate, Buchi
Emecheta's The Slave Girl has also good sentences capable of being
semantically analysed. Thus, the following sentence is the point in case:
«I think you're very wise» (Buchi Emecheta, 1977: 142). This
instance is semantically accurate since it can be easily divided into
constituents. In this respect, there are a doer «you», a verb
«are» and an object «very wise». This sentence respects
perfectly the construction of the subject- verb- complement.
In short, the sentence structure of Buchi Emecheta's The
Slave girl is mostly expressed in the simple style in order to allow her
readers understand clearly her writing. In other ways, syntax and semantic
analysis deal with the description of the different internal structures of
language that authors use in their writings. As a mater of fact, syntax
describes the rule by which words can be combined into sentences, while
semantics describes what they mean. Semantic features and syntactic features
may be combined; he uses «the term case to identify the underlying
syntactic-semantic relationships.»
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