Some Fundamental Issues in Semantics

Abstract

A number of approaches to meaning have suffered from not taking into account all levels and aspects of meaning. The attempt is made here to relate together all the different types of meaning, linguistic and non-linguistic, and to show as well the relevance of such elements as the situational or pragmatic matrix and the fact that language is a dynamism, a process, not a static entity. The purpose of the paper, therefore, is to create an awareness of the complexities and problems that have to be faced when linguists deal with linguistic meaning.