Editing Semantics (section)

=== Lexical semantics ===
{{main|Lexical semantics}}

Lexical semantics is the sub-field of semantics that studies word meaning.<ref>{{multiref | {{harvnb|Geeraerts|2017|loc=Lead Section}} | {{harvnb|Taylor|2017|pp=[https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-handbook-of-cognitive-linguistics/lexical-semantics/798AB6901B9AD5B0AC42C94A52EC8ECF 246–247]}} | {{harvnb|Pustejovsky|2006|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=cxYGQfiD_1oC&pg=PT11380 98–100]}} | {{harvnb|Pustejovsky|2009|p=476}} | {{harvnb|Márquez|2011|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=TkKVwYcG8Q4C&pg=PA146 146]}} }}</ref> It examines semantic aspects of individual words and the [[vocabulary]] as a whole. This includes the study of lexical relations between words, such as whether two terms are synonyms or antonyms.<ref>{{multiref | {{harvnb|Geeraerts|2017|loc=Lead Section, § 1. The Descriptive Scope of Lexical Semantics}} | {{harvnb|Pustejovsky|2009|p=476}} | {{harvnb|Márquez|2011|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=TkKVwYcG8Q4C&pg=PA146 146–147]}} }}</ref> Lexical semantics categorizes words based on semantic features they share and groups them into semantic fields unified by a common subject.<ref>{{multiref | {{harvnb|Geeraerts|2017|loc=Lead Section, § 1.3 Lexical Fields and Componential Analysis}} | {{harvnb|Yule|2010|pp=113–115}} }}</ref> This information is used to create taxonomies to organize lexical knowledge, for example, by distinguishing between physical and [[Abstract object|abstract entities]] and subdividing physical entities into [[Mass noun|stuff]] and [[Count noun|individuated entities]].<ref>{{harvnb|Pustejovsky|2009|p=479}}</ref> Further topics of interest are polysemy, ambiguity, and [[vagueness]].<ref>{{multiref | {{harvnb|Pustejovsky|2006|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=cxYGQfiD_1oC&pg=PT11380 98–100]}} | {{harvnb|Geeraerts|2017|loc=§ 1.1 Polysemy and Vagueness}} }}</ref>

Lexical semantics is sometimes divided into two complementary approaches: [[semasiology]] and [[onomasiology]]. Semasiology starts from words and examines what their meaning is. It is interested in whether words have one or several meanings and how those meanings are related to one another. Instead of going from word to meaning, onomasiology goes from meaning to word. It starts with a concept and examines what names this concept has or how it can be expressed in a particular language.<ref>{{multiref | {{harvnb|Geeraerts|2017|loc=§ 1. The Descriptive Scope of Lexical Semantics}} | {{harvnb|Noth|1990|p=106}} | {{harvnb|Taylor|2017|pp=[https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-handbook-of-cognitive-linguistics/lexical-semantics/798AB6901B9AD5B0AC42C94A52EC8ECF 246–247]}} }}</ref>

Some semanticists also include the study of lexical units other than words in the field of lexical semantics. [[Compound (linguistics)|Compound expressions]] like ''being under the weather'' have a non-literal meaning that acts as a unit and is not a direct function of its parts. Another topic concerns the meaning of morphemes that make up words, for instance, how negative [[prefix]]es like ''in-'' and ''dis-'' affect the meaning of the words they are part of, as in ''inanimate'' and ''dishonest''.<ref>{{multiref | {{harvnb|L'Homme|2020|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=jdbHDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT89 67–69]}} | {{harvnb|Trips|2009|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=gsNjdT8iArQC&pg=PA236 236]}} | {{harvnb|Andreou|2015|loc=Abstract}} }}</ref>