A semantic domain is a specific place that shares a set of meanings, or a language that holds its meaning, within the given context of the place. Harriet Ottenheimer (2006), a writer in
Linguistic Anthropology
Linguistic anthropology is the interdisciplinary study of how language influences social life. It is a branch of anthropology that originated from the endeavor to document endangered languages and has grown over the past century to encompass mos ...
, defines a
semantic
Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy, linguistics and compu ...
domain as a “specific area of cultural emphasis”.
In
lexicography
Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries.
* Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries.
* Theoretica ...
a semantic domain or
semantic field
In linguistics, a semantic field is a lexical set of words grouped semantically (by meaning) that refers to a specific subject.Howard Jackson, Etienne Zé Amvela, ''Words, Meaning, and Vocabulary'', Continuum, 2000, p14. The term is also used in ...
is defined as "an area of meaning and the words used to talk about it ... For instance English has a domain ‘Rain’, which includes words such as rain, drizzle, downpour, raindrop, puddle.". Semantic domains are the foundational concept for initial stages of vernacular dictionary building projects. This uses techniques such as
SIL International's ''Dictionary Development Process'' (DDP)
RapidWords or software such a
WeSayo
FLEx These techniques rely on extensive lists of semantic domains that are relevant to vernacular languages.
In the
social sciences
Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of socie ...
, the concept of semantic domains stemmed from the ideas of
cognitive anthropology
Cognitive anthropology is an approach within cultural anthropology and biological anthropology in which scholars seek to explain patterns of shared knowledge, cultural innovation, and transmission over time and space using the methods and theor ...
. The quest was originally to see how the words that groups of humans use to describe certain things are relative to the underlying perceptions and meanings that those groups share (Ottenheimer, 2006, p. 18).
Ethnosemantics became the field that concentrated around the study of these semantic domains, and more specifically the study of how categorization and context of words and groups of words reflected the ways that different cultures categorize words into speech and assign meaning to their language.
Examples
Many sports have specific semantic domains that entail terminology that is specific to that particular sport. In order to understand the meanings of these terms one would need to understand the context and domain of that sport. For instance, in
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
there are many words that are specific to the sport.
Free throw
In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the restricted area. Free throws ...
,
court,
half court
Half-court is a term used in basketball for the middle of the court. A half court shot taken from the half-court, referred to as a half-court shot, is a shot taken from beyond the 3-pointer line as defined by a semicircular line before the 2-pointe ...
,
three pointer, and
point guard
The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run the team's offense by ...
are all terms that are specific to the sport of basketball. These words make very little sense when used outside of the semantic domain of basketball.
Another example of a semantic domain would be a
coffee shop
Coffee shop may refer to:
Shops and establishments
* Coffeehouse or café, an establishment where coffee is served
* Coffeeshop (Netherlands), a place where cannabis products are sold and consumed
* Coffee shop, in the U.S., a casual, popular-pri ...
. The words
latte
Caffè latte (), often shortened to just latte () in English, is a coffee beverage of Italian origin made with espresso and steamed milk. Variants include the chocolate-flavored mocha or replacing the coffee with another beverage base such as m ...
,
cappuccino
A cappuccino (; ; Italian plural: ''cappuccini'') is an espresso-based coffee drink that originated in Austria and was later popularized in Italy and is prepared with steamed milk foam ( microfoam).
Variations of the drink involve the use of ...
, or
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain.
As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 cou ...
probably would not be understood unless one could associate this language with the semantic domain of a coffee shop.
Other Articles and Research Related to Semantic Domains
Gugeon, J.A., Linde, C., (1980)
"On The Independence of Discourse Structure and Semantic Domain" Association for Computational Linguistics
The Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL) is a scientific and professional organization for people working on natural language processing. Its namesake conference is one of the primary high impact conferences for natural language proces ...
Proceedings, 18th Annual Meeting, 35-37.
Rusch, C.D., (2004). ''Cross-cultural variability of the semantic domain of emotion terms : an examination of English shame and embarrass with Japanese hazukashii''. Cross-cultural research
Link
Wilbur, R.B., (1999). ''The Semantic Domain of Classifiers in American Sign Language''. Language and Speech, v42 n2-3 p229-50
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Semantic Domain
Semantics
Semantic relations