What’s the difference between a phoneme, a phone, and an allophone ?
In order to really understand phonology and phonetics, you need to understand what the differences between a phoneme, a phone, …
The Cooperative Principle and the Four Maxims of Conversation
The Cooperative Principle describes how people work together to communicate. A core part of the Cooperative Principle is how speakers …
Examples of Reference and Sense
Reference Reference deals with the relationship between language and the real world. Take the name Barack Obama, for example. This …
What is circularity in semantics?
Circularity in semantics is an issue that occurs when trying to define a word. In order to understand a definition …
Metonym and Synecdoche
Metonym A metonym is the usage of a related word to represent something. For example using the term “ride” to refer …
Icon, index, and symbol
We often use words when communicating, but there are also other ways to communicate. Let’s briefly talk about icons, indexes, …
What is entailment? (With examples)
Entailment is something that is usually in the first couple of chapters in a semantics textbook. In my opinion, the …
