Semantics is the part of linguistics that studies meaning in language.
It is concerned with the relationship between signifiers—like words,
phrases, signs, and symbols—and what they stand for in reality, their
denotation.
The formal study of semantics intersects with many other fields of
inquiry, including lexicology, syntax, pragmatics, etymology and others.
Independently, semantics is also a well-defined field in its own right,
often with synthetic properties. In the philosophy of language,
semantics and reference are closely connected. Further related fields
include philology, communication, and semiotics. The formal study of
semantics can therefore be manifold and complex.
Semantics contrasts with syntax, the study of the combinatorics of units
of a language (without reference to their meaning), and pragmatics, the
study of the relationships between the symbols of a language, their
meaning, and the users of the language. Semantics as a field of study
also has significant ties to various representational theories of
meaning including truth theories of meaning, coherence theories of
meaning, and correspondence theories of meaning. Each of these is
related to the general philosophical study of reality and the
representation of meaning.
