This
is a broad topic as semantic analysis can take many avenues of consideration, though some are
more relevant to literature. Semantic analysis follows parsing, which describes language, we'll
say text, in terms of grammatical parts. Semantic analysis relates the parsing to meaning
(semantics: the study of meaning) as it relates to cultural/social context. Semantic analysis
determines how meaning in a defined context (i.e., social/cultural) is constructed by the
speaker/writer, we'll say writer; is interpreted by the decoder (i.e., reader/listener); is
illustrated or contradicted; etc.
Part of semantic analysis involves
recognizing cultural elements of language, like , figures of speech, and idioms, and
paraphrasing these to common generalized code, which incidentally alters the writer's style:
"You talk like an old man" might become, "You sound as though you are in
despair."
Some ways in which the parsed text--its words, phrases,
clauses, sentences, and paragraphs--may be related to the text as a whole are through analysis
for ; for inference; for pragmaticism.
- Connotation: cultural
associations with a word that reflect emotional, experiential, or psychological reactions to a
word. - Inference: what is meant without being said; the meaning the writer
wants to convey without writing it. - Pragmatism in linguistics: a person's
awareness of cultural conventions, etiquettes, mores, expectations that depend upon familiarity
with the cultural.
A semantic analysis of any short story would
include the steps that follow and start by relating the parsing to the cultural context of the
story. In "Well-Lighted Place," you might note at the word level that the vocabulary
is simple, for example, there are more English words than Latinate words. At the phrase level,
you might note that verb phrases and noun phrase are very simple: had left, the cafe, the
electric light, the day, was, a little drunk. At the clause level, you might note that the
narrator uses many embedded clauses: an old man who sat; the street was dusty, but at night; at
night the dew settled the dust and the old man liked to sit. At the sentence level, you might
note that while the narrator uses long sentences, though simply composed, the characters use
short sentences. At the paragraph level, you will note that the characters' culturally biased
speech patterns create many short paragraphs, with the longest near the end of the
story.
A cultural connotation applies to Hemingway's use of
"despair":
"He was in
despair."
"What about?"
"Nothing."
"How
do you know it was nothing?"
"He has plenty of money."
The connotation is that the old man's despair was existential--in a
post-world war world--because his money was enough to have fixed anything that was wrong. When
speaking of the soldier and girl, there is an inference that life is so given to despair that
momentary physical pleasure is of the greatest importance:
"The guard will pick him up," one waiter said.
"What does it
matter if he gets what he's after?"
The younger
waiter's pragmatism may be said to fit in with his culture as his life agrees with the
soldier's: "I have a wife waiting in bed for me." The older waiter's pragmatism--as
well as the old man's--may be said to be out of accord with the culture as the older waiter
holds ideas about the cafe and bodegas that do not accord with the cultural norm:
"Otro loco mas [You are very crazy]," said the barman [to
the older waiter] and turned away.
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantics">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantics
