Every person faces the principles of linguistics, as a humanities science, in everyday life, without even realizing this fact. The language reflects the history of the people speaking it. To study this fact in more detail, it is necessary to delve into the origin of certain terms.
Linguistics and its sections
The concept of linguistics speaks for itself. This knowledge of language, its origin, role for people and the classification of constituent elements. All obsolete words and neologisms are in the field of this industry. Thus, linguistics is engaged in the study of the functions and structure of the language.
Meaning of the word “semasiology”
This term is one of the most important sections of linguistics. From the Greek language is translated as "the doctrine of designation." This word has several interpretations, but the most common: semasiology is a science that studies the meaning of the word.
History of occurrence
Ideas about semasiology appeared in ancient times. The thinkers of that time thought about questions of changing the meaning of a word depending on the context: is it always the image that the speaker puts in, as a semantic load, reaches the listener? What picture appears in the imagination of the interlocutor after decoding the information? These issues were considered separately from linguistics or linguistics.
Then it was believed that semasiology is all the information transmitted through speech. Only by the end of the XIX century, scientists identified a new branch of science - semantics and the main components. The term was proposed by Michel Breal, a French linguist and historian. The scientist worked on comparing the symbolism of mythological traditions of different peoples and believed that semasiology is the study of the meaning of the described objects. Now such an activity would be attributed to onomasiology.
Designation of another branch of linguistics
"Onomasiology" is translated from Greek as the doctrine of the name. The denotation of this science, that is, the purpose of study, is the sign, the form of the word, and not the meaning. In turn, the object-denotatum of semasiology is the meaning of the word fixed in the mind. Linguist Mikhail Mikhailovich Pokrovsky, a Russian philologist and literary critic, was the first scientist to predict the emergence of onomasiology, since at the beginning of the 20th century there was a need to study the language in the field that this science is now engaged in.
The first practical application of knowledge was reflected in the study of similar words in related languages. This science helps to understand the nature of the language and is based on the analysis of names, proper and common names in different languages. A similar approach is used in the study of name changes, in the preparation of synonymous chains and ways of expressing the same concept in different languages.
Conflict of the branches of linguistics
Modern scholars consider semasiology and onomasiology as interconnected sciences. But in the last century, many linguists believed that onomasiology is based on semasiology, thus extolling one of the sciences and belittling the other. The scientist F. Bruno did not agree with this point of view. In his scientific work “Thought and Language”, the main categories of onomasiological grammar were expressed, which refute the “uselessness” of science.
The principle of linguistics
There are two roles for perceiving information in dialogue. During communication, one of the communicators acts as a listener, decoding the meaning of what was said, that is, decrypts the message. Communication of information is manifested in the form of sounds. The speaker exposes the thoughts to the sound that the listener perceives. The brain processes the information received, and the person understands the meaning of the spoken speech. Decoding is so fast that a person does not even pay attention to this process. Neurons located in the human brain form networks. The more such entities, the faster and better information is perceived and processed.
He who speaks and convicts thought into sound is the referent. The denotatus perceives information, and the signature specifies the said information. For example, a conversation between two people is about a dog. The referent names the object, the denotation relates the spoken word "dog" to the animals section, and the signature specifies which dog is in question. Typically, context serves this purpose. So, the first way of communication is when a thought becomes a sound, and the second is to decipher the meaning. These two types of information transfer are studied by semasiology and onomasiology.
The difference between the sections of linguistics
Thus, we can conclude that semasiology is a science that studies the perception of the text by the listener or reader, and onomasiology is the speaker. The goal of these sciences is similar - to consider the meaning of the word for one of the parties. Therefore, these branches of linguistics are inextricable in the study. In addition to a similar goal, sciences have slight differences. Semasiology draws attention to the polysemy or polysemy of a word, and onomasiology draws attention to the synonymy of words, or their similarity in meaning, as well as the context of what was said.
Semasiology and onomasiology are two sciences that cannot exist separately, since they complement and expand the sphere of activity of each other.