ABSTRACT
This chapter first outlines semantic dimensions; they are to senses what length, breadth, and height are to physical objects. Four of the dimensions, for example, are: the scale from generality to particularity; the scale from vagueness to precision; point of view (as in deixis – e.g. this/that); and the gradient from a sense element’s being necessary to the sense, through being expected in the sense, to being merely possible, as an “association”. Second, the chapter explains the uses to which senses are put and the effect those uses have on the basic sense. (The main uses are referential versus descriptive use, and unmarked use versus marked use, such as figurative use; they are shown to be more far-reaching in semantics than is usually recognised.) The dimensions and uses of meaning are main explanatory concepts in the book, adding to meaning types outlined in Chapter 3.
