Semantic Change (Linguistic)
Why the meaning of word change? In an example, which word you choose; “perempuan” or “wanita”? Cited from Alan Cruse in his book, A Glossary of Semantics and Pragmatics, there are six kind of semantic change. He gives sample from English language , and below is the elaboration. Gain and loss of meaning. With the advent of personal computers, an obvious example of a word that has gained a meaning is mouse. A word which has lost a meaning is direction. In Jane Austen’s day, one of the meanings of direction was what we now call address (e.g. on an envelope). This represents a concomitant gain for the word address. A new meaning is frequently a metaphoric or metonymic extension from an earlier meaning. Change of default meaning. A primary meaning may become secondary. A hundred years ago the primary meaning of expire was ‘die’. This meaning still exists but it is somewhat archaic. The primary meaning now is ‘come to the end of a period of validity’. Semantic drift As...