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I hear philosophers of language throw around these terms (like this term lacks semantic value, or this one is a semantic failure) but I have no idea what they mean. I know there is some overlap with linguistics since this area of philosophy is often concerned with stuff like syntax, so I was wondering if these terms are also used in linguistics and if anyone has a good grasp on what they actually mean. My understanding is just in terms of sentences. My understanding is that the semantic content of a word is what it contributes to a sentence we want to evaluate, but I have no idea if this is right or not. The only website I could find was this one but it does not seem trustworthy so now I am asking here.

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  • I wouldn’t say either of those are fixed terms with specific meanings. If you say something has no semantic content/value, that just roughly means it has no discernible meaning – either because it exclusively denotes something metalinguistic (such as filler words like ‘erm’) or because it’s plain gibberish. But if someone described a word or sentence by saying that its semantic content differs from its semantic value, I for one wouldn’t know what that was supposed to mean (though a semanticist might). Commented Nov 12 at 13:14
  • You have to cite examples of use by actual writers. Commented Nov 12 at 17:53
  • @Lambie "In this entry, the focus is on two sorts of “theory of meaning”. The first sort of theory—a semantic theory—is a theory which assigns semantic contents to expressions of a language." or "given such-and-such philosophical view, natural kind terms like water lack semantic content." Basically, what is the 'semantic content' or 'semantic value' of an expression? If it is the meaning, then how would meaning be explained? Commented Nov 12 at 19:43
  • It depends on the linguist. But bear in mind that semantic is an adjective. The noun is semantics. You can substitute: the semantics of a word for the "semantic value or content" of a word, generally speaking. And if you want to know more about it, you have to study the field of semantics. Commented Nov 12 at 20:02
  • I think the term “semantic” is primarily used to refer to the logical meaning behind something since we have syntactically but not semantically correct sentences such as: “Rain was pouring down in a sunny day”. Though this sentence is grammatically correct (some might disagree), it lacks proper semantic (logically it’s impossible to rain in a sunny day — again, some might disagree. Commented Nov 13 at 11:21

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