Language Semantics: Word Frequency, Context, and Action Semantics Walden University(USE AS GUIDE ONLY)

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Running head: LANGUAGE, CONTEXT AND ACTION

Language Semantics: Word Frequency, Context, and Action Semantics
Walden University
Running head: LANGUAGE, CONTEXT AND ACTION
Abstract

Communicating meaning is the essential function of language. However, this paper explores
how language semantics is dependent on the range of other factors external to language.
Research reviewed demonstrates how language semantics is aided by the statistical distribution
of keywords within a body of work, the context in which language is used, and the essential role
of a listener's prior experience with language. Research addressing language and action also
show how action semantics stored in cortical areas involved with motor control are essential to
planning an action, predicting an observed action, and the salience of an action. Implications of
these insights are discussed.
Keywords: language, semantics, context, syntax, actions, personal experience
Running head: LANGUAGE, CONTEXT AND ACTION
Language Semantics: Word Frequency, Context, and Action Semantics
Is language as a collection of words and grammar sufficient to communicate meaning?
Is word syntax or semantics alone enough to foster clarity of understanding? While language
circumscribes the limitations of expressibility (Bierwisch, 2011), how might expressibility
through language rely on factors outside of it? This paper explores these questions by reviewing
research on the way word frequency and distribution, contextual situational factors, and action
meaning influence language understanding and its semantic properties. In this paper research is
reviewed demonstrating that semantic information is not limited to morphemes, syntax, and
grammar, but is also conveyed in the very structure and the organization of words in large
written pieces, by the context in which language occurs, and by actions which shape our
relationship to described objects or situations supported by specific neural motor systems and
embodied language processing. The discussion will begin by reviewing research exploring the
relationship of semantic information to the organization, distribution, and frequency of words in
text.

Semantics, Word Frequency and Distribution

Noting that semantics describes the capacity of language to symbolically signify the
meaning of thoughts, ideas, feelings, and objects in words such that intricate meaning can be
conveyed in a set or ordered words, Montemurro and Zanette (2010) applied information theory to
attempt to quantify statistically how much semantic information is embedded in written language
based on how words are organized within text. In other words, how might semantic information
extend beyond grammar or syntax and be represented in how themes are configured in text and
subsequently influence how words are applied and patterned throughout a written document
(Montemurro, et al., 2010). Evaluating the lexicon within three major literary works

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Course: Language Semantics: Word Frequency, Context, and Action Semantics Walden University(USE AS GUIDE ONLY)
Subject: Language Semantics: Word Frequency, Context, and Action Semantics Walden University(USE AS GUIDE ONLY)
Subject code: Language Semantics: Word Frequency, Context, and Action Semantics Walden University(USE AS GUIDE ONLY)
Year of study: 17-18
Document
Section: Homework & Assignments
Made on: 29-01-2020
Type: .pdf
Pages: 15
Language: English
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Language Semantics: Word Frequency Context and Action Semantics Walden University(USE AS GUIDE ONLY)