What is Sentential Semantics?

• A. The study of how the meanings of individual words combine to form the meaning of sentences
• B. The study of the smallest units of meaning in words
• C. The rules of sentence order
• D. The sounds of speech

Answer: (A)

Sentential semantics is about how the meanings of individual words come together to form the meaning of an entire sentence. It focuses on how we combine word meanings according to grammar to create a proposition that can be true or false in a given situation. The idea of compositionality is central: the overall meaning is built from the meanings of the parts and the way they are put together in the sentence structure. For example, the meanings of “dog,” “chased,” and “cat” combine with who did the chasing and who was chased to convey a specific event, and changing word order or verb choice can change who is doing what to whom. This topic sits at the intersection of vocabulary and how sentences express ideas, rather than the sounds of language or the rules that govern word order alone. The other options point to smaller units of meaning within words, or to syntax and phonology, which are related areas but do not capture how sentence meaning arises from word meanings.