Semantic space: Difference between revisions

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A '''semantic space''' is a domain of [[content word]]s including broad definitions, which map onto a wide range of words in other languages. The phrase has become common to describe the meaning of Toki Pona words. It rests on a specific understanding of how words and meanings are related, which this article outlines.

Many existing [[dictionaries]] present a limited, discrete list of related translations within each Toki Pona word's semantic space, without giving a clearer sense of the size and shape of the underlying meaning. The semantic space explanation is meant to avoid misconceptions with these definition lists by describing "the range of possible meanings of a word."<ref>{{cite web|url=lipamanka.gay|title={{tok|LIPUmanka}}|website={{tok|lipamanka}}.gay|author={{tok|[[lipamanka]]}}}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=//lipamanka.gay/essays/semantic-spaces|title=on the definitions of toki pona words|author={{tok|[[lipamanka]]}}|username=|date=|website=lipamanka.gay|publisher=|access-date=|quote=}}</ref> {{tok|[[lipamanka]]}} has created a dictionary that describes semantic spaces in full prose.<ref>{{cite lipamanka}}</ref>

Many existing [[dictionaries]] present a limited, discrete list of related translations within each Toki Pona word's semantic space, without giving a clearer sense of the size and shape of the underlying meaning. The semantic space explanation is meant to avoid misconceptions with these definition lists by describing "the range of possible meanings of a word."<ref>{{cite web|url=//lipamanka.gay|title={{tok|LIPUmanka}}|website={{tok|lipamanka}}.gay|author={{tok|[[lipamanka]]}}}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=//lipamanka.gay/essays/semantic-spaces|title=on the definitions of toki pona words|author={{tok|[[lipamanka]]}}|username=|date=|website=lipamanka.gay|publisher=|access-date=|quote=}}</ref> {{tok|[[lipamanka]]}} has created a dictionary that describes semantic spaces in full prose.<ref>{{cite lipamanka}}</ref>

[[w:Semantics|Semantics]] is the study of the meaning of things said using the language; it's opposed to syntax (the way the words of the language are put together to build larger structures like sentences) and pragmatics (the way the speakers of the language use it in context). It includes questions of sense, reference and inference. An individual word can be represented as a point in a [[w:Word embedding|space of many dimensions]]. It turns out that under the right circumstances these points can be mapped to words so that words that have similar meanings are also close to one another in this space; using this you can find synonyms of a given word by examining nearby points.

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==References==