semantic analysis

(noun)

The process of relating syntactic structures, from the levels of phrases, clauses, sentences and paragraphs to the level of the writing as a whole, to their language-independent meanings, removing features specific to particular linguistic and cultural contexts, to the extent that such a project is possible.

Related Terms

Examples of semantic analysis in the following topics:

  • Types of Internet Advertising

    • Types of Internet advertising include banner, semantic, affiliate, social networking, and mobile.
    • For example, if a user is known to have recently visited a number of automotive websites based on clickstream analysis enabled by cookies stored on the user's computer, that user can then be served auto-related ads when they visit other, non-automotive sites.
    • Semantic analysis techniques are also used to accurately interpret and classify the meaning or context of the page's content and then populate it with targeted advertisements.
    • Semantic web content is closely linked to advertising to increase viewer interest engagement with the advertised product or service.

  • Social Media Marketing Communications

    • Today, new semantic analysis technologies allow marketers to detect buying signals based on shared and posted online content.

  • Social Behavior of Consumers

    • Observing and understanding how consumers behave and interact with each other has led to the introduction of new semantic analysis technologies allowing companies to monitor consumer buying patterns based on shared and posted content.

  • Detail on Types of Long-Term Memory

    • Explicit memory can be further sub-divided into semantic memory, which concerns facts, and episodic memory, which concerns primarily personal or autobiographical information.
    • Another type of semantic memory is called a script.
    • Through practice, you learn these scripts and encode them into semantic memory.
    • Semantic and episodic memory are closely related; memory for facts can be enhanced with episodic memories associated with the fact, and vice versa.
    • Likewise, semantic memories about certain topics, such as football, can contribute to more detailed episodic memories of a particular personal event, like watching a football match.

  • Long-Term Memory

    • Semantic memory involves abstract factual knowledge, such as "Albany is the capital of New York."
    • You use semantic memory when you take a test. 
    • Another type of semantic memory is called a script.
    • Through practice, you learn these scripts and encode them into semantic memory.
    • Semantic and episodic memory are closely related; memory for facts can be enhanced with episodic memories associated with the fact, and vice versa.

  • Levels of Processing

    • There are three levels of processing for verbal data: structural, phonetic, and semantic.
    • These levels progress from the most shallow (structural) to the deepest (semantic).
    • To return to the example of trying to remember the name of a restaurant: if the name of the restaurant has no semantic meaning to you (for instance, if it's a word in another language, like "Vermicelli"), you might still be able to remember the name if you have processed it phonetically and can think, "It started with a V sound and it rhymed with belly."
    • Semantic processing is when we apply meaning to words and compare/relate it to words with similar meanings.
    • One example of taking advantage of deeper semantic processing to improve retention is using the method of loci.

  • Sanskrit

    • Around 500 BCE, the ancient scholar Panini standardized the grammar of Vedic Sanskrit, including 3,959 rules of syntax, semantics, and morphology (the study of words and how they are formed and relate to each other).
    • Panini’s Astadhyayi is the most important of the surviving texts of Vyakarana, the linguistic analysis of Sanskrit, consisting of eight chapters laying out his rules and their sources.

  • Noise as a Barrier to Communication

    • Semantic noise refers to when a speaker and a listener have different interpretations of the meanings of certain words.

  • Other Steps

    • There are four main types of encoding that can occur within the brain - visual, elaborative, acoustic and semantic.
    • Semantic encoding is the use of sensory input that has certain meaning or context to encode and create memories.
    • Some strategies used in semantic encoding include chunking and mnemonics.

  • Introduction to Language

    • Semantics, most generally, is about the meaning of sentences.
    • Someone who studies semantics is interested in words and what real-world object or concept those words denote, or point to.
    • These include phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics.