Which component is primarily concerned with the meanings of words and sentences?

• A. Morphology
• B. Syntax
• C. Semantics
• D. Pragmatics

Answer: (C)

Semantics focuses on meanings: the meanings of words and how those meanings combine to convey the meaning of sentences. It covers both word-level meaning (what a word like "bank" or "apple" means) and sentence-level meaning (how those word meanings come together to express a statement). This is different from morphology, which looks at word forms and structure; from syntax, which governs how words are arranged into phrases and sentences; and from pragmatics, which deals with meaning in context, including speaker intent and implied messages. For example, semantics would address the fact that "bank" has multiple ordinary meanings, and how the overall sentence is understood regardless of the context, while pragmatics would consider which meaning is intended given the situation.