(Q14653)

In componential analysis, one of several features which together can be said to make up the semantic meaning of a word or utterance. Thus "raining" could be analyzed into the component features "precipitation", "liquid" (not "solid" as in "hail"), "average" (not "light" as /drizzling/ or "heavy" as /pouring/), etc. [...] Alternative terms: semantic feature, semantic [component], semantic marker. [Hartmann and Stork 1972: 203]. The class of linguistic properties that pertain to semantic units. The units that underlie our intuitions about literal meaning and are associated with the grammatical structure of a language. [Frawley 1953: 12]