The article is dedicated to semantic analysis of term «U-turn» with the aim to define the meaning. Definition of the term as well as semantics are given. Some examples of the UK politics are taken to express the meaning. Comparison of «U-turn» and «reform» is provided for feature outline.
Keywords : semantics, U-turn, reform.
It is common thing when people change their opinion on some matters after particular time, especially when it comes to the government of a country. Additional uncertain situational changes like COVID-19 pandemic become essential and determining factor on making decisions. Furthermore, it is not a secret that politicians tend to be changeable during special events such as elections and debates which is happening nowadays in Great Britain.
Semantics, the study of word meaning and sentence meaning, abstracted away from contexts of use, is a descriptive subject. It is an attempt to describe and understand the nature of the knowledge about meaning in their language that people have from knowing the language. It is not a prescriptive enterprise with an interest in advising or pressuring speakers or writers into abandoning some meanings and adopting others (though pedants can certainly benefit from studying the semantics of a language they want to lay down rules about, to become clear on what aspects of conventional meaning they dislike and which they favour). A related point is that one can know a language perfectly well without knowing its history. Historical linguists investigating language change over time sometimes concern themselves with semantic (and pragmatic) matters. They are then doing historical (linguistic) semantics (and/or pragmatics). [1]
Semantics is central to the study of communication; and as communication becomes more and more a crucial factor in social organization, they need to understand it becomes more and more pressing. Semantics is also at the centre of the study of the human mind — thought processes, cognition, conceptualization — all these are intricately bound up with the way in which we classify and convey our experience of the world through language. What Geoffrey Leech stated about semantics is that he emphasized its rule on a broader sense — communication in social organization and our experience of the world which se convey through thought processes and the like. From Leech’s point of view it seems to us that understanding language means understanding meaning, thus meaning would be the starting point in communication. We can see for example in the sentence below how we tend to focus on its meaning first despite its ungrammatical form: I go to Jakarta last week. We can be easily understood and our communication still keep going on through thought process which meaning is bound up which causes the communication flows. Thus semantics is also an empiric study of meaning. [3]
Meanings are often personal. The meaning of any sign depends on the space-time context in which we observe it. Conventional signs can have different meanings in different contexts or different circumstances. The whistle of a policeman directing traffic, the whistle of a hotel doorman summoning a taxi, and the whistle of the referee in a soccer game may all sound exactly the same; their different meanings are due to the difference of context in which the signal occurs. They have different intentions and are interpreted differently. Words are linguistic signs, similar in certain respects to natural and conventional signs. They do not ‘have meanings’ but rather are capable of conveying meanings to those who can perceive, identify and interpret. Words go together to form sentences which in turn are capable of conveying meanings—the meanings of the individual words and the meaning that comes from the relation of these words to one another. [2]
Nevertheless, studying the meaning of any word requires the information from the dictionaries, the main source containing the concrete definition of a word. Cambridge Dictionary defines the term «U-turn» as «a turn made by a car in order to go back in the direction from which it has come» and «a complete change from one opinion or plan of action to an opposite one». The latter definition is related to politics.
It is quite complicated to derive the meaning of word «U-turn» from a single sentence which contains this word. However, there is possibility to understand the term from the situational context that can be understood as U-turn. Such examples of U-turn actions are provided in the UK magazine, The Guardian:
«Vaccine passport plans were dropped only two weeks after Downing Street insisted it would press ahead. Within another two days, the prime minister raised the prospect yet again«.
«Ministers backed away from their initial refusal to support 125 Afghan guards who protected the British embassy in Kabul before its fall. It later emerged only one had made it to the UK».
«In his 2019 manifesto, Johnson promised overseas aid spending of 0.7 % of GDP. About a year and a half later, he cut billions of pounds from the budget«.
«A day after urging children to return to classrooms, insisting it was safe, Johnson announced it was not safe even to leave the house and locked England down.
«Mass testing was ended despite World Health Organization (WHO) advice that it was vital. The health secretary, Matt Hancock, subsequently announced a target of 500,000 tests a day by the end of October 2020».
«The government insisted face coverings should not be mandatory in shops because people would not be in close proximity for long. Weeks later, they became mandatory in England».
Despite this, it should be noted that not every drastic change in the government policy is considered to be U-turn because there is a term called «reform» («an improvement or set of improvements made to a system, law, organization, etc. in order to make it more modern or effective«[4]) as well as for describing the changes.
The distinguishing feature of U-turn is mass disapproval of the changes and the way how they are taken — as it is apparent from the examples provided above, U-turn actions were made in very limited amount of time, the gap between the orders are absolutely short.
In addition, U-turn opinion or action has no particular plan on its basis according to which something was intended to get done. That is the main factor defining the term, resulting in confusion arising in the society and, eventually, in disapproval.
While the reform is aimed to increase the effectiveness of a particular system or organization and modernize it, U-turn actions are more try-and-see model and it is mostly proven to be wrong. So that, adverse effects of such decisions are diminished just due to the opposite actions.
Having analyzed the term «U-turn», it can be concluded that this word is referred to immediate changes announced by officials to correct the previous mistakes by taking the reverse measures. Short time gap, lack of planning and reversibility of actions are features that differentiate the term «U-turn» from the word «reform». U-turn actions are mostly disapproved by the society which experiences the outcomes of the measures.
References:
- Griffiths, P. An Introduction to English Semantics and Pragmatics / P. Griffiths. — Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2006. — 192 c. — Текст: непосредственный.
- Kreidler, C. W. Introducing English Semantics / C. W. Kreidler. — London: Routledge, 1998. — 345 c. — Текст: непосредственный.
- Pardede, H. Semantics. A View to Logic of Language / H. Pardede. — FKIP: Pematang Siantar, 2016. — 94 c. — Текст: непосредственный.
- Kreidler, C. W. Introducing English Semantics / C. W. Kreidler. — London: Routledge, 1998. — 345 c. — Текст: непосредственный.
- Cambridge Dictionary: сайт. — URL: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/
- The Guardian: сайт. — URL: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/
