Writing with Meaning: The Power of Semantics in Technical Writing
Writing clear and concise technical content isn’t just about grammar; it’s also about choosing the right words for the right context. As a technical editor, I’ve noticed that semantics often takes a backseat to syntactic accuracy, likely due to heavy reliance on copyediting software. While these tools do a great job fixing grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure, they can’t always catch issues with meaning, context, or intent. Ensuring semantic clarity requires a deeper understanding—something that even the best editing software (or the human eye) can miss.
The three pillars of language
The five branches of linguistics can be grouped into three overlapping dimensions, each contributing to clear and effective technical writing
Form focuses on how language is built:
- Phonology → sound patterns
- Morphology → word formation
- Syntax → sentence structure
Both content (semantics) and use (pragmatics) relate to aspects of meaning.
- Semantics deals with the literal meaning of words ( dictionary meaning)
- Pragmatics is the situation-dependent (contextual) meaning of words.
While semantics ensures technical correctness, pragmatics ensures the information is useful and well-structured for the audience.
The meaning of meaning
Words, like money, have no inherent value or meaning. Their meaning comes from a shared agreement among users. Words and sounds only become meaningful when people in a community use them to refer to objects, events, or ideas. It is this shared understanding that gives words their meaning.
The semiotic triangle is a semantic model that shows how meaning is derived from the relationship between thoughts, words, and things.
Note: While semantics studies the meaning of words in a language, semiotics examines meaning beyond words, including symbols, images, colors, sounds, odors, and more.
The concept is the dictionary definition of the word. The most common approach to writing a definition is the genus-differentia approach, using this formula:
A [term] is a [genus] that [distinguishing features]
How to apply this formula
- Identify the term (word or phrase) you need to define.
2. Determine the broader category (genus) it belongs to.
3. Add a defining characteristic that sets it apart from other members of the same category.
Example: Definition of “router”
A router is a hardware device that directs traffic between networks and devices.
Where:
How the semiotic triangle helps a technical writer
Using the semiotic triangle, a technical writer can ensure that words accurately convey the intended meaning. Here are some of the benefits:
- Remove ambiguity: ensure that technical terms are used in the correct sense.
- Resolve synonym confusion and improve consistency: map multiple terms to the same concept and referent and maintain a single, clear terminology to prevent misunderstandings
- Clarify polysemy: clarify words with multiple meanings (polysemy) based on context. For example, key (cryptographic key, hardware key, keyboard key).
- Improve globalization: increase translatability by using words with their primary meaning.
- Enhance technical glossaries and style guides: identity terms for glossaries and terminology databases; improve precise word choice and consistency across teams and regions
Example: Synonyms and variations
- Firewall = security appliance = packet filter
- Server = appliance = system
This example shows how different words are used by different teams to convey the same thought. A technical writer’s job is to avoid such variations and bring consistency in word usage.
Metonymy and synecdoche: beware of semantic shortcuts
Metonymy and synecdoche are two of the five major rhetorical tropes, along with metaphor, irony, and hyperbole. While figures of speech are common in everyday language, they must be used cautiously in technical writing. Unlike metaphor, irony, or hyperbole, which can introduce subjectivity or exaggeration, metonymy and synecdoche offer precision and brevity, making them more common in technical contexts. Both involve replacing a word with a related term, though the distinction between them can be subtle and sometimes difficult to recognize.
Metonymy: a figure of speech where a word is replaced with something closely associated with it.
Example from an email from customer support:
Feedback from the field suggests that the new software update has significantly improved system stability.
Here the meaning of field is ambiguous as it can represent:
- Technicians or engineers working on-site
- Customers using the product in practical, real-world environments
Improved version:
Feedback from onsite engineers suggests that the new software update has significantly improved system stability.
Synecdoche: a figure of speech where a part represents the whole or the whole represents a part.
Example: The backend stops responding
The backend, or the server side, is a combination of many things, including servers, databases, APIs, and many more. The writer must check that “backend” is the correct term in this context. Here’s an example of a more specific version:
The API server in the backend stops responding.
Final thoughts
The father of modern linguistics, Noam Chomsky, coined the sentence “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously” to demonstrate that a sentence can be grammatically correct yet semantically nonsensical. Similarly, many sentences in technical writing lose their intended meaning due to poor syntax. That said, syntax and semantics are equally essential for effective communication—none outweighs the other.
