semantic feature

In SEMANTICS, a minimal CONTRASTIVE element of a word’s MEANING; in some approaches, called a semantic component. Girl, for example, might be analyzed into such features as ‘young’, ‘female’ and ‘human’. In child language ACQUISITION, the semantic feature hypothesis (SFH) claims that the order of appearance of a child’s LEXICAL items is governed by the type and complexity of the semantic features they contain.