semantics

semantics , n. pl.
1. a. (the study or analysis of) the relationships between linguistic symbols and their meanings.

-- Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edn

Computational formalisms have both an operational and a denotational semantics. The operational semantics specifies the meaning of expressions by their transformational properties and is determined by the derivation rules of a logic or the computation rules of a calculus . The denotational semantics specifies the the meaning of expressions by their denotation and has a domain of interpretation that defines the denotation of composite expressions in terms of the denotations of their components.
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Typed formalisms generally have a more complex linguistic structure but a simpler operational and denotational semantics than their untyped counterparts because semantics need be given only for expressions that are type compatible.

-- Wegner.
The Object-Oriented Classification Paradigm . 1987