LECTURE 2: SEMANTICS IN LINGUISTICS ENGLISH STUDY PROGRAM FKIP – SRIWIJAYA UNIVERSITY 1.
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Transcript of LECTURE 2: SEMANTICS IN LINGUISTICS ENGLISH STUDY PROGRAM FKIP – SRIWIJAYA UNIVERSITY 1.
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LECTURE 2:SEMANTICS IN LINGUISTICS
ENGLISH STUDY PROGRAM
FKIP – SRIWIJAYA UNIVERSITY
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The study of meaning
What does ‘meaning’ mean?
To what extent is it a linguistic matter?
What kind of theory of meaning is best suited to the linguistic facts?
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Two Views of Meaning
Mentalistic Theory Focuses on how expressions map
to concepts Referential Theory
Focuses on how expressions map to world
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Place of Semantics in Linguistics
Expressions are built up with structure Syntax
Expressions refer to things Semantics
Expressions are uttered in context Pragmatics
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Properties of the Utterance
Intention behind utterance Context of use of utterance The speaker and hearer of utterance Structure of utterance
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Reference and Meaning
Referring Expressions: a specific referent is picked out I want that cookie.
Non-Referring Expressions: a generic interpretation I want a dessert. I don’t know what, just
anything
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Extensions and Referents
Referent: the thing picked out by uttering the expression u in a specific context
Extension: the set of things which are possibly referred to by the expression u.
Denotation: the relationship between an expression u and its extension.
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Names and Noun Phrases Description Theory
Names are shorthand descriptions for knowledge about the referent
Causal Theory Names are socially inherited from a
chain of uses going back to a grounding.
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Kinds of Denotation Proper Names denote individuals Common nouns denote sets of individuals Verbs denote actions Adjectives denote properties of
individuals Adverbs denote properties of actions
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Structure of Utterance
Individual Word Meanings Lexical Semantics
Word meanings in combination Compositional Semantics
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Necessary and Sufficient Conditions
X is an A if and only if P and Q and … What properties are necessary? What properties are sufficient?
E.g., bird, game, book, ground rule double
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Meaning and the lexicon
Componential analysisbachelor = [+male, -married,
+adult] Sense relationssynonymy, antonymy, hyponymy …
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Compositional meaning:
1.The cat chased the dog.2.The dog chased the cat.3.The cat ate the hat.
Meaning and Grammar
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Semantics and Grammar
Linguistic semantics: the output of combining words through the syntax
…though syntax can produce meaningless grammatical structures too:
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
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The Principle of Compositionality
The meaning of an expression is a function of the meaning of its parts and the way they are put together.-Gottlob Frege
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The Principle of Compositionality
The syntax-semantics relationship isn’t always straightforward:
a blue pen a beautiful dancer a criminal lawyer
Where do the differences originate? The lexicon? Syntax? Semantics? Pragmatics (i.e., world knowledge)?
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Constraining linguistic semantics We want to account for the linguistic
contribution to meaning Competence-based approach:
we aim to characterize the knowledge that language users have (just as in syntax).
…specifically, knowledge of how language contributes to meaning
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Approaching linguistic semantics
Not all meaning that arises in ‘performance’ is part of semantics (as a branch of linguistic competence):
{11:45 am}John: Want to join us for lunch?Mary: a. I have a class at noon.
b. I have a class at 3:00 pm.
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Semantics v. pragmatics (I)
One view: Meaning from the language = semantics Meaning from the context = pragmatics
(identity of / relationship between speaker and hearer, situation, beliefs, intentions …)
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But what is meaning?
So we’re restricting ourselves to linguistically-determined meaning
But what is it to know that some piece of linguistic structure affects meaning?
We need a theory of what it means to say that a sentence ‘means something’
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Knowledge of Linguistic Meaning
Some things we know about meaning: Paraphrase : P is true, if and only if Q is true
P: Bill was killed by Phil.Q: Phil caused Bill to die.
Contradiction : if P is true, then Q is false P: Phil is a murderer. Q: Phil has never killed anyone.
Entailment : if P is true, then Q is true P: Phil killed Bill.Q1: Phil killed someone.Q2: Someone did something in the past.
(cf. synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy)21
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Semantics and Truth
Note that all these meaning relations depend on the truth (or falsity) of each sentence
So can we define meaning in terms of truth?
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Semantics vs. Pragmatics
A different criterion: truth conditions
To know what a sentence means is to know the circumstances under which it is true (=its truth conditions)
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Semantics vs. Pragmatics
A different criterion: truth conditions Semantics (of a sentence)= what
must hold true in the world for the sentence to be judged true
Pragmatics = all speaker or context related meaning
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Language and truth-conditions
We’ve considered two definitions of semantics: (i) what linguistic forms encode and (ii) truth conditions
Both are ways to get at the invariant meaning of a sentence.(Sentence meaning, as opposed to utterance meaning)
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Language and Truth-Conditions
We will continue to treat a sentence as ‘having truth conditions’
Enables discussion of semantic knowledge paraphrase, contradiction, entailment
Connects linguistic meaning to the world
But truth depends also on context26
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Propositions “A sentence has truth conditions” –
equivalently, it conveys propositional content
A proposition has a truth value (T or F)It is a statement that certain truth conditions holdOften thought of as a state of affairs in the world
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Propositions
A proposition is usually expressed as the meaning of a sentence:
The Red Sox won the World Series last year. That sentence contains nine words. (Sentence) That sentence is true (Proposition)
Another possibility would be to express propositions in a formal metalanguage
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EntailmentEntailment is a relation between
sentences or sets of sentences, the premises and conclusions.
A entails B if B follows from any utterance of A.
A entails B if any way of making A true makes B true too.
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Implicature
An implicature is to read between the lines. Conversational implicatures arise from the interplay of semantic interpretation and general principles of social interaction or conversation.
Fritz had a flat tire this morning.
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PresuppositionA presupposes B if B follows from
A, and B follows from the negation of A .
Have you stopped smoking? John didn’t answer the phone. Mary regrets that she insulted her
mother-in-law. Fritz managed to make it to class on
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END OF SLIDESANY QUESTION?
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