Semantics & Pragmatics What does this mean?. Meaning From the lowly phone through the morph, the...

Semantics & Pragmatics

What does this mean?

Meaning

From the lowly phone through the morph, the phrase, and the clause: ◦NPs & VPs label meaning at a very general

level; ◦grammatical relations (Actor/Undergoer, S/O,

Theme) address it more subtly; ◦morphs are full of it; ◦& even some phones may correlate with

meaning (cf. phonoaesthesia)SO WHAT IS IT?

Approaches to Meaning

Semantics: meaning as encoded by words and sentences

Pragmatics: speakers’ intended meaning; ‘what they meant’ in particular instances◦and what hearers’ infer

Goals

Contrast literal & figurative meaning

Contrast sentence & utterance meaning

Lexical Semantics: words’ sem relns

Goals

X-cultural diffs in Lex Sem

Speech acts, Reference, Presuppositions, & Co-operative Principle

NB ‘Context’ in utterance mng

Meaning

“that which is expressed by Ss, utterances, & their components”

“the content conveyed in communication by language”

Waaay too simplistic but whaddya do?

Meaning: Reference & Sense

The real or imaginary ‘things’ we refer to = reference

Sense = the "cognitive significance" of the referent.

Meaning: Sense = value…

The sense of a linguistic sign derives part of its essence from the greater system of inter-sign relations in which in resides◦The sense of ‘hand’ is defined in part by its reln

to ‘arm’◦The idea of ‘plural noun’ gets its sense partly

due to the notion ‘singular noun’ (vs. Jap & Skt)

This contrast = value

Meaning: Sense=value+_____

‘defining properties that must be understood in any application of a linguistic item’ … intension

E.g. sheep = ‘animal, mammal, grazes, ruminant, quadruped, even-toed ungulates…’

Sense & Connotations

Connotations◦Unstable meaning associations e.g. emotional

overtones which are not always present (vs. sense, which is essential)

◦Differ by attitudes (e.g. a mathematical way of thinking about…)

◦NB language acquisition & change; connotation becomes part of sense

Literal vs. Figurative Meaning

Literal = the sense encoded by its component lexical and grammatical signs◦‘kick the bucket’

Figurative = an extension of literal mng

Rhetoric codifies many types of meaning extension; 3 of which are:◦Metaphor◦Metonymy◦Synedoche

Figurative Mng: Metaphor

Metaphor◦Sense is extended to another concept based on

resemblance

◦‘Belgian drivers are cowboys’

◦…they tend to invoke notion of a cowboy

◦(the hearer then decides the basis for comparison)

Figurative Mng: Metonymy

Metonymy◦Sense extended to another concept due to a

typical or habitual association

◦‘go to the university’

◦‘likes the bottle’

◦‘Washington is in talks with the Kremlin)

Figurative Mng: Synedoche

Synedoche◦Sense is extended via a part-whole relation

◦‘wheels’

◦‘the denver omelet’

◦‘the radiator job’

Lit-fig: distinction

Contrasting the two is literally not so easy

Cognitive Linguistics: metaphor has a central role in language & thought, & is pervasive in ordinary language

Lit-fig: distinction

Contrasting the two is literally not so easy

Cognitive Linguistics: metaphor has a central role in language & thought, & is pervasive in ordinary language

Metaphor is seen as a cognitive strategy allowing us to understand one experiential domain in terms of another

Cognitive Linguistics


Cognitive Linguistics


NB many domains are understood in terms of space, and are expressed linguistically via spatial relations: ◦‘cat at me’

Hence Lit-Fig distinction is iffy

Sentence vs Utterance Mng

Sentence Mng = combine signs (morphs, phrases, gr relns) and their mngs◦The car - broke down - yesterday◦Actor-------event----temporal location


Sentence Mng = combine signs (morphs, phrases, gr relns) and their mngs◦The car - broke down - yesterday◦Actor-------event----temporal location

But context alters that ‘same conceptual event’◦Thus its utterance meaning varies


Sentence Semantics ◦Meaning in isolation; meaning as it is within the

‘system of language’


Sentence Semantics ◦Meaning in isolation; meaning as it is within the

‘system of language’

Utterance Pragmatics◦Meaning in actual language use; meaning as

conveyed by an expression in real speech; patterns in speech (outside grammar/lexicon) – re: reln b/w speaker & hearer

More to come…

Is the sem-prag division real?...

Some linguists reject the division or are dubious about the ‘division of labor’ b/w the two

P 134 ◦Students: note fig 6.1 – try to ‘read’ it; it’s

worthwhile. However, I think the first sentence below the figure shd be ‘value and INtension…’ – not EX- look above the two people and you’ll see a rectangle w/ value and intension in it. At the top is a tree diagram: the metaphorical EXtension

Semantics

Re: the semantics of lexical items which must be listed separately in the lexicon.

These are signs and we will focus on their senses

Semantics – issues

3 interrelated key issues in Lex Sem:◦Pinning down & identifying the meanings of

lexical items

◦Relns amongst lexical items’ meanings

◦The specification of the meaning of items

The value of a sign depends on its contrasts with the rest of the language system

Semantics: concerns

Homophony

◦2 different lexemes share the same phonological form (port, bank, bouy/boy)

Semantics: concerns

Homophony

◦2 different lexemes share the same phonological form (port, bank, bouy/boy)

Partial homophones: ‘bear’ (N & V) – shares same phonological form in some inflected forms but not all:◦Bear, bears◦Bear, bears; bore; born

Semantics: concerns

Polysemy◦Identical forms have related meanings

◦‘ear’ = hearing organ; attention; ability; favorable disposition; etc

Semantics: concerns

Polysemy◦Identical forms have related meanings

◦‘ear’ = hearing organ; attention; ability; favorable disposition; etc

Dictionaries tend to separate homophones but not polysemous terms; however distinction is not always easy

Semantics: concerns

Polysemy Cf. ear:

◦Above e.g.s are easy to relate◦But ‘ear of corn’ (though usually listed

separately in dictionaries) is often imagined to resemble the above ‘ear’

◦Lexicographers go beyond folk etymology (usually) and look into OE & ME

Semantics: polysemy that you can bank on

Polysemy bank

◦Few of us see semantic reln b/w ‘ridge’ & ‘$’

◦Dictionaries tend to treat them separately

Semantics: polysemy that you can bank on

Polysemy bank

◦Few of us see semantic reln b/w ‘ridge’ & ‘$’

◦Dictionaries tend to treat them separately

◦Both originate from *bangk in Proto-Germanic (offshoot of Proto I-E <4m BC> & parent of English, German, Dutch, Nor, Swed, Dk, Ic)

Semantics: concerns

Polysemy ◦*bangk in Proto-Germanic = ‘ridge, mound,

bordering slope’

Semantics: concerns


bordering slope’

◦Ridge>bench>moneylender’s counter>money lender’s shop>financial institution

Semantics: concerns


bordering slope’


◦Ridge>slope>side of watercourse

Semantics: concerns


bordering slope’


◦Ridge>slope>side of watercourse

◦…typical semantic extension

Semantics

Vagueness◦A lack of specificity of meaning

◦Recall ‘ear’ = ‘hearing organ’ ‘in your ear’

Semantics



◦But also: ‘pull your ear’ & ‘scratch its ear’

Semantics



◦But also: ‘pull your ear’ & ‘scratch its ear’

◦The mental concepts invoked in each differ

Semantics: concerns

Vagueness ‘in your ear’

◦Ear as an orifice

Semantics: concerns



‘pull your ear’◦Ear as an appendage of human head

Semantics: concerns



‘pull your ear’◦Ear as an appendage of human head

‘scratch its ear’◦Ear as appendage of dog’s head

Semantics: concerns

Vagueness◦We don’t usually think of these as polysemies

of ear – because they’re so closely related

Semantics: concerns

Vagueness◦We don’t usually think of these as polysemies

of ear – because they’re so closely related

See also ‘wrong’◦Depending on its sentence, the meaning gets

narrowed

Semantics: concerns

Vagueness◦‘wrong…

to speak w/ your mouth full’ (improper) to take Indian kids from their moms’ (immmoral) to attribute that quote to Saussure’ (incorrect)

Semantics: concerns

Vagueness◦‘wrong…

to speak w/ your mouth full’ (improper) to take Indian kids from their moms’ (immmoral) to attribute that quote to Saussure’ (incorrect)

◦A general sense covers these but the sentential context narrows the meaning down

Semantics: concerns

These are: contextual meanings◦They aren’t fixed (vs. sense of a lexeme)

Semantics: concerns


◦Cf. ‘it was wrong for the govt to have taken the Indian children’ This doesn’t necessarily invoke a moral comment

Semantics: concerns



Vagueness-polysemy =

Semantics: concerns



Vagueness-polysemy = variations on degrees of abstraction

Semantics: Lex Sem relns

Lexemes relate to each other semantically in various ways, & form a highly structured system



As a huge network vs. a mere listing



As a huge network vs. a mere listing

4 types of sem reln: synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, & meronymy

Semantics: lex sem relns

Synonymy ◦Reln of sameness/similarity (p 137)

Exact synonyms are rare (impossible?)

Often differentiate registers/dialects

May differ in their collocations


Antonyms

◦Gradable Allow intermediate degrees: used w/ comparatives Its negation doesn’t imply its opposite

◦Non-gradable: polaric


Hyponymy ◦One lexeme includes another

◦Tool: hammer, saw, chisel, screwdriver…

Hypernym: tool Hyponyms: saw, hammer,…

◦Common in some semantic domains: Kinship, colors, plants/animals


Meronymy ◦Part-whole reln

◦Door & window are meronyms of room◦Wheel & pedal are meronyms of bicycle


Meronymy ◦Part-whole reln

◦Door & window are meronyms of room◦Wheel & pedal are meronyms of bicycle

differs from hyponymy in the notion of transitivity


Difference in transitivity b/w meronyms & hyponyms◦Alsatian>dog>animal (hyponyms)


Difference in transitivity b/w meronyms & hyponyms◦Alsatian>dog>animal (hyponyms)◦Nostril>nose (meronym)◦Nose>face (meronym)


Difference in transitivity b/w meronyms & hyponyms◦Alsatian>dog>animal (hyponyms)◦Nostril>nose (meronym)◦Nose>face (meronym)◦But nostril>face (not meronym)

We don’t say a nostril is part of a face (we could but we don’t normally conceptualize it as such)


Hyponymy is transitiveMeronymy is not.



These are lexical networks – not network relations in the ‘real world’



These are lexical networks – not network relations in the ‘real world’

Folk conceptualizations vs. scienceWhale = mammal? fish?


To pin down the sense of a word…◦(e.g. ‘mother’)◦Decide if diff mngs belong to diff lex items

sharing the same form◦Or are polysemies◦Or are separate contextual mngs

One technique is componential analysis


Componential analysis ◦A lexeme’s semantic mng is decomposed

◦Identifies features that differentiate words

◦E.g. +/- animate


Componential analysis

◦Criticized by prototype theory for its intensional definitions

◦Component features are more technical than the term they describe

Pragmatics: utterance mng

Semantics = mng as encoded in Lx form



But there’s more to meaning-making than this



But there’s more to meaning-making than this

The sounds that make up speech merely outline mng; listeners then fill in/extrapolates

Pragmatics

We excel at ‘reading into’ things (+/-)

Pragmatics


2 types of mng we fill in:

◦What the spkr intends to do with the utterance –why they spoke it in the first place - & how its inferred

Pragmatics


2 types of mng we fill in:

◦What the spkr intends to do with the utterance –why they spoke it in the first place - & how its inferred

◦Reference or referential meaning

Prag: Speech Acts

Speech is a social act – it’s for doing stuff

Prag: Speech Acts


Informing, promising, requesting, questioning, commanding, warning, preaching, congratulating, betting, swearing, exclaiming….are speech acts

Prag: Speech Acts


Informing, promising, requesting, questioning, commanding, warning, preaching, congratulating, betting, swearing, exclaiming….are speech acts

Type of action performed by speaking = its illocutionary force

Prag: Speech Acts: performatives

Sentences which make explicit their illocutionary force by a speech act verb = performatives

Prag: Speech Acts: performatives

Sentences which make explicit their illocutionary force by a speech act verb = performatives◦I bet you…◦I resign.◦I apologize.◦I dare you…◦I pronounce you man & wife.◦I order you to…

Prag: Sp Acts: direct sp acts

Most sp acts are not so obvious◦Cf. ‘the car broke down yesterday’ as a statement or a request/refusal

Prag: Sp Acts: direct sp acts

Most sp acts are not so obvious◦Cf. ‘the car broke down yesterday’ as a statement or a request/refusal

Direct speech acts ◦Naturally associated with form

Grammatically specified (table 6.1) Lexically specified (performatives)

Prag: Sp Acts: INdirect sp acts

When a syntactic form is used with an atypical illocutionary force: indirect speech act◦‘can you pass the salt?’

Question? Command? Request?

often used for politeness

Prag: Sp Acts: felicity conditions

‘I pronounce you man & wife’ only works if the speaker is authorized



‘Where are my glasses’ & ‘Please give me my glasses’ only achieve their intended purposes



‘Where are my glasses’ & ‘Please give me my glasses’ only achieve their intended purposes when the spkr doesn’t know where his/her glasses are & when spkr doesn’t have the glasses (respectively)

Pragmatics: reference

The link b/w utterances & people, things, places, & times that are being referred to



Different from sense -it is not what is inherently assoc’d with linguistic forms



Different from sense -it is not what is inherently assoc’d with linguistic forms

Words don’t refer, our usage of them does◦E.g. NP tokens refer


All languages have wds/morphs we use to help pin down reference ◦Proper nouns

Noam Chomsky



Noam Chomsky◦Articles

The, a/an



Noam Chomsky◦Articles

The, a/an◦Deictics

Pronouns, demonstratives, space & time adverbs


Deictics ◦Identify things by relating them to the social,

linguistic, spatial, or temporal context of an utterance

◦Their reference varies with each utterance




◦Their reference varies with each utterancePron: I, you, s/he, we…




◦Their reference varies with each utterancePron: I, you, s/he, we…Demon: this,that (spatial deixis)Adv: here,there (spatial deixis)




◦Their reference varies with each utterancePron: I, you, s/he, we…Demon: this,that (spatial deixis)Adv: here,there (spatial deixis)Today, tomorrow, now, then (temp deixis)


Caveat:

◦The above deictics, though specifying referents, also have senses.


Caveat:


◦E.g. pronouns are ‘encoded’ for person, number, case, gender.


Caveat:


◦E.g. pronouns are ‘encoded’ for person, number, case, gender.

◦Yet their full mng comes only when uttered ‘he’ then takes on the mng of ‘that guy’

Pragmatics: The coop princ.

A principle of interpretation & inferencing shared by spkrs & hearers, permitting the utterance mng intended by a spkr to be reliably inferred by the hearer


This interpretive procedure is constituted by four component maxims:◦Quantity: make your contribution as informative

as req’d (non more or less)



as req’d (non more or less)◦Quality: don’t lie



as req’d (non more or less)◦Quality: don’t lie◦Relevance: don’t be irrelevant



as req’d (non more or less)◦Quality: don’t lie◦Relevance: don’t be irrelevant◦Manner: be perspicuous – avoid ambiguity,

prolixity, disorderliness & obscurity


These are principles governing the inferences we draw – they’re not rules



When we flout these maxims, we do so to achieve an end (& thus they differ from grammar rules)



When we flout these maxims, we do so to achieve an end (& thus they differ from grammar rules)

We don’t break grammar rules for effect


Q. Are you ready?A. Is the pope Catholic?



A Y/N Q is interpreted as a response to itMaxim of Relevance = the Answer shd be relevant



A Y/N Q is interpreted as a response to itMaxim of Relevance = the Answer shd be relevant

Thus against all odds, such Q&A succeeds due to aspects of the cooperative principle

Pragmatics: presuppositions

Implicit assumptions invoked by certain sentences as required truths in order for utterance of the sentence to be appropriate or reasonable

6-13 6-16 (p 147)

Allows more efficient discourse

Pragmatics: presuppositions

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