HCMUSSH English Faculty CLC Module Subject: Semantics Study notes summary for exam revision Semantics the study of meaning in language properties of semantics a component of the meaning of a word eg semantic properties of “kitten” young, cat Semantic features a way of representing semantic properties
Semantics: the study of meaning in language properties of semantics: a component of the meaning of a word eg: semantic properties of “kitten”: young, cat Semantic features: a way of representing semantic properties/ a formal/notational device indicating the presence or absence of semantic properties by pluses (+) and minuses (-) eg: kitten [+young], [+cat], [-dog], [+animal] - Semantic features are the smallest units of meaning in a word (cannot be divided into smaller segments) - we identify the meaning of a word by its semantic features eg: father [+male], [+human], [parental], [-childless] Semantic fields: the organization of related words and expression into a system which shows their relationship to one another/a set of words with identifiable semantic affinities (similarities) eg: kinship terms: father, mother, brother, siblings, relatives, etc emotional states: happy, sad, satisfied, disappointed, etc drinking vessels: mug, cup, bottle, etc table, stone, pencil, cup, house (countable) mud, rice, … (uncountable) - There are various ways of organizing semantically similar items into semantic fields (eg: orange = color/fruit) Denotation: type of meaning which may be described in terms of a set of semantic properties eg: woman = [+human], [+female], [+adult] Connotation: the additional meaning that the word has beyond its denotative meaning It shows people’s emotions and/or attitudes towards what the word refers to eg: woman = [+devoted] (positive)/[+wicked] (negative) step mother denotative = [+female], [+human], [+married], [+ father’s wife] connotative = [+wicked], [+evil], [+cunning], [+compassionate], [+devoted] Referent: an object/entity, part of the world (eg: “your book”) Reference: relationship between language and the world (abstract notion)/ between parts of a language and things outside the language (in the world) - Variable reference: when the same linguistic expression refers to different referents eg: Can I see your “handwriting” (A’s handwriting is different B’s handwriting) - Constant reference: when one linguistic expression refers to one and the same referent eg: the Earth, the moon, Vietnam, The UK - Co-reference: When or more linguistic expression have the same referent eg: the Morning star/the Evening star = Venus, America/ the U.S/ the United States/ the United States of America, Japan/the land of rising sun Sense (of a word): the sense of a word is its place in a system of semantic relationships with other expressions in the language eg: “your teacher” = “the one who gives you lessons” - The same word can have more than one sense (eg: bank) - One sentence can have different senses (the boy saw the girl with the binoculars) - Sense = relationship within the language eg: “the queen of Vietnam” = sense (+), reference (-) / “the queen of England” = sense (+) reference (+) - Every expression that has meaning has sense, but not every expression has reference (if it is abstract -> no reference) Referring expression: is any expression used in an utterance to refer to something/someone, used with a particular referent in the mind eg: “The cat is in the kitchen” - referring expression: the Cat, the kitchen Predicator of a simple declarative sentence is the word (sometimes a group of words) which does not belong to any of the referring expressions and which, of the remainder, makes the most specific contribution to the meaning of the sentence Predicate: is any word (or sequence of words) which (in a given single sense) can function as the predicator of a sentence the Degree of a predicate is a number indicating the number of arguments it is normally understood to have in simple sentences (eg: asleep = a predicate of degree one - one-place predicate, love is a predicate of degree two (a two-place predicate, - Argument: realized by referring expression eg: Your marble is under my chair - Referring expressions: Your marble, my chair - UNDER (MARBLE, CHAIR) - 2-place predicate Dundee is between Aberdeen and Edinburgh - Referring expressions: Dundee, Aberdeen, Edinburgh - BETWEEN (DUNDEE, ABERDEEN, EDINBURGH) - 3-place predicate Synonymy: is the relationship between predicates that have the same sense eg: sofa-couch, purchase-buy, wide/broad - perfect synonymy is hard to find - synonyms would differ stylistically, socially or dialectically - In considering the sense of a word, we abstract away from any stylistic, social or dialectal associations the word may have We concentrate on what has been called the cognitive or conceptual meaning of a word - Synonymy is the relationship between predicates, not words (because a word can have many different meanings Paraphrase: a sentence which expresses the same proposition as another sentence is a paraphrase of that sentence Paraphrase is to sentences as synonymy is to predicates Hyponymy: is a sense relation between predicates such that the meaning of one predicate is included in the meaning of the other eg: pig (sow-piglet-boar) eg: color (hypernym/superordinate) → white (hyponym): the relation is hyponymy - Synonymy is a special case of hyponymy (symmetrical hyponymy) - Rule: if X is a hyponym of Y and Y is also a hyponym of X → X and Y are synonymous Antonymy - Binary antonyms/complementary antonyms: the negation of one is the meaning of the other (Not A is B, Not B is A) e.g true-false, dead-alive, same-different - Converses/relational antonyms: one predicate describes a relationship between two objects and the other describes the same relationship when two objects are reversed (if A is … B then B is … A) e.g teacher-student, doctor-patient, father-son - Gradable antonyms: More of one is less of the other (comparative, very, how - at least to of the test) e.g hot-cold, tall-short - (Multiple) incompatibility: the terms in a given system are mutually incompatible (a system of multiple incompatibility) e.g Semantic field (Color) -> white-blue (multiple incompatibility) Homonymy: a case of homonymy is one of an ambiguous word, whose different senses are far apart from each other and not obviously related to each other in any way Homography: a relation in which various words have the same written form but have different meanings and sound forms Pron Spelling Homonymy x x Homophony x Homography Meaning Example bank, bat, ball, sow (female pig), bear, mug (gullible people), too-two, sun-son, tail-tale, read-reed, flower-flour, hour-our, know-no, x lead, record, present, read, row (line - quarrel), wound (injury - wind) Polysemy: is a relation in which a single word has two or more slightly different but closely related meanings e.g mouth (of a river/an animal), body (of a human, essay), foot (of human/mountain), chip (small piece of potato/piece of device of a computer), bright (smart/shining) Ambiguity: a word or sentence is ambiguous when it has more than one sense - Structural ambiguity: a sentence is considered as structurally ambiguous when its - structure permits more than one interpretation (He saw the man with a telescope) Lexical ambiguity: any ambiguity resulting from the ambiguity of a word is lexical ambiguity (They are waiting at the bank/That robot is bright) Some sentences which contain ambiguous words are ambiguous while other are not (I go to the bank, I go to the bank to withdraw money) Some sentences which contain no ambiguous words are ambiguous while other are not (He saw her with the binoculars/he used the binoculars to see her) Both polysemy and homonymy contribute to lexical ambiguity - eg: Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana Puns: joke plays with words - Anomaly: semantic oddness - Colorless green ideas sleep furiously Idioms (idiomatic expressions): multi-word phrases whose overall meanings are not derivable by combining the literal senses of the individual words eg: it is raining cats and dogs, skeletons in your closet (secret), shake a leg (faster), let the cat out of the bag (dissimulate the secret), have butterflies in stomach, barking up the wrong tree (you’re looking in the wrong way), lend me your ear (quiet, listen) - On your bucket list = something should be done before death, kick the bucket = die - you cut corners = take shortcut of doing something - hit the sack = go to bed - once in a blue moon = rarely something - see eye to eye with someone = agree - by the skin of your teeth = something by a narrow margin, almost fail - get your head around something = understand - Is a far cry from = very different = chalk and cheese - hot potato = hot issue/hot topic - pull something together = calm down and behave normally Metaphor: a figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another, thus making an implicit comparison, as in “He is a lion” Metaphor: is the phenomenon where one conceptual domain is structured in terms of another: eg: your claims are indefensible -> metaphor: ARGUMENT IS WAR Structural metaphor: X understood in terms of Y eg: You’re wasting my time, Can you give me a few minutes?, How you spend your time?, We are running out of time => TIME IS MONEY Orientational metaphors: Eg: Happy is up; sad is down I am feeling up That boosted my spirits I am feeling down I’m depressed Conscious is up; unconscious is down Get up Wake up I’m up already He’s under hypnosis He sank into a coma More is up; less in down the number of books printed each year keeps going up his income fell last year he is underage Metonymy: a kind of non-literal language in which one entity is used to refer to another entity that is associated with it in some way eg: We need a good head for this project -> head = part of a person = person - The part for the whole: eg: we need a good head for this project (=leader) I linked the laser, its printouts were excellent - The face for the person: eg: there’s a new face in the class today (=new person/student) - Producer for the product: eg: I love reading Shakespeare - Object used for user: eg: the ham sandwich is waiting for his check Ask seat 19 whether he wants to swap - Controller for controlled: eg: Nixon bombed Hanoi - Institution for people responsible: eg: the University is responsible for the scandals, - The place for the institution: eg: the White House announced something (=the Government) the Hollywood is making new blockbusters (=movie industry) Scotland beat Ireland (= teams) - Place for the event: eg: - Container for the contained: eg: Denise drank the bottle the kettle is boiling Utterance: any stretch of talk, by one person, before and after which there is silence on the part of that person - It could be a sentence, a phrase, a word, a sequence of sentences ex: Please! Come here! = utterances, Please come here = utterance Sentence: - A string of words put together by the grammatical rules of a language ex: The book is on the table ex: She looked up the word and She looked the word up -> different sentences - A sentence is a grammatically complete string of words expressing a complete thought ex: The cat is in the kitchen Please go to the kitchen Proposition: A proposition is that part of the meaning of the utterance of a declarative sentence which describes some state of affairs Utterances Sentences Propositions Can be loud or quiet x Can be grammatical or not x x abstract, cannot be analyzed in terms of grammar Can be true or false x x x in a particular regional accent x in a particular language x x no rain check = this product is about to run out of order Sense properties of sentences senses properties of sentences: - The property of being analytic (analyticity): an analytic sentence is one that is necessarily true (=has to be true), as a result of the senses of the words in it It has to be based on the semantic features ex: all elephants are animals (elephant [+animal] => animals are animals => analytic) all cats like to bathe (“bathe” is not included in the “cat” semantic features/ the sense of cat or cat doesn’t have the semantic feature [-bathe] => not analytic) The sun rises in the East (“rising in the East” is not included in “sun” semantic features => not analytic) - the property of being synthetic (syntheticity): a synthetic sentence is one which may be either true or false, depending on the way the world is ex: John is from America (Not analytic but could be true to this John but not for that John => synthetic) - The property of being contradictory (contradiction) Contradictions: a contradiction is a sentence that is necessarily false, as a result of the senses of the words in it Always false ex: That animal is a vegetable Entailment: a proposition X entails a proposition Y if the truth of Y follows necessarily from the truth of X eg: Mary bought a tulip [+tulip] (x) => Mary bought a flower (y) John ate all the cookies (x) => Someone ate something (y) John killed Bill (x) => Bill died (y) - If X entails Y then X entails Z => Y entails Z eg: Some boys ran down the street - -> Some kids ran down the street -> Some kids went down the street => Some kids ran down the street entails Some kids went down the street The basic rule of sense inclusion: Given sentences A and B, identical in every way except that A contains word X where B contains a different word B, and X is the hyponym of Y, then sentence A entails sentence B - Exception “NOT” (A) I didn’t buy any rose (B) I didn’t buy any flower => B entails A (Tip: converted into affirmative forms => back to negative forms) - Exception “ALL” (A) I bought all the roses (B) I bought all the flowers => B entails A - Exception “Gradable words” (A) I saw a small mouse (B) I saw a small animal => No entailment (There is a gradable words) PARAPHRASE A sentence which expresses the same proposition as another sentence is paraphrase of that sentence e.g John sold the book to Mary -> the book was sold to Mary by John/Marry bought the book from John - Paraphrase is to sentences as synonymy is to predicates To paraphrase: - - Synonyms e.g The house was concealed by the tree => The house was hidden by the tree (false) Sentence structures: e.g John did the homework => the homework was done by John/It was John that did the homework Using relational antonyms: e.g buy-sell, own-belong, borrow-lend e.g John borrowed a book from Mary => Mary lent the book to John Mixed: e.g They put off the meeting => The meeting was postponed by the Two sentences may be said to be paraphrases of each other if and only if they have exactly the same set of entailments e.g John and Mary are twins -> Mary and John are twins Ex: The house was concealed by the tree => The house was concealed by something The house was covered/hidden by something SPEECH ACTS “I’m sorry” -> apology/apologizing “Hi” -> Greeting “That’s very nice” -> compliment “Can you close the door?” -> Request = An action performed in saying something -> We can things with words = the action that a speaker accomplishes Shawn using language in context e.g “It’s quite warm in here, isn’t” Act of assertion - An act of assertion is carried out when a speaker utters a declarative sentence (which an e either true or false), and undertakes a certain responsibility, or commitment, to the hearer, that a particular state of affairs, or situation, exists in the world e.g Simon is in the kitchen => a declarative sentence + state of affairs The Descriptive Fallacy - The descriptive fallacy is the view that the sole purpose of making assertions is to describe some state of affairs e.g “Simon is in the kitchen” Communication Performative utterance: is one that actually describes the act it performs (i.e it performs some act and simultaneously describes that act) “I promise to give you a book” -> performative ex: I bet you five pounds it’ll rain tomorrow -> performative I am betting you five pounds it’ll rain tomorrow -> constative He bets you five pounds it’ll rain tomorrow -> constative Performative verb: a performative verb is one which, when used in a simple positive present tense sentence, with a 1st person singular subject, can make the utterance of that sentence performative e.g “I warn you that you will fail” Exception: “You are hereby forbidden to leave this room” -> performative Performative test: “hereby” e.g “I sentence you to death” -> “I hereby sentence you to death” Constative: A constative utterance is one which makes an assertion (i.e it is often the utterance of a declarative sentence) but is NOT performative e.g “I’m trying to open the door” -> constative “It’s quite warm in here” -> The temperature is high in here -> locution -> Please turn on the fan -> Illocution -> Someone stands up and turns on the fan -> Perlocution A locutionary act is the saying of something which is meaningful and can be understood (word meaning) e.g “It’s hot in here”, “Shoot the snake” An illocutionary act is using an utterance to perform a function (speaker meaning) (accosting, accusing, admitting, apologizing, challenging, complaining, condiling, congratulating, declining, deploring, giving permission, giving way, greeting, leavetaking, mocking, naming, offering, praising, promising, proposing marriage, protesting, recommending, surrendering , thanking, toasting) e.g “shoot the snake” -> may be intended as an order or a piece of advice/ordering The perlocutionary act (perlocution) is the results or effects that are produced by means of saying something (the effect that you the speaker leaves on the hearer) e.g “shoot the snake” -> shooting the snake (someone does it) The felicity conditions of an illocutionary act are conditions that must be fulfilled in the situation in which the act is carried out if the act is to be said to be carried out properly or felicitously Sincerity condition on an illocutionary act is a condition that must be fulfilled if the act is said to be carried out sincerely, but failure to meet such a condition does not prevent the carrying out of the act altogether e.g “I’m sorry to come in here at this moment” Classification of speech acts: representative speech act: describe something, state what the speaker believes to be the case or not asserting, concluding, describing, directive speech act: speakers use to get someone else to something advising, commanding, ordering, requesting, suggesting commissive speech act: speakers use to commit themselves to some future actions promising, threatening, refusing, approving threatening expressive speech act: state what the speaker feels apologizing, requesting, congratulating, greeting Declaration: changes the world by bringing about or altering the state of affairs it names naming, pronouncing, sentencing e.g I now pronounce you man and wife Minister of Education: “I resign.” That’s a good idea → A: How you think about this idea → B: That’s a good idea (representative -> describe) → A: How about eating out? → B: That’s a good idea (expressive -> complimenting) I said I didn’t → A: You was the one breaking the vase → B, aggressively: I said I didn’t (expressive -> showing emotion) → A: What did you say? → B: I said I didn’t (representative -> reporting) *Notes: Must not add other utterances Explaining before classifying “It’s snowing” Situation 1: A: How’s the weather? B: It’s snowing => B is describing the weather => Representative speech act Situation 2: A: It’s snowing B: Oh let me close the window => A intends to ask the hearer to an action => Directive speech act “What else you want?” Situation 1: A: I don’t think this is enough B: What else you want? => B is complaining (that A is not satisfied with his job) => Expressive speech act Situation 2: A: I want some lemonade B: What else you want? => B is asking A => Directive speech act Deixis: A deictic word is one which takes some element of its meaning from the situation of the utterance in which it is used Person deixis Spatial deixis Temporal deixis Deictic projection Presupposition: what a speaker assumes to be the case prior to making an utterance Test for presupposition: negate it (constancy under negation test) “My brother is a doctor”/”My brother is not a doctor” -> presup: I have a brother Types of presuppositions: The existential presupposition: [ X’s Y → X (have) a Y] ex: My brother is a doctor → I have a brother [ the X → there (be/exist) an X] ex: The boy is small → There is a boy The factive presupposition [V/Adj/N that S-V -> S-V] ex: Nobody realized that Kelly was ill -> Kelly was ill I was aware that she was married -> she was married It is odd that he left early -> he left early I am glad that it’s over -> it’s over We regret telling him the truth -> we told him the truth The non-factive presupposition [non-factive V that S-V → S not V] e.g She dreamed that she was rich → She was not rich He pretends to be ill → He is not ill The lexical presupposition again/more/manage/stop/start e.g You’re late again → You have been late before The structural presupposition [WH-Q → S-V] e.g Where did you buy that book? → You bought that book How did you know the defendant had bought a knife? → You knew the defendant had bought a knife? I don’t know why I’ve got an average mark → I’ve got an average mark The counter-factual presupposition [If-clause (subjunctive) → opposite] [Wish/if only] [Should/could + have + PP] ex: Why did you arrive late? → you arrived late When did you stop smoking? → you stopped smoking His car is blue → he has a car Have some more tea → You has already had tea John doesn’t write poems any more → John used to write poems Would you like another beer? → You has already got a beer (in court) Have you stopped beating your wife? → You (used to) beat your wife (in court) Okay, Mr Smith, how fast were you going when you ran the red light? → Mr Smith were going fast when he ran the red light Mr Smith ran the red light Cooperative Principle maxims: Relevance/Relation: Keep to the topic Quantity/Informativeness: enough information Quality: say things that are true Manner/Clarity: clear enough (no obscurity) e.g Spelling the word out instead of simply saying it (e.g B-E-A-C-H) Implicature Conversational Implicatures: conclusions drawn → Implicature is matter of utterance meaning, and not a sentence meaning (true) → Entailment is matter of utterance meaning (false) - Do you like this subject? When pigs fly :D → implicature (direct: Hell No) A: You two don’t drink, you? B: Well, we don’t not drink => implicature: We drink in moderation explain: “don’t not drink” => double negative => unclear => following maxim of manner, the B should try to clear, but B isn’t => B is implying sth more subtle => “We drink but not much.” A: Do you like my new carpet? B: The Wallpaper is lovely Explain: violate the maxim of relevance → if B liked it, B would say Yes but B didn’t → implies that B doesn’t like it A: Who was that man? B: That was my mother’s husband Explain: flouted maxim of manner => B would have said “My father” but B didn’t => B means “stepfather” Politeness Principle actor actress air steward air stewardess barman barmaid boy girl boy scout girl guide bridegroom bride bus conductor bus conductress chairman chairwoman gentleman lady headmaster headmistress hero heroine host hostess husband wife king queen landlord landlady lord lady man woman monk nun prince princess steward stewardess waiter waitress widower widow father mother grandfather grandmother son daughter brother sister uncle aunt nephew niece Noun Female Male ant queen / worker drone antelope doe buck bear sow / she-bear boar camel cow bull caribou doe buck cat queen tom chimpanzee empress blackback chicken hen cock / rooster coyote bitch dog crab hen / jenny cock / jimmy crocodile cow bull deer doe stag / buck dog bitch dog donkey jenny jack dragonfly queen king / drake duck duck / hen drake elephant cow bull elk cow bull falcon falcon tiercel ferret gill / jill hob finch hen cock fox vixen dog gerbil doe buck giraffe cow bull goat nanny / doe billy / buck goose goose gander guinea pig sow boar hamster doe buck hawk hen tiercel hedgehog sow boar hippopotamus cow bull horse mare / dam stallion / stud jellyfish sow boar kangaroo flyer / doe / jill boomer / buck / jack leopard leopardess leopard lion lioness lion Noun Female Male lobster hen cock mallard hen greenhead mole sow boar mouse doe buck opossum jill jack peafowl peahen peacock partridge hen / chantelle cock pig sow / gilt boar / barrow rabbit doe / jill buck / jack rat doe / cow buck / bull red deer hind stag / hart salmon hen cock seahorse seamare seastallion sheep ewe / dam ram / buck swan pen cob termite cow bull tiger tigress tiger turkey hen gobbler / stag / tom walrus cow bull whale cow bull wolf bitch / she-wolf dog wolverine angeline wolverine zebra mare stallion ... bear, mug (gullible people), too-two, sun-son, tail-tale, read-reed, flower-flour, hour-our, know-no, x lead, record, present, read, row (line - quarrel), wound (injury - wind) Polysemy: is a relation... A) e.g teacher-student, doctor-patient, father-son - Gradable antonyms: More of one is less of the other (comparative, very, how - at least to of the test) e.g hot-cold, tall-short - (Multiple)... chair - UNDER (MARBLE, CHAIR) - 2-place predicate Dundee is between Aberdeen and Edinburgh - Referring expressions: Dundee, Aberdeen, Edinburgh - BETWEEN (DUNDEE, ABERDEEN, EDINBURGH) - 3-place