Basic concepts

Semantics vs Pragmatics Semantics - is the study of the meaning of words/ phrases/ sentences of a language. - concerns the kind of meaning that are context-free Pragmatics - is the study of language in use - concerns the kind of meaning that are context-dependent 1 In other words, the subject of Semantics is sentence meaning, while that of pragmatics is utterance or speaker meanings For example: the sentence “It is hot” can be understood as the combination of “It”, “is”, “hot” (weather condition): semantic meaning. However, if uttered in different circumstances it may mean different things (an assertion, a request, a complaint): pragmatic meaning. Pragmatics investigates how speakers use language to convey their meanings and how hearers interpret these meanings Sentence, Utterance & Proposition Sentence: is a string of words that go together according to the grammatical rules of a language. A sentence is something abstract, not a physical event or physical object S U U U Utterance: is a sentence uttered by a particular speaker, in a particular circumstance, for a particular purpose. An utterance is a physical event, tied with a specific time or place or a certain regional dialect. Ex: Everyday, a person may say “How are you?” a number of times to greet other people. He/ She uses only one sentence, but there are as many utterances of this same sentence as the number of instances in which it is used for greeting. Proposition: is that part of meaning of the utterance of a declarative sentence to express a state of affairs (a state of affairs may relate to things, people, events referred to by the utterance). A proposition can be seen as a semantic content or message. Ex: Tom broke the vase. The vase was broken by Tom It was Tom who broke the vase different sentences conveying one and the same proposition It was the vase that Tom broke What Tom broke was the vase The person who broke the vase was Tom • A proposition can’t be said to be tied to any particular language. Ex: “It’s cold” (English) “Il est froid (French) “Troilanh” (Viet Nam) may all share the same proposition • Interrogatives or imperatives also involve proposition. But unlike declarative sentences, interrogative and imperative sentences just mention the propositions, without asserting their truth Proposition S S S U U U U U U U • The same proposition can be expressed by different sentences; the same sentence can be realised by different utterances in different circumstance. Sense vs Reference There are 2 sources of meaning: sense and reference Sense: the relationship between a linguistic expression (word, phrase, sentence) with other linguistic expressions in the language. In other words, this relationship is internal, where the meaning of a linguistic expression is defined in a system. Ex: the sense of “table” is defined in its relationship with “furniture” (hyponymy) The sense of “happy” may be perceived in its relationship with “feeling” (hyponymy), “sad” (antonymy) or “glad” (synonymy) Reference: is the relationship between a linguistic expression and an entity (thing, person, event, concept…) in the real or imaginary word. In other words, reference is the external relationship between language and the world. Ex: My son is on the birch tree ‘My son’ identifies a person in the world ‘The birch tree’ identifies a thing in the world ‘My son’ and ‘the birch tree’ are referring expressions The person and the thing thus identified are referents(an entity in the world picked out by a referring expression) In sum, a referent is a person or a thing while reference and sense are relationships Types of reference: • Variable reference: when one and the same referring expression is used to identify a number of different referents. Referent 1 Referent 2 Linguistic expression Referent 3 Referent… n Ex: Teacher to students: “Open your book” ‘Your book’ identifies as many referents as there are students in the class. • Constant reference: when one and the same referring expression is used to identify a unique referent. This is especially true of proper names. Ex: the Earth, the moon … However, constant reference is not very common in everyday conversation. For example, a person may be identified via his/ her proper name or role/ position. Ex: Peter is Tom’s father. Tom may address his father sometimes as Peter, sometimes as Dad • Co-reference: two or more linguistic expressions are used to identify one and the same referent. Ling. Exp. Ling. Exp. Referent Ling. Exp. Ex: both ‘Mr. Nguyen Tan Dung and ‘Vietnam’s current prime minister’ refer to the same person both ‘the morning star’ and ‘the evening star’ refer to Venus Denotation & Connotation: Denotation is the core, central or referential meaning of a wordfound in a dictionary. In English, a content word may have its denotation described in terms of a set of semantic features that serve to identify the particular concepts associated with the word. Ex: Denotation of “child: [+human], [-mature] and [+male] Connotation of a word is 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.A connotative meaning may be positive, negative or neutral. Ex: With a child in the family, parents will be happier and more closely knit. In this example, “child” may be connoted positively as affectionate, innocent. With a child nearby, one can hardly concentrate on one’s work. In the second example, “child”may be negatively connoted as noisy, irritating. Literal meaning vs figurative meaning The basic or usual meaning of a word is usually referred to as its literal meaning. The figurative meaning of a word is one which is different from its usual (literal) meaning and which create vivid mental images to readers or listeners. Ex: Literal meanings of “hand” 1. part of the body at the end of each arm 2. help 3. hands on a clock Ex.:Figurative meanings: 1. Economic success and job creation go hand in hand. go hand in hand: happen or exist together 2. somebody’s hands are tied: someone can’t do what they want to do. . denotation described in terms of a set of semantic features that serve to identify the particular concepts associated with the word. Ex: Denotation of “child: [+human], [-mature] and [+male] Connotation. “child”may be negatively connoted as noisy, irritating. Literal meaning vs figurative meaning The basic or usual meaning of a word is usually referred to as its literal meaning. The figurative meaning