semantics & pragmatics

1 Nha Trang University Faculty of Foreign Languages SEMANTICS & PRAGMATICS Compiled by Pham Thi Kim Uyen, MA in TESOL Nha Trang, Jannuary 2012. 2 COURSE OUTLINE Subject SEMANTICS & PRAGMATICS Units of credit 2 (30 periods) Prerequisites Grammar, Phonology, Morphology, Syntax Suggested self- study 90 periods Instructor Ph ạm Thị Kim Uyên Contact detail kim_uyen_pham@yahoo.com.vn cell phone: 0918 599 505 Textbooks: 1. Yule, G. (2006). The Study of Language. Cambridge University Press. 3. Fromkin, V.; Rodman, R.;Collins, P. and Blair, D. (1999). An Introduction to Language. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers. 4. Pham Thi Kim Uyen (compiled). Semantics and Pragmatics. Nha Trang University. Week Contents Textbook 1 Course introduction and meanings of words (Textbook 1, 2) 2 Semantic features and semantic roles (Textbook 1,2 ) 3 Synonymy and antonymy (Textbook 1, 2) 4 Hyponymy and prototype (Textbook 1) 5 Homophones, homonymy and polysemy (Textbook 1) 6 Word play, metonymy and collocation (Textbook 1) 7 Ambiguity, paraphrases and entailment (Textbook 1, 2) 8 Semantic review (Textbook 3) 9 Invisible meaning, context, deixis (Textbook 1) 10 Reference and inference (Textbook 1) 11 Anaphora and presupposition (Textbook 1, 2) 12 Speech acts (Textbook 1) 13 Politeness (Textbook 1) 14 Pragmatic review (Textbook 3) 15 Revision and end-term test (Textbook 3) 3 Subject objectives: This subject provides a lively introduction to semantics and pragmatics. Its specific objectives are to help students: 1. Deal with the conventional meaning conveyed by the use of words, phrases and sentences. 2. Recognize what speakers mean by their utterances. 3. Explore a wide range of questions related to semantics and pragmatics. Assessment for all students - Final test : 50% - Mid-term test: 50%, including: Class attendance: 5% (> 3 absences: FAIL) In- class exercises: 15% Group presentation: 30% Guidelines for group presentation 1. A group of 5 students formed randomly will be working together and each student will be given an individual mark by the teacher, the other members and the other groups. 2. Each group will present the contents given, including explaining definitions and giving illustrated examples. All kinds of other activities that help the class have better understanding of the lessons are encouraged. 3. The presentation is limited around 10 minutes. Any presentation that exceeds or falls short of the time allowed will be deducted by 10% of the total mark. 4. Copying all information from the textbooks mentioned above is prohibited. A penalty of 5% will be applied to any violence. 5. The presentation slides must be submitted by the due date of presentation or one day later. Overdue ones will be given a penalty of 10% for each late week. NO exceptions will be entertained. 4 SEMANTICS The words Fire Department make it sound like they’re the ones who are starting fires, doesn’t it? It should be called the “Extinguishing Department”. We don’t call the police the “Crime Department”. Also, the “Bomb Squad” sounds like a terrorist gang. The same is true of wrinkle cream. Doesn’t it sound like it causes wrinkles? And why would a doctor prescribe pain pills? I already have pain! I need relief pills! Carlin (1997) From the above examples, Yule (2006:100) gives the following definition of Semantics: “Semantics is the study of the meaning of words, phrases and sentences. Linguistic semantics deals with the conventional meaning conveyed by the use of words, phrases and sentences of a language.” * Conceptual and associative meaning According to Yule (2006:100), “Conceptual meaning covers those basic, essential components of meaning that are conveyed by the literal use of a word. However, different people might have different associations or connotations attached to a word.” Ex: The basic components of a word like “woman” might include “adult, female human being”. However, different people might have different associations to the word like “sweet”, ‘attractive” or “talkative” or “inferior”. Fromkin, Rodman, Collins & Blair (1997: 205) use other terms: denotation and connotation. Denotative meaning “is the type of meaning which may be describe d in terms of a set of semantic properties which serve to identify the particular concept associated with the word in question.” Connotation appears when a word “may convey certain affective or evaluative associations.” * Semantic features Semantic features are "the smallest units of meaning in a word." (Richards et al, 1987: 254). Yule (2006) finds out some basic elements like [ +animate], [ +human], [ [ +female], [ +adult] which are helpful in differentiating the meaning of each word in a language from others. Ex: The noun father may have the following semantic features: [+human], [+male], [+mature], and [+paternal]. * Semantic roles According to Yule (2006), the noun phrases in a sentence can fulfill some roles as follows. Agent is the entity that performs an action. 5 Theme is the entity that is involved in or affected by the action. The theme can also be an entity that is simply being described. Ex: The boy kicked the ball. agent theme The room is clean. theme If the agent uses another entity in order to perform an action, that other entity fills the role of the instrument. Ex: He opened the door with the pin. instrument When a noun phrase is used to designate the entity as the person who has the feeling, perception or state, it fills the semantic role of experiencer. Ex: She enjoyed the party. experiencer Where an entity is fills the role of location. Where the entity moves from is the source and where it moves to is the goal. Ex: She saw a cow in the yard. location We traveled from Hanoi to Nhatrang. source goal * Lexical relations Synonymy Synonyms: Two or more words with very closely related meanings. Ex: big / large broad / wide buy / purchase We should notice that there are many occasions in which one word cannot be replaced by another although they are synonymous. For example, the word center sounds normal in We live in the city center, but middle doesn’t fit in this sentence. Antonymy Antonyms: Two forms with opposite meanings. 6 Ex: fast / slow true / false There are three main types of antonyms: gradable antonyms, non-gradable antonyms and reversives. Gradable (opposites along a scale) antonyms can be used in comparative constructions (Ex: I’m taller than her). In addition, the negative of one member of a gradable pair does not necessarily imply the other (Ex: not big doesn’t mean small). Non-gradable antonyms (complementary pairs): Comparative constructions are not normally used here, but the negative test is (Ex: not alive means dead, true means not false) Reversives: Antonyms of this type is found by ‘doing the reverse’. (Ex: unpack can be understood as the opposite of pack, it doesn’t mean not pack). Hyponymy: When the meaning of one form is included in the meaning of another. animal mammal insect reptile dog cat ant bee snake crocodile In this hierarchical diagram, the meaning of insect is included in the meaning of ant, so ant is the hyponym of insect. Similarly, snake is the hyponym of reptile. In these two examples, insect and reptile are called the superordinate (=higher level) terms. Two or more words that share the same superordinate terms are co-hyponyms. For example, ant and bee are co-hyponyms and their superordinate term is insect. Prototypes: The idea of “the characteristic instance” of a category Ex: robin is the prototype of bird chair is the prototype of furniture The categorization process involved in prototypes can be different in different contexts. For instance, most Vietnamese people would recognize the word lotus as the prototype of the category flower but those in the other countries might disagree. Homophones: When two or more different (written) forms have the same pronunciation, they are described as homophones. Ex: pale /pail right /write 7 Homonymy: The term homonyms is used when one form (written or spoken) has two or more unrelated meanings. Ex: bank: (of a river) / (financial institution) pupil: (at school) / (in the eye) Polysemy: Two or more words have the same form and related meanings. Ex: head (the object on the top of one’s body, on top of a glass of beer, person at the top of a company) A dictionary can help if we are not sure one word is an example of homonymy or polysemy. Yule (2006) suggests that if the word has a numbered list of different meanings within a single entry, it’s polysemous. If two words are treated as homonyms, they will be categorized in two entries. Word play is usually used for humorous effect. Homophones, homonymy and polysemy do contribute to a lot of word play. Ex: Why is 6 afraid of 7? Because 789. (use of homophones) Metonymy: Using one word to refer to the other thanks to the close connection between these words. Ex: She is boiling a kettle. (kettle -> water in the kettle) They need a roof for a month. (roof-> house) Collocation: Words frequently occur together. Ex: wear make-up grow a beard There are some common ways to form collocation: - verb + noun - adjective +noun - adverb + adjective - adjective + preposition - noun + noun * Ambiguity “A word or sentence is ambiguous when it has more than one sense.” (Hurford & Heasley, 1997). A word is ambiguous “if it has two (or more) synonyms that are not themselves synonyms of each other.” (Hurford & Heasley, 1997). Thus, both polysemy and homonymy do contribute to lexical ambiguity. “A sentence which is ambiguous because its words relate to each other in different ways, even though none of the individual words are ambiguous, is structurally (or grammatically) ambiguous.” (Hurford & Heasley, 1997) * Paraphrase Sentences are paraphrases if they have the same meaning (except possibly for minor differences in emphases).” (Fromkin, Rodman, Collins & Blair, 1997:209) 8 There are some ways to paraphrase a sentence: - Change individual words - Change the sentence structure - Change both individual words and the sentence structure * Entailment “[An] entailment is something that necessarily follows from what is asserted.” (Yule, 1996) There are two types of entailment: one-way (or asymmetrical) entailment and two- way (or symmetrical) entailment We should keep in mind that: - Hyponymic relations between words result in a great number of one-way entailment. - Paraphrases are two-way entailments. - Relational antonyms do contribute to two-way entailments 9 SEMANTIC EXERCISES 1A. Characterize conceptual and associative meanings of these words: child, woman, fox, slender 1B. How do the following words in each pair differ in connotation? politician, statesman cautious, timid lawyer, shyster inquisitive, nosey bargain, haggle sensitive, touchy violin, fiddle 1C. It might seem that any name would be appropriate as a label for a commercial product as long as it is easy to remember. However, companies with products to sell make great expenditures of time, talent and money to select brand names which will project the preferred ‘image’ for cars, cosmetics, detergents et al., but names are often chosen for their connotation rather than for what they denote. Why is Caterpillar a good name for an earth- moving tractor but not for a sports car? How would you rank the following as possible names for a sports car? Butterfly Cheetah Dolphin Owl Rattler XL4 Would you care to suggest others? Give an example of a possible name for a men’s cologne (which of course is never called perfume) and an example of a name which is very unlikely. 2A. For each group of words given below, state what semantic features are shared by the (a) words and the (b) words, and what semantic features distinguish between the classes of (a) words and (b) words 1. (a) widow, mother, sister, aunt, seamstress (b) widower, father, brother, uncle, tailor The (a) and (b) words are ______________ The (a) words are ____________________ The (b) words are ____________________ 2. (a) bachelor, man, son, paperboy, pope, chief (b) bull, rooster, drake, ram 3. (a) table, pencil, cup, house, ship, car (b) milk, tea, wine, beer, water, soft drink 4. (a) book, temple, mountain, road, tractor (b) idea, love, charity, sincerity, bravery, fear 5. (a) rose, lily, tulip, daisy, sunflower, violet (b) ash (t ần bì), oak (sồ i), sycamore (sung dâu), willow (li ễu), beech (sồi) (c) pine (thông), cedar (tuy ết tùng), jew (thuỷ tùng), spruce (vân sam), cypress (bách) 6. (a) ask, tell, say, talk, converse (b) shout, whisper, mutter, drawl, holler 7. (a) lobster, shrimp, crab, oyster, mussel (b) trout, sole, herring, salmon, tunny, mackerel 10 2B. Identify the semantic features of each of the following words 1. aunt 2. hen 3. oak 4. flower 5. palm 6. bachelor 7. actress 8. plod 9. ewe 10. fly 11. stallion 12. doe 13. elm. 14. chick 15. pap 16. tiptoe 17. pine 18. owe 19. honesty 20. maid 2C. Consider the following table. How many semantic features can you find in each of the given words English Vietnamese Chinese brother anh huynh em đ ệ sister mu ội ch ị t ỷ 2D. Explain the contradiction of each of the following sentences 1. Christopher is killing phonemes. 2. The tiger remained alive for an hour after the hunter killed it. 3. My brother is a spinster. 4. The boy swallowed the chocolate and then chewed it. 5. Babies can lift one ton. 6. Puppies are human. 7. My unmarried sister is married to a bachelor. 8. The bigger key and John opened the door. 9. James sliced the ideas. 10. Jack’s courage chewed the bones. 3A. The following sentences consist of a verb, its noun phrase subject, and various objects. Identify the semantic relation of each noun phrase by writing the letter a, [...]... The window was open 2 A John passed the test B John took the test 3 A Biff likes Muffy’s new car B Muffy has a new car 4 A Biff likes Muffy’s new Mercedes-Benz B Biff likes Muffy’s new car 21 PRAGMATICS What is Pragmatics? The following example is borrowed from David Lodge's Paradise News: 'I just met the old Irishman and his son, coming out of the toilet.' 'I wouldn't have thought there was room for... Blair, D (1999) An Introduction to Language Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers 4 Hurford, J R and Heasley, B (1997) Semantics A Course Book Cambridge University Press 5 O’Grady, W (2001) Contemporary Linguistics – An Introduction Bedford/St.Martin’s 6 Tô Minh Thanh Semantics- Some Questions and Their Suggested Answers University of Social Sciences and Humanities 7 Yule, G (2006) The Study... discovered America in 1492? 11 Nobody realized that Kelly was ill 12 I imagined that Kelly was ill 13 She pretended that he had understood what she meant 14 We are going to have a final examination in Semantics next Monday 15 We are going to be teachers of English 16 What do you do in your free time? 17 My children like all the pictures in this book very much 31 7A Test whether the following sentences... “Communication clearly depends on not only recognizing the meanings of words in an utterance, but recognizing what speakers mean by their utterances The study of what speakers mean, or “speaker meaning”, is called pragmatics. ” (Yule, 2006) * Context: - Linguistic context (co-text): The co-text of a word is the set of other words used in the same phrase or sentence Ex: I go to the bank to withdraw some cash In this . University Faculty of Foreign Languages SEMANTICS & PRAGMATICS Compiled by Pham Thi Kim Uyen, MA in TESOL Nha Trang, Jannuary 2012. 2 COURSE OUTLINE Subject SEMANTICS & PRAGMATICS Units of credit 2. wide range of questions related to semantics and pragmatics. Assessment for all students - Final test : 50% - Mid-term test: 50%, including: Class attendance: 5% (> 3 absences: FAIL) In- class. Yule (2006:100) gives the following definition of Semantics: Semantics is the study of the meaning of words, phrases and sentences. Linguistic semantics deals with the conventional meaning conveyed