Chapter 6: Semantics…
… the Study of Meaning
NOTES: About exercising: it keeps you healthy: physically &
mentally… I’ve tried to match the slides to the order of the textbook
this time…
What is “Truth”? - Pilate- c 33AD
I went to Bi-Lo this morning Bi-Lo is a grocery store
You are too young to drinkYou are not old enough to drink
Dave spent 4 years in Tokyo, JapanDave was once in Tokyo, Japan
Truth & Contradiction Paraphrase:
Two sentences: the same truth conditions Entailment
JFK was assassinated __________ Contradictions
*The king is a woman Anomalies
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously
What I meant to say was…
Principle of Compositionality
The meaning of a sentence comes
(mostly) from its constituents and the way they are
positioned.
Ambiguity The man saw the fish with binoculars.
You Try it
Create an ambiguous sentence…
How does ambiguity relate to compositionality, truth, entailment, etc?
Think About It…
What are some benefits & dangers of ambiguity in our
communication?
Types of Meaning Linguistic
Reference GWB became the 43rd president
Meaning Al Gore nearly became GWB????
Social Y’all
Affective How many times have I asked you to…
It all depends…
Band practice…My house
6 to 8
Band practice…My house
6 to 8
Band practice…My house
6 to 8
Band practice…My house
6 to 8Thanks for the
reminder
Thanks for the
reminder
Thanks for the
reminder Thanks for the
warning
Pragmatics What’s the message?
My wife in the car while we’re driving…
“I’m getting cold…” Me sitting making these slides…
“Honey, do we have any fruit…?”
Why “Fine”? … Why Ask?
Any Questions…
… before we move on?
Systematicness of Language
Phonology
Syntax
Lexis
Predictable
Unpredictable
Word Relationships Hyponymy
Color – Red, blue, green, etc. Converseness
Reciprocal relationship Polysemy & Homonymy
Plain • Bat
IceIce
H2O
Fuzzy Concepts (Lexical Semantics)
RainIce
Nose
Hana(Japanese)
Nos(Russian)
Think About It…
How can knowing about word relationships help us study
another language or communicate with a
non-native speaker of English?
Any Questions…
… before we move on?
Meaning Categories
Tense & Modality Deixis
Semantic Roles Verb-Centered
Agent one doing the action Theme (patient) one receiving the
action Experiencer one who perceives
Identify A, T & E below (two in each…) Humpty-Dumpty sat on a wall. Bo Peep pushed Humpty off the wall Miss Muffet heard Humpty shatter
Thematic Roles?
Themes in other lanaguages Apache
*My horse kicked me I allowed myself to be kicked by my
horse German
In diesem hotel sind hunde verboten In this hotel are dogs forbidden * This hotel forbids dogs
Think About It…
How do thematic roles apply to how we create sentences?
Any Questions….
… before we move on?
Maxims of Conversation
Grice, 1975
Maxim of Conversation #1 Relevance
Be relevant
Maxim of Conversation #2 Quantity
Be as informative as required…
Maxim of Conversation #3 Quality
Truthful, Supportable claims
Maxim of Conversation #4 Manner
Brief, orderly Not ambiguous nor obscure
Recommended Exercises
1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15 Enough of each to get the point