Lectures 22 & 23 Flashcards
(93 cards)
1
Q
a connection between form (a
pattern of sounds or gestures) and referent (what we talk about – a mental concept of something)
A
meaning
2
Q
A word/sign whose form resembles its referent is
A
Form motivated by meaning
3
Q
A word/sign whose form does not resemble its referent is symbolic
A
Arbitrary form
4
Q
pretty much all form-meaning
relationships (even iconic ones) in language are ______________.
A
Conventional
5
Q
what is the meaning of cookie?
A
the set of things that we
group under that notion
6
Q
what does knowing a word like cookie crucially involve?
A
being able to pick out cookies among other things; We are able to split the world up into
cookies and non-cookies.
7
Q
are abstract collections
of things
A
sets
8
Q
allows us to capture many aspects of semantic knowledge
A
Set theory
9
Q
pair of words that have the same meaning
A
synonyms
10
Q
pairs of words: one only applies to some of the things that the other applies to
A
Hyponymy
11
Q
How does set theory capture Hyponymy?
A
through the notion of a subset:
A is a subset of B if all the things in A also are in B
* B would then be a superset with respect to A
12
Q
words that are opposites of one another
A
Antonyms
13
Q
what are the 3 types of antonyms?
A
- Relational opposites: employer vs. employee
- Complementary: married vs. unmarried
- Gradable: long vs. short
14
Q
when one word has multiple meanings
A
ambiguity
15
Q
occurs when a word or phrase has multiple possible meanings, leading to confusion or different interpretations
A
Lexical ambiguity
16
Q
occurs when a sentence or phrase can be interpreted in multiple ways due to the way words are arranged, not because of the meaning of the individual words themselves.
A
Structural ambiguity
17
Q
what are the 2 types of lexical ambiguity?
A
homophony and polysemy
18
Q
Two words with same sound
A
Homophony
19
Q
One word with multiple related meanings
A
Polysemy
20
Q
the study of the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed throughout history.
A
Etymology
21
Q
tree) bark and (dog’s) bark are unrelated, is this polysemy or homophony?
A
homophony
22
Q
cows’ milk and “milk them for what they’re worth” are related, is this polysemy or homophony?
A
polysemy
23
Q
what is the Dictionary analogy for Homophony vs. Polysemy?
A
- One entry with multiple descriptions of its meaning
- Several distinct entries
24
Q
(doctor / nurse)
Words are recognized more quickly if preceded by a word related in meaning
A
Semantic Priming
25
Words are recognized more slowly if preceded by a phonologically similar word
Phonological Inhibition
26
Words are recognized more quickly if they’ve been seen before
Repetition Priming
27
Homonymy (river bank / savings bank)
Standard Phonological Inhibition expected (no semantic priming advantage) -> slow or fast processing?
slow processing
28
If Polysemy involves just one word:
* No phonological inhibition
* Standard repetition priming (- RT)
slow or fast processing?
fast processing
29
If Polysemy is like Homonymy: what type of priming would be used?
* Semantic priming (- RT)
* Phonological Inhibition (+ RT)
30
True or False: Evidence from experiments supports a distinction between homonymy and polysemy in the brain.
TRUE
31
What knowledge do speakers display when they
know the meaning of a sentence?
They can identify circumstances that
match the description provided by a sentence
32
what are Truth-Conditional Semantics?
Another way of characterizing our capacity to match descriptions as expressed by sentences and circumstances:
Knowing under which conditions a sentence is true.
33
what is the claim of Truth-Conditional Semantics?
To know the meaning of a sentence is
to know its truth conditions
34
what is the view of meaning in Truth-Conditional Semantics?
as a relation between linguistic expressions and circumstances.
35
Sentences A and B are synonymous, or paraphrase each other when?
if they are true in exactly the same circumstances
36
In Entailment, Sentence A entails sentence B when?
if whenever A is true, B is true.
37
Sentences A and B are contradictory when?
if whenever A is true, B is false, and vice versa
38
set theoretic union
(all the elements that are an elements of A or B)
A or B
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set theoretic intersection
(elements that are in both sets A and B)
A and B
40
the complement of A
(all the elements that are not in A)
Not A
41
The ________ analysis of or holds both for nouns and
sentences
union; “[I want] a cookie or a piece of cake”
“Cookie monster is eating a cookie or he is eating leaves”
42
“I want to marry someone who’s good looking or
rich” (both would be acceptable). Is this inclusive or exclusive?
Inclusive
43
“I’ll marry someone rich or stay forever single”
(doing both is impossible). Is this inclusive or exclusive?
Exclusive
44
union without intersection
symmetric difference
45
How do Sentences get their Meanings?
Characterizing sentence meanings in terms of
truth conditions seems to work.
46
47
_________ provides an infinite number of sentences
Syntax
48
what is Compositionality?
The meaning of a sentence is determined based on
a) the meanings of its parts and
b) the way in which they are put together
49
why do we need compositionality?
Given that morphosyntax is generative, we also need a general system for computing
meanings
50
Predicational constructions essentially boil down
to claims about _______________.
set-membership
51
what does set membership mean?
"John is a teacher"
is true in a given set of circumstances precisely
if John is an element of the set
associated with teacher.
52
map individuals to truth
values relative to specific circumstances
Intransitive verbs; "John is dancing" is true precisely in those circumstances where
there is dancing activity that John is participating in.
53
sees information
at the core of meaning in natural language
Truth-conditional semantics
54
* Sentence meanings in terms of truth conditions
* Literal Meaning
* Derived compositionally from meaning of parts
Semantics
55
* Speaker meanings: what is meant to come across.
* Non-literal meaning
* Supplemented by context and assumptions.
Pragmatics
56
who created A general system of reasoning based on
assumptions about rational speakers?
Paul Grice
57
according to Paul Grice, what do we assume?
We assume that
* there’s some purpose behind our interaction
* interlocutors generally try to further that cause.
58
what does it mean to say that "communication as mind reading"?
A hearer tries to figure out what the speaker of an
utterance intended to convey.
59
are inferences about
what the speaker intended to communicate
Implicatures
60
Make your contribution
such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs,
by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged.
Grice’s Cooperative Principle
61
what is the Theory of Implicatures?
theory to account for what
inferences actually arise in normal conversation
* Main idea: When humans interact they tend to assume that everyone involved is a rational agent trying to be
cooperative
62
Spelling out the Cooperative Principle in more detail,
Grice proposed a set of ______________ that people
generally adhere to
maxims
63
an attempt to capture the underlying assumptions we make about the principles people follow in communication; a set of principles that guide conversation, ensuring effective and understandable communication.
Gricean Maxims
64
what are the 4 maxims?
* Quality
* Quantity
* Relevance
* Manner
65
a. Contribute only what you know to be true.
Do not say false things.
b. Do not say things for which you lack evidence
Quality
66
what is an interesting potential exception for quality?
For a lot of everyday communication, we might care more about the interaction than the actual content of what is said.
67
a. Make your contribution
as informative as is required.
b. Do not say more than is required.
* Quantity here refers to quantity of information
* If you have information that serves the purpose
of conversation, don’t withhold it!
* Be measured — don’t include unnecessary
information
Quantity
68
* Make your contribution relevant
* Address the topic / point that’s key to the current
purpose of conversation
* Relate what you say to other things going on in the conversation
Relation / Relevance
69
a. Avoid obscurity
b. Avoid ambiguity
c. Be brief
d. Be orderly
* Make it easy on your hearer to understand
your point
* Don’t say things in convoluted ways if you can
put it simply
Manner
70
when we can say that p implicates q?
* we assume B is observing the maxims.
* which means we must take B to think that q
* B thinks that B and A mutually know that A can figure this out
71
what are the properties of implicatures?
* Cancellability
* Reinforceability
72
true or false: Implicatures are cancellable
TRUE; You can retract what was said without
contradiction
73
true or false: Implicatures are reinforceable
TRUE; We can make implicatures explicit
without sounding redundant.
74
___________ works by violating a maxim
flouting
75
- crucially relies on the cooperative
principle (and other maxims) being in place
flouting
76
what does Flouting the maxim mean?
refers to a speaker deliberately appearing to break or violate one of Grice's conversational maxims, such as the maxim of quantity, quality, relation, or manner, to create an implicature, or an unintended meaning.
77
what is Flouting Quality?
* Saying something obviously false communicates a comment on how you perceive the veracity of the original claim
* By saying something obviously false, we convey that we don’t believe A
78
what is Flouting Quantity?
If A assumes B to be cooperative, he will infer
that B doesn’t care or
think that it doesn’t matter whether John comes
79
what is Flouting Relevance?
By saying something entirely irrelevant, B is
indicating that he doesn’t want to talk about this
80
The distinction between what two things matters for many real world situations?
The distinction between speaker meaning and
sentence meaning.
81
Bronston (defendant) testified in the following way under oath at a bankruptcy hearing for his company:
Q: Do you have any bank accounts in Swiss banks, Mr. Bronston?
A: No, sir.
Q: Have you ever?
A: The company had an account there for about six months, in Zurich.
Bronston actually did have a personal bank account at a bank in Geneva for almost five years. In essence, Bronston’s response was literally true, but because he replied with information about the company and not himself, the response was unresponsive to the question and arguably misleading. Bronston was charged and convicted of perjury. He appealed
The Bronston Case
82
what was the non-literal meaning of Bronston's answer? why?
Bronston’s answer conveys that he never had a Swiss bank account. By Maxims of Relevance and Quantity,
his answer to Have you ever?
is an implicit denial.
83
what was the literal meaning of Bronston's answer?
Bronston simply didn’t answer the question.
(He simply stated that the company had an
account there at some point).
84
what are the facts of the Bronston Case?
* Bronston did have a Swiss bank account in the
past.
* The government prosecuted him for perjury
and he was convicted.
* US Supreme Court appeal:
unanimously overturned his conviction, thereby
establishing the literal truth standard for perjury:
* Literally true statements aren’t perjury,
even if they imply falsehood.
* This is different from what we tend to consider
lying in ordinary language.
85
what are Implicatures in Advertising?
Advertisers thrive on using implicated meaning
to achieve their means without being literally
committed to the implicated claims
* Because it’s so natural for us to draw these conclusions, we can easily get deceived
86
whats the story of Aspercreme?
* Aspercreme does not contain any aspirin
* Aspercreme has not been shown to work better
than aspirin
* Thompson Medical defended itself by saying
that they made no such claims
* FTC concluded that there were too many
invitations towards such incorrect inferences.
87
what are properties of presuppositions?
* backgrounded
* taken for granted
* not “at-issue”
88
"John stopped smoking." what is the presupposition?
John used to smoke
89
what are presuppositions?
the background information or assumptions that speakers and listeners share and that are considered true for a conversation to proceed smoothly
90
"Sue went to Jamaica again." what is the presupposition?
Sue has been to Jamaica before
91
"Today’s quiz will only take ten minutes." what is the presupposition?
This is not the only quiz.
92
______________ typically relate information that’s
not new, but rather taken for granted already
Presuppositions
93
_______________, unlike literal asserted meaning, are not affected by truth-conditional
operators like negation
Presuppositions
