The concept of semantics? Flashcards
the study of meaning of words and sentences. (58 cards)
Concept of semantics?
the study of meaning of words and sentences.
Semantic knowledge?
Semantic knowledge allows English speakers to know:
1. That sentences describe the same situation
2. That sentences contradict each other
3. That sentences have several possible meanings (ambiguous)
4. That sentence 1 entails sentence 2
Literal vs non-literal meaning?
Figurative/ e.g. metaphoric expressions, idiomatic expression
Idiomatic expression?
a phrase or expression that has a figurative meaning different from its literal interpretation, such as “kick the bucket,” which means to die.
Definitions theory? and challenges
To give the meaning of linguistic expressions we should establish definitions of the meanings of words.
1. Circularity
We state the meaning of words in other words – the process may never end.
2. Linguistic knowledge
Is it different from general knowledge (encyclopedic knowledge)
E.g. Whale – fish or mammal?
Are our definitions of a word’s meaning correct?
Semantic metalanguage?
To cope with the problem of circularity and the problem of relating semantic and encyclopedic knowledge, one solution is to design a semantic metalanguage with which to describe the semantic units and rules of all languages - the tool of description.
The object language?
The language whose meanings we are describing is called the object language (e.g., English). The language in which we describe these meanings is called the metalanguage (e.g., we use the terms such as “noun”, ”verb”, “adjective”, “denotation”, “connotation”, etc.).
Mental lexicon
mental store of words
Types of meanings?
Speaker, word, sentence
Speaker meaning?
Speaker meaning is what the speaker intends to communicate in context, which may differ from the literal meaning (e.g., if someone says “It’s cold in here” when they want someone to close a window).
word meaning?
Word meaning refers to the individual meanings of words (e.g., “dog” meaning a domesticated canine),
sentence meaning?
Sentence meaning is the meaning derived from the arrangement of words in a sentence (e.g., “The dog barks” conveys a complete thought about a specific action)
Compositional meaning?
Compositional meaning is the meaning derived from the combination of words in a sentence, as in “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog,” where each word contributes to the overall scenario of a fox leaping over a dog.
Compositional – predictable; non-compositional – non predictable.
Reference and sense?
In semantics this action of picking out or identifying with words is often called referring or denoting, e.g. Paris is used to denote the city. The entity referred to is called the referent.
There are two aspects of our semantic knowledge of an expression: its sense and its reference.
Sense allows reference. It is because we understand the expression the President of Ireland that we can use it to refer to a particular individual at any given time. Other ways of describing this same person will differ in sense but have the same reference.
Utterance?
Utterance is a specific instance of spoken or written language that conveys meaning, influenced by the context, speaker intention, and listener interpretation, such as the phrase “It’s time to go,” which may imply urgency or a need to leave.
Hm, mm, oh, etc.
Sentence?
nouns are meaningful because they denote entities in the world and sentences because they denote situations and events.
two similar sentences can give two different situations
Proposition?
Proposition is the underlying meaning or content of a declarative sentence that can be evaluated as true or false, representing a specific claim about the world, such as the proposition expressed by the sentence “The sky is blue,” which asserts a fact that can be verified.
Application of semantics and pragmatics?
The application of semantics and pragmatics involves analyzing how meaning is constructed and interpreted in communication, allowing for a deeper understanding of language use in various contexts, such as in legal documents, literature, and everyday conversations.
Referring vs. denoting?
Referring is what speakers do, while denoting is a property of words.
Denotation is a stable relationship in a language that is not dependent on any one use of a word.
Reference is a moment-by-moment relationship: what entity somebody refers to by using the word x depends on the context.
Theories of meaning: referential vs. representational theories?
In referential theories, meaning derives from language being attached to reality. In representational approaches meaning derives from language being a reflection of our conceptual structures.
The concept of nominals?
Referential possibilities of names and noun phrases - nominals.
The nominal is the linguistic unit which most clearly reveals this function of language.
Referring vs. non-referring expressions?
There are linguistic expressions which can never be used to refer, for example, the words so, very, maybe, if, not, all - they do not identify entities in the world - non-referring items.
Constant vs. variable reference?
Some expressions will have the same referent across a range of utterances, for example the Eiffel Tower or the Pacific Ocean - constant reference.
Where to identify the referents we need to know who is speaking to whom - variable reference - context dependent elements
Referential properties of nouns and noun phrases?
NPs can operate like names. woman and THE woman, definite descriptions, may not be real.
Nominals can also denote substances, actions, and abstract ideas
