Outline of Semantics

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Outline of Semantics

• Forms of thought
• Mapping meaning onto language
• Word meaning
• Semantic features
• Prototypes and Stereotypes
• Relational meanings
• (Word meaning and) longer expressions
• Reference and Sense
• Sentence meaning
• propositions
• sentence v.s. utterance
• Discourse meaning cohesion, coherence,
• background knowledge, the cooperative principle
• Markedness

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Forms of thought

• A thought may be compared to a cloud shedding a
  shower of words.
• Mental representation
• Have you ever had the experience of wanting to
  express a thought, but you couldn't find the
  words for it?
• Language is NOT the basic form of thought.

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Mental Representation

• Mental imageries
• A. sound images
• B. visual images
• C. math
• D. movementaction patterns

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Sound Images

• You can play music in your head, no?
• Reading music

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Visual Images

• Pictures in your mind
• How do you find your way home?
• Remembering scenery the apt. I stayed in NYC, in
  Hsintien, and the one I stay now.
• Recognizing people matching pictures already in
  memory with what you see now.
• Painters Michelangelo
• Matching color dressing.

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Math

• Doing math problems in your head.
• (Hsin Swan ??)

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Movement (Action Patterns)

• How to tie knots use tools dance write Chinese
  calligraphy tie your shoes braid hair use
  chopsticks, etc.
• Books explained with pictures and words often
  easier just to follow pictures

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Transfer among Different Forms of Thought

• Yes, we do it all the time
• e.g. We describe pictures in mind in words form
  pictures from words heard put some sort of
  process into maththen explain in words for
  dance draw pictures of steps, etc.
• Therefore, language is not the basic form of
  thought.

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Semantics

• Definition the study of meaning in
  language how meaning is represented in
  language
• Importance of meaning the basic function of
  language is communication
• Difficulty to define semantics completely

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Mapping Meaning onto language (1)

• Examples
• English, Chinese, Spanish He gave me a pen.
  (Nash 92)
• Turkish Babam bana topu verdi.
• (father to-me ball gave)
• actor recipient object action
• (possessed by speaker)
  (definite) (past, 3rd person, singular)
• 
  (witnessed by
  speaker)
• Hebrew Aba natan li et ha
  kadur.
• (daddy gave me the
  ball) actor
  action recipient definite object
• (past, 3rd person, singular,
  masculine)

object particle
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Mapping meaning onto language (2)

• Problems of mapping meaning onto language not
  all straightforward beyond the basic 4 elements
  (i.e., number, gender, definiteness of
  participants and where/how this information is to
  be encoded).

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Mapping meaning onto language (3)

• Examples of my present different kinds of
  possessions.
• A. my shoescan be thrown away when worn
  out, but other people not likely to wear
  them
• B. my chairbut others can sit in it
• C. my nosehas nothing to do with others,
  nor will I throw it away

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Mapping meaning onto language (4)

• Note the differences
• A. He has a big nose.
• (Have I possess something more general
  than own)
• B. He owns a big nose.
• (You cannot own parts of your body only
  materials or object which you can give away or
  buy/sell it, can be owned.)
• C. He is the possessor of his big nose.
• (Possesscloser to own than to have)

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Mapping meaning onto language (5)

• How does a child learn semantics?
• Slobin Model (Nash 91)

KNOWLEDGE of the world
Parts of KNOWLEDGE marked in HUMAN LANGUAGE
Parts of KNOWLEDGE marked in language X (language
the child is learning)
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Mapping meaning onto language (6)

• The childs problem of mapping meaning onto
  language
• A. Which aspects of knowledge of world would
  likely to be marked?
• B. Which aspects must be marked in a particular
  language?
• C. How are they marked? (words word order,
  affixes, function word, )
• So, well work hard to explain how some aspects
  of our knowledge of meaning are expressed in
  language.

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Word meaning

• Word meaning including
• A. features
• B. prototypes
• C. stereotypes
• D. relational meanings (degree, direction)
• E. reference and sense (take us into semantics
  of longer expressions)

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Features

• Definition more basic concepts/ideas that cannot
  be defined any further primitive semantic
  elements.
• Combinations of features - (e.g., see Nash
  94-95)
• A. Advantages
• 1. a universal element found in all langs.
  (Nash 95)
• 2. similar to phonological features
• B. Disadvantage very limited application

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Advantage 1 Universal

• While we may speak different languages, were all
  humans with the same human brain, perceive the
  world with the same human senses.
• e.g. HUMAN, ANIMATE, ROUND, MALE,
  FEMALE, LIQUID, - MOVEABLE, etc.

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Advantage 2 Similar to Phonological Features

• Psychologically similar to phonological features
• Same kind of mental operation from phonology ?
  semantics
• Phonemes defined by its features
• e.g. /p/consonantal, -voiced, stop,
  bilabial

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Disadvantage

• Very limited applicationdo not work for many
  words
• e.g. A. chair/stool/bench/bean bag
• B. ugly/beautiful
• C. red/green
• D. table/desk
• E. book/pamphlet
• Lead to idea of prototypes

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Prototype

• Definition a typical/ideal example (serving to
  represent the whole class) an examplar
• Concept of prototype helps explain meaning of
  certain words in terms of resemblance to the
  clearest examplar.
• Eleanor Roschs experiments
• A. bird
• Robin, sparrow, canary, dove, lark, parrot,
  owl, peacock, duck, penguin, ostrich, bat
• B. clothing
• shirts, dresses, skirts, bathing suit, pajamas,
  shoes, stockings, the hat, gloves
• C. vegetable
• pea, carrot, cauliflower, onion, potato,
  mushroom

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Stereotype

• Definition a list of typical characteristics of
  describing something more abstract
  representation of possible qualities
• e.g. bird feathers, wings, beak, fly, lay eggs

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Relational Meanings

• Words may differ - a feature. But, many sets of
  words differ, or may be grouped, in other ways,
  including degree and direction.
• Degree amountcontrast to - of features
• e.g. hot/cold, long/short, tall/short,
  hard/soft, good/bad, wet/dry, beautiful/ugly
• Direction for example, buy/sell, come/go,
  give/receive, borrow/lend, read/write.
• Note A. fatheralso relational (in a different
  way)
• B. kill and hurtcause and effect
  relations (Nash 97)

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Longer Expressions

• Reference and sense applying to semantics of
  both words and longer expressions
• Reference dealing with the relationships between
  language and the world (Nash 98)
• e.g. My son is in the beech tree.
• identify person identify thing
• Sense dealing with relationships inside the
  language.
• e.g. The moon was bright last night. (reference)
• My love is like the moon. (sense)

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Reference and Sense (1)

• Sense but not reference function words, such as
  and, or, never, perhaps, otherwise, but. These
  make connections between meanings of different
  units of language.
• Same reference but different sense
• e.g. The evening star west. (sunset)
• The morning star east. (sunrise)
• Same object (same reference) but different sense
  (different aspect) different ways of referring
  to the same thing.

Venus
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Reference and Sense (2)

• The same word can have more than one sense. For
  example,bank
• a. I have an account at the Bank of Scotland.
• b. We steered the safe to the other bank of the
  river.
• c. The DC-10 banked sharply to avoid a crash.
• d. I banked the furnace up with coke last night.
• e. a bank shot

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Reference and Sense (3)

• Other examples
• my father/ the man who married my
  mother/???/????
• different senses, although refer to the same
  person (same reference)
• Could have different reference
• e.g. stepfather or illegitimate child

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Sentence Meaning (1)

• Proposition the basic idea/thought of the
  sentence events or states say something about
  events/states.
• Proposition predicate argument(s) (Nash 19-20.
  84)
• A sentence can have more than one propositions.
• sentence (see definition)
• utterance what speakers say or write

Aspect of entity, quality, state, activity,
relation with other entity/ things.
entity (some sort of thing)
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Sentence

• Definition a unit of language (an abstract
  thing, a part of language itself), a string of
  words put together by the grammatical rules of a
  language.
• Meanings of a sentence come from only within the
  language independent of context.

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Utterance

• Definition the meaning of an utterance comes
  from both the language the context from
  features of language (e.g. intonation, stress,
  gestures)
• What speakers say or write you can give the
  time, date, place of an utterance (including
  intonation, stress, patterns and gestures)
• An event in the world which can be thought as an
  example of a sentence, or of part of a sentence
  (e.g., a phrase or a word)
• Different functions in context
• statement of fact thanks apology
• explanation tease promise
• suggestion insult
• denial request, compliment
• e.g. Mr. Nash likes tea. (Nash 20, 99)
• argument argument
• predicate (shows
  relationship)

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Sentence Meaning (2)

• Propositional meaning (sentence) vs.
  interpersonal meaning (utterance)
• Proposition vs. utterance analysis
• the difference (Nash 100-101)
• e.g. The book is open.accusation
• Tom opened the book

defense against accusation put blame on somebody
else
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Sentence Meaning (3)

• Examples of utterance
• Can you open the window?mother to child
  (order)
• Is your homework ready?
• student student (can I copy it?)
• teacher students (now, turn it in)
• Meaning of utterances based on the context
  (depending on the interactions of the speakers
  and their relationship).

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Sentence Meaning (4)

• Sentence vs. utterance
• e.g. He loves her.sentence
• He loves her.utterance
• Expressions without propositional meaning, only
  international meaning e.g. Hello, Goodbye,
  pardon, Hey (something like verbal gestures)

(understand, but who are they?)
(with knowledge of reference of pronouns)
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Sentence Meaning (5)

• Utterance meaning has to be determined from the
  context (intentions of speaker/hearer, their
  relationship the time, place, roles)
• Sentence meaning (propositions) independent of
  context.

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Sentence Meaning (6)

• Practice

Utterance Sentence Propositions
Can be loud or quiet
Can be grammatical or not
Can be true or false
In a particular regional accent
In a particular language
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Sentence Meaning (7)

• Practice

Utterance Sentences propositions
Can be loud or quiet - -
Can be grammatical or not -
Can be true or false
In a particular regional accent - -
In a particular language -
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• Family tree relationship
• proposition
• sentence sentence sentence
• utterance utterance utterance utterance
  utterance utterance

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• mental processes
• thoughts
• abstract semantic entities
• propositions
• Linguistic entities
• e.g. sentences
• Actions e.g. utterances

• physical actions
• gesture

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Discourse (1)

• Language longer than a sentence
• Important at many levels syntax morphology
  discourse structuresthe structures of units
  longer than a sentence.
• TEXT e.g. (Nash 101)
• The monster danced with Yang Li-Hua. He enjoyed
  it. She didnt.

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Discourse (2)

• Examples of different discourse structures
• A. writing
• a. paragraph
• b. composition (longer organization)
• c. book (chapter)
• d. storytypical structure chronological
  order
• B. apartment descriptions
• C. conversation casual/classroom/ ordered
  discussion/debate/interview/ritual (e.g. church
  ritual, graduation, wedding ritual, classroom
  ritual??.??.??.??)

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Discourse (3)

• Some important elements in discourse cohesion,
  coherence, background knowledge, the co-operative
  principle
• Cohesion the ties and connections which exist
  within texts.

Text a piece of spoken or written language.
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Cohesion (1)

• Examples of cohesion (Yule 140)
• pronouns, (e.g. he, my, I , it) lexical
  connections (e.g. Lincoln convertiblethe carthe
  convertible) general connections with shared
  meaning elements (e.g. moneyboughtsawingpenny
  worth a fortunesoldpay) relationship marker
  (e.g. however) tensefirst 4 sentences past
  tense, last one presenta different time.

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Cohesion (2)

• Cohesion the grammatical and/ or lexical
  relationships between the different elements of a
  text. This may be the relationship between
  different sentences or between different parts of
  a sentence.
• Example
• A Is Jane coming to the party?
• B. Yes, she is.
• There is a link between Jane and she, also
  between is coming and is.

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Coherence (1)

• The relationships which link the meanings of
  utterances in a discourse or of the the sentences
  in a text.
• These links may be based on the speakers shared
  knowledge (background knowledge)
• e.g. A Could you give me a ride home?
• B Sorry, Im visiting my sister.
• Theres no grammatical or lexical link between
  As Q and Bs reply, but the exchange has
  coherence, because both A and B know that Bs
  sister lives in the opposite direction to As
  home.

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Coherence (2)

• Coherence that the text makes sensecoherence
  achieved more by people than by texts (than by
  language itself)we expect coherencewe try to
  arrive at an interpretation which is in line with
  our experience of the way the world is (Yule
  141).
• An example of coherence without cohesion (Yule
  142)

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Coherence (3)

• Obviously, theres something else involved what
  is it? in the interpretation of a conversation,
  except the information expressed in the
  sentences.
• It is clear that language users must have a lot
  of knowledge of how conversational interaction
  works which is not simply linguistic knowledge.

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Background knowledge

• Examples (Yule 146-47)inference, build-up,
  changing influence
• 2nd sentence Who is John?
• Hows he traveling?
• 3rd sentence Whos John? (How traveling?)
• 4th sentence Whos John?
• 5th sentence surprise
• We create what the text is about (not just the
  text does this), based on expectation of what
  normally happens (background knowledge).

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The Cooperative Principle (1)

• In conversation participants are assumed (by
  others) to be cooperating.
• Four Maxims set out by Grice (1975)
• Quantity an informative as is required, no
  more, no less.
• Quality Dont say something you believe to
  be false or something you dont know.
• Relation Be relevant
• Manner Be clear, brief and orderly

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The Cooperative Principle (2)

• These are the normal expectations
• e.g. expectations about Quantity To make a
  long story short, I wont bore you with all the
  details.
• Quality An far as I know Correct me if I am
  wrong I think I feel Its possible
  that (maybe)

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The Cooperative Principle (3)

• The 4 maxims and the whole principle ? allow
  interpretations (see Yule 145 bottom)
• Carol Are you coming to the party tonight?
• Lara Ive got an exam tomorrow.
• Just a brief introduction to Discoursemany more
  elements involved, very complex.

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Lexicon (1)

• Q Do the lexical items (words) of a language
  have some sort of overall structure/organization
  like phonology, morphology, and syntax have?
• Whats the exact nature of a unit for definition?
  That is, what is a lexical unit?

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Lexicon (2)

• Dictionary entry is not exactly what we think of
  as a word. Its really a paradigm an example of
  all the forms of a word, used to represent the
  whole set.
• Examples
• childrepresents child, childs, children,
  childrens
• taketakes, taking, took, taken.
• Some sets include only one member how, yet,
  often

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Lexicon (3)

• How is the paradigmatic form chosen?
• e.g. find a new word
• ritualistic ? look up ritual
• larger ?look up large

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Unmarked

• The paradigmatic form is the unmarked form the
  form which does not seem special in any way,
  that seems most basic, that has nothing added
  (phonemes, sounds, morphemes).
• e.g. child childs, children
• large larger
• car cars
• ritual ritualistic
• strangle strangulation
• old/young How old is she? the normal Q

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Markedness (1)

• The theory that in the languages of world certain
  linguistics elements are more BASIC, National,
  and Frequent (these elements are unmarked less
  basic, national, frequent elements are marked)
• Examples
• A. Singular examples carcars
  (singularunmarked pluralmarked)
• B. unmarked S-V-O sentence I dislike such
  people.
• marked O-S-V sentence Such people I dislike.

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Markedness (2)

• Marking may be a basic principle for assigning
  universal (and possibly innate) values to certain
  kinds of features

Slobin Model
(Nash 91)
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Markedness (3)

• C. more frequentunmarked
• e.g. Falling intonation vs. rising intonation
• D. more specificmarked
• (more commonunmarked)
• e.g. dog (unmarked) vs. bitch (marked)
• E. distributionunrestricted (unmarked)
• e.g. How tall is John? vs. How short is John?

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Markedness (4)

• Markedness theory applies at all levels
• A. Phonology
• e.g. /p, t, k, s, n/ unmarked consonants
• /v, z, Q, ð/ more marked
• falling intonationunmarked
• rising intonationmarked
• B. lexicon e.g. dog/ bitch (marked)
• C. morphology e.g. car/ cars (marked)
• D. syntax e.g. active vs. passive (marked)

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Markedness (5)

• Discourse e.g. politeness
• too polite unmarked too informal
• (marked) (marked)

Could you lend me a pencil?
Would you be so kind? just let me borrow your
pencil for a minute?
Without saying anything, just grasp the pencil.
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Markedness (6)

• Unmarked elements easier to acquire
• Marked elements more difficult to acquire
• Some experimental evidence shows that teaching
  marked forms can lead to faster acquisition of
  both marked and unmarked forms, but teaching
  unmarked forms wont help students learn marked
  forms.