Semantics and the way we can use properly.pdf

About Semantics

1. Semantics

2. Semantics
•Semanticsisthestudyofmeaninginlanguage.
•Thewordmeancanbeappliedtopeoplewhouse
language,i.e.tospeakers(andauthors),inroughlythe
senseof‘intend’.Anditcanbeappliedtowordsand
sentencesinadifferentsense,roughlyexpressedas‘be
equivalentto’.

3. •Speakermeaning:iswhataspeakermeans(i.e.intendstoconvey)
whenheusesapieceoflanguage.
•Sentencemeaning(orwordmeaning):iswhatasentence(orword)
means,i.e.whatitcountsastheequivalentofinthelanguage
concerned.
•Whileitistruethatmanysentencesdocarryinformationina
straightforwardway,itisalsotruethatmanysentencesareusedby
speakersnottogiveinformationatall.

4. •Thesamesentencescanbeusedbydifferentspeakersondifferent
occasionstomean(speakermeaning)differentthings.
•Speakerscanconveymeaningquitevividlybyusingsentenceswhose
meaningsareinsomesenseproblematical.
•Itisnotthebusinessofsemanticstolaydownstandardsofsemantic
correctness,toprescribewhatmeaningswordsshallhave,orwhat
theymaybeusedfor.

5. •Semanticsisanattempttosetupatheoryofmeaning.
•Atheoryisapreciselyspecified,coherent,andeconomicalframe-
workofinterdependentstatementsanddefinitions,constructedso
thataslargeanumberaspossibleofparticularbasicfactscaneither
beseentofollowfromitorbedescribableintermsofit.

6. Sentences vs. utterances
•Utterance:Anutteranceisanystretchoftalk,byoneperson,before
andafterwhichthereissilenceonthepartofthatperson.
•Asentenceisneitheraphysicaleventnoraphysicalobject.Itis,
conceivedabstractly,astringofwordsputtogetherbythe
grammaticalrulesofalanguage.Asentencecanbethoughtofasthe
idealstringofwordsbehindvariousrealizationsinutterancesand
inscriptions.

7. •Agivensentencealwaysconsistsofthesamewords,andinthesame
order.Anychangeinthewords,orintheirorder,makesadifferent
sentence,forourpurposes.
•Accentandvoicequalitybelongstrictlytotheutterance,nottothe
sentenceuttered.
•Asentenceisagrammaticallycompletestringofwordsexpressinga
completethought.
•Theabstractideaofasentenceisthebasisforunderstandingeven
thoseexpressionswhicharenotsentences.

8. Propositions
•Themeaningsofwholesentencesinvolvepropositions;thenotionof
apropositioniscentraltosemantics.
•Apropositionisthatpartofthemeaningoftheutteranceofa
declarativesentencewhichdescribessomestateofaffairs.
•Truepropositionscorrespondtofacts,intheordinarysenseofthe
wordfact.Falsepropositionsdonotcorrespondtofacts.

9. (Hurfordet al. 2007)

10. Reference and Sense
•Intalkingofsense,wedealwithrelationshipsinsidethelanguage;
intalkingofreferencewedealwiththerelationshipsbetween
languageandtheworld.
•Reference:Bymeansofreference,aspeakerindicateswhichthings
intheworld(includingpersons)arebeingtalkedabout.
•Variablereferencevs.constantreference.

11. •Sense:thesenseofanexpressionisitsplaceinasystemofsemantic
relationshipswithotherexpressionsinthelanguage.
•Wecantalkaboutthesense,notonlyofwords,butalsooflonger
expressionssuchasphrasesandsentences.
•Everyexpressionthathasmeaninghassense,butnotevery
expressionhasreference.

12. •Justasonecantalkofthesamesenseindifferentlanguages,soone
cantalkofexpressionsindifferentdialectsofonelanguageashaving
thesamesense.
•Therelationshipbetweenreferenceandutteranceisnotsodirectas
thatbetweensenseandproposition,butthereisasimilarityworth
pointingout.Bothreferringandutteringareactsperformedby
particularspeakersonparticularoccasions.

13. Referring expressions
•Areferringexpression:isanyexpressionusedinanutterancetoreferto
somethingorsomeone(oraclearlydelimitedcollectionofthingsorpeople),
i.e.usedwithaparticularreferentinmind.
•Someexpressionscanonlybeusedasreferringexpressions,somenevercan,
andsomeexpressionscanbeusedtoreferornot,dependingonthekindof
sentencetheyoccurin.

14. •Textbook:
•Hurford. J. et al. Semantics: A Coursebook. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2007.