Almen sproglig viden og metode

1. Almen sproglig viden og metode CLM, engelsk Semantics Introductory Lecture 2 tt

2. Sound Structure Meaning • LF • a computational • system an interpretive interface a perceptual interface an articulatory interface for associating sound with meaning a cognitive interface A Model of the Language Faculty

3. Delimiting Semantics … Semantics is the study of the meaning of Natural Language Problems: Locating meanings: Where are they? Explaining meaning: What does it do? Representing meaning: How can we talk about it? Defining ’meaning’: What is it? (continuing from last week)

4. Ideas Mind Words Language Things World Locating NL meanings The Semiotic Triangle Where would you look for NL meaning here?

5. /sli:p/ ZZZZZZZZZZ Locating NL meaning (1)The biplane sign Expression The sign ’sleep’ Meaning - so, meanings are in words (signs)!

6. Splitting up Meaning • Sense (also sometimes intension) • Reference • Denotation (also sometimes extension)

7. Reference The Morning Star is the Evening Star If there is an x such that x is a star then x is visible in the morning If there is an x such that x is a star then x is visible in the evening Sense Sense and reference… Basis for the distinction (Frege)

8. R e f e r e n c e Smith’s murderer is insane S e n s e … sense and reference Referring and attributive use of phrases (Donellan) Speaker uses the phrase Smith’s murderer to refer to Clark Kent and says of him that he is insane Speaker assumes that Smith has been murdered and uses the phrase Smith’s murderer attributively: if there is an x such that x has murdered Smith then x is insane

9. - refers to - denotes Those boysare fighting again {the set of all things that are fighting now} The notion of truth If [those boys] are in {the set of things figthing now}, the utterance of the the sentence Those boys are fightning now is true, otherwise false.

10. Locating NL meaning (2)Reference and denotation … Reference is a relation between phrases and individuals - it is a term belonging to pragmatics - it is a term for a particular use of phrases (a speech act) Denotation is a relation between lexical items and classes or sets - it is a term belonging to semantics - it is a term for the categorization of things

11. …reference and denotation - may be used to refer to a particular set of things as individuals, provided each satisfies two conditions The children next door are always noisy Children next door are always noisy • cannot be used to refer to a particular set of things, but specifies what the conditions are: if x is a child and if x lives next door (no matter where), then x is noisy

12. Locating NL Meaning (3)Mental representation Transparent and opaque contexts Nocontradiction Contradiction The girl with green eyes has brown eyes has modelled for The real life model for the girl in the picture has brown eyes Girl with green eyes (in the picture) John believes that…, John thinks that…, I dreamed that….

13. What the mouse (presumably) lacks is the concept of BLUENESS Concepts are our mental classifications of things AS something - but they are NOT the same as words Words and Concepts I saw a blue car - OK The mouse saw a blue car - OK I saw that the car was blue - OK The mouse saw that the car was blue - Not OK

14. - so, what is NL (word) meaning? Relational: The meaning of a word is the set of relations which that word contracts with other words Conditional: The meaning of a word is the set of conditions that something must satisfy to be properly denoted by that word Instructional: The meaning of a word is the information that word carries for the construction of mental representations Problem is – we don’t talk in words we talk in sentences!

15. Words Sentences The Principle of Compositionality The meaning of a sentence is computed from the meaning of its words, plus the meaning of the structural rules by which the sentence is formed If this were not the case, then we would not be able to understand sentences that we haven’t heard before

16. Entailment Superman killed Smith Smith is dead entails Superman did not kill Smith Smith is dead Presupposition The cat is on the mat There is a cat presupposes The cat is not on the mat There is a cat presupposes Contradiction The cat is on the mat The cat is not on the mat contradicts Semantic intuitions

17. SynonymySentences and propositions Kirsten found the Golden Horns in that field It was Kirsten who found the Golden Horns in that field It was in that field that Kirsten found the Golden Horns What Kirsten found in that field was the Golden Horns The Golden Horns were found by Kirsten in that field That field was where Kirsten found the Golden Horns Different sentences – same proposition

18. find ( Kirsten, [the Golden Horns] ) The representation of propositions What do the sentences about the Golden Horns have in common? The same lexical verb, but in different forms: FIND The same referring expressions: Kirsten and [the Golden Horns] The same association of thematic roles with the referring expressions: Kirsten = Agent; [the Golden Horns] = Patient The same indication of location: [(in) that field] The rest is just grammatical words – and the wordorder is governed by syntactic rules Arguments Predicate

19. V, A, N Predicates A, B, …,Q, … PN, NPDef Constants a, b, …o Personal Pronouns Variables x, y, z Indefinite Pronouns Quantifiers  (all),  (a, some) & (and),  (or) Conjunctions Connectives Kirsten found a Golden Horn x [F(k, x) & G(x) & H(x)] Reads as follows: There’s an x such that Kirsten found x and x is golden and x is a horn The Predicate Calculus– a type of logical notation Wordclasses Correspond to Notation This would be the representation (or translation) of the propositional content of the sentence in predicate calculus form

20. What does meaning do? attitude dagger remark ?quasp bee I was stung by his Meaning guides interpretation! This is the instructional view of meaning

21. [+bovine] bull cow calf [+ adult] [+ male] [-female] [+ adult] [- male] [+female] [- adult] [- male] [-female] stallion mare foal [+equine] How can we talk about meaning?-The problem of meaning representation Decomposition of lexical meaning This is the relational view of meaning

22. entity organism If anything is a Bird then it is - animal chordate vertebrate warm-blooded egg-laying feathered winged Sufficient and Necessary Conditions This is the conditional view of meaning

23. Prototypes