Semantics.ppt

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 Yun-Pi Yuan

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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. movement—action 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. Yun-Pi Yuan

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Math • Doing math problems in your head. (“Hsin Swan” 心算)

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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 math—then explain in words; for dance draw pictures of steps, etc. • Therefore, language is not the basic form of thought. Yun-Pi Yuan

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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. Turkish: Babam bana topu verdi. (father to-me ball gave)

(Nash 92)

actor recipient object action (possessed by speaker)

(definite) (past, 3rd person, singular) (witnessed by speaker)

Hebrew: Aba natan li (daddy gave me

et

ha kadur. the ball)

actor action recipient object definite object particle (past, 3rd person, singular, masculine) Yun-Pi Yuan

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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 shoes—can be thrown away when worn out, but other people not likely to wear them B. my chair—but others can sit in it C. my nose—has nothing to do with others, nor will I “throw it away” Yun-Pi Yuan 12

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. (“Possess”—closer to “own” than to “have”) Yun-Pi Yuan

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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) Yun-Pi Yuan

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Mapping meaning onto language (6) • The child’s 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, we’ll work hard to explain how some aspects of our knowledge of meaning are expressed in language. Yun-Pi Yuan

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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,

we’re 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 Yun-Pi Yuan

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Disadvantage • Very limited application—do 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 Yun-Pi Yuan

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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 Rosch’s 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 Yun-Pi Yuan

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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: amount—contrast 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. “father”—also relational (in a different way) B. kill and hurt—cause and effect relations (Nash 97) Yun-Pi Yuan

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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) Yun-Pi Yuan

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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) Venus The morning star east. (sunrise) Same object (same reference) but different sense (different aspect); different ways of referring to the same thing. Yun-Pi Yuan

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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/我先生/孩子的爸 different senses, although refer to the same person (=same reference) • Could have different reference e.g. stepfather or illegitimate child Yun-Pi Yuan

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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+) Aspect of entity, quality, state, activity, relation with other entity/ things.

entity (some sort of thing)

• A sentence can have more than one propositions. • sentence: (see definition) utterance: what speakers say or write Yun-Pi Yuan

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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 explanation suggestion denial

thanks apology tease promise insult request, compliment

e.g. Mr. Nash likes tea. (Nash 20, 99) argument argument predicate (shows relationship) Yun-Pi Yuan

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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). Yun-Pi Yuan

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Sentence Meaning (4) • Sentence vs. utterance e.g. He loves her.—sentence “He loves her.”—utterance

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

• Expressions without propositional meaning, only international meaning: e.g. Hello, Goodbye, pardon, Hey (something like verbal gestures) Yun-Pi Yuan

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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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physical actions [gesture]

mental processes [thoughts] abstract semantic entities [propositions] Linguistic entities [e.g. sentences] Actions [e.g. utterances] Yun-Pi Yuan

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Discourse (1) • Language longer than a sentence • Important at many levels: syntax+

morphology; discourse structures—the structures of units longer than a sentence. • TEXT e.g.: (Nash 101) The monster danced with Yang Li-Hua. He enjoyed it. She didn’t.

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Discourse (2) • Examples of different discourse structures A. writing a. paragraph b. composition (longer organization) c. book (chapter…) d. story—typical structure: chronological order B. apartment descriptions C. conversation: casual/classroom/ ordered discussion/debate/interview/ritual (e.g. church ritual, graduation, wedding ritual, classroom ritual—起立.敬禮.坐下.報告) Yun-Pi Yuan

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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 convertible—the car—the convertible); general connections with shared meaning elements (e.g. “money”—bought—sawing—penny— worth a fortune—sold—pay); relationship marker (e.g. “however”); tense—first 4 sentences: past tense, last one: present— a different time. Yun-Pi Yuan

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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. Yun-Pi Yuan

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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, I’m visiting my sister. There’s no grammatical or lexical link between A’s Q and B’s reply, but the exchange has coherence, because both A and B know that B’s sister lives in the opposite direction to A’s home. Yun-Pi Yuan

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Coherence (2) • Coherence: that the text makes sense—

coherence achieved more by people than by texts (than by language itself)—we expect coherence—we “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, there’s 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.” Yun-Pi Yuan

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Background knowledge • Examples (Yule 146-47)—inference, build-up,

•

changing influence 2nd sentence: Who is John? How’s he traveling? 3rd sentence : Who’s John? (How traveling?) 4th sentence: Who’s 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). Yun-Pi Yuan

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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: Don’t say something you believe to be false or something you don’t know. Relation: Be relevant Manner: Be clear, brief and orderly Yun-Pi Yuan

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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 won’t bore you with all the details.” Quality: “An far as I know;” “Correct me if I am wrong;” “I think;” “I feel;” “It’s 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: I’ve got an exam tomorrow. • Just a brief introduction to Discourse—many 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? • What’s 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. It’s really a paradigm: an example of all the forms of a word, used to represent the whole set. Examples: child—represents child, child’s, children, children’s

take—takes, taking, took, taken. Some sets include only one member: how, yet, often Yun-Pi Yuan

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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: child’s, children large: larger car: cars ritual: ritualistic strangle: strangulation old/young: “How old is she?” the normal Q Yun-Pi Yuan

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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: car—cars (singular=unmarked; plural=marked) 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 frequent=unmarked e.g. Falling intonation vs. rising intonation D. more specific=marked (more common=unmarked) e.g. dog (unmarked) vs. bitch (marked) E. distribution—unrestricted (unmarked) e.g. How tall is John? vs. How short is John? Yun-Pi Yuan

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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 intonation=unmarked rising intonation=marked B. lexicon e.g. dog/ bitch (marked) C. morphology e.g. car/ cars (marked) D. syntax e.g. active vs. passive (marked) Yun-Pi Yuan

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Markedness (5) • Discourse e.g. politeness too polite (marked) Would you be so kind? just let me borrow your pencil for a minute?

unmarked Could you lend me a pencil?

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too informal (marked) 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 won’t help students learn marked forms. Yun-Pi Yuan

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