Semantics (2017 18) hong oanh

SEMANTICS
THE STUDY OF MEANING

Table of content
Chapter 1: Basic ideas in semantics
Chapter 2: From reference …
Chapter 3: … to sense
Chapter 4: Logic
Chapter 5: Word meaning
5/24/2018 Semantics (2017-18) HongOanh 2

CHAPTER 1:
BASIC IDEAS IN
SEMANTICS

AN INTRODUCTION TO SEMANTICS

KEY TERMS:
o linguistics
o language
o components of language
o theory of semantics
o semantics
o sentence (word) meaning
o speaker meaning
o native speaker (informant)
o “knowing ” the meaning(s) of a word

SEMANTICS is:
the STUDY of MEANING.
the STUDY of MEANING in LANGUAGE.
the STUDY of MEANING in HUMAN LANGUAGE.

PRACTICE 1 (P.1)
you
glory
it
6, 8
9, 12, 12, 135/24/2018 Semantics (2017-18) HongOanh 8

PRACTICE 2 (p.2)
ANSWER
(1) Yes
(2) Yes
(3) No
(4) Asking what JOHN meant in saying it
(5) No
(6) [your own answer]

SPEAKER MEANING
SENTENCE (WORD)
MEANING
What a speaker means (i.e. intends to
convey) when he uses a piece of language.
What a sentence (or word) means, i.e.
what it counts as the equivalent of in the
language concerned.
y #OR

PRACTICE 3 (P.3)
ANSWER
(1) probably not
(2) Yes, probably
(3) No
(4) No
(5) Probably not
(6) Yes
(7) With B’s enquiry in line 6
(8) With B’s question in line 12

Meaningfulness vs. Informativeness
Many sentences carry information in a
straightforward way;
Information exchange contexts
To provide the hearer with the necessary information or
knowledge
AND
Many sentences are used by speakers not to give
information at all
Small talks
To maintain social relationships

PRACTICE 4 (P.5)
ANSWER
(1) “Are you?”, “That’ll be nice for the family”, and “Nice day”
(2) Yes
(3) No
(4) No, she is probably being sarcastic
(5) Yes
(6) No
(7) part of a polite prelude to more interesting conversation
(8) In the husband’s case, the remark is used to end a
conversation, rather than initiate one.

The same sentences used by different
speakers on different occasions to mean
different things
SPEAKER MEANING
Problems: there are GAPS between sentence
meaning and speaker meaning.

PRACTICE 5 (P.6)
ANSWER
(1) No
(2) No
(3) No
(4) No
(5) No

Speakers can convey meaning quite vividly
using sentences whose meanings are in some
sense problematical.
Semantic analysis:
1. to show what is wrong with such sentences, i.e. why they
can’t be literally true
2. how speakers nevertheless manage to communicate
something by means of them.

PRACTICE 6 (P.6-7)
ANSWER
(1) No
(2) Yes
(3) No
(4) Yes
(5) Probably not
(6) Yes
(7) Yes
(8) the Sar-
speaker

Methods of semantics
Semantics  theory of meaning
THEORY
A precisely specified, coherent, and
economical frame-work of
interdependent statements and
definitions, constructed so that as large a
number as possible of particular basic
facts can either be seen to follow from it
or be describable in terms of it

PRACTICE 7 (p. 8)
ANSWER
(1) T
(2) T
(3) T
(4) T
(5) F
(6) T
(7) F
(8) T
(9) T

Each of the above true statements belongs to
the scope of semantics.
Semantic theory deals with semantic facts,
i.e. facts about meaning.
Meaning of individual words, sentences and
utterances

PRACTICE 8 (p. 9)
ANSWER
(1) T
(2) T
(3) T
(4) T

The statements are general in some ways.
(1) Deal with whole classes of words, not just with the
individual examples actually mentioned.
(2) Apply to human languages in general, not just to
English.
 Semantics focus on the similarities between
languages rather than their differences.

 Key terms:
 sentence
 utterance
 proposition
 declarative sentence
 interrogative sentence
 imperative sentence
SENTENCES, UTTERANCES &
PROPOSITIONS

PROPOSITIONS
In groups of 4, say aloud the following sentences
TWICE.
(i) Good morning!
(ii) I love you!
(iii) What a beautiful day!
(iv) “Utterances may consist of a single word, a single
phrase or a single sentence. They may also consist of a
sequence of sentences. It is not unusual to find
utterances that consist of one or more grammatically
incomplete sentence-fragments. In short, there is no
simple relation of correspondence between utterances
and sentences.”

PROPOSITIONS
Then, discuss the following questions.
1. Do you say the sentences differently each time?
Why (not)?
2. What about your partners?
3. Can you guess the reason?

PROPOSITIONS
The same sentence can be read differently
each time even by the same speaker.
Different UTTERANCES
Different unique physical events

PROPOSITIONS
UTTERANCE
Any stretch of talk, by one person, before
and after which there is a silence on the
part of that person.
An UTTERANCE is the USE by a particular
speaker, on a particular occasion, of a
piece of language, such as a sequence of
sentences, or a single phrase, or even a
single word.

PROPOSITIONS
PRACTICE 1 (P. 16) ANSWER
(1) Yes
(2) Yes
(3) Yes
(4) No, this is a string of sounds
(5) No, this is a string of sounds

PROPOSITIONS
Utterances are physical events.
Events are ephemeral, i.e. short-lived.
 Utterances MUST be analyzed in a specific contexts
(time, place, speaker, and language).
 Utterances have no special form or content.

PROPOSITIONS
CHARACTERISTICS OF AN UTTERANCE
 It is spoken.
 It is a physical event. Events are ephemeral, i.e. short-lived.
 It may be grammatical or not.
 It is a piece of language (a single phrase or even a single
word).
 It can be meaningful or meaningless.
 It is identified by a specific time or on a particular occasion.
It is said / uttered by a a specific person (in a particular accent)

PROPOSITIONS
 A sentence has no time or place, etc. but it has a
different linguistic form.
SENTENCE
(PARTIAL DEFINITION)
A sentence is neither a physical event not
a physical object. It is, conceived
abstractly, a string of words put together
by the grammatical rules of a language.
A sentence can be thought of as the
IDEAL string of words behind various
realizations in utterances and inscriptions.

PROPOSITIONS
PRACTICE 2 (P. 17)
ANSWER
(1) Yes
(2) No
(3) No
(4) Yes
(5) No
(6) Yes

PROPOSITIONS
CONVENTION IN SEMANTICS
 A book contains NO UTTERANCES or SENTENCES.
 In semantics, there is a need to make a careful
distinct between utterances and sentences.
o An utterance is written between single quotation marks.
o A sentence is written in an italicized way.

PROPOSITIONS
PRACTICE 3 (p. 18)
ANSWER
(1) John announced “Mary’s here” .
(2) Mary thought how nice John was. OR Tom: ‘Mary thought how nice John
was.’

PROPOSITIONS
RULE:
 A given sentence always consists of the same
words, and in the same order.
 Any change in the words, or their order, makes a
different sentence, for our purposes.

PROPOSITIONS
PRACTICE 4 (p. 18)
ANSWER
(1) Yes
(2) Le jour de gloire est arrivé  FRENCH
Alle Menschen sprechen eine Sprache  GERMAN

PROPOSITIONS
???

PROPOSITIONS
SENTENCE
(PARTIAL DEFINITION)
A sentence is a grammatical complete
string of words expressing a complete
thought.
Example:
(1) I would like a cup of coffee
(2) Coffee, please.
(3) In the kitchen
(4) Please put it in the kitchen

PROPOSITIONS
Any strings of words
that do not have a verb
in it are not sentences.
A sentence is a complete
expression in a
language.

PROPOSITIONS
PRACTICE 5 (P. 19)
ANSWER
(1) NS
(2) S
(3) NS
(4) S
(5) NS

PROPOSITIONS
Utterances of non-sentences:
 short-phrases, or even single words
 used in daily communications
Because:
 people usually don’t converse in (tokens of)
wellformed sentences.
How to understand these utterances?
 an abstract idea of the sentence is necessary .
 consider them as abbreviations, or incomplete
versions, of whole sentences.

PROPOSITIONS
PRACTICE 6 (p. 19)
ANSWER
(1) Goethe died in 1832
(2) I would like coffee please
(3) Wellington won the battle of Waterloo

PROPOSITIONS
SEMANTICS
meaning
non-
sentences sentences
PROPOSITIONS

PROPOSITIONS
PROPOSITION
The part of meaning of the utterance of a
declarative sentence which describes
some states of affairs
 a claim about the world
 just the form of an idea.
 a (potential) fact about the world  can be TRUE
or FALSE

PROPOSITIONS
PRACTICE 7 (p. 20)
ANSWER
(1) No
(2)No
(3) Yes
(4) Yes
(5) Yes

PROPOSITIONS
 propositions:
 true: correspond to facts
 false: do not correspond to facts

PROPOSITIONS
PRACTICE 8 (p. 21)
ANSWER
(1) Yes
(2) Yes
(3) No
(4) No

PROPOSITIONS
Can one entertain propositions in the mind
regardless of whether they are true or false?
e.g.:
What am I doing if I entertain the thought that the
moon is made of green cheese?
Entertain = to admit into the mind, consider
 Can one entertain propositions in the mind
regardless of whether they are true or false?
YES, by thinking them, or believing them.

PROPOSITIONS
However,
 ONLY true proposition can be
known.
 Not all true beliefs are knowledge.
 Not all unknown beliefs are false.

PROPOSITIONS
PRACTICE 9 (p. 21)
ANSWER
(1) Yes
(2) Yes
(3) Yes
(4) Yes, there is a kind of contradiction here, in that the
same thing is said to be both ‘a fact’ and ‘not possibly
true’.
(5) No, there is nothing odd about this sentence, because
we stated that propositions can be either true or false.

PROPOSITIONS
 Example:
(1) I went to the supermarket yesterday.
(2) What did you do yesterday?
(3) Tell me where you went to yesterday.
Do sentences (2) and (3) have their propositions?

PROPOSITIONS
Propositions are involved in the meanings of
other types of sentences in addition to
declarative.
 DECLARATIVE: the speaker commits himself to the
truth of the corresponding proposition: i.e. he asserts
the proposition.
 INTERROGATIVE: is used to ask questions. The
speaker questions the truth of the proposition.
 IMPERATIVE: is used to convey orders. The speaker
demands carrying out the proposition.

PROPOSITIONS
PRACTICE 10 (P. 22)
ANSWER
(1) A/ No
B/ No
C/ Yes
(2) A/ Yes
B/ No common proposition is involved.
C/ Yes

ephemeral
either loud or quiet
 no two utterances
can be the same.
 either true or false
 in a particular
regional accent
 in a particular
language
 in the form of a
sentence or non-
sentence
UTTERANCES
PROPOSITIONS
sentences in different
languages can
correspond to the
same proposition.
 can be grammatical
or not
 not spoken
 not belonging to any
particular regional
accent
 belonging to a
particular language
SENTENCES
 not spoken
 not dealing with
grammatical aspects
 not belonging to any
particular regional
accent
 not belong to a
particular language
 no
PROPOSITIONS

PROPOSITIONS
PRACTICE 11 (p. 23)
















Family tree relationship among utterances,
sentences and propositions
PROPOSITIONS

Proposition: an abstract grasped by the mind
of an individual person
Proposition is an object of thought.
 Can one equate propositions as thoughts? Why
(not)?
PROPOSITIONS

PROPOSITIONS
 private, personal and mental
processes
 a process going on in an
individual’s mind
 public
(the same proposition is accessible to
different persons: different individuals
can grasp the same proposition)
 not a process
THOUGHTS PROPOSITIONS
The word “thought” may sometimes be used loosely in a way
which includes the notion of a proposition.
relationship between
o mental processes: THOUGHTS
o abstract semantic entities: PROPOSITIONS
o linguistic entities: SENTENCES
o actions: UTTERANCES

Reference and Sense
ANSWER
(1) S, U
(2) Yes
(3) Yes
(4) No
(5) No
(6) Yes

Reference and Sense
 Key terms:
 sense
 reference
 referent
 context
 dialect
 proposition

Reference and Sense
 In linguistics, the triangle of reference is a
model for explaining how words convey
meaning.

Reference and Sense
 Triangle of reference:
 also known as
o Triangle of Semantics,
o Triangle of reference,
o the Semiotic Triangle,
o the Referent Triangle,
o Triangle of Meaning,
o the Ogden-Richards Triangle,
and
o the Meaning of Meaning Model
 Triangle of reference:
 describes a simplified form of relationship
between the speaker as subject, a concept
as object or referent, and its designation (sign,
signants)


Reference and Sense
 Interpretation of the Triangle of Reference

Reference and Sense
SENSE Relationships inside the language
REFERENCE
Relationships between language and
the world

Reference and Sense
Example:
REFERENCE
By means of reference, a speaker
indicates which things in the world
(including persons) are being talked
about

Reference and Sense
PRACTICE 1 (p. 27)
ANSWER
(1) Your left ear
(2) Part of the world
(3) Yes
(4) No

Reference and Sense
 The same expression can, in some
cases, be used to refer to different
things.
Many expressions in a language can
have .
Can the same expression be used to
refer to different things?

Reference and Sense
PRACTICE 2 (p. 28)
ANSWER
(1) (a) George W. Bush (b) Bill Clinton
(2) variable reference
(3) (a) George W. Bush (b) Bill Clinton
(4) (c)

Reference and Sense
Can the same expression be used to
refer to different things?

Reference and Sense
 In most everyday situations that one can
envisage, have constant reference.
In fact,
 very little constancy of reference in language
 In everyday discourse almost all of the fixing
of reference comes from the context in which
expressions are used.
Example:
the Morning Star and the Evening Star

Reference and Sense
PRACTICE 3 (p. 28)
ANSWER
(1) Yes
(2) Yes
(3) Yes
(4) Yes

Reference and Sense
PRACTICE 4 (p. 29)
ANSWER
(1) Yes
(2) Yes

Reference and Sense
SENSE
Its place in a system of semantic
relationships with other expressions in
the language
Semantic relationships:
1/ sameness of meaning
2/ converseness of meaning

Reference and Sense
PRACTICE 5 (p. 29)
ANSWER
(1) S
(2) S
(3) S
(4) D
(5) D

Reference and Sense
Can longer expressions (phrases
and sentences) have their sense?
YES!!!
They can.

Reference and Sense
PRACTICE 6 (p. 29)
ANSWER
(1) Yes
(2) Yes
(3) Yes

Reference and Sense
Can one word have different
senses?
YES!!!
It can. Example:
 bank
 row
 bear

Reference and Sense
 any spelled with the same sequence of
letters and pronounced with the same
sequence of phonemes (distinctive sounds) in
a standard dialect
 in an ordinary dictionary, different entries of
one word (word-form) distinguished by a
subscript
e.g.: bank1 bank2

Reference and Sense
Can one sentence have different
senses?
YES!!!
It can.

Reference and Sense
PRACTICE 7 (p. 30)
ANSWER
(1) The chicken is ready to be eaten. // The chicken is
ready to eat something.
(2) Smiling, he greeted the girl. // He greeted the smiling
girl.
(3) He changed the direction over the field. // He turned
the field over.

Reference and Sense
Relationship between sense and reference:
 The referent of an expression is often a thing or
a person in the world.
 The sense of an expression is not a thing at all; it
is an abstraction that can be entertained in the
mind of a language user.
 It is difficult to say what sort of entity the sense
of an expression is. It is useful to think of sense as
that part of the meaning of an expression that is
left over when reference is factored out.
 It is much easier to say whether or not two
expressions have the same sense.

Reference and Sense
Every expression that has meaning
has sense.
Does every
expression have
reference?

Reference and Sense
PRACTICE 8 (p. 31)
ANSWER
 None of the above words refers to a thing in
the world.
 Nevertheless all these words, almost, probable,
and, if, and above have some sense.

Reference and Sense
PRACTICE 9 (p. 31)
ANSWER
(1) an expression with the same sense
(2) words
(3) Yes
(4) Yes

Reference and Sense
 Circularity
 defining the senses of words and expressions by
other words or expressions
 not a bad thing
 often unavoidable

Reference and Sense
 There is something semantically complete
about a proposition, as opposed to the sense
of a phrase or single word.
 Roughly speaking, a proposition
corresponds to a complete independent
thought.

Reference and Sense
PRACTICE 10 (p. 32)
ANSWER
(1) Yes
(2) No
(3) No
(4) Yes

Reference and Sense

Reference and Sense
Can the same sense belong to
expressions in different languages?
In case that perfect
translation between
languages is possible,
the answer is YES.
Expressions in
different DIALECTS of
one language can have
the same sense.

Reference and Sense
PRACTICE 11 (p. 33)
ANSWER
(1) Yes
(2) Yes
(3) Yes

Reference and Sense
SIMILARITY
SENSE
REFERENCE
PROPOSITION
UTTERANCE
DIRECT
NOT SO DIRECT

Reference and Sense
 Both referring and uttering are acts
performed by particular speakers on
particular occasions.
 Most utterances contain, or are accompanied
by, one or more acts of referring.
 An act of referring is the picking out of a
particular referent by a speaker in the course
of a particular.

Reference and Sense
 Although the concept of reference is
fundamentally related to utterances, in that acts of
reference only actually happen in the course of
utterances.
When talking about reference in connection with
sentences, or parts of sentences, we are imagining
a potential utterance of the sentence or expression
in question.
 In daily conversation, the words meaning, means,
mean, meant, etc. are sometimes used to indicate
reference and sometimes to indicate sense.

Reference and Sense
PRACTICE 12 (p. 34)
ANSWER
(1) R
(2) R
(3) S
(4) S
(5) S
(6) R

CHAPTER 2:
FROM REFERENCE …

Referring Expressions
ANSWER
(1) George W. Bush, the former governor of Texas
(2) My daughter
(3) the sun, Vietnam
(4) the Morning Star and the Evening Star
(5) and, if, furthermore
(6) (c)

 Key terms:
 referring expression
 indefinite noun phrase
 definite noun phrase
 opaque context
 equative sentence

 e.g.:
The name Fred
 “Fred hit me”
 “There is no Fred at this address”
REFERRING
EXPRESSION
Any expression used in an utterance to
refer to something or someone (or a
clearly delimited collection of things or
people)
i.e. used with a particular referent in
mind

PRACTICE 1 (p. 37) ANSWER
(1) Yes
(2) Yes
(3) No
(4) Yes
(5) Yes
(6) Yes
(7) No
(8) No

 can be a referring expression or not
= may or may not have a “referring interpretation”
 Depending on the context
 This is true of INDEFINITE NOUN PHRASES.
Can the same expression always be
referring expression?
NO!!!
It cannot.

PRACTICE 2 (p. 37-38)
ANSWER
(1) Yes
(2) Yes
(3) No
(4) No
(5) Yes
(6) No

INDEFINITE NOUN PHRASES
 linguistic context
 often gives a vital clue to decide a particular
indefinite noun phrase is a referring expression or
not
 not always give a clear indication

PRACTICE 3 (p. 38)
ANSWER
(1) Yes
(2) ambiguous sentence
(3) ambiguous sentence
(4) Yes and No
(5) Yes
(6) Yes and No

By the use of the word certain immediately following
the indefinite article a
 Indefinite noun phrases can be referring expressions.
 referring expressions depend heavily on linguistic
context and on circumstances of utterance.
How can one resolve the
ambiguities in the above examples?

PRACTICE 4 (p. 39)
ANSWER
(1) Yes
(2) Yes
(3) Yes
(4) Yes

DEFINITE NOUN PHRASES
 different kinds
 proper names (e.g. John)
 personal pronouns (e.g. he, I)
 longer descriptive expressions (e.g. The young man
who won the first prize in the competition)
Most frequently used as referring
expressions
Are there any definite noun phrases that are
not used as referring expressions?

PRACTICE 5 (p. 39)
ANSWER
(1) No
(2) No
(3) Not a referring expression
(4) Not a referring expression

The notion of “referring expression” is not
always easy to apply
 It is not clear what we mean when we say a speaker
must have a particular individual in mind in order to
refer.
 Definite noun phrases are very much dependent on
the context and circumstances of use.

PRACTICE 6 (p. 40)
ANSWER
(1) Yes
(2) Yes
(3) Yes
(4) Yes

Reference vs. Definiteness
 Definiteness is a condition of the referring expression.
e.g.:
‘The boy is honest’
‘The boy may get sick as the girl’
 Indefiniteness indicates that a language expression is
not a referring expression.
e.g.:
‘Look there! I see a boy climbing the tree’
‘A boy must have broken the window’
False.
It is just one of the
necessary conditions.
False.
It depends on
the context of
the utterance

‘Definite’ and ‘Indefinite’ are grammatical
terms which are not directly parallel to the
semantic terms of ‘referring expression’ and
‘non-referring expression’.
 Definite and indefinite noun phrases can be
used as referring expressions depending on
the context and circumstances of use.

 A referring expression can be
 one word
or
 more than one word
e.g.:
‘London’
‘The man who wrote on the oaktree’

REVIEW
ANSWER
(1) T
(2) T
(3) F
(4) T
(5) F
(6) F

 Normally, utterances which differ only in that
they use different expressions referring to the
same thing (or person) will have the same
meaning.
 However, there is a class of exceptions to
this generalization, involving opaque contexts.

OPAQUE
CONTEXT
A part of a sentence which could be
made into a complete sentence by the
addition of a referring expression, but
where the addition of different
referring expressions, even though
they refer to the same thing or person,
in a given situation, will yield
sentences with DIFFERENT meanings
when uttered in a given situation.

PRACTICE 7 (p. 41)
ANSWER
(1) Yes
(2) Yes
(3) Yes
(4) No
(5) Yes
(6) Yes
(7) No

 OC is a linguistic context in which it is not
always possible to substitute “co-referential”
expressions (expressions referring to the same
object) without altering the truth of the
sentences.
Substitution of co-referential expressions
into an opaque context does not always
preserve the truth.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opaque_context)

OPAQUE CONTEXT:
 these contexts seem to “block our view” through
them to the referential interpretations (referents) of
referring expressions.
 typically involve a certain kind of verb: WANT,
BELIEVE, THINK and WONDER ABOUT.
NOTE:
It is often in the context of opacity-creating verbs that
indefinite noun phrases could be ambiguous between
a referring and a non-referring interpretation.
e.g.: ‘Mary wants to marry a Norwegian’

e.g.:
 Mark Zugckerberg is Facebook’s founder.
Mark Zugckerberg = Facebook’s founder
 That woman over there is my daughter’s teacher.
EQUATIVE
SENTENCE
is used to assert the identity of the
referents of two referring expressions,
i.e. to assert that two referring
expressions have the same referent.

 Equative sentence:
 the order of the two referring expressions can be
reversed without the loss of acceptability.
However,
 The ‘reversal test’ / ‘inversion test’ is not a perfect
diagnosis for equative sentences.
e.g.:
Facebook’s founder is Mark Zugckerberg.
What I need now is a cup of coffee.
That is the man who stole my wallet.

 Why?
 Facebook’s founder is Mark Zugckerberg.
Reversible + acceptable  Equative
 What I need now is a cup of coffee.
Reversible + not a referring expression  has no
particular referent in mind  Equative
 That is the man who stole my wallet.
Equative + not reversible  unacceptable

PRACTICE 8 (p. 42)
ANSWER
(1) Yes
(2) Yes
(3) No
(4) No
(5) Yes
(6) No

Predicates
ANSWER
(1) (c)
(2) No
(3) (c)
(4) No
(5) Yes
(6) John, Venus

Predicates
 Key terms
 predicator
 predicate
 argument
 degree of a predicate
 ellipsis (elliptical)
 identity relation

Predicates
 Simple declarative sentences contain
 one or more referring expressions,
and
 some other words that do not form part of any of
the referring expressions
e.g.:
Mary’s new job seems inspirational
To me, February is the most beautiful time in the
year.

Predicates
PRACTICE 1 (p. 46)
ANSWER
(1) bit
(2) is writing
(3) is in
(4) is between
(5) stinks
(6) is red
(7) was a genius

Predicates
 The ‘remainder’
 varied set
 it is possible to discern one word (or part of a word)
which ‘carries more meaning’ than the others.
Write in example (2) carries more specific information than
is and the suffix –ing.


Predicates
 If one strips away such less meaningful
elements, one is left with a sequence of words,
which, though ungrammatical and inelegant,
can still be understood as expressing a
proposition.
 The result is a kind ‘Tarzan jungle talk’
e.g.:
Boy bad for The boy is bad
Woman write speech for The woman is writing the
speech.

Predicates
PRACTICE 2 (p. 46)
ANSWER
(1) write
(2) in
(3) between, and
(4) stink
(5) red
(6) genius

Predicates
 The words that just have been isolated from
their original sentences are called
PREDICATORS of those sentences.

Predicates
PREDICATOR
(partial definition)
Of a simple declarative sentence is the
word (sometimes a group of words)
which does not belong to any of the
referring expressions and which, of the
remainder, makes the most specific
contribution to the meaning of the
sentence.
Intuitively speaking, the predicator
describes the state or process in which
the referring expressions are involved.

Predicates
 e.g.:
 asleep is the predicator in Mummy is asleep and
describes the state Mummy is in.
 love is the predicator in The white man loved the
Indian maiden and describes the process in which the
two referring expressions the white man and the
Indian maiden are involved.
 wait for is the predicator in Jimmy was waiting for
the downtown bus and describes the process
involving Jimmy and the downtown bus.

Predicates
PRACTICE 3 (p. 47)
ANSWER
(1) hungry
(2) in
(3) a crook
(4) is whimsical
(5) behind

Predicates
 Note:
 The semantics of tense:
o contributes to the meaning of a sentence differently
o e.g.: the indicators of past and present tense
 The verb BE in its various forms (is, am, are, was,
were, been): NOT the predicator

Predicates
 Types of predicators: various parts of speech
 adjectives
 verbs
 prepositions
 nouns
 Exceptions: words of other parts of speech
 cannot serve as predicators in sentences
 conjunctions
 articles
 to BE

Predicates


Predicates
PRACTICE 4 (p. 48)
ANSWER
(1) predicator: menace, argument: Denis
(2) predicator: showed, arguments: Fred, Jane, his BMW
(3) predicator: proud, arguments: Donald, his family
(4) predicator: outside, arguments: the hospital, the city

Predicates
 Semantic and Grammatical Predicates
 Although there is some overlap, the semantic
analysis does not correspond in most cases to the
traditional grammatical analysis.
 This course is concerned almost exclusively with the
semantic analysis of sentences.

Predicates
SENTENCES
SEMANTIC
ANALYSIS
TRADITIONAL
GRAMMATICAL
ANALYSIS
PREDICATOR
+
ARGUMENT (S)
SUBJECT
+
PREDICATE

Predicates
PREDICATE
Any word (or sequence of word)
which (in a given single sense) can
function as the predicator of a
sentence.

Predicates
PRACTICE 5 (p. 48-49)
Are the following predicates?
(1) dusty Yes / No
(2) drink Yes / No
(3) woman Yes / No
(4) you Yes / No
(5) Fred Yes / No
(6) about Yes / No
ANSWER
(1) Yes
(2) Yes
(3) Yes
(4) No
(5) No
(6) Yes

Predicates
 The definition of ‘predicate’ contained two
parenthesized conditions.
 (or sequence of words): seems sensible to analyse
as single predicates.
 (in a given single sense): more important 
illustrates a degree of abstractness in the notion of
predicate
A predicate can have only one sense.

Predicates
e.g.:
bank1 bank2
row1 row2
 Normally  the context  clarifies what
sense (what predicate) we have in mind
 Occasionally  use subscripts on words to
distinguish between different predicates

Predicates
 identifies elements in the
language system
 independently of particular
examples
 can envisage a list of predicates in
English
 identifies semantic roles
 played by a word (or more) in a
particular sentence
 can’t list the predicators of
English
PREDICATE PREDICATOR
The semantic term ‘predicator’
~ the grammatical term ‘subject’
The subject of a
particular sentence
NOT
A list of ‘the
subjects of English’
The predicator of a
particular sentence
NOT
A list of ‘the
predicators of
English’
A simple sentence only
has ONE PREDICATOR,
although it may well
contain MORE THAN ONE
instance of PREDICATE.

Predicates
 e.g.:
A tall, handsome stranger entered the saloon
This sentence consists of
one predicator: enter
 predicates: tall, handsome, stranger, saloon
These predicates can function as predicators in other
sentences.
e.g.:
John is tall
He is handsome
He is a stranger
That ramshackle building is a saloon

Predicates
PRACTICE 6 (p.50)
ANSWER
(1) (b) (c)
(2) (b) (c)

Predicates
e.g.:
 asleep is a predicate of degree one (~ one-place
predicate)
 love (v) is a predicate of degree two (~ two-place
predicate)
DEGREE of
PREDICATE
A number indicating the number of
arguments it is normally understood
to have in simple sentences

Predicates
PRACTICE 7 (p. 50)
ANSWER
(1) (a) Yes (b) No (c) No
(2)Yes
(3) (a) No (b) Yes (c) No
(4) No
(5) Yes
(6) Yes
(7) No

Predicates
How many arguments can a verb
have?
most naturally with just
two arguments
two-place predicates
Are there any verbs that
are THREE-PLACE
PREDICATE?
Give examples.

Predicates
PRACTICE 8 (p. 51)
ANSWER
(1) (a) No (b) Yes (c) No
(2) Yes
(3) Yes
(4) Yes

Predicates
PRACTICE 9 (p. 51)
ANSWER
(1) Yes
(2) Yes
(3) Yes
(4) No
(5) 3

Predicates
English semantics only deals with
verbal predicates. Is it true?
No, English semantics
can have predicates that
are ADJECTIVES, NOUNS
and PREPOSITIONS.

Predicates
 PREPOSITIONAL PREDICATES
 e.g.:
London is in Europe.  two-place predicate
The cat is on the tree.  two-place predicate

Predicates
(1) 2
(2) No
(3) No
(4) 2
(5) 2
(6) No
(7) Yes
(8) 3

Predicates
 ADJECTIVAL PREDICATES
The majority of adjectives are one-place predicates.
e.g.:
The new English teacher is good-manned
Can you find any
examples in which
adjectives are two-
place predicates?
e.g.: different, similar

Predicates
The role of prepositions in compound
adjectives as predicates
 e.g.: fond of, afraid of, aware of
 NOT predicates
 Some adjectives in English require (grammatically)
to be joined to a following argument by a
preposition.
Adj. + prep + argument
 Often considered as relatively meaningless linking
particles

Predicates
The role of prepositions in compound
adjectives as predicates
 Often considered as relatively meaningless linking
particles
Adj. + linking particle  complex or multi-word
predicate with basically one unified meaning
 Often one can use different linking preposition with
NO change in meaning
e.g.: different to and different than

Predicates
 NOUNS AS PREDICATES
e.g.:
Hanoi is the capital city of Vietnam.
 Most nouns are one-place predicates.
 However, a few nouns could be said to be
‘inherently relational’  two-place predicates
e.g.:
father, son, neighbour

Predicates
(1) 1
(2) No
(3) 1
(4) 1
(5) 1
(6) 1
(7) 1

Predicates
Can two predicates
of different
grammatical parts of
speech have the
same sense?

Predicates
Two predicates are of different grammatical
parts of speech but can have nearly the same
sense.
e.g.:
Tom is a fool and Tom is foolish
I am afraid of snakes and I fear cats
The corresponding predicates have the same
degree.

Predicates
 The relation can be found in equative
sentences.
 The identity relation has very basic role in
communication of information.
e.g.:
Ms Janet is my daughter’s new English teacher
My daughter’s new English teacher is Ms Janet

Predicates
 VERB BE in English semantics
 expresses the identity of the referents of two
different referring expressions
 functions as a grammatical device: to link a
predicate that is not a verb (e.g.: adjective,
preposition, noun) to its first argument
 functions as a device for ‘carrying’ the tense of a
sentence

Predicates
PRACTICE 11 (p. 54)
ANSWER:
The identity relation is expressed by a form of be in sentences
(2), (3), and (5).

Predicates
PRACTICE 12

CHAPTER 3:
… TO SENSE

CHAPTER 4:
LOGIC

CHAPTER 5:
WORD MEANING

Semantics (2017 18) hong oanh

Recomendados

Recomendados

Mais conteúdo relacionado

Mais procurados

Mais procurados (20)

Último

Último (20)

Semantics (2017 18) hong oanh

Notas do Editor