Chapter 7 Semantics and Pragmatics

Language processing studies tend to focus on: Syntax Semantics Pragmatics Pronouns, reference resolution, discourse models …

Semantics and Pragmatics High-level Linguistics Semantics: the study of meaning that can be determined from a sentence, phrase or word. Pragmatics: the study of meaning, as it depends on context (speaker, situation)

Semantics Same event - different sentences John broke the window with a hammer. John broke the window with the crack. The hammer broke the window. The window broke.

Same event - different syntactic frames John broke the window with a hammer. SUBJ VERB OBJ MODIFIER John broke the window with the crack. The hammer broke the window. SUBJ VERB OBJ The window broke. SUBJ VERB

Entities Named Entity Tagging: Identify all the proper names in a text Sally went to see Up in the Air at the local theater. Coreference Resolution: Identify all references (aka ‘mentions’) of people, places and things in text, and determine which mentions are ‘co-referential’. John stuck his foot in his mouth.

Rationale for studying pragmatics Cognitive and social factors that affect the use of language in communication include attention, memory, sensitivity to and production of emotional expression, the ability to grasp the situation as a whole, Selectively attend to what is important, adapt to changes, including reasonable treatment of the other participants The role of pragmatic factors in compensation for and rehabilitation from specific disorders of language and communication. e.g.: A person with aphasia may, be a skilled user of gestures and facial expressions as well as interaction management, and thereby enhance his/her communicative and social possibilities.

Theories of language use Whole sentences in isolation Sentence semantics Whole sentences in context Speech act theory Conversational principles, maxims, ethics Relevance Manner Quality Quantity

Theories Interactional phenomena Theory of mind Interactive communication management Turn-taking Feedback Alignment Self-correction Nonverbal and contextual communication Cognitive semantics (metaphor, deixis, anaphors, mental spaces, holistic patterns, flexibility and adaptation) Gestures, body language, actions.

Cooperative principles and maxims relevance - make your contribution relevant manner - make your contributions in a clear and well-organized manner (structure, time sequence etc) quality - make your contribution true quantity - make your contribution contain the rightamount of information

Understanding Language Use: Cognitive semantics Metaphor He is a lion Han is a pig That’s a mouthful Deixis reference depending on the context/situation e. g.: to point to something in the room person deixis: he, she, I, you, we, they, it, that spatial deixis: here, there, this, that time deixis: now, then, later, tomorrow, yesterday

Cognitive Semantics Anaphoric reference: reference to earlier linguistic context. The boy woke up. He was hungry. Deixis offers possibilities to refer with the help of the environment. Comprehension problems involving interpretation of deixis and anaphora occur mixup of pronouns, e g ”he” becomes ”she” Vague reference ”they”, ”it”

Cognitive Semantics Mental spaces and Image schemas here and now vs. there and then Over vs. under Decontextualization (abstract meaning) how much something is tied to a situation Flexibility and adaptation the ability to use language consists, to a great extent, of the ability to rapidly adapt to the context

Cognitive Semantics Holistic patterns Prosodic patterns Top-down-processing from expectations of complete utterances E.g., Holistic production of phrases with the right contour but not completely correctly specified content Sinewave speech example:

Interactional phenomena Theory of Mind (ToM) feeling of what the other person knows and how he/she thinks and feels Interactive communication regulation - Sequences, adjacency pairs, preference organization - Turn taking - Feedback - Own communication management - Choice and change (e g pause and self correction) Alignment - mutual adaptation

Body Language Gestures Facial expressions Actions Use of illustrations

Topics in studying aphasia Scope of study and theories Studying Aphasia in terms of pragmatics – Left-hemisphere lesions – Right-hemisphere lesions – Dementia, especially of Alzheimer type – Traumatic brain injury Implications for therapy

Applications in Aphasia Study What is aphasia? a language disorder caused by acquired brain damage. Since lexical-semantic symptoms are salient in aphasia, they were studied in traditional neurolinguistics. But “language in context” and communicative aspects, body communication, etc., have only recently come to be considered as suitable objects of study.

Beyond traditional theories of aphasia What more than ”typical traditional” aphasia after left hemisphere lesions? • Right hemisphere lesions • Dementias • Traumatic brain damage • High Level Language - subtle language Pragmatics important here!

Right hemisphere lesions Left neglect • Prosody disorders • Lexical-semantic disorders • Problems witth emotion information • Discourse disorder (complexity, ToM, metaphor, humor, irony, etc)

Dementia, esp. Alzheimer Type (DAT) Changes in memory, language, communication, visuo-spatial ability, personality, other cognitive abilities Over 50% DAT: Semantics-pragmatics most salient problem Other types: more frontal Pick’s disease (stereotypy, perseveration, echolalia), MS, Huntington, Creutzfeldt-Jakob, HIV. etc Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) – primarily language, esp High-level language use.

DAT 3 stages: 1) Anomia, disordered connected speech (temporal lobe). Problems understanding complex syntax and semantics, less information content, tangential discourse, reference errors, reduced fluency 2) Most of language affected (PTO area), like transcortical sensory aphasia (lack of comprehension, repetition ok.) 3) Global aphasia (also frontal)

Pragmatics-based Therapy • Videorecording • Conversational coaching • Group training • Activity based analysis and training • Social approach • Supported communication (SCA) • Language game therapy • Computer suppor for communication