Post-Midterm Practice 1 Draw trees for these sentences. Yesterday Emma bought a book. Yesterday Emma bought a book about cooking. Yesterday Emma bought a book in a bookstore. (ambiguous)

Post-Midterm Practice 2 Draw trees for these sentences. Yesterday Emma put a book on the table. Yesterday Emma put a book about cooking under the table. Yesterday Emma put a book about cooking on the table in the hall. (ambiguous)

Definition of Semantics “The study of the linguistic meaning of morphemes, words, phrases, and sentences is called semantics.” Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, p. 140.

Subfields of Semantics  Lexical semantics  Phrasal or sentential semantics  Pragmatics Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, p. 140.

Meaning Semantics Pragmatics Words Lexical Semantics Phrases Phrasal Semantics Sentences Sentential Semantics Pragmatics Discourse Pragmatics (Meaning in Context) Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, p. 140.

Semantic Knowledge Word Sentence meaningful   ambiguous   synonymous   opposites   reference (can)   sense   truth value X  entailment X  Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, p. 140ff.

Basis for Understanding Speech “Learning a language includes learning the agreed-upon meanings of certain strings of sounds and learning how to combine these meaningful units into larger units that also convey meaning.” “All speakers of a language share a basic vocabulary—the sounds and meanings of morphemes and words.” [My emphasis.] Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2003. An Introduction to Language. Boston, MA: Wadsworth, p. 173.

Mental Lexicon  Pronunciation  Meaning (including Semantic Properties)  Relationship to other words  Grammatical category  How to use it in sentences.  Potential collocations and idioms  Spelling

What else do we know?  Truth  Entailment / Logic  Ambiguity Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, pp. 140-143.

Compositional Semantics “…our knowledge about the truth value of sentences [is a function of] taking the meanings of words and combining them according to the syntactic structure of the sentence.” Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, p. 146.

Principle of Compositionality All the Individual Word Meanings + Syntax = Sentence Meaning Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, p. 144ff.

Enemies of Compositionality  Anomaly  Metaphor  Idioms Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, pp. 147-152.

Idioms Lexical item with more than one word. Meaning of the idiom cannot be inferred. They must be LEARNED (like other words, morphemes).  They must be stored in the Mental Lexicon. Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, pp. 151-152.

Selected Theories of Word Meaning  Reference  Sense Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, pp. 154-156.

Chapter on Meaning Homework (Ex 2) (Boldfaced items may be debatable) a. T b. C c. S d. S e. S f. C g. S h. T i. S j. S k. T l. S m. S n. T o. C p. S q. C r. C s. C t. S u. C v. S w. C x. C y. S z. C

Chapter on Meaning Homework (Ex 2) 1 a. T Queens are monarchs. b. C Kings are female. c. S Kinds are poor. d. S Queens are ugly. e. S Queens are mothers. f. C Kings are mothers. g. S Dogs are four-legged. h. T Cats are felines. i. S Cats are stupid. j. S Dogs are carnivores.

Chapter on Meaning Homework (Ex 2) 2 k. T George Washington is George Washington. l. S George Washington is the first president. m. S George Washington is male. n. T Uncles are male. o. C My aunt is a man. p. S Witches are wicked. q. C My brother is a witch. ?? r. C My sister is an only child. s. C The evening star isn’t the evening star.

Chapter on Meaning Homework (Ex 2) 3 t. S The evening star isn’t Venus. u. C Babies are adults. v. S Babies can lift one ton. w. C Puppies are human. x. C My bachelor friends are all married. y. S My bachelor friends are all lonely. z. C Colorless ideas are green.

Chapter on Meaning Homework (Ex 5 A) 1 a. We laughed at the colorful ball. Lexically ambiguous: ball (toy children play with); (dance party) b. He was knocked over by the punch. punch (using the fist to hit someone); (drink at a party) Structurally ambiguous: He was next to the punch when he was knocked over. The punch knocked him over.

Chapter on Meaning Homework (Ex 5 A) 2 c. The police were urged to stop drinking by the fifth. Lexically ambiguous: fifth (5th day of the month); (a fifth of a gallon of whiskey??) Structurally ambiguous: when they should stop drinking They should not drink a whole fifth of whiskey when they drink. d. I said I would file it on Thursday. file (folder containing information); (tool for smoothing rough surfaces) I said it on Thursday. the filing will be done on Thursday

Chapter on Meaning Homework (Ex 5 B) k. run down l. violin case m. bill/Bill; house/House n. stud tires; out o. dog bite victim p. lack of brains q. death (whose?) r. eye drops (N); eye drops (NP VP) s. try; shooting defendant (Adj N) or (V NP) t. Queen Mary (person or ship)