Chapter 6: Semantics What I meant to say was…

It all depends… Band practice… My house 6 to 8 Band practice… My house Thanks for the reminder Band practice… My house 6 to 8 Thanks for the reminder Thanks for the warning Thanks for the reminder

Systematicness of Language Phonology Syntax Lexis Predictable Perhaps because sounds are meaningless in isolation, phonology is the most systematic aspect of language, followed closely by syntax. These aspects tend to follow set rules the closest and are typically the most predictable parts of language. The words one chooses, on the other hand, tend not to be predictable. With the exception of some common collocations (for example: “put up or ____ up”), word choice is up to the speaker with unique combinations of words being expressed constantly. Unpredictable

Words & Meanings Rose [os ] … [os ] Polysemy Homophony Entailment Flower Love Color Positive outlook Rise +pst Woke up [os ] … [os ] Polysemy Homophony Entailment

Truth Sentences may be True or False Paraphrase: Entailment Two sentences: the same truth conditions Entailment JFK was assassinated  __________ Contradictions *(?)The queen is a man

Lexical Semantics Property Distinctions Property Inclusions Blue vs. Green Cup vs. Mug Others…? Property Inclusions Pine, Oak, Maple, Chestnut, Palmetto… Cat, Lion, Tiger, Panther…

Semantic Features woman student stalk _________ + female + human - young … student + - stalk + motion + slow + purposeful - pleasant _________ + -

Count vs. Non-count Count Non-Count (Mass) dog flower deer bread beauty venison goose egg Not in text…

Fuzzy Concepts (Lexical Semantics) Nose Hana (Japanese) Naz (Russian) Ice Rain

Principle of Compositionality The meaning of a sentence comes (mostly) from its constituents and the way they are positioned.

Ambiguity The man saw the fish with binoculars.

Tree Structure (Constituent Structure)

Thematic Roles (Phrasal Semantics) Verb-Centered Agent  one doing the action Theme (patient)  one receiving the action Experiencer  one who perceives Humpty-Dumpty sat on a wall. Bo Peep pushed Humpty off the wall Miss Muffet heard Humpty shatter

Themes in other lanaguages Apache *My horse kicked me I allowed myself to be kicked by my horse German In diesem Hotel sind Hunde verboten In this hotel are dogs forbidden * This hotel forbids dogs

Meanings & Non- Anomaly Metaphor Idiom My brother is an only child… Colorless green ideas… Metaphor Walls have ears… My new car is a lemon… Idiom Eat crow… Bite your tongue

Pragmatics What’s the message? My wife in the car while we’re driving… “I’m getting cold…” Me sitting making these slides… “Honey, do we have any fruit…?”

Miscellany Deictics Discourse New Old Topic

Maxims of Conversation Relevance Be relevant Quantity Be as informative as required… Quality Truthful, Supportable claims Manner Brief, orderly Not ambiguous nor obscure

Exercises 1 – 4, 6, 7, 10, 11, 14 Enough of each to get the point 5, 8, 9, 12, 13, 15 – 17 Do ‘em all

Tomorrow Read Chapter 7 Coming soon to a theater near you: Historical Linguistics We will skim the surface… Coming soon to a theater near you: Chapter 11: 1st Language Acquisition Chapter 12: 2nd Language Acquisition Chapter 15: Sociolinguistics