dog Your ate my homework.
CAS LX 502
1a. Introduction
What does this sentence mean?
Is it true? What is the current status of my homework? What was the prior status of my homework? Your dog will have eaten my homework. Your dog must have eaten my homework. Your dog might have eaten my homework.
Levels of linguistic knowledge
Native speakers have a complex system of
knowledge.
Phonology Morphology Syntax Semantics
Some data our theory should account for
Linguistic expressions have actual meanings
The English sentence Camels have humps means that
camels have humps.
The French sentence Les chameaux ont des bosses
means that camels have humps.
Our goal is to understand and characterize this
complex system.
The English sentence Camels have humps does not
mean that reptiles have wings.
Some data our theory should account for
Linguistic expressions can be ambiguous.
The English sentence Pedro jumped from the top of the
bank has two meanings.
Some data our theory should account for
Some linguistic expressions are felt to be
anomalous.
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously. My toothbrush is pregnant. Hammers frighten rocks.
The English sentence Mad dogs and Englishmen go out
in the noonday sun has two meanings.
The English sentence John saw her duck has two
meanings.
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Some data our theory should account for
These are true in the same situations (synonymous):
The wug is under the pim. The pim is above the wug.
Some data our theory should account for
Boris ate an apple. Boris ate. Boris is too clever to catch Rocky. Boris is too clever to catch.
And not in this one (contradiction):
The wug is not under the pim.
At least two distinct kinds of situations make this true:
Every wug is under three pims.
And this must also be true of the same kind of situation:
Every wug is under two pims.
Productivity
We can know what a sentence means even
if we havent heard that sentence before.
Productivity
We can create novel meaningful sentences. S1 and S2 is a sentence where S1 and S2 are
If we knew what a wug and a pim were, we
would know what the sentence The pim is under the wug would mean. There must be an algorithm for figuring out what a sentence means (like the algorithm for adding two novel numbers).
sentences (and S1 and S2 is true when both S1 and S2 are true). Sa = Pat left Sb = Tracy cried Sc = Chris ate a sandwich S1 = Sa and Sb = Pat left and Tracy cried S2 = S1 and Sc =
Pat left and Tracy cried and Chris ate a sandwich
Compositionality
In order to be able to do this is must be the
case that meaning is compositional. That is:
A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man
Fax, refax, faxer, refaxer, unrefaxeristic. Unzippable
[Un-zip]-able (able to be unzipped) Un-[zip-able] (unable to be zipped)
The meaning of the whole is determined by
the meaning of the parts and how those parts are arranged.
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Connecting to the world
We use language to talk about things. There is some kind of connection to the
world outside of language.
Connecting to the world
Truth and falsity is something like this as
well.
For example, we can use names and noun
phrases to refer to individuals. We use Pat to refer to Pat the individual; Pat denotes Pat the individual.
Whether a sentence is true or false depends
on The actual meaning of the sentence How things are in the outside world
Levels of description
We can talk about language from a number of
different perspectives.
speaking or writing.
Propositions
A proposition can be true or false, depending on A proposition is generally a combination of a
grilled (Pat, the sandwich)
the situation it is being considered with respect to. predicate (a verb or a property) and one or more arguments (referential expressions). one way (Pat grilled the sandwich, The sandwich was grilled by Pat), so are they more abstract than sentences.
An utterance is a piece of language, created, e.g., by A sentence is an abstract arrangement of words. Two
people can say the same sentence (resulting in two different utterances). A proposition is a complete thought. The sentences Pat ate the sandwich and The sandwich was eaten by Pat express the same proposition. One is true if and only if the other is true.
Propositions can often be expressed in more than
Language in context
Sentences can be said to have a literal and,
sometimes, a non-literal meaning. My feet are killing me.
Language in context
When we speak of semantics, we are generally speaking
of meaning abstracted away from speakers and individual utterances. The context-independent meaning. When we speak of pragmatics, we are speaking of language use and language users. The motivations for using a particular sentence.
Could you pass the salt? Its getting late. I have two children. Mr. Stevens command of English is excellent, and his attendance at class has been regular.
Literally false, but the speaker presumably
intended to communicate something, so we must work out what it is.
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Mental models
Prince Charles is British. This is true. Theres a property, to be
Mental models
We can talk about much more than just the real
world as it actually is.
If Prince Charles is not British,
I will eat my hat.
British, that holds of the guy in the world that Prince Charles denotes.
Imagine a world much like ours, but in which the
guy Prince Charles denotes does not possess the property to be British. In that world, I will also eat my hat (if the entire proposition is true).
Last night I dreamt I was Prince Charles.
James Bond is British. This is also true. But who is the property to
be British true of?
Mental models
Denotation and properties seem to be evaluated
against a model of the world, which maybut need notcorrespond to how the world actually is. We can shift between models easily, to talk about fiction, to talk about (possibly mistaken) beliefs, to talk about wishes, dreams. The most coherent way to think about what names like James Bond denote is to take them to denote individuals in a mental model, where the model might (or might not) be one corresponding to the real world.
Object language and ...