Chapter 3: SENSE

Prepared by: Nguyen Xuan Nghia, M.A.

 Review
Chapter 1 Chapter 2
• Semantics • Referring expression
• Speaker meaning • Opaque context
• Sentence/word meaning • Equative sentence
• Utterance • Predicator vs. predicate
• Sentence • Degree of predicate
• Proposition • Generic sentence
• Reference • Universe of discourse
• Sense • Deictic word
• Context
• Definiteness
• Extension
• Prototype
 Main contents in this chapter

• Sense properties: Analytic, Synthetic, Contradiction

• A necessary condition vs. A sufficient condition
• Stereotype (vs. Extension – Prototype)
• Sense relations: Similarity, Dissimilarity, Ambiguity
 Sense
What is the communication issue in each of the
following conversations?
[1]
A: I saw something strange in the garden this morning.
B: Oh! What was it?
A: An animal perched on top of the clothes pole.
B: How do you know it was an animal?
[2]
A: I saw it. It was a cat.
B: You might have B:seen
My neighbor’s
a cat, but how child is an
can you beadult.
sure it was an
animal? A: You mean he was a child and is now grown up?
A: Well, of course B:itNo.
was He is still ifa itchild,
an animal, was aeven
cat. though he’s an adult.
B: I don’t see how A:that
Youfollows.
mean that he’s a child who acts in a very grown up way?
B: No. He’s[3]just an adult child, that’s all.
B: I finally killed Ben’s parrot.
A: So it’s dead, then?
B: No, I didn’t say that. Just that I killed it.
A: But if you killed it, it must be dead.
B: No. I was quite careful about it. I killed it very carefully so it’s not dead.
 Sense

1. B ignores the fact that the meaning of cat includes that of animal.
2. B ignores the fact that the meaning of adult excludes that of child.
3. B ignores the fact that the meaning of kill is related to that of dead in such a
way that anything killed is necessarily dead.

→What kind of meaning are A and B trying to communicate?

Sense: the hard core of meaning of an expression

 Sense properties
Analytic Synthetic Contradiction
• a TRUE sentence • not analytic • a FALSE sentence
• the meaning is the combined • neither true nor false • the combined senses of the
senses of the words. • The meaning of the sentence words in the sentence make it
❖ e.g. All elephants are cannot be decided by false.
animals. (the meaning of combined senses of the ❖ e.g. This animal is a
the sentence is the words. vegetable. (the senses of
combined senses of ❖ e.g. John is from Ireland. animal and vegetable
elephant and animal.) (the senses of John and make the sentence false in
Ireland cannot determine meaning.)
whether the sentence is • Pause and think: universe of
true or false.) discourse?
• Practice p.97
 Notes about sense properties
Pause and think!

• What property of sense is the sentence That man is a human being?

• Can you change it into another sense property? What is it?
• We said that sense properties deal with the truth in the sentences. Then what kind
of truth do imperative and interrogative sentences deal with?

• Contradictions can be formed by adding not to analytic sentences.

• Imperative and interrogative sentences cannot be true or false.
 A necessary condition A sufficient condition

- ‘four-sided’ and ‘having right angles’ are the

conditions for rectangles and trapezoids.
- ’four-sided’ is a necessary condition for the - ‘four-sided’, ‘having right angles’, and ’equal-
predicate square. sided’ are a sufficient set of conditions for the
- ‘four-sided’ and ’having right angles’ are predicate square.
necessary conditions for the predicate square. - A sufficient set of conditions on the sense of a
- A necessary condition on the sense of a predicate is a set of conditions (or criteria) which,
predicate is a condition (or criterion) which a if they are met by a thing, are enough in
thing MUST meet in order to qualify as being themselves to GUARANTEE that the predicate
correctly described by that predicate. correctly describes that thing.
Pause and think!
• Can necessary and sufficient conditions be used to define a predicate? Give
examples.
• Are there any predicates that can NOT be defined using necessary and sufficient
conditions? Give examples.
• In cases with predicates that cannot be defined using necessary and sufficient
conditions, it is possible for the speaker to have in mind typical features of the
predicates?

• Necessary and sufficient conditions are often used to define a predicate, but not all
predicates can be defined using such conditions, e.g. game.
• The STEREOTYPE of a predicate is a list of the typical features of things to which
the predicate may be applied.
❖e.g. cat: quadruped, domesticated, either black, or white, or grey, or tortoise-shell or marmalade
in color, or some combination of these colors, adult specimens about 50 cm long from nose to tip
of tail, furry, with sharp retractable claws etc.
 Sense, extension, prototype and stereotype
in brief
Thing (set of things) specified Abstract specification

Related to all examples ? ?

Related to typical examples ? ?

Thing (set of things) specified Abstract specification

Related to all examples EXTENSION SENSE

Related to typical examples PROTOTYPE STEREOTYPE

Sense relations

SIMILARITY

DISSIMILARITY

AMBIGUITY
Sense relations

SIMILARITY
Synonymy, Hyponymy,
Paraphrase, Entailment

DISSIMILARITY

AMBIGUITY
 Senses of words and predicates revisited

Pause and think!

• How many senses does a word have?
• How many senses does a predicate have?

• A word may have more than one sense, maybe

several senses like bank or hide.
• A predicate has only one sense, determined by
the context of the sentence.
• Sense relations deal with predicates, not words.
 Synonymy
• Synonymy is the relationship between two predicates that have the same sense. Synonymous
❖ e.g. stubborn = obstinate; conceal = hide; profound = deep words/predicates
• There is no perfect synonymy.
• Synonym and sense are interdependent.
• We focus on the cognitive or conceptual meaning of a word, i.e. taking away the stylistic, social and
dialectal covers.
❖ e.g. How many kids have you got?/ How many children have you got? Practice pp 107-108

• Synonymy can be extended to words of different parts of speech. Synonymous

❖ e.g. sleeping = asleep propositions
(sentences)
• Synonymy can also be extended to whole sentences → PARAPHRASE
• Paraphrase: a sentence which expresses the same proposition as another sentence (same
referents for any referring expressions)
❖ e.g. My father owns this car/ This car belongs to my father
• Rule of thumb: synonym applies to predicates just like paraphrase applies to sentences
 Hyponymy
• Hyponymy: the meaning of one predicate is included in that of the other Hyponymous
❖ e.g. red – scarlet (the meaning of red is included in the meaning of scarlet) words/predicates
• Sounds tricky? Why not the meaning of scarlet is included in the meaning of red?
• Red: the superordinate/hyperonym term; scarlet: hyponym of red
• Hyponymy vs. extension
Practice p.110
• Hyponymy vs. synonymy:
▪ Synonymy is called symmetrical hyponymy.
▪ E.g. mercury – quicksilver
▪ Rule: X: hyponym of Y; Y: hyponym of X → X & Y: synonymous

Discussion questions:
• Earlier, we learnt that propositions can be synonymous in the same way as predicates are. Then, do
you think that propositions can be hyponymous in the same way as predicates are. Illustrate this.
• Do you think that the proposition in John ate all the biscuits is a hyponym of the proposition in
Someone ate something?
 Hyponymy
• Entailment: Proposition X entails proposition Y if the truth of Y follows that of X Hyponymous
❖ e.g. John ate all the biscuits (X) entails Someone ate something (Y) propositions/
Practice p.112 sentences
• Cumulative entailment: X entails Y, Y entails Z → X entails Z
❖ e.g.
▪ Some boys ran down the street entails Some kids ran down the street
▪ Some kids ran down the street entails Some kids went down the street
▪ → Some boys ran down the street entails Some kids went down the street
• Two sentences with the same entailments are PARAPHRASES of each other.
❖ e.g. The house was concealed by the trees and The house was hidden by the trees are paraphrases of each
other.
• Synonym is symmetric hyponymy <=> paraphrase is symmetric entailment
 Entailment, paraphrase, hyponymy,
and synonymy in brief
Relation between Relation between
pairs of sentences pairs of words
Not necessarily symmetric ? ?
Symmetric ? ?

Relation between Relation between

pairs of sentences pairs of words
Not necessarily symmetric ENTAILMENT HYPONYMY
Symmetric PARAPHRASE SYNONYMY
 A B
1. tulip flower
sheep animal
steal take
square rectangular
Henry was chewing a tulip Henry was chewing a flower
Denis got savaged by a sheep Denis got savaged by an animal
David stole a pound of beef David took a pound of beef
Mary climbed through a square hole in the roof Mary climbed through a rectangular hole in the roof
What can you say about the relationship between the two sets of words and that between the two sets of sentences?
2. Henry was not chewing a tulip Henry was not chewing a flower
Denis didn’t get savaged by a sheep Denis didn’t get savaged by an animal
David didn’t steal a pound of beef David didn’t take a pound of beef
Mary didn’t climb through a square hole in the roof Mary didn’t climb through a rectangular hole in the roof
3. Henry chewed up all my tulips Henry chewed up all my flowers
All Denis’s sheep have foot-rot All Denis’s animals have foot-rot
Mary colored all the square shapes purple Mary colored all the rectangular shapes purple
4. John saw a big mouse John saw a big animal
A tall pygmy came in A tall person came in
We went in a small bus We went in a small vehicle
That was an expensive sandwich That was an expensive meal
 Common rules
Given two sentences A and B, identical in every way except
that A contains a word X where B contains a different word
Y, and X is a hyponym of Y, then sentence A entails
sentence B.
Given two sentences A and B, identical in every way except
that A contains a word X where B contains a different word
Y, and X is a hyponym of Y, then sentence B entails sentence
A.
Sentences B entail sentences A. However, the entailment
form B to A only holds when the set of things referred to by
the phrase including ALL actually exists.
There are no entailment relations between two sets of
sentences in the case of gradable words like big, tall, small,
expensive etc.
Sense relations

SIMILARITY
Synonymy, Hyponymy,
Paraphrase, Entailment

DISSIMILARITY
Antonymy

AMBIGUITY
 Binary antonyms Converses Gradable antonyms
• Binary antonyms are predicates which • If a predicate describes a relationship • Two predicates are gradable
come in pairs and between exhaust all between two entities and another antonyms if they are at opposite
the relevant possibilities. If the one predicate describes the same ends of a continuous scale of values.
predicate is applicable, then the other relationship when the two entities are ❖ E.g. hot vs. cold (between hot and
cannot be, and vice versa. in an opposite order, the two cold, there are other patterns of
❖ E.g. true vs. false (if something is predicates are converses of each temperature)
true, it cannot be false; if something other. • Question: are love and hate gradable
is false, it cannot be true) ❖ E.g. parent vs. child (parent describes antonyms?
• Practice p.122 a relationship between two people, • Test of gradability: ask questions
• 2 different binary antonyms can and child describes the same how, how much (how tall are you?
combine in a set of predicates to relationship in the opposite order → Not how triangular is the shape?)
produce a four-way contrast. parent and child are converses.) • Practice p.126
❖ E.g. male vs. female combine with • Question: are love and hate
married vs unmarried converses?
• Practice p.122 • Multiple incompatibles
• The area between two binary ▪ 3: liquid, gas, solid
antonyms are called semantic field/ ▪ 4: hearts, clubs, diamonds,
system. spades
❖ E.g. true – false → the truth system

ANTONYMY
 Entailment – paraphrase; hyponymy –
synonymy; antonymy – contradiction
Pause and think!
• Given the sentences This beetle is alive and This beetle is dead, is it possible for the
propositions in both of them to be true at the same time?
• Is it possible to say the former sentence entails the negation of the latter one?
• It is possible to say the former sentence is a contradiction of the latter?

Relation between Relation between

pairs of sentences pairs of words
Not necessarily symmetric ENTAILMENT HYPONYMY
Symmetric PARAPHRASE SYNONYMY
Asymmetric CONTRADICTION ANTONYMY/
INCOMPATIBILITY

Practice p.127
Sense relations

SIMILARITY
Synonymy, Hyponymy,
Paraphrase, Entailment

DISSIMILARITY
Antonymy

AMBIGUITY
Homonymy, Polysemy
• A word or phrase is ambiguous if it has
two or more synonyms that are not
Homonymy
themselves synonyms of each other. • An ambiguous word whose different senses are far apart from each other and
❖ E.g. coach – trainer; coach – bus; not obviously related to each other in any way with respect to a native speaker’
trainer – bus: not synonymous → intuition.
coach: ambiguous ❖ E.g. bank (a financial institution) vs. bank (the side of a river) → these two
senses of bank are APPARENTLY not related to each other
Ambiguity
Polysemy
• A sentence is ambiguous if it has two • An ambiguous word which has several very closely related senses. In other
or more paraphrases that are not words, a native speaker of the language has clear intuitions that the different
themselves paraphrases of each other. senses are related to each other in some way.
❖ E.g. The chicken is ready to eat – ❖ E.g. mouth (of a river) vs. mouth (of an animal) → these two senses are
The chicken is ready to be eaten; APPARENTLY related (the opening of something and leaving space)
The chicken is read to eat – The Practice p.131
chicken is ready to eat some Practice p.132
food; The chicken is ready to be
eaten – The chicken is ready to
eat some food: not paraphrases
→ The chicken is ready to eat:
ambiguous
 Ambiguous words vs. Ambiguous sentences
Each of the following sentences contains ambiguous words (capitals). Decide Answers:
whether each sentence is ambiguous or not.
1. No
1. A KIND young man helped me to CROSS the road 2. No
2. A pike is a KIND of fish 3. No
3. I’m very CROSS with you
For each of the following sentences, decide whether it contains any ambiguous Answers:
words and whether it is ambiguous.
1. No/Yes
1. I observed John in the garden 2. No/Yes
2. We had to decide on the bus 3. No/Yes
3. Fred said that he would pay me on Thursday
Rules
• Some sentences which contain ambiguous words are ambiguous while others are not, and some
sentences which contain no ambiguous words are ambiguous while others are not.
• A sentence which is ambiguous because its words relate to each other in different ways, even though
none of the individual words are ambiguous, is structurally/grammatically ambiguous.
❖ E.g. The chicken is ready to eat
• Lexical ambiguity is any ambiguity resulting from the ambiguity of a word.
❖ E.g. The captained corrected the list