S E M A N T I C S

REVIEW
In the following utterances, is any proposition asserted by the speaker?

a. John left yesterday

b. Did John leave yesterday?

c. John, get out of here

d. John!

=> Propositions are only asserted using declarative statements.

Which of the following is a correct description of ‘reference’? Circle
your choice.

(a) a relationship between expressions and other expressions which

have the same meaning

(b) the set of all objects which can potentially be referred to by an

expression

(c) a relationship between a particular object in the world and an

expression used in an utterance to pick that object out
Which of the following could the following possibly be used as
referring expressions?

(a) the girl sitting on the wall by the bus stop

(b) a man

(c) my parents

(d) Send

(e) under
Which of the following is the phrase a tall tree? Circle your answer.

(a) a referring expression

(b) not a referring expression

(c) sometimes a referring expression and sometimes not, depending

on context and circumstances of use
Which of the following sentences is equative?

(a) Steven is an Australian

(b) I was telling you about Steven the Australian

(c) Steven is the Australian I was telling you about

(d) Steven is a genius

Circle those of the following words which can be referring expressions (in normal
everyday English).
a. Emily

b. Below
c. Venus
d. Runs

e. Round
f. stunning,

g. Under

h. went.
Which of the following sentences are equative (E)

(a) My lover is holidaying in the North of Vietnam

(b) Nicholas is an ass

(c) Tristram Shandy is a funny book

(d) Our next guest is Dr Kenny

Which of the following are equative sentences? Explain why.

a. Fred is the man with the gun.

b. William the Conqueror is the current King of England.
c. Detroit is a nearby city.
d. Mary is a genius.
e. A box of cookies is what I would like.
f. Detroit is not the largest city in the USA.
Circle the referring expressions in the following sentence.

Basil saw a rat

a. Basil

b. Saw

c. a rat
Circle the referring expressions in the following sentence.

These matches were made in Sweden

a. These matches

b. Were made

c. In

d. Sweden
Circle the referring expressions in the following sentence.

A dentist is a person who looks after people’s teeth

a. A dentist

b. a person

c. Who looks after people’s teeth

d. People’s teeth

=> NONE J
Consider the following sentences and try to determine what factor the speaker uses in
choosing the italicized verb in each. Also comment on the difference in meaning in the choice
of different verbs with respect to the speaker’s perspective on the scene.

a. I just called to see if you will be coming to see me tomorrow

ÞCome contains the notion 'toward the speaker'. The speaker uses come because the
person being spoken to will be moving toward the speaker's location tomorrow.

b. I just called to see if you will be going to see me tomorrow

ÞGo contains the notion 'away from the speaker'. The speaker uses go in this case because
he is referring to a location where he is not currently at, but plans to be tomorrow. This is
an example of psychological shifting.
Consider the following sentences and try to determine what factor the speaker uses
in choosing the italicized verb in each. Also comment on the difference in meaning in
the choice of different verbs with respect to the speaker’s perspective on the scene.

c. Please come in.

ÞThe speaker is asking the hearer to move to a location toward the speaker.

d. Please go in.

ÞThe speaker is asking the hearer to move to a location away from the speaker.
Consider the following sentences and try to determine what factor the speaker uses
in choosing the italicized verb in each. Also comment on the difference in meaning in
the choice of different verbs with respect to the speaker’s perspective on the scene.

c. Please come in.

ÞThe speaker is asking the hearer to move to a location toward the speaker.

d. Please go in.

ÞThe speaker is asking the hearer to move to a location away from the speaker.
Which of the following most appropriately describes reference?

(a) Reference is a relationship between sentences and the world.

(b) Reference is a relationship between certain uttered expressions

and things in the world.

(c) Reference is a relationship between certain uttered expressions

and certain things outside the context of the utterance.
Which of the following is a correct statement about sense?

(a) All words in a language may be used to refer, but only some words
have sense.

(b) If two expressions have the same reference, they always have the
same sense.

(c) The sense of an expression is its relationship to semantically

equivalent or semantically related expressions in the same language.
How do hearers identify the referent of a referring expression (other than
a proper name) -

(a) by seeking in the context of the utterance some object to which the
predicates in the referring expression apply?

(b) by sharing with the speaker a conventional system according to

which each possible referring expression has a single agreed referent?

(c) by telepathy – reading the speaker’s mind?

Which of the following is correct?

(a) The universe of discourse is a part of the context of an utterance.

(b) The context of an utterance is a part of the universe of discourse.

(c) The universe of discourse is the whole real world.

Which of the following are two-place predicates?

a. Below

b. Smother

c. Sleep

d. Come

e. Annihilate

f. Vanish

g. afraid (of)
 Which of the following is not a predicate?

a.Man

b.Hannah

c.Eat

d.Hungry
Which of the following is correct? Circle your answer.

(a) The sense of any word is its dictionary definition, in the form of a
complete set of necessary and sufficient conditions for its use.

(b) The sense of a predicate is the set of all things it can be correctly
applied to.

(c) The sense of a predicate is its indispensable hard core of meaning.

The relationship between the sentences I detest semantics and I am not
fond of semantics is that:

(a) They are paraphrases of each other.

(b) The first entails the second.

(c) The second entails the first.

(d) The first is a hyponym of the second.

Which of the following statements is correct?

a. All contradictions are paraphrases of each other.

b. Given two sentences, identical except that one has a predicate X

where the other has a predicate Y, where X is a hyponym of Y, then
the sentence containing X is a paraphrase of the sentence containing
Y.

c. If a sentence X entails a sentence Y and sentence Y also entails

sentence X, then X and Y are paraphrases of each other.
Which of the following is correct?

(a) Synonymy is to entailment as hyponymy is to paraphrase.

(b) Synonymy is to paraphrase as hyponymy is to entailment.

(c) Synonymy is to hyponymy as entailment is to paraphrase.

Which of the following is correct?

(a) Synonymy is to entailment as hyponymy is to paraphrase.

(b) Synonymy is to paraphrase as hyponymy is to entailment.

(c) Synonymy is to hyponymy as entailment is to paraphrase.

What sense relation holds between these sentences?

1. John is married to Mary

2. Mary is married to John

=> paraphrase
What sense relation holds between the following two sentences?

1. Jim is fatter than Kathleen and Kathleen is fatter than Neil

2. Jim is fatter than Neil

=> The first entails the second

What sense relation holds between these sentences?

1. John is the father of Henry

2. Henry is the father of John

=> contradiction
 Which of the following pairs of sentences are gradable antonyms?

a.high/low

b.husband/wife

c.pregnant/not pregnant

d.legal/illegal
Which of the following pairs of sentences are not converses?

a.lessor/lessee

b.parent/offspring

c.expensive/cheap

d.buy/sell
What does the Basic Rule of Sense Inclusion have to say
about the entailment relationship between the following
two sentences?

a. Mary bought a house.

b. Mary bought a building.

Sentence a entails sentence b, because the house is a

hyponym of building.
What does the Basic Rule of Sense Inclusion have to say about the

entailment relationship between the following two sentences?

a. Mary bought a house.

b. Mary bought a building.

=> Sentence a entails sentence b, because the house is a hyponym

of building.
What does the Basic Rule of Sense Inclusion have to say about the
entailment relationship between the following two sentences?

a. Mary did not buy a house.

b. Mary did not buy a building.

=> Sentence a does not entail sentence b, even though house is a

hyponym of building. If the sentences contain a negative, such as not,
then the entailment relation is reversed: here sentence b entails
sentence a.
What does the Basic Rule of Sense Inclusion have to say about the entailment
relationship between the following two sentences?

a. Mary bought all the houses in town.

b. Mary bought all the buildings in town.

Þ Sentence a does not entail sentence b, even though house is a hyponym

of building. If the sentences contain the universal quantifier all, then the
entailment relation is once again reversed: here sentence b entails
sentence a
Consider the following pair of sentences. Is there any entailment relation
existing between them? Explain why or why not.

a. Mary bought a big house.

b. Mary bought a big building.

Þ No entailment relation exists between either sentence, even though

house is a hyponym of building. This is likely due to the presence of the
gradable adjective big modifying house and building in each sentence.
Two words with very closely related meanings

a.antonyms

b.Homonyms

c.synonyms

d.hyponymy
Higher level terms in a hyponymy diagram

a.synonyms

b.superordinate terms

c.subordinate terms

d.semantic features
When one form (written or spoken) has two or more
unrelated meanings, they are called ___. [bank (of a river) /
bank (financial institution)]

a.Hyponym

b.homonyms

c.Metonymy

d.antonyms
 When two or more different (written) forms have the same
pronunciation, they are called ___.

a.homophones

b.Hyponym

c.co-hyponyms

d.homographs
 two or more words with the same form and related meanings
by extension (foot of a person, of a bed, of a mountain); based
on similarity

a.Metonymy

b.Hyponymy

c.Polysemy

d.Hyponym
two or more words that share the same superordinate term

a.Co-hyponyms

b.Synonyms

c.Hyponymy

d.Hyponym
a relationship in which the meaning of one form is included
in the meaning of another (animal/horse, insect/ant); looks
at words in hierarchical relationships

a.Hyperonyms
b.Homonyms

c.Hyponymy

d.Homophony
 two or more words with very closely related meanings; can
often (but not always) be substituted for one another in
sentences
a.Hyponym
b.Homonyms

c.Synonyms
d.Hyponymy
 used to point to a time (now, then, last year)

a.temporal deixis

b.personal deixis

c.spatial deixis
Bee – Mosquito. Choose the correct semantic relation:
A.Synonyms
B.Co-hyponyms
C.Antonyms
D.Homonyms
Help – Assist. Choose the correct semantic relation:
A.Synonyms
B.Co-hyponyms
C.Antonyms
D.Homonyms
 The nouns “alligator” and “reptile” are related by which of the
following lexical relations?
A.antonymy
B.synonymy
C.hyponymy
D.homonymy
 Which of the following pairs are NOT binary antonyms?
A.open – shut
B.near – far
C.on – off
D.married – unmarried
 The house is on the hill. “On” is a predicate of
degree……….
A.1
B.2
C.3
D.4
Which of the following statements is correct? Circle your choice.

(a) There are no acts which can be performed either

linguistically (e.g. with an utterance) or non-linguistically (e.g.
with a gesture).

(b) There are no acts which cannot be performed linguistically.

(c) Some acts can be performed either linguistically or non-

linguistically
The sentence I hereby command you to teach first-year
Semantics is

a. performative (P)

b. constative (C)

c. neither (N)
Consider the utterance ‘Excuse me, you’re standing on my dress’. In
normal circumstances, which of the following statements about this
utterance is true? Circle your choice.

(a) The perlocution of the utterance is an excuse.

(b) One of the illocutions of the utterance is an act of informing.

(c) The proposition of the utterance is an act of reminding.

Which appears to be the more systematic, the relationship between
utterances and their illocutions (I), or the relationship between
utterances and their perlocutions (P)?

=> Illocutions (I)

Which of the following is a felicity condition on requests?

(a) that the speaker be able to carry out the action described

(b) that the hearer be able to carry out the action described

(c) that the hearer want to carry out the action described
Are the following utterances performative (P) or constative (C)?

1. ‘I NAME this ship Hibernia.’ P/C

2. ‘I BELIEVE in the dictatorship of the Proletariat.’ P/C

3. ‘I ADMIT I was hasty.’ P/C

4. ‘I THINK I was wrong.’ P/C

5. ‘I hereby INFORM you that you are sacked.’ P/C

Are the following utterances performative (P) or constative (C)?

6. ‘I GIVE you supper every night.’ P/C

7. ‘I WARN you not to come any closer.’ P/C

8. ‘I TRY to get this box open with a screwdriver.’ P/C

9. ‘I PRONOUNCE you man and wife.’ P/C

10. ‘I SENTENCE you to be hanged by the neck.’ P/C

The test to determine whether an utterance is performative is to insert the word
hereby and see if the modified utterance is acceptable. Can hereby be acceptably
inserted in the following utterances?

1. ‘I ( ) GIVE notice that I will lock these doors in 60 seconds.’ Yes/No

2. ‘I ( ) PROMISED him that I would be at the station at 3:00pm.’ Yes/No

3. ‘It ( ) GIVES me great pleasure to open this building.’ Yes/No

4. ‘I ( ) WARN you not to talk to my sister again.’ Yes/No

5. ‘I ( ) WARN you that you will fail.’ Yes/No

Identify the presupposition(s) in each of the following sentences.

1. ‘The exam is not so difficult.’

ÞThe utterance presupposes that there is an exam and that the hearer already
knows what the exam is.

ÞThe speaker assumes that the hearer already knows what the exam is.

2. ‘She is not happy about the chemistry course she’s taking.’

ÞThe utterance presupposes that she’s taking a chemistry course.

ÞThe utterance presupposes that there is a chemistry course and she’s taking it.
Identify the presupposition(s) in each of the following sentences.

3. ‘We haven’t heard anything from Barbara.’

ÞThe utterance presupposes that the hearer already knows who Barbara is.

ÞThe speaker assumes that the hearer already knows who Barbara is.

4. ‘They were rich.’

ÞThe utterance presupposes that the hearer already knows who they are.

ÞThe speaker assumes that the hearer already knows who they are
Write down one implicature that can be drawn from the
second speaker’s response in each of the following
conversations:

1. Laura: ‘Who used all the printer paper?’

Dick: ‘I used some of it.’

ÞHis utterance may implicate that Dick did not use all the
paper.
Write down one implicature that can be drawn from the
second speaker’s response in each of the following
conversations:

Mat: ‘What’s with your mother?’

Bob: ‘Let’s go to the garden.’

ÞHis utterance may implicate that Bob cannot talk about his
mother’s problem in the very place.
Find the inferences in brackets is an implicature (I) derived from the
underlined utterance.

(1) A: ‘You look pleased.’

B: ‘I managed to pass the exam.’ (I tried to pass the exam.)

(2) A: ‘Did you finish that report?’

B: ‘I started it.’ (I didn’t finish it.)

(3) Paul: ‘I didn’t take it.’

Virginia: ‘Why do you always lie?’ (You always lie.)

Find the inferences in brackets is a presupposition (P)

(1) A: ‘What’s with Jean?’

B: ‘She discovered that her central heating is broken.’ (Her central heating
is broken.)

(2) A: ‘How do you like your bath?’

B: ‘Warm.’ (I don’t like it hot.)

(3) A: ‘What do you think of this necklace and bracelet?’

B: ‘The bracelet is beautiful.’ (The necklace is not beautiful.)

Classify the underline utterance according to different types of speech acts.

A: ‘Mind your head!’

B: ‘Thanks for your timely warning.’

1. Expressive

2. Directive

3. Representative

4. Commissive

ÞA directly warns B of a danger.

Classify the underline utterance according to different types of speech acts.

Student [taking an exam]: ‘I’ve just asked my neighbor for a correction pen.’
Teacher: ‘Is it right to cheat in any exam?’
(= ‘It is quite wrong to cheat in any exam.’)
1. Expressive
2. Directive
3. Representative
4. Commissive
ÞThe teacher indirectly says that cheating is not accepted in any exam.
Classify the underline utterance according to different types of speech acts.

A: ‘I was so sorry to hear about your loss.’

B: ‘Thank you for your great sympathy.’

1. Expressive

2. Directive

3. Representative

4. Commissive

ÞA directly shows his/her willingness to share B’s suffering.

Classify the underline utterance according to different types of speech acts.

Desk clerk: ‘I beg your pardon. I’ll be right back.’

Client: ‘No problem.’

1. Expressive

2. Directive

3. Representative

4. Commissive

ÞThe desk clerk directly promises to return in a few minutes.

GOOD
LUCK