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Semantics TANE108 - Ghi chép

Ngữ nghĩa học Tiếng Anh - Semantics (Trường Đại học Ngoại thương)

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Lecturer: Nguyen Thi Hien Hanh

Phone number: 0912175123
Email: [email protected]

AN INTRODUCTION TO SEMANTICS
“Language without meaning is meaningless” (Roman Jakobson)

Semantics:
- The technical term used to refer to the study of meaning, and
since meaning is a part of language, semantics is a part of
linguistics.
+ word meaning
+ phrase meaning
+ sentence meaning
- The branch of linguistics that deals with the study of meaning,
changes in meaning, and the principles (grammar, logic, stress,
intonation, contexts) that govern the relationship between
sentences and words and their meanings.
- The study of the relationship between signs and symbols and
what they represent (punctuations, alphabetic letters, etc.)
- The study of how meaning is constructed, interpreted, clarified,
obscured, illustrated, simplified, negotiated, contradicted and
paraphrased
E.g: Change meaning as the time passes: the additional meaning of
“surf”...

Ambiguous - sentence can be understood in more than one way

E.g: She drove past the bank. (edge of river/ business place)
E.g:
1. John murdered the president.
2. The president is dead.
→ Sentence 1 entailed/involved sentence 2

Seven Types of Meaning

1. Conceptual or Denotative meaning : (Nghĩa sở thị → nghĩa
đen)
- Literal, logical, cognitive meaning → essential or core
meaning

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- The basic propositional meaning which corresponds to the

primary dictionary definition
- Aim: to provide appropriate semantic representation to a
sentence
- Minimal unit of meaning which could be called “sememe”
E.g: Boy = + human, + male, - adult → hierarchical structure
Child = + human, - mature, +- male, + innocent
Aunt = + human, +- mature, + female, + parents’ sister (+-in-
law)
Bachelor = + human, + male, + mature, + stay single
Actress = + human, + female, + professionally artistic, +
perform a role
Chick = + animate, + bird, + fowl, - fully grown, +- male
Tip toe = + motion, + walk, + on toes, + silently
- is essential for the functioning of language
E.g: A part of the conceptual meaning of “needle” may be “thin”,
“sharp” or “instrument”
- is the base for all types of meaning.
2. Connotative meaning: (Nghĩa liên tưởng, nghĩa hàm chỉ →
nghĩa bóng)
- The communicative value of an expression > its purely
conceptual content. It is something that goes beyond mere
referent of a word and hints at its attributes in the real world.
E.g: Woman = gregarious, having maternal instincts (có bản năng
làm mẹ), experienced in cookery, skirt/dress wearing, etc.
- Vary age to age and society to society
- Incidental, comparatively unstable, in determinant, open-ended,
variable according to age, culture and individual, whereas
conceptual meaning is not like that. It can be codified in terms of
limited symbols.
E.g: In Indian context:
Old age ‘Woman’ → “Non-trouser wearing or sari wearing”
Present ‘Woman’ → “Salwar/T-shirt/Jeans wearing”
- Boundary between conceptual and connotative seems tobe
analogous
3. Social meaning: (Nghĩa xã hội)
- Conveyed by the piece of language about social context of its
use

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- The decoding of a text is dependent on our knowledge of

stylistics and other variations of language
- Recognize some words or pronunciation as being dialectical. i.e.
as telling us st about the regional or social origin of the speaker.
E.g: “I ain’t done nothing”
⇒ The line tells us about the Black American speaker and that
speaker is probably underprivileged and uneducated

“Come on yaar, be a sport. Don’t be Lallu”

⇒ The social meaning can be that of Indian young close friends
- Stylistic variation represents social variation. This is because
styles show the geographical region or social class of the
speaker. Style helps us to know about the period, field and status
of the discourse.
E.g: “steed, horse & nag”: synonymous (horse). But they differ in
style and have various social meanings: steed (poetic), horse (general),
nag (slang)
“home”: many uses like domicile (official), residence (formal),
abode (poetic), home (general)

4. Affective or Emotive meaning: (Nghĩa biểu cảm, gợi cảm)

- Refers to emotive association or effects of words evoked in the
reader, listener.
- It is what is conveyed about the personal feelings or attitude
towards the listener
E.g: “home” for a sailor/soldier or expatriate
“mother” for a motherless child
“a married woman” (esp. In Indian context) have special
emotive quality
- Often conveyed through conceptual, connotative content of the
words used
E.g: “You are a vicious tyrant and a villainous reprobation and I hate
you”
or
“I hate you, you idiot”
⇒ negative attitude towards his listener (directly)
“I am terribly sorry but if you would be so kind as to lower your
voice a

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little”
⇒ more discreet (cautious) attitude (indirectly)

5. Reflected meaning: (Nghĩa suy tưởng)

- Arises when a word has more than one conceptual meaning
or multiple conceptual meaning

- In semantics, reflected meaning is an event whereby a particular

word or phrase is correlated with multiple senses or meanings. It
is a kind of irony.(sự mỉa mai)
E.g: “A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company.”
⇒ By using the word “gay”, the poet tries to mean something
“joyful”. However, this word usually refers to “homosexuality”.

6. Collocative meaning: (Nghĩa kết hợp)

- The meaning which a word acquires in the company of
certain words
- Words collocate or co-occur with certain words only
E.g: “Big business” not “large/great business”
E.g: Pretty → girl, woman, flowers, etc.
Handsome → boy, man, etc.
Wander → cows
Stroll → humans

7. Thematic meaning: (Nghĩa chủ đề)

- Refers to what is communicated by the way in which a speaker or
a writer organizes the message in terms of ordering focus and
emphasis
- Thus active is different from passive though its conceptual
meaning is the same
E.g: Mrs. Smith donated the first prize.
The first prize was donated by Mrs. Smith.
⇒ In the 1st sentence “who gave away the prize” is more important,
but in the 2nd sentence “what did Mrs. Smith give” is important.
⇒ The change of focus changes the meaning.

Summary of Seven Types of Meaning

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1. Conceptual Meaning = Logical, cognitive or connotative content.

2. Connotative Meaning = What is communicated by virtue of what
language
refers
3. Social Meaning = What is communicated of the social
circumstances of
language
4. Affective Meaning = What is communicated of the feelings and
attitudes of the speaker through language.
5. Reflected Meaning = What is communicated through associations
with
another sense of the same world.
6. Collocative Meaning = What is communicated through
associations with
words which co-occur with another word.
7. Thematic Meaning = What is communicated by the way in which
the message is organized in terms of order and emphasis.

SENTENCE, UTTERANCE, PROPOSITION

Distinguish sentence and utterance: These plumps look good.

→ Sentences are written in italics, utterances are enclosed in double
quotes.
E.g: Mary wrote a letter is a sentence, whereas "Mary wrote a letter" is
an utterance of that sentence on a particular occasion.

Utterance:
- Any stretch of talk, by one person, before and after which there
is silence on the part of that person
- The use by a particular speaker, on a particular occasion, of a
piece of language, such as a sequence of sentences, or a single
phrase, or even a single word
E.g: *pause* Virtue is its own reward. That is my motto. *pause*
E.g: “Hello”
“Not much”
⇒ quotations “ ”
“Pxgotmgt”

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⇒ this string of sounds is not from any language

⇒ NOT an utterance
- Characteristics:
+ Is spoken
+ Physical event, ephemeral - short-lived
+ May be grammatical or not
+ Meaningful or not (e.g: is)
+ A piece of language (a single phrase or a single word)
+ Identified by a specific time or on a particular occasion
+ By a specific person

Sentence:
- (partial) Neither a physical event nor a physical object. It is,
conceived abstractly, a string of words put together by the
grammatical rules of a language
- (partial) A grammatically complete string of words expressing
a complete thought
E.g: I would like a cup of coffee → a sentence
Coffee, please → not a sentence
- Can be thought of as the IDEAL string of words behind various
realizations in utterances and inscriptions
- A sentence has no time or place, etc., but it has a definite
linguistic form
- Rule: A given sentence always consists of the same words, and
in the same order. Any change in the words, or in their order,
makes a different sentence, for our purposes
E.g: Helen rolled up the carpet.
Helen rolled the carpet up.
⇒ different sentences
Note: Say sth out loud → utterance NOT sentence
E.g: “The train now arriving at platform one is the 11.15 from King
Cross”
→ utterance
The pelican ignores the linguist.
→ sentence

Proposition: (Mệnh đề)

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- Part of the meaning of the utterance of a declarative sentence

which describes some state of affairs
- The basic meaning expressed by a sentence
- Includes something which is named or talked about + an
assertion or predication made about the argument
- A sentence may express or imply more than one proposition
(more meanings in a sentence & more sentences in a
sentence)
- The meaning of whole sentences involves proposition
E.g: John’s friend, Tony, who is a dentist, likes apples.
→ Propositions:
+ John has a friend
+ The friend’s name is Tony
+ Tony is a dentist
+ Tony likes apples
- Rule: The notion of truth can be used to decide whether two
sentences express different propositions.
E.g: Dr Findlay killed Janet.
Dr Findlay caused Jane to die.
⇒ different propositions
- True propositions correspond to facts, in the ordinary sense of
the word “fact”. False propositions do not correspond to facts.
E.g: Pamela considered the fact that her mother was alive and
realized that it could not possibly be true.
→ Odd (fact = must be true NOT possibly true)
- Propositions are involved in the meanings of other types of
sentences in addition to the declarative
+ Declarative: the speaker commits himself to the truth of
corresponding proposition
E.g: He asserts the proposition.
+ Interrogative: used to ask questions, questions the truth
of the proposition NOT assert the truth of the proposition
+ Imperative: convey orders - demands carrying out the
proposition NOT assert the truth of the proposition
- Propositional content → meaning/content NOT the fact (true or
false).
- Corresponding declaratives, interrogatives and imperatives have
the same propositional content

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- Propositions, unlike sentences, cannot be said to belong to any

particular language. Sentences in different languages can
correspond to the same proposition, if the two sentences are
perfect translations of each other.

Exercises:
(1)

Utterances Sentences Propositions

Can be loud or + - -
quiet

Can be + + -
grammatical or
not

Can be true or + + +
false

In a particular + - -
regional accent

In a particular + + -
language

(2) Can the same proposition be expressed by different

sentences?
→ Yes
(3) Can the same sentence be realized by different
utterances (i.e. have different utterances as tokens)?
→ Yes

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(4) Indicate whether each of the following sentence pairs

expresses the same or different propositions.
a. Mary read the book / The book was read by Mary
→ Same
b. Fred took back the book / Fred took the book back
→ Same
c. The cat chased the rat / The cat was chased by the rat
→ Different
d. The chef cooked the meal / The chef had the meal cooked
→ Different
e. Hondas are easy to fix / It’s easy to fix Hondas
→ Same

(5) In each of the following, indicate whether a

proposition is asserted or not.
a. John left yesterday.
→ Asserted
b. Did John leave yesterday?
→ Not asserted
c. Can John leave this afternoon?
→ Not asserted
d. John, get out of here.
→ Not asserted
e. John!
→ Not asserted

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(6) Decide whether each pair of sentences below has the

same
or different propositional content. If they have the same
propositional content, identify the proposition that they both
share.
a. Can John have some cake? / John has some cake
→ Same
b. Take out the garbage / You will take out the garbage
→ Same
c. Can you pass the salt? / The salt shaker is nearly empty
→ Different
HW:

SENSE, REFERENCE
The triangle of reference - a model for explaining how words convey
meaning

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⇒ Symbols & terms can refer to thought/reference (in mind) or refer to

referents (in real life)

Sense → we deal with relationships inside the language

Reference → we deal with the relationships between language and

the world (things outside the language)

E.g: (My son) is in (the beech tree).

↓ ↓
identifies persons identifies things

Reference:

1. Variable references:
- The same expression can be used to refer to different things
in the real world
- When the same linguistic expression refers to different referents,
it has variable references
E.g: “touch your left ear” ⇒ refers to your actual left ear, your
mother’s left ear, etc.

2. Constant references:

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- One linguistic expression refers to ONE and THE SAME referent

(in most cases)
E.g: the sun, the moon, Angola, Vietnam, the United Nations, FIFA,
UNESCO
- Notes: However, there is very little constancy of reference in
language. Almost all of the fixing of reference comes from the
context in which expressions are used

3. Co-reference:
- When two or more linguistic expressions share the same referent,
they have co-reference
E.g: The Morning Star (Sao Mai)/ The Evening Star (Sao Hôm) ⇒
VENUS (SAO KIM)
Paris ⇒ The city of life/ The city of love

Sense:
- The SENSE of an expression is its place in a system of
semantic relationships with other expressions in the language
- The sense of a word or a linguistic expression shows the internal
relationship between that word or expression and others in the
vocabulary of a language
E.g: likely vs. probably ⇒ close sense/meaning ⇒ can be used
interchangeably
aquamarine (màu xanh ngọc) vs. vermilion (màu đỏ son) ⇒
different sense/meaning

REFERENT REFERENCE SENSE

in the external world between a language in a language

and the external
world

either real or abstract abstract

imaginary

- We use the term “word” in the sense of “word form”

- Some semanticists would regard “bank” as several different
words (different entries in dictionaries)

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- One sentence can have different senses

E.g: The chicken is ready to eat.
⇒ 1st sense: The chicken is ready to be eaten.
⇒ 2nd sense: The chicken is ready to be fed/to eat something.
He greeted the girl with a smile.
⇒ 1st sense: Smiling, he greeted the girl.
⇒ 2nd sense: He greeted the smiling girl.
He turned over the field.
⇒ 1st sense: He changed direction to the field.
⇒ 2nd sense: He changed his major/job.

The relationship between SENSE and REFERENCE:

1. The referent of an expression is often a thing or a person in the
world
2. The sense of an expression is not a thing at all; it is an
abstraction that can be entertained in the mind of a language
user
3. It is difficult to say what sort of entity the sense of an
expression is. It is useful to think of sense as that part of the
meaning of an expression that is left over when reference
is factored out (= deleted)
4. It is much easier to say whether or not two expressions have
the same sense

Note: Every expression that has meaning has sense, but not every
expression has reference. → explain clearer ???
E.g: almost, probable, and, if, above → grammatical functions

Circularity: (Vòng tròn luẩn quẩn)

- There is something essentially circular about the set of
definitions in a dictionary & defining the senses of words and
other expressions
- Not a bad thing
- Often unavoidable → (e.g: cases of expressions that have no
referents: and, etc.) there is no way of indicating the meaning of
an expression except with other words

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⇒ Only way: using MOTHER TONGUE

Exercises:
6. Characterize a typical dictionary definition of a word. Does the
definition
include everything a typical native speaker knows about the word’s
meaning? Is it possible to write such an entry which is complete?
Comment on the following examples, making reference to concepts
introduced in this unit.
- Does the definition include everything a typical native speaker
knows about the word’s meaning?
⇒ No, normally, the words which native speakers use in daily
conversations usually contain more meanings than the number of
meanings academically described in the dictionary due to the need to
personalize their talk and the necessity of meeting a lot of different
circumstances in daily life.
- Is it possible to write such an entry which is complete?
⇒ No. People cannot write a complete entry because language is
constantly evolving in both meaning and form.
Note: Types of meanings that are often forgotten: social meaning
(low-frequency words, different social contexts), emotive meaning
(subjective), thematic meaning (dependent on the users choosing their
own themes)
7. the Evening Star / the Morning Star
⇒ co-reference: planet Venus
8. the President of the United States / the Commander-in-Chief / the
Leader of the Republican Party
⇒ co-reference

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9. Visiting relatives can be boring

⇒ different senses/ambiguity
- The action “visiting” is boring.
- The people “relatives” who are paid visit to are boring.
10. the planet Mars
⇒ constant reference (real planet)
11. Smoking grass can be dangerous
⇒ different senses/ambiguity
- The action “smoking” is dangerous.
- The plant “grass” is dangerous to smoke
TRUE/FALSE: Reference is the relationship between a particular object
(referent) in the world and an expression used in an utterance to pick
that object out.
⇒ TRUE

REFERRING EXPRESSION
PREDICATES
UNIVERSE OF DISCOURSE

Referring expression: (Biểu thức sở chỉ)

- An expression used in an utterance to refer to something or
someone or a group of people or things used with a specific
referent in mind
E.g: John, my parents, the girl sitting there, etc.
E.g: The name “Fred” in an utterance such as ‘Fred hit me’, where the
speaker has a particular person in mind when he says ‘Fred’, is a
referring expression.
The name “Fred” in ‘There’s no Fred at this address’ is not a
referring expression, because in this case, a speaker would not have a
particular person in mind in uttering the word.
● With indefinite Noun phrase:
E.g: A café in the neighborhood is giving away free coffee today. (+R)
The popular image of Paris today is a café. (-R)
● With definite Noun phrase:
- Proper names
E.g: Jenifer showed her ID card to the customs officer (+R)

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He loves girls named Jenifer. (-R)

- Pronouns
E.g: He opened a café last week. (+R)
- The-expressions:
E.g The girl who looks like Nicole Kidman is the new
waitress. (+R)
- Ambiguous case:
E.g: If anyone can read ancient Egyptian, he must be a genius.
(+/-R)
- Whether an expression is a referring expression is heavily
dependent on linguistic context (grammar) and on
circumstances of utterance
E.g: “Nancy married a Norwegian” → a referring expression (already
married, Nancy knows exactly that person)
“Nancy wants to marry a Norwegian” → not a referring
expression (ambiguous, depends on whether the speaker has in mind a
particular person whom Nancy wants to marry)
“If anyone ever marries Nancy, he’s in for a bad time” → not a
referring expression (depends on whether the speaker has in mind a
particular person whom Nancy wants to marry)
E.g: “Dick believes that John killed Smith”
“Dick believes that the person in the corner killed Smith”
Assume that Dick doesn’t know that John is the person in the corner;
could one of these two utterances be true and the other false (in Dick’s
mind)?
⇒ Dick believes that … killed Smith: AN OPAQUE CONTEXT

Opaque context: (Biểu thức sở chỉ)

- A part of a sentence which could be made into a complete
sentence by the addition of a referring expression, but where
the addition of different referring expressions, even though they
refer to the same thing or person, in a given situation, will yield
sentences with DIFFERENT meanings when uttered in a
given situation
- A substitution of “co-referential” expressions (expressions
referring to the same object) that may alter the truth of
sentences

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Equative sentence:
- Two referring expressions have the same referent
E.g: Starbucks is my favorite café. (Starbucks = my fav café)
John is the person in the corner.
Cairo is a large city → not a equative sentence (does not state
any reference)

Semantic roles:
- Analyzing simple declarative sentences, there are 2 major
semantic roles:
1. The role of Predicator (played by predicate)
2. The role of Argument (played by referring expression)

Predicator:
- A word (or a group of words) which does not belong to any of
the referring meaning of the sentence
- Describes the state or process in which the referring
expressions are involved
- A predicate is any word which can function as the predicator of
a sentence (adjective - adjectival, adverb - adverbial)
E.g: Mary speaks English.
⇒ Mary, English: arguments
⇒ speaks: predicator
- Can be of various parts of speech (adjectives, verbs and
nouns)
E.g: Margaret was unhappy.
⇒ Margaret: argument
⇒ unhappy: predicator
⇒ was: non-predicator
- There are different degree of predicate: depends on the number
of arguments (referring expressions)
E.g: They scream loudly.
⇒ “scream” is a predicate of degree one (one-place predicate)
We watch TV together.
⇒ “watch” is a predicate of degree one (two-place predicate)
John gives Mary a bouquet of flowers.
⇒ “gives” is a predicate of degree one (three-place predicate)

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Note: Sometimes two predicates can have nearly, if not exactly, the
same sense but be of different grammatical part of speech
E.g: John is foolish, Jack is a fool.
⇒ “Foolish” and “fool” are predicate, but they are of different parts of
speech

Exercise:
Indicate the arguments and predicator(s) in each sentence.
Arguments: italics, Predicator: bold
a. John is a linguist
b. John loves Mary.
c. Mary loves John. (Are arguments ordered? → Yes)
d. John gave Mary a
ring.
e. Chicago is between Los Angeles and New York.
f. Jane is Mary’s mother. (identity of predicator)
g. Jones is the Dean of the College.
h. John stood near the bank.
(How should the ambiguity be handled? → choose both)
i. Ed is a fool.
j. Ed is foolish.

Generic sentence:
- A generic sentence is a sentence in which some statement is
made about a whole unrestricted class of individuals, as opposed
particular individual
E.g: The whale is a mammal (understood in the most usual way) → a
generic sentence
That whale over there is a mammal → not a generic sentence
⇒ A generic sentence can be introduced by either a or the (or
neither)

Referent → physical or imaginary !!! (e.g: unicorn, distance,...)

Universe of discourse:

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- The particular world, real or imaginary (or part real part

imaginary) that the speaker assumes he is talking about at the
time
E.g: When an astronomy lecturer, in a serious lecture, states that the
Earth revolves around the Sun.
⇒ Universe of discourse: real world
When I tell my children a bedtime story and say “The dragon set
fire to the woods with his hot breath”
⇒ Universe of discourse: imaginary/fictitious world
- Types:
+ Real-world - R
Eg: Mother to child: “Don’t touch those berries. They might be
poisonous”
+ (partly) Fictitious world - F
Eg: Mother to child: “Santa Claus might bring you a toy”
+ Different universes
Eg: A: ‘Did Jack’s son come in this morning?’
B: ‘I didn’t know Jack had a son’
A: ‘Then who’s that tall chap that was here yesterday?’
B: ‘I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure Jack hasn’t got any kids’
A: ‘I’m sure Jack’s son was here yesterday’
⇒ In A’s universe of discourse Jack’s son exists; In B’s he does not
+ Same universes
Eg: Optician: ‘Please read the letters on the bottom line of the
card’
Patient: ‘E G D Z Q N B A’
Optician: ‘Correct. Well done’
- The notion of the universe of discourse is introduced to account
for the way in which language allows us to refer to non-existent
things.

Summary
- In the course of utterances, speaker use referring expressions
to refer to entities which may be concrete or abstract, real or
fictitious
- The predicates embedded in a referring expression help the
hearer to identify its referent

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- Semantics is not concerned with the factual status or things in

the world but with meaning in language
- The notion of universe of discourse is introduced to account for
the way in which language allows us to refer to non-existent
things

DEIXIS AND DEFINITENESS

Deixis (Trực chỉ): (pointing/indicating via language)

- Deictic word: one which takes some element of its meaning
from the situation (the speaker, the addressee, the time and the
place) of the utterance in which it is used
- The general phenomenon of its occurrence is called Deixis.
- Any linguistic form used to accomplish this pointing is called a
deictic expression
- Used in face-to-face spoken communication, easily understood by
the people present (but difficult for someone not right there or in
darkness)
E.g: I’ll put this here.
I like studying semantics
I do, too.
⇒ “I”: Deictic word
- Uses:
+ Gestural: terms used in gestural deictic way can only be
interpreted with reference to an audio-visual-tactile, and in
general a physical, monitoring of the speech event
E.g: This one’s genuine, but this one’s fake.
He’s not the Duke. He is. He’s the butler.
⇒ with selecting gesture
+ Symbolic: symbolic usages of deictic terms require for their
interpretation only knowledge of the basic spatio-temporal
parameters (giới hạn không gian - thời gian) of the speech
event (and occasionally participant role, discourse and
social parameters)
E.g: This city is really beautiful.
⇒ general location is sufficient
You can all come with me if you like.
⇒ set of potential addressees

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We can’t afford a holiday this year.

⇒ general time
- Types: 3
Types Definitio Proximal form Distal form Examples
of n (near speaker) (away from
deixis speaker)

Person Used to I, you, we; me, He, she, it, we, 1. I am hungry
deixis indicate us (including they; her, him, → “I”: personal,
people addressee) them, us proximal deixis
(excluding the 2. He is a teacher
addressee) → “He”: personal
distal deixis

Spatial Used to - here, this - there, that,... 1. This is my pen

deixis indicate - Some verbs of - Some verbs of → “This”: spatial,
location motion: come, motion: go, proximal deixis
bring,... (deictic take,... 2. I was there
sense) (deictic sense) yesterday
→ “There”:
spatial, distal
deixis
Other forms: “left,
right, up, down,
below, behind,…”

Tempor Used to - now, soon, - then, in days 1. I live here now.

al deixis indicate today, tonight, gone by, after, → “Live”: the
time tomorrow, yesterday, last present simple
before, the week/month, the → “Now”:
coming/next/foll previous temporal, proximal
owing day/month,... deixis
week/day/month - tense: past 2. I went there
, this tenses yesterday..
Thursday,... → “Went”: past
- tenses: present tense
& future tenses → “yesterday”:
- then (express temporal, distal
the future time) deixis

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- Some verbs have deictic ingredients: come, take, bring, go,...

E.g: Please don’t bring food into the bathroom.
⇒ The speaker: in the bathroom.

Exercise: Can you point out which words are deictic?

“I was there yesterday”
personal temporal spatial temporal

Context:
- A small subpart of the universe of discourse shared by speaker
and hearer, and includes facts about the topic of the
conversation in which the utterance occurs, and also facts about
the situation in which the conversation itself takes place
- The exact context of any utterance can never be specified
with complete certainty
- The notion of context is very flexible (even somewhat vague)
E.g: I saw a man walking his dog in the park.
⇒ Universe of discourse: a man, his dog
⇒ Context: time, place, social context, purpose (affect the meaning of
the sentence

Definiteness: (Tính xác định)

- A feature of noun phrase selected by the speaker to convey his
assumption that the hearer will be able to identify the referent of
the noun phrase
E.g: The sun, the moon, the star → only one sun, one moon, one star
in the context → definite

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I was in bed when the phone rang → “the phone” is definite

- Types: 3
+ Proper names: Mary, Princess Diana
+ Personal pronouns: he, she, it
+ Phrases introduced by a definite determiner: this, that, the,
those, those, my, his
- It follows from the definition of definiteness all definite noun
phrases are referring expressions. However, not every noun
phrase using the so-called “definite article” the is necessarily
semantically definite
E.g: In generic sentences:
The whale is a mammal .
- Definiteness contributes to the truth of the sentence
- Relating the notion of context to the notion of definiteness
RULE:
● If some entity (or entities) (i.e. person(s), object(s), place(s), etc.)
is/are the ONLY entity (or entities) of its/their kind in the context
of an utterance, then the definite article (the) is the appropriate
article to use in referring to that entity (or those entities).
● The appropriateness of the definite article is dependent on the
context in which it is used.

Extension:
- Extension of a predicate of degree one is the set of all
referents which that predicate potentially refers to
E.g: The extension of dog is the set of all dogs in the universe.
The extension of house is the set of all houses.
Sense Extension Reference

Involve a set - + -
(not a set of (an individual
things) thing)

Independent of + + -
particular
occasions of
utterances

Connect - + +

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language to the
world

- Extensions are relative to all times, past, present and future

Predicate are tenseless, i.e. unspecified for past, present and
future
E.g: The extension of windows = all past windows + all present
windows + all future windows
- Predicates are almost always accompanied in sentences by a
marker of tense ⇒ restrict the extensions of the predicates
they modify
⇒ The extension of a predicate differs based on the time of the
utterance in which it is used

Striped tiger:
Striped human → the null/empty set

Fuzzy set: (tập hợp mờ/không rõ ràng)

- From some predicate, drawing a clear line around the set of all
individuals, past, present and future and separating them from all
the non-ones is impossible.

Fuzziness:
- The undecidability of extensions → a basic flaw in the essential
idea of extensions
E.g: Even people who claim to know the meaning of chicken →
cannot draw a clear line around the set of all chickens, past, present
and future, separating them from all the non-chickens.
⇒ The extension of chicken is a “fuzzy set”

Prototype: (điển mẫu, vật/người đầu tiên được nghĩ tới)

- An object held to be very TYPICAL
- Can be referred to by an expression containing the predicate
E.g: A prototype of the predicate “man”:

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+ Medium height
+ Average build
+ Brownish hair
+ Age: 30-50
+ No particularly distinctive characteristics or defects
⇒ A dwarf or a hugely muscular body-builder could NOT be a
prototype of the predicate “man”.
E.g: Cultural differences lead to different prototypes:
- Prototype of house of the Ethnic minority in Vietnam
- Prototype of house of the American

- A prototype of a predicate is the typical member if its extension

- The idea of a prototype → explains how people learn to use
(some of) the predicates in their language correctly
- The prototypical members of the extension of a predicate → are
usually learned earlier than non-prototypical members
E.g: A mother may point to the child’s father and say “Daddy’s a man”
⇒ This kind of definition by pointing is called ostensive definition
⇒ Not all concepts can be learned this way

The REFERENT of a referring expression → the thing picked out by the

use of that expression on a particular occasion of utterance
The EXTENSION of a predicate → the complete set of all things which
could potentially (i.e. in any possible utterance) be the referent of a
referring expression) whose head constituent is that predicate
The PROTOTYPE of a predicate → a typical member of its extension

Exercise:

a. Deictic expressions:

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- You, me: personal, proximal deixis

- There: spatial, distal deixis
- Noticed: temporal, distal deixis
- Standing → part of speech NOT tense
b. Deictic expressions:
- This, that → determiners
- This book (~ it) : personal, proximal deixis
- That author (~ he/she): personal, distal deixis
- Over there: spatial, distal deixis
- Was written: temporal, distal deixis
c. Deictic expressions:
- Your briefcase, mine (~ it): personal, proximal deixis
- The right: spatial, proximal deixis
- Just set: temporal, proximal deixis
d. Deictic expressions:
- Now, next week: temporal, proximal deixis
- We: personal, proximal deixis
- Have to: temporal, proximal deixis
e. Deictic expressions:
- Her best friend, John (~ he/she): personal, distal deixis
- Was standing: temporal, distal deixis
- Behind: spatial, proximal deixis
f. Deictic expressions:
- All the guests: personal, distal deixis
- Arrived: temporal, distal deixis
- Two hours ago: temporal, distal deixis

SENSE PROPERTIES AND STEREOTYPES

Analytic sentence:
- A sentence that is necessarily TRUE, as a result of the senses of
the words in it.
- An analytic sentence, therefore, reflects a tacit (unspoken)
agreement by speakers of the language about the senses of the
words in it.
- Not informative to anyone who already knows the meaning of the
words in them.

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Synthetic sentence:
- A sentence that is NOT analytic but may be either TRUE or
FALSE, depending on the way the world is.
- Potentially informative in real-world situations.

Contradiction:
- A sentence that is necessarily FALSE, as a result of the senses of
the words in it.
- Thus a contradiction is in a way the opposite of an analytic
sentence
E.g: Analytic: All elephants are animals.
→ The truth of the sentence follows from the senses of elephants and
animals.
Synthetic: John is from Ireland
→ There is nothing in the senses of John or Ireland or from which makes
this necessarily true or false
Contradiction:
- This animal is a vegetable
→ This must be false because of the senses of animals and vegetables.
- Both of John’s parents are married to aunts of mine
→ This must be false because of the senses of both parents, married,
and aunt

Stereotype:
- A list of the TYPICAL characteristics or features of things to
which the predicate may be applied.
E.g: The stereotype of cat would be something like: 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.

Stereo vs Prototype:
- A stereotype is related to a prototype (see the previous unit) but
is not the same thing.
- A prototype of an elephant is some actual elephant, whereas
the stereotype of elephant is a list of characteristics which
describe the prototype.

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- Stereotype of predicate & Prototype of predicate:

+ The stereotype of a predicate may often specify a range of
possibilities (e.g. the range of colors of typical cats)
+ An individual prototype of this predicate will necessarily
take some particular place within this range (e.g. black)
- A speaker may well know a stereotype for some predicate (e.g:
ghost, witchdoctor) BUT not actually be acquainted with any
prototype of it.

Exercise:

b. C
c. S
4.
a. A
b. S
c. C
d. S
5.
a. A
b. S
6.
a. C
b. C
7.
a. A
b. A
c. S
d. S
e. S
3. f. C
a. A g. C

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SENSE RELATIONS
IDENTITY AND SIMILARITY OF SENSE

Sense Relations:
- The sense of an expression: the whole set of sense relations it
contracts with other expressions in the language.

Same Relations (Sameness of meaning):

● Individual predicates (Synonymy)
● Whole sentences (Paraphrase)

Synonymy:
- The similarity of meaning → vague meaning
- The relationship between two predicates that have the same
sense
→ requires identity of sense → strict definition → very few examples
E.g: stubborn and obstinate are synonyms (in most dialects of
English)
Note: It is hard to find perfect synonymy.
⇒ Because there is little point in a dialect having two predicates with
exactly the same sense
E.g: fall (US) - autumn (UK) → synonyms (difference: dialects)
gentleman (formal) - man (neutral) - guy (informal) → synonyms
(difference: styles)
big (mistake) - large (mistake) → synonyms (difference:
collocation)

- Interdependent → one can’t understand one without

understanding the other
- Best communicated by a range of examples
- When dealing with sense relations:
+ Stick to clear cases
+ Abstract way from any stylistic, social, or dialectal
associations the word may have
+ Concentrate on what has been called the cognitive or
conceptual meaning of a word
E.g:
(1) deep/profound

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a. You have my deep/profound sympathy.

b. This river is very deep profound.
(2) ripe/mature
a. This apple is ripe/mature.
b. I love a mature ripe man.
(3) broad/wide
a. She did a broad/wide range of jobs.
b. I was wide broad awake last night.
c. He speaks with a broad wide Scottish accent.
(4) earth/soil
a. The Earth soil orbits around the Sun.
b. The soil earth in this area is fertile.
c. They filled the hole with good soft earth/soil.
(5) side/edge
a. The shop is on the right side edge of my house.
b. The company is on the edge side of collapse.

Paraphrase:
- A sentence which expresses the same proposition as another
sentence (assuming the same referents for any referring
expressions involved)
- Paraphrase is to SENTENCES (on individual interpretations) as
SYNONYMY is to PREDICATES (though some semanticists talk
loosely of synonymy in the case of sentences as well).
E.g: Bachelors prefer red haired girls.
→ is a paraphrase of Girls with red hair are preferred by
unmarried men.

Same Relations (Meaning inclusion):

● Individual predicates (Hyponymy)
● Propositions in a language involving truth conditions
(Entailment)

Hyponymy (Quan hệ thượng hạ vị):

- A sense relation between predicates (or sometimes longer
phrases) such that the meaning of one predicate (or phrase) is
included in the meaning of the other

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E.g: Red - hypernym/superordinate → more general or inclusive in

meaning, abstract, or schematic than its hyponyms
Scarlet - hyponym → more specific in the kind of color it
describes
- Hyponymy is a sense relation
- Sense = Intension (a term preferred by logicians)
Extension # Intension (deliberately chosen for its implicit
contrast)
- We define hyponymy in such a way that synonymy counts as a
special case of hyponymy. Thus, synonymy can be seen as a
special case of hyponymy, i.e. SYMMETRICAL HYPONYMY
- Rule: If X is a hyponym of Y and if Y is also a hyponym of X, then
X and Y are synonymous.
E.g: mercury & quicksilver (thuỷ ngân)
- A proposition X entails a proposition Y if the truth of Y follows
necessarily from the truth of X. → extend to “sentences”…

Entailment (Quan hệ logic):

- Entailment applies cumulatively. Thus if X entails Y and Y
entails Z, then X entails Z.
→ Technically, entailment is a transitive relation.
E.g: John and Mary are twins entails Mary and John are twins;
Mary and John are twins entails John and Mary are twins.
→ Therefore, John and Mary are twins is a paraphrase of Mary and John
are twins.
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.
→ Therefore, Some boys ran down the street entails Some kids went
down the street.
- Two sentences may be said to be PARAPHRASES of each other if
and only if they have exactly the same set of
ENTAILMENTS; or, which comes to the same thing, if and
only if they mutually entail each other so that whenever one is
true the other must also be true.
- The relationship between entailment and paraphrase is
parallel to the relationship between hyponymy and synonymy

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+ Synonymy is symmetric (i.e. two-way) hyponymy

+ Paraphrase is symmetric (i.e. two-way) entailment

Summary
- Hyponymy and synonymy are sense relations between
predicates.
- The latter is a special, symmetric case of the former.
- Entailment and paraphrase are sense relations between
sentences.
- The latter is a special, symmetric case of the former.
- The sense relations between predicates and those between
sentences are systematically connected by rules such as the
basic rule of sense inclusion.
- These sense relations are also systematically connected with
such sense properties of sentences as ANALYTICITY and
CONTRADICTION.

SENSE RELATIONS (2)

OPPOSITENESS & DISSIMILARITY OF SENSE AND
AMBIGUITY

Sense Relations (Oppositeness of meaning):

● Individual predicates (Antonymy)
● Whole sentences (Contradictoriness)

Antonymy:
- Traditional view: simply “oppositeness of meaning”
→ not adequate
- Some words may be opposite in meaning in different ways
- Some words have no real opposites
E.g: Thick is not the opposite of thin in the same way as dead is the
opposite of alive.
- 4 basic types of antonymy (or semantic incompatibility)
● Binary Antonym
● Converse
● Multiple incompatibility
● Gradable

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Binary Antonym: (trái nghĩa hoàn toàn)

- Also called: complementarity
- Predicates which come in pairs and between them exhaust all
the relevant possibilities. If the one predicate is applicable,
then the other cannot be, and vice versa
- Another way to view this is to say that a predicate is a binary
antonym of another predicate if it entails the negative of the
other predicate
- The natural way to pair off pairs of antonyms → along the same
dimension
E.g: man vs. woman → along the male/female dimension
- A four-way contrast (not natural) → two different binary antonyms
combine in a set of predicates → more complicated systems of
contrast
E.g: man vs. girl → cutting cross both dimensions

Converse:
- If a predicate describes a relationship between two things (or
people) and some other predicate describes the same
relationship when the two things (or people) are
mentioned in the opposite order, then the two predicates are
CONVERSES of each other.
- Applied when three things (or people) are mentioned.
E.g: buy vs. sell
lend vs. borrow
NOT:
give vs. take
come vs. go

Multiple Incompatibles (systems): (Hệ thống bất tương hợp)

- All the terms in a given systems are mutually incompatible
E.g: a playing card cannot belong to both the hearts suit and the
spades suit
- Together, the members of a system cover all the relevant area
E.g: besides hearts, clubs, diamonds and spades, there are no other
suits.

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- There are large numbers of open-ended systems of multiple

incompatibility
E.g: The “season” system: 4 (spring, summer, fall, winter)
The “state” system: 3 (liquid, gas, solid)
→ close system
Four-member system: BlackPink, cards, directions, seasons, etc.
The “number” system: numbers, flowers, animals, furniture
→ open-ended system

Gradable:
- Two predicates are GRADABLE antonyms if they are at opposite
ends of a continuous scale of values (a scale which typically
varies according to the context of use)
E.g: Hot → Warm → Cool → Tepid → Cold
- Gradability test:
+ Check whether a word can combine with: very/very
much/how?/how much?
E.g: How tall is he? → acceptable
How top is that shelf? → not acceptable

⇒ (1): M (both belong to the open-ended English animal name

system)
(2): G
(3): G
(4): C

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(5): B (deciduous: rụng lá theo mùa >< evergreen: thường xanh)

(6): B
(7): B

Contradictoriness:
- A proposition is a CONTRADICTORY of another proposition if it is
impossible for them both to be true at the same time and of the
same circumstances
- The definition can naturally be extended to sentences thus: a
sentence expressing one proposition is a contradictory of a
sentence expressing another proposition is it is impossible for
both propositions to be true at the same time and of the same
circumstances
- Alternatively (and equivalently) a sentence contradicts another
sentence if it entails the negation of the other sentence

The Relationship between Contradictories and Antonymy (&

Incompatibility):
● Statement A:
Given two sentences, both identical except that: (a) one contains
a word X where the other contains a word Y, and (b) X is an
antonym of Y (or X is incompatible with Y), then the two
sentences are contradictories of each other (i.e. contradict each
other).

Ambiguity:
- A word or sentence is AMBIGUOUS when it has more than one
sense.
- A sentence is ambiguous if it has two (or more) paraphrases
which are NOT themselves paraphrases of each other.
E.g: bust: break vs. chest
plane: aircraft/aeroplane vs. flat surface
crop: field/harvest vs. handle of a riding whip
pen: handwriting tool using ink vs. enclosure
sage: wise vs. herb

Ambiguous words (the closeness, or relatedness, of the senses

of the ambiguous words):

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● Different senses (Homonymy)

● Closely related senses (Polysemy)

Homonymy: (Hiện tượng đồng âm khác nghĩa)

- A case of HOMONYMY is one of an ambiguous word whose
different senses are far apart from each other and not obviously
related to each other in any way with respect to a native
speaker’s intuition.
E.g: mug (drinking vessel vs. gullible person)
bank (financial institution vs. the side of a river or stream
- Seems to be a matter of accident or coincidence → There is no
obvious conceptual connection between the two meanings of
either word

Polysemy: (Hiện tượng nhiều nghĩa)

- A case of POLYSEMY is one where a word has several very
closely related senses → In other words, a native speaker of
the language has clear intuitions that the different senses are
related to each other in some way
E.g: mouth (of a river vs. of an animal)
- Polysemy in nouns is quite common in human languages
E.g: guard (person who guards, sentinel vs. solid protective shield) →
protecting from danger
drive (drive a nail vs. drive a car) → cause a movement in a
particular direction

Homonymy & Polysemy:

- Polysemy is much more common in human language → most
words have related variations in sense that depend on the
particular linguistic context in which they are used.
- It is nearly impossible to draw a clear line between
homonymy and polysemy → they occupy places along a graded
continuum of meaning.
Homonymy → Polysemy → Vagueness

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⇒ (1): H
(2): P (fork: ngã ba đường)
(3): P
(4): H
(5): P
(6): H

Lexical ambiguity:
- Any ambiguity resulting from the ambiguity of a word.
E.g: The captain corrected the list.

Structurally (or Grammatically) ambiguous:

- 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 (or grammatically) ambiguous
E.g: The chicken is ready to eat.
Summary
- Binary antonym, converseness, and gradable antonymy are
sense relations between predicates which fit a simple pre-
theoretical notion of oppositeness of meaning
- Multiple incompatibility, though not traditionally thought of as
a kind of oppositeness, is formally similar to binary antonymy,
the main difference being in the number of terms (i.e. 2 or
more than 2) in the system concerned.
- Contradictoriness is a sense relation between sentences (and
propositions), related in an apparently complicated way to the
sense relations mentioned above.

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- Lexical ambiguity depends on Homonymy (sense not related)

& Polysemy (sense related)

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