Sense and Reference
What is the difference between 'sense' vs 'reference' in semantics?
Sense = an abstract concept, i.e. it is not a thing. Typically the dictionary definition of a word.
Reference = the relationship between language and the world. In denotational semantics, a referent can be the referent (thing a person points to in the world), or the set of all things that a sense denotes.
Sense deals with relationships within language, while reference deals with relationships between language and the world.
Does knowing the meaning of a sentence mean that you know whether or not it is true?
No, but it means we know the kinds of situations when the sentence would be true.
What is the difference between entailment and presupposition?
Entailment = a meaning relation between two propositions, where the truth of one statement guarantees the truth of another.
Presupposition = an underlying assumption that must be accepted for a statement to make sense.
What does 'construal' refer to?
The way of thinking about an object/entity/event.
Word choices reflect a person's construal, which highlight certain properties of a referent while hiding others, e.g. dad vs father (intimacy)
What is the difference between converse pairs and reverse pairs?
Converse pairs describe an asymmetric relationship from opposite perspectives, e.g. above/below.
Reverse pairs describe movement or change in the opposite direction, e.g. push/pull.
What is a referring expression?
An expression used in an utterance to refer to something or someone, i.e. used with a particular referent in mind.
What is a proposition?
A simple declarative sentence (any sentence that makes a statement or gives information).
Proposition are claims about the world that can be true or false depending on the situation.
What are some other types of tests (apart from negation) that we can apply to test for entailment/presupposition.
Family of sentences -
Questions
If-clauses
Certain modalities, e.g. may
What is the difference between polysemy and homonymy?
Polysemous words share at least 1 salient feature/component of meaning, e.g. foot for mountain or measurement = body-part sense.
Homonymy refers to different words that sound the same, i.e. bat vs bat.
What is the difference between hyponymy and meronymy?
Hyponymy refers to a general - specific relation between two words, e.g. stallion - horse/ horse -animal (hyponym and superordinate)
Meronymy refers to a part-whole relationship, e.g. hand - body; roof -house.
What is the difference between definite and indefinite reference?
Definite reference = when a speaker says something that the listener understands is a concrete entity and can identify it.
Indefinite reference = when a speaker says something that a listener cannot identify as a concrete entity.
Indefinite descriptions (noun phrases) are not always referring expressions! The speaker may have a specific referent in mind, or they may not (ambiguous).
What is the difference between analytic and synthetic sentences?
Analytic sentences are propositions that are true under all circumstances. They are always true because of the sense of the words in them, e.g. my watch is a device for telling time.
Synthetic sentences are propositions that can be true or false, depending on the situation. We must know something about the state of the world to assess the truth value of the sentences.
What type of entailment is happening here?
The house was concealed by the trees
The house was hidden by the trees.
Mutual entailment/ synonymous sentences, paraphrases
Describe the difference between hyperbole, euphemisms, metonymy, synecdoche, linotes, and irony.
Hyperbole – exaggeration
Euphemism – substitution of an inoffensive term for one considered offensively explicit
Metonymy – one word or phrase is substituted for another which is closely related
Synecdoche – part for whole/whole for part or specific for general/general for specific
Linotes – understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite
Irony – intended meaning of expression is the opposite of its literal meaning
What are the 4 principles of cognitive semantics?
1. Conceptual structure is embodied
2. Semantic structure is conceptual structure
3. Meaning representation is encyclopaedic.
4. Meaning is dynamically constructed in context.
Describe the difference between generic and equative sentences.
Equative sentences assert that 2 referring expressions have the same referents, e.g. The capital of Spain is Madrid.
Generic sentences make a statement about a whole unrestricted class of individuals (as opposed to specific individuals). They are not referring expressions, e.g. the whale is the largest mammal.
What does it mean if two propositions are inconsistent?
Two propositions that cannot both be true are 'inconsistent'.
Contradictory propositions: propositions that have opposite truth values (so one much be correct).
Contrary propositions: propositions that can't both be true, but can both be false.
Fido is a dog
Fido is a cat
How does the negation test work for entailment and presupposition?
Entailment - because the truth of one proposition (b) depends on the truth of another proposition (a), if proposition a is negated then b must be false.
John murdered the king
The king is dead
Presupposition - if someone negates or questions proposition (a), the underlying assumption (inference) still holds.
Sarah stopped smoking
Sarah used to smoke
A presupposition must survive negation, rather than merely remain possible.
Complementary antonyms have no middle ground, are contradictory in the relevant binary context, and can be negated.
Gradable antonyms express opposite ends of a scale. Tests: contrary sentences, intermediate values, and comparatives. They are often relative (vague).
In cognitive linguistics, what are categories and prototypes?
In Cognitive Semantics, a category is a conceptual grouping of similar experiences. Categories exist within a system of interacting categories, where a new category can change the meaning/function of existing categories.
In contrast with traditional category theory, in cognitive linguistics categories are 'fuzzy' (boundary is not completely fixed)
They can vary depending on languages and cultures.
A prototype is the a member of a category that is considered the most typical example of that category.
What is a universe of discourse, and what does it 'mean' for the sense and denotation of expressions?
Any utterance as the particular world (real or imaginary) that the speaker assumes they are talking about at the time.
It is essential so that we can refer to 'unreal' referents, e.g. Santa Claus or dragons.
In our world, 'talks' denotes humans, some technology (GPS, Siri, Alexa) and some parrots.
In Alice in Wonderland, 'talks' denotes chess pieces, playing cards, animals, etc.
The 'sense' of the word hasn't changed, but the things it can denote has.
Why is perfect synonymy rare?
Synonyms are words that have the same are similar meanings in a specific sense. Synonyms are an example of semantic entailment, where substituting one word does not change the meaning of the sentence.
However, not all synonyms are interchangeable all the time: there may be collocational differences or contextual differences.
What is the difference between 'denotation' and 'connotation'?
Denotation = set of entities in the world that a word can refer to
Connotation = associations evoked by a word.
Describe the difference between ambiguity, vagueness, and indeterminacy.
Ambiguity occurs when there is more than one way to interpret what is being communicated.
Vagueness depends on the context, has borderline cases, and is usually maintained in translation.
Indeterminacy occurs when an expression is not sufficiently precise, e.g. cousin. It is usually language specific.
What is the difference between truth-conditional semantics and cognitive semantics.
Conceptualisation vs truth conditions
Encyclopaedic knowledge vs dictionary-like meaning.
Contextual influences vs linguistic meaning that is analysed separately
Embodiment vs abstract/objective representations
Meaning constructed dynamically vs linguistically encoded
Language reflects conceptual structure vs language-world relations
Semantics - pragmatics interaction vs sharper distinction